Work Text:
The convenient stores in Gotham were, surprisingly, a lot like the grocery store in Queens. In fact, they felt almost the same, despite being a completely different universe. Thank God for Walmart and their corporate branding.
Peter walked in, waving at the greeter, before pushing the cart towards the produce aisle.
“Okay, Tim, what’s on our list?”
“We’ve got strawberries, heavy cream, and one of those pre-baked angel food cakes. I set a budget of $80.”
Peter stopped the cart to spin around and stare at Tim.
“$80?! What are we getting, gourmet strawberries and French-imported cream? Tim, this is Walmart. Inflation is bad but it’s not $80 for three things bad!”
Tim gave him an exhausted look. “I don’t know, Peter. I don’t do the shopping.”
Peter shook his head, pushing the cart towards the strawberries and tossing a pack into the cart.
“Fancy pants.”
Tim shook his head at Peter’s comment, which made Peter laugh.
“Okay, one down. To the dairy aisle, and then the bakery section. And maybe we can get some instant ramen while we’re here. I’ve been craving it so bad.”
Tim nodded, following Peter through the outside edges of the Walmart where they acquired Cream and a pre-baked Angel Food cake. Once the goods were got, Peter turned his attention to looking at the names hanging above the center aisles.
“Oh, there’s the ramen aisle!”
He headed to the front of the aisle, ran down it pushing the cart, and jumped on the cart at the half-way point, gliding down the aisle to the end, where the ramen was. He tossed a couple of the forty-cent packs into the cart, and turned to look at Tim, who was still at the beginning of the aisle with an amused expression.
“What?” Peter called.
“Why did you just do that?”
“I dunno. It’s fun. You want to try?”
“Hell yeah.”
Peter gave him a mischievous grin, before turning the cart around. Tim walked down to the other end of the aisle.
“Okay. Just run until you think the cart is going fast enough, then hop on and coast.”
“Sounds easy enough.”
Tim answered, before sprinting down the aisle and jumping onto the cart. He coasted to the other end, then stopped.
“Okay, yeah. That was fun.”
He turned the cart around and ran/coasted back to the other end. Peter took the cart from him and ran again. They continued running down the aisle, and riding back, eventually changing aisles and soon coasting across the back of the store, past the pets supplies, shoes, and electronics to the school section. Just when Peter was about to sprint down the craft aisle, Tim grabbed his arm.
“Peter, stop. It’s 4:15.”
“Holy crap. How long have we been here?”
“Way longer than we were supposed to be. We need to get back now.”
Peter nodded and the two boys headed to the check out, then sprinted to the car, bags in hands, now two hours and $25.97 poorer.