A Younger Look

Mitchell stopped too and turned to face his red-headed girlfriend.

"Well," he said, "they say when you get older, you sometimes regress back to a second childhood."

"Mitchell, you're, like, 24. You're not that old."

"25." Mitchell interjected, correcting her, and causing a slightly flush in Tanya's cheeks.

"Yeah, yeah, like I said. You're 25."

"True." Mitchell replied. "So the good news is that I won't be the one regressing."

Tanya had no answer to that, or in fact any clue as to what Mitchell meant by his odd comment. Instead, she didn't resist as Mitchell took her hand again and pulled her gently towards a section of clothing clearly targeted at women younger than her own twenty three years.

Tanya stood there in between racks of clothing for what looked like very young teenagers, acutely aware that her boyfriend was rifling though items probably ten years too young for her.

"Mitchell?" Tanya whispered, trying not to call too much attention to themselves in an otherwise busy store. Already, one or two older women - presumably shopping for daughters - were casting a few strange looks their way.

"Mitchell!" Tanya whispered again, more urgency in her voice now.

"Hmm?" Mitchell said, looking up briefly from where he was crouched down, inspecting a row of what looked like girl's panties.

"What exactly are you looking for?!" Tanya said, indicating with her body language that whatever it was, he better find it shortly so they could retreat to somewhere more appropriate.

"Oh, relax." Mitchell said. "What's everyone going to think? That I'm buying you some girly, cartoony panties and crop top for you to wear?" Mitchell smiled at that.

"Yeah. Yeah. Haha. Nobody would seriously think that I suppose!" Tanya laughed, nervously. However, there was something about Mitchell's eyes that were undermining her attempt to treat that as a joke.

Mitchell broke eye contact for a moment, and then seemed to be looking around for something else. He stood up, bringing an item with him that Tanya couldn't immediately see.

"Sweetheart." Mitchell said, "any idea where the changing rooms are around here?"

"W... Why?" Tanya said.

"Found your wrapping paper for my birthday present." Mitchell grinned. With a triumphant reveal, Mitchell displayed a pair of obscenely pink panties in front of Tanya's transfixed eyes.

It wasn't just the pinkness of the panties that shocked Tanya. She wasn't much of a pink person really, and while she liked to think she dressed fashionably, her tastes ran more towards simple and elegant. Pink didn't often fit into that equation.

But it wasn't just the pinkness. The panties - clearly designed for someone to whom high school was in their future rather than their past - proudly portrayed what Tanya could only guess was a My Little Pony.

A couple of gaudy stars sparkled around the pony on the crotch, and Mitchell obligingly turned the panties around to reveal the awful truth. The phrase "Friendship is Magic!" was printed in a large, cartoonish font across the cheeks of the panties, and the frill on the panties was certainly not something you'd find in Tanya's drawers back home.

Tanya looked up at Mitchell, disbelievingly. "Are you serious?" she said.

Mitchell gave her a slightly hurt look. "It _is_ my birthday, babe!"

Tanya pouted for a moment, and then gave up and snatched the panties off Mitchell. Even allowing for the fact that Mitchell had deliberately chosen a larger size, and even allowing for the general obesity problem sweeping the next generation, the "large" panties still looked like they'd be a very, very snug fit on Tanya's curvy backside.

Still, she reasoned, if it's only Mitchell who'll see her in these, where could the harm be?

Cautiously, she took a couple of steps towards the changing rooms. She'd only moved a few meters when Mitchell suddenly called after her. Twirling around, Tanya was half expecting to see Mitchell break out into laughter at what was clearly a joke.

Mitchell wasn't laughing though. He was holding up another item. A crop top. Just as pink. Just as small. Just as embarrassing.

"Don't want those sexy boobs of yours to feel neglected!" Mitchell said, with an evil glint.

"Mitchell, this will barely fit over me!" Even allowing for the fact that Tanya's b-cup breasts weren't the largest to ever grace a woman's chest, she could already tell that this top would look ridiculously tight and stretched on her. As she turned it over in her hands, the unmistakable look of unicorns and rainbows glared up at her.

She made a face at the indignity of having to wear this, but one look at Mitchell told her that this was what he really wanted. With a sigh, she gave up any thoughts of protesting, and marched on towards the changing rooms. Behind her, she could hear Mitchell's footsteps following.