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Gilda jumps in surprise at the loud noise of the bedroom door slamming. Looking over, she sees Don making a series of weird expressions. Before she could even get a word in, he interrupts her.
“Uhm...okay. So...I saw something really weird,” he says in a strangled voice.
Gilda raises a brow at him. Don had always been dramatic, so this wasn’t technically out of the ordinary. Though she would be lying if she said that she wasn’t the slightest bit amused and curious.
“Want to talk about it?” Gilda asks, closing her book that she was no longer in the mood to read. Placing it on the nightstand beside their bed, she pats the spot beside her gesturing Don to come to join her.
Don mindlessly walks over and flops onto the spot. He opens and closes his mouth, in an effort to say something. After a couple of seconds, Gilda sighs.
“What happened?” she prompts. Don snaps his head towards her, eyes wide.
“I–uhh...I think–no! Okay, so Nigel, Hayato and I were hanging out in the living room. You know...just chatting. No biggie, whatever,” Don starts, waving his hands.
Gilda looks at him intently. Now, don’t get her wrong. She’s usually not one for gossip, though after living in the human world for several years, getting cripplingly addicted to reality television and having gone through puberty, things change.
Don lets out another strangled noise. “And uh–I...well I asked, what are their plans for this weekend. So...Nigel goes over to grab his phone that was on the coffee table–don’t ask,” he says abruptly, interrupting Gilda when she opened her mouth to say something. “And since he was in my immediate vision, I–I...I...oh my god…”
Gilda frowns. “What? What was it?”
Don physically shudders as he rubs his face in what appeared to be a mix of embarrassment and shame – only making her more intrigued. “I...I ugh I can’t believe I’m going to say this,” he groans.
“Just tell me,” Gilda says in exasperation. What could be so shameful about Nigel anyway?
“Okay–just…he was wearing... women’s underwear, ” Don says as though it was a conspiracy. Truth be told, even she was intrigued.
Gilda’s eyes widen in surprise. “Oh,” she lets out softly. “That’s...uhm…”
“Weird? Unusual?” Don offers. “Not something a man generally does on a daily basis?” His voice reaches a higher pitch towards the end.
Gilda blinks and bites her lip. “ O–okay , firstly, I’d like to know how did you know they were women’s underwear,” she asks awkwardly. “Are you sure you just didn’t make a mistake?”
Don gives her a look. “You seriously think Nigel would own a pair of pink lacy underwear?”
Gilda lets out a small noise of amusement. “Wow, you must’ve stared at them for a while in order to know what kind of fabric they are,” she jokes teasingly. Don’s face turns red as a tomato as he sputters. “Also whatever undergarments Nigel wears is none of our business. In the world of fashion, there are plenty of men’s underwear brands that have that sort of product line. It’s not uncommon.”
Don looks at her in disbelief. “There’s such a thing?” he asks incredulously.
Gilda rolls her eyes as she picks up her book to resume where she left off. “Of course. All of the magazines we had back at Gracefield’s were so outdated. Maybe Nigel just wanted to try something different and trending. Something you could do well with, to be honest,” she teases again, this time winking at her boyfriend.
“ Excuse you , there is nothing wrong with the underwear I’m wearing. Besides, it’s not like anyone is going to see apart from me or you,” Don defends.
“Well, it would be nice to see something other than the same off-white briefs when we’re getting in the mood,” Gilda states bluntly.
Don blushes in embarrassment. “Okay, I’ll lose the white briefs. But you’ve got to admit, a guy wearing pink, pink lacey underwear is at least a little bit...weird...right?” he asks, trying to fish for validation.
Gilda didn’t know how to respond to that. With an interest in fashion – where conventional perspectives on garments based on gender norms are actively broken and innovated – males wear lacey underwear are really not that unusual. Now, try to convince a human raised in the human world since birth that there actually is another world that exists only containing demons that feed off humans, then you have unusual. Pinky lacy underwear on the other hand is, in fact, perfectly harmless.
“If you’re trying to imply that it’s emasculating then I expected better of you,” Gilda stresses with a firm tone. Don shakes his head in panic, waving his hands in the same fashion.
“No, no, no. I mean...well…” Don trails off under her stern gaze. “I don’t think Nigel is less of a man because he wears pink underwear. I just...thought...why?”
“Why don’t you ask him?”
There’s no way he could ask that question. Nigel is going to think he’s the biggest weirdo.
Don shoves another pitiful spoon of cereal into his mouth.
“Why so glum chum?”
He looks to the side meeting Norman and Ray, both with their own steaming cups of coffee. Don realizes that it was Norman that asked him the question. “Ah, sorry. Didn’t mean to bring the morning cheer down,” he brushes off with a chuckle.
Ray looks at him. “What’s on your mind? You look like something is bothering you.”
Norman looks concerned. “Don, is everything alright?”
Before Don could even think, he blurts out exactly what’s on his mind. “Have any of you ever worn women’s underwear?”
A pause.
Oh shit. That is not how he wanted this morning to go.
Don starts sweating as he tries to think up a way to change the subject.
“Yeah.”
“Yes.”
Don blinks. “What?”
Ray shrugs nonchalantly. “We made a bet with Emma once and we lost. So we had to wear her underwear for a day,” he says, taking a sip of his coffee as though it wasn’t a big deal. Norman just nodded in agreement with a small smile and faint blush on his cheeks.
Don pinches the bridge of his nose, trying to process the information. “Hold up. I’m trying to figure out what’s more surprising. You both wearing Emma’s underwear or the fact that you lost a bet to her. I thought you guys were like geniuses or something?”
“Just because we’re smart doesn’t mean we can win a bet determined by chance,” Norman replies. “Anyway, back to the topic at hand. Why were you interested in whether or not we have worn women’s underwear?”
His tone was completely void of judgement and only amusement. Don didn’t want to explain himself but it would cause even more unwanted suspicion if he refused to say why he was curious. So Don told them.
Ray let out a hum. “Maybe he lost a bet too.”
“That is likely. Gillian and Nigel do tend to fool around a lot,” Norman adds thoughtfully.
Don lets out a sigh of relief, his shoulders sagging heavily. “Oh thank god. I didn’t think about that. You guys might be right. It’s probably not a regular thing,” he says.
“Why, is it bad if he does wear women’s underwear on the daily?” Ray asks. Don freezes.
“ No of course not! I just–just…” he struggles. Norman and Ray raise their brows questioningly. Don lets out a groan of frustration. “Okay look. I’m going to be real with you guys. I’ve looked at dirty magazines and I’ve seen my handful of women’s underwear.”
“Didn’t need to know that but sure,” Ray murmurs, causing Norman to elbow him in the side.
Don ignores him. “In comparison to men’s underwear, it looks so uncomfortable...you know?” he wheezes.
Norman purses his lips. “How do you know that?”
Don’s brain short circuits.
“What?”
“How do you know it’s uncomfortable?” Norman repeats gently.
“W–what, Norman! There is way less fabric for one and why would you want a string up your ass?” Don whispers the last part in case one of the younger kids comes bursting into the dining room.
Ray lets out a snort. “You know there are other kinds of women’s underwear beside a G-string.”
Don pouts at him. The other guy is clearly enjoying this way too much. “C’mon Ray. Even you have to admit that it looks uncomfortable.”
“Hmm, no I’d say I’m pretty comfortable right now,” Ray says, shifting to cross his legs. Don blushes a bright red.
“Excuse me?” he sputters.
Did he hear that right?
Had he gone deaf?
The sound of chairs grazing against the wooden floor snaps Don out of his thoughts. He looks up to see Ray and Norman standing up with their cups, ready to leave the table. “Anyway, got to get to classes. See you later Don,” Ray says, sipping the last of his coffee before heading to the kitchen.
Norman places a hand on his shoulder, patting his gently. “Don’t hate it until you try it,” he says with a grin.
Don lets his jaw drop.
Gilda stares at the sight in front of her.
“Oh, hey babe,” Don greets awkwardly.
She stays put, looking at her boyfriend in surprise as he stands in the middle of their bedroom...in red lacey underwear.
“I–uh...I can...explain…” Don mutters. Gilda notices his wet hair and the presumably damp towel sitting on top of their bed. She eyes travel back towards Don’s toned body – his sculpted deltoids, pecs, abdominals and lastly, her favourite, his Adonis belt. Right beneath it is the crimson red underwear, its vibrant colour enrapturing her.
She feels warmth pooling around her lower abdomen.
Don fully faces her in his half-naked glory, failing to cover his discomfort. “You–uh–said that you wanted me to try something uh–different...right?” he chuckles sheepishly.
Gilda flicks the lock on the door. Don’s eyes widen in surprise. She licks her lips before sauntering over to him, unbuttoning her shirt.
“Now, this is what I’m talking about,” Gilda purrs.
Don lets out a squeak right before she pounces on him.