May and Leaf were extremely surprised to find Misty and Ash sitting together at their usual table. The two knew that Misty had felt abandoned by the boy and that she'd pretty much hated his guts until obviously now. To Dawn however, this was all news, as they walked up, Leaf had enlightened her on how Ash had technically left Misty for Serena.
The three sat at the table, throwing questioning looks at Misty.
"So, are you going to tell us what happened?" May asked the two, giving Ash a sceptical look, thinking that maybe Drew had set him up to this.
"Yeah, we worked it out yesterday," Misty explained to the other girls.
"Oh oh, and, we're all going out tomorrow!" Ash exclaimed, wriggling in his seat. Leaf gave him a puzzled look.
"What do you mean?" She said, not quite understanding as she sat in the seat on his other side. She'd always felt like an older sister to the boy even though she was younger. She'd known him, along with Gary since she was very little. He was the one who had introduced her to both Misty and May.
"I managed to get the higher ups to allow us all to go out on our own; away from the facility for the day." The girls gave him dumbfounded looks.
"I don't believe you," May stated, crossing her arms.
"It's true," Misty confirmed. "We're all going out to a city which is apparently near here."
The other three were rendered speechless by her words. The same thing was going through all of their heads; no one has ever been allowed out before.
"How do they know I won't run away again?" Dawn asked quietly. Everyone turned to her, they were all silent for a moment.
"You won't though, will you?" May asked with a worried expression. Dawn looked away, deciding to ignore the question; so many thoughts were running though her head.
"Well, Paul, Drew and Gary are going, so you won't be able to!" Ash piped up brightly, oblivious to the mood.
"WHAT?!" All three girls shrieked.
I can't be around Drew ALL DAY!" May yelled, standing up fiercely in her chair. "I can't, I just can't!"
"Same with Gary and I!" Leaf growled, her hands clenching the table fiercely, a demon like aura surrounding her.
"Why the hell is prune head going?! He's a total mood killer and he'll ruin it for everyone!" Dawn whined childishly. Misty and Ash sweat dropped and glanced at one another almost worriedly.
"Listen." Misty snapped, "You are all going to this day out, whether you like it or now, I will not let you ruin it with your incompetence to get along with the others!" She gave them all a sharp look, only feeling satisfied when they all sat, tails between their legs and complied with her.
"If looks could kill…" Dawn muttered to herself silently.
May was sitting at the very back of the mini van next to the window, Dawn sitting next to her to ensure that Drew couldn't get near while Leaf sat on the other side of Dawn. Misty sat a row in front with Ash while the other guys were spaced out around the vehicle.
Their 'chaperone' was clad all in black with dark sun glasses on and they knew a variety or weapons were probably hidden under his jacket. No body was really talking and a sense of awkwardness hung in the air, Misty and Ash would exchange a few words every now and again but that was about it.
May was determined not to even so much as look in the direction of the greenette and just huffily stared out of the window. As they drove out of the vicinity of company, May realised how much their home seemed like a prison, tall iron gates surrounded the area and guards stood by the entrance, in charge of any passing vehicles.
Eventually, the car entered a large car park filled to the brim with thousands of cars. To Dawn, the sight was nothing new, but the others looked on in awe. A huge building; one which rivalled that of their facility, over looked the car park as people hurriedly filed in and out of the many sliding doors.
"Wow," Leaf muttered, her green eyes sparkling with the excitement of a four-year-old who had just entered the biggest toy shop in the world.
"This is just the outside guys," Dawn said, watching all of her friends in amusement. The driver parked in the taxi isle as the teenagers jumped out of the car. He then leaned out of the open window and handed Paul an envelope.
"Here, the cards all have a set amount of money on which corresponds to the amount of missions you've been on." the man said in a gruff voice. To Paul's surprise, the man in the car just up and left instead of coming out to keep an eye on them. He knew something was up, there had to be some logical explanation as to why the higher ups allowed them out, and he didn't like it.
"Okay!" Dawn said as she clapped her hands together enthusiastically, "This is gonna be so exciting!" She practically yelled, fist pumping the air eagerly as the busy shoppers around gave her weird looks.
She began to march right into the large building, her friends nervously trailing along behind her, except Paul of course who was as stoic as ever.
Once they'd entered, Dawn paused to look around; she turned to her friends excitedly and asked,
"So, what do you want to do first?" Everone else looked back at her with blank faces.
"We've never been here before idiot," Paul said, monotonously. Dawn then rounded on him, although it was obvious she was trying to keep her cool.
"Well Mr. Shinji, I'm sorry for your ignorance." She practically hissed, resisting the urge to punch him in the gut. "Anyway!" She exclaimed, any trace of her anger a second ago completely gone. "I know what we should do first! Let's go clothes shopping!"
The rest of the group sweat dropped, however they all eagerly agreed, even the guys as they had yet to experience its 'joys'.
A few minutes later, the girls were all happily browsing through the many selections of clothing items in one of the shops that Dawn had recommended. They were all thoroughly enjoying their time here while the guys trailed around after them; feeling slightly bored as there was nothing for them to wear considering it was a women's store.
Dawn had grabbed Paul to come over to the shoe section with her; she didn't want to disturb the other girls who all appeared to be having a great time where they were. Considering she only had her pink boots and black sneakers (which were for missions) she'd decided that she could seize this opportunity to grab more shoes… Instead of having to steal some while on a mission; this was how the agents got new clothes if they needed them.
Paul resignedly followed the girl down the isles and watched as she filled her arms with different kinds of boots and flats. A pair of sandals caught his attention; he quickly grabbed them from the shelf and dumped them in Dawn's arms.
He watched in amusement as her face contorted in what seemed to be either horror or disgust, probably both.
"What the hell are those?!" She screeched, dropping the load she was carrying and gingerly picking up the pair of golden sandals which looked like something a 90 year old man would wear. "If these are your definition of 'nice', then I think I'm gonna have to drag you into the 21st century Shinji!"
The addressed began to chuckle; this was the reaction he was after.
"Well, I thought that they'd suit you," He said, trying to keep a straight face as hers looked on in definite horror. She fiercely threw them at him, aiming for his face. He blocked and caught them in amusement as she stormed off down another isle. He laughed to himself and put them back, walking briskly to catch up; which didn't take him long considering she was so much shorter than him.
"Is it hot in here or is it just me?" Gary tried for the millionth time.
"Just give up already," Leaf sighed wearily.
"Oh c'mon Green, I swear to god, you're so hard to get and it's annoying me." He said in frustration.
"Yeah well, I don't really fancy dating an asshole player who's dated pretty much every chick in the facility."
"You're different though!"
"Oh yeah? I bet you've said that to pretty much everyone you've dated."
"Well…"
"See, I told you. I'm no different than the rest to you and I really don't fancy having my heart broken just cause' you wanna do revolting things to me." She said, her face morphing into a look of disgust. "Just make yourself useful and shut up," she said, placing the bundle of clothes she held in her arms in his and picking up something else.
Gary's eyebrows knitted together as he let out a frustrated sigh.
Why did I go off without Misty or May?! Leaf whined inside her head. She was tired of Gary trying to get with her; it was irritating to say the least. She seriously missed the inseparable best friend he used to be to her, but throughout the years he'd changed. Maybe if he was still that same sweet boy he used to be, despite the bigheadedness, she'd accept him. However, if he was going to flirt around with every girl he laid his eyes on, there was no way Leaf would stand for it.
May, unlike Leaf and Dawn, refused to leave Misty's side. She refused to go anywhere alone with Drew, and didn't want to take Ash away from her friend as they had only just made up and she knew how important he was to her.
"Hey May, let's go check that out!" Drew said, pointing in the direction of an isle filled with dresses.
"No," she said simply, linking arms with Misty in case he made any attempt to drag her over. The boy glared huffily at the floor, shoving his hands moodily into his pockets. Why won't she just let me apologise?! He growled to himself.
A few minutes later, the group rounded a corner and found both Dawn and Paul. Dawn waved ran over to them, Paul trailing behind.
"Check out what I'm getting!" She exclaimed, pulling out three pairs of sneaker boots, one pair black, one light blue and the other pink in colour.
"They're cool!" May exclaimed, highfiving her friend.
"I know right!" Dawn replied excitedly. "I would have gotten more, but apparently we only have a certain amount of money to spend each, and it depends on how many missions we've been on," She said sadly, hugging her boots lovingly to her chest.
Leaf and Gary soon found the others and so Paul opened the envelope with all of the cards in, giving each person their own.
"WHAT?!" Dawn shrieked after a few seconds. "I only have 90 dollars on mine!" She said, pointing accusingly at the '$90' which had been scrawled in black pen on the back of her card.
"Well, the amount we have was determined by the amount of missions you've been on," Paul muttered.
"So basically you're lucky to get that Dawn," Misty chuckled causing the girl to groan.
"But these cost 80 altogether… so I'm not gonna have much left after this," She moaned, feeling very sorry for herself indeed.
"Well, I have 1000 on mine," May said happily.
"Same," both Misty and Leaf chorused together. Ash, Gary and drew all had around 2000 – 3000.
"So, how much do you have Paul?" Dawn asked curiously, trying to peer over at the back to his card.
"6000…" He replied.
"WHAT?!" Everyone cried together.
"How many missions have you been on man?!" Gary exclaimed.
"That's soo not fair!" Dawn whined. "I doubt you're even gonna spend it all, I should have-"
"Listen, if you shut up you can use some of my money," Paul sighed, looking down at the bluenette. She blinked a few times before asking,
"Wait what?"
"I said, you can use some of my money if it shuts you up troublesome," he growled.
"Thank you!" Dawn giggled happily, before scowling. "And… It's DAWN!" A few raised eyebrows were exchanged between the other teens before they all made their way to the checkout to pay for their things.
Dawn was once again their guide as they made their way through the bustling building. The bluenette stopped out side of a small jewellery store as the others followed close behind. The girls were, once again, thrilled with the store that Dawn had chosen, the guys, not so much.
"Ah, this is so cute!" Leaf exclaimed, picking up a tiny, diamond encrusted golden rabbit brooch.
"Just like you," Garry said casually, coming up behind the girl. Leaf rolled her eyes and put it back down.
"And you just put me off it creep," she said huffily, stomping off in another direction to get away from the Brunette.
May sighed wistfully as she stared at a beautiful sapphire pendant. The sapphire was in the shape of a small teardrop, a small diamond was attached to it, keeping it from falling off of the silver chain they were both held up with.
The girl would have purchased it, had it not been for the price. It was exactly 1000 dollars and she had spent about 100 at the previous store they were at. She felt that it wasn't really fair to ask anyone else for it, no matter how much she wanted it.
Sadly, she gave it one last longing glance and walked over to look at something else. Drew however, had see it all, he smirked ever so slightly and picked up the necklace, taking it over to the checkout and then hiding the packaging in one of his pockets.
"I hope this works…" He muttered to himself.
After looking through a few more shops, everyone, especially Ash and May, was rather hungry as it was past lunch time now. They all made their way towards the large food court which was placed in the centre of the precinct.
"So, are you all having fun?!" Dawn asked enthusiastically once everyone had gotten their food and settled down at a table.
"I've been having loads of fun!" May giggled between mouthfuls of a pork sandwich. Leaf and Misty nodded vigorously in agreement.
"It was fun seeing Misty in all them dresses, she looked really pretty!" Ash exclaimed innocently, a goofy grin spreading across his face. Misty flushed a bright red and slid down her chair.
"Idiot…" She muttered as the other three girls squealed with delight and the guys smirked at one another.
"Didn't know you had it in ya Ashy boy," Gary snickered, punching the raven haired boy playfully in the arm.
"What do you mean?" Ash asked obliviously, causing everyone, besides Misty who was still recovering, to laugh.
"Anyway, where are we going next?" Leaf asked when the laughter had died down.
"Well," Dawn began, "I was thinking we could go to somewhere the guys would like, and don't worry, it isn't shopping. Oh, and you girls will like it too, I'm sure!" She added.
After receiving approving looks from the rest of the group, Dawn stood up and beckoned for them to follow. They soon arrived outside a very large store which looked like it was filled with hundreds of strange machines.
"It's called an arcade," Dawn explained, "You guys go ahead, we've gotta do something real quick," Dawn said, grabbing Paul's hand and dragging him off in another direction. The others gave her puzzled looks before shrugging and entering the large room.
"What are we doing?" Paul questioned with a bored tone, not bothering to remove his hand from hers. They'd stopped outside a men's clothing store.
"Well, you're always wearing this!" She exclaimed, pulling his purple hoodie and black shirt, her face scrunched up in disgust.
"It's not like I don't wash them," He said, eyebrows raised.
"Yeah…" She dragged on. "But it's the same damn thing pretty much all the time!" His response was a mere grunt, as per usual. Dawn sighed and continued to drag him into the store.
The bluenette squealed and pulled out a hoodie with a grey body, black sleaves and a black hood.
"This one will look nice!" She exclaimed, chucking it towards the man. She then continued down another isle which was filled with shirts. She picked out a white tank and then continued down yet another isle.
Paul sighed but continued to follow the crazy girl on her frenzied journey through the store. She'd occasionally throw random clothing items in his direction, expecting him to catch them, to which of course, he did.
After a good fifteen minutes or so, she finally came to a stop outside the changing rooms.
"Put some of them on," Dawn instructed, putting her hands on her hips as if to try and be intimidating. Reluctantly, Paul complied and entered one of the small cubicles.
"Hey, what's your name?" Dawn was just standing, waiting for Paul and listening to the mindless chatter of the people around her.
"Oi! I'm talking to you miss," a few seconds later, Dawn jumped as a hand grabbed hold of her shoulder.
"Hey, if you don't answer, I'm gonna have to fine ya!" A moderately tall, well built blonde said.
"Um…" Dawn said as she warily shook off his hand. "What's your name… first." The boy hesitated before answering;
"Pearl… And he's Diamond," he said, indicating to a smaller, shyer looking boy with dark hair and dark eyes. "So, what's your name then?"
"Umm, Platinum…" She answered cautiously. Pearl's amber eyes flashed for an instant; however he covered up his obvious doubt with a smile.
"So… are you here with anyone, Platinum?"
"Yeah, I'm with my…" She paused for a moment, a frown crossing her face before she continued. "My friend,"
"Well, would you like to come around with us?" Diamond piped up, a faint blush grazing his cheeks. Pearl gave his friend a look that Dawn couldn't fully decipher, she was on full guard now; she didn't trust these guys. "I mean, you looked kinda lost, and um, I uh, we could show you around,"
Dawn gave them a forced smile and shook her head,
"No, it's okay, like I said before, I'm with my friend and I know my way around."
"It'll be fun Platinum!" Pearl said giving her a toothy grin, however as he did, Diamond came up and grabbed her wrist.
"I insist!" He said. Dawn was about to forcefully pull away when she felt someone towering above her.
"Let go." A deep voice said as Dawn felt someone place a hand protectively on her shoulder. A wave of relief crashed over her, she could have probably taken them on her own but she felt much safer with Paul there.
Her wrist was released and Diamond shrank back down, however, Pearls eyes seemed to sparkle with either joy or excitement, she wasn't sure; possibly both... which she found very odd.
"Get away from here pathetic idiots," Paul growled, stepping in front of her. Something about the blonde unnerved him ever so slightly, he looked familiar, but there was no way he'd seen him ever before as he'd never left the facility except on missions until now.
The two backed away and headed for the exit, Dawn came to stand beside Paul and watch them leave, she was about to thank him when she faintly heard Pearl say something that sent chills down her spine.
"Paul's so cool!" She looked up at Paul who appeared to have not heard and decided against telling him, they were probably never going to see them again so it didn't really matter She could have after all accidentally told them his name, although she didn't remember doing so.
"So," The man beside her began, "What about these?" He was wearing a black beanie, the hoodie that she had pulled out first, brown jeans and black converses. A red hue seemed to crawl across Dawns cheeks and she simply nodded.
"I'll take that as a, yes, you look so hot in that Paul," he said, the smirk evident on his face.
"N- NO!" Dawn yelled, giving him a very hard punch in the arm, to which he didn't even so much a flinch.
"Oh… so I should go and put them all back then?" He asked innocently, causing Dawn's anger to grow.
"No! Don't you dare!" Paul smirked again. "I- I mean, UGH quit playing with my head Shinji! Hurry up and pay for em' I'm going to wait outside," and with that she left him laughing to himself.
A few minutes later, Paul came out of the shop carrying a fancy looking bag.
"You know, you could have kept them on…" She said moodily.
"Oh, I should have should I?" He said, an eyebrow rising, as he leaned down, bringing his face inches from hers, a large smirk printed on his face.
"H- hey!" Dawn stuttered, her face turning the colour of a tomato. Paul let his head linger for a few more seconds before he stood back up and laughed, not a spiteful laugh, but a real one, as he began to walk back towards the arcade.
Dawn smiled to herself and watched the man for a few seconds before running to catch up with him. The next few minutes passed in a comfortable silence.
"H-hey Paul?" Dawn asked hesitantly, looking up at him. After receiving no reply, she continued anyway, looking down at the ground in both thought and shyness.
"Are we friends?" The question seemed to take the addressed by surprise as a series of expressions fell across his face before it settled back to that unemotional mask he wore so very well.
"I don't have friends," he stated, shoving his hands in his pockets and continuing to stare forward. Dawn looked puzzled, a frown creasing her face.
"What?"
"Are you deaf? I said I don't have any you troublesome girl,"
"But… what about Ash, Drew, Gary and the girls?" She questioned, her frown deepening. Paul let out an irritated sigh and scowled down at the ground.
"The only thing which comes out of caring for anyone, is pain," he said finally after contemplating over his words for a few seconds. "The guys are merely part of my team and the girls hang around them."
Dawn was silent; she decided not to press the matter and regretted ever asking. He seemed to be enjoying himself before and she'd ruined it.
After spending a few more hours in the arcade, someone had eventually contacted Paul and they met their 'taxi' driver in the same place he left them. They headed back to the facility, all savouring their last few minutes of freedom as they doubted that they'd be able to go out ever again.
Damn that was a long chapter! (Took me ages to write T^T) I hope you're all happy with it! And *Le squee* The feels! Seeeee told ya that this was gonna be a feelsy chapter :P I'm so sorry if Paul seemed OOC, although it does give some insight to what he's like without the mask. Now I've just gotta figure the next chapter out. T_T I swear I just need to make myself a plan for each and every chapter cause it'd be so much easier, it's just… EFFORT xD
And yeah, about that 'Maybe 1 per week thing' I don't think it'll be able to happen until after Christmas, I kinda got myself caught up in another project so I thought I'd give you a pretty long chapter this time. Anyway, the project's an ikarishipping 12 days before Christmas kinda thing hehe. Plus I think I'm currently majorly suffering from sleep deprivation (although that's not really new lol) cause I've been spending until the wee hours of the morning writing for that fic ._. I plan on sleeping early today before I well and truly pass out xD.
As always, I hope you enjoyed my wonderful readers!
~X-Ray