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"What do we need these for, again?" Jax asked Pomni while they were walking into a generic looking supermarket, one Caine had conjured blending the image of several real brands back in the human world.
Pomni side-eyed him, she was sure the constant asking was just him messing with her and her patience, but somehow she didn't feel like pointing out the obvious was gonna help the situation. They had been asked to fetch some ingredients for a birthday cake. She didn't know the concept of birthdays was still used in the Digital Circus, much less for someone like Bubble. Because the cake was for Bubble, or so had Caine told them.
"Birthday cake for Bubble," Pomni muttered for the nth time since they went through the portal Caine opened for them and walked through a seemingly normal city. Kinger, Zooble, Gangle, and Ragatha were left in charge of setting up decorations around the main stage, while Caine had to distract Bubble.
"Oh yeah. Am I the only one who thinks how bizarre all of this is? Does Bubble even have a real birthday?" Jax grabbed a cart and started pushing it while Pomni held the list and guided them through the several aisles.
"I guess Caine just wants to hold a 'pretend' birthday or something. I don't really mind, at least this small adventure seems doable enough. I prefer this over… whatever Caine always puts us through," she assured. Jax couldn't help but agree with a small hum.
They walked around the supermarket with calm and ease, grabbing a few boxes of cake mix, sprinkles, butter, milk, eggs, and all the supplies necessary for an epic birthday cake. Jax remembered to look for some candles, even though they were not a part of the list.
"We need canned fruit and a few lemons. Ugh, I suck at choosing the good produce," Pomni sctratched her head.
"You worked at a supermarket and sucked at picking the good produce?" Jax mocked her, which earned him a glare.
"I was on the upper floor, remember? Accounting, not the store deparment. But yeah. I almost always skipped on getting fresh fruit and vegetables and went for pre-cut ones," Pomni looked for the canned goods aisle.
"That's a ton of money extra just to avoid getting a mildly brown avocado."
"I know," she sighed.
"Then let's split up. I get the lemons, you go get the canned fruit," he suggested.
Pomni looked at him with some doubt.
"You know how to… pick produce?"
"It's not that hard, you're just weird about it," Jax shrugged.
She wanted to retort, but refrained from doing so. She just agreed and went on her way to pick a can of fruit cocktail, which was easy enough. Pomni then moved her feet towards the produce section and found him, he was facing the opposite direction as her and was eyeing the lemons, one by one. He picked some up and inspected them before putting a few down, while others went into the fabric bag they'd brought. Had it not been for his appeareance, a tall purple bunny, Pomni would've swore he looked almost normal like this.
She tried to picture what it would've been like. Her going down the main floor to sort something with a manager, and spotting Jax there, in her supermarket picking up produce. His calm and seemingly disinterested demeanor could have charmed her, he might have catched her looking at him and approached her, smiling. They could have chatted a bit, like normal people would. Could've maybe gone on a few dates, she would run out of patience for him and his antics only to be touched when he apologized the next day by bringing her some lunch to work.
Had they stayed as humans, could they have ever met? What could have Jax smelled like, as a human?
Pomni loved how Jax smelled. But she was sure his smell was a digital concoction made up by Caine, and that didn't always mean that was how the real them smelled. Pomni wasn't sure if it was true, but Ragatha had once told her she smelled like sweet popcorn and cotton candy. Pomni knew she didn't have that kind of perfume or scent in the real world. Same thing applied to Ragatha herself. Pomni had once smelled fresh cotton and lavender from her, but was sure she must have used expensive perfumes when she was human, given that she was from an accommodated family and all.
Pomni got very lost in the fantasy of her coming home to Jax dressed in a sweatshirt, him taking her bags and telling here they could order some takeout for the night. Them sharing soft kisses all over each other's face. Them going to a supermarket late at night and her letting him pick the best produce because he knew how. A beautiful, impossibly distant dream. She was so absort in her thought she never noticed Jax had moved places and was now in front of her, pushing the cart.
"You okay, Pompom?" he asked, his tone one of worry, a rare display.
She shook her head a little and looked at him, her cheeks a little warmer than before.
"Oh. Yeah, I'm good. What else is left?" she glanced down at the list in her hand.
Jax eyed her with a touch of suspicion, but let it pass since she didn't express out loud what had her with such a lost look in her eyes.
By the time they payed at the register and a portal appeared near the supermarket parking lot, Pomni seemed more composed than before, but that didn't stop Jax from calling to her before they reached the portal and their time alone together ended.
"It was okay, you know," he said.
Pomni didn't understand. "What was?"
"Going to the supermarket with you. You're not as annoying as you could've been. It almost felt… normal. Like I could've done this with you all my life, had we stayed human," he confessed. It seemed to dawn on him how embarassing that statement was, his ears sprung straight up and his cheeks turned a soft red.
Pomni took in such a sight, hoping to keep it forever next to her most precious memories made in the cirucs. There weren't a lot of those, but somehow they almost always involved Jax.
She didn't have a clue as to why.