ax_main | Vex and Shinobi | Backdated to May 18

Vex and Shinobi do a bit of shopping during their weekend in the Hamptons. As one might expect, it becomes something of an adventure in sartorial daring.

An afternoon rain shower was a good excuse to find an indoor activity after lunch. With an ostentation of peacocks present it was no wonder they ended up doing some light shopping.

Vex eyed the shirt that Shinobi was holding. “Is there a color or pattern you aren’t willing to wear?”

The shirt--an eye-jarring riot of light pastel color--was but one of many he'd selected for the purposes of modeling for the group, all of them very colorful and most exorbitantly expensive. Shinobi appeared to give her question serious consideration before offering a playful, "Well, I have my reservations about plaid. But I'll try anything once, honestly."

Vex’s lips quirked. “I feel like that’s a good catchphrase for you.”

His nose wrinkled as he picked yet another colorful shirt from the assortment on display. "Perhaps, if it weren't such a tired one," he said. "Though I suppose I'm one of the small handful who can actually say something as outrageous as that, and actually mean it."

Vex stroked her fingers along his back as she passed to another rack of shirt. “Yes, dear.”

He shot her a look, his mouth twisting up as though he were trying to be annoyed, but was mostly just amused. "Are you making fun of me?"

“Teasing, but not poking fun,” she clarified. “I appreciate your willingness to try anything. It’s done well for me.”

"As much as I could hope," he conceded, following after her and browsing through the next rack of colorful sartorial offerings. One brow rose as he glanced in Vex's direction again. "Are you not trying anything today, darling?" By this point, he hoped she was aware that money was no object, where her whims were concerned. And if their present environs didn't spark her interest, there were certainly other boutiques they could browse.

Vex smiled and leaned closer. "It's all a bit pastel for me," she said, quiet enough not to insult the employees working.

"I think there's a lingerie shop just a few doors down," he suggested archly, unceremoniously hanging the shirts he'd gathered thus far on the nearest available rack. "That might be more stimulating than colorful shirts and sensible trousers."

Her smiled deepened at that. "I'll model if you will." Her gaze flickered over Shinobi's body. "You would look fantastic in lace."

"I look fantastic in everything," Shinobi preened. "But I insist on modeling first," he added, taking her hand and leading her toward the exit. "You deserve a bit of a show for coming out today."

"We're going to get kicked out of this fine establishment," Vex said quietly, deeply amused.

"Probably," he agreed with a grin that more than a touch wicked. "But how else will we know if we're doing it right?"

Vex squeezed his hand, letting that connection pull her closer so that their shoulders brushed as they walked. She wasn't opposed to a spot of mischief. At least with Shinobi she wasn't very worried about getting arrested for their actions.

The looks that they garnered as they walked-slash-cuddled the few dozen feet between one boutique and the next weren't lost on Shinobi--indeed, he relished the attention, as always. It was only in deference to Vex's ... temperate enthusiasm when it came to being a media spectacle that he refrained from throwing an arm around her shoulders. That, and he was fairly certain she would immediately jab him in the ribs with something uncomfortably pointy, if he went and got too overtly affectionate. It wouldn't necessarily actually hurt, given his advantages. But there was no reason to annoy her simply because he loved to bask in the spotlight. Between Vex and whoring it up for the public eye, he would choose the former every time. More familiar though he might have been with the latter.

As they stepped into the shop, tastefully advertising "intimate apparel" in lieu of anything more accurate or potentially scandalous, Shinobi grinned at the racks of lacy, ephemeral garments--and the decidedly adult toys surreptitiously ranked in one corner of the far wall. "Is it everything you hoped it would be?" he inquired lightly.

Vex’s eyes skimmed, slowly briefly over that back corner. “Oh. And more. There’s an interesting idea.” She looked back to the apparel and then turned to Shinobi. Vex reached to brush her fingertips along his jaw. “Can we lace you into something?”

"If you promise to do the lacing personally," he purred, "you can put me in the laciest thing you can find. I do like to look pretty. Especially when the company is worth impressing."

Vex smiled again. “You’re beautiful. Okay, let’s dress you up.”

"Let's," Shinobi agreed, already making a beeline for one of the unoccupied changing rooms, loosing buttons as he went. "Find me something gorgeous, darling. I'm counting on you!"

Vex appreciated that the staff looked more amused than judgmental. Maybe they wouldn’t get thrown out after all.

She dared to ask for advice on sizes before finally slipping into the changing room with a few items on silk hangers. She hung them up before lifting up a measuring tape. “I don’t suppose you already know what size you might wear in a corset,” Vex asked with amusement.

"Of course I do," he smirked, shirtless in the dressing room. But he held up his arms, presenting his chest in invitation. "But I'd much prefer we do it this way. Besides, I might have filled out, since last I was measured."

Vex chuckled and went to wrap the measuring tape around him. She pressed a kiss to the back of his shoulder as she circled him. “How did it feel trying to fit your wardrobe into our small dorm rooms?”

"Miserable, in point of fact," Shinobi laughed, shivering slightly as the tape wrapped around his slender frame. "Not as awful for me as for Nolan, I'm sure, but definitely not a pleasant experience. And most of my wardrobe is still scattered across three continents. But I'm doing my best to make do." He switched to French suddenly, "And you? How did it feel trying to fit your incredible personality into our small dorm rooms?"

“Hold still,” Vex responded in French. Practicing with Shinobi helped her vocabulary immensely. She still stumbled, but she was leagues further along than she would be without the extra practice. Vex pressed another kiss directly between his shoulder blades. He considered how to say it before adding, “It’s different than what we had before.”

"Sou ka," Shinobi murmured, doing his best to remains stationary. He did, however, chance a glance over his bare shoulder. "Different better? Or different worse? I hope it's the former--I can be much more charming, if not. But I will say you've made my life vastly more interesting while scarcely having to lift a finger. I'm deeply in your debt, mon amour."

Vex wound her way back in front of him. “The strangest part is I can tell you’re being honest,” she said. “Different better. Mostly.” It difficult enough to describe in English what she meant, so she didn’t bother translating again. “Before living with my father I had more freedom, more love. But less safety, if I’m honest. Syldor... well, he was a bit like this. All the discretion money can buy. School is a middle ground. A safe place. And those are important.” She leaned to brush a kiss against Shinobi’s cheek “But people are more important than places.”

"Depends on the people, I suppose," he mused, eyes slitted with unhidden pleasure in those small, light kisses. "Or the places. But I certainly wouldn't claim to be an expert. Still, I'm glad you've found a place of safety; I doubt Syldor is half as bad as Sebastian, but he does strike me as the sort of person whose company is more enjoyable in its absence." Shinobi leaned forward suddenly, mindful not to jar her work thus far out of place, and planted a small kiss of his own on the side of Vex's jaw.

She had, to that point, declined to volunteer any information at all about her other parent. And though he knew it was, at the very least, a grave indiscretion, Shinobi decided in that moment to stop waiting for her to bring it up and broach the subject himself. Still, his voice was gentle as he asked, "And your mother? You never speak of her."

Vex looked surprised for an instant. “Oh. I guess I don’t as much… she was absolutely incredible. We lost her a while ago and that’s really when everything changed.” Vex marked her thumb against the edge of the measuring tape so that she could let it drop. “How about your mother?” Vex asked softly.

"Also gone. Just a few months before Sebastian shipped me off to Tokyo." Shinobi's expression was not even remotely difficult to read, in that moment: it was sad, mournful, even, as though trying to escape his grief through hedonism and a refusal to treat life as anything other than a great, clumsy irony made the grief new again, on those rare occasions he touched on it again. "She was ... very kind. Doting, I suppose. I miss her."

“Life doesn’t choose fairly.” Vex leaned in against him. “I remind myself constantly that there are so many people I wouldn’t have met if our mother was still here. And I worry… but it’s not enough to stop me from wishing. We had so little, but we were so happy when we were kids. Anything is possible as long as someone loves you.”

"It's a very sweet thought," Shinobi acknowledged, leaning into her, too. "There was a time when I didn't believe in sweet thoughts--little lies, I used to tell myself, to make an unpleasant reality vaguely palatable. But you make me want to believe there might be something more to them. Something real behind them. It's ... altogether a fascinating new experience, I have to say. Thank you."

Vex kissed the tip of his nose. “I’m trying very hard to be more jaded, but it doesn’t always stick.”

"Perhaps we should start having lessons in Disaffected Teenager as well as French," he suggested, taking a moment to admire the fit of what Vex had chosen for him so far. "I'm something of an expert, you know."

“I’ve noticed,” she said with a chuckle. Vex held up the measuring tape. “This look about right? I’m very serious about getting you into a corset now.”

Shinobi wrinkled his nose. "I've either put on weight, or undergone another growth spurt. But the number seems plausible, if not as flattering as the last time I was measured." He cocked his head, grinning. "And as for the corset, I'm very serious about letting you. The tighter and skimpier, the more fantastic I'll look."

“I appreciate the shape of you now.” Vex gave him a light slap on the ass. “Let me grab the finishing touches and then we’ll dress you up.”

"Fair warning," he called after her, "you've opened the door to casual spanking. I will not be held responsible for my subsequent actions!"

The person that was waiting to help her with corsets didn’t bother hiding their smirk at Shinobi’s trailing voice. “You really can’t take him anywhere,” Vex said in her most out upon tone. She held out the measuring tape. “So that red and black corset...”

"Do they have anything in blue and black?" Shinobi called from the changing room. "I mean, red is fantastic, but I'm stunning in blue!"

Vex shook her head and laughed. “And that as well.”

From the dressing room came an enthusiastic, "Thank you!"

“He’s impossible to take anywhere,” Vex said sotto voce.