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Jamie’s second favorite thing in the store after the coolers was the candy.

Somebody had been giving out free samples near the back of the store, Jesse explaining that they were trying to sell a new chocolate bar, and it had been the tastiest thing Jamie had ever eaten.

He didn’t think he’d ever find anything as lovely as that piece of chocolate—and then they had turned down an aisle that was packed full of the stuff.

Nothing but candy on every single shelf for the whole length of the aisle!

Of course Jamie wanted to try all of it, but Jesse had very apologetically put it all back, saying that with all the groceries he already had to buy, he couldn’t waste his money on a bunch of candy.

Jamie didn’t think he liked ‘money.’ He felt it was very unfair that Jesse had to use so much of it to pay for things like vegetables and bread and shelter—things he needed in order to live —and thus he didn’t have enough left over for tasty things like chocolate.

Jesse had laughed when he told him so. “I agree,” he’d said, his eyes sparkling again like they usually did when he thought Jamie said something funny. “If you think that’s unfair, wait till you see my water bill.”

It wasn’t entirely clear to Jamie why his statement was amusing, but he wouldn’t complain. Not when it made Jesse smile like that.

“Well, I think that’s everything,” Jesse was saying, glancing over the items in the cart after they left the last aisle.

“I didn’t expect to run out of food so quickly.

You sure know how to pack it in.” He laughed a little as he brought the cart to a stop next to a moving counter, and then began transferring everything onto it so that a lady there could…

move it all past a black window with a red light that beeped every time she did it.

Everything was so strange.

But next to Jamie, something caught his eye; more chocolate.

There was more candy out here!?

He bit his lip as he looked it all over, and then stole a glance up at Jesse. He seemed distracted, putting his stuff back into the cart in plastic bags as he watched a red number on a small screen above the lady’s beeping black screen.

…Maybe it couldn’t hurt to just sneak one package of candy onto the counter.

It couldn’t take that much money, right?

Jamie waited until he thought Jesse’s back was turned, and then snatched up a chocolate bar and pushed it onto the counter, hiding it underneath a bag of pasta. He waited as it moved down the counter, keeping an eye on Jesse as it got ever closer to the lady.

She didn’t seem to realize it wasn’t supposed to be there; she just picked it up and moved it across her screen, making it beep once again, and then dropped it into a bag along with everything else.

It almost looked as if Jesse did see it, and Jamie thought for a moment that he was going to pull it back out and put it back on the shelf.

He kind of smiled a little as he moved the bag into the cart…

but he didn’t say anything. So it seemed Jamie was in the clear.

By the time they got outside and started walking to the bus stop, however, Jamie kind of regretted his rash action. He wanted more chocolate, yes, but if Jesse lost his house because Jamie snuck a piece of candy into his cart, he’d feel terrible.

…That didn’t make any sense.

He must have got something mixed up. Surely money couldn’t be that crucial. Having a roof over your head couldn’t be dependent on whether or not you bought a candy bar, no matter what Jesse said.

“Jamie, hold up!”

Jesse grabbed Jamie’s wrist, pulling him backwards a few feet—right as a huge car shot past him, fast as an arrow in flight .

“Holy shit!” Jesse gasped, pulling Jamie even farther back as his face went white. “That truck almost hit you! You have to look both ways before you cross the street, or you’re gonna get flattened one of these days!”

“Why don’t they just stop when I want to walk by?” Jamie asked. “Can’t they see me?”

“Well, sometimes a car has blind spots and they really don’t,” Jesse explained.

“But even when they do see you, cars are very fast and very heavy. They don’t always have enough time to stop when someone steps out in front of them.

You have to be more careful when you’re walking into a street or parking lot, alright? ”

“What happens if they don’t stop?” Jamie asked quietly.

Jesse bit his lip, looking like he almost didn’t want to answer.

But then he blew his thin black bangs out of his face, and reached into one of the bags he carried.

“Here, let me just show you.” He pulled out a ripe, red tomato, weighing it in his hand absently as he looked down the street.

He waited for a moment until another car came racing towards them, and then rolled the tomato onto the street in front of the car.

‘Flattened’ was indeed a good word to describe what a car did when it didn’t stop.

“If you’re not careful,” Jesse said, “you’ll end up as ketchup.”

Well, Jamie didn’t know what ketchup was… but he certainly didn’t want to end up like the tomato. So he nodded his understanding, glancing down the street to watch for more oncoming cars. “I understand now,” he told Jesse. “Thank you for looking out for me.”

“Anytime,” Jesse said, smiling again.

Jamie had to smile back, but then he sobered.

There was a strange stirring in his heart that he didn’t quite understand; a sense of security and familiarity that felt oddly comforting, here in this strange world.

“Are you…” he paused as he looked to Jesse, thinking over everything that had happened these past two days. “Are you my protector? ”

Jesse blinked at him, looking surprised and more than a little baffled, but also pleased. “Uh, sure,” he agreed. “I’ll protect you, as much as I can.”

His cheeks were pink. Somehow, it made his eyes seem even brighter, as he fought back a smile that pulled at the corners of his mouth.

Once again, Jamie didn’t understand the feeling that grew deep within him at the sight.

But even though he couldn’t put a label on it, he found that he liked it.

He wanted to make Jesse’s cheeks pink more often.