Old, New, Borrowed, Blue

Part 55: In Which there is a Panty Game

Katyusha had already forgotten the new girl—the one who introduced herself at the door as the party planner's—name and was, therefore, currently feeling like the worst person on earth. Why did she always do this? If she didn't focus all her attention on people when they were introduced, then their names always seemed to just slip away...

"So, you two are Ivan's sisters, right?" The girl flashed her a sunny smile and Katyusha felt even worse.

"Um, yes..."

"Awesome!" She clapped her hands. "I'll figure this whole town out, you'll see!"

Well, whatever her name was, at least this girl was a friendly person.

Katyusha honestly hadn't known what to expect after receiving the incredibly out of character invitation to Lovi's bachelorette party. She had known the other girl for years—ever since the snowy day when Ivan dragged his two new 'best friends' into their house—and knew that Lovina wasn't a huge fan of parties. She came to Ivan and Natalya's birthday parties when they were younger, but she and Feli were usually the only non-family members who attended and, even then, she avoided contributing to most conversations and it always took a bit of coaxing to get her to play any of the games.

It was strange that she agreed to this, but Katyusha's observations over the past half hour made her feel glad that she did.

It was clear that Lovi wasn't comfortable quite yet. She had returned from the kitchen with Feli a while ago and was now sitting in an armchair with her arms defensively crossed over her chest. She wasn't contributing to the conversation, although that may be because the discussion was being effectively dominated by Ally, Feli, and the girl whose name she'd forgotten.

However, even if she wasn't entirely relaxed yet, Katyusha was almost certain that Lovina was beginning to enjoy herself. While she seemed to be trying to remain aloof, every so often her lips would twitch into a smile or she'd make a sound that sounded like a hurriedly-stifled snort of amusement.

That was good. Katyusha was happy to see her friend at least beginning to enjoy herself. She also wondered if this party may have an additional benefit. She glanced toward her sister. Natalya was seemingly-ignoring everyone, while staring at a painting—one of Feli's, probably—that was hanging over the other couch. But, maybe Natalya could make more friends, too?

Katyusha was a big sister, so of course this was something she was bound to think about. She hoped that her little brother was making more friends at Antonio's party, too. If only she were better at making friends, herself, then maybe her siblings would have less struggles...

"So, what sorta stuff do you do at this kind of shindig anyway?" Ally suddenly blurted out, seeming to decide that she was bored with the group's overall quiet. She was currently sitting on the floor in front of the couch occupied by Feli, Tina, and Mattie. "Are we gonna do that panty game now?" She turned toward Lovi and grinned brightly. "You're gonna love the pair I got you!"

Lovi sent a frown that plainly stated that she didn't believe that, but then sighed and unfolded her arms. "I guess so... I think I'm going to need a refill first, though."

She moved to stand up, but her sister jumped up instead and grabbed her empty glass. "I'll get it! Ve~ it's your party, so I'll get everything for you!" Then she ran out before Lovina could protest.

"Awesome! So, here's how the game works!" The party-planning girl left her seat and walked over to the basket that had been left by the door, returning in a moment with the basket held over her head so no one could see inside. "So, my cooler sister-in-law had this game at her party—although she had everybody buy full lingerie sets, but those are expensive, so I figured that we'd just go with cute panties. So, everybody who came in dropped a pair of panties into the basket that they think best represent their relationship with the bride-to-be. Lovi's job is to take them all out of the basket and then figure out who brought which pair!"

Lovi eyed the basket like she thought it might be holding tarantulas. "How is underwear supposed to represent our relationship?"

"Dunno." She slightly lowered the basket, although still held it out of Lovi's line of sight. "I honestly just bought my sis the most embarrassing set I could find. But your friends seem much nicer than me, so I'm sure you'll be fine!"

Mattie snorted at that, then hurriedly covered her mouth in obvious embarrassment. The other girl just giggled and then, when Feli re-entered the room with two fresh glasses of wine, she plopped the basket into Lovi's lap. "Okay, so let's see how you do! Fair disclosure that I'm not a part of it, but there is a pair in there from Gill!"

"I'm not either," Elizabeta added. "I did bring cupcakes, though."

Lovi was definitely currently thinking that she'd rather everyone have brought cupcakes, rather than underwear. She stared into the basket of brightly-colored, mostly-silky fabric like a man facing a firing squad. Then she suddenly turned, took a large gulp of wine from the glass Feli brought and said, "All right, let's get this over with."

Katyusha honestly hadn't known what it meant to choose a pair of underwear that would 'represent her relationship' with Lovina. She had wanted to go shopping for the gift with Natalya—if only for a second opinion—but between her shifts at the hospital and her sister's ballet rehearsals, they hadn't been able to find a time that worked for them both. She ended up going to the mall by herself and spent ages wandering around various lingerie sections, searching for the perfect pair.

She finally found it, tucked away in the bottom of a clearance bin. It seemed appropriate, at least, if not a perfect representation.

That pair was the first that Lovina removed from the basket. Katya saw her expression immediately change to something almost like relief as she stretched the fabric and stared at the rather conservative shape and pattern. They were boyshorts with a light blue background and a pattern of white and silver snowflakes with a white lacy trim.

"Okay, so maybe this isn't going to be totally awful, then," Lovi said, looking somewhat relieved.

Feli nodded. "Ve~ Those are pretty!"

Her sister nodded. "Yeah, I'd actually wear these." She set them aside, reached in again, and retrieved a pair that was...maybe a bit less fitting.

"Ally."

"Aw! You can't get it that quickly!"

Katyusha thought that it would be difficult to not identify her immediately as the giver. Ally could be a bit predictable...sometimes, at least.

Lovi turned the underwear in her hands, staring at it with an expression halfway between annoyance and bemusement. "Why the fuck does it have a cape?"

It did indeed have a cape—a tiny red one that covered the backside—while the front was emblazoned with a very familiar logo. Ally bounced in her seat and explained, "They're Superman undies! I thought they were super cool! Although, I did consider getting you the Batman pair for a while, but I like Superman more."

Tina, who'd been quiet up to this point, giggled and said, "I think they're cute. Although, Berwald would disagree with you about Superman being better than Batman."

Ally turned her head around to look at the girl seated beside her sister. She looked thoughtful, then nodded and said. "That makes sense, though! He kind of is Batman!"

Katyusha's mind automatically brought up an image of Tina's boyfriend in a Batman suit. It did seem oddly-fitting... Although, she wasn't sure if you could say that his skills at looming intimidatingly and his low voice meant that he kind of was Batman.

"Anyway," Lovi interrupted. She set the identified pair of underwear in a separate pile from Katyusha's gift. "I don't want this to take all night, so if you guys can kindly shut the fuck up."

Ally pouted, but scooted forward with obvious interest when Lovi pulled another undergarment out of the basket. This, also, only took a moment of examination. "Fucking Gill."

Feli leaned over to see and immediately burst into laughter. No one else could see, though. All Katyusha could see was that it was black and the front was unadorned. It did look skimpier than anything she expected Lovi to wear, but that didn't seem enough to explain the look of potential-homicide that was currently making its home on Lovi's face.

She hesitated, then asked, "Um, how do you know?"

Lovi looked up at her and Katya was suddenly certain that if she weren't the one asking, Lovi would refuse to answer. She did turn the pair around, though. Now everyone could see the words written on the backside in huge, blocky white letters: 'Property of the Groom.'

Oh...

"Fucking stupid Antonio's stupid perverted friends." Lovi's cheeks were flaming red right now. She dropped the pair of underwear onto the floor and then violently kicked it back under the couch. "Stupid fucking..."

"I think it's funny! Ve~!" Feli clapped her hands together. "After all, once you and Antonio are married, then it kind of will be true, right?"

Lovi glared at her sister. "Like any part of me would be his fucking property."

The party-planning girl spoke quickly, as if trying to head off the argument before it began. "True true. It'd be way better if you got a matching pair for him! Gotta have reciprocity with this kinda stuff! Just put it across the front, instead, and it'll be perfect!" She giggled.

Lovi somehow managed to turn an even brighter shade of red and Katyusha felt a surge of older sister protectiveness toward her. She knew that she wasn't the type of person to be comfortable talking about the more 'physical' components of her upcoming marriage.

It seemed to be something she was doing her best to not think about, which Katya supposed might help make things easier... It wasn't like she had any experience herself, so she couldn't really give any advice.

No one else seemed to notice her discomfort, or they just didn't care. Ally was cackling, while her sister tried to get her to quiet down. The party-planning girl and Feli were talking now about where you might get a matching pair for Antonio. Tina wasn't saying anything and Lizzie had left the room at some point in the past couple minutes. Katyusha decided that she should say something, to try to get everyone onto a different subject, but was stopped by a voice coming from beside her.

"Just keep going."

Everyone stopped talking immediately.

Natalya was still staring at the painting; it didn't look like she was paying any attention to anything happening in the room, but Katya knew her little sister. While she wasn't the type to involve herself in conversations she wasn't interested in, she always listened and spent time observing her companions.

Katyusha saw Mattie send her sister an apologetic smile and then said, "Yeah, there should still be quite a few still in there."

Lovi frowned, glancing between Mattie and Natalya. Then, she nodded and reached into the basket. This time she removed two pairs, probably to speed up the game. One of the pairs of underwear was pink satin with a lace trim along the top that was a darker shade of pink. She eyed it for a moment, then glanced toward the other pair, which was dark blue and entirely lacy.

Katyusha honestly had no idea who could have brought either. She had never actually seen the pair that her sister brought, so she couldn't even narrow it down.

The party-planning girl echoed her thoughts. "It's pretty tough. I remember that my sis-in-law only managed to identify half."

Lovi tensed at that and Katyusha knew the remark managed to prick her pride. She always disliked when other people questioned her abilities. It didn't matter what those abilities might be.

"It isn't that hard." She dropped the two pairs into the pile with Katyusha's gift. "I'm just going to look at all of them before deciding." She then removed the last two pairs from the basket. The first was also lacy, this time with a gradient from light blue to a dark purple and was covered in glitter.

Lovi looked at it for a moment, then turned toward her sister. "This is yours, right?"

"Ve~ Yep!" Feli clapped her hands together. "How'd you know?"

"It's fucking covered in glitter." She said this like it should be obvious. It actually might be, though. Katyusha remembered childhood craft projects and how much Feliciana adored covering her art with buckets and buckets of glitter. "Of course, it's going to be from you," Lovi continued. She shook the underwear and said, "At least it's staying on."

Yes, Katyusha also remembered helping her mother clean up the glitter. Ivan and Natalya were always disappointed when she vacuumed the sparkles, but their mother was always very strict about keeping the house clean.

"Ve~" Feli was smiling. "That shirt was really pretty, though!"

"Until it went through the wash." Lovi dropped this pair into the identified pile and switched her attention to the last pair.

"So, what's thi—?" She didn't finish her question, though. Instead, she made a sound that honestly could only be described as a squeak and dropped the underwear like it burned her fingers.

Everyone stared at her in surprise.

"Ve~ What's wrong?"

Lovi had gone in the opposite direction this time. Her skin had gone pale and her eyes were wide in what looked like horror. She stared at the tiny red scrap of fabric like she thought it might burst into flames right in front of her eyes.

Ally was the one who responded first and scooped it up. She stretched it out and then it looked like she choked. "Dude!"

The party-planning girl laughed. "Oh, nice! That's almost as good as what I got my sister-in-law."

It took Katyusha a moment to realize what they were reacting, too. She stared at the lacy, beribboned scraps of fabric for a few moments. Then, she realized that there was quite a lot of fabric missing in a very particular place... She felt a flush of sympathy cross over her own cheeks.

They were crotchless underwear.

Lovi was now blushing again. She looked around the room, sending glares tempered with absolute mortification. "Okay, who the fuck brought those?"


A/N: Ahhh, poor Lovi. I mean, it's a panty game, though, to stock ya up for the honeymoon. Somebody's gotta bring sexy underwear. xD But, who oh who could it be?

So, this was a toughie to write. For many reasons. xD Kinda regret some choices I made and I don't feel like I have Katyusha down quite yet, but there were attempts made. And someday I'll probably write more with her and her relationship with Feli and Lovi while growing up, cuz it's pretty cute.

Ummm... So, I just returned home from a week long mental health trip to visit friends in Minneapolis that was lots of fun and helped me feel a bit better. So hopefully we can keep riding on that for a while. It was a very cool trip, even if it did end with a 2 day long airline-related ordeal of awful. Freaking New Jersey didn't want to let me go home.

Anyway, I hope you guys are still enjoying this story and I'm really hoping the next chapter is less like pulling teeth so I can get it up faster. Only posting one chapter every month is definitely less than I want to do, but things are kinda perpetually shit right now... Hopefully this trip helped a bit. I super apologize and hope you can continue to enjoy the story even if I am super slow and sucky with updates! I appreciate reviews if you enjoyed it! :)