[Gift] Quick Save

Elio yawned as he walked around the bun-only grocery store. He had eggs in his basket as well as some orange juice but he was so tired that his mind could barely remember what he needed to pick up.

“Ughhh…this is so hard,” Elio growled to himself. Why didn’t he write a list of things? That would have made this whole thing a lot easier. 

He looked at his half-empty basket and then to the aisle he’d walked up and down twice now.

“Think, Elio, think, what’s in your fridge?” he thought as he stopped and stared intently at the rows of canned soups. 

Yea, he could go for some soup. 

He reached up, took some chicken soup off the counter, and rolled it into his basket. He didn’t know it but he had about ten tins of the same soup at home. He wasn’t sure why his mind always picked up chicken soup - maybe he was expecting to get sick sometime soon. 

“Okay, now…milk…right, yea, and cereal, I’ll get those,” he said to himself as he walked to the fridge. He glanced over at another succubun, their face covered by a mask. He paid them no mind, though, as he reached into the fridge and took out a bottle of milk, sliding it into his basket before rushing back to the bread aisle to pick some up for sandwiches. 

He now had bread, milk, juice, eggs, soup…what else…oh yea the cereal. He quickly walked to the cereal aisle and picked up some Crooked Crisp and tossed it in his basket. His eyes drifted to that same masked bun as they walked toward the cereal aisle. Now that he was staring at them...they looked familiar. Or more so their ears looked familiar - he’d never seen this bun before. 

He didn’t say anything though a kept to his shop. Moving to get some fresh produce now. Tomatoes, carrots, onion, garlic. Oh! He needed pasta. 

Now backtracking again - Elio headed for the pasta and picked up a packet of spaghetti.

“I think I have enough,” he said to himself and went to go queue only to catch the same bun for the third time. They were standing by the magazines, and as Elio looked over it clicked. 

There on the front cover of one of the magazines was supermodel Velveteen. They’d been in The Rabbit Hole last week! He’d seen her there for the first time, but he’d never known their bun form - nobody did! 

But the ear markings matched perfectly. It had to be them.

“They probably want to be left alone,” Elio thought. If he was a supermodel, he’d want to be left alone for sure. 

He nodded, yup. He’d leave them be. They didn’t need to be bothered. 

“Hey, you kind of look like Velveteen,” he heard a male voice say and looked over to see Jidao talking to them. Of course - the bun with the biggest mouth. “Your ear markings are so similar, oh my god, are you Velveteen?”

Elio could see the panic begin to build on Velveteen’s face as Jidao recognized them. Elio’s feet moved before he even realized what he was doing! 

“Hey Jidao, oh see you’ve met my friend…Val…Valentine, they're new…in town,” Elio said as he walked over. 

Jidao looked at him and made an ooo face. 

“Oh sorry Val, my mistake, you do look like them though,” he said with a grin. “Umm, nice to meet you, see you later Elio!”

That was enough to convince Jidao to go back to his shopping leaving Velveteen with Elio. They looked at him and went to says something only to pause. 

“I’m Elio, and don’t worry, he’ll forget about it by tomorrow,” he joked. “Nice to meet you, pop by Coney’s sometime, drinks are on the house.”

With that Elio left to pay for his shopping and head home. Leaving Velveteen feeling very grateful for the quick save.