In the Elevator (Nyotalia)
I’m on my way to the swimming pool in our building but the elevator got stuck. So now I’m alone with you in an elevator wearing nothing but a skimpy swimsuit. ~Nyo AU~
Adelheid stepped into the elevator, wishing very desperately that she had not chosen to leave her towel downstairs with her little brother. She started shivering as air blasted into the small elevator through the vent in the ceiling. It stopped moving three floors too soon and let on a pretty lady with her dark hair curled around her thin shoulders. Heidi recognized her instantly. It was Roland Edelstein, the neighbor that always played music at horridly early hours in the morning. The only reason the landlord had not kicked her out already was the fact that they were friendly.
Heidi felt her face turn bright red as she remembered that all she was wearing a size-too-small floral bikini she had bought two summers ago. It offered very little coverage, a fact that she regretted completely. She crossed her arms self-consciously and stared intently at the closed elevator doors. Roland did not say a word to her and it was almost easy to pretend she was not in the elevator with her. At least, it would be if she could not sense the woman standing two feet away with every fiber of her being. Her long, wet hair was dripping chlorinated water all over the carpet and down her back, making her shiver again.
At that moment, there was an awful screeching, grinding sound and the elevator shuddered to a halt. The lights flickered, and Roland’s loud scream sent chills down Adelheid’s spine as she lost her balance and fell on top of the Austrian. Heidi scrambled up instantly, hoping that her scarlet face would stop burning so badly. It was then she noticed that Roland was even more dressed up than usual, in a tight, formfitting business skirt, white blouse, and matching lavender suit jacket. She still had the same white cravat tied around her neck as always, however. But her hair was all mussed up now, thanks to Heidi, and the briefcase that had been clutched tightly in Roland’s fist, was now lying open on the floor, papers scattered everywhere.
“No! NO! It can’t be stuck!” Roland said furiously.
“Do you have to be somewhere?” Heidi managed curiously.
Roland whirled on her. “This is your fault!”
“My fault?!” Heidi repeated incredulously.
“I should have taken the stairs, but no. I got on this outrageous elevator because the stairs were all taped off. He would not have been repainting them if you had not made that ridiculous comment.” Roland explained, glaring daggers at her.
“What? I did not say anything to Mr. Héderváry! I said it to Noah. How do you know anything about that anyway?” Heidi’s face was now colored with anger instead of embarrassment, revealing swimsuit forgotten.
“I was standing behind you. You kept going on about the dangers of the building being so old, and needing repairs….” Roland said, rolling her purple eyes.
“And I was right! Look where we are now! Stuck in the elevator because it broke down.” Heidi snapped.
“I have to go to a meeting. Today was supposed to be my first day. And knowing my luck, I won’t get there until the meeting is cancelled..” Roland huffed in exasperation.
“My little brother is waiting for me, I’m sorry if I can’t be bothered to be very concerned with your job.” Heidi said angrily, worry for her brother flooding her.
When she did not show up, he would freak out and think something horrible had happened. Or something could happen to him. She should never have let Noah talk her into leaving him down there alone, even if it was only so she could grab their goggles from their rooms.
Roland turned away, bending down to collect her sheets of paper. Heidi tried to ignore how nice her legs look in that skirt and turned her attention to the papers on the floor. They were inked with lines and dots and symbols she did not recognize, but knew to be musical notes.
“Did you write all of that?” Heidi found herself asking, trying to not sound as impressed as she was.
Roland nodded. “This meeting was about getting my work out there.”
“I’m sorry.” Heidi said quietly, and she truly meant it.
“No matter, I will simply call them when it is fixed and inform them of my troubles getting out of the building. You, however, must be freezing.” Roland said, eyes trained on Heidi’s shivering frame.
Heidi crossed her arms again, remembering exactly what she was wearing. She tried very hard to stop shaking, but apparently failed as Roland pulled off her jacket and wrapped it around her. “Here. You definitely need it more than me.”
Not quite sure if that was an insult, Heidi glared at the floor and mumbled out a half-hearted ‘thank you.’ It was not important that jacket was warm and smelled very strongly of Roland. But Roland seemed to notice the way she snuggled into the jacket, trying desperately to be discreet about wanting to breathe in more of Roland’s perfume, based on the way she was fighting a smirk.
Roland’s long fingers moved up towards Heidi’s face and gently swept the loose strands of wet blonde hair out of her face. Heidi knew her face was embarrassingly scarlet, which only made her blush more. She self-consciously tugged the jacket around her, trying to play it off as simply being cold, and not very much needing more coverage.
“Are you still cold?” Roland asked quietly.
Heidi nodded, as it was not completely a lie. What she was not expecting was Roland to suddenly wrap her arms around her and draw the smaller woman closer. Heidi made a shocked squeak, but was admittedly content to be so close to Roland. That was, of course, until Roland drew away shuddering. “Your skin is like ice!” the woman exclaimed.
Adelheid’s eyes went wide when she noticed that Roland’s white blouse was soaked through. She dropped her eyes and stuttered something in a mix of German and French. Roland was confused instantly, as she only spoke German, and did not understand what had Heidi so flustered. That was, until she saw how wet her white shirt was. Roland crossed her arms over her chest, her voice raised several octaves as she managed to say, “Well, now we’re even then.” Her face was bright red.
Heidi fought the sudden, and very stupid, urge to ask Roland to remove the garment all together because they were far from even. Among other reasons. She doubted Roland would react very well. Heidi sat down in the corner and averted her eyes, already starting to pull the jacket off and draw her legs up to her chest. “Aren’t you burning up with that thing on?” Heidi asked, not entirely sure what possessed her to say it.
Roland shrugged, face still pink. “ I suppose, but I’m used to it.”
“Do you always wear a corset under your clothes?”
There was a brief nod. “Yeah, almost always.”
Heidi shook her head. That was so stupid. “By the way, we are not even.”
Roland raised her eyebrows and tilted her head. “Is that so? Is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable?”
Turn the heat on. Put your jacket over that. Please take it off. Heidi met Roland’s eyes without an answer she was willing to voice. The last thing she expected Roland to do was exactly what the ridiculous woman did. Her long fingers, so skilled at piano playing, began swiftly unbuttoning the soaked blouse. Heidi could not tear her eyes away, though she felt she should if she ever wanted her face to return to something close to its original color. The corset stayed on, which was both a pity and a curse. She was so sinfully attractive with it on, Heidi felt something akin to guilt flood her veins.
It took her a long while to realize that Roland was watching her with a curious expression as if gauging her reaction to Roland’s corset. She blushed instantly because she had been staring and if Roland had not been previously aware about Heidi’s inexplicable crush on the former, she certainly was now.
Roland, however, just averted her eyes with a pink blush. Even her blush was pretty which was completely unfair in every aspect. When Heidi blushed, it was a full face reaction that made her look like a giant tomato. It was very unattractive.
“When do you think they’ll get the elevator fixed?” Heidi asked, desperate for a distraction.
“How should I know? It might be hours.” Roland shrugged, sitting down as well, her long legs stretched out as she relaxed against one of the walls. Heidi forced herself to keep her eyes trained on Roland’s face and not the dangerous territory below it.
“So what do you do, Adelheid?” Roland inquired after several awkward moments.
“I own a flower shop down the street.” Adelheid said, slightly embarrassed. She was no composer and her shop was very small. There was not a lot of profit from it, but she and her brother loved to garden, so that’s what they did for a living.
“That’s neat.” Roland said, eyes trained on her face. She did not look as though she were making fun of her.
“Noah does most of the work. He makes all the flowers look nice and convince people to buy them. I just keep inventory and make sure they don’t die.” Adelheid shrugged.
“I’ll have to check it out sometime.” Roland said with what looked like it might be a smile.
Heidi felt her face go hot again and dropped her eyes. Unfortunately, that meant she was now staring at Roland’s light purple and white corset and lacking the the self-restraint to look away.
Roland was definitely smirking now, but still did not say anything. Heidi shivered, no longer from the cold. She felt like it was suddenly a thousand degrees in that little elevator. She glanced at the doors that were imprisoning them together and resented them completely.
Poor Noah was probably scared out of his mind that something had happened to her. Or some horrible person had snatched him away.
“Hey! Hey, calm down. Don’t have a panic attack on me.” Roland was suddenly at her side, and she wondered when the burning feeling in her lungs had started. She concentrated on taking slow, shallow breaths until she relaxed.
“Thanks.” Heidi muttered awkwardly.
“Are you feeling alright?”
“I’m fine. I just hate being stuck in this elevator.” Heidi shrugged, trying to play off how off-kilter she felt with Roland so close to her in only a corset (and the business skirt, obviously).
The elevator jolted suddenly and they started going back down. This time, Heidi was the one to make a noise in surprise, though hers was admittedly quieter, more of a frightened squeak than a scream. Roland scrambled up and hurriedly pulled her blouse back on. After a few seconds, the doors opened up and Heidi fled towards the pool without a single word to Roland.
Noah looked up at her as she stumbled through the door. He did not look at all concerned, still very much entertained with his swimming. “Where did you get that jacket?”
Heidi looked down at the article of clothing in surprise. She had forgotten she had it on. She would have to return it. An odd feeling filled her, one she was not certain was entirely bad.