"The blue one or the orange one?" Kimiko held two different dresses in front of her.
"Blue, the orange one just looks tacky." Jack answered, peeking over the rack of shirts he was going through.
"What does it even mean to look 'tacky'?" Raimundo asked Clay as the two held on to the clothes Jack and Kimiko were planning on buying.
"I'm from Texas, the only 'tacky' thing there is glue and I'm sure they ain't talkin' about the clothes being sticky." Clay stated.
"This is only the first store and my arms are already tired." Raimundo sighed.
"You're in for a long day, partner." Clay chuckled.
"And we've lost Omi." Raimundo looked around the store. "Omi!"
"I'm over here!" Omi called, a small green hat on his head.
"I know absolutely nothin' 'bout fashion, but I'm sure that's a no." Clay said.
"You're right, cowboy." Jack said and took the hat off of Omi's head. "Here, this one's better." Jack plopped a black sunhat on the young monk.
"Anything else you want to get here?" Kimiko asked, adding the blue dress to the pile in Raimundo's arms.
"I'm ready to move on." Jack said.
"I would like to purchase this hat please." Omi sat the hat Jack had given him on the counter in front of one of the female workers. The worker looked at the small monk for a moment before seeing Jack standing behind him, waving his credit card in the air a little and winking. The woman mouthed 'oh' and took the hat and scanned it.
"There you go, enjoy the rest of your day." Omi smiled brightly at the woman and took the bag that she had put his hat in and walked away to play with his new hat. "Little brother?" The worker asked as Jack walked up to the counter and Clay dropped his pile onto it.
"You could say that." Jack shrugged.
"Nice of you to take him out with your friends and your date." The woman sang the word 'date'.
"How did you know?" Jack said with fake shock, letting out a soft chuckle.
"I work in a mall, I can basically smell a relationship. Especially one as cute as you two."
"Did you hear that, Clay? We're cute."
"Gross." Raimundo said and 'oofed' when Kimiko elbowed his side.
"You're just jealous that we're cute." Jack said with a little shoulder shimmy.
"Don't make me lose my lunch." Raimundo sighed and ended up laughing a little after his comment.
"Aren't you guys just great friends?" The other worker, who was checking out Kimiko, said.
"We've been through a lot." Jack explained.
"Too much if you ask me." Raimundo said.
"Would you stop throwing shade over there?" Jack scoffed, handing the worker his card.
"Throwing what?"
"Kimi, explain to your thing what that means." Jack took his card back and walked away.
"What?" Kimiko only shrugged at Raimundo and walked away after paying as well.
"Have a great day." The coworkers said together as Clay and Raimundo grabbed the bags and left as well.
"Why is the store called 'Forever 21'?" Omi asked.
"I don't know, but we could open a store next to it called 'Feeling 22." Kimiko laughed at Jack's joke while Omi looked very confused.
"Where to next?" Clay asked, knowing that they were nowhere near done with their trip.
"Hot Topic." Kimiko and Jack said together and high-fived.
"That was scary." Raimundo commented as he followed the group.
"Very." Clay agreed. The two stopped when they reached the store and stared inside as Kimiko, and Jack looked around inside of the small and packed room.
The two stopped when they reached the store and stared inside as Kimiko and Jack looked around inside of the small, dark and packed room.
"Why are we not going in?" Omi asked.
"Uh..." The two said together.
"We're just gonna chill out here, you can go on in." Raimundo said.
"Yeah." Clay nodded his head. Omi blinked several times before shrugging and going in.
"Chickens." Jack said when he and Kimiko finished with the store and handed the two their bags. Omi had his own little Hot Topic bag as well.
"He liked some of the buttons." Kimiko explained before Raimundo could ask.
"We should take them to Spencer's." Jack chuckled while he and Kimiko continued on.
"I don't think they could handle that, they wouldn't even go into Hot Topic, let alone Spencer's." Kimiko giggled. "Plus I don't want Omi to go in there, there would be way too much of him asking what this or that means and do you really want to explain half of what's in that store is?"
"Good point. Let's just Rue." Jack suggested.
"I could use some new shoes from them." Kimiko nodded her head.
"Please tell me we're done after this one." Raimundo groaned.
"This is only the third store, we have the entire mall to go through." Kimiko stated.
"Here, get us some pretzels and meet us at the store." Jack handed Clay his card.
"Are you gonna take-" Jack and Kimiko were already walking away before Clay could finish his question.
"Omi can carry the pretzels." Raimundo said and went to the pretzel stand.
"The mall is weirdly empty today." Kimiko commented as she and Jack looked through some clothes.
"It's a weekday." Jack shrugged and grabbed two shirts that were the same except for the color. "I'm going to go try these on."
"Call if you need me." Kimiko said.
"'Kay." Jack had one of the workers unlock a dressing room for him and thanked the man before going in. Jack had slipped on the purple shirt and heard someone walk into the little dressing area and he assumed that it was Kimiko. "What do you think of this? I like the way it fits, but it is a little tight on the neck and I'm unsure of the color." Jack said as he opened the door, looking at himself in the mirror inside of the cubby as he spoke and using his hip to keep the door open. "I have the same shirt in black in there and I could try that on as well." Jack turned his head and felt his heart skip. Chase was sitting on the little bench were people waiting for their friend, child or partner to change.
"Hello, Spicer." Chase greeted. Jack quickly went back into his cubby and shut the door, knowing that it locked automatically. He let out a yelp when Chase suddenly appeared in front of him. "Did you really think that would work?" Chase chuckled.
"I didn't want to scream and get kicked out of one of my favorite stores." Jack admitted. "And you're a creep, you know."
"How's that?"
"First, you watch me and the others and leave that note and now you're stalking me at the mall, if you weren't an evil immortal warlord I would have called the cops on your ass by now." Jack huffed, moving as far away from Chase as possible.
"Note? I never left a note." Chase thought for a moment. "Wuya must have left it, she went out this morning, curious about you and she most likely left the note you speak of."
"You're still stalking me at the mall."
"Ending up in the same shopping center was pure coincidence. I was curious about this 'mall' Wuya has spoken of several times and decided to see it for myself. Imagine my surprise when I found you and those monks here as well. I bet it's thrilling to use that farm boy and circus fool as pack mules."
"Is that why you're not in your armor?" Jack asked, ignoring Chase's comment about Clay and Raimundo.
"Correct." Jack flinched when Chase pulled him close and made him turn around. "It's tight on your neck because of this knot, how you managed to get it over your head I'll never know." Chase said as he undid the string in the shirt and redid it looser.
"Thanks." Jack muttered.
"Nice to know that the monks at least taught you basic manners." Chase stated as he smoothed out Jack's shirt. "I like the purple, but the black would look great as well, I suggest getting both."
"Why do you keep bothering me?" Jack asked, looking at himself in the mirror.
"As I've said before, I want you." Chase placed his hands on Jack's shoulders.
"Why now? Why not when I was literally willing to do anything to get you to pay attention to me?"
"I've wanted you since you fell into my arms but didn't want to weaken myself by allowing you to get close and letting Bean have an advantage if he got you. So I pushed you away, insulted you, and hurt you because I didn't want to get hurt myself."
"Why are you willing to risk that now?" Jack felt Chase's thumbs slowly move against his shoulder blades.
"Guess you can say the final straw happened when I saw you with that farm boy."
"So you only want what you can't get."
"To some degree, yes." Chase admitted.
"Well, it's not going to happen. I'm happy with Clay and the others." Jack stated.
"Are you? When was the last time you got to work on one of you inventions or got to do something that you wanted to do on your own?"
"I..." Jack found himself speechless.
"They still don't trust you and they never will, not after everything that has happened. But you've been nothing but loyal to me so there's no need for me to distrust you." Chase went to give Jack's neck a kiss.
"Go away." Jack stepped forward and turned around. "I hate you."
"Is that so?" Chase grinned. "Then punch me. I won't try to stop you. Go ahead." Jack clenched his hands and faced the mirror again, hugging himself and curling up a little.
"Just go." Jack said weakly. "Please."
"I'll see you soon, Spicer." Chase said before walking out, the door clicking shut behind him.
"Why can't I hate him?" Jack asked himself as he pressed his forehead to the cold mirror.
"Jack? You alright? You're taking forever." Kimiko's voice came from behind the door a few moments later.
"Yeah, I'm just having a hard time deciding."
"Need some help?"
"No, I got this." Jack quickly changed back into his own shirt and left the changing room.
"Please tell me you're getting both of them, I think they're really cool." Kimiko said.
"Yep." Jack flashed Kimiko a smile.
"Clay, Omi and Raimundo are waiting outside the shop with our pretzels when we're done." Kimiko handed Jack a shirt. "And I think you'll like this."
"Are you trying to tell me something?" Jack laughed at the shirt that read 'messy hair, don't care'.
"Maybe." Kimiko giggled.
"I'll get it if you get one too."
"Already did." The two chuckled and finished up with their shopping at Rue. They ate their pretzels and continued with their shopping trip.
"Last store." Kimiko announced as they walked into a large store.
"Finally." Raimundo sighed. "I feel like my arms are going to fall off."
"Least we can tell Master Fung we got a workout today." Clay chuckled. He stopped when he saw a black bracelet with a gold piece on it. Clay grabbed the bracelet and caught up to the group. "I'll be right back." Clay placed the bags he was carrying next to Raimundo, who found himself a bench inside of the store to sit on, and took off.
"Light or dark brown?" Jack asked Kimiko as he looked at the boots display.
"Light." Kimiko answered. "And Clay would like those the best." She added as she pointed at a pair of boots.
"How do you know that I didn't want them for myself?"
"Because you don't wear cowboy boots, Jack." Kimiko stated.
"I could be pulling a you and be randomly changing my entire style for a day."
"Don't mock me."
"I would never."
"Just get the boots and let's go."
"Yes, ma'am."
After finally finishing their long trip at the mall, the group went back to the temple. By the time Kimiko and Jack got everything they bought put away, it was very late into the evening. The group ate a very simple dinner and separated for the night. Jack took Clay to his room and gave him the boots he had bought for him and was shocked when Clay handed him a gift of his own.
"You got me something?" Jack asked as he pulled out the bracelet.
"Figured you'd like it." Clay shrugged.
"To infinity and beyond." Jack chuckled, seeing that the 'infinity' was the actual symbol instead of the word. "You dork."
"Do you not like it?" Clay said with some worry.
"I love it." Jack kissed Clay's cheek.
"Th-Thanks. Uh...goodnight." Clay was about to leave.
"How about we turn that 'goodnight' into a 'good morning' when we're done?" Jack said with a smirk.
"Done? I thought we were?" Jack chuckled before taking Clay's hat, hanging it on his doorknob and shutting the door.