“Okay, how about this one? No pants so we don’t have to deal with how it feels with your tail, it mostly fits the description of Sable’s dress at that one ball, and it will get here by tomorrow night.” Austin sounded exhausted as he described the pros of the latest costume idea he’d found, but I had to disagree. 

“No. That dress looks like a nightmare to deal with.” And I was right. It looked like it had too many layers of stuff. If we were going to be at a party all night I wanted something I could relax in, not something that would constantly feel like a weight dragging me down.

“Hon, that was my last idea. I can’t remember many more outfits and most of them involve pants of some kind.” Bless him, Austin did not have to help me as much as he did. I knew this would be difficult once I started rereading my old stuff for outfit ideas and found very little that I thought would be appealing to wear. Originally I’d figured pants would be a good pick, but after having worn a pair of jeans I could safely say fuck that. As soon as Austin got home with the outfit I took him back out with me and immediately bought the nearest dress that looked comfortable to wear at home. It was so much better than gross pants.

God, being able to wear dresses at all was amazing. I wasn’t sure it was possible for me to go back to wearing anything else, even after I went back to being… someone else.

I had one last idea for what to wear, but I couldn’t — wouldn’t — say it aloud. Like my desire to be Sable, this one was just something I really wanted to do. But if I told him what it was, that was it, he’d tease me about it forever. I’d never escape that fate.

But he must have caught a look in my eyes, because Austin spoke up just a second after the thought crossed my mind. “Do you have any ideas, hon?”

Yes. “No,” why no, I didn’t sound nervous at all as I lied. 

“You sure?” He asked, his voice slowly shifting as he leaned towards me. He eyed me like a predator looking at its prey, which was so unfair and inaccurate because foxes were predator animals, too!

No. “Yes?” I squeaked.

“Oh. Alright then.” Austin’s voice returned to its normal tone and he backed away, as if none of what just happened had actually happened.

“U-uh,” I blubbered out of sheer confusion. What was that? 

He raised an eyebrow at my noises, but continued acting like nothing was off. Bastard. “What? You said you had no ideas. I trust you.”

“That’s not how this is supposed to happen!” I blurted out, before my eyes widened and I covered my mouth with my hands. Oh no.

Just like that, the Austin of moments ago returned, with a devilish smile on his face that was making the butterflies in my stomach do summersaults. “Oh? And tell me, what am I supposed to do, hm?”

“I-” what was this? This was totally out of left field for him, he was always so straightforward with this stuff. I didn’t know what I was doing! “Y-you’re supposed to, I don’t know, bully me until I tell you the truth. And then, um,”

“Punish you for lying?” 

“N-no! I, well, maybe, depends on what it is.” 

“In that case, my dear girlfriend, please tell me what’s got you so flustered? Did you have a more lewd outfit idea you wanted to try?” 

“Nothing like that,” I whispered as I tried to avoid looking in his eyes. Those eyes had too much power over me, it was infuriating. And other things. But mostly infuriating. At least, it was as long as my tail’s rapid excited movement could be ignored.

“Oh? So you’re embarrassed but it isn’t lewd, huh. And it must be one of the outfits you think would work for the contest, so…” his eyes widened, and the growing grin on his face told me I was doomed. “Wasn’t there a set of chapters that involved her being dressed as a maid?”

“N-no! I mean yes, but, but...” I trailed off, defeated. 

“Sweetheart, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to be a maid,” Austin didn’t back away, but he seemed to put a pause on the event to clarify that.

I appreciated the breather, but damn him. “I know, but it’s— fuck’s sakes, can we just skip to the kissing?” 

Austin was more than happy to give me what I wanted.