19: Red Lace

Haru had never felt this uneasy in a shop before. Then again, he'd never been in this type of shop. He looked at one wall, which proudly displayed flimsy pieces of cloth which were apparently supposed to be underwear. On another wall were several dubious DVDs and some plastic items he was certain he did not want to find out about.

"I know loads of people who could help me get a birthday gift for Elie. And who do I turn to?" He mentally sighed and looked at Musica, who was studying a tiny looking leather corset.

"I'm telling you Haru. Get this for Elie, and she will love it."

"For the last time, no!" Haru yelled in exasperation. "Look, when I asked you to help me get a nice gift for Elie, I was not thinking of something from… here!" He threw his hands up toward a box of leather thongs.

Musica just grinned knowingly. "Oh c'mon! This is a perfect place to get Elie's present. I get stuff for Melodia here all the time." He held up a semi-transparent dress. "I gave her something like this last year, and she loved it. And boy did she thank me for it…"

"Stop!" Haru was not in the mood to hear another one of Musica boudoir stories. He just wanted to get Elie something and get the hell out of here.

"Sheesh, okay…" Musica pointed to a wall displaying several sets of lingerie. "You can't go wrong with sexy lingerie. Pick a set."

"I don't know… maybe I should just get her some face cream of something…

"Face cream!" Musica snorted. "Yeah, great idea. I'm sure she'll appreciate a pot of boring face cream she could probably buy herself. You want to be daring."

"Hey, there's daring, and then there's…" He just pointed at those dubious movies.

Haru swallowed. He was no stranger to the modern bra and panties. He'd seen – and removed – Elie's several times in the past, and always thought she looked sexy in them. But these… things.. with transparent lace, low-cut cups, and miniscule material which wouldn't cover a lot… He flushed red as he looked over all the different sets, imagining Elie stretching in a seductive pose in each one..

Musica noticed his friend was standing at the bras in a dream like state. He whapped him on the back. "Hey, hurry and pick something. The clerk's starting to look at you funny."

Haru shook himself from his trance, and turned his gaze to the lingerie set in front of him.

He'd never seen such a bright shade of red before. The low-cut bra and panties were made of gauzy crimson lace, with pink frills all around the edges. Passionate, fiery and cute… it seemed to match Elie perfectly.

"Yeah… this could work." He grabbed the hanger and took it to the clerk. "Wrap it up please."

"Sure thing. Uhh… you need a specific size?"

Haru glanced at the bra. The cups were… well, pretty damn big. And as he knew all too well, Elie was infamous for her…. big guns.

"No, that one will do."

----------

The party was over, and now that the others had gone home, Elie was eager to receive Haru's gift. He had said he would only give it to her when things were quiet and they were alone. Which either meant he'd gotten her something ludicrously expensive, or had bought something at the last minute and was making sure no one but her would kick his ass for it. She hoped for the former.

As Cattleya went into the kitchen to clean up, Haru led Elie upstairs to their room, a cunning grin on his face. Inside, he reached under his bed and took out a pink box, carefully wrapped in a bow. Elie's eyes gleamed.

"Oh Haru! It looks great! Thank you so much!"

Haru blinked. "You haven't even opened it."

"Well, with wrapping that nice, you must have gotten something really cool." She took the box from him, and eagerly ripped off the paper.

"Cool wasn't the word I was looking for…" He mumbled. Elie flung off the lid and…

"Huh?" He held up the tiny thong. "Wha… what is this?" She was confused. The lacy bra looked similar to a bikini she owned… but there was no way she could go swimming in that. And just what was this… tiny thing she was holding? She looked at Haru, who was looking rather sheepish.

"Er… Happy Birthday?" He sounded worried.

"Haru… am I meant to wear these?"

He looked as confused as she was. "Well, yeah. It's just underwear."

"Underwear?" Elie's eye's widened as she held up the bra, amazed at just how delicate it looked. "How the hell am I meant to go anywhere with these under my clothes! I'll freeze to death!"

Haru seemed a bit surprised by this. "Elie, it's lingerie. You're not meant to go outdoors in it. It's more for indoors." He could not believe Elie had never heard of lingerie. Then again, she still believed Plue was some kind of insect.

"Indoors?" Elie stared in disbelief. "Why on earth would I want to go around the house in these flimsy things?"

Haru said nothing, but just glanced at the bed and wagged his eyebrows in a suggestive manner.

"It's for.. that?" Elie stared at him wide-eyed, then grinned. "Why Haru, aren't you bold. This is supposed to be a present for me, not you."

"Well, I thought it would be better to get something we could both have fun with…" Haru smiled. "But if you're not cool with it.."

Elie stroked his face. "Nonsense. I never miss a chance to have some fun." Carrying the box, she left the room and headed for the bathroom. "I'll be just a sec. Get comfy."

Haru was literally jumping in anticipation. He'd hoped Elie would like the lingerie, but he hadn't expected her to thank him like this.

"Thank you Musica." He grinned, wasting no time in removing his clothes.

It took Elie several minutes to actually figure out how to put the damn things on. It was so tiny and flimsy, it felt it would fall apart in her hands. But with some careful maneuvering, she was able to pull the thong on. Getting used to the sensation of having cloth way up… there, she began to put the bra on. This was where she started having difficulties, as the garment was incredibly tight. She found herself straining to pull the straps together, and only by holding her breath was she able to finally connect them.

Turning to the mirror, she was impressed. She'd worn bikinis before, but never had they made her look so… sexy? She peered down, unable to see the rest of her due to the mile of cleavage the bra had suddenly created.

Yes, sexy was definitely the best description.

She giggled, knowing Haru would blow his mind when he saw her. This gift certainly had entertainment value… if it wasn't so damn tight…

She took a deep breath and headed back to the room, trying to ignore the under-wire digging into her ribs.

Haru's face was one akin to a kid in a toy shop as Elie, now in the red lingerie, returned. "Oh man.." He gasped, overwhelmed by the sexy goddess before him.

Elie smiled and padded over to him, making sure to swing her hips with every step. Haru was absolutely mesmerized.

"Wow… it never looked that good in the shop.."

Now she stood in front of him, taking short, sharp breaths of air he misinterpreted as lusty gasps of seduction. Elie straddled his lap, blocking his view with her chest, and began kissing his forehead and face. He wasted no time in holding her, wrapping his arms around her waist to pull her closer. His lips danced over her face and her upper chest, tasting her skin. Her legs wrapped around his waist, and her breathing grew deeper.

"Haru…" She gasped.

"Elie…" He caressed her neck

"Haru…" She took several breaths. "Haru…"

"Elie-chan…" He murmured in ecstasy..

"Haru!" She whapped him on the head. "Would you quit slobbering… and help me!

He leaned back, startled. "Wha! What's wrong?"

"This bra, that's what!" Elie got off his back and reached for the bra's clasps. "It's too… tight! It's suffocating me!"

"Really?"

"Yes really!" Elie hopped around as she struggled to remove the bra. "Arrgh, I can't do it! You try!"

Haru got to his feet, and started working on the clasps. The strained material however, was putting up a pretty good fight, and his fingers weren't quite to the task.

"Hurry up!" Elie whined.

"Stop moving! I'm trying!"

"How could you do this? You could have gotten me one that fits!"

"I thought it would fit."

"What, just by looking at it?"

"Well, the cups were pretty large…."

He instantly regretted those words as Elie turned her head around as far as she could and glared at him with one eye. "You choose this… just because I have huge knockers!

"It looked your size! He defended weakly. He hands moved faster on the clasps,m hoping he could undo them before Elie throttled him.

"You moron! The least you could have done was get my measurements!"

"And ruin the surprise?"

"What surprise? You're trying to kill me!

Haru threw up his hands. "I give up. I'm going to get a knife and cut this thing off."

As he left the room, he heard him murmuring. "Should have just gotten the cream….

She sat down on the bed, breathing slowly to try and conserve oxygen. God, what had Haru been thinking, just buying this thing off the rack? Oh, she knew what he had been thinking alright.

Of course, when she had tried it on, she had been thinking the same thing, so she could hardly accuse him of acting in his best interests….

She sighed. After all the adventure and weirdness of their adventures, couldn't they just have a relationship without crazy stuff happening for once?

Then it hit her. "Wait, why not just use Etherion to cut through this thing?" She moaned, knowing she should have thought of this sooner.

Concentrating, she generated a small ball of magic on the tip of her index finger. She held it behind her, next to the bra straps, where the hot magic began to burn through the fabric.

"Hah! I'm a genius." She smiled, relieved to feel the pressure off her chest. Just as the strap was about to give up, Haru reentered the room.

"Okay, I got some scissors.."

Then with a loud twang, the strap snapped, and the bra when flying off Elie's chest and straight toward Haru's face. The last thing he saw before the pain hit was a mass of red lace.

"GAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

----------

Hearing the scream, Cattleya rushed up the stairs to Haru's room, fearing the worst.

Inside, she found Elie, running around topless in a panic, and Haru on the floor, clutching his face and yelling in pain. Cattleya stared for a minute.

"I don't want to know."

----------

"Owwww…." Haru moaned, an eyepatch over his right eye. Elie sat next to him, wearing a t-shirt and the thong.

"I'm so sorry Haru. I never thought it would fly off like that."

"That's what elastic does when you stretch it. Didn't they teach you that in school?" He snapped. Elie looked offended. Seeing - as much as he could with one eye – he'd upset her, he calmed down.

"Sorry.. This is my fault. That'll teach me to get gift ideas from Musica."

She smiled. "But hey, you learned a valuable lesson in buying bras. So it wasn't a total loss."

"Yeah… to tell the truth, the only reason I got it, was I thought you would enjoy wearing it."

"Well, I did, for a bit." He could see her smirk. "I did look pretty hot in it, didn't I?"

"Red hot." He grinned.

"And I did think if was pretty nice of you… It was different to say the least."

"Well, I try.."

Elie's grin turned even more mischievous. "And I was looking forward to spending the rest of my birthday in bed with you."

Haru rubbed his eye. "Maybe tomorrow, once this stops smarting…"

"Not going to let a little injury stop you, are you Glory?" Elie straddled his lap, and place a long, lingering kiss on his lips, her tongue darting in to tease him.

Then before he could react, she lifted the front of her shirt, and brought it down over Haru's head, trapping his face against her chest.

"Mmmmmph!" Haru could only mumble. But it didn't take long for him to see and feel the advantages of his current position.

Elie giggled, and held him closer to her chest. "Now Haru… let's see how well you can please me when you can hardly see. You better give me a good time."

Haru smirked like an idiot under the shirt. Happy Birthday indeed…