This one's a commissioned story I did about a quick encounter between two college students, one of them a gymnast. As the title suggests, there's a lot of sensory costume-related fun in it, including the closeted crossdressing lead getting to let loose in the pink spandex of his dreams.
There's also a bit of bondage and power play, all consensual and very light, as his crush leads him through his fantasy.
***
"Hey."
I hear Iris's voice behind me and sidestep out of her way, preparing to discreetly watch her pass by.
Watching Iris is one of my little pleasures in life, and with college being a lot more all-night cram sessions and a lot fewer debauched parties than I was led to believe, I'll take what I can get.
"
Hey
," she repeats.
I move all the way over, so my shoulder is up against the wall of the corridor.
"Hey, Kevin!"
It still takes me a few more seconds to realize that she doesn't want me to move over. She wants me to turn around.
"Hey, Iris." I turn and quickly clear my throat, self-conscious of the way my voice catches around her.
God, it must be so painfully obvious that I like her. She's so completely my type that I can barely look at her. East Asian descent. Gorgeous, shiny black hair down to her waist. Goth fashion sense that always makes me feel like I'm somewhere a little more exciting than reality when I see her. Today, she's wearing a tight black camisole with an elaborate lattice of straps suspending a red gem over her petite but noticeable cleavage.
"Meet me in the gym in ten, okay?" she says. "I need your help with something."
"Oh. Sure." I stammer out.
We're not on favor-asking terms. We're barely on nodding in the hallway terms. But Iris doesn't need to waste her time breaking ice. Her eyes can cut through anything -- awkwardness, confusion, strangerhood -- even without the extra sharp edges she gets from her eyeliner.
But as to
why
she's using those eyes on me at this moment.... She knows, right? That's what this is. She knows the way I think about her, and she's got plans to punish me for it. Or reward me.
#
It doesn't matter what the odds are.
I show up and stand in the gym's main hallway, where the men's and women's locker rooms diverge, with my head on a swivel. I watch for any sign of people gathering, preparing to witness some epic prank, but there's no one around except for a couple of stragglers carrying yoga mats toward one of the building's smaller studio classrooms.
Iris must know the rhythms of the whole PE department, because she times her entrance for the exact moment when I'm entirely alone here.
She struts out of the women's locker room like she's stepping onto a stage in front of tens of thousands of people, but there's only me. I'm the only one here to see her in the shimmering black catsuit she's changed into.
It clings precisely to her slender, graceful shape, without a single crease or gap. Even though she's covered from neck to wrists to ankles, it feels incredibly intimate, seeing her whole unadorned form like this. Well, unadorned except for a black leather hairband, and a necklace with a tiny model dagger for a pendant.
She lets me take in the sight of her for a few moments, then says, "Well? Come on," and beckons for me to follow her back into the locker room.
I hesitate in front of the circular sign with the figure of a person in a dress.
"Don't worry, there's no one here," Iris says, and beckons more forcefully.
I proceed cautiously, glancing around every corner as I go, until Iris leads me to one locker in particular.
She opens it, reaches in, and hands me a small bundle of clothes.
"They should fit," she says. "Give them a try."
I unfold the bundle. The outer layer is a white long-sleeved top. It looks small, but I recognize it by feel as spandex, so I'm sure I can wriggle into it. Wrapped inside the top is a full bodysuit made from the same fabric, only in the hottest hot pink I've ever seen.
My heart speeds up, and not only because I'm alone with Iris, still waiting for the other shoe to drop.
"What are these for?" I stall.
"They're so that you can help me with my routine," she says, like this is obvious, but also with a hint of mischief. "You can't do gymnastics in your jeans."
How flexible does she think I am? If she asks me to do the splits, my jeans won't be the first thing to snap.
But the thought is appealing. I rub my fingers through the fabric, imagining it hugging my body the way her catsuit hugs hers, hiding everything and nothing, pressing inward yet leaving my movement completely unrestricted, or at least, as unrestricted as my muscles and tendons will allow.
"And... the color?" I ask.
"What does the color matter?" Iris asks innocently, clasping her hands behind her back.
"I guess it doesn't, but did you pick it for me on purpose?" I ask. "I mean, you had to know that some people feel... ways... about pink."
"Are you asking how I knew?" Iris asks, stepping closer to me, those sharp eyes of hers alight with the glee. "About pink? About spandex? About the particular ways
you
feel about both of those things?"
I can't escape the pink now. Even if I drop the outfit and run, I can feel blotches of hot pink blooming all over my face.
"I don't know..." I can barely squeeze the lie out through my throat, "...what you're talking about...."
"I've seen it," says Iris, reaching out to warm her hand on my blazing left cheek. "I've seen the waistbands of your underwear when you bend over. I've seen right through the white button-down shirts you wear for class presentations, to the leotards you sometimes wear instead of undershirts. I've counted how many times you've volunteered for the women's parts in Shakespeare class, and I've watched your face when you get to show up in costume. It's not just a jokey cry for attention to you. It's something so much deeper."
I don't know what to say.
All this time, I've been watching Iris every second I can get away with it. It never even occurred to me that she might be watching me too.
She lays her hand on the clothes I'm still holding.
"I know you want to be seen like this," she says. "I know you want
me
to see you. But it's your call."
She turns around and puts an arm theatrically over her eyes.
Her other hand rests on her hip, which sways out to the side as she settles into one of her many dancer's postures.
She gives me a long, long chance to look at her, to leave, or to strip down and change.
I change.
My own clothes form a much rougher bundle as I roll them together, in my rush to tug and stretch and squeeze the delicious pink bodysuit into place.
It might not be quite as tailored a fit as Iris's catsuit, but it does fit nicely. It envelops me in comforting, merciless tightness, finding and smothering every pocket of air touching my skin.
Adding the white top covers up large areas of hot pink, but somehow, I feel even more girlish this way. Iris herself still looks fierce when she decides to wear the occasional splash of pink or white against her mostly black wardrobe, but I realize now that she never puts both together. The combined look feels inescapably soft.
Adding an extra layer of spandex on top also adds to the feeling of not-quite-suffocation. It's an exhilarating sensation, just barely on the right side of claustrophobia.
I tap Iris on the shoulder. She turns around and breaks into a grin.
"Oh, now that is
darling!
" she exclaims, and leans toward me.
I'm ready. I'm waiting. I don't know if it's going to be a kiss, or just a hug, or maybe a pat or a pinch on any of my completely unprotected soft spots. I'm not ruling anything out at this point.
It turns out she's reaching for my messy bundle of street clothes.
She sets them in her locker, and pulls out three more items.
The first is a black and white masquerade mask, which she slips on over her eyes. Two long, earlike spikes rise from its upper corners, giving her whole face a feline appearance.
The second is her phone, which she immediately sets to selfie mode, and throws her arm around my shoulders.
So, there's going to be a record of this out there. Okay, I guess that's what's happening. I'm in. I smile when she tells me to.
The third is a gymnastic ribbon wand.
Iris flutters the iridescent purple ribbon in a circle between us, like she's wrapping me up in a magic spell, while she threads her padlock into place on the locker.
There's plenty of time for me to change my mind before she clicks the lock shut, leaving my transformation back into my normal, public self entirely at her discretion.
I help her mix up the combination on the lock, just to make it official.
"Perfect," says Iris. "Time to go."
With a flick of her ribbon, she leads me back out of the locker room, and for a moment, I'm sure she's about to parade me all over campus like this -- I'd let her -- but she stays in the gym, and leads me to one of the multipurpose rooms. There are mirrors lining the walls, maybe for ballet classes, or maybe just so the gymnasts can check their form. They definitely practice in here. There's a balance beam and a pommel horse pushed off to the side of the space.
Iris makes straight for the tumbling mats currently occupying most of the space, and immediately does a set of ten forward flips from one side of the room to the other, with the ribbon spiraling along behind her.