"Now," you point a finger at him; as professional and serious as you can be, "do you understand your job?"

You tighten your hand around the list, and you summon all the courage you have to look at him in the face. You face guarded. And a small part of you realises that there is virtually no reason to prepare for war, it's laughable - you quickly dismiss it because it's not needed in this tense mindset.

It's that time of the month again.

Time to go grocery shopping.

In the middle of goddamn holiday season.

Yon repress a shiver.

Asami looks at you. And you know he's thinking: why don't we just send someone to do this shit and have sex or something. You can't agree more (with the former, not the latter.) But the problem is; knowing his men, they will probably kill a thousand or so people if they are sent in that hellhole of a market.

(...And how the hell will you say that you need condoms. Worst case scenario is probably that they will keep a straight face and actually have the sheer indecency to go along with it.)

"The plan is simple," you say, but don't quite feel, "be calm. Grab things quickly and never move away from the line."

"Hm."

"Don't 'hm' me. This is important strategy, pay some attention. Probably worth ten of your lives! Do you understand?"

He replies: "Is there any specific instructions other than..." He runs a quick sweep over the list in your hand, "that?"

You stop.

Those eyes caress over you. It's an ambiguous look, filled with that heated impassivity that he does so well. It keeps you too-aware, too-tingly and... a feeling that you will not look into. You avert your eyes.

"Not... Really. I don't have my phone on me, so... just don't let go of my hand."

His eyes gleam.

"I see."

He can't be anymore trusted than you on booze, and you don't have anyone else to help you out either. Damn the agency, damn Christmas shopping, damn everything. If only Christmas shopping could be done without all these... people. Even the positivity in you threatens to break into an angry rant. You grunt and turn to enter the dreaded market.

The crowd is overflowing already.

So it ends.

.

"Grab that, and oh yeah, grab this and that too. And we need this. While you're at it, help me get the fondant."

Asami is already getting to work at lightening speed, you try not to get creeped out by all the women who gawk at you two. "And go get those onions, by the way - no. Not the red ones, I hate those. The green stalky ones. Do you want bitter melon for dinner? Put that in the basket too."

Asami looks like he's going to die suppressing a laugh. And you glower at him, by this point you're not even looking at the list anymore. It's long done and over with, along with other three baskets worth of stuff that you're probably gonna finish within a minute.

Even glancing at it makes you call yourself several kinds of idiot. You think it's not really your fault, just having Asami go with you shopping makes you go crazy. (Along with all the other things that happen to you that are totally, solely Asami's fault.) The displays are cool, the vegetables are fresh and after having to restrain your budgets for so long in your life; it's no wonder how good it feels to be able to pin the bill on someone else and just let go.

You sneer at the fondant.

After all, it's not you who's eating all of this.