Work Text:
It's three A.M.
Three A.M, and Gale is inside his local grocery shop. Doing his monthly grocery shopping at a perfectly normal and reasonable time.
Or perhaps not, judging from the tired and annoyed glare the workers shot him when he passed them a grin.
In his defence, grocery shopping during the day is stressful. Toddlers crying and slash or whining loudly, pitter patter of people walking through the aisles, or teenagers snickering about god knows what in the corners. Besides, the shop should not have been open this late—or is it early?—if they don't want customers visiting at these hours.
So here he is, in the middle of aisle four, clad in his white undershirt and grey sweatpants, hair tied up in a low ponytail, humming a random tune that has been stuck in his head, and picking out his favourite snacks and dropping them in his cart, mentally checking out snacks from the grocery list in his head.
Aisle five is for cereal and breakfast food.
Gale's eyes immediately scanned through the shelves to look for the unmistakable box of froot loops, only for him to see a man crouched down in front of said shelf, head buried in his arms, his—well, presumably his—grocery cart left a little away from him. And he's right in front of Gale's cereal.
Gale stood there in silence for the next few seconds before pulling out his phone and texting the first contact he found.
Gale G
shopping rn
there's a guy crouching in front of my cereal like he's having a mental breakdown
anw he's blocking my way what do i do
3.26
Rosco G
???
mf its 3am tf u dkling
3.27
Gale G
grocery shopping
3.27
Rosco G
jst say xcuse me or smth
idk man im not awake enough for this
3.28
"Uh, excuse me," Gale mutters, reaching his hand out over the man's head to take his box of cereal.
The guy looks up. Pretty pink eyes staring straight at Gale through thick blonde lashes, brows furrowed and lips turned down in a scowl, luscious blond locks framing his face, and—
"That hurt."
—and the sexiest accent a man could ever have.
"You done staring?" Sexy man asked, hand holding up a box of froot loops.
Ah, Gale dropped the box of cereal straight onto his head.
"Oh, whoops, sorry 'bout that," Gale drops down to a crouch next to him, staring at the shelf in front of him, "you good?"
"Peachy, thanks for asking."
"'Course! Don't mention it," Gale replied in a cheery voice.
Pretty blonde man grumbles something beneath his breath, and Gale turns his head to take a look at him. Aside from his less than pleased expression, he is rocking some serious eyebags and red eyes.
"Seriously, though," Gale spoke softly, "everything okay?"
Pretty man looks at Gale for a second, then turns away, "sleeping is a nightmare, waking up sucks, my coffee machine broke down, stupid people at work keep testing my patience, spilled drink all over myself and my computer, and—"
He breathes, "—and they ran out of my favourite cereal."
Gale snorted, then stood up with his cereal in one hand while the other extended towards him.
"What?"
"C'mon, blondie, let me treat you to some ice cream."
After a long sceptical look, he took his hand and they both pushed their cart towards the cashier.
Gale G
he is having a mental breakdown
3.39
Rosco G
stp texting me at ths hour pls
3.40
Gale G
im treating him to ice cream
at the place in my apart
3.40
Rosco G
gale pls i need to sleep
3.40
wait
ice cream at urs?
u inviting a stranger to ur apart?
bro
GALE
HELLO
jesus chrisr
3.42
"Which ice cream place exactly would be open at this time?" Pretty man asked as they walked out the grocery store. Silently—but not discreetly—ogling at Gale's toned arm, holding up several bags of groceries single handedly, muscle and veins in full display. A quick look at his phone shows that the time is 3:45. There's not many shops open right now, the sky is still dark, the parking lot only lit up with some flickering lights, and there's barely any other cars on the streets.
"I know a place," Gale answered, fishing his car keys from his pockets, "did you drive here?"
Pretty man shakes his head, blonde hair swaying with the movement, and oh god does he look ethereal.
Gale held up his car keys in front of him with a grin, then turned around to walk towards his car. The pretty man walked right behind him.
"This is how a lot of people get murdered, you know that, right?" He asked, voice silky smooth, "strangers offering a free ride, and free ice cream. Chances of me dying are quite high right now?"
Gale opened the door to the backseat, putting his groceries inside before turning to look at the pretty man straight in the eye, "you can just say no, you know."
Pretty man blinks at him, handing off his groceries and getting into the front seat in lieu of replying.
"You have a death wish or something?" Gale asked after he was fully seated in the driver seat.
"Or something."
"How 'bout this, then," Gale turned on the ignition, "the name's Gale Galleon, 28 years old marine researcher, lives on the apartment complex down the road, which we are heading to, by the way."
"We're eating ice cream at your place? I'm going to eat ice cream at some rando's apartment?"
"Wait, no, I meant they have an ice cream parlour at the lobby—anyway, now I'm not a stranger so chances of you dying goes down to 50 percent," Gale smiles, "so are you gonna tell me your name or am I gonna have to keep calling you pretty boy in my head?"
Pretty man huffs out a laugh, though his face did get flushed, both from Gale admitting he's pretty and the way Gale slung his hand on the back of his seat as he drives the car. Pink eyes darting to look at his very nice looking hands.
"You done staring?" Gale asked teasingly
"Don't use my words against me," he replied, smiling, "Zander Netherbrand."
"That's it?"
Zander hums, "gotta have something to talk about over ice cream, no?"
Gale laughed, "sure, alright, Zanny, chances of you dying are now 25 percent."
"Woah, getting into nicknames already? That's dangerous territory," Zander replied, voice low.
The car slows down to a stop. Zander hadn't even realised they had arrived at the apartment complex and Gale had found a parking place.
"I can show you danger," Gale whispered, leaning close into Zander's space.
Only to unbuckle his seatbelt and immediately move away, grinning as he opens his door and walks out, "after ice cream, though!"
Rocso G
holy shit that wasnt just a fever dream
hello?
update?
mf dont u dare die on me
7.24
well
ur still not up at this hour
so ur either dead or got laid yesterday
dont die
8.00
Gale G
we got ice cream yesterday and talked
and banged
lemme tell u, mans may like vanilla ice cream but he sure as hell aint a vanilla in bed iykwim
so yea i have an armful of pretty blondie rn
9.27
Rosco G
TMI man
9.30