Blake was slower leaving but soon caught up to her on the way down. "So, we should probably decide what we're getting before we get to the store.... It's usually busy around this time so I'd like to just get in and out quickly....."

She nodded. "Ok so we'll need fruit, veg, bread, maybe some lunch meats... I noticed cereal is getting low... I can walk pretty fast. Oh, chicken is a good cheap option and I want to say there is a sale there on it today. Like 50 cents a pound... I'll handle the crowd that'll be there if you get the cereal..."

"I should probably pick up some cookies for Dewi as a 'thank you' as well, so I'll also grab the bread since I'll already be in the bakery section."

Greer grabbed a flyer with the specials, looking it over. "I'm getting banana's no matter what, I need the potassium with my workouts. Hey does herbal tea help you? Cause there's this stuff my granny used after she had to go off her meds because it interfered with heart meds."

"I mean, it doesn't really do anything more for me than the average drink..... it's more psychological than anything. Truthfully, it's usually not that bad lately. It hasn't been much of a problem since..... well, since Dewi and I started dating."

She grinned widely. "Knowing someone cares helps a lot. Well, let's go." Greer got inside, grabbed a cart, and took off.

Blake quickly grabbed the cereal and bread, but was still looking over the cookie options when Greer comes over. "All the containers are so small.... maybe I should get a few different kinds...?"

By now she had 3 chickens, a bunch of fruit and veg, and some vanilla ice cream. "I say get at least one crispy kind and we can make ice cream sandwiches."

Blake picked up one of the 24 packs of palm sized cookies. "These should be good for that.... And then, maybe two packs of double chocolate and an M&M? Oh, and maybe a pack of peanut butter." Blake put the five containers in the cart along with the bread and cereal.

She looked it over. "Ok so if I'm not mis-guessing your strength.... ok this should be all we can carry back. We can put the chicken and ice cream in my back pack for the walk back... emptied it earlier...ok lets go!"

Blake scratched the side of his head, looking at the food they were about to get."Oh, right, we walked.... I usually only come here by foot in a pinch. I'm glad one of us was thinking ahead. I guess I'll pay for... the bread, cereal, ice cream, chicken and cookies."

Greer nodded a bit and got the cart to the line and loaded everything up. "Hey, you have a discount card?"

"This is just around the corner from our apartment, I'd be crazy not to have their discount card..." Blake pulled it out with his debit card.

"So I'll give you cash then?"

"Sure." Blake looked over the cart's contents. "The fruit and veggies should only be like, $10 max. You can just give it to me when we get back."

Greer nodded a bit, handed him a 20 anyway and started loading everything up. "There we go.... good lil weight workout." She smiled as she filled the bags, and some girls started to smile back at her, waving a bit.

Blake hesitantly accepted the cash and slipped it in his wallet while muttering something about how Luce was going to kill him for this, Blake just knew it. "Hey, I don't know if you swing that way, but those girls over there are checking you out..... Might want to turn down the charm if you don't want them to get the wrong idea."

Greer looked. "What charm? I'm not doing anything. They just think I'm a guy..... I really don't want to date girls to be honest. I mean... maybe if somehow the absolute right girl came.... but I'm pretty dang straight."

Blake was a bit surprised by her reaction, but shook it off. "Your smile was enough to make some random girls ogle over you. If you ever let Dewi get his hands on you, you won't be able to fight off the admirers fast enough..... "

She rolled her eyes. "Yes because all the straight boys are looking for a girl with big muscles in an A cup that can probably throw them over her shoulder. Besides.... most girls stare at any guy.... it's a thing. I mean girls stare at my dad."

"Hey, it's bound to be some people's type.... And it even if you can't find any decent straight guys, there's always a whole different pool of bi guys to draw from."

"Eh true.... never had any hit on me though." Greer kept walking briskly to the apartment carrying most of the bags. "Anyways... we have food and I have the money I need to try and stick in Luce's wallet or something... Think if I pout he'll take it."

Blake looked at her, reminding himself that she was new and didn’t know better. He took a breath and he debated how to phrase this.".... I would greatly advise against manipulating him into doing something. You probably won't like the results."

Greer sighed. "Dang.... I just don't feel right doing this you know?"

"Yeah, surprisingly, I understand. Luce has always been over-helpful in my life. The only reason he lets me have two jobs and contribute anything to our living situation is because he can't say no to me due to guilt...."

She nods a bit. "Well.... I could throw the money at him then run." She grinned. "That'll work for maybe an hour yeah? Before he tracked me down and made me take it back?"

Blake nodded back, wishing someone had sat down and properly talked to her now. "Yep, to the extent that you will never want to force money on him again..... probably. You know, if you caught him at a bad time...."

"That sucks..." She sighs. "I need to find some way to repay you guys."

"You know.... life isn't always about balance. Sometimes you just have to accept the help you are given without giving anything back. If it's such a big deal, just decide to pay the favor forward in the future." Blake started up the stairs into the complex, hoping this was the end of the discussion.

"I suppose so..." Greer still looked bothered. "Maybe I can help make some dinner.... I know how to make a good chicken soup..."

Blake chuckled. "And now you really are playing with fire..... Luce doesn't let any of us do the cooking. Sato is allowed to help sometimes, but it always has to be Luce making the meals."

Greer rolled her eyes a bit. "Does that man let anyone do anything? Next you'll tell me he does all the laundry too."

Blake laughed at that. "Thankfully, no. Even the mother hen like brother of mine doesn't have enough time to do all that as well. Dewi's laundry alone would take a whole day...."

Greer nodded, thinking a bit. "well, maybe I can help with that then... can't be too hard. And Dewi probably has stuff that can be washed with mine anyway."

Once they got in, she set to putting everything away. "Hey when is Luce due to get back?"

Blake looked at the time. "Well, he was working a lunch shift, so he should be back by now.... Unless he stopped somewhere on the way home."

"Huh... wait... Does he know about work? You don't think he got groceries too do you?"

"Thankfully, groceries is another thing he lets the rest of us handle.... Unless he stopped to buy non-food items, he doesn't have any reason to go shopping."

Greer shrugged and wondered where Luce was as she started headed to the kitchen to tuck food away. Just then, Luce walked through the door, with Blake looking nervous. “Oh, welcome back Luce.”

“Dewi, I know you miss being around my brother for even the smallest of times, but it’s weird when you take on his appearance like… that….” Luce noticed the small movements that didn’t match how Dewi behaved, “And you’re not Dewi, are you, Blake?”

“No?”

“Why aren’t you at work right now?” Luce eyed him a bit.

Blake shrunk down. “Would you believe me if I said they let me out early?”

“Not when you say it like that.”

Greer poked her head back. "Hey um Luce, wanted to say sorry. I turned in a ring I found and this lady that it belonged to found out I was here, somehow, to give me a reward. Told Blake because I wanted to give the cash for rent he freaked out and needed his meds. Dewi is covering the rest of his shift. We took care of the shopping though. Oh and don't move my library books please! Reading up for the job."

"One rule, this apartment has one rule over all others. Do. Not. Tell. Luce. when I have a breakdown. Cronos must have told you about it already. We keep life simple by keeping him in the dark." Blake shut up when he realized what he just said in front of said older brother, avoiding his eyes.

"Luce you have a choice you can get mad at your brother having an understandable panic attack over some random ass lady showing up and being worried you'd make a big deal out of it, or you can get in here before I start cooking one of the 3 chickens. But getting mad at him will not make things better where as letting me cook means I'll probably put the spoons in the wrong place or something. Blake, go do something relaxing. maybe get a shower or something huh?" she motioned to him. "You can use my shower gel if it does something for ya."

Luce looked to Greer. "Oh, I'm not mad. Why would I be mad at my brother for something out of his control? I just wish he didn't feel the need to hide these things from me, but I am only his brother."

Greer stopped and came out of the kitchen. She didn’t like the way he was talking, it brought up bad feelings. "Oi! Luce, I'm bout to drag your butt outside for a talking to. You can kick me out after I don't care. But you will NOT get mad at your brother for wanting to help you stay calm. People with anxiety often feel like they are letting friends and loved ones down, or are worried they will make things worse letting them know they are having a panic attack. He did the responsible thing, took his meds-Which, Blake he's not stupid and woulda noticed a bottle missing when he got back- and let me know if there was anything else I could do. Now I don't know the whole massive history you two have in this world, and you BOTH need to work things out but you will NOT be a passive aggressive ass about it or I carry you to the nearest pond and throw you in so you can either cool off or be pissed at me. Got it? Now.... are you going to cook, go cool off, or I google a pond? ‘Cause I really don't care which right now."

Luce looked back to his brother calmly, trying to ignore how wrong she had the situation. "I really am not mad at him. He knows I'm not mad..... I know he just hides it because I tend to be overprotective and I'm not as nice to the cause of his attacks when it's other people. Now, Blake, would you say the reason for your attack was the lady or Greer telling you about her?"

Seeing his brother's eyes behind his glasses, Blake quickly speaks up. "The lady. It was definitely the lady. She had no way of knowing where we live, but still showed up, knowing she could find Greer here." He wants Luce to know that Greer is definitely not a threat.

Greer sighed, folding her arms. "I thought she got the info somewhere or maybe has people finding powers. She was just happy because it was from her late husband. Gave me a hug, thanked me, shoved cash in my hands and ran off before I could say anything."

Luce's eyes went back to normal. There wasn’t much he could do with that information. "Well, I guess the important thing is that you're okay now.... So, did you say something about picking me up some chicken?"

"We hit the store and I carried the stuff... I was still putting all away." There was all the bags of fruits, veg, 3 big fat chickens, cookies still on the counter and she was putting up ice cream. "We were thinking of ice cream sandwiches later." She looked between the two, surprised it got solved that quickly.

Luce picked up the cookies, looking at them. "I'm guessing Blake wants to show his appreciation for his boyfriend again...... That's the only time I see that many sweets in this place at once..... well, that or one of our birthdays."

Greer shrugged. "Well, it is nice to have some. I'll just run around the block a few times after." She pretended to run in place a bit.

Luce smiled and waved his hand. "No need to go out. We have a gym around here somewhere..... I'll have to ask Shi-shi what he did with it."

Greer looked at him. "A what now? Like in the apartment building?"

"I keep forgetting.... I've gotten so used to my roommates knowing what I'm talking about that being in the apartment makes me automatically assume everyone understands what's going on..... A few months back, Shi-shi decided that we needed to stay more fit and, with all the different side effects of our abilities, exercising in the pubic isn't exactly the smartest idea. So he created a gym that we all can use. It's got it all; weight room, track, pool, exercise equipment, etc. The problem is, I kept misplacing my talisman to access it so Shi-shi holds on to my copy."

Greer stopped for a moment and looked at him. “Ok... I need the access for that for sure. Now what are we cooking?”

"Hmm..... Pasta's always a safe bet since if we have any leftovers, it makes a good quick lunch. Of course, as our guest, I'd like to know what kind of food you want to eat."

Greer nodded. “I’m not picky. I like healthy stuff. I would have gotten some tofu but I wasn’t sure if you would all kick me out for that “

Luce gave her a weird look. "Throw you out for wanting tofu? Why would we do that?"

“Eh some guys are like ‘no tofu only meeeeat!’” she held her arms out, like she was trying to protect the fridge from something vile, “But if you guys are cool I’ll get some. I know some nice stuff you can do with it”

"We accept all food preferences in this apartment, as long as you're willing to eat with us as a family. Taking into account that Dewi's abilities span a range that includes being able to turn into animals, I'm actually surprised he isn't vegan." Luce looked at some of the food items, getting ideas for dinner.

“My mom's pot roast is too good to ever become a vegan.” Greer smiled a bit, washing her hands. She looked at what they had. “Anyway back to tonight’s dinner.... how can I help?”

Luce stopped and thought for a moment, "I guess you could set the table. I don't really need any help in the kitchen."

“... are you sure? I can cook. Honest.” She had been hoping the others were wrong. That was a shame. While she was thinking about it, Greer pulled the money out of her pocket and popped it onto the table. “Nearly forgot the reward money from that lady. We can put it into the collective pot for stuff.”

Luce ignored the pile of money, and the comment. "I like cooking. Just me and the ingredients in the kitchen, making something wonderful for others. It's like creating an art piece but for the taste buds."

She nods a bit. “Yeah but I still wanna help out where I can okay? I mean, I’m going to be here a while”

Greer also refused to pick it up. Someone in this apartment would take it, she was sure of it. Meanwhile Greer started to set the table as Luce contently hum, preparing the Chicken Alfredo pasta.