Rated: G. Warnings: none

Sara once again found herself at the grocery store with Austin. He'd been there earlier that day, but had forgotten, like, half of the things they needed, so Sara made him drive her back because it was his car or her motorcycle, and she was never going grocery shopping with her motorcycle again. Not after last time.

"This is why you need to take the lists I make you," Sara lectured. Austin trailed behind her, rolling his eyes up toward the ceiling.

"I don't see why I had to come with you. You could have taken the car."

"It's your punishment," Sara said. "So maybe next time you'll remember."

It was mostly fresh produce Austin had forgotten: broccoli, carrots, celery, onions. The flat was devoid of all of it since the last potluck they and their friends had had, and they'd been living off frozen food and tofu for the past week. Sara needed vegetables.

Since they were there and they had the car, she grabbed some fruit, too. Austin grabbed a mango as they walked by and dropped it in with the rest of the shopping.

"See what you miss when you rush?" Sara said.

"Yes, dear," Austin said. "You look nice today, dear."

"Oh, screw you," Sara laughed. It was something Austin's dad always said to his mum when he was in not-so-serious trouble, and Austin had taken to saying it to Sara and Kris when he'd accidentally done something annoying.

"Aren't they a little young to be married?" Austin glanced over to where the whispered comment had come from. A middle aged woman was leaning over into who Austin assumed was her husband. He rolled his eyes and grabbed a few apples. He really did love fruit. He was a little surprised with himself for forgetting the produce department when he came earlier, if only for that.

Despite the lack of rings, people were always assuming Austin and Sara were married, or Sara and Kris were married, or Austin and Kris were married. When the three of them went out together he often overheard whispers of speculation. Was one of them with Sara and cheating on her? Was Sara a cover because he and Kris were too afraid to come out?

Of course, "we're in a queerplatonic triad," didn't have much of a ring to it, and God, Austin was tired of explaining what it meant and why they weren't fucking, and he was sick of the comments about hormone treatments and therapy that would supposedly fix the fact that he was aro-ace. There was nothing to be fixed. He was perfectly happy in his relationship with Kris and Sara, and they were happy, too, and none of them needed it to change.

Austin grabbed a bag of grapes and put them in the cart, too.

"Austin, stop it!" Sara said. "We only have so much money left for groceries this week. We need to be careful in case something comes up."

"Okay, okay," Austin said. The truth was, money wasn't a problem. Kris was loaded, and he had no issues with or complaints about paying a larger share of the bills, but Sara was proud, and she wanted it to be as even as possible. So Austin stopped grabbing things and put the grapes back. But he kept the mango and apples.

"I'll pay for those," he said. Sara smiled. She pulled out her mobile and ran some quick calculations.

"No," she said. "I've got it."

***

They arrived home to Blink 182 playing so loudly they could hear it seeping through the windows. One of the cats was yowling. It sounded like Baxter, but he and Donut had such similar voices it was sometimes hard to tell. They could barely hear Kris's voice over the blaring music.

Austin readjusted his bags and opened the door. Sara trailed in behind him as he entered, shouting, "Jesus, the only time music should be this loud is at a concert!" Austin dropped the bags in the kitchen and followed the sound into the living room.

Kris was dancing around, holding Donut in his arms. The white and black splotched cat had a look of angry resignation on her face as Kris air strummed over her stomach like she was a guitar. His eyes were closed.

Austin smiled fondly and leaned against the door frame, watching. Sara stormed up, about to demand he help her with the groceries, but he put his finger over his lips and nodded his head toward their datemate. Sara slapped her hand over her mouth to hide her laugh. They could almost hear Donut sighing through the look on her face as Kris bounced around. He spun around once and opened his eyes. He froze. Donut finally squirmed out of his arms, darting underneath the couch to safety.

Kris just stared at them for a moment, bright, bright red, then Austin laughed and walked by him to turn down the music. He ruffled Kris's hair as he passed.

"Love you, you nerd."