Mirabelle lowers the bowl of chips next to the cake, the sauce, drinks, and what could be considered enough for a party of a few dozen people, except only two could be found in this bedroom, you and her.
"I think this is really going to test the limit of that spell," Mirabelle says as she picks up one chip with two of her fingers. "I really like your cooking, do take some of the things I've made too, I want to hear what you think."
You take a slice of the lemon cake, and it tastes a bit strange, but not in a bad way. "Do we really have to eat it all today? We've had to do shopping, then jogging, then swimming, then duelling, then cooking... I want a break," you whine.
Mirabelle had this habit of having 'extra' days, days where she'd try to shove as many activities as she could in 24 hours, often assisted with spells to make it possible. In this case, it was a lot of stamina enhanced spells and now digestion spells. You know she'd do these alone if you let her, but it always looks like she's having so much fun, it's hard for you not to join in.
"This is the break. It's the culmination of the good times, where we feast and reminisce on the day; and because I'm really hungry."
"If it weren't for those spells that'd double your weight, you know that?"
"Incorrect. I'm a wraith, so I only gain as much weight as I think I should. Wraith forms primarily change due to internal and external perception. In fact, you thinking I'm going to get fatter might make me fatter, so if I do, it's your fault."
"...and not the fault of the metric ton of calories you're absorbing right now."
"No, in fact, delicious food makes me feel light, which is the opposite of heavy; but enough time wasted, talking is fun, but playing is even more so." She pulls a stack of wooden chips with two deck of cards. "You know how to play blackjack?"
"I'm pretty sure blackjack is a human made game, so yeah. What are we betting on- and don't get your greasy fingers on the cards."
She mixes the cards expertly, it's obvious she's practiced this. She occasionally glances at you to see your reaction, and she grins seeing your impressed face. "What we're betting on is something far more valuable than money, it's our pride, our shame, our soul, our-"
"Mirabelle. The point." You impatiently pick up your cards from the deck.
"We start with 10K worth of chips each. You can bet as much as you want, but whoever wins get to force the other to do something depending on the amount. 100 is mildly embarassing, 500 is shameful secrets, and 1K is...nearly anything. You can give up if a dares too much, but that stops the game entirely."
"Blackjack truth or dare? Wait, if we both start with 10K, what stops me from daring you to do something right now without betting?"
"You have to bet it, or it doesn't count. The chips vanish when the dare is done, so it's more of a soft time limit."
This is a really strange way of doing things, but you'll go for it. You push a 100 chip on the floor, and Mirabelle pushes 200.
You look at your cards. The total is 19, and the max amount of point allowed is 21. You draw another card and... damnit. Mirabelle can immediatly tell you lost, and wastes no time showing her cards. She had 17, you would've won if you didn't get greedy.
"For your first challenge, Atlas, I want you to drink this bottle of whiskey." Mirabelle pushes the bottle towards you.
"All of it?" You fill up a small glass of it. "I never drink, this might actually kill me."
"I'll use a spell to purge the worst of it, you'll only be a bit woozy."
You take the shot, and she claps. It tastes bitter and awful, do people really drink this stuff for the taste? It's like liquid needles coursing going through your throat. Mirabelle is barely holding her laughter.
"You can drink it as we play, don't need to be in one go." She distributes your cards again. "How about... you only need to take a shot whenever you lose, so if you win, you might not need to go through the bottle at all."
You roll your eyes. It's obvious she thinks she can get a winning streak going. Yet, your cards will prove her wrong; 21, a blackjack. Your face light up, and you hear a sigh from her. She drops 100, you drop 900 without a second thought.
You win easily, and she raises her hands in surrender. "1000 is basically anything you want, so you better make it count."
You didn't even think of a dare. You were so happy to have an uncontested win that you wanted to bet as much as you could, since you weren't sure when you were going to get such an opportunity again. You try to think of something suitably embarassing to get back at her. "Do you know what a karaoke is?" You pull up your laptop, and dig through your video files for a music video. "It's simple, you sing along, but I also want you to dance, I'll let you watch the video once before doing it."
She watches the music video, her expression shifting from cringe to abject horror as she's coming to terms with what she has to do. "You're cruel, you know that? I was going easy on you, but next time I win, you'll regret ever crossing me." She stands up, takes a deep breath, and starts to dance. The movements are awkward, the vocals are off-key, the lyrics are mixed up half the time. You can barely breathe trying to contain your laughter, even Mirabelle has a limit to her confidence. "O-One, two, l-love, love you!" She closes her eyes as if she was trying to dissasociate from the experience, you're tempted to take a video of this, but she might kill you if you do.
The song ends, and so does her miserable performance. She's flushed, which makes her look cuter than usual. Another round of cards, and you think you have a solid chance to win, as she only bets a 100, while you bet 500.
...
you lost. You forgot about the whole bluffing part of the game, which means she didn't have to risk much of her chips. She challenges you to tell her about the most embarassing secret you have.
You take another shot, still tastes awful. "I had a phase where I really wanted to have sex with my childhood friend. Lasted a few months. Puberty hit me full force at the time, and we were already close, so I couldn't help but think like, what if I ran into her while she was showering or something. I almost did it, too."
"It's... what was her name, Claire, right? Don't you hate her? What made you stop seeing her that way?"
"I don't hate her it's just... complicated. Also, I got distracted by a new spell at the time, and I... forgot to be horny, I guess. Anyway, cards."
"Is that really your most embarassing secret? If my spell is to be believed, You're telling the truth--I'll let you off the hook this time."
You lose again, this sucks. Mirabelle isn't smiling anymore, she's deep in thought, surely trying to one up the karaoke session you forced on her. "I want you to describe everything you find attractive about me."
"Attractive in...what sense?" You ask, playing a bit dumb.
"Every sense of the word. I'll know if you're witholding info from me, by the way, so say everything."
You take another shot, you think you're getting used to the taste. "You're fun to be around, and even though I prefer spending most of my time alone and studying, you're making me appreciate other activities much more. You're positive, but still pragmatic, you're smart, but not too much of a snob, confident without being a narcisisst. Those are all the things I find attractive about you."
She pokes your forehead. "There's more."
"...y-you have nice eyes, and, uh, your makeup and hairs are always on point." Your look away, but she moves to be in front of you everytime. She's not letting you out of that one. "Fine, I like how big your chest is, is that what you want me to say? I like how it feels when you press it against me with a hug, okay?" You stammer out. You don't think you could've said that much without the alcohol that's starting to alter your sense of shame.
"I know, I've noticed. I've caught you staring a few times, but I wanted to hear you say it."
"...it's not like your body is the reason I hang out with you."
"I know. I thought that was the case at first, that you were hanging out with me only to have sex. Yet, as time went on, it became obvious that you were there for me too. I have to ask, if you could have as much sex as you wanted with me, but that meant stop being friends, would you?"
"No. Sex is nice, but it's a very temporary pleasure, and my life would be a lot more boring without you, so that's an easy choice."
"...cute. I'd be doubting you if I didn't have a spell proving your honesty. I guess spending so much time with Rin made me believe someone would only ever spend time with me because they were expecting something in exchange, knowing you find me as a person interesting enough that you'd be okay with things staying that way forever..." She closes her eyes, a peaceful smile on her lips. "Let's continue. Just know that nothing's off the table for this game, if something's too much to ask for either of us, we can tap out. So... don't be too shy with your dares, okay?"
You frown. What is she trying to say? Is that flirting? Or is she messing with you? No, Mirabelle rarely lies, at best she uses half truth to hide what she thinks. Besides, you don't think she'd be the kind to judge you if you were to ask for something more extreme, right? You don't know if it's the alcohol speaking or not, but you feel bolder today.
Another round, and with trembling hands, you push another 1000 chips towards her. She doesn't even bother dropping her cards, and surrenders.
"Mirabelle, do you find me attractive? In every sense of the word, I mean." Mindlessly play with a wooden chip, you wait for her answer, your gaze fixated on the floor.
"Did you mean to ask 'what' I found attractive about you? Your question can be answered with a yes or no, which is a complete waste of a thousand chips. I'll be generous and answer your question thoroughly. Yes, I find you attractive, in every sense of the word. I admire your ability to adapt and constantly push yourself to your limits, how you're willing to shift your priorities for the sake of others. I find the way you get flustered very cute, how your eyes light up when you talk about magic, I like the way your body feels against mine when we hug, the way you smell after exercise, and even that messy bedhair of yours that you can't seem to get rid of."
Your face gets redder with every word. You try to hide it with your hands, but it only makes it more obvious that you're melting inside. It's too much, how can she say all of that stuff with a straight face? Isn't that basically a confession? You've never even considered her that way before, it just didn't feel like something that would happen. Your heart beats like crazy. You end up taking another shot, despite having won that round.
"None of what I said is a lie," Mirabelle continues. "But I would've left off a few details if not for this dancing you made me do. As I said, you'll regret crossing me."
You want to give up on the game already. This is too much for you to process at once, and the alcohol is making thinking about this rationally harder. You pick up your next cards. 15. You can't take another humiliation like this, you pick up another card, 19. You bet another thousand and when she drops her cards, your body relaxes. 18, you won by a single point.
She rest her head on her fist, waiting for your dare without fear. You can't think of anything that would be as embarassing for her as the karaoke, but you can't ask for something mild either, that would be a waste of points.
"Hey," Mirabelle leans forward, knocking some wooden chips over. "Don't stress out too hard, I'm a person too."
"...what do you mean?"
"I mean that you're overthinking things. You're nervous, and Rin said people only get nervous when they have something to lose. You're nervous because you're afraid whatever it is you're going to ask is going to piss me off, or make me see you differently, am I wrong?"
You give her a sullen look. "Is it that obvious?"
"It's how people are. I feel the same sometimes too, you know? When I tease you, or say something, anything, I often feel like I might go too far. There are times when I did make you mad, in fact, yet we always made up in the end, haven't we? So even if, somehow, you asked me something awful, that would disgust me to my very core, I think... I'd still forgive you. You need to take that risk, Atlas, the risk to offend others, or you're going to regret it later."
"But I'm fine with the way things are now, is that risk really worth it?"
"Only one way to know." She piles the wooden chips back up. "So, what will you have me do?"
You don't know. You still don't know. Even after everything she said, you can't think of anything that isn't too extreme. With your back against the wall, you decide to ask for something you normally wouldn't even as a joke.
"Can you kiss me?"
Her eyes widen. She stares at you for a few seconds, as if she was waiting for you to elaborate, or follow it up with a 'just kidding!', but you stay quiet. Even if it feels like your heart is going to explode. Even if looking at her after saying this feels like a crime. Even if you're terrified of what she'll do next.
She crawls closer to you. You close your eyes, and brace yourself for what's to come. Her warm body against yours, you feel something wet against your neck, you open one eye, finding her looking up mischeviously. "You didn't say where I had to kiss you."
"...I guess I didn't."
"Did you want it here?" She kisses your cheek, your forehead, every part of your face but your lips. Each kiss makes you flinch, and when she's done, she takes a long, deep breath. "Right, maybe... you wanted it here?" She kisses your lips. It's sudden, unexpected, it simultaneously lasts forever and not long enough. When your lips part, Mirabelle gives you an awkward smile, acting as if she isn't blushing as hard as you are.
You try to go for another, but she stops you with her hand. "I did the dare, didn't I? If you wanted more, you should've asked for more." She sits back to her spot, and you do too.
You look at your cards. They're bad, but you want to win again at all cost, you want to kiss her again. Greedily, you pick up two more cards, but end up going over 21, netting you a loss. Neither of you bothered betting chips, all dares are now implied to be at their maximum level.
Mirabelle gazes at you with hungry eyes. "I want you to stay still for... 5 minutes. No matter what I do, you don't say anything, or move, or anything that isn't breathing, okay?"
You nod. She puts her palm against your chest, and pushes you gently to the floor. You ignore the bits of food pressing against your back, as another much more pleasurable feeling is grabbing your attention. She crawled under your shirt, and her hot breath warms your body. There's hardly enough space for both her chest and yours in there, which only arouses you further. She breathes in, and her head pops out of your shirt's collar. "I really like your smell," she whispers into your ear. "Do you like mine? I can't tell what my scent is like, so I'd like to know."
You can't answer, but she takes your silence as a sign to continue. She nestles against your neck, breathing more in. "I don't have a sex drive, or I should say, I didn't start with one. After all, parasites like me reproduce mostly asexually. However, when I finally managed to get my own body, and a wraith body at that, I felt so many new urges I didn't before. Like eating, sleeping, stretching, and... a bit more than that." She nibbles your ears, your breathing gets heavier, her touch feels electric, and there's no way she hasn't noticed how tight your pants have gotten with how close she is. Yet you have to stand still, just so that this moment lasts longer.
"By the way, you forgot to take your shot, don't worry, I'll help you." She crawls out of your shirt, grabs the bottle, and drinks the equivalent of two or three shots in one go. She coughs, punching her chest as the bitter taste goes through. You've heard whiskey is supposed to be sweeter than most alcoholic drinks, so maybe it only tastes bitter due to both of you not being used to alcohol. She leans towards you, and kisses you on the lips, the whiskey taste still present on her lips. She told you to stand perfectly still, and since you don't know if that includes your tongue or not, you let hers touch yours without pushback.
She stops the kiss, her hands tightly grasping your shirt with a pained expression. "5 minutes already, I should've asked for more." She lets go of you, and sits back to her spot. She twirls her hair with one hand and mixes the cards with the other, she must be at her limit too. "You can move now."
You pick up your two cards. 10. "You can, uh, continue if you want," you tell her as you get another card.
"No. I haven't felt this way before. I want this to last forever, I- not forever, but-" she rubs her eyes with two fingers, her voice cracking. "I don't know what I'm saying. 12."
"15. I win. I want you to... do the same thing I did, stand still for 5... no, 10 minutes. You can talk, or breathe, but not move."
"10 minutes, you're learning from my mistakes." She laughs nervously. She's cute when she's like this.
You don't know where to begin, but the 10 minutes won't last forever, so you act on a thought you couldn't before, grab her left breast, and squeeze. It feels as nice as you expected, you grab the other, press them against each other, and dive headfirst into it. Even though her blouse is in the way, it's still a wonderful feeling. You unbutton her, revealing the goods further with each button that comes off. You kiss the space between her breasts, the underside, her armpits. Her skin is cotton candy, her scent sweet, this feels wrong, are you really allowed to go that far? To do that much?
"To answer your question, Mira, you do smell nice."
She inhales sharply. "That's nice. You can go further. You can do anything to me if you want. If you don't do it now, next time I win, I'll do it myself."
"I wouldn't mind that." You straddle her, and sit on her belly. "...I can try something weird, right? This position isnt uncomfortable to you or anything-"
"What part of 'anything' don't you get? do it!" She snaps back at you. It's embarassing to do, but you really want to try to use her breasts in another way. You take off your pants and your boxers, and put your dick inbetween her boobs. It feels beyond amazing already, but as soft and squishy as her chest is, you might need some lube. You could use your spit, but a strange idea hits your inebriated mind, and you press down a finger against her crotch. She gasps, you lift your hand to better slide it under her panties, which are soaking wet. You feel less nervous knowing that she's enjoying this to some extent, you don't know how you would've reactedif she was dry down there. You rub your fingers deeper in her vagina, and rub her fluids against her breasts.
You start fucking the middle of her squeezed breasts. You can see her anxious face, her gaze darting between you and your dick. You manage to pinch both her breasts together with one hand so you can lift her head up a bit, just enough that whenever you thrust, the edge of her lips touches your dick. She gets a bit startled whenever it happens, but she gets the hang of it after a bit.
Mirabelle's expression shifts between nervous, horny, confused and frustrated. She tries to speak, but you keep interrupting her with every thrust. "Hey, I know I'm supposed to stand still for this- mhh, -shupposed to- hmhg. What I'm saying ismnhnhg- LET ME TOUCH MYSELF!"
The shouting snaps you out of your pleasure induced daze. "Ah. Sure, of course you can. You... feel great, by the way."
She rolls her eyes with a small chuckle. "I can tell. Can you describe it in details? All of it-" She's made quiet by your dick again.
"I'm not falling for this, you're just... trying to embarass me again, but- I'm not-" Your pace increase, the obscene sound of flesh against flesh driving you as crazy as her body. "H-Hey, can you tell me when you're ready? I don't know how much longer I can last."
Her shocked expression turns into loud laughter. "You're so cute, I'll speed up just for you, even if I want this to... ffffh-" she gasps. "Even if I want this to last longer. Constructive criticism, your face is unflattering seen from below, can you lean a bit more forward, look at me like that..." She drools. "Perfect, I want to see your flushed face." She laughs, her head going back. "H-Hot. I want you to keep eye contact, c-come on." She brings herself down a bit so your dick is closer to her head, and winks.
You want to answer back, but focusing on talking and fucking at the same time is surprisingly hard; you don't know how she does it, but then again, you're the one using up the most stamina here, so it makes sense that she'd be less out of breath than you are.
You feel it coming, you study her face to see how close she is herself, and once it's obvious, you grab her head and slam your dick in her mouth further than before. Her eyes widen in surprise, and then twitch as the orgasm hits her too. You pull it out, which still leaves some spurts flying on her face. You thrust a few more times to make sure, she licks what she can before your stamina runs out, and your hand lets go of her chest.
Mirabelle grabs her own chest, squeezing it herself a few times. "Don't take this the wrong way, but that hurt a little. Maybe you should've let me hold my breasts for this, and you would've been the one to touch me instead? Just a thought." She sees your apologetic face, and sighs. "Hey, do you know why I'm telling you this?"
"So that I'm more careful about how you feel, next time?"
"...yes, but most importantly, I'm saying that because I enjoyed it enough that I wouldn't mind doing it again. Criticism is only worth making if there's a next time, right? Besides, I...have no idea what I'm doing either. I don't know if I love you, or if I did it because it was fulfilling a need, but imagining you doing this with someone else makes me jealous, something I'm usually not. So, do you want to date?"
You nod hard. "I'd be stupidest man alive to say no. You're special to me Mirabelle, and-" You hear something spill over, and looking to the side, the hot sauce, the cakes, the snacks, all of it are knocked over making a mess on the floor.
You stare at each other, cringing as you both realize the amount of cleaning it's going to need. Mirabelle picks four soggy cards from the deck, and gives you two terrible cards.
"You lost, and as your final dare, you will clean everything."
WIth a resigned sigh, you get up and clean. Next time, you'll do it on the bed like normal people.
Thinking about those two words, 'next time', make you feel giddy inside. Mirabelle was right, some risks are worth taking, even if you're content with what you currently have.