Demon Marcus, Sunday

[myownface]

Sparkle had come in to work this morning to Ada's display of men's rompers in the window.

And then he'd left it there, because, shit, it amused him, okay? There were worse things that could have gone into the window display. Ada could've gone digging through the stack of stuff that had been set aside for the burn barrel in the back.

...

Excuse Sparkle, he was feeling just quirky enough today that he was doing exactly that. Clearly the romper mannequins needed some truly horrifying fur coats in order to round out their ensemble. Was it the most sound business decision Sparkle could possibly make today? No. But was it the most amusing?

Absolutely.

Comments

[wiredweird]

Jughead didn't have a ton of money. But, he also didn't have a ton in the way of clothes that were actually meant for warmer weather. So something had to give.

The mannequins in the window gave him serious pause. Still, he made it in the door. He could always leave without buying anything, right?

[myownface]

He could! Fortunately, the merchandise inside was far better than what was in the window. And Sparkle was cackling to himself as he put the finishing touches on the display.

Feather boa for all!

"God, that is BAD."

[wiredweird]

"Do you sell something other than feather boas and coats that are way, way out there?" Jughead wondered out loud. As you do.

Even though he could already see there were a ton of different kinds of clothes in here.

[myownface]

"God, I hope so," Sparkle snorted, turning a grin toward the kid. "Swear to god I have better taste than this. THIS is just boredom."

[wiredweird]

"Okay, good." Look, Jughead's style was a little more grunge than what allowed for feather boas. Also they probably wouldn't have gone with his ever-present beanie, anyway. "I'm just looking for some summer wear."

No points for guessing he'd want it in dark colors, Sparks.

[myownface]

"In hot pinks or lime greens?"

Of course he was teasing.

"Yeah, we have summer clothes," he relented after a pause. "Light shirts and shorts, or what?"

[wiredweird]

Jughead looked vaguely horrified before he figured out the guy was joking.

"Uh, the shirts, at least," he said. "Dunno if I need to be exposing my legs." You'd be forgiven for (correctly) assuming they were just as pale as every visible part of him.

[myownface]

"Oh, we have plenty of shirts," Sparkle replied, smirking at the kid. "Here, they're over this way."

He set the last feather boa down and made his way toward the racks.

"I won't stick you in anything humiliating, I promise. Bad for business, and my own fashion sense would cry out in pain anyway."

[wiredweird]

"Thanks," Jughead replied, with more than a hint of wryness, as he followed Sparkle to the racks. "I'd usually prefer to do this online."

Because people weren't his forte.

[myownface]

"Harder to make sure everything fits right," Sparkle noted. "But then, it's easier if you aren't, like, a people person. I have my Amazon days, too."

And he owned a freaking clothing shop.

[wiredweird]

Jughead shrugged. That was as close to saying he wasn't a people person as he was going to get – really, it was obvious enough.

"Amazon wasn't really coughing up things within my budget, this time."

[myownface]

Sparkle managed not to grimace at that. Amazon carried, like, plain Hanes t-shirts for three bucks. He knew because he used to live on that shit himself, before Demon Marcus had come along. Instead, he nodded a little, mentally re-adjusting.

"Scraping together funds while at boarding school can be tough," he noted, because hey, he just met the kid and wasn't going to go digging or anything right away. "What's your budget looking like today? We'll stay inside of it for you."

[wiredweird]

In Jughead's defense, he'd also gotten distracted pretty quickly and had just looked at collector's edition DVDs from then on. Probably hadn't made it to the cheapest stuff before then.

It was possible shoping for clothes was also not a particular forte of his. (Despite how much he looked like a misfit-via-The-CW he followed a deliberate style guideline in dressing himself.)

"Like... Fifteen bucks?" he said, shrugging. "Less is better, but I also don't want to die of heatstroke. Or go around shirtless all summer."

[futurespacemom]

Hera barely noticed the mannequins; let's face it, she'd seen odder fashions. She just assumed it was an Earth thing.

She waved at Sparkle. "Having fun?"

[myownface]

"Oh, hey!" Sparkle grinned up at Hera from where he'd been trying to get some particularly horrid argyle socks onto the mannequins. "Absolutely am! Just making a mess of the displays. How've you been?"

[futurespacemom]

"There was a really crazy day this week, but otherwise not too bad. Why are you making a mess?"

[myownface]

"Because someone made the mistake of leaving me to my own devices while I'm bored," Sparkle laughed. "I swear, I wouldn't actually dress someone like this unless they wanted me to."

It was so bad. So. Bad.

[futurespacemom]

"That's not just a new Earth fashion?" Hera asked.

[myownface]

"If it is, I'm leaving Earth," Sparkle decided. "This is freaking awful, even for Earth, I swear."

[futurespacemom]

"Oh, good." Hera laughed. "I mean, I think I've seen worse, but it is pretty...interesting."

[myownface]

"It's attention-grabbing in all the wrong ways," Sparkle shared. "But like I said... boredom and some hideous stock that is just screaming to go into a burn barrel, and here we are."

Why was Sparkle allowed to do anything? Really, though?

"So," he added, "to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"

[futurespacemom]

Hera shrugged. "I thought I'd get some hot-weather clothing. What's a not-terrible fashion?"

[myownface]

Sparkle broke into a little laugh at that and shrugged his shoulders.

"Not-terrible and practical, right? We've got that. How do you feel about short sleeves?"

And ooh, shorts. Hera would look freaking adorable in shorts...

[futurespacemom]

"Short and practical is good," Hera said. "I'm open to..." she eyed the display. "Well, almost anything."

[myownface]

Sparkle gave a little snort as he turned to head toward the racks.

"I'm thinking, like, t-shirts or tank tops and jeans," he admitted. "A good pair of jeans'll take a lot of punishment, which is great around here. But, like, jean shorts, because if the summer gets hot and sticky, long legs are gonna suck. Stop me if I'm wrong, okay?"