A Shopping Center, Portland, Maine, Wednesday Afternoon

[spin_kick_snap]

After getting out of work in mid-afternoon, Kathy caught a portal up to Portland for the evening. A random text conversation about her wardrobe had led to Ezra pointing out that he was the best shopping partner ever. Considering his fashion sense--especially compared to the fashion senses of damn near everyone else she was friends with--she couldn't really argue with that, so they'd agreed to meet up in Portland for a bit of an impromptu shopping adventure.

Kathy hadn't expected the address he'd given her to be a small huddle of exclusive boutiques and restaurants in the downtown, but knowing Ez, she really probably should have.

"It's a good thing I pay off my credit card every month," Kathy said, looking at the price tag on an elegant sweater that would look amazing on Dante if she could ever convince him to wear such a thing. "I have a feeling I'm going to need every cent of it to afford a spree in this place."

[NFB and for the guy mentioned!]

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[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy was only really getting to the point where she wanted to go out more often. She'd needed the safety and peace of home to rebuild herself from the shattered pieces of January.

Now, she wasn't perfect but she was better and she was starting to stretch her wings again.

"Let me at least try it on first," Kathy said. She looked at the price tag and sighed, but laid it over her arm anyway, along with a similar one in cobalt blue with silver threading and forest green and copper, though they each had different cuts and necklines. "No point in worrying about where I'll wear it if it looks stupid, right?"

[smilestopscars]

"It's not going to look stupid."

Of this, he was sure. One hundred percent.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy's own certainty hovered somewhere around eighty percent on a great day and sixty-five percent on an average one, so she was still looking for a changing room. They were away in the back, three individual changing that opened into a small waiting area for people who weren't trying on clothes. The waiting area had a couch and a three-way mirror and the changing rooms were closed off only by a thick curtain. Kathy stopped when she saw them, biting her lip and glancing from the changing room to Ez and back.

And blushed. Because if things were even just a little bit different between them, she wouldn't have been able to resist the mix of privacy and daring that those changing rooms represented.

"I should--" She paused and coughed, then continued in a slightly more normal tone. "Just gonna try these on, yeah."

[smilestopscars]

Ezra looked towards the changing rooms for just a little too long. Maybe there was some manner of longing to it, if you looked at it right? It was his version of her blushing cheeks.

Then he looked at her, and nodded. "I'll be waiting."

At least the couch looked comfortable.

[spin_kick_snap]

One day she held out hope that she, too, would be harder to read. One day.

For now, she had to live with almost every damn emotion crossing over her face and offering a helpful handbook to whatever she was thinking at that moment to anyone who cared to look.

She didn't bother answering, just stepped over to a changing stall. Another mirror hung directly in front of her when she stepped in, which Kathy was considering a personal insult and then she was closing the curtain firmly, making sure it didn't gap open by accident.

Or even by 'accident.'

And then if she took a few seconds to rest against the wall, breathe, and tell herself to chill, that was between her and her god. By the time she opened the curtain again, dress on and snug in the bodice, flaring at her hips in clean lines to her thighs, she appeared at least a little calmer. "Does it look weird showing my tattoo?" she asked, gesturing to the circle of stark black and red ink on her right shoulder.

[smilestopscars]

At least the couch was comfortable.

Because that's where he was while she was getting changed (and whatever else she was doing). Just sitting. Not even looking at himself in the mirror for more than a second or two.

And then she was there again. "Not in the slightest," he said, and added an approving nod for emphasis. "It looks fantastic. Very flattering."

[spin_kick_snap]

"You think so?" Kathy asked, turning to look at herself in the mirror. She couldn't help but give a little twirl, appreciating the way the skirt flared and fluttered. "...I really like this dress."

She liked the other two, too, but something about this one--either the color or the cut or something--really grabbed at her.

"You think I should get it?"

[smilestopscars]

Ezra nodded again.

He also rose from the couch, like perhaps he'd get a better look that way. Or a fuller one. Something.

Look, he was just trying to appreciate her from a vaguely objective kind of aesthetic standpoint, or something, and not to think about the fact that she'd been wearing far less so near his presence just a minute ago.

"I do. I'm sure you can figure out the occasions to wear it, dumpling."

[spin_kick_snap]

And considering there were no straps marring the smooth skin of her shoulders, she was still wearing considerably less than she'd been before as well.

"Probably look better with proper heels, rather than snow boots," she added with a laugh, twisting her hair up just to see how the neckline looked with a slightly more formal hairstyle. "Yeah. I'm thinking you're right."

[smilestopscars]

Of course Ezra had noticed the lack of straps. Of course. It was one of the things he wasn't thinking about, even if he stepped a step or two closer.

And he scoffed. "Of course I'm right. My taste is impeccable."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I apologize for doubting your taste for even a moment," Kathy told him, eyes steady on his reflection in the mirror. "However can I--"

No that was a question that she shouldn't ask. Because there was no way she could keep it light and droll and amused.

"--Prove that I trust your impeccable taste?" There was no way she could pretend that was what she'd been going to say all along and she wasn't even going to try.

[smilestopscars]

Yeah.

Ezra's face twitched.

But he recovered admirably. While thinking that perhaps shopping had been a mistake. "By simply trusting next time I say something will be great," he said. And flicked an imaginary speck of dust off her shoulder. Or perhaps it was an imaginary hair. Who could tell? "I know these things."

[spin_kick_snap]

The touch of his fingers on her bare skin was electric. Kathy's hands did a bit of twitching of their own, interested in returning the favor. She couldn't help the goosebumps though, pricking up at his touch and racing down her arms.

"You should pick something out for me," she said quietly, turning to actually look at him and not his reflection. "Something you don't think I'd normally go for but that you think would suit. You pick it and I'll buy it."

[smilestopscars]

... Well, that was far more attractive than it had any right to be. A shiver down his spine kind of attractive.

"But of course, darling," he said, his voice low. No reason. Just because it matched her quiet tone from just now! He nodded. "I think I know exactly what to look for, too."

[spin_kick_snap]

Still more of that steady eye contact; not at all a challenge, but a far cry from the girl who got flustered if she looked him in the eyes for too long. "Should if I try it on first, or am I buying it sight unseen?" she asked him, not doubting that he'd get the sizing right, too.

Even if it had been years since Ezra had gotten his hands on her body, she figured he knew well enough how to size a woman by eye-sight alone.

[smilestopscars]

That was the kind of skill that came in part with a habit of stealing things not just for himself but for others as well.

Still, he shrugged. He kept looking at her. "Your choice."

[spin_kick_snap]

"What's the point of picking something out for me and then not getting to see my reaction to it?" she asked, sliding past him to take a seat on the couch.

Oh. Oh it was comfortable. Hnngh. Stupid couch.

"Bring it back here and I'll try it on."

[smilestopscars]

Ezra didn't answer. He gave hern exaggerated bow, and slipped away into the store proper.

He wasn't gone for too long. He had a clear vision, so all it took was actually finding something that fit what he was after. And once he did, he checked out a couple of options but no, there was a clear winner.

He came back with a much pricier than this link black jumpsuit folded over one arm. Not that it was easy to tell what it was. It was meant to be form-hugging, so it looked a little shapeless, just hanging there. But he'd seen it on one of the mannequins, and it seemed like something that'd look amazing on her, and like something she wouldn't maybe pick for herself. A clingy, sleek thing with a black bottom half and a sleeveless mesh upper body with a plunging V neck and embroidered flowers over the breasts.

Yes, he figured she'd look sensational.

He also figured this was a spectacularly bad move on his part.

But he held it out for her all the same. "Here we go, dumpling."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy's expression went on a journey of emotions as she saw what he was offering her. At first, it seemed like it was just a shapeless bit of fabric and she was entirely uncertain of why he'd choose it. And then he held it out and it all became clear--that wasn't a neckline so much as a neck chasm, plunging all the way down to the waistline. Which was high for a waist, but not high enough to do anything but show off a generous portion of each breast.

Her face slid from dubious to questioning to resolved as she reached out for it, surprised by the weight of the jumpsuit when it was finally in her hand. There was some structure to it after all, apparently. And then with one last lingering look at Ez, she went back into the changing room to try it on.

"...Holy shit," came her eventual response, floating out over the modesty curtain.

[smilestopscars]

Ezra wanted to see.

Ezra didn't want to see.

He settled on sing-songing, "I'm always riii-ight, darling."

[spin_kick_snap]

Well, he was going to see if whether he wanted to or not. There was the telltale shutterclick of a selfie being taken and then the curtain started to rattle as Kathy pushed it aside. She probably should have tried for some kind of vamp pose, but she was still a little too shell-shocked to think of that.

"I, umm, I. Wow, okay."

[smilestopscars]

Ezra tried to brace himself.

It didn't really work. He didn't need her to pose. Judging by the way his gaze traveled up her body slowly like he was eating her up with his eyes alone, just her body in the jumpsuit was enough. The way it clung to her thighs, her hips, her sides; the way it split her chest into three sections, two covered and one deliciously not...

For a while, he wasn't actually hiding what he was thinking about her, right at that moment. He was just glad his body wasn't reacting too obviously. (But let it still be known that he did feel some small bit of something in his nether regions. But how could he not?)

He tried to wipe that off his face once his gaze finally slid up to hers. "Told you."

[spin_kick_snap]

It gave her almost enough time to throttle down a desire to just grab him and drag him back into the dressing room with her, which was appreciated. She wanted his tongue to follow a path up that bare patch of skin on her chest and then his teeth to sink down onto her shoulder in a bite that walked the line of almost too painful--

When he finally looked up at her and her her eyes, he'd find her gaze hot. Open. Hungry. She held them for a long second as he spoke.

And then she closed them, let out a deep breath, and when they opened again, she was able to feign casual, at least. "So you did," she said, gaze skittering to the mirror rather than make contact with him again. She walked over to it, once again checking the outfit from every angle--including, yeah, a quick peek at how it clung to her ass.

"I really should stop doubting."

[smilestopscars]

Well that look was simply unfair. Ezra hadn't seen that kind of look from her since... well, in a long while, and it did things to him that he really wished it hadn't because he knew he couldn't do anything about them.

He inhaled deep through his nose, quietly, as he watched her take herself in from all angles.

"Yes, you should."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I kinda thought I wouldn't be busty enough to fill this out," she said, mostly to herself while giving her chest a critical glance in the mirror. "But if I were built more like Isabela, I don't think this top would even be able to stay on."

And then she did post. Not for Ezra even, but just because--damn. She did look really good in this.

"I'm sorry I doubted you," she said and that was towards him.