"Wake up, Riku. You need to be up earlier than usual today." Axel nudged Riku's shoulder to get the boy out of bed. The silverette woke up a little bit after Axel had bothered him. "… What is it?" He questioned tiredly. Since he'd arrived at Sora's home, he had gradually become less and less of a morning person than he had been when he was younger. By now he was just a few inches shorter than Sora, but was a lot more muscular than his owner. A few years had passed since the dreadful revelation that he would never return to see his mother or the plantation he used to live on, however as the time passed he gradually began to accept his new way of living. It most certainly wasn't a bad life. He would be treated to good food every day, had a strong roof to sleep under, and was warm in the winter and cool in the summer. As long as he did what Sora told him, the two would get along fairly well.
Snow swirled outside, a few flakes sticking to the window and eventually melting away from the heat that was inside the house. Riku sat up in the bed, his much longer hair draping over his shoulders. He yawned softly and reached for the hairbrush that was on the small dresser next to his bed, running the bristles through his hair as he looked up at Axel. "Why do I have to be up at this hour?" He questioned. "It's early." He mumbled.
Axel snickered just slightly. "It is important." He said. "Last night, Sora requested that I wake you up early, to 'make you beautiful', as he described." He said. The silverette gave a confused stare to the redhead. "What do you mean?" He questioned, setting down the hairbrush once he'd gotten all of the little tangles out.
"He wants to take you on a special little business trip." Axel began. "An old partner of his family's has gone completely bankrupt. They own a few hundred acres of land and Sora is pretty sure that he can get all of it for a very cheap price. He's hoping that they're so desperate for money that they'll accept the offer in a heartbeat." He explained. "He believes, however, that taking a young girl along with him will make it more convincing and help them make their decision even quicker."
Axel stepped back for a moment and motioned towards the other side of the room, towards Riku's desk. Laying against the chair was a long dress. The small sleeves and shoulders hung off of the top of the chair and the bottom frills of the long fabric nearly touched the floor; it almost looked like a girl was sitting in the chair. A girl with a missing head and arms, that is.
Riku looked over to the dress and laughed softly. "Alright." He said, getting out of bed and standing up straight. "I think he just wants to see me in a dress." He walked over towards the chair and inspected it curiously. The dress was a light blue, having a low cut around the chest area and simple white trim where ever there were edges. "Interesting." He commented shortly, lifting the dress off of the chair and holding it up in front of him to compare his height with the length of the outfit.
Something else was on the chair; a white corset. Riku looked at the object, and then at Axel. "I have to wear that, too?" He pouted slightly. The servant responded with a nod. "If you are to be a female, you have to have a feminine waistline." He said. "You're already pretty thin, but it isn't thin enough." He said.
Riku sighed softly. "Alright, I suppose. Should I put it on now?" He asked. He had worn a corset once before just to try it out. It hadn't been the least bit comfortable to him and he had no clue how women always wore them to parties.
Axel nodded and picked the corset up from the chair. "Take your shirt and pants off. You can't wear any normal clothing underneath this dress." He said. Riku complied, taking all but his underwear off without a problem. Axel had dressed him before, so he saw no problem in undressing in front of him. The redheaded servant wrapped the corset around Riku's waist in the proper spot and began to tie it up from the bottom to the top.
Riku let out a small huff of air, the constricting feeling never ceasing to feel awkward and unusual to him. Along with simply looking rather stupid with it on, it made for a difficult time breathing, the tighter it got. A few minutes passed before the corset was completely tied up. "I can put the dress on you now." Axel said. By now, the dress had been put back in the chair by Riku. Axel picked it back up, moving the layers of white frills that were underneath the outer, visible part of the skirt to find the empty middle. "Lift your arms up." He instructed. Once the silverette did so, Axel slid the dress over him.
The dress its' self felt rather comfortable in Riku's opinion. If it weren't for that damn corset, he would have actually liked wearing it. "Sit sideways on the chair now so I can fix your hair." Axel said, turning the chair to the side for Riku. He couldn't sit in it normally because it would be a slight challenge for his hair to be put up with a big chunk of fancy wood in the way.
Once Riku managed to sit down; it took him a moment with the corset on; Axel went back over to the Riku's little bedside table and took his hairbrush. He walked back and began brushing Riku's hair despite how the silverette had brushed it just minutes before. There were still a few tangles in the back of his hair. "Did you try brushing this at all?" He questioned.
Riku fidgeted sheepishly. "I didn't think that you were going to be brushing my hair." He said in more of a mumble. The servant made a light chuckle and ran the brush through Riku's hair a few more times before stopping. He reached over to the desk and grabbed a white hair tie—along with that on the desk, there was a bunch of makeup. Riku was both surprised and not surprised that Axel had gotten into his room without him waking up to put those things there.
The white hair tie almost made Riku's hair like it had put its' self up. Axel simply put it into a neat little bun, a few strands hanging loose to make it look not so stiff and perfect. After he had put the bun in Riku's hair, he grabbed a small comb-looking object. On it were three gems, a large blue diamond-looking one in the center and two crystal clear ones on the left and right of the center jewel. The comb must have been made of some sort of shiny, white metal; despite the hard, dense material used to make it, it was intricately carved into, making it look very pretty. Axel placed the small comb behind the band that held Riku's hair into a bun to keep it in place.
Riku tilted his head slightly and watched one particular strand of hair go from one side of his face to the other. He found this process to be rather uninteresting and found that doing simple and stupid things like playing with his loose hair was more amusing at the time. "Stop that." Axel said, grabbing Riku's chin to hold his head still. The silverette frowned slightly and let out a sigh. "Okay." He mumbled.
Axel pulled the makeup closer to himself across the desk. "Do you think you'll need face powder?" Axel questioned more to himself than to Riku. "You're already pretty pale…" He studied Riku for a few moments. "I don't think you'll need any." He reached to grab some sort of brush-looking thing before he suddenly froze and removed his hand quickly. "I'm going to get makeup on your dress if I do that." He made a little scowl for a moment in thought before he went over to the door. "Stay there." He said before leaving the room.
Riku sat there in silence. He sighed again, however made a snicker afterwards. "What a fashion guru." He commented once Axel wasn't within earshot. The servant arrived a few moments later with a pillowcase in his hands. He walked over to Riku and put each corner of the pillowcase on his shoulders, draping the rest of it down his chest. "There. Now if any of the powder falls off, it'll fall onto this instead of the dress." He said, sounding rather satisfied with his quick thinking. "Now sit up straight so I can put the makeup on." He said.
Riku had a feeling that Axel wasn't so great at putting makeup on and suddenly felt rather hesitant for him to be putting it on his face. He decided to sit through it anyways and hope that it wouldn't come out too terrible. "Close your eyes." Axel instructed, waiting for a moment for Riku to do so. Once Riku did, he took a little bottle looking object and pulled a brush out of it.
Riku could feel Axel putting something on his eyelids. He had no clue what it was, but he had honestly thought that it felt a bit good. He relaxed the most he could in the chair with the corset on as Axel moved from one eye to the other. After that, he felt his eyelashes being ever-so-slightly pulled by something. Riku knew at the very least that it was… mascara? … Some sort of makeup that related to eyes was called mascara, but he couldn't recall what. After Axel had finished both of his eyes, Riku kept his eyes closed. He felt a soft brush dab against both of his cheeks a few times, and a sudden light snicker from Axel. "What is it?" Riku questioned. "Oh, nothing…" Was Axel's only response. It made the silverette feel very suspicious of the older male.
The final thing that was put on was the lipstick. Riku knew for sure that it was lipstick; that was the only makeup item that he actually knew the name of. He had yet to open his eyes as he was slightly horrified of what his face would look like. The longer he delayed seeing himself, the better, he thought.
There was a moment of silence before Riku started to become somewhat impatient. "What are you doing now?" He questioned. "I am admiring my wonderful handiwork." The servant said before carefully putting some lipstick on Riku's lips. The redhead's words made Riku even more reluctant to look at himself in the mirror.
"Okay, you can open your eyes now." Axel smiled and pulled the pillowcase off of Riku's shoulders. It had been a good call for him to put the little sheet of fabric over Riku's dress, as there most certainly had been some pink powder on the white fabric. It was very easy to see. Riku opened his eyes in an almost hesitant manner, looking around for a moment. "Mirror?" He asked.
Axel reached out and grabbed Riku's hand. "I'll help you out of the chair." He said. Once Riku was able to stand up, Axel suddenly made a little gasp. "Your nails could be painted along with the makeup!" He said.
Riku snickered at Axel's feminine behavior. "Whatever you want." He said. He stiffly walked over to the mirror that was in his room. The mirror was a bit taller than Riku was, so he was able to see his whole body, not just his face.
Upon seeing himself in the mirror, the silverette had an almost startled expression. "Geez, I really do look like a girl!" He said. He had pink blush on his face, pink lipstick to match. The eye shadow was a very light blue and matched both his hair and the dress he wore. His eyelashes looked a lot thicker than they normally did, as well. All in all he thought he was a pretty convincing looking girl.
"There is one last thing you need before you can fully look like a girl at your age, however." Axel said all of the sudden. "You don't have any breasts." He stated. Riku looked down at his chest for a moment. "Oh." He responded shortly. "… Well, some girls don't have very large ones…" He said a bit slowly.
"True, but your chest is absolutely perfectly flat. A fifteen year old girl would have small ones at the very least." Axel responded. Riku looked away in slight disappointment. He'd for the most part liked every part of this 'dress up' game except for the fact that he would have to have breasts. "How am I supposed to have fake ones and make them convincing?" He questioned, looking up at Axel.
Axel was quiet in thought for a few moments. "That dress is too low cut for us to just stuff it…" He said. He was quiet for a few moments before simply giving up. "Breasts aren't important." He indicated. "We'll just put some distracting jewelry on you and they'll just think you're a late bloomer."
"Oh. Alright." Riku said. "Where is the jewelry, then?" He inquired curiously. "Sit back down again in the chair. I'll go get some, along with nail polish and some shoes." He randomly looked up and down Riku's body for a moment. "And a needle." He added before walking out the door.
"… Needle?" Riku questioned. He also looked up and down his body in confusion, thinking he had torn a part of the dress somewhere and Axel needed to mend it. He wasn't able to see any needles and he frowned just slightly. "Maybe it's on my back somewhere." He murmured. He waddled back over to the chair and sat down, finding the movement a bit awkward at first. Corsets were so restricting. He was going to take the one he wore off as soon as possible.
Axel returned about ten minutes later with the things he said he would; some blue open-toed shoes with short high-heels, a bottle of similarly blue nail polish, and a somewhat small box tucked between his arm. He went over to the desk and set all of the objects down. "Let me paint your nails first." He said. "Set your hand on the desk."
Riku set his hand out on the desk flat and still, watching as Axel opened the bottle of nail polish and rather expertly beginning to quickly paint over his nails. It most certainly couldn't have been the first time he'd done something like this to someone.
Once all ten nails of his hands had been painted, Axel crouched down onto the floor. "And now your toenails." He said. He looked around for a moment to try and see if he could find some sort of box or stool to prop Riku's foot on, but couldn't see anything. He frowned a bit. "Oh well." He murmured as he began to paint the rest of Riku's nails.
Once he was totally finished, he took the shoes off from the desk and slipped them onto Riku's feet. The shoe almost looked like a sandal, the entire top of it being nothing more than a few straps to hold the smooth bottom to the wearer's foot. A few of the little straps also wrapped around Riku's ankles.
Axel stood up straight and opened the box. Inside of it, at first glance, was a pair of long gloves. "Put these on. I painted your nails just in case your gloves were taken off for whatever reason." He said. As Riku took the gloves and began to put them on, Axel had taken a nice looking necklace out of the box. He stepped behind Riku and put it on around the boy's neck, clasping the little lock shut to keep the necklace from falling off. "With how long the gloves are, I don't believe you'll be needing any bracelets; you won't need any rings because of those either." He said. "And with how high your shoes go, you won't need any anklets." He said. "The only thing you could truly be missing right now are earrings. Will you let me pierce your ears?" He probed curiously.
Riku once again got a slightly hesitant expression. "… Pierce them?" He repeated back to the elder male. He was quiet for a few moments. "Is it going to hurt?" He questioned. Axel shook his head in response. "It just feels like someone squeezed your ear a bit too hard." He said. He pulled from the box a near creepy-looking device that Riku could only truly describe as a hole puncher for paper, but there was a spike on the end of it instead of just a circular cutter like what one would make holes in pieces of paper with. The thought of needles made the silverette slightly squeamish. He closed his eyes. "Just be quick about it." He said.
Riku felt Axel rub both of his earlobes with something momentarily. Riku closed his eyes a bit tighter, preparing himself for the oncoming aching feeling. A few moments passed before he heard the redhead's voice suddenly coo, "All done~"
Riku opened his eyes and reached up to touch his ears, looking positively confused. He could feel an earring in that ear. He reached up and felt the other ear; there was an earring there, too. "That quick?" He questioned in bewilderment.
Axel snickered and nodded. "It's a very fast process when you have the correct tools." He said. "And with the numbing foam I used, you probably shouldn't even feel the pain that people normally get after piercing their ears." He said.
Riku felt around his ear for just a moment before finding that he actually could not feel his ear. "Interesting." He commented. "Is there anything else I need?" He asked. Axel nodded quickly. "An umbrella. It's snowing outside and I don't want all of my hard work to go to waste before you even get in the carriage." He said.
"Oh. Okay~" Riku said. For whatever reason, when he was younger, he really liked playing with umbrellas. He'd always been warned to never open them indoors, but would open them anyways. He liked building small dome-like rooms with four or five umbrellas and pretend he was camping in a forest.
Thinking back on it, Riku had the slight urge to build another umbrella-dome, but he most likely would not fit underneath it anymore. He felt a little disappointed at the thought but decided to shrug it off. "Is it in the one umbrella holder next to the front door?" He asked curiously. The redheaded servant shook his head. "You'll need a specific one to match your dress." He said.
Riku gave a little stare to Axel, a bit surprised that there was also an umbrella to go with the outfit. The designer of the piece of clothing must have thought of everything. "Let me go look for it real quick~" Axel said, leaving the room once again. He returned a lot quicker than last time; when he came back, he had a large blue umbrella in his hands. Not shockingly, however, he also had once again, another box. This one was much larger than the jewelry box. "What's in there?" The silverette asked curiously. "This is a hat that I found." Axel said. "It'd work perfectly with the dress." He grinned slightly. Riku let out a little sigh, not entirely wanting to put on more clothes. "Alright." He said. Axel handed opened the box and held the hat out to Riku.
Riku looked at the hat somewhat curiously. It nearly reminded him of the hats he would see at horse races; just not as stupidly huge and flashy. It was actually a pretty nice little hat, most of it being a soft blue color with a white ribbon wrapping around the part that would allow people to wear it as a hat in the first place. Riku took the hat from Axel and put it on his head. "Like this?" He asked.
Axel studied Riku's appearance for a moment before taking the hat off, smoothing Riku's hair back quickly, and then putting it on his head again, but angled. "Cute." He smiled. He then held the umbrella out to Riku. "And this is the last thing. Nothing more, I promise." He said.
Riku felt thankful that he wouldn't have to put on any more clothing. "Thank you." He said with a small smile. "Should I go out and wait for Sora near the door?" He asked. The servant nodded and headed towards the door. "I'm sure you can get there yourself. I need to help Sora with his clothing as well—I promise it won't take nearly as long, though." He said before leaving the room.
Riku watched for a moment before going over towards the door, heading the opposite direction of Axel and making his way towards the front of the house. He stopped at the staircase to the first floor with an oncoming feeling of dreadfulness. He wasn't sure he would be able to get down the stairs with the ridiculous corset.
It took at least three minutes for Riku to carefully make his way down the stairs. Along with the trouble with the corset, he had never walked in heels before. He had nearly missed a step and fallen multiple times. The dress he wore was rather poufy; he couldn't see three steps ahead of himself with the darn thing. He couldn't wait to leave so he could come back and take it off as soon as possible.
About ten minutes passed before Sora finally showed up. He looked a lot fancier and professional than Riku did, he felt. The silverette couldn't help but blush slightly and admire his master; the outfit he was wearing was a nice black suit and a red tie. Along with that he wore some nice black pants and shiny dark shoes that clicked slightly when he walked on tile.
Sora went down towards Riku and made a grin at the sight of him. Once close enough, he reached out and took Riku's hand, bowing down and kissing the top of it. "Madame." He greeted. Riku's blush deepened; the makeup he wore made him look even more embarrassed than he actually was. "Y-you don't need to do that…" He stammered.
"Why not?" The brunette questioned, standing up straight. "That is how one should always greet a mistress." He said with a smile. "You look very lovely like that." He complimented. Riku simply stood there in silent embarrassment for a second before turning his head away and closing his eyes, fearing that if he looked at Sora any longer, his face would be as red as a tomato. "Can we go outside now? My feet hurt." He said.
Sora snickered softly. "Alright." He took a different umbrella from the small holder that was next to the door and opened it for Riku. "Ladies first~" He cooed. Riku glared at Sora once again in embarrassment. "Stop that!" He said with a huff before going outside and opening his own umbrella. The carriage was already waiting for them just outside the front door; Riku was glad, as he didn't want to walk far with the shoes he wore both because of the snow on the ground and because he had trouble walking with them. He went over to the door and opened it, staring at Sora for a short moment to make sure he wouldn't make some female-based comment towards him before going inside quickly and shutting his umbrella. There hadn't even really been a need for the umbrella, as there were only very few snowflakes on top of it.
Sora entered the carriage a moment later, closing his own umbrella and propping it against the wall of the carriage. "We'll have to ride in the carriage for a few hours to get there." The brunette said as he took Riku's umbrella and put it next to his own. The youngest of the pair made a little groan. "I'll be trapped in this corset for forever." He whined simply as the carriage began to move.