Chapter 13: Goth Clothes & Carnival Fun

The beginning of my date seemed rather simple and typical. Apparently, DM took me to the same cafe that Penfold took me to the day before yesterday. Daphne's Coffee and Sweets Factory was also praised for its ice cream and Wi-Fi service. Since I had coffee earlier during breakfast, I ordered a vanilla milkshake while Nezu-Chan had strawberry ice cream.

"Frozen dairy desserts after breakfast," I mused out loud. "Are you trying to spoil me right off the bat?" I asked him. But he was too preoccupied with his ice cream cone to answer.

That was odd. Usually, he wouldn't take his eyes off me and always kept smiling at me nonstop. Now, I was watching him lick his ice cream scoop in contentful pleasure. For once, I became annoyed of him ignoring me, not the other way around this time.

"Oi! Nezu-Baka-Chan! Are you even listening to me!?" I deadpanned irritably.

He froze in mid-lick, his tongue still stuck to his scoop when he glanced at me. He then sucked his tongue back in his mouth and grinned sheepishly with a small blush.

I sighed wearily. "I never expected you to be nervous on our first date."

"Yes, well, I was secretly debating whether or not I'd start out the first conversation through a few jokes."

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I couldn't even begin to describe how lame DM's jokes were. All I did was silently give him the mosaic expression of disappointment while sipping my milkshake. My hard cased attitude towards his sense of humor eventually caused him to stop talking and sigh with dejection.

"Hey," I said trying to sound positive. "I've checked some events going on later this afternoon through the web. If we do some window shopping right now, you're welcome to fly us to Blackpool. I've heard that they're gonna have a small circus performance with clowns and face painting later. And we can end our fun with some lunch by the carnival's food court. What do ya say?"

DM's face lit up brightly. "Really!? Really!?" As I nodded, he smirked victoriously. "Alright, Shirakage. Which store do you wish to browse through before the fun begins?"

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The World's Greatest Secret Agent probably never expected the female white mouse he liked was interested in the Gothic apparel store, "Goth Topic". It was exactly like the Hot Topic store back in my past life's human world. And I couldn't help but drag my date along.

This place had the greatest rock CD's with the anthropomorphic animal versions of the bands, "Evanescence" and "Three Days Grace". There were black chokers with belt rings and spikes; Lolita dresses and sphanxes. Although Danger Mouse found the place unsettling and creepy to him, I assured him that he wouldn't be doing the buying for my brief shopping time. I knew exactly what I wanted to get and change into.

"Honestly, Shirakage. Those black garments doesn't suit you at all," he told me while flying us in his Mark IV to the carnival by Blackpool's coast line.

"Oh, Nezu-San," I said confidently. "You act like I had just gotten a tattoo of a human skull on my arm. I don't look that bad. Besides, even I have my own fears of things too, you know."

He sighed with a doubtful expression. "You're not wrong in your defense, Shira-San. I'm just a little surprised that you have an acquired taste towards occult fashion."

I smiled sympathetically. "I don't blame you for feeling that way about me." I then laughed. "Although, if Pen-Chan found out as well, he probably won't go near me for a while."

Danger Mouse chuckled. "That's true. I couldn't even convince him to go through a haunted house ride with me at previous fun fairs."

I smirked kindly at how my date was lightening up from our discussion. "You know, I think I might have recently developed a fear of roller coasters since Baron Greenback dropped me out of his Frog's Head Flyer two nights ago. Do you think we can go on a couple of thriller rides before the clown act?"

Another adorable grin was plastered across his face again, and he sped up in anticipated determination. "WHEEEE!"

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The first ride DM and I went on was a haunted house ride. I went and snapped all of the false monster get ups and animatronics designs with my phone in the dark. Some of my photos contained a slightly freaked out Danger Mouse. My favorite photo was of him getting terrified over a giant four eyed spider that—for me in this world—wasn't all that scary.

While we were waiting on line for the roller coaster ride, DM was pouting in annoyance. "I do envy your courage when it comes to spiders, bugs, and insects, Shirakage," he admitted firmly. "But I can't believe you don't find them so unnerving like I do."

"Ah, don't be so down about it, DM," I said casually. "The tables will turn between our levels of bravery soon enough."

I instantly regretted even speaking those words out loud. Throughout the entire ride since the deep drop, I was screaming with fright. The near traumatizing memory of falling to my death from Greenback's grip made me hold onto my male twin in our seat for dear life.

I could hear him laughing and yelling with delightful excitement as he held my hand in a secure, reassuring grasp. The air rushed wildly and hard through my hair and white mouse ears. But as I leaned against my date's neck, I could also feel his pulse beat rapidly. I didn't know if it was the thrilling ride or my dependence on him that was causing his heart to beat this fast. All I did know was that Danger Mouse was having the best time of his life right now. And this was an experience that I didn't want to end.

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I should have stopped myself from suggesting to go see a clown show with him while I still had my Tsundere side on me. Honto Nii! Couldn't they have at least chosen a more uncommon theme music piece for this typical circus act? I refused to laugh at the clichéd, slapstick routine of the comedic white sheep of The Joker and Harley Quinn's relatives.

"WA-HA! T'HAHAHAHAHA! Oh, Shira-San," a high pitched hysterical tone spoke next to me in our area of the bleachers. "Aren't they brilliant?"

My deadpanned glare softened as I watched Danger Mouse crack up in innocent laughter. It was still weird, though. Before he went into suspended animation for the last 23 years, the older version of him that I once knew wouldn't have found clown jokes very funny. I guess not even Professor Squawkencluck's grandfather would have expected DM to come back into the world with such a drastic change in preferences of humor like this.

On the other hand, it was rather cute that the new and improved No. 1 Secret Agent wasn't aware of drawing the crowd's attention to himself through his high pitched volume of guawffs. I decided that I'd better slow his giddiness down before he accidently stops the show.

As Nezu-Chan struggled to stay in his seat and clutched his side to keep himself from falling over, I leaned in towards Laughing Boy and kissed him on his right cheek.

I had never seen him go silent and blush so quickly in place before so far since I've met him. He looked at me with a shocked glance and I beamed a giggling smile right back at him. I bet he'd never anticipated me to give him a swift peck on the side of his face during the heat of comedy relief.

Nezu-Chan's beaming, dreamy-eyed, happy daze didn't last for long, though. Another slapstick act from the clowns in center stage brought him back to hysterics.

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Uggh! Look at him. Getting his face all colorful and goofy dressing for little kids. 'We're on a date, dammit. You're supposed to impress your chosen mate of what she likes!' I thought to him in imaginative telepathy while I glared at him from a separate face painting table outside of the big circus tent.

Alright. If it's a taste in face painting preferences you want, Nezu-Chan, then I won't regret my designed choice. I turned to the clown artist sitting across from me at the table. "How much would you want to paint my face in the style of this picture?" I asked him and held out a quick old drawing that I had always carried in my wallet since its creation during my childhood days.

Several minutes later…

Danger Mouse had his desired face to be painted in a colorful version of a Kiss music artist's make up design.

"Oh, Shira-San," he sang sweetly as he began to approach my table. "I'm sure you'll appreciate a compromise of clown makeup that I chose for yo-AAUUGGHH! ZOMBIE MOUSE! ZOMBIE MOUSE!"

He screamed with terrifying tears as I busted a gut from his reaction. What was my choice of makeup? My white mouse ears were painted in a darker shade of bluish black; my face had a sickly light shade of blue around my cheeks, eyes and snout. I had the areas of my mouth and lips painted in the shape of a scary looking, shark toothed grin; and finally, dripping streaks of red blood oozed down from my left eye and around my painted toothed grin.