Chapter 3: The Costume Shop
“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this.” Gavin whined.
“Relax, just a little bit longer.” Sara said from somewhere near his feet. “The costume shop was really interested in this and I want to show them a more functional prototype.”
Gavin stood in the middle of the room wearing what appeared to be a flesh colored bodysuit. His wife’s blond hair bobbed around his body as she adjusted various parts of the suit. “Do they plan on buying a bunch of these?”
“I don’t know, but I plan on showing off all its capabilities.” Sara said. “There you go, get dressed we don’t want to be late.”
“You mean you are going to fill the chest and hips while I’m wearing it?” Gavin said while pulling on his clothes.
“Of course, that is the central feature.” Sara said.
“Why don’t you wear it then?”
“It would not make as big an impression,” Sara said hefting her own attributes in each of her hands. “I’ve already got a figure. Imagine their faces when you go from a plain old man to a hot chick. Also the latex attachments installed to allow you to use the bathroom work best with a person that can aim. If you know what I mean.”
“So I can pee while wearing the suit?”
“Yes, though just that, you’ll have to hold the other. I’m still working on how to keep the suit tight while providing an opening back there.”
“Right, I’m sure it is very complicated. How did the costume shop find out about this little invention?” Gavin asked.
“I think Angie told them.” Sara grabbed her purse, adjusted her dress and hair and headed for the garage.
“Figures,” Gavin wore jeans and a shirt and feared he would have to lose those as well.
“Why are they interested, are there a lot of guys who want to look like girls?” Gavin asked.
Sara cocked her head. “It’s a costume shop.” She said putting particular emphasis on the word costume. “You know people dressing up like other things.”
“Sarcasm noted. Let’s go.”
* * *
The couple arrived at the costume shop and a young woman wearing a casual mohair sweater and long flowered skirt greeted them from behind the cashier’s station. “Hey, Sara, they are waiting for you back in the office.”
The door to the office was ajar and two people sat in the room, a middle aged woman in a dark red professional-looking dress and heels as well as a gentleman with silvered hair wearing a business suit. They both stood when Sara and Gavin entered the room. “Ah you must be Sara, I’m Nadine the owner of this establishment and this is Gerald, our primary investor.”
Sara nodded to them both. “This is my husband who is helping me demonstrate the product.”
“Hello,” Gavin smiled to them both.
“Please begin the demonstration.”
Sara began her presentation. She talked about the origin of the product at the fabric distributor company where she worked and its use as a size adjustor for mannequins. “Now however, we have been able to successfully adapt it for use on people which has proven to be an effective way of creating an adjustable female figure on any body type.
Nadine smiled. “I take it your husband is volunteering for a demonstration.”
Sara smiled. “I was able to coerce his participation, yes.”
Gerald laughed. “Well this is going to be my most entertaining sales pitch yet.”
Sara stood. “Ok, Gavin, lose the clothes.”
Gavin blushed but complied.
“You’ll notice the thick rubber construction of the suit covers the entire body leaving behind and androgynous form. However it is extremely tight and will stretch to accommodate most reasonable body types excepting the very small or extremely large.” Sara continued while pointing out the various attributes on her husband’s body.
“The essence however of this product is the hidden features.” Sara produced a large syringe shaped canister and hooked it up to a cleverly hidden valve on Gavin’s chest. As she depressed the plunger the hidden bladders expanded to create realistically proportioned breasts.
Nadine gasped. “That’s amazing.”
“But wait there’s more.” Sara said as she attached the syringe to a similar valve near Gavin’s waist and inflated his hips to match his newly expanded chest.
“Very cool,” Nadine said as she stood up to get a closer look. “I’m pretty sure, unless it is some trick of the eyes, his waist also shrank.”
“Yes, there is an interlocking rubber lattice that constricts the waist as the hips and bust increase in size.” Sara responded.
“How large can they be?” Gerald asked from his chair.
“At some point the latex will fail but I imagine quite a bit bigger.” Sara attached the syringe to Gavin’s chest again and filled them so much that the suit started to pull away from his chest creating an ugly sag at the neck opening of the costume, forcing Gavin to hold onto the oversized breasts. “I’d say that’s the limit there, since it no longer appears realistic.”
Gavin was trying to keep his feet even though his now enormous chest threatened to knock him over. Not to mention the increased strain on his waist.
Nadine looked Gavin over for a second, “Wait here I want to try something.” She returned moments later with a bottle of liquid and a garment box. “Drain a bit of the water out, I want to see how that works.”
Sara twisted the valve and water drained onto the floor. This allowed the suit to hang normally on Gavin’s frame instead of pulling away. “Let’s try this now.” Nadine rubbed some of the liquid from the bottle onto Gavin’s skin beneath the suit. “That’s a cosmetic adhesive we use for attaching facial prosthesis and such. Let’s see what happens once that sets.”
Gavin looked over at Sara with a bit of fear in his eyes, but remained silent because he did not want ruin this opportunity for his wife.
“Ok, Sara, expand the breasts again and let’s see if it works better.” Nadine asked.
Sara complied and this time they grew to the size of cantaloupes before they became pendulous and unnatural looking, the suit no longer pulled away from his skin. “Ok, let’s try this now.” Nadine said reaching into the garment box and retrieving a corset. With expert skill she wrapped it around Gavin’s waist and pulled the laces tight. Now the breasts rested in the cups of the corset and jutted out in front of him. “Oh that is perfect, many customers have wanted the Victorian look of shelf breasts and this will do fine.”
Gavin was fighting the urge to push his hands into the small of his back to keep himself erect, luckily Nadine quickly removed the corset and Sara drained the breasts back down to a point where they matched his hips. He still sported an extremely feminine figure but it stopped short of comical.
“May I try the syringe, I want to see how easy it is to use.” Nadine asked.
“Of course,” Sara said showing her the hidden valve locations.
Nadine filled and drained both the hips and bust a few times. “Wow that is simple.”
Sara nodded. “Well that’s just about it; do you have any other questions?”
Gerald began asking questions about cost, inventory, lead times, and turnaround times while Gavin sat quietly in a chair waiting for them to finish. Nadine took notes and interjected comments from time to time. Gavin was about to doze off when the cashier from the front stuck her head in the door. “Sorry for interrupting, but the customer from Las Vegas is up front and has a few concerns.”
Nadine rose from her seat. “Excuse me, I have to see to this, I’ll be back shortly.”
Again Gavin began to stare off into space, the sound of Gerald’s monotonous voice and Sara’s familiar soprano sending him to his own little dream world, a world where he was not wearing an anatomically correct female body suit.
Nadine stuck her head inside the door, “Excuse me, do you think I could borrow Gavin for a moment or two?”
Sara shrugged and nodded. “Sure, he’s not doing anything.”
Nadine grabbed Gavin’s hand and beckoned him to follow her. Just outside the office she faced him with a concerned look on her face. Tiny lines in her face and a confident air made Gavin guess her age in her late thirties or early forties. Her dark hair was probably longish, but with it propped up on her head in a clip it was difficult to tell. “I need your help Gavin.”
“With what? I’m not exactly dressed for work.” Gavin said looking down the valley of his faux breasts.
“You are dressed perfectly. My largest customer is concerned that the costumes I designed for him won’t look right for his show. He’s a big stage production manager for a casino in Las Vegas and none of the women here, save you, and perhaps your wife has the figure of a show girl.”
“So you want me to put the costume on and show him so you won’t lose the sale?” Gavin responded.
Nadine nodded expectantly. “I’ll make it worth your while.”
Gavin waved the offer off, he had no intention of jeopardizing his wife’s opportunity by refusing to help out Nadine. “Don’t you think he’s going to be a little weirded-out by seeing a male head on a female body?”
“We’ll have to fix that, come with me, quickly.”
Gavin forced himself to follow despite his concerns about what she intended to fix exactly. They entered a storage area near the back of the building. Several head-high boxes were lined up against the back wall, Nadine attacked one with a box cutter and pulled out what looked like a giant playing card, the queen of hearts to be exact. The largest playing card Gavin had ever seen. It was probably five feet tall and constructed of a shiny pliable material. It maintained its square shape with flexible stiffeners hidden in the material. “That’s the costume?”
“Yes, let me help you put it on, it is not a one-woman job.” The costume was two pieces of stretched rubber fused together at the edges. Nadine held open one edge where she lowered a hidden zipper. With some struggling Gavin was able to get his legs into the costume. His feet exited the suit through two small cuffs at the bottom corners of the rectangular costume. Some stiffener strips between the cuffs on the suit held his legs apart to preserve the flatness of the costume. Walking was reduced to a straight-legged waddle.
“Ok, now put your head inside and push it out through here,” Nadine held up a small opening that Gavin wondered if he would be able to squeeze his head through. With a lot of struggling and the addition of some talc, Gavin’s head popped through the top, his head was positioned at the midpoint of the costume. “Now your hands,” Nadine said holding up the cuffs at the top corners of the costume.
Once Gavin squeezed his hands through Nadine zipped the costume closed and it became much more rigid. He could move his hands forward and back a bit, but there was no way he could touch his nose. It was like his hands and feet were in a semi flexible pillory.
“Ok, now I have to evacuate the suit and then shine it up.” Nadine connected a small hose to a hidden outlet near Gavin’s ankle and turned on a pump. Gavin could feel the air leaving the costume as it squeezed onto his body. “It’s an ingenious design if I do say so myself, there is a network of tubes along the outer edges that gives the costume enough stiffness to look like a playing card. These same tubes also draw the air out of the costume when I connect the pump.
“It’s really tight, and I’m a little unsteady.” Gavin said.
“Yes, it takes some getting use too, but you look fabulous, the rubber material highlights every nook and cranny of your body. Yet you’ve probably never been more covered.” Nadine began to wipe down the suit making the queen of hearts really shine in the light. “Now walk around a bit so you are surer of your feet.”
“More like waddle around.” Gavin sniffed. It was more restricting than the kitty costume he had worn before, his hands held up and apart and his legs spread.
“I’ll be right back.” Nadine quickly left the storage room only to return moments later with a something blue in her hand. “Here bend over, the suit flexes easily that direction.”
“Relatively speaking,” Gavin said while bending at the waist.
“Easier than your arms and legs bend anyways. Let me slip this wig on you.” The blue object was a wig and Nadine applied it with expert ease completely hiding any signs of his original hair color. “Now a bit of makeup and you’ll be set to show off my work.”
Nadine produced some creams and powders from a bag and went to work on his face. “There we go now he’ll never know you aren’t one of his show girls. Waddle this way.” Nadine smiled.
Gavin followed her as best he could pivoting on his hips to achieve the most movement from his limbs. He stepped through a curtain into the presence of a middle aged man wearing a sports coat and brightly colored shirt. He was speaking amicably with the young woman from the front of the store. The young woman caught sight of him first and her stunned surprise drew the man’s attention. His mouth fell open but he said nothing. There was an uncomfortable period of silence.
“Mr. Shale, will this meet your needs?” Nadine asked with a hint of nervousness in her voice breaking the silence.
Nadine’s voice seemed to shake the man out of his stupor. “Wow! Fantastic! Fabulous!”
There was a collective sigh of relief from both Nadine and her employee.
The man stood up and walked slowly around Gavin. “Perfect, just perfect. A playing card that highlights all the features people have come to expect from my shows. I’ll send my team to pick up the costumes tomorrow. Make sure and instruct my wardrobe people how to get them on the girls and how to keep them in good shape.”
“Of course, Mr. Shale.” Nadine nodded.
“Excellent work,” he smiled and left the building.
“Where did you find her?” The young sales lady said after Mr. Shale left.
“You wouldn’t believe it if I told you Shelly. Make sure Mr. Shale’s account is in good order.”
“Of course Nadine,” Shelly said and left the room.
Nadine stepped over to Gavin. “You are a lifesaver. How can I ever thank you?”
“Well I’m happy if Sara is happy, if you know what I mean.” Gavin smiled.
“Of course, I’m sure she would kill me if I did not show her this costume.” Nadine scampered out of the room.
“No…that’s not what I meant.” Gavin’s voice trailed off. Nadine however was already out of the room and Gavin was stuck, he would have been no less stuck bound and gagged to a chair.
Moment later Sara walked in. “Holy moly, would you look at that,” Sara exclaimed. “That is quite the costume; pretty much shows everything while covering everything.”
“That’s Vegas for you,” Nadine responded.
“You did a fantastic job on his face, and he looks good with blue hair.” Sara smiled.
Gavin chose to remain silent, better to feel foolish and be quiet then to speak and prove it.
“How can you walk?” Sara asked.
“Not easily,” Gavin waddled a few steps across the room concentrating on his balance.
Nadine stepped closer. “Thanks again, Gavin. You saved my bacon on that sale; it’s worth an enormous amount of money, not to mention the advertising I’ll get from having the costumes in a Las Vegas show.”
“You’re welcome. Are you ready to go Sara?” Gavin asked.
“I think so; Gerald seems to be satisfied with the contract.” Sara said.
“Hey that’s great, you made the sale.” Gavin said becoming increasingly uncomfortable with how vulnerable the costume forced him to be.
Nadine laughed. “Of course, that suit is remarkable. Your help with my Vegas customer proved that. Sara and her company are going to be pretty busy for the next few weeks.”
“Great, do you think I could get back into my clothes then?” Gavin asked.
“Oh but you look so cute.” Sara laughed.
“Very funny.” Gavin said. “Nadine, a little help.”
“Ok, here let me undo the zip.” The sound of air rushing into the evacuated costume preceded a dramatic loosening around Gavin’s body. With Nadine’s help he quickly pulled his head, hands, and feet free of the air tight cuffs. The blue wig fell to the floor unable to maintain its place when Gavin pulled his head out of the tight collar of the costume.
“Phew, much better, now for this suit.” Gavin pulled at the collar around the base of his neck but he was unable to pull enough of the tight fabric away from his skin to get a grip. “Hey, it’s stuck.”
“Ah yes the prosthesis glue needs a remover, let me go get it.” Nadine left the room.
Gavin called after her. “Hey and get something for this makeup on my face too.”
Nadine gave him the thumbs up and left the inventory room. Gavin pulled the blue hair wig from his head. “So how big a contract is it?”
“She wants four suits to start off with the option to buy 8 more.” Sara responded.
“Did you get the price?”
“Yeah, we should turn a few percent in profit, more as we get the manufacturing process nailed down.”
Nadine returned then, “Uh…there is a problem.”
“What problem?” Gavin said getting nervous.
“We are out of the glue remover, we are scheduled to get more on Monday.”
“So I’m stuck in this suit till Monday.” Gavin said the volume of his voice increasing.
“Calm down Gavin,” Sara said quickly. “I’m sure some other stores sell the remover right?”
“I doubt it, it’s kind of unique. In fact I don’t think any place outside of the theatrical costuming industry would consider using it because it is so expensive.” Nadine explained.
“Ok Gavin, it’s only a couple of days. You can still use the bathroom in the suit, at least partially. Just don’t eat much and you’ll be able to hold out till Monday. I’ll deflate the bladders and you’ll just have to wear long sleeves and pants until then. No big deal.” Sara reassured Gavin.
“Fine, deflate the bladders, get this makeup off me and let’s get home. You owe me big time for this, Sara.” Sara found the hidden valve on the side of the suit and began to open it. Several minutes later she was still working with it. “What’s wrong?”
“It seems to be stuck.”
“Oh great, what a day.” Gavin sighed.
“It appears that some of the adhesive found its way onto the valve, I’m sorry, I can’t budge it without ruining the suit. I can’t do that since it is our only working prototype.”
Nadine could not suppress her smile. “I guess you won’t need this.” Nadine said holding up a jar of cold cream.
Gavin looked at her funny before realizing what she meant. “No, I can’t go home like this. We have to figure something out.”
Nadine shrugged. “You’re more than welcome to hang out here if you want.”
Gavin shook his head. “Sara, why do good days for you always have to be bad days for me?”
“I think luck runs in cycles, mine is high and yours is low. It happens. Come on, I should be able to drain the bladders on your hips enough for you to get your pants on.” Sara fiddled with the second valve for awhile. “Looks like there was some adhesive on the syringe used to fill the bladders, they are both stuck.”
“How much longer do I have to wait until the bad luck stops?” Gavin hung his head.
Nadine left and returned with the syringe device used to fill the suits. “I’d say you're right Sara, the pump is plugged with glue too, it must have gotten on that way. Look at the bright side, at least you aren’t sporting the massive chest you had earlier.”
“You’re a glass-is-half-full type person aren’t you?” Gavin glared at Nadine.
She shrugged. “Just trying to cheer you up.”
“I don’t suppose you have any normal clothes in this shop?”
Nadine shrugged apologetically. “Not really, we cater to the exotic costume crowd.”
“We have a few latex items that are more normal. They are still quite revealing.” Nadine offered.
“Do you have any pants, any at all?” Gavin asked.
Gavin left the costume shop wearing a black spandex catsuit with his T-shirt stretched over the top of his breasts. There was very little coverage from the shirt and it seemed to exaggerate the size of his chest the way it fell hung out over his flattened stomach. Once safely back at home, he spent the afternoon in front of the computer wearing a plain pair of his wife’s sweatpants and oversized T-shirt.
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03.09.16