TW: Gets pretty steamy but nothing explicit

"Come on, Xephos, get it on!"

"No! I signed up to be a skilled laborer! There was no mention of this." Honeydew rolled his eyes, though it was hidden behind the screen so Xephos couldn't see it.

"Well employees have to wear uniforms, right?"

"I don't see Lalna in some ridiculous get-up."

"Honeydew Inc. needs a mascot when it opens tomorrow!" The dwarf complained. "I told them I wanted something appealing to the customers, but all they were willing to trade for pork was the bee costume!"

The moment of silence allowed Honeydew to picture his friend's face. "Let me get this straight. We can condense diamonds, but you decided you could only pay in pork that you have to go kill by hand and which is worth virtually nothing?"

"Uhm....yes."

Xephos sighed loudly. "And if I do this, I get 50 shares, right?"

"Of course." Honeydew crossed his fingers behind his back. "Sure you do, friend."

The pause that followed seemed to go on forever before Xephos finally grumbled, "I can't even get this on."

"Oh it will fit fine!" Sick of the complaining, he stepped behind the privacy curtain and realized too late Xephos hadn't just been delaying, but had actually gotten himself undressed down to his underwear. They had seen each other naked plenty of times, but the shock of it made everything look new to Honeydew. He saw it all with fresh eyes: Xephos' sparse, dark body hair against his pale skin; the otherworldly blue glow of his eyes; the fading bruises on his hips where suspiciously dwarven-shaped hands had held him too hard because they knew that Xephos needed to feel grounded to the present for once instead of forever floating around the maybes and what-ifs in his head.

They both stayed awkwardly and uncharacteristically silent for a moment before Honeydew closed the space between them and took the striped spaghetti strap top from the table to thrust it at his employee. "Come on, now, get to work!"

The other man blinked at the force in the order. "Yes sir..." Xephos took the shirt and got it up over his head, fitting his arms through the holes before struggling to pull it down his torso. Honeydew stretched up and took the hem of the shirt, pulling it down while purposefully trailing his fingers over the spaceman's ribs. He shivered at the touch, but said nothing. The v-shaped hem just barely reached the trim of his undergarments, leaving a lot of skin exposed. A perverted grin formed beneath Honeydew's ginger beard. The costume seemed better and better all the time! If the outline of something in Xephos' boxers was any indication, he wasn't the only one enjoying the activity.

He passed the skirt to Xephos, which was put on without as much trouble, though it didn't have as much hip support as it was built for and tended to slip down on occasion. Honeydew instructed Xephos to sit down and put on the arm pieces on himself while he began putting on the stockings. He took the opportunity to get on his knees and rest his head near Xephos's thighs and, when he got the stockings mostly on, trail his hands higher than he needed. Xephos refused to acknowledge any of it, merely shifting uncomfortably and biting his lip.

When they were done with those pieces, Xephos let out a constrained sigh. "Okay, this is how it fits. Can we be done now?" He was obviously embarrassed and eager to be out of the outfit, but he wasn't the one calling the shots now. Safe inside Simon's penthouse, they weren't really employee and employer anymore in the sense that they were when the others were around. The power dynamic was the same, but everything else had changed.

"Better check the rest of it. Just in case." Honeydew grabbed the wings and pinned them on roughly.

Xephos yelped. "Oi, go easy! Jeez."

"Well you're not much of a bee without wings, are you?"

"Why am I a bee anyways? What do bees have to do with Jaffas or anything?"

Honeydew made wide, exaggerated puppy eyes at his partner. "They pollinate the crops, Xephos! Where would we be without the wheat or the cocoa beans? It's like you don't even think!" The alien's eyes rolled , but were ignored by Honeydew as he grabbed the black choker. Grinning, he positioned it in front of Xephos' throat, letting him feel it against his skin.

"Is it really necessary?" They could both hear some eagerness in the voice that suggested he didn't really want to hear a "no."

"It really is." He fastened it in the back, his grin widening. "You know, this could become standard for the Honeydew Inc. uniform."

The response was tentative. "How about a more private uniform?"

"Hehe," Honeydew buried his face between Xephos' shoulders, stifling his laugh. Xephos smiled himself, touching the choker around his neck thoughtfully. "Hmm...now, I don't know if the customers would really look at this and think, 'I want to buy some Jaffas now because of that sexy man in the bee costume.' "

"You just used this all as an excuse to get me to dress up for you, didn't you?"

Pulling away, the dwarf grabbed the antenna headband and stuck it on Xephos' head instead of answering. He took a moment to position it properly with the other man's help before he got up and stood in front of Xephos, admiring the costume on him. When he'd made Xephos squirm long enough, he came close to adjust the headband again before leaning his head down to whisper in his ear, using his creeper voice, "That's a very nice mascot costume you have on there..."

Xephos stifled a groan as the dwarf's hot breath hit his ear, his warm hands romaing the cold skin revealed by the cut of the costume.

"Bee a shame if something were to happen to it..."

Credit to tikukolover on tumblr