[EXO] A Frilling Tale
Title: A Frilling Tale
Fandom: EXO
Rating: R
Genre: crack
Word count: 4,586
Pairing: SeHo
Summary: Sehun never thought he'd be wanting Junmyeon to slow down more, yet there he was.
Notes: Well, this 'Verse escalated quickly. Um. This is for Mia and Haze because they've spent quite a lot of time telling me how they feel about Sehun in this. Mia especially spent quite a lot of time encouraging me to write this, and I couldn't have done it without her enthusiastic response.
BY THE WAY, in other Panty Line-related news, Karis did a thing. Karis did two things, actually, so you should go look at them both.
Please forgive me for writing this.
“Not that I’m complaining or anything, but I managed to get a full night’s sleep last night.”
Sehun didn’t like the meaningful look Tao was giving him, so he kept his eyes firmly fixed on his phone and pretended he hadn't heard.
"I know you heard me."
The bed dipped as Tao settled down next to Sehun and arranged the laptop in his lap comfortably. Shit.
"Sehun."
"Fine, what?" he finally answered.
"I said, I got a full night's sleep last night," Tao repeated.
"Congratulations," said Sehun, "I don't know why you're telling me this."
"Wow, that sounded way more grumpy than anyone getting laid as regularly as you are has any right to sound." The interest in Tao's voice was something Sehun had learned to be wary of.
"Why exactly are we talking about this," Sehun demanded suspiciously.
Tao looked at his browser window and shrugged.
"No reason," he said. "Except maybe because Jongdae hyung was sleeping in our room and usually when that happens I'm kept awake by some interestingly awkward noises from next door. And maybe because I'm your friend and you look way too worried today, considering."
"Considering what?" Sehun muttered, but sighed when Tao just gave him another look. "Can we not talk about this in front of people?"
"Oh, don't mind me," Luhan waved from where he was sitting on his bed. "Go on, continue imparting juicy secrets to each other. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain."
Sehun picked up one of his pillows and threw it at him. He wasn't entirely certain that Luhan's personal bubble didn't visibly ripple as the pillow entered the other bed's airspace. Luhan caught the pillow with one hand.
"This is a dangerous game you are playing here, Oh Sehun," he warned.
"If you kill me," Sehun said calmly, "Junmyeon will be sad at you."
Luhan grimaced.
"Ew. No, thank you. I'm leaving."
After he had gone, Sehun realized that this actually left him alone with Tao and with no excuse not to continue the conversation. Tao seemed to be quite aware of this fact as well.
"Well?" he asked expectantly.
Sehun groaned and rolled over to hide his face in the blankets.
"Why can't you just let it go?" he complained.
"Because I'm a good friend, who helps."
"You're a terrible friend."
"Sehun."
Sehun resigned himself to the inevitable.
"Everything's going too fast," he mumbled.
He could hear Tao trying to work that out even without turning his head.
"You mean, things are escalating too much?" Tao sounded confused. "You know, you could just talk to Junmyeon hyung and let him know if anything makes you uncomfortable and I'm sure he would-"
"It's not-" Sehun broke in. "It's not.... not that kind of too fast."
The problem was that Junmyeon liked to make him wait by taking as much time as he could to appreciate the day's... undergarments... and he liked to prevaricate unbearably long until he had Sehun stretched out on the proverbial rack and almost desperate. The problem was that there was not a whole lot to prevaricate about these days, and the routine was once more getting predictable. Sehun choked the words out with difficulty and waited for the coin to drop. It took a while.
"Sehun, leave it to you to make women's lingerie boring," Tao finally smirked.
Sehun made a garbled noise of some sort, then sat up when he heard the rapid click of Tao's computer keys.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm being a good friend," Tao said, "And helping."
Sehun scrambled up next to him until he could see whatever was going on on Tao's screen, only to be faced with the blinking homepage of some online shopping site in distressing pastel tones. This, however, was not the most unsettling thing to catch Sehun's eye. His gaze was inexorably drawn to Tao's bookmark bar, where the only things visible were twelve folders, each one labeled with a name. One of the names was Sehun's.
"What are those?" Sehun felt compelled to ask.
"These?" Tao said. "They're just things I found online that reminded me of the members. This is one of the things I found for you, and it just occured to me that now might be a good time to actually bring it up."
Sehun knew that he would eventually have to confront whatever lacy horror awaited him further down on the page, but couldn’t quite bring himself to look quite yet.
“What’s in Kris’s folder?” he asked, against his better judgement.
“Oh, stuff,” Tao waved a hand vaguely. “That’s not important. What do you think about this?”
There were a lot of frills in his face all of a sudden and a lot of frills on top of those frills. And far more cloth than Sehun had previously anticipated in his new lacy life.
"It's..." he struggled to find words. "It's a lot."
"A lot of good, right?" Tao grins at him. "Do you like the green or blue better?"
"I- the green, I guess, but why-"
"Listen," Tao said, like Sehun had been the one failing to pay attention here, "You feel like you've explored all the possibilities in the realm of panties, right? That can only mean that it's time to try something new."
"I think we have very different ideas of what that means, honestly," said Sehun dubiously.
Tao held up a finger to silence him before pointing said finger in his face.
"You said things are going too fast, right?" he argued. Sehun could only nod. "Then it only makes sense to give Junmyeon hyung enough material to keep things going for longer."
Tao stopped for a moment, thinking hard.
"Come to think of it," he said, "Why are you complaining so much? I thought it was driving you nuts that it was going too slow before."
"Why are we talking about this?" Sehun groaned. "And before-" he put a preemptive hand over Tao's mouth- "you say it's because you're a good friend... no."
Tao sat with Sehun's hand over his mouth, but Sehun could feel the judgemental set to Tao's mouth under his palm and could see Tao's eyebrows doing similar judgemental things under the edge of his hair.
"It's..." Even saying it was hard. "It's not that I really hated it, you know? It's just..."
Now he could feel Tao's smug grin under his hand. Tao's eyes curved up, the way they always did when he was particularly pleased.
"Oh, shut up." Sehun shoved Tao backwards and made for his phone again.
"I didn't say anything!" Tao sounded insufferably happy about this. "But it means my plan is probably the one that'll end up making both of you happy. You know I'm right."
He started selecting items and opening new tabs with renewed determination, asking Sehun for his opinion on this or that unidentifiable ribboned object. Sehun watched the virtual shopping cart's total and as it went up his heart went the opposite direction.
"Tao," he said, "This is getting way too expensive. I can't spend this much on clothes like this."
"Don't worry about it," Tao waved a hand, unconcerned. "Everything will work out fine."
Sehun waited for him to say whatever horrible thing he was going to say, to explain whatever terrible plan he had in his head to make Sehun's life more difficult.
"You just tell me how it goes over and I'll present Junmyeon hyung with the bill later."
Yes, there it was. Sehun attempted to smother himself with his own blankets.
Sehun almost completely forgot about the plan until packages started to show up, all addressed to him. Whoever else was around would inevitably demand to see, and Sehun would end up locking himself in his room and hiding the packages around his bed when none of his other roommates were around.
"I just wanted to know," Junmyeon said sadly when Sehun snatched one of the packages out of his hand one time when he'd been the one to intercept the delivery. "Why are you keeping secrets from me? I thought we were supposed to have something special, Sehunnie."
Sehun wanted to say that that's why he couldn't tell him, but instead clutched the package to his chest and scrambled blindly into his room, closing the door as quickly as he could.
Tao was the only one who knew what the packages contained, so he helped Sehun open them and inspect the contents when they were sure no one else was nearby. Baekhyun probably suspected something about what the boxes contained, the way he always seemed to know when something interesting and potentially humiliating was happening that concerned his bandmates, but at least he said nothing and left the whole thing to Tao to take care of. They tried on what could be tried on and Tao made some changes, exchanging certain items and tweaking others until he was satisfied, while Sehun stood there, feeling like a living mannequin.
"All these came out of my folder, right?" he asked one day. Tao made a sound to the affirmative as he stood behind Sehun with fistfulls of ribbons. "Then what's in your folder?"
"My wishlist," said Tao simply. "No, you don't get to see it. You all might get to see select items from it when you need to buy me birthday presents."
Sehun didn't inquire further, but he got the feeling Baekhyun probably got to see the entire wishlist.
When everything finally arrived, Tao was very enthusiastic about helping Sehun get into the ensemble, but as soon as it was on and Tao had been sent out to retrieve Junmyeon, Sehun was struck with a sudden panic.
This looks stupid, his brain suggested horribly. He's going to hate it.
Sehun stood up with some difficulty from where he'd been sitting on the edge of his bed.
This was a terrible idea, he thought, dismayed.
He was about to try sneaking out to hide in the bathroom until he could convince Tao to get him out of this ridiculous costume, but paused before his hand could even reach the doorknob. There were voices close by outside. Sehun recognized one of them as Junmyeon's, sounding resigned as he told Tao to stop laughing, and another sounded sort of like Wufan. Sehun looked around frantically before stepping to the side, around the clothing rack behind the door. When the door swung open, it hid him fairly well from view, so Sehun thought it was entirely possible he could escape notice entirely and Junmyeon would leave, thinking he wasn't in there after all.
"Sehun?"
Just keep quiet, Sehun told himself, He'll leave. He'll go away and I can get dressed before he has a chance to see.
This was, of course, delusional. Some part of Sehun knew this, because Junmyeon was not the kind to give up, particularly when he thought one of his members was waiting for him, and especially not when that member was Sehun. He would be more proud of that fact if he hadn't also been currently attempting to pull some very short pieces of lace further down his thighs.
"Sehun, I know you're in here," Junmyeon was saying. "Tao said you needed me."
He was not getting out of this. That much was clear. Sehun took a deep breath, then stepped out from behind the clothing rack. Junmyeon turned around, ready to say something, but froze when he saw Sehun, who in turn frowned and resisted the urge to cross his arms across his chest.
Neither of them said anything for a long while. Junmyeon just stood there looking for the longest time while Sehun stared intently at Junmyeon's socked feet. Sehun didn't want to be the first to say anything, wishing that Junmyeon would give him some hint as to how the entire thing had gone over, but Junmyeon continued to stand and contemplate. His eyes moved over the entire outfit, the bows running down Sehun's chest, the wide sash of satin ribbon, and the frilled skirt that stood out from Sehun's body in a perfect bell shape, but Junmyeon had one hand to his mouth and Sehun couldn't quite tell if the reaction was positive or not. Tao had deliberately picked one of the shorter skirts, to show off the off-white lace stockings he'd found after a solid half-hour of browsing at one online sock store, and Sehun could see Junmyeon's eyes linger on the barely visible mint green ribbon at the top, the only visible hint of green in an overwhelming sea of pink and cream. Still, Junmyeon said nothing, and Sehun had the sinking feeling he wasn't going to. Sehun cracked first, as usual.
"Well, say something, will you?" he snapped, seeming to startle Junmyeon somewhat.
"What do you want me to say?" Junmyeon asked mildly. Sehun wanted to punch him.
"You could start," he said through gritted teeth, "By just saying you hate it and getting it over with."
There was a moment of hesitation, then Junmyeon's eyes smiled a split second before the rest of him did.
"I don't hate it," he laughed, holding out a hand for Sehun to come closer. "I think you look gorgeous."
Exactly how he went from wanting to punch things and sink into the center of the earth to feeling pleasantly lightheaded and giddy, Sehun wasn't sure, but he still found himself crossing the room and leaning happily into the hand Junmyeon raised to his cheek.
"I always think you look gorgeous," Junmyeon added.
Sehun often wondered how exactly he let himself get roped into this thing to begin with, but then Junmyeon looked like this and it suddenly didn't seem so bad. He had gotten used to the panties, after all, so he could probably get used to this just fine. It wasn't bad at all actually.
His conclusion almost did a complete 180 a second later when joining Junmyeon on the bed was hampered by the fact that he could barely bend at the waist at all.
"Is this a corset?" Junmyeon sounded both amused and intrigued.
"Not really?" Sehun said dubiously. "I mean, kind of? Tao said it wasn't a real corset but it still feels pretty-"
He broke off, realizing that he hadn't planned to reveal Tao's involvement, but Junmyeon just laughed, slipping an arm around his waist and laying his hand flat against the stiff fabric.
"It's Tao this time, is it?" he asked, his mouth against the back of Sehun's neck. "Sounds like you're building up quite a team of stylists."
His fingers sought out each individual stiff rib in the bodice as he spoke, running up and down each one until Sehun shivered slightly. Sehun could almost hear him smile as he settled Sehun between his legs, facing away so that he could take a look at the back of the dress.
"He tied the laces very well," Junmyeon commented. "They're really elaborate."
The straps of the dress themselves were fairly thin, but they were covered with wide ruffles of white lace that moved slightly as Junmyeon's breath touched them. His hands came up to trace along the lace at the low neckline as well, his fingertips barely brushing Sehun's skin occasionally. He was being torturously slow, just the way Sehun had always hated and the way he'd missed more recently. When his hand came up to touch the satin choker necklace, Sehun's head dropped back unconsciously, trying to expose more to Junmyeon's touch, but the hand moved away just as quickly and came to rest on Sehun's hip. Junmyeon seemed to have turned his attention now to the largest of the bows which rested at the very bottom of the bodice, low on Sehun’s stomach. As Junmyeon brushed over the fabric, Sehun thought he could feel the warmth of his hand even through the several layers of fabric and felt his skin heat in response. He shifted slightly, trying not to draw attention to the fact lest Junmyeon take that as his cue to take even more time in his explorations, but Junmyeon still noticed.
“Getting antsy?” he asked, still sounding amused.
“Nah,” said Sehun, “You know me. A paragon of patience and all that.”
"Mm. You have a bow in your hair," Junmyeon pointed out.
"So I do," Sehun agreed, more concerned with the way Junmyeon's hands had left his waist to smooth along the edges and the fake pearls of the bow than with the actual existence of the bow itself.
Sehun never thought he'd be happy for the skirt, but the heavily starched folds were doing a good job hiding just how turned on he'd gotten already just feeling Junmyeon's questing fingers exploring the fabric. He moved again, trying to find a more comfortable way to sit, but it only served to draw Junmyeon's attention back to the skirt -- something he'd been trying to avoid, since it could only mean that his frustration was about to start in earnest now. Junmyeon's hands ran down the skirt, pressing down the exaggerated frills only to watch them spring back up into place. The slight pressure of the hands on Sehun's hips and thighs made him squirm and choke back a noise, not lost on Junmyeon.
"Hold still," Junmyeon told him. "I'm not done looking yet."
Sehun really did make a disappointed sound, feeling Junmyeon's smirk in the way he let his hands brush with just enough pressure over the ruffles directly over Sehun's crotch. He knew Junmyeon could tell how riled up he was already, and he knew that that meant that Junmyeon would make a point of not giving Sehun what he wanted for a while yet. Sehun's hands started to creep up under the edge of the skirt almost without any input from his brain, as if he could move slowly enough to escape notice. Junmyeon saw instantly, of course, and with one hand swiftly took hold of the ribbon around Sehun's neck, giving it one sharp tug backwards with enough force to take Sehun's breath away.
"No," he said calmly, like he was training a misbehaving dog and like he saw nothing strange about this. "Did I say you could?"
Oh, Sehun thought through the dizzy buzz in his head. I think he likes the outfit.
When Sehun didn't respond, Junmyeon tugged back on the choker one more time, repeating, "Did I say you could?"
"No," Sehun whispered. At each tug around his neck, he felt his cock twitch under the layers of lace, making it hard to answer with more than a single hoarse syllable.
"You always want to rush everything," Junmyeon sighed, sounding disappointed. "Can't I take my time to appreciate all the hard work you've put into this? And Tao too, of course," he added as an afterthought.
Sehun had almost forgotten that this had all been Tao's idea, not his own. He'd have to actually buy him a birthday present this year instead of just adding his name to the card attached to Junmyeon's present.
"Where did Tao find all this, by the way?" Junmyeon asked, spreading the skirt out to admire its full width, spreading Sehun's legs in the process.
"He-" Sehun concentrated very hard on words. He took a deep breath and planted both feet firmly on the bed. "He's got these like browser folders for all of us. Apparently these made him think of me."
"Hmm," Junmyeon hummed thoughtfully, "I'll have to ask him about mine sometime then."
Oh my god, I bet you'll do it too, Sehun thought desperately.
He was trying very very hard to sit still, which was turning out to take way more willpower than anticipated. He resisted when Junmyeon pushed him forward and forced him to hold himself upright under his own steam, not immediately realizing when Junmyeon started to fiddle with the lacing down Sehun's back. When he did realize, however, he sat up so fast that Junmyeon started to laugh until he couldn't see the ribbons.
"What?" Sehun asked grumpily, not pleased at being laughed at.
"Nothing," Junmyeon wiped his eyes. "You're so cute."
Sehun definitely didn't blush because no matter how much lace he was currently wearing, he was still totally cool and composed and Junmyeon was definitely not cool enough to make him feel giddy and happy with one complement, nope. It was just very warm in this dress. Yes. The sooner he got out of it, the better.
Speaking of getting out of the dress, Junmyeon seemed to be having some trouble figuring out Tao's knots. Either that, or he was getting distracted once again by the fine craftsmanship on the clothing. Sehun wished he'd appreciate the fine craftsmanship on his ass already, or- wait. No. That didn't sound like he thought it would. The point was that laces. Still tied. Not okay.
"Do you want me to get a pocketknife or something?" Sehun asked. "Because I can totally get one."
"Sehun!" Junmyeon sounded scandalized. "You are not going to destroy the beautiful work done on this outfit. You have to be more patient. There is the most amazing hand embroidery here on the back, did you notice it?"
Sehun groaned.
"No," he said. "No, I did not. I don't really care about the dress, okay."
"You don't care about the dress?" Junmyeon asked with grossly exaggerated mock surprise. "Why else would you ever want to wear it? Sehun, I don't understand!"
"Don't make me say it," Sehun buried his face in his hands.
Junmyeon laughed and pressed a kiss to the back of his neck.
"Don't worry," he said. "I know you did it just for me."
Sehun hadn't thought it was possible to get redder than he already was, but you learned something new every day, didn't you? Junmyeon was finally settling down to work on the corset laces for real now, though, so Sehun didn't have much time to dwell on any embarrassing feelings he might be experiencing, save those of the physical sort, which were certainly there in abundance. When the layer of stiff cloth finally peeled away far sooner than he'd honestly expected, Sehun filed away the fact that Junmyeon was good at knots for later reference.
Junmyeon sat and stared for a moment before blurting out, "You mean there's more?"
Sehun looked down at the second layer of cloth and lace.
"Yes," he said, resigned. "There's more."
Junmyeon lost no time in getting his hands all over Sehun the underdress, leaving feather-light touches in some places and deliberate strokes in others, perfectly calculated and designed to make Sehun absolutely crazy with want. Every time he tried to move or hurry Junmyeon along in any way, he received an emphatic set-down in the form of a sharp jerk on the choker or a complete cessation of movement until Junmyeon was satisfied with Sehun's compliance. This was nothing new, but the process was stretched out for what seemed a thousand times longer than ever before, and the increased area of the dress meant that Sehun never knew where Junmyeon would choose to explore next. By the time Junmyeon finally wrapped his arms around Sehun from behind, pulling Sehun back against his chest so he could work his way down the line of buttons, Sehun was all but shaking. There was one more skirt under this layer, and Sehun thought he might cry if Junmyeon insisted on spending as much time admiring it as he had the other layers.
"You know what, fuck the dress," he tried to snap, but it came out as more of a whine. "Or better yet, actually, fuck me."
"All in due time," Junmyeon assured him. "What's this one here for?"
"It's just to make the rest of the skirt poof out, okay? Can you just-"
"Calm down, calm down." Junmyeon scooted to the side and pushed Sehun down on his back with a single hand on his shoulder. "This shouldn't take long."
"You always say that," Sehun mourned, "But it always does."
Junmyeon only laughed. It's true that he spent far less time examining the final tulle underskirt than he'd spent on each of the previous layers, but to someone as strung-out and aching as Sehun currently was, it still felt like an eternity. Junmyeon put a hand on the zipper at Sehun's hip and Sehun felt his last reserve of patience break.
"Would you just-" he choked. "Please."
"Well, since you've said the magic word..."
Junmyeon tugged the zipper down and the last layer of skirt off, tossing it to the side before looking at Sehun's seafoam green panties. They perfectly matched the ribbon running through the stockings, which Junmyeon had left unmoved, but definitely not untouched on Sehun's long legs.
"Have I seen these before?" he asked, head tilted to one side.
"Probably." Sehun's eyes were screwed shut, his hands all but fisted in the bedclothes at the prospect of sitting through more of Junmyeon's examinations. "They're not new. We spent all our time on the dress."
"Oh," said Junmyeon, "Well, in that case..."
He leaned over Sehun, smiling, then kissed him for the first time that evening. His mouth instantly swallowed up the sounds that poured from Sehun's throat when Junmyeon finally slid a hand under the elastic waistband of the panties and wrapped it around Sehun's cock. He had Sehun scrabbling at the bed, at Junmyeon's arm and at his back in no time at all as he deliberately stroked Sehun in time to their greedy kisses. Sehun came in what was probably an embarrassingly short length of time, all over Junmyeon's hand and the inside of the panties, hips snapping jerkily, but he figured he'd been subjected to Junmyeon's tender ministrations for an hour or more now, so he could be cut some slack. He blinked a few times, dimly registering Junmyeon looking for somewhere to wipe his hand.
"Just use the damn dress," he muttered.
"Sehun," Junmyeon's voice was scandalized and also close to laughter, "I'm sure it's dry clean only. Maybe I'll use your hair instead."
Sehun protested feebly, flapping his hands at Junmyeon until he wiped it on the blankets instead, which would have to be washed anyway. It was only then that he really noticed Junmyeon. He frowned.
"Hey," he said.
"What is it?" Junmyeon asked, and kissed him once again.
"You're still wearing clothes," Sehun pointed out once he had regained use of his mouth.
Junmyeon looked down at his own shirt. He looked slightly rumpled, but far more pulled together than Sehun, who was certain that he looked thoroughly debauched by this time, wearing only lace stockings, soiled panties, and a bow still miraculously pinned in his hair.
"So I am," Junmyeon said. He looked at Sehun with a very deliberate smirk. "I was hoping that, since I worked so hard to get you undressed, you could help me now."
"I don't know," said Sehun, licking his lips, "I was watching you, and it seemed like really a lot of work."
Junmyeon tweaked his ear, feigning insult, and as Sehun reached for the buttons on Junmyeon's shirt, he had the distinct pleasure of knowing that tonight Tao would not be getting a full night's sleep.
Fandom: EXO
Rating: R
Genre: crack
Word count: 4,586
Pairing: SeHo
Summary: Sehun never thought he'd be wanting Junmyeon to slow down more, yet there he was.
Notes: Well, this 'Verse escalated quickly. Um. This is for Mia and Haze because they've spent quite a lot of time telling me how they feel about Sehun in this. Mia especially spent quite a lot of time encouraging me to write this, and I couldn't have done it without her enthusiastic response.
BY THE WAY, in other Panty Line-related news, Karis did a thing. Karis did two things, actually, so you should go look at them both.
Please forgive me for writing this.
“Not that I’m complaining or anything, but I managed to get a full night’s sleep last night.”
Sehun didn’t like the meaningful look Tao was giving him, so he kept his eyes firmly fixed on his phone and pretended he hadn't heard.
"I know you heard me."
The bed dipped as Tao settled down next to Sehun and arranged the laptop in his lap comfortably. Shit.
"Sehun."
"Fine, what?" he finally answered.
"I said, I got a full night's sleep last night," Tao repeated.
"Congratulations," said Sehun, "I don't know why you're telling me this."
"Wow, that sounded way more grumpy than anyone getting laid as regularly as you are has any right to sound." The interest in Tao's voice was something Sehun had learned to be wary of.
"Why exactly are we talking about this," Sehun demanded suspiciously.
Tao looked at his browser window and shrugged.
"No reason," he said. "Except maybe because Jongdae hyung was sleeping in our room and usually when that happens I'm kept awake by some interestingly awkward noises from next door. And maybe because I'm your friend and you look way too worried today, considering."
"Considering what?" Sehun muttered, but sighed when Tao just gave him another look. "Can we not talk about this in front of people?"
"Oh, don't mind me," Luhan waved from where he was sitting on his bed. "Go on, continue imparting juicy secrets to each other. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain."
Sehun picked up one of his pillows and threw it at him. He wasn't entirely certain that Luhan's personal bubble didn't visibly ripple as the pillow entered the other bed's airspace. Luhan caught the pillow with one hand.
"This is a dangerous game you are playing here, Oh Sehun," he warned.
"If you kill me," Sehun said calmly, "Junmyeon will be sad at you."
Luhan grimaced.
"Ew. No, thank you. I'm leaving."
After he had gone, Sehun realized that this actually left him alone with Tao and with no excuse not to continue the conversation. Tao seemed to be quite aware of this fact as well.
"Well?" he asked expectantly.
Sehun groaned and rolled over to hide his face in the blankets.
"Why can't you just let it go?" he complained.
"Because I'm a good friend, who helps."
"You're a terrible friend."
"Sehun."
Sehun resigned himself to the inevitable.
"Everything's going too fast," he mumbled.
He could hear Tao trying to work that out even without turning his head.
"You mean, things are escalating too much?" Tao sounded confused. "You know, you could just talk to Junmyeon hyung and let him know if anything makes you uncomfortable and I'm sure he would-"
"It's not-" Sehun broke in. "It's not.... not that kind of too fast."
The problem was that Junmyeon liked to make him wait by taking as much time as he could to appreciate the day's... undergarments... and he liked to prevaricate unbearably long until he had Sehun stretched out on the proverbial rack and almost desperate. The problem was that there was not a whole lot to prevaricate about these days, and the routine was once more getting predictable. Sehun choked the words out with difficulty and waited for the coin to drop. It took a while.
"Sehun, leave it to you to make women's lingerie boring," Tao finally smirked.
Sehun made a garbled noise of some sort, then sat up when he heard the rapid click of Tao's computer keys.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm being a good friend," Tao said, "And helping."
Sehun scrambled up next to him until he could see whatever was going on on Tao's screen, only to be faced with the blinking homepage of some online shopping site in distressing pastel tones. This, however, was not the most unsettling thing to catch Sehun's eye. His gaze was inexorably drawn to Tao's bookmark bar, where the only things visible were twelve folders, each one labeled with a name. One of the names was Sehun's.
"What are those?" Sehun felt compelled to ask.
"These?" Tao said. "They're just things I found online that reminded me of the members. This is one of the things I found for you, and it just occured to me that now might be a good time to actually bring it up."
Sehun knew that he would eventually have to confront whatever lacy horror awaited him further down on the page, but couldn’t quite bring himself to look quite yet.
“What’s in Kris’s folder?” he asked, against his better judgement.
“Oh, stuff,” Tao waved a hand vaguely. “That’s not important. What do you think about this?”
There were a lot of frills in his face all of a sudden and a lot of frills on top of those frills. And far more cloth than Sehun had previously anticipated in his new lacy life.
"It's..." he struggled to find words. "It's a lot."
"A lot of good, right?" Tao grins at him. "Do you like the green or blue better?"
"I- the green, I guess, but why-"
"Listen," Tao said, like Sehun had been the one failing to pay attention here, "You feel like you've explored all the possibilities in the realm of panties, right? That can only mean that it's time to try something new."
"I think we have very different ideas of what that means, honestly," said Sehun dubiously.
Tao held up a finger to silence him before pointing said finger in his face.
"You said things are going too fast, right?" he argued. Sehun could only nod. "Then it only makes sense to give Junmyeon hyung enough material to keep things going for longer."
Tao stopped for a moment, thinking hard.
"Come to think of it," he said, "Why are you complaining so much? I thought it was driving you nuts that it was going too slow before."
"Why are we talking about this?" Sehun groaned. "And before-" he put a preemptive hand over Tao's mouth- "you say it's because you're a good friend... no."
Tao sat with Sehun's hand over his mouth, but Sehun could feel the judgemental set to Tao's mouth under his palm and could see Tao's eyebrows doing similar judgemental things under the edge of his hair.
"It's..." Even saying it was hard. "It's not that I really hated it, you know? It's just..."
Now he could feel Tao's smug grin under his hand. Tao's eyes curved up, the way they always did when he was particularly pleased.
"Oh, shut up." Sehun shoved Tao backwards and made for his phone again.
"I didn't say anything!" Tao sounded insufferably happy about this. "But it means my plan is probably the one that'll end up making both of you happy. You know I'm right."
He started selecting items and opening new tabs with renewed determination, asking Sehun for his opinion on this or that unidentifiable ribboned object. Sehun watched the virtual shopping cart's total and as it went up his heart went the opposite direction.
"Tao," he said, "This is getting way too expensive. I can't spend this much on clothes like this."
"Don't worry about it," Tao waved a hand, unconcerned. "Everything will work out fine."
Sehun waited for him to say whatever horrible thing he was going to say, to explain whatever terrible plan he had in his head to make Sehun's life more difficult.
"You just tell me how it goes over and I'll present Junmyeon hyung with the bill later."
Yes, there it was. Sehun attempted to smother himself with his own blankets.
Sehun almost completely forgot about the plan until packages started to show up, all addressed to him. Whoever else was around would inevitably demand to see, and Sehun would end up locking himself in his room and hiding the packages around his bed when none of his other roommates were around.
"I just wanted to know," Junmyeon said sadly when Sehun snatched one of the packages out of his hand one time when he'd been the one to intercept the delivery. "Why are you keeping secrets from me? I thought we were supposed to have something special, Sehunnie."
Sehun wanted to say that that's why he couldn't tell him, but instead clutched the package to his chest and scrambled blindly into his room, closing the door as quickly as he could.
Tao was the only one who knew what the packages contained, so he helped Sehun open them and inspect the contents when they were sure no one else was nearby. Baekhyun probably suspected something about what the boxes contained, the way he always seemed to know when something interesting and potentially humiliating was happening that concerned his bandmates, but at least he said nothing and left the whole thing to Tao to take care of. They tried on what could be tried on and Tao made some changes, exchanging certain items and tweaking others until he was satisfied, while Sehun stood there, feeling like a living mannequin.
"All these came out of my folder, right?" he asked one day. Tao made a sound to the affirmative as he stood behind Sehun with fistfulls of ribbons. "Then what's in your folder?"
"My wishlist," said Tao simply. "No, you don't get to see it. You all might get to see select items from it when you need to buy me birthday presents."
Sehun didn't inquire further, but he got the feeling Baekhyun probably got to see the entire wishlist.
When everything finally arrived, Tao was very enthusiastic about helping Sehun get into the ensemble, but as soon as it was on and Tao had been sent out to retrieve Junmyeon, Sehun was struck with a sudden panic.
This looks stupid, his brain suggested horribly. He's going to hate it.
Sehun stood up with some difficulty from where he'd been sitting on the edge of his bed.
This was a terrible idea, he thought, dismayed.
He was about to try sneaking out to hide in the bathroom until he could convince Tao to get him out of this ridiculous costume, but paused before his hand could even reach the doorknob. There were voices close by outside. Sehun recognized one of them as Junmyeon's, sounding resigned as he told Tao to stop laughing, and another sounded sort of like Wufan. Sehun looked around frantically before stepping to the side, around the clothing rack behind the door. When the door swung open, it hid him fairly well from view, so Sehun thought it was entirely possible he could escape notice entirely and Junmyeon would leave, thinking he wasn't in there after all.
"Sehun?"
Just keep quiet, Sehun told himself, He'll leave. He'll go away and I can get dressed before he has a chance to see.
This was, of course, delusional. Some part of Sehun knew this, because Junmyeon was not the kind to give up, particularly when he thought one of his members was waiting for him, and especially not when that member was Sehun. He would be more proud of that fact if he hadn't also been currently attempting to pull some very short pieces of lace further down his thighs.
"Sehun, I know you're in here," Junmyeon was saying. "Tao said you needed me."
He was not getting out of this. That much was clear. Sehun took a deep breath, then stepped out from behind the clothing rack. Junmyeon turned around, ready to say something, but froze when he saw Sehun, who in turn frowned and resisted the urge to cross his arms across his chest.
Neither of them said anything for a long while. Junmyeon just stood there looking for the longest time while Sehun stared intently at Junmyeon's socked feet. Sehun didn't want to be the first to say anything, wishing that Junmyeon would give him some hint as to how the entire thing had gone over, but Junmyeon continued to stand and contemplate. His eyes moved over the entire outfit, the bows running down Sehun's chest, the wide sash of satin ribbon, and the frilled skirt that stood out from Sehun's body in a perfect bell shape, but Junmyeon had one hand to his mouth and Sehun couldn't quite tell if the reaction was positive or not. Tao had deliberately picked one of the shorter skirts, to show off the off-white lace stockings he'd found after a solid half-hour of browsing at one online sock store, and Sehun could see Junmyeon's eyes linger on the barely visible mint green ribbon at the top, the only visible hint of green in an overwhelming sea of pink and cream. Still, Junmyeon said nothing, and Sehun had the sinking feeling he wasn't going to. Sehun cracked first, as usual.
"Well, say something, will you?" he snapped, seeming to startle Junmyeon somewhat.
"What do you want me to say?" Junmyeon asked mildly. Sehun wanted to punch him.
"You could start," he said through gritted teeth, "By just saying you hate it and getting it over with."
There was a moment of hesitation, then Junmyeon's eyes smiled a split second before the rest of him did.
"I don't hate it," he laughed, holding out a hand for Sehun to come closer. "I think you look gorgeous."
Exactly how he went from wanting to punch things and sink into the center of the earth to feeling pleasantly lightheaded and giddy, Sehun wasn't sure, but he still found himself crossing the room and leaning happily into the hand Junmyeon raised to his cheek.
"I always think you look gorgeous," Junmyeon added.
Sehun often wondered how exactly he let himself get roped into this thing to begin with, but then Junmyeon looked like this and it suddenly didn't seem so bad. He had gotten used to the panties, after all, so he could probably get used to this just fine. It wasn't bad at all actually.
His conclusion almost did a complete 180 a second later when joining Junmyeon on the bed was hampered by the fact that he could barely bend at the waist at all.
"Is this a corset?" Junmyeon sounded both amused and intrigued.
"Not really?" Sehun said dubiously. "I mean, kind of? Tao said it wasn't a real corset but it still feels pretty-"
He broke off, realizing that he hadn't planned to reveal Tao's involvement, but Junmyeon just laughed, slipping an arm around his waist and laying his hand flat against the stiff fabric.
"It's Tao this time, is it?" he asked, his mouth against the back of Sehun's neck. "Sounds like you're building up quite a team of stylists."
His fingers sought out each individual stiff rib in the bodice as he spoke, running up and down each one until Sehun shivered slightly. Sehun could almost hear him smile as he settled Sehun between his legs, facing away so that he could take a look at the back of the dress.
"He tied the laces very well," Junmyeon commented. "They're really elaborate."
The straps of the dress themselves were fairly thin, but they were covered with wide ruffles of white lace that moved slightly as Junmyeon's breath touched them. His hands came up to trace along the lace at the low neckline as well, his fingertips barely brushing Sehun's skin occasionally. He was being torturously slow, just the way Sehun had always hated and the way he'd missed more recently. When his hand came up to touch the satin choker necklace, Sehun's head dropped back unconsciously, trying to expose more to Junmyeon's touch, but the hand moved away just as quickly and came to rest on Sehun's hip. Junmyeon seemed to have turned his attention now to the largest of the bows which rested at the very bottom of the bodice, low on Sehun’s stomach. As Junmyeon brushed over the fabric, Sehun thought he could feel the warmth of his hand even through the several layers of fabric and felt his skin heat in response. He shifted slightly, trying not to draw attention to the fact lest Junmyeon take that as his cue to take even more time in his explorations, but Junmyeon still noticed.
“Getting antsy?” he asked, still sounding amused.
“Nah,” said Sehun, “You know me. A paragon of patience and all that.”
"Mm. You have a bow in your hair," Junmyeon pointed out.
"So I do," Sehun agreed, more concerned with the way Junmyeon's hands had left his waist to smooth along the edges and the fake pearls of the bow than with the actual existence of the bow itself.
Sehun never thought he'd be happy for the skirt, but the heavily starched folds were doing a good job hiding just how turned on he'd gotten already just feeling Junmyeon's questing fingers exploring the fabric. He moved again, trying to find a more comfortable way to sit, but it only served to draw Junmyeon's attention back to the skirt -- something he'd been trying to avoid, since it could only mean that his frustration was about to start in earnest now. Junmyeon's hands ran down the skirt, pressing down the exaggerated frills only to watch them spring back up into place. The slight pressure of the hands on Sehun's hips and thighs made him squirm and choke back a noise, not lost on Junmyeon.
"Hold still," Junmyeon told him. "I'm not done looking yet."
Sehun really did make a disappointed sound, feeling Junmyeon's smirk in the way he let his hands brush with just enough pressure over the ruffles directly over Sehun's crotch. He knew Junmyeon could tell how riled up he was already, and he knew that that meant that Junmyeon would make a point of not giving Sehun what he wanted for a while yet. Sehun's hands started to creep up under the edge of the skirt almost without any input from his brain, as if he could move slowly enough to escape notice. Junmyeon saw instantly, of course, and with one hand swiftly took hold of the ribbon around Sehun's neck, giving it one sharp tug backwards with enough force to take Sehun's breath away.
"No," he said calmly, like he was training a misbehaving dog and like he saw nothing strange about this. "Did I say you could?"
Oh, Sehun thought through the dizzy buzz in his head. I think he likes the outfit.
When Sehun didn't respond, Junmyeon tugged back on the choker one more time, repeating, "Did I say you could?"
"No," Sehun whispered. At each tug around his neck, he felt his cock twitch under the layers of lace, making it hard to answer with more than a single hoarse syllable.
"You always want to rush everything," Junmyeon sighed, sounding disappointed. "Can't I take my time to appreciate all the hard work you've put into this? And Tao too, of course," he added as an afterthought.
Sehun had almost forgotten that this had all been Tao's idea, not his own. He'd have to actually buy him a birthday present this year instead of just adding his name to the card attached to Junmyeon's present.
"Where did Tao find all this, by the way?" Junmyeon asked, spreading the skirt out to admire its full width, spreading Sehun's legs in the process.
"He-" Sehun concentrated very hard on words. He took a deep breath and planted both feet firmly on the bed. "He's got these like browser folders for all of us. Apparently these made him think of me."
"Hmm," Junmyeon hummed thoughtfully, "I'll have to ask him about mine sometime then."
Oh my god, I bet you'll do it too, Sehun thought desperately.
He was trying very very hard to sit still, which was turning out to take way more willpower than anticipated. He resisted when Junmyeon pushed him forward and forced him to hold himself upright under his own steam, not immediately realizing when Junmyeon started to fiddle with the lacing down Sehun's back. When he did realize, however, he sat up so fast that Junmyeon started to laugh until he couldn't see the ribbons.
"What?" Sehun asked grumpily, not pleased at being laughed at.
"Nothing," Junmyeon wiped his eyes. "You're so cute."
Sehun definitely didn't blush because no matter how much lace he was currently wearing, he was still totally cool and composed and Junmyeon was definitely not cool enough to make him feel giddy and happy with one complement, nope. It was just very warm in this dress. Yes. The sooner he got out of it, the better.
Speaking of getting out of the dress, Junmyeon seemed to be having some trouble figuring out Tao's knots. Either that, or he was getting distracted once again by the fine craftsmanship on the clothing. Sehun wished he'd appreciate the fine craftsmanship on his ass already, or- wait. No. That didn't sound like he thought it would. The point was that laces. Still tied. Not okay.
"Do you want me to get a pocketknife or something?" Sehun asked. "Because I can totally get one."
"Sehun!" Junmyeon sounded scandalized. "You are not going to destroy the beautiful work done on this outfit. You have to be more patient. There is the most amazing hand embroidery here on the back, did you notice it?"
Sehun groaned.
"No," he said. "No, I did not. I don't really care about the dress, okay."
"You don't care about the dress?" Junmyeon asked with grossly exaggerated mock surprise. "Why else would you ever want to wear it? Sehun, I don't understand!"
"Don't make me say it," Sehun buried his face in his hands.
Junmyeon laughed and pressed a kiss to the back of his neck.
"Don't worry," he said. "I know you did it just for me."
Sehun hadn't thought it was possible to get redder than he already was, but you learned something new every day, didn't you? Junmyeon was finally settling down to work on the corset laces for real now, though, so Sehun didn't have much time to dwell on any embarrassing feelings he might be experiencing, save those of the physical sort, which were certainly there in abundance. When the layer of stiff cloth finally peeled away far sooner than he'd honestly expected, Sehun filed away the fact that Junmyeon was good at knots for later reference.
Junmyeon sat and stared for a moment before blurting out, "You mean there's more?"
Sehun looked down at the second layer of cloth and lace.
"Yes," he said, resigned. "There's more."
Junmyeon lost no time in getting his hands all over Sehun the underdress, leaving feather-light touches in some places and deliberate strokes in others, perfectly calculated and designed to make Sehun absolutely crazy with want. Every time he tried to move or hurry Junmyeon along in any way, he received an emphatic set-down in the form of a sharp jerk on the choker or a complete cessation of movement until Junmyeon was satisfied with Sehun's compliance. This was nothing new, but the process was stretched out for what seemed a thousand times longer than ever before, and the increased area of the dress meant that Sehun never knew where Junmyeon would choose to explore next. By the time Junmyeon finally wrapped his arms around Sehun from behind, pulling Sehun back against his chest so he could work his way down the line of buttons, Sehun was all but shaking. There was one more skirt under this layer, and Sehun thought he might cry if Junmyeon insisted on spending as much time admiring it as he had the other layers.
"You know what, fuck the dress," he tried to snap, but it came out as more of a whine. "Or better yet, actually, fuck me."
"All in due time," Junmyeon assured him. "What's this one here for?"
"It's just to make the rest of the skirt poof out, okay? Can you just-"
"Calm down, calm down." Junmyeon scooted to the side and pushed Sehun down on his back with a single hand on his shoulder. "This shouldn't take long."
"You always say that," Sehun mourned, "But it always does."
Junmyeon only laughed. It's true that he spent far less time examining the final tulle underskirt than he'd spent on each of the previous layers, but to someone as strung-out and aching as Sehun currently was, it still felt like an eternity. Junmyeon put a hand on the zipper at Sehun's hip and Sehun felt his last reserve of patience break.
"Would you just-" he choked. "Please."
"Well, since you've said the magic word..."
Junmyeon tugged the zipper down and the last layer of skirt off, tossing it to the side before looking at Sehun's seafoam green panties. They perfectly matched the ribbon running through the stockings, which Junmyeon had left unmoved, but definitely not untouched on Sehun's long legs.
"Have I seen these before?" he asked, head tilted to one side.
"Probably." Sehun's eyes were screwed shut, his hands all but fisted in the bedclothes at the prospect of sitting through more of Junmyeon's examinations. "They're not new. We spent all our time on the dress."
"Oh," said Junmyeon, "Well, in that case..."
He leaned over Sehun, smiling, then kissed him for the first time that evening. His mouth instantly swallowed up the sounds that poured from Sehun's throat when Junmyeon finally slid a hand under the elastic waistband of the panties and wrapped it around Sehun's cock. He had Sehun scrabbling at the bed, at Junmyeon's arm and at his back in no time at all as he deliberately stroked Sehun in time to their greedy kisses. Sehun came in what was probably an embarrassingly short length of time, all over Junmyeon's hand and the inside of the panties, hips snapping jerkily, but he figured he'd been subjected to Junmyeon's tender ministrations for an hour or more now, so he could be cut some slack. He blinked a few times, dimly registering Junmyeon looking for somewhere to wipe his hand.
"Just use the damn dress," he muttered.
"Sehun," Junmyeon's voice was scandalized and also close to laughter, "I'm sure it's dry clean only. Maybe I'll use your hair instead."
Sehun protested feebly, flapping his hands at Junmyeon until he wiped it on the blankets instead, which would have to be washed anyway. It was only then that he really noticed Junmyeon. He frowned.
"Hey," he said.
"What is it?" Junmyeon asked, and kissed him once again.
"You're still wearing clothes," Sehun pointed out once he had regained use of his mouth.
Junmyeon looked down at his own shirt. He looked slightly rumpled, but far more pulled together than Sehun, who was certain that he looked thoroughly debauched by this time, wearing only lace stockings, soiled panties, and a bow still miraculously pinned in his hair.
"So I am," Junmyeon said. He looked at Sehun with a very deliberate smirk. "I was hoping that, since I worked so hard to get you undressed, you could help me now."
"I don't know," said Sehun, licking his lips, "I was watching you, and it seemed like really a lot of work."
Junmyeon tweaked his ear, feigning insult, and as Sehun reached for the buttons on Junmyeon's shirt, he had the distinct pleasure of knowing that tonight Tao would not be getting a full night's sleep.