Chapter Text
It’s been a couple of months since Caz became a mother.
She adopted twins— a son and a daughter.
Despite the struggles she had gone through as a single Mum, she’s doing surprisingly well, and it’s no surprise that everyone at work adores them too, especially Neeta.
‘Better Best Bargains’, a supermarket by the seaside in Kent, had gone through a lot in recent times - it was almost taken over by some piece of scum because of her, but at least she made up for it by winning it back.
Despite the whole fiasco, it remains one of the most popular shops in the town.
Currently, it is 8:45 AM.
Most of the town had already woken up, including Caz. She had just dropped her kids off at school and had arrived at the supermarket to see that a few of her co-workers were already inside preparing for the day.
She headed through the automatic doors and took a good look at her surroundings.
Neeta was sweeping the floors whilst chatting to Ben, Robbie was stocking the shelves, and Vel was sorting out the checkouts.
Caz’s eyes landed on the couple in front of her who were conversing, giving each other kisses from time to time.
Neeta put her hands on the top of the mop, resting her chin on the stick in thought.
“Go-to is… a southern fried chicken wrap, Thai sweet chilli crisps, and a bit controversial— but coconut water.”
Ben hummed in agreement.
“Seems very you.”
Neeta grinned and turned her head to look at Robbie.
“What about you?”
Robbie was in the process of stocking the vegetables and paused after hearing her question. He stood there, frozen in thought, briefly before glancing at the young girl.
“It’s a bit basic… a cheddar ploughman’s, salt and vinegar Squares, and a Coke Zero.”
Caz chuckled and put her handbag on one of the checkouts.
“What are you all going on about?”
Neeta’s head snapped towards the direction of where Caz was standing, and she squirmed a little in excitement at seeing her.
“Morning! We’re going on about each other’s meal deals. What’s yours?”
“Ooh— a ham sandwich with nothing on, ready salted crisps, and a Coke Zero.”
Robbie looked up from the display, turned to make eye contact with Caz, and raised a brow in confusion.
“Just ham? No mayo? Good lord…”
Caz crossed her arms, cracking a smile.
“Don’t be cheeky! Right, has everyone had breakfast?”
“All of us except Robbie, I think,” Neeta commented.
Caz hummed. She shuffled over to Robbie to go talk to him privately and put a hand on his shoulder.
“You need to eat, darling. It keeps your strength up.”
Robbie glanced at her briefly before continuing to stock the products on the shelves. He shook his head; not in the mood to eat.
“I’m not hungry at the moment. I’ll eat something later.”
Caz spotted his tone and lowered the volume of her voice. She began to wonder if something was up with him, and decided to ask whilst trying not to be pushy.
“If that’s what you want… but nothing’s upsetting you, no?”
“No, I promise,” he lied.
She rubbed the side of Robbie’s arm and nodded.
“Well, just remember that you can grab something off the shelf and eat in the staff room whenever you want to, okay?”
Robbie nodded, trying to avoid eye contact. She meant well, of course, but he struggled with maintaining eye contact with people out of awkwardness.
“Cheers.”
Caz let go of Robbie’s arm and turned to the others with a bright smile on her face.
“Right! Are we all ready for the day?”
Neeta swiftly nodded with a big smile on her face.
“We’re all set!”
“Then let’s start the day!”
Caz speedily headed over to the entrance of the shop and turned on the neon light to let the town know that they were open for the day.
She turned around to see that everyone had started working again; though the usual chatter and banter were still present in the room, which was something she loved to see.
Vel took a brief glance at her before continuing to clean the checkout.
“How are the kids?”
“Amazingly, I’ve just dropped them off at school.”
Caz leaned against the edge of the counter, inspecting her cleaning.
“How’s Tracey?” she wondered.
“Getting there, but still poorly.”
“Awh, darling… wouldn’t be too shocked, the flu is awful. Feel free to take anything home with you from here that would make her feel better— it’s on the house.”
“Cheers, Caz.”
“Got any plans for Mother’s Day?”
“A couple. You?”
“I’m not really sure, to be honest with you… I had the idea of taking the kids out for the day. Maybe up to Margate? I do have work on the day, though.”
“Caz, you’re a manager now. It’s not like Patricia’s forced you down with handcuffs.”
Caz chuckled at the comment and nodded.
“You’re right…”
She looked at Neeta and Ben, wondering what they had in mind.
“Do you two have any plans?”
“Ben’s Mum would be on holiday, so he’s spending it with my Mum and me,” Neeta replied.
“Awh; that’s lovely! What about you, Robbie?”
Robbie had finished stacking the products before freezing after hearing Caz’s question— honestly? He wasn’t up to talking to anyone right now. In fact, he didn’t even want to be here.
Of course, he loved this place and everyone very much, but he was just simply having a bad day. Not to mention that Mother’s Day was one of the worst days of the year for him since his Mum had passed when he was younger— that was a secret he hadn’t told anyone.
He bit his lip in anxiousness, trying to think of something to say, which caused Caz to raise a brow in confusion.
“Robbie?”
The young boy shook his head and looked at her with a somewhat awkward smile on his face.
“Just taking her to the cinema— nothing fancy,” he lied, swiftly heading into the back to slip away from the conversation.
Neeta grimaced before looking at Caz with a sheepish smile.
“Must be in an awkward mood today, perhaps?”
“It’s a Monday, he’s probably tired,” Ben added.
Vel took a glance at them briefly before continuing to clean.
“Jem told me this morning when he dropped him off that he’s in a bit of a mood today. I’d be gentle with him if I were you.”
“Awh… I wonder if something’s on his mind,” Caz wondered.
Vel shrugged. She knew the reason why, but she didn’t want to go run her mouth about it to them behind his back.
“Probably just one of those days.”
“Maybe…”
Caz sighed and gently tapped the edge of the checkout before straightening up.
“No matter. Let’s get to work!”
Around 1:00 PM, a few of the employees at the supermarket were on lunch break— and Robbie was one of them.
He was sitting in one of the empty staff rooms, away from everyone else. Most of the time, he sat with whoever was on break - but he wasn't feeling it today. In all honesty, he wasn't hungry either. He found himself playing with his food rather than eating it, but it's not like he cares about it at the moment.
Robbie glanced at the clock briefly to check how long it had been. It hadn't been that long since he went on break; he still had plenty of time before going back to work.
He sighed and looked back at his food again— might as well just have a packet of crisps or something.
Robbie opened up the bag and began eating; at least he was getting something down him, even if he didn't feel like having anything.
Meanwhile, Jem decided to visit Robbie at the shop.
He headed through the automatic doors and looked around at his surroundings to see if one of his friends was on shift. Jem spotted Neeta talking to Ben whilst stocking up the shelves, and headed towards them.
“Robbie around?”
Neeta was in the middle of going on about something, but turned to Jem after hearing him speak up.
“Robbie? Oh! Yeah, he’s in the back on lunch break.”
“Cheers.”
Jem waved at them before heading to the back. He took a glance through the windows as he passed by, and eventually spotted his boyfriend sitting alone in one of the rooms.
He opened the door slightly, leaning against the doorframe.
“Hey, loverboy.”
Robbie glanced up after hearing Jem’s voice, and a warm smile appeared on his face. Even when he was feeling the worst, Jem still managed to make him feel better with his presence.
“Hey.”
“You feeling any better?”
“Not really… a little bit because of you, though.”
Jem chuckled. He closed the door behind him, sat down beside Robbie, and wrapped an arm around his shoulder.
“You know you could’ve taken the day off, right?”
“And sit around doing nothing?”
“It’s called taking care of yourself, babe. It’s something I don’t see you do very often.”
“Well, I can’t. I need to work.”
“Caz isn’t Patricia if that’s what you’re worried about. She’ll understand.”
“Sounds tempting… but I have too much stuff to do.”
Jem sighed. There wasn’t really any use in arguing with him. He took Robbie’s hat off, gently running his hand through his locks.
“Fine, it’s just that you look exhausted. Not feeling poorly or anything?”
“No, but I do want to feel better.”
Jem took a glance at him, observing how shitty he looked.
“Am I allowed to take you out tonight? Or is it to go home and have a night in?”
“A snuggle sounds nice.”
“Then that is what we’ll do, babe,” Jem agreed, and kissed his forehead.
The concept of seeing his boyfriend down like this made him somewhat upset— well, he knew that Robbie suffered from depression, and some days were harder than others, it’s just unfortunate that today was one of them. Ideally, he should be at home taking care of himself, but he wasn’t.
“And you’re definitely sure that you don’t want to go home? I just don’t want to see you push yourself.”
Robbie pondered briefly before shaking his head.
“I can handle a couple of hours. Besides, don’t you have work this afternoon?”
Jem shrugged.
“You say that as if I don’t have a limo, or I could quickly drive you home and get you sorted out before I go back to work.”
“I… forget that you’re wealthy sometimes,” Robbie uttered sheepishly.
“All I’m saying is that if you do need to go back home at any time, just message me. You know that I’d drop anything for you.”
Robbie nodded, not in the mood to bother arguing with him.
“Yeah, I will.”
“Good,” Jem hummed in satisfaction. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” Robbie replied, and rested his head on Jem’s shoulder. They sat there in comfortable silence until Jem spotted the time on the clock and swiftly grabbed his bag.
“I have to go back to work. Don’t do too much, m’kay?”
Robbie nodded and gave Jem a kiss before watching him leave. Alone again, he finished off his crisps and left his lunch on the table, not really bothering to clean it up.
Once he headed back to the main area of the supermarket, he was immediately greeted by Caz, who had been waiting for him to come out for the past thirty minutes.
“Had a nice break?”
Robbie blinked, trying to process her question briefly before pulling himself out of it.
“What? Oh, yeah, it was fine.”
“Did you have something to eat?”
“Like you told me to— yes.”
“Are you feeling any better?”
Robbie was about to say something, but paused. Cat got his tongue and let out a mini hesitation before answering her question:
“I’m fine. Got any jobs for me?” he questioned, trying to avoid the topic.
Caz hummed in thought briefly before her eyes lit up after thinking of something he could do.
“Yes, actually— aisle five needs some tidying up, a child has messed around and put stuff in the wrong place.”
Robbie mentally groaned.
“I cleaned that aisle before going on break,” he grumbled.
Caz shrugged and attempted to comfort him by rubbing the side of his arm.
“I’m sorry, darling. It's either that or you could mop the floors? There are a lot of muddy footprints by the entrance.”
“I’ll mop up the floors if you don’t mind.”
“Of course not! The mop and bucket are in the back. Once you’re done, you can go to the checkout to serve customers.”
“Okay, I’ll take a look.”
“I’m proud of you already,” Caz commented, and grasped the side of Robbie’s face— gently squishing it affectionately before walking off.
Robbie sighed and headed into the back room to fetch what he needed.
He came out not long after and headed towards the entrance of the shop. As he began mopping the floor, he felt that he was being watched— he wasn’t sure if he was being paranoid or not, and when he glanced up to look at his surroundings; he spotted Vel keeping a watchful eye on him.
Confused, he looked around briefly to see if there was anything out of the ordinary before making eye contact with her again.
“What?” Robbie mouthed.
“You alright?”
Robbie’s brows furrowed.
“Yes?”
Vel hummed. She felt the need to keep an eye on him after what Jem had told her earlier this morning.
The whole interaction left Robbie slightly unnerved and mildly confused, but regardless, he continued to mop— at least he felt like he wasn’t being watched anymore, and at least he was finally alone with just his thoughts roaming around inside his mind.
All he could think about was how exhausted he was, how a genuine smile on his face became strained, but most importantly… Jem.
All he wanted right now was Jem.