The correct way to take a feminist out on a date.
“Hey.”
“Hello.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Where do you like to go for fun?”
A smile. “Are you going to ask me out?”
“I’m going to try,” he announced. “I think you’re cute and I’d like to get to know you.”
“Have you heard of steampunk?”
“Uh. Maybe? Gears and corsets and things?”
“That’s the superficial part. There’s a band playing, tonight. You can be my plus one.”
“Should I dress up?”
“Sure you won’t embarrass yourself?”
“If it makes you smile, it’s worth it.”
*
He came in a zoot suit and spats. The tie clip was made out of clockwork gears.
“Ooo. Fast.”
“I cheated. This was my great-grandpa’s. All I did was add the accessories. And freshen up the feathers in the hat.”
“I meant the outfit. It’s a little modern for Steampunk, but you should fit in anyway. It looks nice.”
“You’re looking very… bronze.”
“Of course. Tonight, I’m mechanical.”
“Mechanical?”
“I’ll explain on the way.”
*
She’d paid for the tickets, so he paid for the food and drinks. Since they were both working, tomorrow, the alcohol was off the list. But inebriation wasn’t necessary to have a good time.
The robots on stage were amazing. It was hard to believe that, at the end of their day, they took all that off and became ordinary human beings again.
It was hard to imagine anyone here in hoodies and sweatpants.
“Wow. Everyone here is gorgeous.” Even the people not ‘magazine gorgeous’ were gorgeous. Even the sort of people his high-school friends would holler abuse at were gorgeous.
“It’s a different aesthetic,” she explained. “You don’t have to fit the mould just to fit in. Everything’s customized. Queen Bella, over there? She easily drops two thousand on each outfit.”
Queen Bella was painted gold and almost dripping with costume jewelry and gears. She also flounced with frills and sashayed with sashes.
“Where do you even go to get that kind of look?”
“Somehow, I don’t see you in a corset,” she joked.
“Yeah, but a nice waistcoat? And tails? Do you think a trilby or a top hat?”
“Mmmm…” she considered. “Maybe you could try a boater…”
*
They were laughing all the way back to her place. He lingered on her threshold. “It’ll be a shame to go back to normal.”
“You can always sneak a few gears onto your daily bling. Nobody’ll notice, I swear.”
“Possibly. Men have less bling options in the real world than the ladies.” He rolled his eyes. “Darn mainstream society…”
“I dunno. Maybe a nice waistcoat? A bowtie…”
“Bowties are cool.”
They kissed goodnight before he went home happy.
It was a great first date. May it be one of many more.
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