Seven Devils

Lucas was, if nothing else, a creature of habit. He shopped in the same store roughly the same time each week. He tended to pick up the same products and the same foods even if he didn’t always eat the same thing and did attempt to spice it up. He pushed his cart through the store, listening to the muzak that was playing through the tinny speakers and tapping his fingers on the handle of the cart, rings clinking gently against the thick plastic.

Glancing up as he dropped a small plastic container of oregano into his cart, he spotted the long-haired blonde that he had regularly done the grocery-store dance with. They tended to shop at the same time, it seemed, at least once a week. He offered the guy a smile and turned his cart around because he didn’t want it to look like he was following Christian.

The third time it happened, though, he was perusing chia seeds and granola in the health food aisle. He put the box down and tipped his head at Christian, hip cocked slightly to the side as he said, “I’m definitely not following you,” he waved his hand demonstratively. “I was definitely in this aisle first.”

Christian had also spotted Lucas who he saw frequently when grocery shopping and smirked in response to the greeting he was given because what were the chances? Still, it definitely made things interesting. Food shopping was not the most exciting thing to be doing after all, but needs must.

He’d strayed into the health food aisle and was currently trailing his fingertips across a selection of protein powders which ranged in flavour from something as normal as strawberry to something as weird as papaya.

A prickling across the back of his neck had Christian turning his head to rest a steely blue gaze on Lucas, a soft snort escaping him a second later. “Are you sure about that?”

“Yep,” Lucas said with a decisive nod of his head. “I was definitely here first.” He waved his hand around the boxes of granola. The other one was tucked under his arm. “We have to stop meeting like this,” he added with a little smirk, pushing his glasses up his nose. “People are gonna talk.”

He picked up the granola again and squinted at the box before replacing it. His body might not be a temple to Adonis but he wasn’t going to turn himself into a temple to Buddha by letting something with that sugar content into his system. Detox teas were bad enough.

“It’d be on everyone’s lips. The clandestine grocery store affair.”

“So what exactly are you looking for?” Christian inquired all too innocently as he watched Lucas regard a box of granola with akin to horror written across his very expressive face or so Christian had learned during their many grocery store encounters.

He put a couple things into his trolley and snorted softly. “Everybody loves gossip after all. I mean, it happens how many times a week?” He smirked as he glanced over at Lucas. “What do you think is the most scandalous thing they think about it?”

The hunter snagged a couple boxes of seeds as well the birds in his garden had to eat.

Lucas wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and then chuckled at himself. “I’m sure they’re wondering who’s house we spend our time at, or who we’ve got at home that we’re avoiding to have our illicit shop affair?”

Looking up at the shelves again, Lucas just lifted his shoulder, like he’d been caught out. “I’m just… browsing. For things. Health things. In the health aisle.”

Christian tipped his head to regard what Lucas had in his cart, a smirk playing at the edge of his lips. “Yes, lots of health things.” He even went so far as to fish out a bottle of wine and a huge selection of chocolate. “I can see that.”

He chuckled as he replaced them in the cart and looked at Lucas. “I guess it depends on who has the nicer place.”

“Look under the chocolates, Christian,” Lucas chastised. “There’s some fresh vegetables there. You don’t get to judge me.” Though it was playful, Lucas wasn’t really that bothered. Besides, the food in his cart wasn’t really the thing that sustained him. “Some of us need to eat our emotions instead of just purging them out over a weight machine.”

He waved his hand in Christian’s direction demonstratively. “Obviously it works very well for you but some of us just do not have the constitution for that kind of physical exercise.”

His lips quirked upwards. “I’ve never seen your place, so I can’t really judge if it’s nicer than mine or not.”

Christian bit back a laugh as he gave the remaining items in the cart a cursory glance and nodded. “Oh, yes, sorry, I missed those… carrots.” His lips twitched into a playful smile as Lucas waved his hand demonstratively while giving him a compliment in regards to his physique but he did nothing to correct the assumption that he was some sort of gym freak because the truth was not easily shared. You didn’t go around advertising you were a hunter if you valued your life or the lives of the people you held dear.

“I guess that’s a good point. Maybe one of these days we should remedy that?”

Lucas looked surprised, and then pleased with himself. “Maybe we should, better give some truth to those rumours after all.” He tilted his head and lifted a shoulder. “Besides, maybe you can give me some tips on what I’m clearly doing wrong with my shopping.”

He waved his hand and added, “Healthy things.”

Christian ducked his head as he tried his best to hide an amused smile though he didn’t quite manage to wipe it off his face by the time he looked back up at Lucas. “Might even cook dinner, show you how all the healthy things are supposed to be used.”

He reached up past Lucas’ shoulder and snagged a pack of rice cakes.

“I mean, if you trust me to cook you dinner?”

Lucas’ own smile was a little impish as he looked up at Christian and he just lifted a shoulder. “As long as it’s not flavourless rice cakes,” he said, gesturing to what Christian had just put into his own cart. “I’m always happy to let a handsome man cook food for me.”

He tilted his head and then held his hand out, “Phone? I’ll give you my number Then we’re officially having an illicit affair.”

“Oh, I promise, if I’m cooking anything? It’s gonna be chock full of flavour. If it ain’t then I am doing my ancestors wrong.” He reached into the back pocket of his jeans and handed the phone over to Lucas already unlocked. This was his “social” phone and not his work one as Christian was very careful not to get the two mixed up as honestly it was more hassle than it was worth.

He tipped his head and ran his eyes over Lucas slowly. “You have any allergies I should know about?”

“No,” Lucas answered, glancing up from where he was tapping his number into Christian’s phone. “And believe me,” he added, just for a moment letting the accent he’d spent fifty years learning how to busy slip, “long as it tastes good you’ll be doing them proud.” After all, the food in New Orleans was raved about for a reason. “Just nothing with gator in it. Please.” The accent was gone again, accompanied by a slight look of disdain. “Too much of that puts a guy right off.”

Christian smirked, pleasantly surprised by the slight slip into an accent, which clearly had not been something Lucas had been meaning to do. It was filed away for reference if ever needed. Some hunter habits were harder to break than others.

“No gator, I gotcha,” he assured the other with a smile. “Not too fond of that myself.” Meat was tough as old boots and it did not make for a fun culinary experience. “How’d you feel about shrimp?”

“Shrimp are fine,” Lucas said with a nod. “So long as they’re properly prepared.” He’d sent more than one plate back due to certain… parts of the shrimp having not been removed.

His lips twitched back up into that impish smile and he caught his subconscious before it tried to do anything else, clamping down on the power he felt bubbling up in his chest. No thank you. Not right now.

“You have my number now, Christian,” he said, “which, if I do say, has taken far too long. So text me about dinner?”

Christian tsk’ed softly and gave a small shake of his head. “What sort of Cajun do you take me for, Lucas?” He turned his phone over in his hand and tucked it back into his pocket before he reached up to snag a couple more things off the shelf which found their way into his and Lucas’ cart.

“I’ll be in touch.”

And with a parting smile he went on his way.