Twisted-Wonderland: Our Precious Treasure (Part 1)

(21) TCT: Sepia Bad Boys

"Pardon us!" As Deuce pushed the door open, he was greeted by a room filled with various knick-knacks which were aesthetically reminded him of a voodoo store. Crystal skulls, jars with questionable liquids, and grimoires between shelves. Puppets and masks hung down from the ceiling. Some animal figures were set on the counter. Even a purple piano near the entrance.

"Geez, this looks like my house storage room," Ace muttered as he followed Deuce in, "ya sure we can find actual ingredients here?"

Deuce glanced at Ace before glancing at the shopping list in his hand. Fresh cream, two packs of milk, two cartons of eggs, silicon cups, five canned fruits...quite a lot actually. He was glad Ace joined him. Even if he was used to carrying lots of heavy groceries when going shopping with his mother during sales hours, it was always good when you have a helping hand.

"Hey! Little lost lambs!" Both Ace and Deuce jumped when a man suddenly popped from behind the counter. "Welcome to Mr. S's Mystery Shop!" The lithe young man had magenta eyes, black-and-purple dreads flipped over the right side of his head, and an undercut. He had white skeletal markings painted beneath his eyes, on his neck, chest, and forearms. There were also white rib markings on the bright purple vest that he wore beneath his maroon blazer; this skeletal motif was complete with a small skull affixed to his hat.

"What is it that you wish for today?" the man, who Deuce guessed was Mr. S, said as he rubbing his hand. "A charm against cheating? An ancient king's mirror? Or maybe, some cursed tarot cards?"

Deuce walked up to the counter. "We would like to buy the things written on this note," he said, sliding the note in front of Mr. S. The man took it and re-read it out loud, whistling when he reached the last thing on the list.

"What a pretty sweet line-up~" He pointed finger guns at him. "OK! I shall bring them out now."

When Mr. S walked deeper into the shop, Ace managed to stand beside Deuce. "You think he has those stuff here?" In which Deuce only shrugged.

To their surprise, Mr. S managed to come back with all the ingredients they needed. "Thank you for the wait~" he said as he put the last carton-filled egg into a plastic bag. "It is rather heavy, so are you sure you can carry them all? If you act now, I can throw in a special bag to carry all of those things for 30% off of its original price~!" He ended with a wink.

Ace and Deuce exchanged glances, knowing that they had the same idea. "We can carry these on our own," said Deuce as he grabbed the one filled with canned fruit while giving the others to Ace.

Mr. S gave them a thumbs up. "OK, OK! Then, I shall be waiting for your return, lost little lambs! Bye~!"

-----

"Geez... This is heavy," Ace groaned as both he and Deuce walked down the Main Street. The ginger-head glanced at Deuce. He carried twice the weight he was carrying! And how was this dude not sweating yet?! "How did you do it?"

Deuce glanced at him confusedly. "Do what?"

"This!" Ace lifted his grocery bags before lowering them again. "How can you carry all that without breaking a sweat?"

Deuce looked at Ace's groceries then at his own. "Oh, I help my mother carrying her groceries frequently," he said and Ace swore he saw the corner of Deuce's lips pulled up, "I'm the only man in the family, so I'm used to helping a lot with hard labor."

Ace frowned. "So, you're a momma boy?"

Deuce's cheeks turned red as he stopped his tracks, face blushing in embarrassment. "I'm not!"

Ace grinned. "Admit it! You're a momma boy!"

Ace walked ahead, laughing. He turned his head to look at the still-red-faced Deuce which was amusing Ace thought. He grinned at the blunette again before looking straight ahead again-