Mything You

Jasmine moved to the door and knocked firmly. Everyone waited in silence. She knocked again — still nothing.

"He might have gone out," Taylor suggested.

David looked doubtful. "Outside of work, he's become a bit of a shut-in lately." He moved forward and banged his fist on the door. "Sam?" he called out. Everyone held their breath, but no sound came from inside.

"Listen, there's no need to jump to conclusions. Sam has no pills in his medicine cabinet that he could take to do himself harm," Rick insisted, and the group burst into sounds of protest.

"For Heaven's sake, Rick! Why did your mind take you there?" Ben complained.

"You went poking around in his medicine cabinet?" Shelina gasped.

Rick immediately became defensive. "Hey! These days he's looking like Tom Hanks in Castaway. I got worried, so I checked his cabinet."

They went a little quiet as that sunk in.

"I don't know if I should feel offended or touched."

They spun to see Sam walking towards them, from the elevators. Then they froze as he no longer looked like the Castaway. Jaz rushed forward and threw her arms around him and in a tight hug. He grinned down at her and hugged her in return. His other friends all moved closer and gave him pats on the shoulder or shook his hand. They needed to touch him to make sure it was real.

"What are all you guys doing here?" Sam asked.

"It was Taylor," Jaz said indicating the tall platinum-haired beauty standing awkwardly by his door. She gave him a timid smile, and his eyes locked on hers.

"She went to Gary's shop to ask about the chain mail, and he called me. When I got there, she told me you were trying to throw it out last night, and she convinced you to give it to her. She said you were upset. I knew you had to be in a bad place to discard something so important, so I called the rest of the group to come here." She reached up and touched his clean-shaven chin. "We were going to have an intervention, but you seemed to have reached that before us."

He found himself nodding. "I did. Last night, I almost did an incredibly stupid and selfish thing. It was pure luck I crashed into her in the hallway and dropped the shirt. I was a mess, and I just wanted the pain to stop." He looked to the beauty, and she looked back at him hopefully.

"She stopped me from throwing it out. This morning I felt so much better knowing she did and that it was going to be worn again." He paused as he recalled what Jaz said about Gary's shop. "Were you at Gary's shop to sell the chain mail?"

Taylor surged closer then stopped hesitantly. "No! I was asking where I could get more. I want to make a costume with the chain mail as the centerpiece."

His expression relaxed, and he smiled at her again. "Good!"

"Do- do you have any more?" she asked hopefully.

Jasmine and Shelina were also looking at him with anticipation. He spotted this and chuckled. "Yes. I do. Would you like to see?" His friends all exhaled in relief as Shelina and Jasmine bounced up and down, clapping.

Ben put his hand over Rick's eyes as the man was enjoying Jasmine's bouncing bits a little too much. "Jaz, remember who your audience is," Ben said to the woman who glared at Rick.

"Dude! Way to spoil a Bro's fun!" Rick grumbled.

Sam moved forward until he stood before Taylor. She had the most incredible green eyes. He found himself getting lost in them. He pulled back slightly. "Let me formally introduce myself. I'm Sam McClann. I want to thank you for what you did last night."

She snorted slightly in surprise as she shook his hand. "Taylor Anderson, and it was hardly a selfless act."

He nodded in acknowledgment as he marveled at how well their hands fit. "Still, it helped me. It made me realize I needed a change."

She gave him a brilliant smile, and his eyes widened unconsciously. "Then I'm thrilled I could help," she said.

Sam nodded as his face warmed up. He moved to unlock his door and missed the grins passing between Shelina, Jaz, and Taylor.

They entered his living room, and his friends made themselves comfortable on the couches, and a few turned dining room chairs around to face them.

Taylor looked around in surprise. "What the- This place is so much larger than mine! I didn't know the building had apartments with this much space. It's a two bedroom?!?"

Sam smiled. "Yes, there are a few in the building, and they're not on every floor. I lucked into this unit eight years ago. We use- we used the second bedroom as the crafting room." His smile dimmed a little, but the pain wasn't raw anymore. He caught Jasmine's concerned look, so he smiled at her and saw relief in her eyes. "Can you guys stick around for dinner? We can order in take-out."

"Finally, someone addresses the elephant in the room! I'm starving!" Rick exclaimed.

Shelina rushed off to the kitchen and returned with menus from several restaurants.

Sam looked at Taylor and saw she was looking a little uncomfortable. "Will you join us for dinner, my treat!" he asked hopefully.

"Yay! Sam's buying!" Rick exclaimed.

Sam looked at him. "Just for Taylor! You can pay for your own!"

"Boo, Sam!" Rick pouted, and Shelina swatted his head with a menu.

Sam suddenly turned to Taylor, and his expression became a little stiff. "Any allergies?" he asked.

She smiled gently. "None at all. Thank you; I will join you."

He nodded and returned her smile. Her unease was gone so it must have been the expense. He filed that away.

They poured over the menus, and in the end, they had orders coming from three separate places.

"While we wait, let me show you what I have costume-wise," Sam said to Taylor, and she grinned excitedly.

He led her and the others who rarely got to see the crafting room. Sam rarely went into the room, and the door was always closed during their game nights.

In the middle of the room was an adjustable tailor's dummy. On the model was Sam's last work in progress project.

"Oh my god! You were working on the Archangel armor!" Jaz blurted then froze as she turned her face to Sam. She'd been aware that the couple had been planning a grand entrance at the previous year's convention. Christie and Sam would have been wearing matching plate mail and scale mail armor. Sam's was finished, but due to time demands at the shop he worked at, Christie's costume hadn't been completed in time. They'd worn their previous year's costumes instead.

The dummy was wearing what looked like a complete set of armor. The interlinked metal plates were covered with tiny scale-like layered plates which gleamed dully in the late afternoon sun pouring in the west facing windows.

"Archangel?" Taylor asked, looking to Jasmine.

With another glance at Sam, Jaz explained. "It's from an Anime Series that's very popular at the moment. The show has these Archangels, warriors sent from Heaven, who join up with medieval knights on Earth to fight off an invasion of Demons during the Dark Ages. It doesn't accurately follow the historical periods; it's more of a 'what if' scenario..." Her voice slowly died off as she saw she'd lost Taylor somewhere along the way.

Taylor smiled and nodded to her, then stepped forward to get a closer look at the wearable art. "It's beautiful!" she said in awe.

Sam moved forward, looking embarrassed. "It would look better if I dusted in here more often." He grabbed a piece of cloth from the workbench and buffed the armor slightly to remove the dust.

The difference was immediately visible in the sharp gleam reflected by the cleaned scales.

"Wow, that's gorgeous!" David exclaimed.

"Will it fit me?" Taylor asked quietly.

Rick stepped forward and adjusted the dials on the dummy. Taylor stared at the dials then looked to Rick. "How do you know my measurements?"

Rick smiled with pride and shrugged. "It's a skill."

"It's creepy!" Shelina asserted, getting a scowl from Rick.

Sam looked at the measurements, and his eyebrows rose. 40-24-34. He looked at Taylor, who smiled shyly at him. Then he checked the armor's movement on the adjusted mannequin. There was no binding or tightness. "Yeah, most of it should fit you but your torso is much taller than Christie's, so your tummy would be exposed. I'd have to add a bunch of extra plates to cover that."

"That's ok. I think it'll look better that way," she gushed.

Sam blinked at her. "Ok... well, then it looks like it might fit."

"May I try it on?" she asked.

He nodded slowly then looked to Jaz. "Can you help her put this on?" He looked to the confused expression on Taylor's face. "Armor takes two people to get the fasteners done as you can't reach them while wearing it."

She nodded and looked to Jaz, who was smiling at her. Then she recalled Jaz's comment about wanting Christie all to herself. She wondered if that indicated a sexual preference.

Sam got everyone else to clear out and closed the door behind him. He walked them out to the living room again.

"So Taylor seems to want to be a Cosplay model," Shelina said to the group.

Rick and Ben frowned at her. "There is nothing wrong with sexy women in costumes showing off their bodies! I can't think of anything more American?" Rick gushed.

"Apple pie?" David offered.

"Baseball and Cracker Jack?" Ben said.

"A fondness for litigation?" Shelina suggested.

Rick nodded but raised his finger to include his point. "And beautiful women in various states of undress shaking their ta-tas. American!"

Sam rolled his eyes but ended up looking down the hall towards the closed door.

-=-

Taylor pulled her blouse up and off and dropped her skirt, leaving herself in only bra and panties. Jaz squeaked in surprise, making the tall blonde look over at her. "What's wrong?"

"Sorry, I wasn't expecting you to undress so quickly," Jaz blurted.

Taylor smiled. "I'm a model. We get used to undressing and dressing quickly for shows, and we do it in a room of strangers so we can parade ourselves before another group of strangers."

Jasmine's face was heating up as she took in the tight muscles of Taylor's tummy. Hell, all of her muscles were very well toned. "I can see why you have no inhibitions about displaying your body. It's perfect!"

Taylor's grin widened. "I wouldn't say perfect. Mother Nature had some help, and the rest takes so much effort to maintain!"

"Effort that paid off! You look incredible!" Jaz sighed.

"Ok, now you're making me blush," Taylor said over her shoulder as she approached the costume. "How does this unfasten?"

Jaz gave herself a shake and moved to help while ignoring her tingling.

She assisted Taylor with donning her chain mail and transferred the plate mail components from the tailor's dummy to the tall woman.

The pauldrons which protected her shoulders and armpits were intricately covered with small plates that looked like silver scales. This same design was used on the breastplate which barely contained Taylor's bounty. She gave herself a little shake and the scales moved freely with the most exquisite hiss sound.

"You might ask Sam to adjust this, so it isn't squeezing your breasts so much," Jaz suggested.

Taylor smirked. "This is nothing compared to some of the fashions I've been asked to walk down a runway wearing. I swear some designers hate women and tits most of all!"

Jaz burst into giggles bringing a cheeky smile to Taylor's lips.

Under the breastplate was a section of interconnected bands but as Sam had predicted, the shorter plate mail left Taylor's stomach muscles bare. Jaz admired the smooth skin and tight muscles before catching herself and moving on. God, she had the sexiest innie belly button!

The strips of plates that made up the skirt would need alteration to make it fit Taylor's narrower waist and hips. Jaz did what she could to make it look snug. As she overlapped the back, she tried her best not to stare too much at the smooth skin of her ass exposed by the g-string panties.

The stylish pieces that protected her thighs would also need adjusting as Christie's legs had been much thicker. They had to leave her upper legs bare as these pieces wouldn't fit.

Jaz was able to get the greaves on to protect Taylor from knee to ankle. She also found forearm vambraces and upper arm rerebraces and strapped these on Taylor's strong arms. She bit her lip and squeezed her thighs together to calm the tingles as she looked for the gauntlets for her hands.

"I think Sam had been working on her sabatons to cover the shoes when he stopped. I don't see gauntlets either. The armor hadn't been fitted to Christie yet as well," she said, looking away from the gorgeous blonde. Jaz's body was tingling madly.

She heard a sound and turned to find the armor-plated beauty standing close to her.

"Thank you for everything. For assisting me with this armor and especially for being so inclusive with me in front of the others," Taylor said with sincerity as she looked into the wide eyes of the smaller woman.

"That's... fine. My pleasure," Jaz breathed, focusing on Taylor's lips which began to smile.

Then the blonde's mouth was on Jaz's, and pleasure exploded through the petite woman's body. Taylor had a grip on the hair on the back of her head while her other hand was on her lower back, pulling her tight against her armored body. Jaz thought she might float away to Heaven.

When Taylor eventually pulled back from the kiss, Jaz whimpered slightly; then her eyes flew wide as she looked into the blonde's stunning green eyes. "I- I didn't know you were gay!"

The smile widened. "I'm not, but then I've never been too hung up on labels. I have a rather hectic life schedule so I find pleasure where I can."

"I got the impression you were attracted to Sam," Jaz continued.

Taylor nodded. "Oh, I am. He looks so much better today than he did last night. He also seems very sweet now that he's getting past his grief. I want to get to know him better. It'd also be nice to date a man taller than me for once."

Jaz grinned widely and took her hand, pulling her towards the door. "No time like the present to get started!"

-=-

Sam looked up quickly when he heard the crafting room's door open and was on his feet when Jaz came into the living room, pulling Taylor by the hand. Everyone went silent as they stared at the beauty wearing the armor Sam made for Christie.

"Oh my god, you're beautiful!"

All eyes turned to stare at Sam as his words slipped out to fill the silence.

Taylor's face lit up with a thousand-watt smile as she held his gaze.

Sam's face felt like it might burst into flames as his treacherous tongue betrayed his inner thoughts so boldly.

He glanced to his friends, who were still staring at him. "What? I'm not taking it back! It's true!" he blurted.

Laughter exploded from them as they saw how embarrassed he was. They were also thrilled he was showing such promising signs of coming out of his grief. Acknowledging beauty so expressively was a behavior they hadn't seen from him since Christie died. He was definitely on the road to recovery. They smiled at Taylor for being the source of that recovery.

She caught their looks of gratitude and felt a warmth rushing through her.

Sam walked closer and smiled at Jaz as the smaller woman beamed a smile up at him. Speaking of high beams, Jasmine's tight blouse was giving an impression that she was more than a little excited. Were her lips a little swollen as well?

"Your armor is beautiful! You're a master artisan," Taylor said, pulling his attention back to her.

"You look incredible in it," he said boldly. Hell, he'd already told her how he felt — no point in being coy now.

It was Taylor's turn to blush, so she looked down at the armor. "It's an almost perfect fit."

Jaz felt the need to contribute to that. "The skirt needs some of the panels removed to fit her waist and hips more snuggly. The cuisses are too large to fit her svelte thighs. I also couldn't find gauntlets or sabatons."

"I never finished the sabatons but... stay here for a moment?" Sam asked and caught the eyes of both women before hustling away.

"Damn, you look amazing!" Rick offered.

"Yes, you look very lovely in the armor," Shelina said as she gave the woman an evaluating look. She turned to look at Jaz. "Can you imagine how good the two of them would look next to each other wearing this armor?"

Jaz's smile stretched across her face and was picked up by the others. Taylor was caught up in their excitement.

When Sam returned, he saw everyone was watching him with knowing smiles. "What?"

Jaz spoke first as she saw him carrying a lovely wooden box. It looked like it was for silverware. "Later. What's that?"

Sam shook his head then turned to face Taylor with the box facing her. "I made these for a customer, two years ago but he never picked them up. He stiffed me $1500 for the work as well. These days, I get payment up front, so lesson learned."

With a glance at his face, she reached forward and lifted the lid. She gasped as inside on a dark blue velvet lined tray was a pair of beautiful silver plate gloves. The fingers had articulated joints, and each fingertip ended with a curved claw.

She lifted one out and pulled it on. It was just a little loose.

"Pull that string," Sam offered, pointing to the beaded string near the opening. She did, and the gloves snugged tight, losing the feeling that they'd fall off.

She donned and tightened the other glove then held them up to admire them. Once more, she saw the metal was beautifully worked with intricate designs etched into each joint and hinge. She curled her fingers, and the gloves followed her motions without any pinching or discomfort. The hooked fingertips did seem a little dangerous.

Seeing the late afternoon sun splash off of the mirrored surface suddenly made her realize just how much work had gone into their creation. These were quality at a level she'd never experienced before. None of the costumes she'd seen in the pictures last night were this beautiful!

Reality bitch-slapped her plan to outfit herself with beautiful armor for a career in cosplay. She couldn't afford $1500 for the gloves much less whatever the rest of the beautiful armor cost. She'd gotten too excited when Sam gave her the chain mail. Her ambition far outpaced her financial situation.

Sam was shocked to see tears begin to drop from her lovely green eyes. "What? Hey! Where are these tears coming from?" he asked gently.

She shook her head and glancing at the fingertip hooks, realized she couldn't wipe her eyes without potentially losing one. Jaz came to her rescue with a tissue she dabbed against the blonde's eyes. She nodded gratefully to the smaller woman then looked to Sam once more. "I'm sorry. I just realized how unrealistic my new plan was. My modeling career is so difficult as there are too many models competing for the same jobs. The industry is damn fickle about body shapes too. I can't afford to downsize my implants to match the current preferred look, so I get fewer jobs. I thought a costume at this quality level, combined with my larger frame, would be enough of a differentiator for me to stand out in the cosplay modeling world."

"It would! You look freaking hot! Screw fashion! Stick with cosplay!" Rick exclaimed, and Ben nodded with a grin.

She smiled at their enthusiasm as it was exactly what she'd hoped the reaction would be, but once more reality slapped her down.

"I can't afford dinner tonight. How could I afford this costume? The gloves alone are beyond my budget!" she cried and gently pulled the gloves off and put them back in the box, reverently closing the lid so she wouldn't have to look at them. "And you can't do this with just one costume! I don't know what I was thinking!" She dropped herself down on the couch, putting her face in her hands.

The lobby door buzzer went off, and Sam hesitated before he was dragged away protesting to go downstairs with Rick and Ben to pay for the food. Shelina plunked herself down on one side of Taylor and Jaz dropped down on her other side and handed her some tissues.