Tuxedos and Ties [OPEN to guys only]

[ALEXANDER VON DARWIN]

There he was, standing in the middle of the tuxedo shop with a deer in the headlights expression on his face. The place was filled with tuxedos of all colors and fabrics. Everything looked expensive and the same in his eyes so he decided that touching nothing was his best bet. Someone would see that he was lost and come to his aid. In the mean time he would just look.

Everyone tended to think that just because he was gay that he knew a lot about clothing. That was an absolute lie. If his mother didn't buy him clothes he would probably walk around naked. Not a pretty sight, but it was the truth. This was one of the reason he liked the Hogswarts school uniform. It took away all the unnecessary stress of dressing ones self in the morning. He did own a few pair of jeans and band tee shirts for the weekend though. That was what he wore now.

Alexander walked around and looked at the price tags of the items along the wall. Some were decently priced and ugly while others were nice looking and would make his mother pull her hair out if he contemplated buying it. He couldn't imagine spending 100 galleons on a tux. That was just ridiculous. He let the tags slip from his hands.

He didn't know what the big deal was. This ball was yet another chance for the students at Hogwarts to dress up and ridicule others for not being the best dressed or the best dancer at the party. He disliked balls as much as the next guy, especially now that he was single. He would be attending the Ball alone. It wasn't like he minded but it would be a lonely night and he wasn't looking forward to it at all. Perhaps after making an appearance he would slip away and return to the common room. If that was the case he wouldn't spend much on a tux today. That sounded like a plan to him.

"This is just sad," he said to Cayden as he lifted the tag of another high priced tux. "You'd think they'd lower the price for students." He walked along the wall, his expression grim. He barely had enough money for any of these. He'd have to tap into his savings a bit.

Tag: Cayden

[cayden]

The Ball. He was not looking forward to this whole bloody thing because all it was, was a mass social experiment so the teachers could sit back and laugh at them. Honestly. The girls all looked at the boys over their books and giggled, and the guys smirked and walked around like they were big men on campus because they had a date. That was, until they had to dance then they had two left feet and looked like fools. Cayden hated dances if you couldn't tell, and it wasn't just because he was resentful he couldn't get a date. He could get a date very easily, but the fact was he didn't want too because then there were obligations. You had to buy them flowers, and dance and get them punch when they whined they were tired. By the sounds of it, it seemed Cayden hated women, but he didn't. He just hated that the ones he always found attractive were just whiners.

Following behind Alex, he looked around the shop and smirked as his friend mulled over the clothes crossing his arms over his chest. Cayden was by no means rich, but his parents weren't exactly poor either, and when he wanted something they gave it to him because it shut him up. It was a wonder he wasn't spoiled, but Cayden didn't like having to ask for things. But, there was no way in hell he was dipping into his savings from his winnings for the dueling championship for this dance. They would willingly pay for it too because he was somewhat 'famous' and he wouldn't be surprised if he ended up in the paper for something. Couldn't look bad now could he?

"If they lowered the prices for students they wouldn't be as prestigious," Cayden teased as he looked at the price tag his friend had picked up. They really were rather pricey. "You could see if they will rent them," he suggested as he went to look at the vest and ties. He liked the look of all black with a splash of bright color. Maybe yellow or blue. His fingers passed over the silk, rubbing the fabric between his pointer and thumb as he did so.

"What color are you going to go with?" He asked as he picked a few ties off the rack and draped them over his shoulder. He would compare them once he was fitted into a tux.

[ALEXANDER VON DARWIN]

Alexander chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. "I think if you lower the price of things and sell many of them you'd make more money rather than selling one very expensive thing. There's no guarantee that this 200 galleon black suit will sell, but this hot pink five galleon one probably will," he joked, running his hand over the polyester fabric. Just touching the thing made him itch.

Alexander made a mental note to ask the clerk about renting something. He was in the back room helping another customer at the moment, but he did seem to be watching them as they made their rounds around the store.

"I don't know. Purple or green maybe." Alexander stopped and looked at the ties too. They weren't quite as expensive as the suits so he felt more comfortable touching them. "Or I may not wear a tie at all. I heard some girls talking about how hot guys look without them," he said smiling. Like he cared what girls thought. Alexander picked up a green silk tie with a diamond texture. He turned and held it up to Cayden. Leaning his head to the side, he pursed his lips and nodded. "This looks nice on you. It deflects the attention away from your face." He said, laughing. He draped the tie around his friends neck and continued sifting through the ties.

The store clerk, done with his sell, finally waltzed over. Black hair slicked back with tons of oils and chest puffed out, the man, a Mr. Jenner, bowed to them. "Hello young sirs. I couldn't help but notice that you were browsing for tuxedos. Please allow me to help you decide which one suits your youthful physiques the best." A toothy grin rose to his lips before he marched over to the high priced tuxedos and began pulling them off their hooks. One of the tuxes he pulled down was worth 300 galleon, the others far above the 100 galleon range.

Alexander glanced back at Cayden and shrugged before smirking. An evil light seemed to shine behind his light blue eyes.

The man beckoned them to the dressing rooms in which there was a huge gallery filled with mirrors.

"Lets humor him shall we." Alexander said, grabbing the front of Cayden's shirt and dragging him along.

[cayden]

"If someone buys that tuxedo I am going to laugh my arse of at them. Some poor bloke is going to wait until last minute and that is all that will be left," he replied looking at the horrid color of the thing. He wouldn't be caught dead in that thing, though he was sure his brother would find it an amusing joke to put him in that atrocious color. Looking over his shoulder for a moment he went back to the ties and mulled over a shockingly plain white one. That would stand out like a sore thumb against a solid black tux. He would have to try it.

Watching Alex for a moment he moved to look at the vests flipping them over in his hands to survey them. "I found a matching vest for that horrendous pink tux," he replied holding up a shocking purple vest to his chest looking at himself in the mirror. It was awful. "You should wear it, and a neon green tie, the girls will be all over you," he teased as he hung the purple vest back up again on the rack.

When his friend walked over and held the tie up to his face he laughed, "certainly, perhaps it will help to keep me on the sidelines. I am an awful dancer," he replied ducking his head to make it easier for Alex to drape it over his shoulders. He had to admit though, he liked the green, it wasn't a bad color, almost the same shade of his eyes. "You should go for purple though, I think it would look nice," he genuinely complimented.

The clerk was an obvious sales person, and a tool as well. He saw the look in Alex's eye and couldn't help but smirk back before being dragged along."These tux's are more then my allowance for a year," he muttered quietly to Alex as the greasy haired man handed him a tux and all but shoved him into a dressing room.

It didn't take him long to strip down to his skivvies and tug the tux on. It was certainly made of fine quality material that hugged his body in the correct spots. Cayden actually liked it, which was a bad thing because it cost far too much. "I am rubbish at ties," he muttered walking out of the stall fumbling around with the green one Alex had given him.

[ALEXANDER VON DARWIN]

Alex wouldn't be caught dead in the combination of items Cayden tried to toss at him. He liked clowns, but that didn't mean he wanted to dress like one. He pushed the bright clothes away and playfully rolled his eyes at his friend. "I think those match your skin tone more than mine." he joked.

Soon they were both shoved into a dressing room. The suit that had been given to him was a charcoal color. Not exactly black and not too gray either. He looked at the tag and frowned before sliding the thing on.

It fit his body like a glove. The seams were perfect and the cut amazing. It fit like it had been made for him...and in some ways it had. The suit was charmed to slide in here and tuck in there to fit the wearer. The charm work was difficult and was something he'd never heard of. He had on everything aside from the cuff links and shoes. Those would come later.

Alexander stepped out of the dressing room with the top portion of his crisp white shirt still open and exposing his chest. The jacket was fitted to his body and buttoned in the front right below his chest. His own stylish suit was forgotten as soon as he laid eyes on his friend. Dressed in a more angled suit that showed off his strong shoulders and broad chest, Cayden looked amazing. His blonde hair stood out and shone brilliantly against the fabric and his green eyes shone like emeralds against the tie he struggled to put on. Alex' body flushed as he approached his friend. He'd never realized just how sexy he really was before now.

He smiled at Cayden and shook his head. If he knew nothing about clothes he did know how to tie a tie.

"Come here. I'll do it."

He slipped the tie from his friend's hands and began setting it right. "You look amazing." He said, his voice low as he adjusted his tie. "If only we could afford these," he said with a smile.

[cayden]

Cayden hadn't really looked at himself in the mirror, anxious to get back out and see just what Alex looked like in his tux. He wasn't really sure why he wanted to know but he did. As he padded across the floor in his black socks, that looked almost grey compared to the crisp shock of midnight black of the tux, he continued to fumble until Alex piped up that he would help him. One would probably wonder how Cayden managed to get by in school with his ties since they had to wear one every day, but he left a note for the house elves asking them to set them when they did the laundry. That way all he had to do was slip it over his head and tighten it. A little bit like cheating, but after going around for a few days with it completely disproportioned and one day just tied in a crude knot, he thought he had better ask.

"Oh...uh thanks," he replied quietly as he dropped his hands to his sides while Alex worked on his tie. "Yours looks really nice too," Cayden replied as he looked him over a bit in the mirror that was behind them. It was the truth too, the color was nice against his skin and it fit him very nicely. Before he could let his mind trail even further then it wanted too, he quickly snapped himself out of it and cleared his throat a bit walking over to a mirror to check his own suit out.

Twisting around a few times he smoothed the already flat jacket down and tugged it a bit before looking over at Alex again. "Shame we can barely afford the ties," he said with a small laugh as the salesmans face fell watching them. It was obvious the sudden turn of events had turned the guy off and he was starting to get agitated looking over his shoulder at a few more people that had entered. More people he could swindle out of money.

"Hey...listen," Cayden said to the man catching his attention once again. Putting on his best charming smile he picked at his tie and dropped it before walking over. "Look I know you need to do business, and we need tuxedos for this bleeding ball. It's no secret that you jacked up the prices a week before it because I had shopped in here before, and we could easily just rent tuxes from Diagon Alley," Cayden said doing his best to not smirk as he smoothed talked the guy. He was good at bartering and getting what he wanted. After visiting so many countries where everything was about haggling Cayden learned his game.

"We are all a bunch of poor school kids and the likelyhood of you selling these tuxes is slim to none. So instead of just losing money on both, give them to us for half off. Since I know that was their price last week. We won't talk," Cayden replied looking over his shoulder at Alex before back to the man "about how much we got them for. We will just tell them where we got them from. If not, we will turn everyone away, we both have a bit of shove in the social network. Deal?"

The guy was flabbergasted as he stared at Cayden, who had basically swindled him into a deal and he retreated to go set up the sale. "Just pay me back later. It's my parents money," Cayden said laughing a bit as he observed himself in the mirror. "I've give you the tie for free if you buy me a beer."

[ALEXANDER VON DARWIN]

Alexander couldn't say he was exactly thrilled with the idea of buying something cheaper after wearing something this expensive, but he knew better than to live outside of his means. Nodding at Cayden's words, he was going to push his pride aside and just buy something less suited when his friend turned his attention to the clerk who was now frowning at them and shifting on his feet uncomfortably.

He stood back and watched as Cayden charmed the man with smiles and well phrased manipulation. He'd never seen him so something quite so sinister and to be honest it kind of turned him on a bit. Smiling to himself, Alex watched as the man agreed to sell them half off. That was a huge chump of galleons to take off the asking price, but the man seemed to realize that what Cayden said was true. No one would buy the suits otherwise and with them telling everyone about the shop he was bound to get his money back in no time.

When Cayden returned to his side Alex smirked at him for a moment. "Nice work, Stebbins." He murmured under his breath. He turned to face the mirror, smoothing back his dark hair so that he looked a bit more sophisticated. He was all smiles until his friend volunteered to buy his suit for him.

"I couldn't let you do that..." He paused and thought about the money he had in his possession. Even if the man took off half the price he still wouldn't be able to afford the suits. Perhaps he should let Cayden buy them for him. He could afford drinks if nothing else. But he hated owing people. Well, perhaps now was time to toss his pride aside.

"But if you are really fine with that I guess you can. I'll owe you a butterbeer a week to make up for this you know."