Shopping

"Laundry detergent...dish soap...toothpaste...filters...got all that." America crossed the items off the list he was reading, and looked into the cart, frowning. "And we just got cat food. What else do we need?"
"We should go look at towels." Romano said, busy examining the cat toys. He pulled a package of furry mice off the shelf, comparing it to the one containing sparkly balls with bells in them that he already held. He frowned. "Which one of these do you think the cats would like better? These have bells in them," he shook the package, making it jingle faintly through the plastic, "but, the mice are stuffed with catnip."
"Get them both." America said absently, rubbing his chin as he stared thoughtfully at the list. He was pretty sure he was forgetting something... "We can give them one of each and keep the extras in the cupboard for when they get lost."
"Yeah, okay." Romano conceded, tossing them into the cart. "We're going to have to get a new scratching post soon, too. The one we have is getting pretty scratched up."
"The Feline Fortress?" America corrected, and stuffed the list into his pocket, pushing the cart out of the aisle. "It's more of a castle than a post. And I'll build one. They don't really sell 'em big enough."
"Alright." Romano slid his hands into his pockets, walking alongside him. "Then we should stop by the depot later and pick out some carpeting."
"I still have some carpet from building The Fortress." America offered. "Isn't that good enough?"
"Their claws keep getting caught in it." Romano frowned. "It's too... fluffy. You can use it on the parts where they sleep, but otherwise we should get something with finer pile."
"Pile?" America glanced at him for enlightenment.
"The uh, fiber part." Romano gestured, holding his hand flat and running the other over the top of it to indicate that he meant the stuff on top of the carpet. "The soft stuff."
"Oh. Carpet fur." America nodded, looking ahead again. "You're right, they do get caught in it alot. Maybe we should find something with less..." he wiggled his fingers, searching for the word to describe the carpet fibers. "...loops."
"Nn." Romano agreed, glancing at the signs at the end of each aisle. "What were we getting next?"
America pulled the list out of his pocket again. "Um, towels."
"Okay." Romano nodded, remembering, and started thinking of their bathroom colour scheme so he could choose towels to suit.  
America looked down a side aisle as they passed, and frowned. "Do we need some more lube?"
"What? No!" Romano hissed, flushing deeply in mortification, and swatted his lover's arm. "And keep your voice down, idiot!"
"Haha, okay. Sorry." America grinned, amused, and lowered his voice to a loud whisper. Which carried. "Are you sure? 'Cause I'm pretty sure we used the last of it this morning." Someone several aisles over giggled, and Romano could see the pharmacists and their pretty assistants standing behind the counter of the pharmacy at the end of the main aisle grinning at them.  
"No!" He hissed again, taking America's arm and dragging him down a side-aisle to escape the embarrassment. "And don't say things like that in public, dammit!"
"Hahaha! Y'know," America suggested, chuckling as he allowed himself to be dragged down the aisle, "if it really bothers you we can always buy it online. It'd be more private that way. That'd be less embarrassing, right?"
"Well, maybe." Romano allowed reluctantly, slowing down.  "That would be less embarrassing."
"Plus, we could buy it in bulk." America mused, tilting his head thoughtfully. "That way we wouldn't have to use lotion and conditioner and stuff everytime we run out."
"Okay, okay, I got it already! We can buy it online!" Romano growled, speeding up again. "Enough about the damn lube!"
"We passed the towels," America craned his head to look back over his shoulder. "Two aisles back. Didn't you say we needed towels?"
"What?" Romano stopped and looked back, calming at the distraction. "Oh. Yeah." He blinked, looking around. "Where's the cart?"
"We left it back at the front of the store." America informed him, patting Romano's hand on his arm. "If you let me go, I'll go grab it while you pick out towels."
"Oh." Romano released him, nodding. "Okay. Hurry back though, this won't take long."
"Mm, I won't take long." America assured him, leaning down to kiss his cheek. "I'm going to swing by the seasonal section and check out what's there on the way though, 'kay?"
"Yeah, sure." Romano waved him off, heading for the towels. "Just don't take too long."
"I'll hurry." America promised, striding off to fetch the cart.
Romano turned his attention to towels. Their washing machine had died earlier that week, and taken the laundry with it to the grave. Luckily it was mostly towels, but unfortunately that meant that they'd had to use kitchen towels or clean shirts to dry themselves the last few days, and he was pretty fed up with that uncivilized business. (Although, America had ambushed him with the hairdryer as he was coming out of the shower earlier that morning, and after Romano had settled down and allowed America to actually use it to dry him off he had to admit the hot air was kind of nice on his skin. Plus he felt all warm and tingly afterward. But they still needed towels, because they couldn't use the hairdryer every time they took a bath or shower. It took too long, and was too expensive, and the floor got all wet. But maybe sometimes. Every now and then.)  
His cell rang as he was contemplating some coffee-coloured towels that he really kind of liked. He smiled a little at the name displayed on the caller ID: trottolino amoroso. A nickname chosen on a whim, but he felt it was appropriate.
"Oi, America," he answered, not bothering to wonder why his lover was calling him while they were in the same building, "do you think we should get these monogrammed?"
"What, the towels?" America paused, a little thrown at having been asked a question before he was able to say hi, "Um...why? We pretty much share them, so it's not like we need to mark them separately..."
"No," Romano ran his fingers along the edge of the towel, checking to see if it would fray easily after a little use, "I was thinking we could put both our initials on them."
"Oh. Sure! That would be cute." America answered, more cheerfully. "But hey, Romano! I found these shirts, they're awesome! I'm going to get a couple. I found one for you, too. It's perfect. Wait 'til you see them! You're going to love 'em. They're really cool! I'm going to put one on now, and then I'll come on back, okay? Love you!" He hung up without waiting for a reply.
Romano slid his phone back into his pocket (he was used to calls like that now), and decided he really did like the coffee-coloured towels. Plus, they would hide the coffee stains that resulted whenever America decided he didn't want to get dressed before getting his morning coffee.   
He recognised the sound of a shopping cart racing down the main aisle as the approach of his lover. Sure enough, America soon appeared in view, standing on the base bar at the back of the cart as he coasted along. "Hey!" The blond greeted, braking the cart with a heel on the polished floor, and jumped off the back of the cart, spreading his arms wide with a grin. "Look!"
Romano looked, brows rising slowly as he read the legend written in white across a picture of his flag. "Italian By Injection?"  
"Nice, right?" America grinned proudly, pulling on the bottom of the shirt. "They had some other ones, too," he turned to dig in the cart, pulling out a couple more shirts, and faced Romano again, unfurling one and holding it up against himself in display. "Save a Stallion, Ride an Italian." He waggled his eyebrows. "It's like my cowboy shirt! But Italian. And this one's for you," He shook out another one, which he held out to Romano, who took it and spread it out. "It says 'I'm So Cute, I Must Be Italian! Isn't that cute? It suits you!"
"Um," Said Romano. He didn't really know what to think of these shirts, but America was so excited about them it was kind of hard to say that. It was kind of embarrassing, but also kind of sweet? He felt the material, brows furrowing as he tried to think of something to say. "Well...they're soft."
"Yep! And the cotton's pretty thick, so they should last a long time." America beamed, folding the shirt he wasn't wearing up and putting it back in the cart. "They had a couple of other cute ones too, but they were out of our sizes. But the salesperson said the store would give us a call when they got more in, so I gave them our number." He paused, turning to Romano. "Do you think we should get one of those for your brother, too?" He asked, brows furrowing as he gestured to the shirt in Romano's hands.
"What? No!" Romano frowned, clutching the shirt possessively to his chest. "Get him one that says 'I'm with stupid', or something."
"Haha, they didn't have one like that there, but maybe next time." America laughed, stepping back up onto the back of the cart and leaning on the handle. "You find any towels you liked?"
"Mm, yeah." Romano draped the shirt over his shoulder and turned back to the towels. "What do you think of these coffee ones?"
"I like 'em." America decided after brief examination. "Plus, they'll hide the coffee stains."
"That's what I was thinking." Romano agreed, dumping a stack of towels into the cart. "That's everything, then. We're done here."
"Cool. Let's go checkout and then head over to the carpet depot." America stepped down from the cart to push it normally. "Remind me to pay for what I'm wearing."
"Why don't you just take it off and pay for it normally?" Romano asked, falling in step beside him.
"No way! It's too cool, I have to wear it." America said, and grinned, leaning down to nuzzle Romano's temple. "Besides, I want everyone to know I'm proud of my Italian boyfriend."
"Idiot." Romano flushed and looked away, sliding his hand into America's and squeezing it tightly.
"Love you too." America grinned fondly, squeezing back.