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Felix is walking behind Chan as Chan pushes their cart through the aisles. He was never the responsible grocery shopper of the two, always picking out too sweet cereals instead of the fruits that Jeongin preferred. He would spend twenty minutes deciding between which flavor of cake mix he could make them all that night instead of remembering to grab the almond milk that Changbin requested they drink instead of whole.
And that’s exactly how Chan finds him, stuck reading the backs of two brownie mixes crouched down in an aisle he had left ten minutes ago. It’s endearing, really, seeing the younger like this. He always wants to give their friends something to eat that’ll cheer them up after their long days at work; he just doesn’t realize that they also need an actual meal before they can have those treats.
“Yongbokie, come help me pick out the vegetables,” Chan said, bringing his cart to a stop behind him. He watched as Felix stood up, still reading the two boxes with a concentrated pout on his face, and smiled. “Get the double chocolate one. Hyunjin and Seungmin were asking when you’d make that one again the other day.”
The grin Chan gets is pretty. That’s the best way he can describe the boy: pretty. Even if he runs his hands through his hair while picking out icing colors like it’s life or death, he still looks so pretty.
Felix places the mixture into the top part of their cart and grabs onto the side as they start walking. Chan is thankful the other placed himself where he can keep an eye on him, lest he get distracted again.
The two walk through the dairy aisle on their way, Felix tugging his jacket sleeves down to his fingers after he grabs one almond milk and one whole milk. The refrigerated air around his hands as he picks up the butter feels amplified today, despite it being below freezing out and the rest of the store already feeling like someone turned the air conditioning on too high.
As they get to the produce section, Felix once again finds himself transfixed, but this time by the display of bright purple cabbages at the left. Chan lets the boy be, figuring it’s better to let him grab more vegetables than necessary than whatever he would have grabbed if Chan hadn’t gone back to find him. So, he leaves the boy to his own accord, slowly making his own way between stands and nice grandmas with their grandkids who compliment him on his choice of carrots and strawberries.
He finishes picking out the produce on his list one by one, ending up right next to Felix who’s still staring at the cabbages, though this time, instead of being stuck between two brownie mixes, he’s struggling to pick between a purple cabbage or a green one. Chan sighs, knowing he would buy Felix both if he really wanted them, but decides to help him out and grabs the purple one, putting it in a plastic bag from the dispenser next to them. Felix gives him another smile, a blush high on his ears from being found in this situation twice in one shopping trip.
Neither say anything as Felix grabs onto the side of the cart again, letting Chan lead them to the registers. As they wait in line, the candy display between the registers catches Felix’s eye, and Chan lets the boy stare as they get closer and closer to being the next ones to pay. It only takes a few minutes before it’s their turn, and Felix’s eyes are still boring holes into the shelf with the twix and kit kats. Before Chan can reach out and grab one of each, Felix grabs a green tea kit kat pack, gently laying it at the end of their line of food. He looks up to check if Chan noticed, sees that he’s been caught, and gives him an innocent smile. He gets an exasperated head shake in return, but the kit kat is moved to the front of the conveyor belt so the cashier can scan it. She does, looks at Chan, looks at Felix, and hands it to the younger boy who gives her a small “thank you.”
Their groceries are packed by the time Chan swipes his card, and they give the employee who bagged them a bow as they pile the bags back into their cart and head out of the store. Chan grabs most of the bags before letting Felix bring the cart back to the stack of the other carts and takes the remaining few bags.
They talk about the song they’ve been working on as they walk the few blocks back to the dorm. It stopped snowing a few hours before they left for the store, and the pathways are already shoveled enough that their boots are just protecting their feet from the cold now.
Their door is already unlocked when they get home a few minutes later. Felix rushes in front of Chan to open the door for them with his free hand. Jisung’s guitar can be heard as they take their shoes off at the door, accompanied by Seungmin humming along as they pass through the living room to get to the kitchen. They place the bags on the counters before taking their coats off, tossing them onto the chairs at the dining table. They worked around each other putting away the groceries, Felix knew to do non-perishables, Chan did anything perishable.
It worked well, them setting up this routine months ago. Within thirty minutes they were able to put away the food for all eight of them.
Chan brought their coats over to the closet, Felix grabbed a blanket for the two of them and laid it out on the big chair across from where the others were sitting on the couch. Jisung was still playing his guitar, but now both Jeongin and Seungmin were singing together to BTS songs. The cords of the guitar didn’t match the song the two were singing, jokingly emotional as they were holding hands and swaying side to side.
Walking back into the living room, Chan smiles as he sees Felix fixing the blanket, before he looks up and makes eye contact and pats the spot. He walks over, sitting down as Felix lifts the blanket for him to settle in. Chan pulled him into his lap, ignoring the ‘ gross, they’re doing it again, ’ that comes from Minho’s direction. He doesn’t mind the comments, as he knows they’re all used to it and just poking fun at the two of them.
He kisses the back of Felix’s neck, sees that faint blush cross the tips of the boy's ears again. Neither can ever get used to the displays of affection, but they both enjoy them too much to keep them to just their alone time.
Chan’s hand is on his waist, and he moves it just an inch to rest on the sliver of skin that's exposed between Felix’s shirt and waistband. Felix shivers, feeling the cold fingers, but turns himself so he’s sideways on Chan’s lap, pulled closer by the hand and out of his own desire. He turns his head too, making eye contact before Chan moves his head forward, kissing his cold nose that heats up immediately. Before he can pull back too far though, Felix connects their lips. It’s only for a few seconds, but it makes both their hearts beat faster, makes them forget their six other friends are in the room and have a front row seat to everything they’re doing. They both couldn’t care less, they got to be like this at the end of the day - warm, happy, and together.
“Thanks for coming with me today, Lix,” Chan says, his palm on Felix’s jaw, thumb stroking his cheek. He got a pretty smile in return. Always so pretty.
“‘Course, hyung. I always do.” He says, turning his face in his palm, kissing his thumb.
Chan brings him in for another kiss. It’s short, but gets that pretty blush back on his face. “Yeah, you do.”