“Eh eh eh eh... Read ‘em and weep.” Ruin displayed his hand, three queens and two kings. With a flick of his finger, he lights his twenty-fifth cigarette of the evening, and slams his boots on the table.
“Piece of shit.” Swallow throws his cards face up, displeased. Three 10s. Not quite enough.
Having folded earlier, Corvid wipes some sweat off his brow. Poker night sounded like fun when he was still tipsy - once sobered up, it was a lot less enjoyable.
All eyes on the table directed themselves towards the sole remaining player. Gambler. The company’s unofficial mascot. The terror of the mercs. The one-woman-money-drain. She had gleefully suggested “just one round!” of cards after an uneventful outing in a station’s bar. Most sober people, or those with common sense, excused themselves. What had started as a friendly game was now a tense battle of the minds, which saw cigarettes being exchanged, then cash, then, for the final game, a favor. The winner could ask anything out of whoever had the least chips. Ruin had gone all in. Swallow, wisely, kept a chip up his sleeve, just in case.
A smug look on her face, Gambler played around with the cards in her hand. “Wow, Ru, your hand is sooo scary~ What kind of favor would you ask of me, were you to win?”
Behind his sunglasses, the blond merc clutched his lighter tight in his hand. What WOULD he ask of her? She was pretty cute, but anything inappropriate was out of the question. Gotta stay professional. He’d seen too many times where fucking on the job led to entire squads imploding. His ego bruised time and time again by the lady, he figured he’d make her spit out all the times where she cheated, in front of everyone else, so they would know that he wasn’t the one who sucked at games - she was the devil incarnate who kept on playing unfair! That, or he’d just ask her for all the cash he’d lost to her schemes...
“Wouldn’t you like to know? Now quit bluffing and give up all your chips to elder brother. Eh eh eh...”
“Hmmm, I wonder~”
One by one, she slapped down her cards on the table. One king, one ace, two aces, two kings...
“No fucking way.”
With a dazzling smirk, Gambler laid the third ace down. “Looks like it’s my win.”
Ruin’s cigarette fell of his mouth, bouncing on his leg before hitting the ground, his mouth agape. “No fucking way...”, he repeated.
“Didn’t even have to cheat for this one, I won fair and square!” With a wink, she gathered up all the chips in the betting pool.
Ruin turned towards Swallow and Corvid, who still had a few chips on their side. “Y-You guys... You didn’t see anything weird, right?”
Corvid shook his head. Swallow couldn’t help but click his tongue at the arrogant young man. “Do you really think I would have played with that chick if I hadn’t made sure that I wasn’t at a disadvantage? You lost, brother. Time to pay up.”
Removing his legs from the table, Ruin held his head in his hands. This couldn’t be happening! Oh God, what would she ask for? He was never gonna recover from this... By tomorrow, videos of his fate would be circulating all throughout the ship, and everyone was gonna look down on him. It was over for him. Curtains, ciao.

Twirling a chip with a practiced hand, Gambler leaned back on her chair. “Let’s see...” She takes a swig off of a cheap whisk bottle that had been sitting on the table. “I could have you clean my room.” Corvid winces. “I could have you go and wrestle with King Krab and Kancho, now that’d be a fun spectacle!”
“You’ll just kill the kid, sister. He doesn’t stand a chance.”, said Swallow with a dismissive gesture. Usually, Ruin would have gone all up in his face about it, but here, he could only thank the man inside his head. Being crushed beneath the two titans’ colossal, sweaty abs was a fate worse than death.
“Ah, that’s fair enough. It’d be boring, without Ru coming along and following my every little scheme because of this pride of his...”
Tapping her cheek in faux contemplation, she smiles, and walks up to the blond man.
“Chin up, Ru! You’ll be my lackey, all day, for 24 hours! Starting... Now!”
Looking up at her, Ruin could only see a tyrant who would abuse her authority at every turn. He could try to just run away, but under the two other men’s watchful eyes, there was no escape.
“Sure...”
“Sure, milady. Say it!”
“S-sure, milady...” He grit his teeth in shame.
Getting up, Corvid puts his hand on Ruin’s shoulder. “Good luck, buddy.”
Defeated, he could only mutter a small thank you for his colleague.

...

“Now, didn’t you have fun today?”
Inhaling deeply, he replies as neutrally as possible. “Yes, milady.”
He had been run ragged. First, forced to make breakfast. Next, they had docked to a department store, and he had to carry all of her shopping bags, including a new set of weights she purchased to keep her “killer figure”. He had to fight off four guys who got pissed they got trounced in a game of rock-paper-scissors. He had to take her to a seedy casino on the underbelly of the space station so she could exchange whatever winnings she gained from a lucky streak a while back.
Finally, the 24 hours of subservience were coming to an end.
“You’re surprisingly easy to tame. I had figured you’d be a lot more tough to handle, with all your bravado.”
“Eventually, you learn to cave in when you have to. It is how it is when you have to handle so many siblings.”
She motions for him to get closer, taking a cigarette out of the pack he offers her, which he lights for her. He also helps himself to one, but when he tries to turn on his lighter, all he gets are a few weak sparks.

“Shit, outta fuel.”
“Come here.” Following her order, he leans over, his cigarette brushing against the lit tip of hers.
Ruin takes a deep breath, in order to help the flame transfer over, before noticing how close their two faces are to one another’s.
He leans away once his cig is lit, trying to hide his own embarrassment, but Gambler picks up on it without skipping a beat.
“Huh? What’s this? Are you not used to being so close to a woman~?”
“I totally am! Shut it!”
Getting closer to him, she smiles smugly. “Really? Your sisters don’t count, Ru...”
So close to him, he could smell the cheap perfume off of her. For a second, he wonders if she can smell him, too..? Did she enjoy his cologne? He usually went without most days, to save it for when it mattered, but he did put it on that morning... Wait, what even was he thinking?
“Obviously they don’t. You really remind me of the eldest, robbing me blind and trying to piss me off all the time...”
“Really now? Would your sister do... This?”
Removing the cigarette from her mouth, she gets up on her tiptoes, and plants a small kiss on Ruin’s lips. He freezes for a moment.
“Ahahahaha, you’re too easy to read, Ru~ Something like this is no-!“ She’s suddenly interrupted by her companion leaning back into her, his lips against hers for a moment longer than the previous one.
“...”
“...”
They both look at each other, dumbfounded.
“I-“
Grabbing him by the collar of his shirt, Gambler forces him to lean down again, as she French kisses him, passionately. Their tongues intertwine, the taste of tobacco mixing within their mouths. His hands reach around her hips as their bodies come into close contact with each other.
Eventually, she releases him by pushing him away, wiping a small trail of saliva off her mouth. “Geez, Ru, I knew you were greedy, but... You should know not to challenge me like this~”
Bright red, heart racing, Ruin tries to keep his composure. “Eh eh eh... I couldn’t help myself.”

She pulls him in close yet again, making his heart skip yet another beat in anticipation, and whispers in his ear. “Don’t get too attached, got it? I’m not looking to get hitched just yet.”, and turns around with a wink.
Before he can speak, she checks out her pocket terminal. “Oh my, would you look at the time? It’s been 24 hours since our small bet. Guess that’ll be it for now. See you later, Ru~”
For a moment, he thinks to pursue her, but he catches himself. She was certain he was caught in her trap, huh? Well, while it may be somewhat true... Ruin decides not to give her the satisfaction of giving in to it by chasing her, and turns around as well, hoping no one caught them in that moment. It’d be trouble if word got out that they were involved in such a manner... Wouldn’t it?

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Pub: 04 Apr 2026 03:24 UTC

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