It's purely coincidence that Tao passes by just as the sound of falling boxes rings out through the aisle.

He stops short, the weight of his shopping cart tugging him forward a bit with it's weight, and stares at the odd sight.

A man who looks like some sort of geeky, college professor in a younger man's body, is flailing beneath the weight of at least thirty cereal boxes. A few more fall off the shelf, bouncing on his head on their way down, and Tao has to bite his lip from laughing hysterically. It's not nice to laugh at a stranger's pain (well, most of the time).

A box of Rice Crispies slides over the tiled floor and bumps against Tao's boot, much to his joy. That's why he came down this aisle in the first place.

"Well, I got my cereal at least." the man on the floor sighs, clutching at a box of Coco Puffs like a lifeline and Tao can't stop the shriek of laughter that tears itself from his throat. The man jumps, cereal box falling from his grasp and he blushes, red creeping up from beneath his collar and over his ears. "Oh my god, did you see all of that?!" His voice has gone high and panicky and the man drops his head into his hands, mortified.

Still giggling, Tao turns his cart down the aisle, stopping where the mountain of boxes ends. "You poor thing." He snickers, dropping his Rice Crispies into his cart before crouching down and starting to move the rest of the boxes to the side. The man, still red, joins in silently, replacing the cereal on the shelf level closest to him. "How did you even manage this?"

The man waves the box of Coco Puffs. "They were on the top shelf, in the back..."

Tao sits back on his heels, pausing his actions for a moment so he could look the stranger over. "Did you climb on the shelf to get them or something? You don't look tall enough to reach back there."

"Maybe," the flush, which had finally begun to retreat, floods back at full strength. He ducked his head and quickened his pace at replacing the boxes.

Cute, Tao thought.

Once they cleared enough room for the man to stand up, Tao offered him a hand and lifted him easily, flushing a bit himself when the man stumbled into his arms.

"What the hell?" a deep voice rang out through the aisle, making them jump apart like they were electrocuted. A rather distressed employee stood at the end of the aisle, not looking at the pair of men, but at the disarrayed cereal boxes all over the floor. The boy looked like he might cry. "I told them to fix that shelf... Now I'm going to have to reorganize everything."

"Sorry," Coco Puffs man, for lack of a proper name, apologizes sheepishly, clutching the box of cereal he'd been after all along.

"It's not your fault," the employee says glumly, toeing at one of the boxes by his feet. "That shelf broke last week and hasn't been replaced yet. You're not hurt, are you?"

The stranger shook his head no, hugging the Coco Puffs to his chest and looking rather like a child in his large, pink sweater and floppy bangs. "No. I'll just... get out of your way now. I put some of them back..."

"It's fine," the employee sighed, waving them off. "I'll just call the guy who didn't replace them in to fix this. That'll teach him."

Tao tugged at the stranger's sleeve, slowly pulling him away from the employee, who was now muttering things about revenge and lazy boys who needed to get off their asses and do something when he tells them to.

"Thank you," the shorter man breathes out quietly as they round their way into the next aisle. "For helping me, I mean. I'm Joonmyeon."

"Tao," the taller greets, smiling a slow, toothy smile that leaves Joonmyeon looking a little dazed.

The shorter man seems like the complete opposite of Tao, all soft edges and shades of pastel where Tao is sharp and dressed in the colors of the night.

Tao finds that he rather likes the contrast and makes himself a promise to get Joonmyeon's number on the way to the checkout line.

After all, who knows when he'll need saving from anymore cereal boxes?