Ummmmmmm......

Shin stared at the mannequin. The mannequin stared back.

Shin looked at what the mannequin was wearing. The mannequin silently judged Shin's fashion sense.

Shin blinked. Mannequins don't blink, stare, or judge, but he felt like it had.

Shin gulped. Then, he turned towards Kealey. "Um... Kealey? Are you sure this is the right place? Because..."

Two customers walked by as he called for Kealey. One glanced at the mannequin in her costume and stated loudly "Lolwut!"

The other customer agreed with a bark of laughter. "I bet this place sells fuzzy handcuffs, too."

Man, Shin wondered! What the hell kind of costume store was this!?

Costume shopping….was hard. Shin and Kealey had kind of had it easy the year before, going as Karkat and Terezi. All they’d had to do was wear their t-shirts, find proper shoes, and get a little grey skin paint. This year was harder…they actually had to be creative, because what fun was it to recycle costumes?

The problem was…costume shopping was hard. Kealey could tell the general mood in the store, and as the two shoppers walked by, she could feel their amusement at the costume that she and Shin were looking at. Yeah…she probably wasn’t going to dress up as a naughty nurse. And fuzzy handcuffs?! Oh my.

Shin asked if she was sure they were in the right place, and the blond frowned, looking at the little notepad she’d written addresses on the night before.

”It said ‘adult costumes.’ In the description.” she said, reaching up to scratch the back of her head in puzzlement as she glanced around the store.

”Maybe we’re just not looking hard enough.”

Another customer chortled as she walked past Kealey. Something about the blond's choice of words, maybe?

Shin sighed, scratching the back of his head. This was frustrating and unnerving.

"Maybe I should just master shard armor, and go as GARO all night... or Tuxedo Mask... but wearing a black tuxedo is easier... and softer... maybe we could find a tuxedo rental shop?"

Ugh. Too many choices. He looked to Kealey. "Do you know what you want to wear?"

Kealey sighed on the heels of Shin’s sigh. His mood was rubbing off on her, and they were both getting frustrated with the costume search.

Shin gave some ideas and Kealey couldn’t say she minded the idea of Shin dressing up in GARO armor for the evening. The only problem was that he’d have to concentrate all night, and that just didn’t seem like the kind of thing a person wanted to do at a Halloween party. The tuxedo idea on the other hand….

The blond smiled. ”You’d look smashing in a tuxedo.” she agreed…but as to what she wanted to wear?

”Well…if you’re going to wear a tuxedo. Then I could make that Sailor Moon costume we’ve talked about a few times. The boots from my uniform would work nicely with that after all.”

It was an idea, and Kealey shrugged a bit. ”I could probably make anything you wanted to be, in fact.” She could…her course load wasn’t so bad this year and it was only the beginning of the month.

”So…moving on?” she asked, casting a look into the rest of the store, still mildly curious about the fuzzy handcuffs.

"I guess..." Shin said slowly.

A female voice called out, over the other noises in the shop. "Oh look!" She squealed joyously. "Schoolgirl outfit! And over there! Sailor fuku!"

Shin knew what a sailor fuku was. It was something the Sailor Moon costume was based on. Well...

He glanced at Kealey cautiously. "A little look wouldn't hurt... right?"

Maybe a peek in this shop would bring more than they'd bargained for.

People were excited in the store. Kealey was doing her best to tune them out since the storefront they were exploring was pretty crowded, but it paid to know the emotional climate of a place you were shopping in. The excitement gave way to voices, and the voices seemed to be happy with what they were finding in the store.

Shin voiced his opinion that maybe they could take a little look around, and Kealey grinned at him.

”Excellent, lead the way then.”

The girls who had been excited had found a school girl costume and some kind of sailor outfit. By this point, Kealey had seen a lot of anime, and knew what those things could entail. If the mannequin in the front window was any indication, the costumes would possibly be risqué. That was okay though…risqué could be fun…and when else did a girl have a chance to dress like that anyway?

"Um..."

Shin stopped in front of the mannequins.

This was bad. His mind had drawn a blank.

He had not even been prepared for this, despite knowing what sorts of things this sort of place could entail.

They stopped in front of a mannequin and Kealey almost laughed at the emotions running through Shin. Then she turned her head and got a glimpse at what was causing the emotions.

A blond head tilted left. A blond head tilted right. Up, then down, and Kealey hmmmm’d thoughtfully. No, it wasn’t what she’d normally go for, but then again.

”I kind of like this….” she said, reaching out to feel the material and grinning a lopsided grin in Shin’s direction.

”Not sure it’s what we’re going for in a Halloween Costume though.”

If it were possible to kill a man with just a thought, that would have done it. Okay. It might not have killed him, but incapacitated, froze. Made thinking ground to a halt.

Shin swallowed.

Shin opened his mouth.

He remembered to breathe.

Shin’s reaction actually made Kealey pause a moment. Apparently he liked it that she kind of liked the costume that was on display. She grinned more and eyed that costume again. Even if it wasn’t something she was going to wear in public for Halloween….

”Pick your jaw up dear.” Kealey teased, planting a quick kiss on Shin’s cheek. ”I might just have to pick that thing up sometime.”

There were plenty of other costumes, but many of them were in the same vein as the one they’d just looked at. Maybe not quite as fantastical, but similar in taste. Kealey pawed through a rack and shrugged her shoulders at Shin.

”I’m sure I could find something here, if this is what we want for the party.” she said, but frowned a bit. ”Some of the skirts are awful short though…”

>>”Pick your jaw up dear.” Kealey teased, planting a quick kiss on Shin’s cheek. ”I might just have to pick that thing up sometime.”

Shin's face sank into a low pout. Pick his jaw up? He didn't wanna! "I blame you, you know." He said. He kept that pout planted firmly on his face. Or as firm as he could. But he was not mad, just pretending. And anyone with a brain would figure that. He was defending his honor! And stuff! And it was all... he couldn't actually figure out why he was faking a pout, save for comical effect, actually. He let the pout slip when he came to that conclusion.

Shin sneaked up behind Kealey and wrapped his arms around her waist in a hug. He rested his chin on her shoulder. "You should definitely get the other costume." He whispered. "You can probably make something decent, if you want to stay warm on Hallow's eve."

Kealey laughed. What exactly Shin was blaming her for…she wasn’t sure, but whatever it was, he was teasing. That pout on his face really was rather adorable, though, so Kealey was kind of glad she’d missed the boat, because teasing or not he’d have probably gotten what he wanted.

She was still browsing the rack when she felt Shin approach from behind, and as he wrapped his arms around her waist, she leaned back against him. His whisper tickled her ear, and she chuckled at his request.

”I was already planning on buying it.” she admitted with a sweet little smile. As to the rest. She hadn’t really been worried about the cold as much as how her legs would look in the skirt, but she loved Shin just a little bit more for not even thinking about that.

”I think making something might be our best option.” she said thoughtfully. ”Plus then we can be sure the costumes are exactly what we want.”

The blond gave herself leave to smirk just a little bit. ”I guess that’s the hazard of living with a designer. I’m a bit of a perfectionist where costumes are concerned.”

>>”I was already planning on buying it.” Kealey admitted.

She was so cute!

So great. So grin-inducing. So, he did.

Agreeing with his suggestion to make it and everything? Just. Awesome.

"Sounds great. Are we ready to go, then?" He asked.

Shin was happy with the idea of her buying that one costume. So when he asked if they were ready to go, she simply nodded her head. ”Yup.” she said, snagging a packaged version from below the mannequin and making her way to the register to pay.

That done. She grabbed Shin’s hand and they left the store.

”Now that we know that I’m making us costumes…all we have to do is decide what they’re going to be. Any ideas?”

"Good question."

What did he want to be for Halloween? He'd been a webcomic character the year before. So had she. So a repeat would be a rerun. And reruns weren't really so hot on Halloween.

Somehow, he'd thought she'd been interested in the whole 'tuxedo' thing. Tuxedos looked good, but.

"Tuxedo might be overdone." Shin replied. "I think I heard that's Aurum's plan. Bond. James Bond." Connery. He did an impression of him. Shin did not often do impressions of Scottish actors. It. Was hilarious. Or at least, he thought so.

"I guess I could do Kaito Kid." There was a major difference here, between Kaito kid's tuxedo, James Bond's tuxedo, and Tuxedo Mask's. Kaito Kid's tuxedo... was white. With a blue shirt underneath, and a slick silk top hat.