Room 504, Saturday Evening (pre-dance)

[intraspective]

Clearly they'd had to use the fact that there was a dance that evening to wander back to the dorms, right?

In some ways it wasn't as poor an excuse as it sounded, really, considering that both of their outfits were at to the dorms, hanging in her closet (they really would have to do a bit of rearranging, in that case, if he wanted his own closet—two years of her room being just hers meant that, well, her stuff had taken over).

Never mind the fact that it was also an excuse to just hang around each other. Ino peered at the mirror as she applied her minimal makeup for the evening.

"How're you coming along?"

Yes, she could've turned around and seen, but really asking was likely to be more entertaining.

[For that boy!]

Comments

[puppy_fair]

Zack gave the bottom of his jacket a little tug, wrinkling his nose as he looked down at himself.

He felt so... civilian.

"I'm decent," he reported, after a moment's thought. "I mean, more or less clothed. How do people manage to get around while wearing such soft shoes, anyhow?"

He had odd priorities. The world continued to turn.

[intraspective]

It was a moment longer before she found an answer for that which wasn't made entirely of snickering.

"Easily," she said, still at the mirror. "It all depends on what you're used to. Bet you could jump higher in those shoes."

They were lighter than his boots!

[puppy_fair]

"I feel like I could wear holes in these by the end of the day," Zack countered, giving his toes a wriggle. "And I can move my toes, Ino. What gives?"

... Yes, Zack's footwear had consisted entirely of SOLDIER-issue army boots for the past several years, now. Did it show?

[intraspective]

It really did.

She laughed and pulled herself away from the mirror to go over and press a kiss to his cheek. "Most shoes let you move your toes," she pointed out, going to grab her strappy heels. "All of mine do."

Her shoes consisted of sandals and such though.

[puppy_fair]

"It doesn't count when you can see your toes," Zack decided, looking over at her shoes and then over the rest of her, appreciatively. "You look nice."

He approved!

[intraspective]

"You picked out the dress," she said, smiling as a blush tried to creep onto her cheeks. "I think you get a bit of credit for how I look tonight."

But only a bit.

[puppy_fair]

"Just a little," Zack replied with a laugh, "and just for the dress."

What could he say? He liked pink. And ribbons. Particularly on pretty girls like Ino. And so it all worked out nicely, there.

"You'd look good no matter what you were wearing, I think." And he didn't even think he was biased, so there!

[intraspective]

She wriggled her toes, just to prove that she could, and laughed as she went to go and... lean against him. Shush, she liked physical contact.

"You look good," she told him admiringly. "I approve."

[puppy_fair]

Okay, Zack was going to stop squirming in his shoes long enough to strike a pose, now, before wrapping his arm around her.

"You like this, huh? How does it compare to my uniform, though?"

Be brutal, Ino.

[intraspective]

Um.

Ino studied him for a moment.

"... Do I have to answer that?"

Which was, really, an answer all on it's own, wasn't it?

[puppy_fair]

Oh, ow.

"You really just said that, didn't you?" Zack frowned down at himself. "And here I thought girls liked guys in uniform. You can't even see my arms in this thing."

True. He was also not wearing puffy pants, though.

... Or a girdle.

[intraspective]

She hadn't meant to hurt his feelings!

"I think you're hot no matter what you're wearing," Ino told him honestly. "Maybe I like the suit better right now 'cause I've never seen you in one before."

And maybe because he was damn sexy in it. Ino had biases here.

[puppy_fair]

It probably helped that, aside from a swimsuit, this was the closest thing to civilian clothing that she'd probably ever seen him in.

"That might do it," he allowed, smoothing down his jacket for the umpteenth time. He felt pretty slick in this getup, he had to admit. Except... "Do you know how to tie a necktie, by any chance?"

[intraspective]

It was proof of her affection for him that she didn't laugh at that. Ino wasn't surprised that he wouldn't know how to do that.

"Don't worry," she assured him. "I adore you in whatever."

Or nothing at all! Ino was easy that way! It helped that she was ridiculous fond of him and not in it just for the looks.

"And I can, yeah. You got it handy?" Or did she have to move away to grab it?

[puppy_fair]

"In my pocket," Zack agreed, because clearly the best place to keep a silk tie was wadded into a ball in one's pocket, right?

Right!

He held up one finger for just one second, and then went rummaging through his pockets to find it. Which did not take long, really. "The pockets in these pants are tiny," he added while he handed the tie over.

He doubted that he could get one potion in there. And that was weird.

[intraspective]

She held up the sorely abused tie with amusement on her face.

"Now you know how weird it was for me to realize how much your pockets hold. Those are normal pockets here, what you've got now."

Trying to straighten the crinkles in the tie wasn't proving to be of much use.

[puppy_fair]

"Between you and me? I'm not really a big fan of normal pockets, here," Zack decided, watching her attempt to smoothen out the tie. "I can't bring, like, anything with me. Except for maybe my wallet, I guess."

Poor Mr. Winkles would have to go into his cage for the evening, to do... whatever it was that sweet, innocent, adorable little gerbils did.

Plot to murder, most likely.

[intraspective]

Plot her murder, most likely. He'd already tried it once!

Ino eyed the tie dubiously. It wasn't going to get much smoother without ironing it or steaming it. Eh, good enough.

Some of the wrinkles were gone anyway. "That's 'bout all most carry with them," she pointed out. "You wanna wear this?"

The poor wrinkled tie.

[puppy_fair]

Zack eyed the tie. It was ... certainly a tie. It had seen better days, he supposed, but so had most of his clothing.

"Well, it does complete the suit," he noted. "So I probably should, right?"

If he didn't, people might think he was trying to dress up like that weird red-headed Turk who taught at the school.

[intraspective]

"You'll just lose the tie at some point this evening," she predicted, reaching up to begin tying it on for him.

He'd lose it because she'd steal it from him.

[puppy_fair]

But he'd still look good!

"You really think I'm that disorganized? I manage to go around all the time without losing bits of my uniform, you know."

This was because his uniform was specifically designed to stay put. And not many people tried to pull the clothing off of a guy whose sword was bigger than they were, unless he wanted them to.

Rawr.

[intraspective]

"Not that you're disorganized," she protested and see, she was going to just steal a kiss while tying that tie. Ino could multitask!

And then fix that tie up after the kiss, yes. She wasn't perfect here.

"But that clever hands go a long way." Mmmm, yeah.

[puppy_fair]

Oooh, kisses. Zack didn't mind one way or the other how scruffy his tie looked if there were going to be kisses involved. And clever hands? Those were always a bonus, too!

...

Wait.

"At the dance?"

She was going to undress him at the dance?

[intraspective]

"The tie," she clarified, smoothing her hands over it. "Maybe a few buttons. That'll be your cue that I want to leave."

You know, so she could continue undressing him.

[puppy_fair]

... Oooooooh.

"I can live with that," Zack decided. Because... heck yes he could live with it. And he'd probably be rushing her the heck out the door by that point, now that she'd informed him what the cue was for. "Think we're almost ready, then?"

To get there? Because the sooner they got there, the sooner she could take off his tie so they could leave again.

[intraspective]

She gave his tie one last pat, and stepped away from him. Ino gave him a long once-over and then double-checked her own appearance.

"I think we're ready," she said, smiling at him. "Shall we?"

[puppy_fair]

"Let's," Zack agreed, holding out his arm the way he'd seen gentlemen do a million times on television for the ladies to take their elbows.

It seemed like the thing to do, since they were both all dolled up after all.

"To the Dance."