Milk and White Chocolate
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Chapter Six
It can't Rain all the Time
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By the time the actual day to do the whole…shopping thing rolled around Jou was pretty sure it was a really bad idea and that he shouldn't have agreed to it. Honestly, look at who he was trusting to make him look good!
Two leather wearing midgets, a cross dresser, an ancient spirit who dressed like a punk, a guy who wore purple midi's, and Marik. (Marik was a warning in and of himself. Jou didn't even need to go into his unique fashion sense, as the fact it was Marik should have been enough of an explanation.)
He expressed this to Honda as they headed downtown on the bus. They'd had the choice of riding with Ryou and Bakura or Malik and Marik and opted for the bus. Yami and Yugi had gone with Ryou and Bakura, apparently trusting the thief to not crash into something with the soul purpose of killing Yami. Honda and Jou didn't share this trust.
Honda laughed quietly. "It's like this bud, our idea of dressing up consist of ironing. Even those six are better than nothing, right?"
Jou sniffed. "I've yet to see any conclusive proof of this." The brunette flashed him an indulgent smile before returning his attention back to the street they were riding along. Honda had decided to play lookout for the store, since neither were really sure where it was and didn't want to risk missing it.
The gifts had kept coming in steadily since Monday. The rest had all come to their houses and had no return addresses, of course. Blue had gone back to typing his notes to Jou which was more than a little disappointing. He'd felt…strangely close to whoever this guy was.
And now he was feeling kind of bad about actually using the gift card. He didn't even know what this guy was and probably wouldn't have any interest in him once they actually came face-to-face and it just seemed so…skanky. But, on the other hand, the money was already in the card and probably couldn't be refunded…he couldn't let it go to waste. That would be wrong.
And it wasn't like he hadn't eaten the candy, used the chess set, already opened the CDs he'd gotten on Tuesday, and named the stuffed bear.
…
Not that he liked stuffed animals or anything wussy like that. Because he didn't. It was just nice and kind of sweet and he'd been kind of deprived as a child and…okay, maybe he just liked the damn thing. Shut up. He could picture Honda's annoying smirk in his mind.
The point was he couldn't really give any of that stuff, or the other stuff, back now. No more than Honda could give back the tickets to the Motorcycle and Auto Show tomorrow. They'd be worthless if they weren't used and that would just be pointless.
Now that he had thoroughly rationalized using someone else's money he felt a lot better about the whole thing. A good thing too because Honda was saying something about them being at their stop. Way to pay attention…
They got off and headed across the street towards the store. Ryou and Yugi were standing outside, apparently waiting for them to arrive. Jou pulled his jacket closer around him as an icy breeze blue. It wasn't exactly warm or anything, as it was mid-February. He still had the same green jacket and…well the poor thing had seen better days.
He needed a new one but he hadn't really seen fit to bother his father about it.
Inside was a lot warmer, thankfully.
The store didn't look…outrageous, as he had feared. Maybe the fact that the yamis shopped here had been what worried him…either way he's expected bondage wear, dim candlelight, and things better left unmentioned. It seemed however it was worried for nothing.
It was pretty normal. The walls were a deep blue, carpet was cream, normal lighting, and clothes.
The people that worked there looked a little weird though. A girl in a short shiny black skirt and a neon blue fishnet shirt, and a simple black bra underneath, was headed their way. One of her ears was filled with earrings around the shell and the other was bare. Along with a stud in her nose and ring in her eyebrow she…looked like Bakura's sort of person.
Indeed it seemed she knew him.
"Bakura-kun, I didn't expect to see you back in here so soon." Her smile was friendly enough, belaying the slightly harsh look. "You too Ryou-chan. I have something I think you're going to like that just came in though."
Ryou smiled widely. "That's great Sakura. I was thinking about running over to Dolls but if you have something."
She grimaced as if he'd said something wrong. "How many times have I told you not to mention that store in here? Biggest competition you know."
"Sorry."
"Not a problem. Now, gentlemen…and Marik and Bakura, what can I do to help you?" Marik scowled but Bakura's smile just grew. He reached over and grabbed Jou, who'd been lingering towards the back and hoping to not be noticed, and thrust him forward. He tripped and almost collided with the bemused looking girl but managed to catch himself. She blinked at him then looked him up and down.
"This is Ryou's friend Katsuya. He needs help."
"I see that." Sakura remarked wryly. She blinked up at him with pale blue eyes lined heavily in black. "You're cute. Gay I presume?"
"Uh."
"You must be to be traveling with this group." She grabbed him by the wrist and forced him to turn around. "Mmhmm. It's a shame when cute boys think that ripped jeans are flattering."
"Hey! These are my favorite jeans."
"I'm sure. What about you?" She pointed at Honda who just smiled his usual friendly smile.
"I'm all yours lady."
"Don't tempt me." She smiled as she spoke and, with Jou firmly in hand, started to walk back into the store. "Now I trust you boys can help these two out while I go poking through my private collection in the back. By the way, Yugi and Yami, the 'tall' section is towards the left."
"Funny Sakura, funny." Yami didn't look amused. She just smiled before dropping Jou's hand and hurrying off. Jou had to confess he was just a little bit afraid of her. She reminded him of Anzu, only with black hair and clothes. Energy, sarcasm, and that same evil plotting gleam.
"So. Where should we start?" Yugi asked, looking around. They were standing on a blue carpet path that, apparently, wound its way through the racks of clothes.
Malik seemed to consider that for a moment then smiled. "How about you, Ryou, and Yami take Honda and we take Jou?"
Jou didn't like that idea. Being stuck with Malik, Marik, and Bakura was just…wrong. They were all certifiable and took a certain amount of pleasure in watching him squirm. Surely Yugi and Honda wouldn't allow such an injustice to take place. They were his friends. They loved him too much to subjugate him to that sort of torment.
"Sounds good." Yugi said nodding. Jou gaped in disbelief. He couldn't be serious.
"If you say so." Honda shrugged. Jou squeaked then yelped as Malik took his wrist and began to pull him down the path. Honda waved then followed his 'guides' in the opposite direction. Oh Gods.
He needed to get out of here now. Before anything…evil or unnatural could take place.
"Have you ever considered leather?" Malik asked with a calculating glint in his lavender eyes. Jou shook his head trying to pull away. Unfortunately Malik was stronger than he looked and held fast to his wrist, keeping him from getting away without even really trying.
Oh.
Shit.
This couldn't be happening.
"You do have a very nice ass." Marik said as if that was supposed to make him feel better about it. He squeaked again. Bakura smacked Marik in the back of the head then rolled his eyes.
"Get your minds out of the gutter. Perverts." He had to be kidding. "Be serious or else Ryou won't be cooking for a month."
That seemed to do the trick. Marik and Malik sobered up before the words fully processed themselves in Jou's mind. He was pushed into a chair and looked around, wondering where it had come from. They were in front of a bunch of mirrors with chairs arranged around them in semi-circle. A glowing blue sign proclaimed this the 'Fitting Area'.
The other three talked for a moment about something he couldn't hear, but assumed the topic was himself. Malik and Marik nodded before heading off back along the bath. Bakura sat down next to him, smiling in a very creepy sort of way.
"Ummm…thanks?"
"Don't mention it or else I'll pull out your spine."
Ah. There was the Bakura he knew and cringed before. Good to see nothing had really changed in the past few months. Ryou must have been that good a cook…or else the other three were just that hopeless. It was a toss up really. Maybe it was both.
"Don't look so worried. Apparently someone is stupid enough to like you for something other than your body and probably wouldn't care if we dressed you in a frilly pink dress. Not that we would. …Ryou might…anyway." Bakura frowned as if trying to remember his train of thought. Then he smiled again. "Oh, right. We aren't going to make you look like…anything other than yourself. This time. We promise to be nice."
"…all this for food?"
Bakura blinked, looking confused. "Food…oh! Yeah. Ryou's cooking. Food. Right." He nodded enthusiastically and Jou was pretty sure that Ryou's cooking had nothing to do with food in the least. Sometimes those four just…worried the hell out him.
Now however he was just disturbed.
The conversation lagged after that. Bakura occupied himself with the silver chair hanging from one of his belt loops. The links clinked against each other as they tumbled through his fingers and cast strange light shadows across the mirrors. Jou sunk into his chair and closed his eyes.
He knew Bakura had been trying to comfort him but he hadn't really done that great a job. Nothing could cancel out the fact they were all quite effectively certifiable.
A few more minutes passed then Marik and Malik were back and shoving him out of the chair. Bakura got up as well and walked over to the mirrors, pushing on open to reveal a small dressing room. Jou was pushed in after him, along with some clothing, and the door was pulled shut.
Jou blinked at Bakura. Who smiled.
"Fuck no."
The thief laughed.
00000000000000000000000000000000
Jou was scarred for life. Bakura had claimed he needed to be in the dressing room to make sure Jou got dressed properly. At first he'd thought he was bullshitting but as it turned out he had on occasion needed a little bit of aid.
That wasn't the scarring part.
He'd also gotten an outfit for the ball he liked, though he'd be damned if he was telling to that anyone except maybe Honda. Maybe. He'd kind of betrayed him with that whole letting him be flocked by psychos thing.
Still it was decent. Pretty simple white slacks with patches of cream colored leather at the bottom. There were holes threaded through with white leather string decorating the patches. (The fact that Jou had kind of like playing with the string may have influenced the purchase. Easily amused? Him? Never.) A white sweater and cream colored leather jacket, along with boots, had completed the outfit.
So no, that wasn't the scarring part either. It wasn't even the ridiculous price tag, since it'd only amounted to a fraction of the gift card anyway. Nope, it was none of that.
It was the other four bags he was walking out with. Everyone had ganged up on him and decided to steal his clothing, burn it, and replaced it with other…stuff. What stuff? He didn't know. They wouldn't let him see it and, since the store held an array of black clothing, leather, fishnets, buckles, and straps he was…properly afraid of what may be in there.
He only knew everyone was involved because, while Bakura was keeping him occupied looking at belts, he'd heard Malik giggling about Yugi having picked something out. He hadn't realized he was being distracted until then went back to check out and found the two Egyptians standing with all those bags and grinning like the idiots they so obviously were.
However he did feel a little better upon learning that two of the bags were for Honda which left him with four, as opposed to six. Only a little bit better though. Were they saying Honda had better fashion sense than he did?
The answer, apparently, was yes. According to Yami anyway. Ryou and Yugi declined to comment. Honda just shrugged.
Once they were 'situated' their friends splintered off again to do their own shopping leaving them alone. With strict orders not to touch the bags on Jou's part, least he risk being sent to the Shadow Realm for an undetermined amount of time. So. He was going to not touch them.
Yes, he was scared of the Shadow Realm. What of it?
"Scuse me." The guy behind the counter, his nametag said 'Brain', said leaning forward some. Jou turned, half expecting to be told to get out because he was loitering. "Something came up when I used your gift card. Are you Honda?"
Honda nodded when the man pointed to him blinking in confusion. Brain nodded then ducked behind the counter. He emerged a moment later with two boxes.
"Here you are. There was a special request by the man who purchased the card that you two get these."
"Don't suppose you could tell us what that was?" Honda asked. Brain shook his head. "Didn't think so."
Jou waited patiently while Honda retrieved the boxes then took the one offered to him. He looked around then, with a shrug, set it on the display case and opened it. A black jacket was sitting inside, amongst a mass of blue tissue paper.
There wasn't a note but he had a pretty good idea who it was from.
"You know what this means don't you?" Honda was smiling mildly. "Your Blue and my admirer are working together."
"So it seems."
He pulled the jacket out and eyed it carefully. It was leather, and for some reason that didn't surprise him, and really it looked kind of simple. For a moment he was confused, since Blue seemed to favor expensive gifts. Then he shrugged.
He preferred keeping things simple anyway.
Which, considering that Blue seemed to know him pretty well, may have been the point. Something extravagant and fancy would end up in his closet for the rest of eternity but something basic and nice…
He was about to put it back into the box when he heard a soft clinking. He located the sound as coming from the pocket and reached inside, pulling out a chain. He tugged the chain out and found that it had nothing on it.
He frowned. Had he expected something? He reached into the pocket again and found a slip of paper. He must have been getting good at this.
The note was simple.
Jou,
I thought you might like this. I notice your jacket has seen better days. I hope it comes to your liking. I have something for the chain, perhaps when we meet you'll accept it. Until White Day.
Yours,
Blue
He shoved the note into his pocket, resolving to put in his desk at home with all of the other notes he'd gotten then looked over at Honda who was regarding a brown jacket, much like the one he already had, with a faint smile. It seemed he approved.
Jou leaned against the display case with a frown. This was more than just random gifts… Blue knew him. At least enough to know that he wasn't much for really flashy things and liked peanut butter candies and loved his sister and wanted her to have the best.
Then again was that common knowledge about him?
He didn't know what to think of it.
He was starting to think he really wanted to meet Blue though. Out of curiosity or thanks he wasn't sure. Maybe because he was starting to…like this person?
He sighed and put the jacket back. He still liked Seto but…Blue certainly paid more attention to him than he even hoped to get from Seto these days. Knew more about him. Seemed to care…
Unless of course Honda's little theory was right and Blue was Seto.
Jou doubted his luck was that good though.
