Delicious

"Grountin, wake up!" Upwina hollered at the unconscious young man she was pounding in the chest with her fists. "You tricked me! I know you're alive!"

Slowly, but surely, Grountin arose from his incapacitation, licking his lips, muttering, "That was delicious."

"What did you do and why were you- Nevermind," Upwina rapidly interrogated before no longer feeling the need. She had already touched Grountin.

As she rose back to her feet, Grountin pleaded, "Wait. I really need to talk to you."

"No, you don't," bluntly disagreed Upwina. "You don't know what's good for you, clearly," she stated, perturbed while pointing at the exposed power line.

"Come on," Grountin desperately appealed with his hands pressed against one another, "you know my powers are electrical."

Upwina gave a momentary thought to consider the logic, then stuck outward her hands to help Grountin to his feet.

"Fine. That adds up," she uttered begrudgingly. "So why did you keep calling my name if it wasn't some 'killing yourself because I don't love you' move?"

"People do that?" queried Grountin authentically.

Upwina rolled her eyes and groaned, "Ugh. If you only knew the moves you guys use..."

"Well, I was feeling like life wasn't worth living for a sec, but I'm not going to pretend just to get you," Grountin admitted. "You know I don't lie. Unlike that guy..." he mumbled irately.

"What guy?" Upwina inquired, checking Grountin's eyes to see if he was fully mentally there.

Grountin sighed, then casually mentioned, "Don't think about it," to both Upwina and himself.

"Did the electricity do this?" she motioned towards Grountin's gums, still bleeding from the glass food.

"You don't wanna know," he non-chalantly warned her.

"Well, if that's how it is..." Upwina chimed as she started strolling away from Grountin. "Don't call for me anymore, okay?"

"Upwina!" shouted a young man down the street. "Where'dja go, sweetie?"

Upwina sighed, then complained, "This guy was begging me f-"

"What?! You betta keep yo' hands off my girl, boy!" roared the young man whilst running at Grountin.

Upon reaching Grountin's position, he threw a punch at Grountin's already broken, bleeding jaw. Grountin, not used to pain in his jaw, turned his face away from the attack instinctively; this lead to the other man stumbling over Grountin's legs rather than connecting the strike. Falling on top of Grountin, his shoulder bumped Grountin's chest and he was instantly sent to a better place.

"Dammit!" an annoyed Upwina cursed.

"Did you know that guy?" Grountin inquired sheepishly, yet sarcastically.

Upwina sighed, then responded frustratedly, "Do you know how long it takes to find a single guy with money to take care of me that doesn't intend to rape me?"

Grountin, thoroughly puzzled and glancing around; trying to make sense of the odd question he was just asked; whimpered, "No?"

"Whatever. Come on," she demanded grouchily.

Grountin questioned her, "Where are we going?"

As she pulled him along, she remarked sassily, "To get food, moron. I don't eat electricity."

Arriving at a convenience store three minutes later, Grountin's eyes widened at the sight of food products he had never seen up close; he was used to only the punishment aisle, grains, and produce.

"You can pick something out," Upwina offhandedly mentioned, "but not too much. Don't wanna get this guy fired."

Grountin was too amused by the idea of trying something new to wonder why anybody would get fired because somebody else bought provisions from them; at first.

While he wandered around the store, he overheard some man saying, "Come on, baby! Show daddy some love!"

Grountin walked towards the voice; curious to meet Upwina's father if she was the one to whom the comment was made; and then saw Upwina making out with her so-called daddy at the front counter.

When Grountin gasped, Upwina's closed eyes flew open as she leaned away from her kisser and stammered, "I-it's not what it looks like!"

"Oh, yes, it is!" bragged the heavyset store clerk. "Mind your own business, pipsqueak!" he told off the lanky Grountin.

The man grabbed the back of Upwina's head and pulled her face back into reach of his lips over the counter.

"Let go of her," Grountin defiantly stated.

The clerk, amused, laughed heartily, turned to Grountin, and queried, "Who are you to get between a man and his girl?"

Grountin sighed, then mumbled, "Her friend, I guess. But what kind of man does such sexual behavior with his own daughter? That doesn't seem normal."

"Hoo hoo hoo!" the man chuckled at the naive black, blue, and purple teen. Then he did a double-take, noticing the blue again, genuinely inquiring, "Is there something wrong with you, boy?"

Grountin confidantly strode forth to his companion's supposed father, grabbed his shirt collar, lightly poked his chest with his finger, and calmly said, "You don't really want me to tell your girl about what you have in your basement, the disregard for store policy, or why you put on so much weight, do you?"

The man became irate beyond belief, pushing Grountin away from himself by the shoulders, and then grabbing a shotgun from behind the counter.

"You're dead!" the clerk bellowed whilst cocking his weapon pointed at Grountin.

Grountin sneered, "I've never felt more alive!"

In the split second Grountin began charging towards the counter; in the same split second the clerk would have pulled the trigger; the man was thoroughly immolated to a crisp with a quick red burst.

"See what you made me do?" Upwina shrieked. "You need to hide your abilities better! And leave me alone, while you're at it!"

She pulled her hand back from where she touched the clerk, held it with the other, and looked at it disdainfully.

"Why was your dad attacking us? And what did you do to him?" Grountin questioned her.

Upwina throat-cleared, then specified, "He was attacking you because you were interrupting us." She turned around briefly, then flipped back towards Grountin, yelling, "And stop acting like he's my dad! He's just a boyfriend."

"I thought that other guy was your man," stated Grountin in confusion.

"Every man is my man," she muttered.

Grountin sighed, "Except me, apparently."

"Hehe! I can make you mine if I wanted to!" she boasted.

"Then where is all this doubt coming from?" inquired Grountin.

Upwina opened her mouth to answer, but first realized that this was not the ideal setting for that conversation.

"Come on, we need to get out of here," she whispered rapidly.

She grabbed several bags, filled them with food and drink, then chastised Grountin, "Why are you just- fill some bags up and let's go!"

"Don't we need to pay for this stuff?" Grountin sincerely asked, grasping the $0.63 in his pocket.

Upwina groaned, "Ugh! Fine, goody two-shoes!"

She dropped the bags, pulled a dollar from inside her blouse, left it on the counter, and grabbed a lighter, loudly whispering, "Let's go!"

She pulled Grountin into a nearby apartment building, walked up the stairs to a specific room, and opened the door with a key under the mat.

"You have an apartment?" Grountin asked, surprised.

Upwina glared at him and said, "No, but the man you vaporized earlier did, so until rent is due, we're going to stay here for a while."

Grountin's smile instantly widened upon hearing her last statement.

"Not like that!" she corrected with attitude. "You can't be trusted by yourself anymore. Not until you learn some subtlety."

Grountin smirked, proudly mentioning, "Pretty sure I just saved you twice in about a week. Who's untrustworthy?"

"I saved you just now!" Upwina silently uproared. "He would have killed you if I didn't send his soul to- what did you call it? A better place?"

"Correct," affirmed Grountin. "But are you sure that's what you actually did?"

"Am I sure?!" Upwina screeched; then, lowering her voice to not call attention to themselves from the apartment residents, admonished Grountin, "You're the one who doesn't even know how to control his powers!"

"You won't even tell me your powers!" Grountin countered. "Sounds like you're scared of what you can do." Then he frowned, admitting, "That can't be true though. Your only fear is doubt."

Upwina pulled the lighter from inside her shirt and flicked it active. Then she pressed it into her hand.

Grountin shouted in shock, "What are yo-" before noticing that her casual demeanor never changed between the retrieval and touch of the flame.

"Fine. Let's talk," Upwina said reluctantly, fire still alit against her hand. "Maybe knowing more about each other's powers could help us understand our own."

"Okay," Grountin agreed, "but no running away this time. No dodging questions. I want to know everything."

Upwina outbursted, "Okay, already! I said we would talk!"

Grountin, frazzled by the unexpectedly aggravated response to what he thought were reasonable requests at this point in their relationship, responded anxiously, "Well, you usually aren't so open." He then cleared his throat, gently saying, "You know how I got here, when I got my abilities, and all that other past stuff. You never told me yours."

"Really? My backstory is your first question? Not what my powers do, what my plans are, or why I even bother with you?" she asked, visibly annoyed. "Fine, why not?" She licked the flame emanating from the lighter and remarked, "Delicious."