Shop Till You Drop

Rolling the cart down the aisles, a long wiry tail plucked things off the shelves as a blond haired boy rolled it on by. Rushing over straight after school, it was the one day of the week when no one was able to make plans with the fiery young high schooler. No one even knew what he was up to during these times, not caring enough to pry further whenever Rayden told them it was none of their business. Not to sass his friends or anything, he just didn't want them knowing about the super sale at his favorite little corner shop every week. They had a limited amount of stock and if the kids blabbed to their parents about it, they'd get there before he could at the end of the day.

There was one at least that knew about this. The dragon that had taken to following around the declared rider. Currently hiding out in Rayden's shadow, every now and then he would reach up to grab something he knew was on the list of things to get. Sometimes cans or boxes were hidden in the very back of the shelves or stashed behind other things. This was where the dragon's true sight came in handy. Another thing it came in handy for would happen to be spotting out anyone trying to tail his rider, but Darkness was positive they weren't out to harm Rayden.

“Rai desires cornflakes!” The booming voice shouted from the safety of Adam’s shoulder. Making a few people jump as Adam just kept looking at the long aisle of snacks before him.

“Yes, yes, I know. Cornflakes for the cornflake god...” Adam still regretted letting Rai sit on his laptop at home when he was busy at school or on important trips that dragons couldn’t be taken on. He had started learning so many weird things when he wasn’t there to tell him no.

“Cornflakes for the--!”

“Yes, yes, cornflake god. I know Rai, I know...” He usually didn’t have too hard of a time picking, having a few favorites that he always fell back on, but recently he had been craving something different. It wasn’t the usual potato chips, ruffled or otherwise, or even those always delicious chocolate that satisfied him so. Even the cheeto puffs of temporary joy, nor factory baked cookies, or sweet gummy goodies, they all didn’t call to him today and he didn’t know why.

“Yes, I’ll remember to pick up cornflakes, just give me a moment...” Turning as he saw a flash of familiar color, Adam stared at Rayden as he quickly hurried away and his desire for food was abandoned as he ran after that boy. “I see you there, don’t you avoid me!” He called after the fleeing other, dropping his basket for now to come back to later before he finally tackled Rayden and slid across the ground.

“RAI DEMANDS CORNFLAKES STILL!”

Minding his own business, Rayden had gone down the cereal aisle and was holding up two boxes. One he knew the kids loved, but was pure sugar incarnate, the other that was healthier for them, but was such a pain to get them to eat. Looking back and forth between them, he really wanted to get both so they'd have one for the weekends and the other for weekdays, but their budget was too tight this week. Thanks to a certain small, the toilet had gotten flooded with rolls of toilet paper, making a new demand for the paper as well as the need for a plumber to come fix it.

Hearing the demand for cornflakes from a voice that very much sounded like his fathers, he hummed and nodded. "I guess it is cheaper and sort of both. Thanks da-" Blinking for a moment, he swore his dad was currently in another country for the rest of the month. He'd have a lot of questions if they were suddenly beside him giving him advice on cereal. Turning though, it certainly wasn't them. Oh no. Instead, he saw that fiery red hair of someone he very much wasn't about right now. As soon as they made eye contact, Rayden dropped the box to the floor as well. "Quick, go pay and meet me at home!" he yelled at the dragon, its incorporeal form rising up as a tattered arm caught the box before it smack against the ground.

Oozing out of the ground, the dark mass had all three pairs of arms out. Watching Adam zoom by, he let them go, simply pushing the cart more slowly after the two since Rayden had forgotten to toss him the wallet as well.

"FUCK!!" the screech soon came after a thud, Darkness rounding a corner to see his rider struggling with Adam on his back, "Get the hell off me, what's the matter with you!? Who just tackles someone in the middle of the grocery store?"

Not one to live down his name as the fast little asshole he was, Adam took no time to tackle that blond male to the ground that he loved to bother so. Sure, he could have been more gentle, but what fun was that? It would have also possibly ended up in failure, as Rayden was trying to get away from him even if he failed to do so this time.

“I DEMAND--”

“Rai, hush it, I am playing with my favorite golden retriever.” Smiling at Rayden as he tried to squish at the other’s pale face, Adam was unbothered and most of the force was taken by Rayden. “If you didn’t just sprint away, maybe i wouldn’t have to tackle you to the ground!” He told his bond partner.

Around the teenagers, a few had stopped, but many went about life and just stepped over limbs and around them. Adam was a regular in this shop, coming in many times of week to pick up food that came in the form of snacks that would only keep his hungry stomach at bay until the next day at school where he’d scoff something down to fill the void a little longer.

Huffing, the small fire dragon flopped onto Rayden’s face, very much not enjoying the sudden rush he felt from Adam and now the chill moment of laying on the hard laminated floors. Crawling to his face, he gently chomped down on Rayden’s nose, of course just showing dominance over the other as Adam eventually shooed him back to his shoulder as he kept Rayden pinned down. It wasn’t a rough bite, but still one none the same that left Adam displeased with his antics.

“So what cha doing here Rayden? Is this what you abandoned study for today? Some shopping?” He would have though the other was off having fun, maybe having a small party with his derpy friends, or maybe at some event for one or more of the kids. But it seemed shopping was what Rayden was doing today, trying to hide away from all familiar faces. “All the same, let’s pay for these groceries and head on back to make dinner kids, doesn’t that sound like a wonderful idea?”

Raising a hand towards one of the shoppers, Rayden screed for help that was simply ignored. Sure the store was on the smaller side, but he wished at least one of them would act like something was out of the norm for this situation. "Fuck off!" he continued with the profanities, not having a filter as he struggled against the other holding him down. "You're both little assholes you know that?!" he huffed, unable to swat at the dragon that was more annoying than painful. Adam might be that little bit shorter than him, but he had the high ground right now. He had seen that red head run and boy was he athletic as well. It didn't really make sense for him to have run from that speed demon, but Rayden would be damned if he wouldn't try it again. "I never invited you over, just let me up so I can go already!"

The only thing to really pay attention to the two would have to be Darkness. The dark dragon roaming over with the cart. Stationing it out of everyone else's way, he slowly drifted his way over like a ghost. Hovering over Adam briefly, he reached around the other as if in a hug so that he could pat Rayden down. All three sets of arms out and causing a sudden fit of giggles from the blond until he found their wallet and pulled it out. Without much more words, Darkness went right back to that cart to start his way over to the checkout line to wait.

“Keyword is yet on that one.” Looking up as a set of eyes stared at him, Adam just gave his sweet smile to one of the cashiers as she waved back. Though paying mind, she knew better than to try and stop any of Adam’s more harmless antics and just walked off back to work. That left poor Rayden still desiring the sweet release but Adam wasn’t so cruel to keep them on the floor all day now. As fun as that sounded, he didn’t want to heave Rayden getting sore on him before the fun even started.

“ADAM, THE CORNFLAKES!”

“Rai, calm your dragon tits.” Adam huffed, just enjoying the flailing Rayden who wanted nothing but ups. “If you invite me over right now I’ll get up and we can just head right off. Easy if I do say so myself, I’ll even buy all the supplies for dinner or it can be my treat, whatever you pick.”

Trying to offer a decently sweet deal, he did eyebrow wiggle at that boy as he couldn’t help but enjoy that reetastic face. “Or, you can give me a kiss and I’ll be on my way, one of those nice kisses though. No small little pecks. Or we can lay here all day, I have nothing to do, and definitely no homework that is due on Monday.”

Squinting as best he could from under the other, Rayden was about to suggest Adam go visit the bottom of the ocean first. No matter what he listed however, the option just kept getting worse and worse. Groaning, he thumped his forehead against the cold ground since he was already getting a headache from his tutor. Taking in a deep breath, Rayden was the type of person more willing to give in to whatever caused him the least amount of trouble when given a bunch of option. One thing, he could say yes or no to easily, but when he had the option to pick which he'd rather, instead of going with none of the above, he'd always select the least troublesome one.

"I'll lead the way," he finally gave in. He supposed he did have homework to finish. Plus it was sort of the perfect timing to make this flirtatious rich kid give up a bit of charity.

Darkness still having a couple people ahead of him, he could sense those feelings of begrudging acceptance from his rider. Soon followed by orders to go ahead with the checkout line, but wait for Adam to get over there to pay for it. A good boy that does as he's asked, Darkness nodded from a distance. Rayden doubted it would take Adam that long to get over there.