Fake Piercings. Just So Sue Can See How They Look On Her.

Dr. Stone greeted Sue Storm in nothing but a towel. Yet they didn't go straight for the sauna. The psychiatrist insisted that they have a cup of tea first, to relax and talk about Sue's week. How Kitty Pryde and her dragon Lockheed had come to visit, and the dragon had hoarded all of Sue's bras for some reason. Then someone had baked an antimetal spoon into a cake and that had led to a prison break at the Vault, where various supervillains were housed. It had taken days to round them all up, though fortunately, Kitty and Lockheed helped.

"...and we never did figure out who baked the cake," Sue said as she finished her tea.

"Well, that's been quite a week," Dr. Stone said. "Now, why don't you get undressed as I heat things up?"

So Sue did. She found it strange how easily she had gotten used to the idea of disrobing, of being naked with someone else. Yet in her own mind, Sue Storm rationalized the behavior. Nudity was the natural state of humankind, after all. Everyone was born naked. It was only social prudery that prevented nudity from being more acceptable. And many women, the Invisible Woman included, had shared locker rooms, showers, and saunas with other women without the least problem.

Yet Sue still felt a weird thrill, a giddy tingling in feet and palms as she shed her clothes. The sudden urge to turn invisible so that Dr. Stone couldn't see her. It was an easy thought to suppress, yet Sue couldn't help but wonder what Reed or the others would think if they saw her like this.

Not that it was any of their business what Sue got up to during therapy.

By the door to the sauna, Dr. Stone had set up a full-length mirror against the wall. Dr. Stone stood there in front of the door, minus her towel and with her little surprise in hand: a large, flat grey square box, like a jeweler's box. She opened it to display several small golden rings.

"Clip-ons," Dr. Stone said. "I'd like you to try these on. It's not the same as a piercing, but it will give you a chance to see what you look like with piercings. Think of it as try-before-you-buy, but with no obligation to buy. A chance for you to experiment with controlling your body image without making any permanent changes."

That was so eminently sensible that the naked heroine picked up the first ring and examined it. It was, basically, a little bent U-shape of golden wire. Sue lifted her left breast with one hand and tried to attach it with the other—an endeavor that did little except cause her dark nipple to swell at the sudden attention. With exasperation, Sue used both hands to hold her boob steady as invisible fingers guided the cold, hard metal onto her erect, sensitive nipple. Then the other one.

Sue looked at herself in the mirror, admiring the little gold rings that hugged and hung off her nipples, the gold quite a contrast to the darker flesh.

"Lovely," Dr. Stone said, and Sue was too entranced by her own reflection to see the psychiatrist's eyes begin to glow.