A/N: Alright, this is a little fanfic about the North American version of Being Human that I wrote for my best friend and roommate, Abi (aka Ketchup). I don't know if I'll ever write this fandom again but I really enjoyed this little one shot :) So here you go Abi! Aidan and Josh at Costco. Love Jesi (aka mustard).
^.~
Here's the thing about being... different. Being able to do normal things, those mundane blow your brains out boring things that 'normal' people take for granted? Well, they make you feel... human. And let me tell you something, for a vampire, living year after year, decade after decade, sometimes feeling human is as good as it gets.
Which is why I today I'm carting my little werewolf out of the house to do some good ole boring, normal, necessary shopping. It'll be good for him. Sometimes he gets so wrapped up in how different he is that he forgets to enjoy the little things, he forgets that he can enjoy the little things, that its still allowed.
"Josh," I say, watching as he runs back and forth our home- forgetting first his wallet, then his keys, then oh yes, his shoes. "Come on, Costco's not open that late today."
"Right, right, I'm good, lets go." Josh says, bounding out the door like an overactive puppy.
I finally get the door closed and locked and those big brown eyes turn to look at me again. "What now?" I ask, hand coming up to pinch of the bridge of my nose. Should have had that extra bit of blood this morning… Who knew shopping with a werewolf could be so difficult?
"I forgot… the card," its his usual manner of speaking when he's nervous or doing something ridiculous, where the first two words come out in a rush and then he slows down as he finishes, as if he's just waiting for whoever he's talking to, to start yelling. "I'll just- Just a second. I know where it is."
Taking in a breath, a good deep breath to let me take in the scents of the streets around me, the blood rushing through veins a block away, I wait while he bounds back inside and returns a moment later, apologetic 'you know you love me' grin in place.
Alright, off to Costco. Finally.
"Alright Aidan," Josh says in his best 'all business' voice as we step inside, pulling out his list. "We've got a list, we just stick to it."
"Right," I agree, though dryly. Of course I know how this is going to end- we'll have a whole basket full of things not on that very strict list, all with perfectly rational explanations about why they were needed there.
Leaning against the handle of the cart I push it forward, prepared to handle my usual task of walking slowly behind Josh while monitoring the basket, occasionally putting back something we really, really, don't need.
We barely get past two aisles with the list in hand before, as predicted, Josh gets distracted by something shinny. He runs over to the snack food, or big thing of drinks, or new towels with as much enthusiasm as each previous item. Back and forth, back and forth. He'd set one unneeded item in the cart, barely getting a chance to explain why they needed it before he was running off to look at something else. "Aidan! Did you know they had this here!" I find myself smiling and shaking my head as I keep my steady pace behind him.
Now see, if you're a normal person reading this, a non-monster, as it were, then you probably can't see the appeal in spending far more than you budgeted simply because you can't say no to big brown puppy eyes. (Eyes that somehow saw you put that one item back so that he had to go back for it again.) But I've lived a long time and I've seen a lot of things, so many of the things that are supposed to make people happiest and after awhile they seem to lose their luster. But today, watching my werewolf light up with the sheer joy of being normal for five minutes, well, it makes eternity bearable. But hey, maybe that's just me.