Grocery Run

"Oof! Hey! Ouch!"

"Oy! Watch where you're going!"

Two shopping carts collided right in the middle of the beauty section, the carts' owners having been so busy studying their shopping lists that neither one had seen the other until it was too late. After the collision, though, two heads turned upward, and three eyes narrowed at once.

"Danger Mouse!" the large pink bear growled, beady black eyes narrowing.

"Mr. Snuggles!" the white mouse narrowed his one yellow eye right back at the bear.

"What is the meaning of this?" they both demanded of each other at the same time.

For a moment, they paused, quickly trying to decide who was going to speak first. In the end, it went to Danger Mouse.

"Well, I was out shopping for a friend, but so long as you're here, I believe a battle may be more in order!" he leapt right over his cart and landed gracefully in front of Mr. Snuggles, landing in a battle stance. For once, though, Mr. Snuggles did not look amused.

"Oh, calm down, will you?" he crossed his large fluffy paws as Danger Mouse made several threatening moves. "I'm not here to fight. I'm out shopping for a friend too!" then he held up his list for Danger Mouse to see. It was a small piece of pink paper with glittery golden ink on it.

"What's this? An evil plot?" Danger Mouse demanded as he snatched the list from Mr. Snuggles' paw. Mr. Snuggles heaved another scornful sigh as Danger Mouse quickly studied the list's contents. They were all beauty-based products, like lipstick, eyeliner, nail polish, new shampoo and conditioner, lotion, hair and skin creams and gels and every other sort of thing that fell under that category.

"Ah," Danger Mouse's ears lowered a little as he realized that Mr. Snuggles hadn't been lying when he said he was only out shopping for a friend. It dawned on him then (pun fully intended), that Dawn was not with him.

"She's back at home," Mr. Snuggles answered the mouse's unasked question. "She's busy with schoolwork and asked me to do a grocery run for her," the large pink teddy bear sounded almost... annoyed, and unhappy. He even shook his head and heaved another sigh, though this one was not as frustrated as the one before it. In that brief second, Danger Mouse realized that Mr. Snuggles must've been lonely. He had forgotten that school had started again, so of course Dawn wouldn't be spending as much time with Mr. Snuggles anymore. Danger Mouse was certain that Mr. Snuggles was feeling lonely coming to the store without his best friend at his side.

Then Danger Mouse came to a second epiphany. He and Mr. Snuggles were far more similar in this moment than either of them had realized. Both of them were out doing a grocery run for someone else, their female friend who was currently more wrapped up in intellectual work than hanging out with them. Of course, that was understandable in both contexts (Dawn had school and it was literally Squawk's job to work in a lab), but Danger Mouse was finally able to see that Mr. Snuggles was probably just as irked by the impromptu Delivery Boy role as he was!

"You know, I know exactly how you feel," the white mouse told the teddy bear.

"Oh you do, do you?" some annoyance returned to Mr. Snuggles' voice as his eyes narrowed even further.

"I do," Danger Mouse replied evenly. "Professor Squawkencluck has been busy in the lab for these past few days, busy trying to make new scientific discoveries and preventing any of them from destroying our HQ. That's why I'm here today. She sent me on a grocery run since she can't afford to leave the lab at the moment," then the mouse handed Mr. Snuggles his own shopping list. It wasn't quite as colorful as Dawn's, having been scribbled on a stray piece of graph paper in plain black ink, but it had just as much personality as Dawn's glittery list did.

"And it looks like the contents aren't too different either," Mr. Snuggles mused as he read Danger Mouse's list. It, too, was full of beauty and self-care products. Shampoo and conditioner for those with feathers, beak cream and cleaner, talon ointment, a new beak-brush, a tail feather straightener. Maybe it wasn't stuff Dawn would ever buy, what with her being a poodle and not a hen, but it was very similar. Dawn had also asked for plenty of health-care products and cleaners, on top of all the makeup. And even though Danger Mouse and Mr. Snuggles were both surprisingly knowledgeable about the world of self-care and self-care products, that didn't make this grocery run any easier or more fun.

"Glad to have found a kindred spirit," Mr. Snuggles remarked at last as he finished reading the list. Danger Mouse mirrored his dry smile, both of them chuckling silently over how much they had in common in this exact moment. They may have been enemies on the battlefield, but it seemed that meeting face to face in a more domestic environment was enough to get them to see past their differences and start seeing all the silly ways that they were alike, even if it wasn't enough to offset all of their animosity.

"Truth is, though, I haven't the faintest idea where to find any of this stuff!" Danger Mouse confessed with a frustrated sigh. Even though he knew about all of these beauty products, since he never used them, he had no idea where to find them.

"Well, I may not be an expert on avian affairs," Mr. Snuggles began, placing a thoughtful paw on his chin. "But I know that this particular store does sort everything based on species. Each aisle is marked for a different animal and from start to finish, each aisle goes down the line from head to toe. At the start of every aisle will be all the hair-care stuff, and at the end will be things for paws, talons and feet," he explained as he pointed to a sign hanging over an aisle closer to the left half of the beauty section. There was a bird on it.

"Ah! Perfect!" Danger Mouse's yellow eye widened in delight. "Thank you, Mr. Snuggles!" he turned to shake the bear's pink paw sincerely. "We may be enemies on the battlefield, but you sure are a great ally to have in the store!"

"Don't mention it," Mr. Snuggles replied, gracing Danger Mouse with a smile for the first time ever. He returned the paw shake warmly.

The two parted ways, then, Danger Mouse headed towards the avian section while Mr. Snuggles headed for the canine aisle and, in the back of both of their minds, there was a rush of satisfaction. It was their first interaction where they weren't arguing or fighting. Instead, it had been a simple and pleasant conversation, bonding over their similar circumstances and the nerdy but beloved friends who had gotten them into it in the first place. All in all, it had been a good first meeting. But now, back to the grocery run!

But it was then that the pair realized that they were still both holding each other's lists.

"Oh, good grief!" Danger Mouse muttered. He turned his cart right around and wheeled back out of the avian aisle. Mr. Snuggles was already back out, large pink head poking out from the canine aisle.

"I think we may have had a-" he began, waving the graphing paper in the air.

"Mix up, yes," Danger Mouse finished, walking back over to hand him the pink paper. The two exchanged embarrassed laughs and another awkward farewell before going their separate ways again (for real, this time) and continuing on with their grocery run. What a strange day it had been! Never had either of them have expected to find a kindred spirit in each other, and yet look what life had brought to them, right there in the beauty section of that little local grocery store!

AN: Here you go, Zarius. Here's the "DM and Snuggles run into each other at the store" fic. Hope you enjoyed! You're awesome!