I'm back again with these. Hope to do one per day til Christmas this year. We'll see.

Prompt: Harlock, Zero, and Daiba Black Friday shopping. (Since a good chunk of my readers don't live in America, if you don't know what Black Friday is, it's the day after Thanksgiving. All the stores have huge sales, and it tends to make people lose it.)

The line stretched from the front of the store to the front of another store and across the three in-between. But there was Daiba, second from the front. He looked like a starved dog, throwing glares to everyone around them as though they might attack at any moment. As I rolled the car to a stop alongside him, I could see red veins spidering across his eyes from lack of sleep. His nose and cheeks were chapped pink by the cold, lips tinged blue.

"Told him to take a thicker jacket," Harlock sighed. The pink one Daiba huddled in was paper-thin, hardly fit for a windy day. I was no expert on Fahrenheit, but thirty degrees felt cold. It smacked me in the face like a bucket of ice water as soon as Harlock rolled down the passenger window.

"Daiba!" he yelled. Daiba jolted before looking up to find Harlock leaning out the window. We decided setting foot anywhere near that line would risk its occupants thinking we were jumping to the front. I felt like keeping all my limbs, so we stayed a couple meters away in the car.

"Did you bring me food?" Daiba asked, bouncing on his toes.

"You only sent me thirty texts begging for it," Harlock said as he tossed the burger we'd picked up over to him. Though Daiba usually dropped every attempt at catching anything, his hands locked on the cheap paper covering. I didn't see him remove it, but it must have come off when I blinked. He devoured the burger like he hadn't eaten in days.

"How long has he been here?" I asked Harlock, who'd taken to returning the glares of the people in line.

"I don't know, but he really wants that game system, whatever it is. Really getting into the American spirit. I'm surprised he doesn't have frostbite yet."

With a sigh, I pulled off my jacket and handed it to Harlock. "Give this to him. I don't feel like taking him to the hospital again."

Daiba scrambled to catch the jacket and threw it on like a blanket, pressing his nose into the collar. "Oh thanks, Zero. You shouldn't have," I muttered into the steering wheel when it was clear he'd lost interest in us. I drove just far enough away to find a parking spot, the closest one in the very back row.

"What are you doing?" Harlock frowned. The tone of his voice was enough to show his disapproval.

"We should wait on him. Make sure he gets out alright." I was happier to do that from the warmth of a heated car. "The store will open soon, and we can go stand outside to meet him when he gets out." I didn't know much about this Black Friday thing, but I did know people managed to injure each other in the process. Daiba was always prone to injury. He didn't need this odd holiday helping him.

"I just came to bring him food," Harlock muttered.

"You can walk home," I said.

When the doors opened, the crowd poured in like herd of livestock. I shut the car off and smacked Harlock out of the doze he'd fallen into. "Come on."

He grumbled what were likely death threats against me, but he still followed as I headed to the entrance. Through the glass doors, the whole place looked packed. The swarm of people moved between each other in such a rush it was a wonder no one fell over. At least, no one did as far as I could see.

The crowd didn't seem to dissipate. Even as time passed, the haggard employees were forced to do their best with the rush. Customers left, but more went in. After a half-hour, I was starting to worry. Surely, Daiba should have popped out by now.

"It's cold," Harlock said for the fifth time.

"We should go in and find him."

Harlock blinked. "We?"

I grabbed his arm in a vice grip and dragged him to the door. "Yes, we. If you're really so cold, you'll be happy in there. I'm sure it's warm."

Harlock hissed something about the crowd. Just before we plowed into it, he attempted to pull away, so I threw him in ahead of me.

I was taller than most of the crowd, but Daiba was so small he was easy to lose. "What if he leaves before we see him?" Harlock asked, his shoulder scrunched into my chest as we attempted to shuffle through the crowd. "I can go wait outside and-"

"No," I said.

Harlock looked like he was about to kill the man who stepped on his foot, so I yanked him to an emptier area. There was a cleared table draped in a blue cloth that no one seemed interested in. We both sat on the edge and scanned the crowd. "He's probably just getting tossed around by everyone," Harlock said. "Doubt he got anywhere near what he wanted with those short legs of his."

My mind started leaning toward the worst possible options when I heard a squeak of offense from beneath us. Daiba's head popped out from under the blue cloth, his hair spiking every which way from static. "My legs are not short!" he snapped.

I took a step to the side so he could crawl out from between us. My jacket was wrapped around something, clutched in his arms as though it was some infant in need of protecting. He pushed it my way. "Hold this for me, and make sure no one touches it." With the look in his eyes, it seemed like a matter of life or death.

"Did you get that-?" He cut me off with a shush, waving his hands frantically.

"We just have to get to the register," he said.

Harlock looked particularly unimpressed. "If I pull the fire alarm, it would be faster than trying to wade through all those people."

Daiba's eyes widened as he neared madness. "If you get us kicked out," he hissed, "I am taking that other eye." He sounded so intent on it, I was concerned for the safety of my eyes.

Now Harlock did look somewhat impressed. "This is the last time you're allowed to participate in this, but let's get you to a register."