"Did you get everything?" I peaked around the aisle to see Garou staring at a shelf of different types of cereal. His attention snapped back to me at the sound of my voice, nodding his head. "Yeah, I'm good." I pushed the cart up to him as he took one last glance at the colorful boxes. "What, you want a limited edition prize or something?" I nudged his side teasingly, only to get a smack on the head. "No! I'm just bored out of my mind waiting for you to hurry up and finish!"

I puffed out my cheeks, rubbing the spot where he had hit me. "Fine, you have to push the cart now! And forget about the ice cream!"

"Oh c'mon, that's just cruel, Y/n!" Garou leaned against the cart, his eyes narrowed while I walked on ahead to the cash registers. Still pouting, I stomped on, ignoring him completely. "Y/n! It was a joke!" Garou grabbed my arm, looking just as pouty as I did. We held each other's stare, until finally I gave in with a small laugh. "Fine, fine, let's go."

We were back in line, this time, though, both of us happily licking up the drips of our icy vanilla treats. "You weren't kidding earlier! This stuff is great..." Garou was basically attacking his cone, resorting to biting pieces of it off and getting the melted parts all over his face. I giggled, handing him a paper napkin with an eyebrow raised. "You're making a mess..."

"I am?" He cocked his head before running his tongue all over his lips. "There, I got it all right?"

"Well, if you're not counting this part," I grabbed my own napkin and rubbed his chin with it. "And here," I moved to the tip of his nose, wiping there. "Oh, and right here too." I finished by cleaning the last of it that was on his cheek. "I could of gotten it by myself..." Garou snatched the napkin away, grinning all the same which made his normally threatening nature fade away.

"Whoa, who's this?" I whipped around to see a familiar cashier ringing up our groceries. "Yuki!" A male that was an old friend of mine pushed some of his brown hair back with a smirk. "Long time no see, huh, Y/n."

"I saw you last week though..."

"That's a long time!"

Garou crunched on his cone while glaring at Yuki, clearly uncomfortable with the situation. "Oh, sorry, Garou. This is Yuki. Yuki, this is Garou." I gestured to each person, Yuki raising his hand in a lazy wave. "What's up, new guy?" Garou's eyes narrowed even more, finishing the last bit of his cone in one bite. "Grocery shopping." Yuki chuckled at his dry response, his green eyes flashing with the annoyance that he was trying to hide. "Really now?"

The tension between the two of them made me fidget and I began to dig through my backpack, pretending that I was looking for my wallet. I pulled out my credit card and paid, Yuki and Garou still staring each other down. "Well," I spoke up to break their gazes. "We should probably be getting back now... See ya later, Yuki!" His face immediately melted into a smile, winking at me. "For sure! I'll stop by the cafe some time soon."

"Sounds good!" I waved to him as Garou pushed the cart and dragged me by the arm. "C'mon, let's go home already..."

We both grabbed some of the bags and shoved the cart back into the holding area. Garou was stonily silent on the way back, making the trip a lot more uncomfortable than what I had hoped for. Before I could think of something to say, he spoke up. "Who was that guy?"

"Oh, Yuki? He's an old friend of mine from high school,"

"I didn't like him."

His quick response made me blink hard in shock; I could tell that Garou wasn't being exactly friendly, but I never expected him to be so blunt about it. "Why not? He's really a nice guy once you get to know him."

"He was pissing me off." Garou answered simply, shifting his shoulders uncomfortably. "But how was he pissing you off?"

"He just was."

I sighed at his useless response. "Well, you're gonna have to deal with it. That's the closest grocery store and since I don't have a car, it's convenient not to have to carry all this that far." I lifted one of my hands that was clutching a couple bags. "I'll carry them then... It doesn't bother me." Garou stubbornly pressed on, narrowing his yellow eyes at me. I glared back at him; I wasn't going to change my daily life just because he couldn't get along with one of my friends.

"Oh well, guess I'll have to go by myself then. Too bad, really... On Fridays they have other flavors than just vanilla." That caught his attention; Garou stopped glaring at me and instead was staring wide eyed with wonder. "Other... Other flavors?! Like what?!"

I smirked, knowing that I had him locked in now. "It changes every week. So I guess if you wanted to try them, you'd have to come with me..." He paused, thinking it over intently. "I really hate what you're doing... But I hate the fact that it worked even more." Garou crossed his arm, averting his eyes while I grinned confidently.

When we got back, I started to put up all the groceries, Garou mostly watching me to get a feel of where everything went around the kitchen. After I had stuffed away the last bit, I washed my hands and turned back to him as he played with a pen that I left on the counter. "Ready?" His head perked up, obviously needing something to entertain him besides a pen. "Yeah, let's go."

As we walked toward the shopping district, the streets became denser by the step until it was to the point that we couldn't even walk next to one another any more. People squeezed to fill in any open space, forcing me to try and push my way through to keep up with Garou's long strides. "Hey, watch it!" Someone shoved me back, another cutting me off in my moment of imbalance. I had faltered for only a couple seconds, but when I looked back up, he was nowhere to be seen.

"Garou?!" My voice was easily drowned out by the noise of the street and I wasn't tall enough to see above the crowd. "Garou!" I tried again, only to get strange looks as people moved me along with sheer force. Panic began to creep up on me, latching onto my heart, when a large, familiar hand grabbed my wrist. I was pulled, toward the body, a pair of intense yellow eyes staring down at me.

Once I caught sight of him, I practically fell into Garou, wrapping my arms around him with a sigh. "Don't just leave me like that, you jerk!" His muscular body was stiff, his hands hovering over my back like they didn't know what to do. When he didn't respond or even hug me back, I looked up to see his face frozen in distress. "You know, usually when people hug you, you hug them back."

"Ah, sorry..." His hands hesitantly came down, laying limply on my back. "Is... Is that better?" Garou still looked completely lost, just staring back at me, almost frightened. Holding back a sigh, I brought my head against his chest, his heart pounding loud for me to hear. "Yeah... It's fine..." Giving him a small squeeze, I let my arms fall down as I took a small step back.

"So where do you wanna go?" I motioned to the vast amount of stores, trying to release Garou from his shocked state while hoping that I could possibly swallow down the sadness that was bubbling up within me. He gave me a smirk, tapping his finger against his chin. "Well..."

"Really?! You're getting that?!" Garou had a couple sets of the exact same outfit draped over his arm, leaving me in disbelief. "What do you mean?! These are great clothes!"

"It's a black long sleeve and some baggy white pants."

"It's martial art clothing, okay?! Damn, let me choose what I want..." Garou checked all the sizing one more time before heading for the register as I dragged my feet behind him. Once we got in line, he held his hand out expectantly for the credit card. I let out an exaggerated sigh, pulling out the card in only the most dramatic fashion. "My credit card company is totally gonna flag this..." Garou only chuckled, plucking the precious piece of plastic from between my fingers. "Thank you,"

"You better find a way to make some money to help pay for all of this..." My complaint went unregistered as Garou handed over the clothes, already swiping the card like a pro. Before he could savor the power any longer, I snatched it back. "Don't get used to doing that." This time Garou laughed, accepting the plastic bag and receipt from the cashier. "I've lived this long without much money. I think that I'll be fine."

"You say that now..." I continued to be annoying, mostly upset that he didn't want to try on something a little different; it's not like I had been thinking up different outfits or anything. Nope, definitely nothing like that. While I was pouting, I felt a hand slip into mine, holding it tightly. The sudden contact was enough to jolt me out of my sulking, heat already starting to travel to my face. "G-Garou?"

"Better like this than for you to get lost again, right?" He glanced down with a teasing grin, erasing any questions that I had. "Of course he's not holding your hand because of that! Stupid Y/n!" As I mentally chided myself, Garou cleared his throat, this time a faint hint of pink resting on his naturally tan complexion. "I don't really know how to say this, but... Well, thank you. For letting me stay and buying me this stuff. It's just really nice and... Yeah."

I was silent for a while, simply staring at him, his awkwardness surprisingly endearing. "You could, I don't know, say something?" Garou scratched the side of his face, unable to take my gaze any longer. I giggled at his words, my whole body relaxing slightly. "Sorry... But, no worries. I really don't mind and, so far, I've been enjoying your company. You just caught me off guard with that," We locked eyes again, this time a soft smile playing with my lips. "Maybe it's just me, but it seemed really cute!"

After I said that, Garou's face went from a subtle pink to a flaming red. "Wait, what?! It wasn't... I wasn't..." His words trailed away as he tried to put thoughts together with his face on fire. I couldn't help but let out a laugh, nudging him lightly. "Hey, don't let it go to your head! I never called you cute,"

"Yeah, yeah..."

As we walked on, hand in hand, I tried to figure out who that sentence was actually trying convince; Garou or myself.

*Bonus Scene*

I walked into my room in my baggy shirt and panties, yawning, ready to call it a day. Lazily, I opened one eye to see Garou sprawled out on my bed, wearing a tee shirt and boxers. "Eh?! What are you doing here?!" I pointed at him, suddenly very aware of our lack of clothing on either person. He glanced at me with a raised eyebrow. "Waiting for you so that I can go to sleep?"

"What are you talking about?! You can't sleep here!" Blush started to burn on my face as I furiously tried to explain the situation. "Why not?! We slept together last night!" Garou was now sitting all the way up, still completely confused on why sleeping together wasn't technically okay.

A sigh escaped my lips; I was too tired to deal with this right now. "Okay, fine," I pulled back the covers, handing him one of my pillows. "But, just know, I kick in my sleep." Garou grabbed the pillow with a grin. "I think that I'll be fine." I climbed into bed and just as I was getting settled, I felt Garou wrap his arms around me, putting both of us on our sides.

His touch made me wide awake, my face heating up. "Garou-"

"You said that you kick in your sleep. This'll keep both of us safe." His smooth response quickly shut me up, leaving me with no reason to protest considering that I was quite comfortable like this. "I'm never gonna get a boyfriend at this rate..." I whispered to myself with a hopeless grin.

"Say something?" Garou's low voice teased me, his response letting me know that he heard every word. "No, nothing. Goodnight."

"Night."

There was a pause of silence before habit got the best of me. "Have sweet dreams," Garou let out a small laugh and I could practically see his smile as he squeezed me a little tighter. "You too, Y/n."