"W-what?" Sunggyu ran to the end of the isle, shaken. He couldn't even see the end of the hallway it was so big. Screw a map. Sunggyu needed a GPS.

There were a few shoppers, all who knew where they were going. Sunggyu walked into the next isle over, then to the next, still no sight of Woohyun's red and blue sweater. Sunggyu walked some more, realizing that Woohyun was probably far by now.

"Watch out." A woman scowled as Sunggyu bumped into her while turning a corner. He bowed in a hurry as she passed by. Sunggyu continued to wander down a baked goods isle before making it out in the open again where the racks barely made it to his waist.

"Are you that useless?" Woohyun whispered into his ear, making Sunggyu nearly jump out of his own skin.

"W-where were you? A-and why did you do that?!" Sunggyu managed to stutter out, a hand holding his heart as he tried to calm down. Woohyun merely shrugged and looked down at the box of dishwashing detergent he was holding.

"I had to get something."

"So you just left me?"

"Yeah."

 Sunggyu's eyes widened when Woohyun confirmed it. He didn't actually think Woohyun would just leave him at the entrance and not care. Well, so much for thinking that Woohyun was warming up to him.

"What else do we have to get? Hurry up before I leave you again." Woohyun threatened. To him, it was an empty threat, but Sunggyu wasn't so sure. Sunggyu whipped out the neatly folded napkin from his pocket.

"Grade A eggs parentheses 3…?" He read off, furrowing his eyebrows at its unknown meaning. He heard Woohyun sigh.

"That's Boohyun's way of saying he needs three cartons of eggs." He said before heading in the supposed direction of the poultry. Sunggyu followed close behind, not wanting to get lost in this maze again.

But what are grade A eggs? Are there a difference between A and B eggs?

Sunggyu was clueless when it came to food. He never learned cooking terms, or what half the kitchen staff at his house used. What was a spatula? He didn't know. It was probably one of the many cons of his sheltered life, to say the least.

They stopped in front of a large freezer containing nothing but eggs. Sunggyu saw Woohyun's eyes scanning for the specific brand his brother wanted through the reflection of the glass. They were sharp and quick, only staying long enough to read the labels before moving to the next carton.

Without warning, Woohyun dropped the huge box of detergent into Sunggyu arms. Sunggyu let out a groan, adjusting his grip on the box by balancing it on the wall next to him. How could Woohyun carry this with one hand? It was at least 60 pounds!

Suddenly, the burden was lifted and was replaced with three cartons of grade A eggs. Sunggyu looked over at Woohyun who was, once again, holding the box with one arm. He was also staring at Sunggyu, waiting for the next set of directions.

"Oh uh…" Sunggyu fumbled to open the napkin with one hand holding the eggs. He regretted not grabbing a shopping cart when he walked in. "Cloves of garlic parentheses…seven?"

He was having trouble reading the list. Boohyun had written the number 2 with a horizontal line crossing through it, which people sometimes did to represent a 7. Luckily, seven seemed like the right number to Woohyun. They started heading to the fresh vegetables section. Sunggyu continued to read the list in his mind.

Two gallons of 1% milk…Six…se…sa…

The rest was Greek to him. He could barely make out the number 6, which looked like a big squiggle because Boohyun hadn't bothered to lift up the pen when he wrote the closing parentheses. Sunggyu looked up, Woohyun had gotten a shopping cart and the garlic.

Sunggyu blinked at the new additions. Woohyun must have left Sunggyu standing there while he got the cart. How was he so quiet? Sunggyu didn't even feel his presence disappear and reappear.

"What next?" Woohyun asked, seeing as how Sunggyu was spacing out. The question landed on deaf ears as the said man watched as red smoke made its way into the air, swirling and tumbling as Woohyun's sigh mixed with it.

Sunggyu was pulled from his daze, which he had been going into a lot ever since he encountered the Nams, when Woohyun took the list from his loose grip and read off the remaining items with ease.

"Two gallons of 1% milk, six bottles of sesame oil, three crates of onions, and…a pair of best friends to return home quickly." He trailed off. Woohyun glanced up at Sunggyu to see if he heard the last one. To his dismay, Sunggyu was staring back at him, amusement sparkling in his eyes.

Woohyun swiftly his heels, walking away from the now laughing older man. He gathered the rest of the items he read off and waited silently in the checkout line, all while ignoring Sunggyu, who kept poking fun at him. Woohyun sighed as he walked. Sunggyu kept repeating the line on the napkin, giggling each time like it was the funniest thing he ever heard.

"Aren't you older than me? You should you act your age." Woohyun glared at him. He didn't mean it to be that harsh, but Sunggyu's teasing was getting on his nerves. The laughing stopped.

It was peaceful again, leaving Woohyun content. The peaceful silence was short lived, as the mood soon became awkward.  Woohyun scratched the back of his head, using this chance to sneak a peak at Sunggyu.

His cracked wall crumbled a little more at the sight. Sunggyu had his head down, probably staring at his feet. He wasn't standing as straight as he was a minute ago, like his spirit was crushed. Woohyun felt a tsunami of guilt crash over him. He wanted to reach out and pat Sunggyu's shoulder, telling him he didn't mean it over and over until he believed it.

But of course, the crumbling wall still remained tall and unmoving.

~~~~~~~~

The walk home was less awkward – thanks to Sunggyu getting over it and apologizing to Woohyun for acting like a child, blaming it on his brother Sungyeol for rubbing off on him. The most Woohyun could do was repeat the apology, except with only one word.

"So what did Boohyun want, for us to be friends?" Sunggyu piped up after a few moments of silence. Woohyun visibly stiffened. There were so many ways Sunggyu could finish that sentence.

"Yeah, like that will ever happen." And "Is he trying to force me to be your friend?" And "Why would I want to be your friend?" kept replaying in his mind, like a song on loop.

"But aren't we already friends?"

Woohyun slowly turned to look at Sunggyu. Had he just imagined that? Sunggyu was facing forward, looking both ways before starting to cross the street. There was no way he heard correctly.

"What?" Woohyun asked, although not knowing if he asked it out loud or not. By now he was beyond confused. Sunggyu smiled and glanced down at the slightly shorter male.

"I said 'aren't we already friends?'" He repeated, quite amused. Woohyun looked absolutely baffled. It took a while for him to process what Sunggyu had said.

"Y-you idiot." Woohyun sped walked to the curb and turned the corner to the other block before he slowed down. Somehow, in just an hour, Sunggyu managed to break Woohyun's wall into pieces and make him act like a high school girl talking to her crush.

~~~~~~~~~~

Sunggyu was sitting in the living room with Sungjong. The TV was on but he couldn't hear it, he couldn't even hear Sungjong's loud squeal when his favorite girl group appeared, singing and dancing to their new song.

His voice…was transparent again. I thought now I could see his voice. I swear I saw it when he asked me to read the list and again when he called me an idiot…so why not when he scolded me?

~~~~~~~~~

Sorry for not updating during the weekend. Life happened. Anyways here is the other part of the shopping date. I had writer's block around the end and I literally almost put Sunggyu in the hospital. Be happy that I won't make this story angsty yet. YET.