Grocery shopping combined two of Blane’s least favorite things: people, and waiting for them to stop being dumb. He gritted his teeth as yet another middle-aged lady glued to her iPhone cut him off, meandering in front of the aisle entrance. She stopped there to admire whatever was on her screen.

Oh my god. Get me out of here.

Blane huffed loudly and pointedly, but the lady didn’t pay him any attention, just wandered slowly forward, still glued to her phone as he waited.

When he could get by, he made a beeline for the chips and stuffed them into his cart, then looked around. Anything else? Dammit, he’d forgotten cheese.

Back to the coolers, around more groups of people milling around as if they had no idea what food was or how to prepare it, and he grabbed cheddar cheese.

“Fancy meeting you here.”

Before he snapped at whoever it was, Blane turned to see.

Oh. His jaw almost dropped. Falcon. In a moment, his mood was jolted away, cleared as if a ray of sun had broken through the angry gray clouds above. “H-Hey.”

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” Falcon laughed, his voice light. He seemed constantly cheerful—he’d hardly been without a smile, except when he was absorbed in his work.

Meanwhile, Blane was very conscious of his stiff expression. He tried on a smile in return, fingers curling tightly around the handlebar of his shopping cart. He was suddenly self-conscious of its contents.

Falcon’s eyes drifted down to it for a moment, and then he nodded to his own basket. “We have the same tastes. I tried keto a few months ago, but I just about ate the muffin man.”

There he went again, startling a laugh out of Blane before he knew it. “That would be a shame.”

“Mmm.” Falcon winked. “So I’ve relaxed a bit, but it’s hard not to slip up. I end up in the gym working off those pretzels…”

Blane blushed, thinking of the chips front and center in his cart. “Yeah. Exactly.”

“So, are you stalking me?”

It took a second for that to sink in. Blane’s brows furrowed. “I… what? No.”

Falcon waggled his phone at him. “I saw the distance when you messaged me the other day. Less than a mile? We must live close by.”

“Oh.” Blane hadn’t even thought to check Falcon’s Grindr profile again when messaging. “That’s… sort of creepy. Are you stalking me?”

“Technically, the app is. I’m just observing the data it provides,” Falcon grinned, and Blane chuckled.

“Okay, I’ll let you off.”

There was an awkward pause as Blane realized that he’d now become one of those assholes cutting off everyone who was trying to get to the cheese cooler.

Oh well. Motherfuckers were standing exactly in my way for the last half-hour. They can wait thirty seconds to get their precious Brie.

“Maybe I don’t want you to let me off,” Falcon countered with a grin. “You have a number?”

“A… phone… yes. I mean, uh, sure.” Blane wasn’t used to cute, eager, and forthright in one package. Just thinking that word made him flush with heat as he swapped phones with Falcon to type his number in.

“There.” Falcon beamed at him. “Now I can stop worrying Grindr will fuck up.”

Blane relaxed again and laughed under his breath. “Yeah. It does that sometimes, doesn’t it?”

“God. You ever lose all your fucking conversations before? What a pain in the ass.”

Blane winced. “Yeah. And when you accidentally block someone…”

“And you have to decide whether you unblock everyone you’ve ever blocked, just to get them back? I did that once.” Falcon groaned. “Cue every fifty-something married daddy looking for a pretty smooth twink slave.”

Holy shit. Falcon had said that in public, in the middle of the grocery store? Blane was turning bright red, but he couldn’t remember the last time he’d laughed so richly. He was a little too buff to attract that kind of attention, but he knew the guys Falcon meant. “Or every gold-digger who thinks that vets make a lot of money. Weird, huh?”

“What?” Falcon furrowed his brows. “They do? Dude, try being an artist. That’ll solve your problem. It’s basically code for unemployed. Eligible but shallow men scatter like bachelorette parties at a leather night.”

An older couple nearby stared at them and walked quickly away, as if afraid they had smallpox or something.

Blane had to lean on his cart, he was laughing so hard. Falcon’s grin was bright and unrepentant. And yeah, he’d briefly thought unemployed too, but he’d given Falcon a chance and learned better.

They walked together down the nearest aisle, not really looking at the shelves around them. “Just about done shopping?” Falcon asked.

“Yeah. That was it. You?”

“A couple more things. Peanut butter, good source of protein. Pineapple, in case I get lucky…”

Blane’s cheeks were on fire, but he found himself strangely not caring who overheard. At least the bastards gave them space now. “This is a great shopping strategy.”

“What, be loudly gay and watch them flee in terror? It works on the bus, too. If you need elbow room, start scrolling through Grindr,” Falcon winked. “Ah, man. When I got my own car… everything got better.”

“I had one since I was, like, sixteen,” Blane chuckled. It was pretty middle-class of him, but his parents had bought him one.

“Lucky. I had a boyfriend with one…” Falcon trailed off, scrutinizing him for a second as if to see if he was okay with the reference. Of course he was. He had no right to be jealous over a guy he’d just gotten the number of.

“Yeah?”

Falcon grimaced. “He was a dick in the end, but at least he drove me places. Mostly his dorm, so we could fool around without my parents finding out.” He was laughing again.

“Sorry,” Blane frowned. “Your parents don’t know?”

“Funny story, actually,” Falcon laughed. They were almost at the checkouts. He looked at them, then back at Blane. “But maybe I’ll save it for the date.”

“Oh. The date,” Blane repeated, trying not to sound dumb. His expression brightened. “Yeah. That’s only a few days now. Are you coming to the zoo again before then?”

“I thought I might. Unlimited membership, baby,” Falcon laughed. “And you could use some cheering up at work, huh?”

“Who said I needed cheering up?”

“Your face says it all.” Falcon reached out to pinch his chin and pulled a mock-stern face. “Yelling at the poor visitors…”

Blane slapped his hand away but chuckled. “Yelling is a bit harsh. I might have told you off…”

“All growly while you did. Rrrawr.” Falcon unloaded his cart onto the checkout aisle while Blane stood there, not even sure how to react.

Falcon poked him in the stomach with the end of the checkout divider, then slapped it on the belt.

Wordlessly, Blane unpacked the cart while Falcon chuckled at him.

He was just so… out there. Sure, he’d met outgoing guys before. He could be outgoing himself in the right circumstances. But Falcon seemed determined to coax laughter out of him and everyone around.

Falcon was kind of adorable.

And he had a dick ex? This didn’t sound like a great story for a first date, but Blane was willing to wait if Falcon wasn’t ready to talk about it yet. That did give him pause to think for a second, though.

He’s hitting on me, for sure. But for more than sex? I don’t know. Don’t come on too strong, if he’s had a bad experience. It doesn’t seem that bad, though, since he’s laughing about it.

Falcon made the checkout clerk laugh by talking about his reusable bags, and then stood nearby, waiting for Blane to check out. Once they were out of the store, Falcon broke his reverie by snapping his fingers.

“Yoohoo. Earth to Blane. So, did you find everything you’re looking for?”

The question made Blane smile, but he tilted his head. “What?”

Falcon sighed at him and rolled his eyes. “What are you looking for?”

“Oh.” This question. Blane cleared his throat. “I, uh… I don’t know. Fun, dates, see what happens. I want a relationship sometime, but with the right guy.”

“And you’ll never know the right guy until you test a few out, huh?” Falcon grinned at him.

“Well, yeah. How else do you know your chemistry? If you don’t click in bed…” Blane trailed off. Did that come off as shallow? “That’s not important to some people, but to me it is.”

“Oh, yeah. Me too.” Falcon slowed his cart, nodding as they approached a small silver hatchback. “There’s my car. So, what are you doing after this?”

“After this?” Blane looked around into the dark evening as if it would offer up answers. “Uh. Nothing?”

Falcon opened the hatch of his trunk to load groceries in. “What would you like to be doing?”

“Are you…” Blane trailed off, his cheeks flushing. “Picking me up in a grocery store?”

“No. A parking lot. Much classier.” Falcon winked and rolled the cart into the cart return next to him, then slammed the hatch, making Blane jump. “Or trying, anyway. Is it working?”

Now that Falcon had suggested it, Blane couldn’t get his mind off the idea. “Shit. I mean, yeah. I mean, I was waiting for, like, a date…”

“If you’d rather wait,” Falcon shrugged. “If you’re looking for a relationship and all that…”

Blane was a little too fast off the mark. “No.” He blushed. “I mean, uh, nah. I like fooling around.” Desperate much? Come on, Blane.

“Come over, then. I’ll text you my address in like, half an hour.” Before he knew it, Falcon leaned in to press a kiss against Blane’s lips. His lips were soft and warm, and goddamn, he smelled good.

Then he pulled away and winked, got into his car, and Blane managed, “See you soon.” He tried to shake himself out of the reverie and walk to his own car and play it cool.

So much for cool. I think I blew cool, like, fifteen minutes ago. He looked over his shoulder to watch Falcon pull out of the parking lot.

He took out his phone and turned the ringer to full volume.