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Grapes. Lots of grapes. Fresh orange juice. This exact hair oil. And.. crap. Mobius stared blankly into the cart he was leaning on, trying to remember what Loki had said.
He'd listed it off after him as Mobius had walked out the door, twirling his keys and shouting back, "I got it, baby, I got it!". He'd turned his head to look at him as he'd fumbled with the car lock, and Loki had stood in the doorway, arms crossed and glaring disbelievingly after him.
"Grapes. Green ones. Orange juice- fresh ," he'd emphasized, "I will not have stale orange juice. And cocoa powder. Get the expensive kind."
Mobius was already climbing into the car, and rolled down the window as soon as he'd turned the car on. "Honey, I'm-"
"And don't forget my oil!"
He'd shut his mouth quickly, giving Loki a look through the open window. To Loki's credit, he'd looked at least mildly bashful, but that hadn't stopped him from adding, "With pulp."
Mobius lifted his elbow and let it rest on the door, and said, "Honey, you know I don't like the pulp."
Loki stared neutrally and silently at Mobius, and only a moment passed before Mobius acquiesced, "Alright, alright, I'll get the pulp." He'd waved his hand a little dismissively, and pulled it back into the car, resting it on the steering wheel. "God, you're so convincing."
Loki had smiled just a little, pleased. "Lovely. I'm glad you could see reason. Do drive safely, darling."
The car started reversing down the driveway, and Mobius blew a kiss through the still-down window, shouting, "Love you!" as he curved to pull down the street.
In return, Loki had shouted, "Get enough grapes this time!"
You get too small a portion of grapes one time, and suddenly a guy is barely even allowed to go grocery shopping by himself. Anyway, cocoa powder. It's only a couple aisles over, and Mobius (pleased with his impeccable memory) whistles as he pushes the cart over.
He only gets a couple yards before he's stopped by a lady's voice. "Do you have a moment, sir?"
Mobius straightens up, turning to look at who's speaking. It's a young woman, standing behind a little stall with a bunch of white, paper cups. He looks a little above her, and there's a sign: Chuckie's Grilled Chicken .
He leans forward just a bit to peer into the paper cups, and sees a tiny portion of shredded grilled chicken. Despite the nature of sample stalls, there's a bit of steam rising off the chicken, and it doesn't actually look unappealing.
"Well," Mobius says, "I've got a minute for free food." He grins at himself, and the woman smiles back, polite.
"I'm so glad." She said, uninvested in her job. "Did you know Chuckie's only uses free-range chickens?"
"No, I didn't." In truth, Mobius had never heard of Chuckie's Grilled Chicken in his life. But as he's reaching over, grabbing for two cups, he's willing to listen to whatever this lady's required to tell him and pretend otherwise.
The woman raises her hand, hovering near the samples in a way that made him pause before he could take them, and explains very patiently, "I'm sorry, sir, but it's one per customer."
"Oh." Mobius looks down into the cups again, wondering if he really needs one. But it does look pretty good. And he doesn't want to leave Loki out. "Well," he starts, "One of em's for my, uhh. Boy- uh, g- my lover." Inwardly, he winces a little, because that kind of poetic language feels foreign coming out of his mouth, but he hadn't gotten a chance to ask which term was appropriate today and they still preferred it over 'partner'. They'd been partners once, and it had been less fun than what they had now.
She tightened her lips for a moment, seemingly thinking about it, before she lowered her hand. "Alright," she shrugged one shoulder a bit, "If it's for your lover." The skin around her eyes crinkled as she smiled quietly, and she picked up two cups herself, holding them out for Mobius.
He took them from her, one in each hand, and grinned again. "They'll love it. Thanks a bunch." She smiled again, closed-lipped but warm, and turned to the next customer. He set the cups carefully in the top of the cart, and moved on to the baking aisle, resuming his whistling.
Shortly after, Mobius was suffering through the chill outside, loading the few items into the passenger seat would they would be very reachable. He'd already eaten his chicken while he was waiting in line, but Loki's was still sitting in the cart, and it was getting cold.
He glanced around. Locked the car quickly, and grabbed the cart, moving it over to the side of the store. Whistling, he leaned down, and collected a handful of twigs from the small trees lining the fence there. He arranged them into a bonfire sort of shape, and then patted the front of his jacket down. Reaching into one pocket, he pulled out a lighter. It only took a few moments to start a small fire, and he straightened, picking up the small cup of chicken.
Kneeling down, he placed the cup in its entirety on top of the small fire, watching as it quickly caught on the oil-soaked bottom and spread to the top. Mobius closed his eyes and mumbled to himself for a long few seconds, before opening his eyes to see the charred remains of the chicken sitting in the flames, amongst the ash of the cup.
Pleased, he stood and wiped off his knees, before thoroughly stomping out the fire. He glanced around again, and kicked the burnt sticks to the side a little, before grabbing the cart and returning it back to the store.
As he was approaching the car, digging in his pockets for the keys, his phone started to ring. Reaching into the other pocket, he pulled it out.
Mobius grinned when he saw who it was, answering the call and lifting it to his ear. "Hi, honey."
"What was that?"
Glancing back at the sacrificial site once more, he answered simply, "Chicken. You liked it? Lady at the store gave it to me for free."
Mobius could practically hear the squinted eyes and furrowed brow through the line. "Why was a woman at the grocery store providing you with free chicken. What did you give her in return."
"She looked like she was in college, kitten." Mobius chuckled, lifting his shoulder to hold the phone as he found the right key on the chain. "Bit too young for my tastes. And she gave it to me because it's what she was employed to do."
Loki hummed softly. "I liked it. Smokey."
"That might've been because of the fire. Hard to say." Mobius climbed into the driver's seat, transferring his phone to the other ear to put his seatbelt on. "Gotta go, hon. I'll be home in ten, alright?"
"Alright." There was quiet for a moment, and then Loki asked, "Did you get the caramel I asked for?"
.. Shit. Mobius glanced at the passenger seat. Grapes. Orange juice. Oil. Cocoa powder.
And caramels.
"... Yes." Mobius said, pulling the key out of the ignition and opening the car door. "I did. But actually, make that twenty."
"Mobius-"
"Alright, love you, bye honey!"