[FIN] Tailor Made ( Lex x Fredrick )

[Carhop Cavalier]

A small rubber ball bounced against the floor, then the wall, and then into Lex's hand in a hall that lead to the Life labs. The one throwing the ball, Lex, sat against the opposite wall with a bored, hollow look on his face. Mr. Zeke and told him to report to his office in an hour, and there were still thirty minutes to kill. The teen was still dressed in the stuff the quartermaster had given him, all loose and baggy but just decent enough that nothing showed if he were to bend over - a pair of old jeans, a faded thrift store shirt, a trucker cap, and the only new article of clothing on his person was the white and gold coat he'd found folded up neatly on his bed one morning.

The ball's pattern eventually had to become annoying to anyone in earshot, but the young Lex really could not bring himself to care all that much. If someone asked him to quit, the teen would.

< You could be training right now, you know. Studying, learning how to dive, anything like that. >

Lex rolled his eyes. 'Yeah, or you could just let me be a teenager, Reggie. I'm not sure how things work in Halloween Town, but on Earth, most people just let their teens be bored in peace.'  

[Baneful]

Fred was the kind of person who liked to know every inch of where he lived, a habit borne of a life of crime and the potential at any given moment to have to run for his life or escape danger at short notice. It meant he was always prone to heading out on brisk walks around the island, showing up in strange places where people didn’t normally go. That day he was wandering through the halls of the buildings and just happened to catch the low thump thump of the thrown ball. Curiosity led him towards it.

Fred himself was dressed in very fancy clothing, his coat modified already and finely hemmed, with layers of perfectly tailored suit beneath it in a flamboyant style. It was topped off by a hat in the style of the mad hatter. Everything about him spoke of a man who felt very very strongly about fashion. He gave the young man a friendly smile.

“Hey there mate.” he said, his accent falling in a strange middle ground between Manhattan and a regional English one. “Doing awright?” He seemed like one of the younger guys on the island, he was a bit more sympathetic to them than most, given that from what he could tell, not all of them had chosen to be here the way he had.

Carhop Cavalier

 

[Carhop Cavalier]

The strange accent lifted Lex immediately out of his bored, catatonic state and back into the real world, where there was a very nicely dressed man standing nearby, smiling and talking to him. Something about his entire air seemed a little familiar, like he'd talked or seen the man in passing. "Huh? Uh, yeah, I'm okay." Lex just shrugged, but had enough manners and politeness talks from his mother to at least stand up and offer his hand. "My name's Alexei, but please just call me Lex."

Man, this guy was dressed nicely. Lex was a little jealous, picking at his loose and worn clothing. Maybe jealous wasn't the right word? Envious, self conscious, even a little admiring. "Sorry, but do I know you? There's just something familiar about you."

Baneful

 

[Baneful]

Fred shook the other man's hand in his own gloved one. "No problem mate. Lex it is. I'm Frederick, Fred though if you would." The name immediately rung a bell with him though and it was obvious in the way he became even more friendly and amiable.

"You are the guy from twitter right?" he said. "Looking for a tailor." And he already was running his eyes over what the man was wearing, trying to estimate sizes, fits, what might flatter best, challenges, everything. It wasn't just about adjusting clothes, it was about re-shaping them, reforming them in their own image. It wasn't about a strategic belt or a hem at all.

"Bet that whole...shrinking? Thing. Was a bit of a b***h." Sometimes he felt like he really had wandered into Wonderland and that the changes in age and size were just some other facet of this unusual dream world. "But I'm keen to help."

Carhop Cavalier

 

[Carhop Cavalier]

"Fred, good to meet ya." Lex smiled once he recognized where he knew Fred from. "Ah, yeah. That's me - twitter kid that needs some new clothes." The teen glanced down at the baggy shirt he was currently wearing. "I'd appreciate any help I can get, and I could pay you in advance if need be."

Honestly, he was just so eager to not look like a disheveled little homeless gutter punk.

"Yeah...it's still weird, knowing that my old self is basically dead." He rubbed the back of his neck, uncomfortable still by the notion. "Plus, y'know, having no memories of what I did, who I was? I mean I guess fresh starts are nice, but...yeah, just weird man." Lex couldn't quite express the hollowness he felt, the idea that he was just a half-person.

baneful

 

[Baneful]

Fred didn't seem to have too much trouble about taking money from a kid. Where he came from money made the world go round and if you had it he was willing to do whatever you needed discreetly and without question. As far as he was concerned, Lex just had things all figured out. "I'll give you a discount" he said with a nod. "Since you'd be doing me a favour letting me get some examples of what I can do out and about on the island." Advertising was worth it.

The light haired man gave Lex a startled look as what he was saying began to sink in though. "You mean you were older before mate?" he said, somewhat alarmed. "And you forgot everything?"

Apparently it had sucked a lot more than he thought, he couldn't imagine going back to how he was as a teenager, especially if it was without Roswell. "That's really shitty."

"Guess with most things though, all you can do is move forward, gotta find out who you are now rather than who you were before. Maybe this will help a bit, how you dress says a lot about who you are."

Carhop Cavalier

 

[Carhop Cavalier]

"A discount? Holy s**t, thanks." Not that Lex needed a discount, but he wasn't naive or dumb enough to let that little bit of information on. "And it's my pleasure, really. ******** clothes make me look like a little gutter snipe." To say Lex was angry would be a mistake, but irate would be more accurate. The young man was used to at least looking middle class.

"Y-yeah, lost all my memories. I guess I used to be some 30 year old man slut?" Lex shrugged it off, trying his best to play cool. "Last thing I remember is almost kissing a girl back home, until her dad caught us and I had to high tail it out of her house."

baneful

 

[Baneful]

Fred looked him over and couldn't help but nod slightly in agreement that his current attire didn't do him too many favours. "Easily fixed though at least. Soon you'll look exactly the way you want to again."

The story was a pretty sad one, the idea of losing a history entirely seeming unfortunate, but he guessed he couldn't really blame the guy honestly. If it wasn't for his brother staying the same and the heart wrenching idea of never being the same age again, he'd probably take the opportunity if it arose.

He smirked. "Sounds to me like you were always a bit of a womaniser then though. Nothing wrong with that."

Carhop Cavalier

 

[Carhop Cavalier]

"I guess you could say that?" Lex's brow quirked, a little bit of a curl to his lips. He'd never considered himself a womanizer, but that sounded pretty suave and cool. "Never got a girl naked, but I've seen quite a few bras." He boasted, more proudly than he should.

A beat, and Lex's eyes lit up with a genius idea. "Could you make me look more, what's the word, suave? Sexy?" He wanted to see more than just bra, after all.

baneful

 

[Baneful]

Fred gave the other man a big playful grin for his statement. Everyone needed to start somewhere and a few bras was where they all started out, talking a big game and hoping that the actual game would follow at a later date. "Clearly you are already on the way to mastery."

He nodded. "I think we can see what we can do, for sure. I'll see if I can get a few printouts at the library, I'll bring you a few examples and you see what sort of style is you mate and I'll get you sorted out, deal?"

Carhop Cavalier

 

[Carhop Cavalier]

Mastery? Holy crap, what a compliment! Lex's grey eyes glimmered at Fred as he nodded enthusiastically to his proposition. The excitement at the prospect of seeing more than just bra straps and n****e outlines through sweaters made the teen bounce on the balls of his heels.

"Thanks, Fred! Just let me know how much I owe you." Lex's grin was wider, if that was even possible. The amount of cash he was willing to put on the table to get to second base wasn't discussed, but the boy's eyes said it all. Any price, he would match.

baneful

 

[Baneful]

"No problem at all mate. We'll get you looking great, you can be my first project and client. I'll get a bill together for you, I've almost got enough right now to get myself a runiced sewing machine, that'll definitely cut costs and make things faster when I get it going, doing everything by hand is a ******** drag let me tell you."

He smirked. "But I'll get some examples together for you, you look them over, send me a few texts or whatever and next time I see you I'll get some measurements and we'll get you kitted out properly"

Carhop Cavalier

 

[Carhop Cavalier]

"Fred, you, my man, are ******** awesome." Lex gave the older hunter a beaming grin and fistbump, excitement coursing through his veins. "I'm gonna look so ******** nice."

A text came through Lex's phone, from Zeke. More runes and stuff to analyze. "I'll see ya around."