A group of friends streams their gaming on Wednesday nights. But not all the action is on the dining room table.

-==-

Chapter 26 -- Skimpies

Eight minutes and forty-three seconds later, the bathroom door opened, and like a flash, I was there waiting to get in. I'd have pushed past him, but something about seeing him there almost naked and still dripping made me stop in my tracks.

Brian jumped a little when he found me standing outside the door waiting for him but was in no hurry to step through. "Need in?" He asked, giving me a toothy grin.

"I'm stinky, and I need to pee," I complained, grimacing a bit at how whiny I sounded, even to myself.

"Oh?" He stepped out the door, but rather than stepping aside to let me through, he brought his hands up to my shoulders and leaned forward, sniffing my hair. "You don't smell stinky to me."

"I..." I swallowed hard, feeling my heart thump out a tango in my chest as the steam from the bathroom and Brian's still-damp body, only covered by a short towel around his waist, began to soak through my robe. "I need to pee."

"Mmm," he rumbled, still so close to my ear I could feel each breath tickling the lobe. When he did back off, there was still a bit of a grin on his face, but also an intense look that quickened the pace of the tango still beating in my heart. "Bad?"

"Yeah?" I said meekly, though in that moment, my bladder seemed far less important.

"...Okay."

I almost fell down when he finally let me go, though when I'd stopped supporting myself and started to rely on his hands to hold me up, I had no idea.

The spell seemingly broken, my bladder's needs came back full force, and I almost whimpered as I ducked around him and into the bathroom, barely getting the door closed before I disrobed, unsnapped the crotch of the body suit, and got my panties down far enough to collapse on the toilet.

What the hell just happened?

I brought a hand to my chest to cover my still dancing heart, but in the process encountered not only the now-expected obstruction of my boob but the less-expected one of a very hard point on the tip of it.

I dropped my hand again and blushed. Nope: not thinkin' about that right now.

The most urgent part of my business done, I stripped down for my much-needed shower. Once it was off, I gave the body suit a careful sniff and determined that it would be fine for another day, which was good since the other one definitely needed washed, and I didn't want to tempt the fates by finding out what Aunt Cici's 'special' one involved just yet.

Laying the bodysuit on the counter also reminded me that in my rush to get to the bathroom, I'd left my clean lingerie laying on the bed. I considered opening the door and asking Brian to bring it to me, but something about standing in the bathroom naked while asking him to fetch what I had to admit was pretty sexy skimpies for me seemed a bridge further than I was willing to go at the moment.

"Shower," I reminded myself. "Clean first, anxiety attack after."

I was tying my robe and wondering what I would do to get Brian out of the room so I could put on my underwear when a knock on the bathroom door made me jump.

"Ack!"

"Sorry. Hey, I'm gonna go down to the restaurant and grab a biscuit or something for breakfast. You want anything?"

I almost said, "No," but the rumble from my briefly unrestricted tummy made me think twice. "Yeah, sure. A fruit bowl or something?"

"Coming right up! Be, I dunno, twenty minutes?"

"'Kay, I'll probably be in the common room when you get back."

"Rodger dodger, I'll grab something for Maria and Cici, too, then."

I waited until I heard the room door click closed behind him before I breathed a sigh of relief and unlocked the bathroom door.

I put my fancy lingerie on as quickly as possible, followed by the bodysuit, and made sure not to look in the mirror as I did so. With my robe tossed on over the top, I took a deep breath and opened the door to the common room.

Aunt Cici immediately stopped working on what looked to me like a suit of chain mail and came over to hug me. "She is back! Are you ready to put on your dress?"

"As ready as I can be?" I said, toying with the tie on my robe but not undoing it. "Can I take it to my room?"

"Nonsense! It is just us girls here, and I have seen you undressed many times."

"Me too," Maria agreed, sipping what I expected was at least her third cup of coffee for the morning, given how bright her eyes were. "And I wanna see you in that fancy set of Vicky's rags we picked up."

"Vicky's?" Aunt Cici asked, then nodded. "Ah, yes. Do let us see, mija."

I thought about protesting more, but the truth of it was that they were right. I'd managed to get away without modeling any of our purchases when Maria and I had gone underwear shopping earlier in the week, but even then, she'd promised me I wouldn't get away with that forever.

With a sigh, I stopped fiddling with the tie on my robe and pulled the knot loose.

"Oh, mija...."

-==-

*knockknockknock*

"You decent in there?" Brian asked, cracking the connecting door between the common room and our room.

"No!" I hollered, causing Aunt Cici and Maria to giggle.

"Well, now I definitely wanna come in," Brian said, also laughing.

"Of course, she is decent! Get in here, pallaso."

"Too bad," Brian said, pushing the door open with his elbow. "I've got some breakfast stuff, didn't know if y'all had already eaten, so just brought some things off the continental table." He hefted two plates in his hands, one full of pastries and the other covered in mixed fruit. "I was gonna bring some drinks but didn't have an extra set of arms to -- wow." The last was said as he stopped and stared at me.

I blushed.

Truth was, I had been staring at myself in the mirror on the end of one of Aunt Cici's garment racks the entire time she'd been working, trying to figure out just when I had stopped looking like me and started looking like... that.

The dress had long sleeves and a high collar, with a stiffened spray of lace that came up far enough that it almost touched my ears. I'd thought I had all my accessories already, but when I'd mentioned grabbing them, Aunt Cici had shaken her head and pulled a box out of the same garment bag she'd had the dress stored in.

Inside the box had been a golden chain diadem with a crystal in the middle of it and a matching anklet that I wouldn't have thought would ever show below the hem of the dress, since it brushed the floor, but with how light and fluttery the whole thing was it seemed to constantly be catching the light, drawing attention to the ballet shoes she'd given me to wear.

"Boots would be more traditional," she had told me as I'd given the shoes an untrusting look, "but this dress is already an anachronism, and these will be more comfortable walking around the convention hall and on the stage."

"My boots yesterday were fine," I'd argued, but she shook her head.

"Trust me, mija."

Lord help me, I did.

With the dress, jewelry, and shoes in place, I looked like something half-way between a Tolkien elf and an advertisement for David's Bridal, and that absolutely terrified me.

"Do I look too ridiculous?" I asked Brian, watching him set the trays down on the counter without ever taking his eyes off me.

"No," said Aunt Cici, working to secure the last few stitches at my lower back to literally sew me into the dress.

"No," said Maria, grabbing my chin and holding it still while she worked applying gold and silver eyeshadow despite my protests I could do my own makeup.

"No," said Brian, walking toward me and only stopping when his choices were to do so or step on Maria. "You look...."

"Like an angel," Aunt Cici said, completing Brian's sentence for him while he continued to stare at me with a goofy grin. "And there is only one thing left to add."

"What's that?" I asked, finding myself smiling back at Brian despite my embarrassment.

"The wedding rings."

"Right, the -- wait. What?!"

I could practically hear the record scratch as both Brian, and I turned to look at Aunt Cici, Maria cursing and throwing her hands in the air when I pulled my face free of her hands.

"Yes!" Aunt Cici crowed, lifting a small box from her tool chest. "Maria told me last night that you were having trouble with the men at the convention and said you asked about wedding rings to help. I was planning to make these a gift when your characters got married in the game--"

"When?" I interrupted, giving Maria and Brian a panicked look.

"--but it seems you need them now," Aunt Cici continued, opening the box reverentially then turning it so that Brian and I could see the contents.

"Wow," I said, echoing Brian's earlier comment, while he nodded in agreement.

-==-

NOTES:

All comments and kudos appreciated!