A/N: I don't know how this chapter got so long. I really don't. This is by far the longest chapter in the whole story, and its just more buildup. Hopefully it's good.

Quite a number of different characters in this one. Thats all I'll say.

Thank you again to Muttlpe Mike and Kitkatkatester for reviewing the last chapter(and making this my most reviewed fic, finally) :)

Enjoy!

While Scott had his little altercation with Mani, Mike was wandering aimlessly through the market square, far from the action and unable to purchase anything. He couldn't exactly go home yet, because Noah would ask questions and Scott would make something up to get him into even more trouble. He instead elected to sit down on a bench that had been placed between two booths, putting his empty basket on his lap. People-watching would have to suffice until Scott came around to accuse him of 'trying to escape' as if he were some sort of animal that needed to be leashed. He's the one who left me by myself, he thought. It's not my fault I can't do what Noah asked.

He sighed as he watched shoppers pass by, a few giving him a glance but generally ignoring him, which was to be expected; he appeared quite unassuming.

After a while, Scott managed to find him. "Get up, we're going home," he grumbled between his teeth. He had his fists clenched, notably empty-handed.

Mike wasn't going to ask. He got up quickly and started to follow Scott out of the market square.

"Stupid lasso...idiot foreigner...dumb accent…" Scott was mumbling in frustration as he walked, occasionally checking on his bruised arm.

They hadn't quite left the market square when Mike felt something press into his hand, the one not holding the basket, almost instantaneously. It was a familiar size and weight, and when he glanced down his eyes widened slightly. He looked behind him but all he saw was the larger mass of people and no way to discern who had handed the item to him. Thinking quickly, he said with an anxious tone of voice, "Sir, I think we should turn around-"

"What is it now, Multiple Mike? I'm not feelin' too keen on sticking around out here today," Scott asked, clearly irritated before seeing what Mike had in his hand. "How did you- so you're the one who swiped it! You little thief!"

"W-what? I didn't pick this up!" Mike insisted. "It appeared in my hand just now."

"Right, like I'd believe that." Scott turned around to take the money back, but Mike unconsciously tightened his grip around it. "Give me the money."

"...this isn't your money to spend," Mike said with very little confidence. He wasn't even sure why he said it. He knew it would end badly for him.

"Excuse me, wanna run that by me again?" Scott was really worked up. "Hand it over!" He reached for it, and Mike continued to hold it tight. "It's my dad's money, so it's my money too-"

"Then it's also mine," Mike squeaked out, his heart beat greatly increased. Technically, he wasn't wrong; Noah was his stepfather. As much as that fact seemed to always be forgotten, it was true.

Scott blinked in surprise before glaring at him. "You're lucky we're still in public or you'd be so dead right now."

Mike focused on breathing. "...if we just go back, and get what we're supposed to…he won't know that any of this happened. The market closes in a couple hours-"

"And miss out on a chance to get you in trouble? As if." Scott started walking again.

Mike stopped and watched him, clenching his trembling fist around the bag of money. "Then I'll go by myself," he said quietly, turning the other direction and starting to make his way back into the mass of the market, limp and all.

Scott was not expecting that. "Hang on a second-"

But Mike was already in the thick of the crowd.

Scott frowned, then smirked when he realized that he could still ruin Mike's day…

He headed home with a scheming look on his face.

Meanwhile, Mike did his best to get as much of what they'd come for as possible while trying not to think about what would likely befall him when he returned home. Some things were sold out at this point, and he had money left over. While trying to decide what to do with the extra, he caught a hand waving to him; it was Brick, who was standing near a stall a few meters away. With a weak half-smile, he waved back and made his slow way over to him.

It was when he got closer that he noticed Brick was not by himself.

"Mike! It's been a few weeks," Brick greeted him with the usual quick salute. "I see the leg has been improving.

"Hey, Brick. Good to see you…" Mike replied, masking his earlier anxiety that still lingered in his voice. He looked to Brick's right. "And Dakota."

"Oh. My god. Mike, who taught you how to make a ponytail?" Dakota immediately questioned. "It's coming out all loose!" She walked around to examine the back of his head, her heeled boots giving her a boost of height. She meant well in asking of course; she couldn't stand to see any of her friends not looking their best. She herself wore a pink outfit and had her hair down.

Mike shrugged, a bit embarrassed. "I tried my best…" he claimed.

"Hmph, well, it's better than those sorry excuses I saw from Beth…" Dakota admitted. She then returned to Brick's side and tilted her head slightly. "Your voice got a lot deeper," she noticed. The two of them hadn't spoken in a long while, only seeing each other in passing on occasion, at least sometime in that year period prior to the ball. Long enough that his voice had changed so much that she took notice.

Mike didn't really have a response to that, so Brick cut in, "It's great to see your face once more, Mike. Looking strong as ever, of course." He glanced down at Mike's outfit, which he admittedly found to be less than stellar, but didn't comment on it.

Dakota had moved again, quickly apologizing, "Sorry, this is just bothering me so much, I hope you don't mind-" while reaching up to undo Mike's ponytail."

Mike stood still, wondering what she was planning on doing. He couldn't see her, so he didn't know.

"Ew, where you'd get this, the floor?" Dakota asked as she barely held the fabric scrap between two fingers before dropping this on the ground.

Mike mumbled a yes, but it was inaudible to Dakota. His hair curtained out and back onto his face, though some of it stood up because his hair is just like that.

"We're buying you some hair ribbons right now," Dakota declared, grabbing Mike's free hand. "Brick, you're coming too," Dakota declared, taking his hand well.

"Of course," Brick agreed with a quick free-handed salute. "Might I suggest we start at the Stuff and Things booth?"

"Ooh, yes, there might be some fun items there, if it's not sold out already," Dakota agreed, leading the charge before remembering Mike's slightly impaired mobility and taking it slower.

Stuff and Things certainly had just that, and Tyler was happy to find what they were looking for. "Definitely got that category here somewhere," he said upon Dakota asking if he had anything for hair. "Gimme a second," he told the three of them as he rifled around in a bag.

After a minute, he revealed a small array of objects to put in one's hair: pins, ribbons, clips. None of them seemed related to one another stylistically, but that was to be expected from this booth.

"Ooh! So many to choose from," Dakota said with delight. She was clearly the most engaged in this purchasing process. Brick was letting his eyes wander on the other things displayed, and Mike was just standing there quietly, having no experience with this sort of thing so he didn't really have any opinions. He was also a bit uncomfortable with the thought of having something as nice as the items Tyler had presented, not feeling like he deserved to have any of them.

"Hm…" Dakota tapped her chin as she thought before picking up one of the items, a deep blue ribbon decorated with white and gold embroidery, as well as a couple of what appeared to be tiny and shiny rocks embedded throughout it.

"That one I got at this epic market out west," Tyler started to explain. "The lady who made it was super chill, had a bunch of different hair things she was trading around. That's the last one I have, rest of 'em I sold already."

"Love that for her," Dakota commented, looking at Mike and holding up the ribbon to his hair with a critical eye. "Yeah, I think this'll be perfect! We can get some more simple ones somewhere else."

"Alrighty…" Tyler named a price, and he and Dakota ended up haggling for a good while.

Brick, meanwhile, having finished his perusal of Tyler's other displayed stock, looked at Mike, who still hadn't said anything. "You awake over there, Mike?" he asked in a polite voice.

Mike blinked and looked at him. "Yeah," he replied. "I'm fine…" His hair was still in his face quite a bit, as he had nothing to put it back with. He had his basket held by the elbow. For some reason he appeared more tired than before.

"This shouldn't take much longer, but this isn't an uncommon occurrence; Dakota is a wonderful haggler," Brick assured him with a smile.

"I can tell," Mike agreed quietly. Dakota had whittled down the price quite a lot. "So things are going well, for you two?..."

"Why, yes, they are!" Brick replied with a quick nod, a small bit of pink in his cheeks. "Very well."

"...great to hear it," Mike replied, genuinely happy for his friends but lacking the mental and physical energy to show it well.

"I bought it!" Dakota announced, seeing how the two guys weren't paying attention. "Let's put it in before we get some more."

Mike hadn't had a good look at the ribbon, and he already felt bad. Dakota shouldn't have spent however much she did on it, he wouldn't be able to wear it much at all...it was far too nice. He might even get it confiscated on his return home. It wasn't worth it.

Dakota led the way to a nearby bench that was basically a couple of planks balanced on each other. "Sit," she instructed Mike, who complied despite his inner objections. Dakota stood behind him and started working. "It'll look so much better when I'm done, promise," she said reassuringly. Mike just sat still and felt her fingers moving his hair back and forth, brushing it back out of his face, and eventually securing it with the ribbon. She grinned. "There! Much better." A stall they were next to had a small mirror on display, and she borrowed it to show Mike how he looked. "Frames your face a lot nicer, right?"

Mike stared at his reflection. Dakota had put the majority of his hair back into a braid tied off with the fancy ribbon. The rest was tucked away out of his face in a way that was much nicer than before. He was feeling some odd mix of emotions right now that were impossible to place.

"Do you like it?" Dakota tried asking another question.

"...I…" Mike started to say. "...I don't know…" Yes, you idiot, say yes, he tried to tell himself internally. "...it's different." It looked really good, why couldn't he just say that?

"And that's a good thing," Dakota pointed out.

"...yeah, I guess," Mike conceded.

"I think it looks excellent! Well done, Dakota," Brick complemented.

Dakota laughed. "Brick, you always say that...but I agree, I did do a good job, didn't I?" She looked again at Mike. "I think you'll warm up to it. I can teach you how to do it yourself too, if you have time."

"...maybe another day," Mike replied. "I have to get home soon."

"Oh. Well…" Dakota, of course, had some level of awareness of how awful Mike's stepfather was. She didn't know the full extent, no one outside of a few people really did, but she knew enough. "Let's get those other ribbons before they sell out." The three started to move again, at a pace Mike could keep up with.

As they arrived at the correct booth, Brick noticed someone nearby looking at him. He smiled in recognition and saluted to the person, who he then encouraged to come towards the trio he was in through a gesture of his other hand. Dakota was already starting to look at what was still available at the booth, and Mike was letting his eyes wander around a bit, not thinking too much.

"At ease," Brick's friend joked, giving a small salute back. "It's been way too long, Brick. How's it going?"

Brick brought his hand down. "Indeed it has been, DJ. Far too long. I've been doing quite well since we last saw one another."

"That's great!" The two started to have a catching up sort of conversation. Mike half-eavesdropped-it was hard not to with how close in proximity they were to one another-without looking at them.

Mike was half-heartedly approving the things Dakota would be buying when Brick said his name. He turned and actually took in DJ's appearance: Mike was shorter by maybe half and inch, but DJ filled out his height with muscle, making him look even bigger. He wore a white cap atop his possible-bald, more likely buzzed head, and normal attire for someone who lived in the area at this time of year. His skin was a few shades darker than Mike's.

Mike felt like he'd seen him somewhere before.

DJ appeared to feel the same way, for he looked at him as if trying to pinpoint exactly where they had possibly met previously.

Brick decided to break to awkward silence. "Mike, this is my good friend and former fellow soldier DJ! DJ, this is Mike, another good friend of mine I met through that theater company I told you about earlier."

DJ's expression shifted from thoughtful to courteous. He smiled at Mike and offered his hand to shake. "Nice to meet a friend of Brick's," he said, giving Mike a better once over.

Mike accepted the handshake. Both of them had large hands, and he noted how DJ's, too, were a bit calloused, mainly on the palms. "Ditto," he agreed with DJ's statement, his voice a little less quiet than earlier but showing his slight exhaustion more.

"I feel like I've seen you before… Brick told me you used to act?" DJ asked curiously.

"Yeah, used to…" Mike emphasized with a small nod.

"Last show he did with us was last year. Dakota over here starred in it as well," Brick contextualized, gesturing quickly towards Dakota, who didn't appear to be listening.

"Oh, the one with the kids in the woods? I saw that, I was working that night," DJ recalled, looking back at Mike. "You were…" He snapped his fingers as if that would help him remember quicker.

"The old man," Mike finished his sentence.

"Right! You did really well, definitely one of the best in that cast," DJ complimented him. It was then that it looked like a spark had ignited in DJ's brain. "Now that I think about it…" he said, narrowing his eyes a little.

Mike felt scrutinized under DJ's gaze as he stood silently.

"Brick! Can you help me out here?" Dakota cut into the silence.

"Of course," Brick replied, walking back over to stand next to her.

Within a minute, Dakota plopped a small fabric parcel into Mike's basket, containing the stuff she'd bought him. "I really should be going home now…" Mike said to his two friends.

"Aw, do you really have to?" Dakota asked.

Mike nodded. "I was supposed to be back by now. Noah won't be too happy if I'm out much longer…" He swallowed dryly thinking about what he might walk into at home.

"Oh no, did we get you into trouble?" Dakota sounded genuinely concerned suddenly.

Not wanting to worry her, Mike shook his head. "N-no, no, it's fine...I chose to stay out here longer, you had nothing to do with it."

"If you ever need anything at all, Mike, you know where to find us," Brick said with a salute.

Mike nodded at Brick.

"You take care of yourself Mike, got it?" Dakota insisted.

"I will…" Mike promised. "Bye, guys." He turned and started his trip home.

What he didn't know was that he would very soon be followed.

I needed to end this chapter so cliche cliffhanger, wooooo

Please review if you feel like it, tell me how I did with DJ(I think its been a few years since I've really written him) and everyone else. School for me is kicking into OVERDRIVE but I'll try my best to get some writing done when I can.

Also the Tyler the Traveling Merchant backstory is currently tucked away on my profile, so yeah. It's there if you're interested.

Stay safe out there, and I'll see ya next time. :)