A/N: For the 'OTP Week: Oddlita' challenge on tumblr, to the prompt 'Dress-Up'.
Frills and Lace and Other Curiosities
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"Lace is so fussy."
Odd snapped at the thin scraps of fabric around his thighs which held his stockings in place, and frowned. He hadn't even attempted the high-heeled shoes yet, was only just ready to turn his attentions to his dress, which hung on his body with its zips and ribbons still undone.
All things considered, and complexity of his outfit aside, he was fairly ambivalent about losing the bet. It was a pitfall of overconfidence, followed up almost directly by lack of focus - it wasn't that he couldn't have won, with a little more luck, but hey, sometimes that's just how it happens. He twirled a loose strip of silk around one finger, yet another bow on his bodice unraveling.
Aelita, settled on the edge of the bed with her hands folded over her knees, watched him curiously.
"Are you embarrassed?" she asked.
Odd shrugged. "Not really." He supposed he should have been, or should have at least faked it a little, but it was only Aelita here and she didn't know or care, one way or the other. Earth, in all its newness, had not yet run out of daily surprises to spring up on her. The bet Odd has lost, and the subsequent penalty, were but the latest in a long list.
"Huh," said Aelita. "Ulrich thinks you should be."
"That's because Ulrich would die if he had to do something like this." Odd let out a snort of laughter. "Can you imagine? With Yumi watching... Ah, it's probably just as well it's me taking the fall here. Aelita, come help me fasten this up, would you?"
She moved to step behind him and with delicate fingers she adjusted the zip on the back of the dress, drawing it up closed over his shoulders. Then she ran her hands over the ribbons and frills of his dress, admiring the textures and the way the outfit fell on Odd's small frame. His hair - silky smooth, sweeping the nape of his neck in a style she had never before seen - smelled unusually sweet; probably, Aelita surmised, due to the lack of hair gel.
She nodded admiringly.
"You make a pretty girl, Odd."
The expression on his face was one she saw on boys sometimes, when girls said nice things to them; caught off-guard, but in a pleased, vindicated sort of way. Odd was never not confident and yet, bolstered by the compliment, he stood up a little straighter.
"Well, thanks."
He tugged at one long sleeve. As he did so, Aelita's gaze drifted downwards to the stockings and garters Odd had been fixing earlier, the sheer, silky material that encased the sinewy muscles of his legs, and the strip of bare skin between where these garments ended and the frilled skirt began. Masculine, juxtaposed with feminine. It was an interesting and not unpleasant contrast.
She wondered why Ulrich would be embarrassed. He might look nice, like this, and Yumi - a contrast herself, one of long lashes and combat boots - could surely appreciate it. Aelita knelt behind Odd, studying with fascination the curve of his thighs beneath his dress.
When she traced the lines there with her fingertip, the way Odd gasped and shivered was even more fascinating. There were ribbons left to tie, and he hadn't yet practised walking in the shoes, but he neglected to tell her to stop.
Aelita thought she was going to enjoy the real world very much.