WILL POV-

---- 7:36 PM ----

Will and El roam the Mall; after the earlier incident they decided to have a more chill atmosphere to spend the night, after all they were kids and needed to have fun sometimes. Will thought about everything as they trotted from store to store; he didn't understand why Mike randomly flipped out on him or why he hadn't seen him since their little exchange. The smaller boy was discharged from the nurse's office and allowed to go home but he paid no mind to that shaking his thoughts away from his head cut away by El speaking.

"What do you think I should get for camp?"

"Camp?" Will furrowed his brows. There is a camp portion in the comic but that's way later: in chapter 30. If he was thinking correctly, they were nowhere near that point in time. He wished he had someone to talk to about all of this; he felt confused and alone like the only real character in this comic, worried that if he told one of the comic characters about it, he would be labelled insane or break their perception of life.

"Yeah! Haven't you been packing?" She nudged his side

"Umm no..." Will stretched his words still trying to comprehend how fast the comic has been moving ever since he got here.

"Geez! How hard did you hit your head?" she joked waving her hands "WILL! It's next week"

"That's plenty of time!" The brunette shrugged

"That's four days" She rolled her eyes placing a hand on her hip

"C'mon!" She continued, grabbing his arm dragging him toward the stores to pick up different clothes she picked out, throwing them into his arms forcing him to try them on. The girl sat poised on the chair catapulting him to the changing rooms. She was elated feeling as though she was playing dress-up; loving fashion and being able to choose clothes for others.

Will walked out the changing rooms each time with an uncomfortable smile on his face loving the clothes but being critiqued every time he does, even so far to be criticised for the way he walked as if he was on a runway, but El savoured this moment being engrossed by the outfits she made; complimenting herself each time.

"Can we go now?" Will sighed, trying on the last pair of clothes. He was never aware of El's interest in fashion and all things colour related even down to knowing specific lingo to do with clothes design; it was never addressed in the comic. El nodded grabbing the best clothing items for the camping trip. Since the weather was supposed to be good, El chose a lot of graphic tees and shorts for the small boy, along with grabbing a few comfortable clothing options for herself.

Walking to the cashier with two baskets filled with clothes and other miscellaneous items, they checked out with a total being a lot higher than Will expected, never being something he would have usually paid for in his real life. It was lucky in the comic that his family was wealthy or he had no clue how they would have paid for this.

"Now we need to do my clothes shopping" El chirped holding two bags

"Didn't you just buy some" Will deadpanned

"Don't be silly" El mocked "I need some to impress Max"

"I think Max would be impressed if you wore a potato sack" Will muttered, he was honestly just tired of lugging these heavy bags around

El rolled her eyes "I'm being serious Will" Interlocking arms with him to pull him into a stereotypically girly store with bright pink and purple lights and attendees at every entrance; greeting you as you step in. El grinned bright loving the colourful arrays of clothes making her way over to the summer dresses picking out many that she loved but deciding to get three as to not spend too much of her budget. Smiling, she skipped away from the clothing racks to the changing rooms with a hefty handful of clothes in her hands.

Will stayed behind analysing the clothes they filled him with inspiration, they were all so colourful reminding him of different styles of artworks, he grinned observing the pattern but seeing the price tag his eyes widened

"$60?? And it doesn't even have pockets" He said aloud causing a worker to turn her head to the noise. Will awkwardly waved turning red from embarrassment rushing over to the changing rooms to visit El standing outside them waiting for him.

"Wait here while I change! I want your honest feedback" El spoke stern, placing him down on the seat and the bags by his feet

"Okay Miss" He mocked saluting her as she chuckled, skipping into the changing rooms

Will waited outside twiddling his thumbs; the bags from the previous store flooded the floor around him. He tapped his foot up and down listening to the faint pop music playing from the store speakers, this was perfect feeling as though he was having a fun night out with friends.

Suddenly the curtains swung open revealing El in a pink flowery dress "Do you think this is too much for camp?" She explained brightly grinning, spinning around to show the back of the dress.

"It suits you!" Will smiled supporting her choices

"Really? Do you think Max would like it?" She bashfully questioned fidgeting her fingers, the boy showed both thumbs up. She squealed out of joy walking back into the room to wear another dress. Opening the curtain again she stepped out.

"What about this one, It's bit more open?" She gleamed wearing a red dress that had spaghetti straps both as beautiful as the previous dress. They both were her colour perfectly expressing who she was as a person. But a thought came to mind

"I think the open dress will get you dress coded" Will frowned afraid to be the bearer of bad news but the sexism of the school rules will say she can't expose her shoulders

"But we won't even be on school grounds" El pouted

"I know but better safe them sorry" Will exclaimed; if she was to wear that dress and get dress coded it would affect her mood for the whole day

"I guess your right" she pouted, slumping back into the room and trying more dresses that she picked out deciding on three:

The pink flowery maxi dress, a yellow puff sleeve mini and a green midi dress. All airy, allowing her to be comfortable and look good while doing so. She walked over to the displays placing the others she doesn't want back on the racks. El knew that buying the red dress would go over her price limit and really wanted it but couldn't justify it if she wouldn't wear it on her camping trip. She sulked walking away to the checkout line.

Will, seeing the look on her face made him frown; he had some left-over money his comic-book mother gave to buy himself clothes but he decided to use it having more than enough to buy the dress. Picking up the exact one El put down he ran over to her "El! I'll buy this for you"

"What?" She was confused to say the least

"I could see you really want this dress so I'll get it for you I have the money" Will explained quickly

"Will but I can't it's your money and I-" El stammered, she couldn't possibly accept a massive gift like this from her brother

"Shhh! I'll buy it, wear it well and rock Max's world" The boy smirked, cutting her off

"W-what?" She blushed upon hearing that, what did he mean by that? They've only been out once; he was being silly but secretly she loved the idea; not opting for anything major, just handholding and maybe a kiss causing her to glow bright.

"Soo, I see you're gonna buy it" Will continued placing the dress into her hands

"Shut up!" She jokingly pouted "Since you've begged to buy it for me... I guess I'll let you!" The doe-eyed girl grinned bright looking toward her brother. To be honest she still wasn't a hundred percent sure what had caused him to change so drastically this week, but whatever it was she was glad, wishing it would stay like this forever.

The pair paid for the clothes and left deciding to split the carrying of the bags in half so they could both walk comfortably.

"Do you think you'd be able to come to camp with the school because of your concussion?" El questioned serious, a few weeks ago she prayed her brother couldn't come to the camp but now she wanted nothing more but to be bros with her bro.

"Yeah probably" Will shuffled carrying bags in his hand; walking beside El, until she abruptly stopped, her eyes widened and she jumped for joy "Will! Let's go in there!" She pointed dragging the small boy toward an accessory store. Both of them knew they didn't have enough extra money to buy anything there but none the less, they decided to window shop.

Stepping inside, the pair were hit by a beautiful fragrance from the perfume section. The brunette scrunched his face loving the smell but very strong perfumes gave him a headache so he decided to stay far away from that side of the store. El hopped over to the keychains picking up one that resembled a ginger cat

"Doesn't this look like Max?" She passed a toothy grin chuckling loudly; A group of girls around their age turned their head passing dirty looks. El looked down, worried of what they thought about her. Will casted evil eyes toward the girls until they turned away.

He placed a hand on El's shoulder "Do you want to get it for her?"

El meekly nodded reacting to Will trying to lift her spirits. He looked at the price tag, it was only $10 so if they pooled their left-over money, they could afford it. Will smiled bright looking around even more. He saw one that caught his eye: a keychain containing a book on it, ironic considering he was in a comic right now.

El watched him "That's soo cute!" She squealed instantly changing her demeanour "You should get it"

Will thought about it, it was nice and he really liked it but fought against it, it wasn't something he needed and plus the price was almost double that of El's and they only had $20 between them. But if he found one that was also $10, he would pick that one instead.

"Isn't that Mike?" El tilted her head pass the crowd seeing the ravenette in the distance. Will didn't even notice when she walked off toward him; engrossed analysing the keychains looking for any cheaper ones scanning the table, finding most of them pretty but nothing he would personally buy.

Looking up seeing the ravenette right in front of him, he jumped away. After their questionable encounter earlier Will didn't know what to say to him and nor did Mike. The taller boy didn't even know why he was at the mall today. He didn't want to go but something in him essentially forced him to make the trek over; it confused him but he brushed it off to a weird feeling like a chill you get.

"Hey" Mike weakly raised his hand, Will said nothing but acknowledged his presence, he wanted a stress-free evening but he guessed he wasn't getting that. In a comic there must always be drama, Will sighed.

"W-what are you lot doing here?" Mike asked

"We're buying stuff for the camping trip!" El chirped, ever since this week she had been bubblier, different to what Mike was usually used to. It made him happy she was finally coming out her shell then turning his attention to the brunette still searching the keychains.

"Do you like that one?" Mike placed an arm on Will's shoulder shocking the small boy

"What? Oh yeah, it's cute" The small boy took a moment to process the question but eventually did passing the keychain carefully to Mike ensuring not to drop it

Mike brought it to his eyeline, it was 'cute' just as Will said; something that would suit the small boy. "Are you gonna buy it?"

"Eh probably not!" Will shrugged

"Why not? You should buy it" The taller boy said

"That's what I told him!" El supported, placing a hand on her hip

"I-Its nice, but I don't need it" Will emphasized. "I already have enough clutter on my keys" that was true, perhaps not in the comic but in the real world Will LOVED collecting different keychains from all over. It was like a collector's items for him; some people collected stickers, others stamps and some even magnets but he chose keychains as his interest.

He had many keychains in different shapes and sizes: one even bigger than his fist and was in the shape of a shark. He chuckled just thinking about it, he must seem crazy every time he took his keys out his pocket.

"Oh..." Mike didn't know what to say, he just nodded accepting this fact but with no clear thoughts in his head, he analysed the keychain twirling it around in his hands until he jumped, hearing a blasting ringtone. The pair look toward El pulling her phone out her purse.

"Hello..." She chirped into the phone "Hmm? Oh okay!" She listened intently "Okay! We will"

"That was Mum!" She smiled turning her attention to Will before putting her phone back into her purse. "She wants us home by 9"

Will looked down at his watch, it read '8:39'. "Woah how long have we been shopping for?" His eyes widen as he thought about it, never having this much fun shopping before, he didn't have any friends back in California so it made him feel as though he was missing out.

"We should go!" El smiled grabbing her brother to the checkout as they paid for her gift for Max. She was elated to be dragging her brother around places now, it filled her with joy.

"Bye Mike!" El waved ecstatically

"Yeah bye" Will weakly repeated after his sister as they made their way out the store

"Yeah, bye El! Bye Will!" Smiling under his breath watching the two get along. He still stood with the keychain in hand, the book shape that Will had chosen for himself. He smiled thinking about it as he made his way to the checkout.

"I'm sure this is the one" he whispered under his breath nervous as he slipped the money on the counter, he wanted to get the perfect gift for the perfect person. 

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2589 Words

Stay Safe <3

Also the dresses El chose:

The red spaghetti strap

The pink maxi

The green midi

The yellow puff sleeves (Yes here is Lana! We love her)