Work Text:
MAITHALL WEEK: DAY 1 "GENDERBEND"
Cover by: @yujian_n on twt
“Come on Damie, it’s just shopping!” A fit of laughter filled the room while a sigh had cut through those laughs. “No, Des. I am not going. Why would I even need these dresses anyway? It’s not like I have an important event to go to soon–” And with that, Damie was quickly interrupted.
“...Well about that–”
“What did you do?”
She crossed her arms with a glare, causing Desiree to scratch the back of her neck with a nervous expression. “So… remember that time you mentioned how you really wanted to see an opera show? Well there is a show that’s going to be held at the Golden Theatre and I thought you would… I don’t know– come with me? You know, since it’s the weekends and you have no classes tomorrow.”
“You bought tickets to the ‘L’Elisir d’Amore’ show?” A blink.
“So that’s what it was called.”
“DESIREE HALL THOSE TICKETS ARE $50 EACH!” Damie ran her fingers through her hair, ready to kill her roommate on the spot. Not that she’d ever have the heart to do it, god knows it’d be more of a hassle than anything. She did appreciate the effort but she can’t accept this! $50 spent on opera tickets for her– does Desiree even like opera?!
“The ones I bought were like $450–”
“WHAT?!”
The ride to the mall was silent, both because Desiree was afraid of Damie and because Damie was contemplating whether she should’ve just asked Desiree to go refund the tickets. She hated accepting gifts from others, it always felt… wrong for her to accept these things. Deep down, she truly is grateful that Desiree thought of her so much, it gave her a sense of joy that she didn’t know was even possible for her to feel. Though even so, she cannot take money from someone else like that, it’s just not fair.
“...I’m sorry–”
“I’m sorry–”
The two of them looked at each other with confusion, only for Desiree to break the silence first by bursting out laughing while Damie’s face flushed red from embarrassment. “Pfft– haha! Guess we were thinking of the same thing again, hm?” This only earned a nudge from Damie followed by a couple of muttered curse words which only made the other laugh a little harder.
Damie side-eyed Desiree, sure she just got embarrassed… but she was not about to let her be alone on this. So instead, she placed a hand on the other’s thigh, slowly moving up to her inner thigh. Desiree who was laughing a couple of seconds ago now had her fists clenched against the steering wheel with her eyes wide open.
“If you’ll stop laughing at me today I’ll give you a treat tonight, deal?”
She has never shut up and nodded so quickly.
The two of them strolled through the mall, stopping by a couple of stores and finding no luck in a perfect outfit– well that’s what Desiree said at least. She never imagined that she would be someone who’s picky with her dresses, though perhaps that’s why her outfits are always so… in character. It was hard to put into words but Desiree just has an aura to her that she brings everywhere. It’s quite attractive.
“You’re staring, Damie.” Plush lips curled upwards and she swore her heart fluttered.
“...You’re an idiot.” With that, she clutched Desiree’s hand, quickly dragging her alongside her instead of giving a rebuttal. This was too romantic, too intimate, this is something couples do. Is it? It’s not like she ever had a proper relationship to judge objectively but she’s seen enough to make her own conclusions.
Then, she stopped. A particular store caught her eye, a large store that had many beautiful gowns. They looked a lot like those prom dresses the girls would buy in highschool. She never really had a chance to go to prom so admittedly, she never had a chance to wear them. However, she realized the appeal. Those dresses were incredible.
Desiree followed her gaze, analyzing what had caught her eye. Though when she realized what it was, her eyebrows raised in amusement.
“Go pick one that you want– or 3, I don’t care.” To this, Damie turned her head in disbelief. “I– I don’t need 3! We can go find something cheaper anyways, these dresses look expensive–”
“Damie–”
“I mean come on! I don’t need those dresses–”
“Damie…”
“I probably would only wear them once and never again–”
“ Damie .”
“I am sure that I can make an outfit at home just fine–”
“Damie!”
The blonde stopped her ramblings, slightly in shock from Desiree pulling her out of her trance. Then, almost immediately, she brought her head down.
“...Sorry. I- I didn’t mean to ramble, I–” A hand tilted her chin up to face the woman in front of her.
“It’s okay. Just pick what you want, don’t even look at the price tag.” That face of pity turned into a sympathetic smile and Damie felt like she was going to cry in the middle of the mall. Instead, she just nodded and returned the smile.
Desiree brought her hand from her chin down to her hand to interlock their fingers together. “Come on, let’s get you that dress you wanted.” She motioned towards the store, eliciting a chuckle from the blonde.
“Gotcha.”
“Damn it!”
Damie pranced around, seemingly more stressed out than earlier. The brunette stared and watched as her roommate realized something incredibly funny to her. “Why are there so many options?! I can’t choose only one, Des!” Seems that the frustration is one sided because instead of sympathy, she just laughed it off to which Damie sighed in disappointment.
“Just choose which one you think suits you best, sweetheart. I am sure you’ll find it, I am not assisting you with this one.” God that sounded so good coming from her mouth. Not that Damie would ever admit that.
“Tch, you’re so annoying sometimes–”
“Uhm, excuse me ladies…?”
A sound came out from Damie’s left, causing her to nearly jump from shock. “Christ Almighty– sorry, you scared me.” She patted her own chest, realizing it was just one of the staff at the store.
“Really sorry for that, I just happened to notice your confusion and thought I could give you a recommendation for a dress! I happen to also be a junior stylist around here so… I thought I could help you, only if you want to of course!” Wow, she’s surprised how nice the staff is here.
“...That’d be much appreciated, thank you…–”
“Please, call me Sonata!”
“Right, thank you Sonata.” The blonde smiled and nodded. It was nice to get some advice from someone who knew more about fashion than she did. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, she really wanted to impress a certain someone.
“See? I told you it was going to work out for you eventually.” A hand patted her shoulder with that same laugh which made her heart flutter every single time.
“...I got lucky.”
“...Sonata, I don’t know if I should really choose this dress–”
“I promise you, miss Damie. This outfit is perfect for you!” The junior stylist was excited, it was an endearing sight for Desiree. “Come on, Damie. You’ve been in the fitting room for like 10 minutes now, what’s taking you so long to wear 1 dress?”
“I– I don’t know, I just don’t know if it suits me–”
“Then let us see the outfit and be the judge! You aren’t exactly good at judging yourself–”
“Uncalled for!”
“You know it’s true– ugh, whatever. I am going in.” Desiree stomped forward, ignoring the protests of Sonata trying to tell her not to ‘invade Damie’s privacy’. Please, she’s done more than just invade her privacy at this point.
“I swear, you are taking so much time in that damn fitting room and you better have a good reason– ah–...?” As Desiree quickly walked into the fitting room, she was greeted with a sight that could only be described as, well, beauty.
There stood Damie wearing an emerald green dress, it had sleeves dropping over her shoulders while the dress accentuated each curve of her body perfectly. The dress was made from satin, only making it look even more elegant on her fair skin while the gold was there to balance the colors out. In short, she looked absolutely beautiful.
Damie’s face turned red, quickly looking away in embarrassment. “...Is it bad? I don’t think it suits me at all and I think we should– huh…?!”
She swore she was moving on instinct because the next thing she knew she had grabbed the blonde by the waist to pull her in for a kiss, it was sudden and she knew that. That never stopped Damie from reciprocating it and quickly kissed her with just as much want as she had.
She always loved the taste of those lips, though right now, she was hungry for them. Hell, she felt like if she didn’t get to devour them she would die from starvation. Long fingers tugged on her hair and she had to suppress whatever sound she was about to let out of her mouth from that sensation alone.
Damie was the one to pull away first, taking short shallow breaths from how much air she had lost from that kiss alone. Their kisses have always been a little desperate, but this? It seemed so out of character for Desiree.
“Christ, Des– what the hell…?” She leaned against the room’s walls and Desiree just leaned against her bare shoulders, mindlessly nipping at the flesh.
“You look good. Like, really, really good. God, I can’t get over how pretty you look.” The grip on her waist only tightened and just as she was about to fall in whatever air had been suffocating the two of them, she was the one to pull Desiree from her neck before she made any noticeable marks.
“...Not here, not yet.” She shook her head in denial, causing Desiree to groan in annoyance and defeat.
“Damn it.” A giggle escaped Damie’s lips, she would never admit how much this boosted her ego. Hell, her pride is through the roof if she could drive Desiree Hall crazy like this. Makes her wonder how far she could really go.
“So… I take it that you liked the dress?”
A grin grew on Desiree’s face and Damie was prepared for the worst.
“Yeah, not as much as I like you without it–”
A smack .
“Oww!”
“...Guess my job here is done then.” With that Sonata whistled, happy to hear later on that Desiree decided to indulge herself by buying Damie even more dresses than she had intended to buy. She will be enjoying that raise.