Disclaimer: I don't own anything here (except for Al) and am just doing this for fun and to pass the long months until Season 4.
Tim sat on the couch, flipping through through the latest Sports Illustrated as he waited for Al to get ready for the birthday party. Mindy had decreed, in that random and authoritative way she had, that she wanted everyone to dress up for her party. Tim's concession to this demand was to wear a pair of suit trousers and tuck his shirt in. He drew the line at ties and jackets. He didn't know what Al was going to wear, but had heard Mindy admonishing that it had better be a dress.
"Can you please come up here and help me?" Al shouted down to him.
He dropped the magazine and went upstairs. He found her in her room, struggling with the zipper of her dress.
"I got it," he told her, putting a hand on her hip to steady the dress while the other hand went to the zipper. He could feel the dress was soft velvet and he tried not to get distracted by her bare back. He pulled the zipper slowly and carefully until it reached the top. Then he took a few steps back and watched her her turn around.
The dress was perfect: the top was sleeveless and clingy with a deep-V of a neckline; the skirt was kicky and full. The royal blue made her eyes sparkle and he loved the way her curls fell around her bare shoulders.
Her smile was a little shy and hesitant. "Well?"
"You look good....like really good." He couldn't take his eyes off of her. She always looked good to him, but usually it was a cute, sweet, wholesome sort of good. He loved that about her, but he had to admit, he was secretly thrilled to find out she could be smoking hot when she wanted to be.
She smiled and went over to her dresser to put on a pair of pearl earrings. She handed him a pearl necklace and held up her hair so he could fasten the clasp for her.
"You know, someone's going to ask and this is the one wedding thing we haven't talked about yet – where do you want to go for our honeymoon?" she asked as she turned around. He was nearly too dazed to answer her.
"Anywhere you want as long as you promise to wear that dress."
She laughed. "Key West, then. Although, blue velvet and humidity are probably not a great combination."
"Key West.... You promise to wear some cute little sundresses and you've got a deal."
"What's with you and this sudden dress obsession? Are you trying to change me into a girly-girl?"
He put his forearms on her shoulders, clasping his hands together behind her head and leaning his forehead down to meet hers. "One, it's more of a you-obsession You just look really hot and I'm a guy – I can't help but like that. Two, I'm just trying to expand your fashion horizons."
She put her hands on his chest, his heart jumping a little at her touch. "That's really rich coming from a guy who thinks plaid is an actual color."
He slid his arms down, putting his hands on her back and drawing her closer, his mouth practically on her ear and his voice a growling whisper. "If you want to know the truth, the whole point of getting you in a dress is getting you out of it anyway."
Al laughed. "What's it matter if we end up in the same place anyway?"
Tim gave her a squeeze and then let her go, knowing that they had to leave soon and the longer he waited, the more difficult it would be to take his hands off of her. He picked up Mindy's present from the bed.
"Why bother with wrapping paper and bows if she's only going to find out what's in it anyway?" he asked with a smile
Al nodded, grabbed her keys from the dresser, and tossed them to him.
"You're driving."
"What about Rock, Paper, Scissors?" he asked, since that's how they usually handled these things.
"Nope. I'm sick of losing and can't remember the last time you were the designated driver."
Tim laughed and held out his arm to her. The sooner they went to this party, he figured, the sooner he could get her home and out of that dress.