The Queer as Folk Grocery Store Challenge

Unexpected Joint Excursions and Not-Quite Deja-vu
by Viola / Viola69

With his list oddly clutched between his elbow & body, Justin juggled the oddly shaped cylinders trying to make a decision. Having worked methodically down the list and in order of serving, this was the last item and part of dessert. He had lost Brian awhile ago, and wasn’t sure if he should hurry for fear of Brian cruising the produce aisle or take his time since Brian had already ran out of patience and was now on his 2nd drink at Woody’s or 2nd trick at Babylon. If it wasn’t clothes or furnishings, Brian’s shopping threshold was very small.

It had in fact surprised Justin when Brian had opted to come with him to the grocery store, after the zucchini debacle there had been few joint ventures out shopping last time around. Joint trips to Woody's, Babylon, the Baths or any other number of places with the express purpose of tricking, yes. But trips together to do something as mundane as shopping that could unexpectedly turn into a trick, no. Trips out that felt nearly unbearably domestic and normal only to feel the weight of how un-normal their relationship was at any point in the proceedings had been something Justin ardently avoided. Things were different now, not only his expectations but well, both of their expectations.

But since today would be the first day that he was no longer paying rent or storing his worldly possessions any where other than the Loft, and given that this would be the first trip to the grocery store for more than a single meal’s worth of food since their ‘reunification’, Justin just hadn’t expected Brian to elect to come with him. With little fanfare Justin had mentioned that not only were the cupboards bare, but he wanted to try out the fondue pot before it and it’s box went up into a back corner to collect dust. The list of ingredients for a full-blown 4 course fondue meal was already folded unobtrusively in his back pocket. Surprises and celebrations were always hit and more likely miss with Brian, so while wanting to commemorate the day, Justin also didn’t want to draw too much attention to it being a celebration.

The fondue pot had been a present from his Dad’s aunt, the one relative from that side of the family that had continued to send him cards and presents. For some reason it never got opened or used in the Ethan-era in which it arrived and hadn’t even made the trip to Daphne’s, going instead with other boxes of excess stuff to his Mom’s. Christening it in on the same day that saw the arrival of the last of his accumulated net worth under Brian’s guidance seemed a nice way to herald the start of their 3rd or was it 4th, joint domicile living adventure.

He shook worries of Brian’s location off as he pondered anew which chocolate powder to throw into the cart. While money wasn’t the concern it once was, he still found himself debating price and quality. Hershey’s had tradition and price and years of growing up with Hershey’s chocolate in cookies and hot cocoa, but Ghiradelli had added richness and sinful candy bars, and then there was Godiva. Godiva that tasted and sounded too decadent for childhood. Godiva chocolate that he could now see hot & syrup-y drizzled on body parts to be savored by slow licks… The other canisters were hastily thrown onto the shelf, and with a quick adjustment of his pants he maneuvered the cart to do a quick sweep for Brian and then to the quickest check-out lane.

As he came round the corner the deja-vu nearly catapulted him backwards in time, there Brian was perusing the size of various squash while nearby a leather-clad brunette none-too-subtly cruised. After the first knee-gut reaction, Justin was able to push past what once was, to see the clear difference in what was before him now. See not only the subtle differences in Brian’s hair, face and body that had happened over the last 2 years, the ones that weren’t necessarily noticeable from this distance but he could see from having seen them up close and having captured them with pencil, charcoal, paint and computer graphics, but also how oblivious Brian seemed to his two observers. And here under the glare of the harsh fluorescent lights and surrounded by dull, unimaginative colored walls and tile and the chaotic jumbling of produce and signs hawking this week’s specials, Justin found himself wanting paper and something, anything to capture the beauty of the man before him.

“Hey, are you done with that list of yours so we can get out of here?” Brought abruptly out of his thoughts, Justin found Brian not only standing right beside him but transferring items from his basket into the cart and pulling some items out of the cart. Justin stood still transfixed as Brian took the basket now holding various vegetables and fruit for dipping and set it on top a display of organic beans on sale. “And I’m warning you now; I still don’t do coupons, so if you have any tucked away in your pockets just leave them there. Or better yet, throw them in the empty cart for the next fag to count his pennies and save.”

Pushing forward, he could only smile as Brian fell in step behind him, fingers hooked along his waist line, and warm breath tickled his neck. “When we get home I’m going to demonstrate how to pick a ripe produce since you haven’t seemed to master that yet.” And the smile grew as he felt hands touching, poking, thumping, grabbing. “How with the right touch and a good ear you can distinguish between too green, too ripe and what will be ready to eat by the time you get it home.”

THE END