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He had been sitting at home playing with Lexus when it had come to mind to text Holi about the cosplay, more out of curiosity than anything else. So once the ferret had been worn out from play time he had tossed the first text her way which led to more texting about it and then an invitation to her town home. Richard didn’t dress up for it, just made sure he was in clothes that wouldn’t be a hassle to get measurements over if it was needed just in case.
When he had knocked on her door and she opened it with a bra in hand he gave a slow blink and the corner of his lips twitched up in an amused half smile. “Hello, did I interrupt something?” He asked though he did come in when she allowed him to.
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Huh?
Holi blinked and shook her head, still forgetting about the bra in her hand, “Nope! Just cleaning~ You can sit on the couch and I will be right back!” She quickly went into her room, deposited said bra on the floor and grabbed her measuring tape. “Alright! So I need you to take off your clothing~” She smiled and waited, humming a kpop song.
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Richard glanced around the room after she left to where she would drop off the bra but his attention quickly went back to her when she re-entered and told him to strip. On one hand he had wondered if that would be needed, on the other hand… “My my, and we hadn’t even had dinner yet.” His tone was fully teasing, amusement rather apparent. “How much do you need off?”
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Dinner? Was he hungry?
Oh! Man she was a terrible host! She should make something~
“I can make dinner, I'm sorry I should've asked! What would you like to eat?” Holi was no Gordon Ramsey but she did know how to make some tasty dishes according to her foster mom. “Mmmmnnnn…You can leave your boxers on? Or if you wear briefs, those. I need accurate measurements so most clothing gets in the way of that.” Oh what if she made paninis? Mmmmnnnn Paninis… “What kind of panini would you like?”
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Richard ended up laughing at the mixture of her words and the look on her face. “No, I'm not hungry, don’t worry about it.” If she didn’t get it then that was fine, it had just been teasing anyway. “So strip to my small then? Alright.” He toed off his boots then pulled his shirt off over his head a moment later. If he paused just to see if the young woman had anything to say about that just from how she had been reacting before? It was just him looking for a place to put said shirt down.
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Oh so he wasn't hungry? Well she was so she proceeded to make her own panini and she didn't understand what was so funny. Either way, Holi shrugged, then noticed that he was not following her instructions properly. “Nooooo Rick! EVERYTHING!” She was half way flailing at this point, “Oh here…” She walked over and proceeded to work on taking off his pants. Geez non listening old man…. She gave a huff of frustration , tongue sticking out to the side while she worked. Why are pants so hard?
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A hand went to cover his mouth as Richard tried very hard not to burst into laughter at her reaction. “Right, right. Sorry I was slow on stripping, didn’t know it was time sensitive.” He said when he could keep his voice level, though his tone was still pretty amused. “I got it, you don’t have to help.” He added when it looked like she was struggling, much to his further amusement.
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Wait what?
That hit Holi like a freight train.
“S-Strip?! U-Uhhhh….” The amount of heat that went to her face was pretty amazing at that moment. She backed away, covering her eyes. “N-No that's n-not… Mmmmm…” She whistled and looked up at the ceiling, “W-Well stripping implies being n-naked….You're not….That so it's not stripping!” She squeaked out that last bit, trying to clear her throat. Yep, Rick was not naked and therefore there was no stripping to be had here. Nope, calm down Holi that just threw you off is all myep.
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The chuckles escaped and Richard took over getting out of his pants as Holi seemed to have a small melt down. “Stripping counts as stripping even if you take off one article of clothing though. But no, I'm not getting naked.” It didn’t take him long to be standing there in his boxers and he was left standing with his shirt and pants in hand while staring at Holi in amusement.
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“Nuh uh!” Last time she checked, stripping meant getting down past your underwear and letting everything just hang out, like whenever she had to shower. THIS….this was not counting, for her sanity's sake. She quickly grabbed Rick’s clothing and placed it on the couch, grabbing the measuring tape, “A-Any way! Hold out your arms please~” She waited for him to basically do a T-pose, focusing on the measurements that she was taking. Holi poked and prodded, looking at his arms with a frown, “You're pretty solid. What do you lift? Cows?” She knew Willie worked on a farm and he handled pigs which was why he was so buff. She didn't know if Rick owned a farm but those were some pretty huge pigs he was handling if that was the case.
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He let the topic of stripping drop, for now, as they moved on with measuring for the costume. “Well sometimes I have to help lift hurt animals, do deer count?” Richard asked as he held still for the measuring. “I go to the gym only rarely so I’m not sure how much that would translate.” Of course he typically had help lifting said animals, unless he was powered as he certainly didn’t need any extra help if he was powered up.
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Deer? Why would he be lifting deer?
Holi tilted her head, raising an eyebrow, “Deer don't live on a farm tho-----OH! OOOOOOH! HAHAHA!” she understood now, that would make sense as to why she saw him in the park that day and why he asked her questions about the butterfly! “You work for the parks don't you?” She felt dumb for not realizing sooner but once again, she never said she was the most observant person. She moved on from his arms to his upper torso, finding herself focusing on this area juuuust a bit too much. She couldn't understand why though and it was frustrating, so she continued to stare at Richard’s chest while she figured it out. “Whyyy?” She poked, finding that this part was hard as well. “You're just made up of nothing but hardness aren't you? You're not squishy at all….”
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Richard gave a lopsided grin. “Yeah, I’m a park ranger. I don’t work at the small parks in the city unless they need help relocating a larger animal though.” There had been a few over the years, like a bear that had wandered too far into the city. Said chest she was staring at shook as he laughed again. “No, I don’t have much in the way of soft parts. Too active of a lifestyle for that.” He still didn’t move from the pose she wanted him to.
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True she could give him that.
She still couldn't figure out just why Richard’s chest was just so appealing, nevermind the fact that something was telling her to get just a bit closer. Like what was it!? It was baffling only because she only got this feeling whenever she watched jojo. Holi reeeeallly didn't want to scare her new buddy but…. “I-I'm sorry for this” she just faceplanted into his chest with a sigh, hard yet so soft and warm…..There was the bit of chest fuzz but apparently that didn't matter, nope, it was just like whenever she laid on her foster mom as a kid.
“Ahhhhhh….”
Yep, she could just lay here all day.
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…. Richard tilted his head down to stare at the young woman, not sure if he should laugh or what. Well, at least she apologized beforehand? “Having fun there?”
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Holi did not even have the energy to answer, just sighing while she rubbed her face against his chest. “Comfy….” Was all she could manage to say. What was she doing? She looked up, giving a slow, tired blink. “Hmmmn?” Her eyes were a bit clouded over but that's what happens when you're laying on a nice warm pillow. “Fun?” Her brain was slowly coming back to her in this case.
That was when she realized what she just did.
“O-OOOOOOH I'M SORRY!” she looked up at the ceiling and covered her face, desperately trying not to just wallow in her shame. Why?! Whyyyy? He's not even a Jojo character! What could she do to fix this? “U-Ummm….Oh!” She cleared her throat, face still red as a tomato, “T-To make up for it, you can lay on mine I guess. It's only fair…..”
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He finally lowered his arms after she sprang away and settled his hands on his hips. “Apology accepted. It’s ok, I understand they can be tempting.” His tone was still so amused as he said this. “Thank you for the offer but I don’t think we are in this relationship.”
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Wait what?! RELATIONSHIP?!
Holi blinked multiple times, “H-Huh?” she squeaked, blushed, proceeded to fan herself because why was she hot? It's not even hot in the house. “PANINIS! YEAH I WAS MAKING THAT!” she rushed to finish making her panini, not even looking in the direction Richard was in. Nope, all she kept hearing was the relationship echoing in her head over and over. When she was done cooking she made her way over and cleared her throat, still red as a tomato. Why would he say relationship? Granted a friendship can be a relationship, but that just hit different when he said that….
Once again her brain was broken.
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His laughter followed her when she made her escape but it wasn’t too long before he got control over that again. Richard ended up on his phone while waiting for her to come back, casually leaning against a wall still in his boxers.
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Okay now that she was done being broken Holi frowned and tried so hard not to look at the chest that tempted her so. She really just wanted to lay on them, was that so evil? “I-I gotta change! I'll be right back!” Having tossed her plate in the sink Holi made a beeline to her room to change from her pjs, coming back with a very much refreshed look on her face. “Now! Let's get back to measuring. Sorry about earlier.” This was going to be a test of will for her but she could do this!
Throughout all of that she did manage to get the chest measurements, and now she would need the lower torso, an easy feat…..Sorta.
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Richard looked up from his phone, setting it back in standby, and gave a nod. “Need me to stand like earlier still?” He asked as he set his phone down on top of his now neatly folded clothes. The new outfit she was in did get a look or two but other than that he didn’t show much reaction. He pushed away from the wall to stand more towards the middle of the room.
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So the next bit was the hips, which yeah that was easy but then….Then came the thighs.
Good god they were huge.
“Rick did you like…..eat two tree trunks instead of one? Erm, spread your legs a bit please?” She waited for him to respond before getting the measurements. Practically leaping back up, Holi almost fell over, “W-We’re done! Y-You can get dressed now!”
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He shifted so his legs were spread as she asked, looking down with amusement written all over his face. “No, no trees were eaten to look like this.” When she jumped back, he shot her another amused look but started to slowly get dressed again. “Got everything you needed?”
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“Y-Yep! A-All done! I can have the outfit ready in a couple of weeks~” She cleared her throat, “M-maybe we can hang out again sometime? I work at a manga store, I'm sure there are some good books about deer and parks too!” Now that she was back in familiar territory she was starting to feel like her old self.
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“Alright, looking forward to seeing it.” And he surprisingly was, even if it might be, just ever so slightly, fueled by wanting to see if Holi’s brain broke again. “I would like that. Don’t think I’ve spent a lot of time reading manga so I would have to trust your recommendations then.”
Natsuko-neko
