50. Natural Twenty #2
Cami claps.
Griffin actually looks smug.
Ronan leans back.
“Critical success.”
Griffin points toward Cami. “Do I still need permission to kiss her?”
“Yes.”
Cami is already smiling. “Yes.”
Ronan nods. “You have one minute. And because it's a natural twenty, you may petition the DM for a reward.”
Griffin pauses.
We all wait.
He looks at Cami.
Then Ronan.
“I want to take her sweater off.”
I gape.
Cami's face turns slightly pink.
Ronan inclines his head. “Granted.”
I point at Griffin. “Who are you?”
“Shut up.”
He reaches for Cami.
And damn.
Okay.
The kiss starts like Griffin.
His hand cups the back of her neck, careful and familiar, but within about five seconds the careful part is mostly gone.
Cami melts into him.
He pulls her closer.
Her hands disappear into his hair.
I watch because I have eyes and also because the noises she makes into his mouth are actively trying to kill me.
Halfway through, Griffin pulls back enough to drag her sweater over her head.
She has a black lace bra underneath.
My cock jumps… again.
Micah exhales beside me.
Then Griffin kisses her again.
Ronan calls time.
Griffin stops.
Immediately.
Not happily.
But immediately.
Cami is breathing hard.
Her mouth is swollen.
Griffin looks like he wants to eat the table.
I whistle.
He gives me a look. “Your turn.”
Oh.
Right.
Fuck yes.
I glance between Cami and Micah.
Then at Ronan.
“I want Micah to kiss me.”
“That's not an action you control.”
I narrow my eyes. “You're being pedantic.”
“Yes.”
“I want to kiss Micah.”
“Persuasion.”
“I should get advantage because we're engaged.”
“No.”
“I have jewelry.”
“No.”
“I have three inspiration.”
“You can use one.”
I clutch my chest.
“So early?”
“Your choice.”
I roll.
Three.
The entire table laughs.
“Fuck all of you.”
Ronan looks almost delighted. “Failure.”
I point at my inspiration. “I reroll.”
“Spend it.”
I slide one of the beads toward the middle.
Fifteen.
Ronan nods.
“Successful. Twenty seconds.”
I grab Micah's face. “Come here.”
He catches both my wrists before I touch him.
“My action,” I mutter.
His eyes darken.
Micah lets me close the distance, then kisses me like he's been waiting through three other turns to do it.
Which, apparently, he has.
My mouth opens.
His tongue slides over mine.
Somewhere across the table, Cami sighs.
Ronan says, “Time.”
Micah pulls away.
I do not.
His hand closes around my chin before I can follow. “Behave.”
Fuck.
I sit back.
Ronan puts another inspiration bead in front of Micah.
“This game is fucking rigged.”
“Correct,” Ronan says.
Everyone laughs.
Phase one lasts three rounds.
By the end of it, I am shirtless and barefoot.
Micah has lost his hoodie and shirt.
Cami is down to bra and jeans because Griffin somehow keeps rolling like the dice have decided marriage is a combat buff.
Griffin has lost his shirt because Cami rolled high enough to remove it herself, which does not violate his target pool and spiritually feels like a gift to the entire room.
I tell him that.
He tells me to go fuck myself.
I ask Ronan if that counts as a declared action.
Ronan tells me no.
Micah gets one hand down the front of my jeans for exactly forty-five seconds after drawing GENITALS from his body-zone deck, then Ronan calls time while I'm actively trying not to hump his palm.
Cami draws CHEST while touching Griffin and uses her entire turn to drag her mouth over his pecs and bite his nipple.
Griffin almost comes out of the chair.
I laugh so hard I lose my next roll.
Worth it.
Then I declare that I want to touch Cami.
Ronan gives me a Dexterity check because, quote, “You've spent the last five minutes arguing instead of paying attention.”
I roll a natural one.
Everyone goes silent.
Then Cami starts laughing.
I point at Ronan. “No.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
Ronan considers me. “Hands behind your chair until your next turn.”
“This isn't even a real mechanic.”
“It is now.”
“You cannot homebrew because you're annoyed.”
“I am the Dungeon Master.”
“That phrase has become authoritarian.”
Micah catches says my name in warning.
Oh.
I look at him.
He raises an eyebrow.
My dick tries to punch through my jeans.
“Okay,” I say. “I withdraw my complaint.”
“I assumed you might.”
Ronan moves on.
By the time my next turn arrives, I'm sweating.
Not from exertion.
From sitting at a dining room table with four people I love and want in various complicated ways while Ronan uses dice to turn us into fucking lab rats.
Hot lab rats.
Consenting, emotionally secure lab rats.
My hands are released.
I roll my shoulders.
“Phase change?” I ask hopefully.
Ronan looks at the table.
At Cami's flushed chest.
At Griffin's clenched jaw.
At Micah's pupils.
“Yes.”
Oh thank fuck.
He reaches behind the DM screen.
And removes the cloth from the box.
Cami makes a sound.
I lean forward.
Inside are several things arranged in black foam.
A vibrator.
A blindfold.
Soft cuffs.
A cock ring.
A small plug.
I stare at Ronan. “You made loot.”
“Yes.”
“You made sex loot.”
“Yes.”
“Please tell me they have names.”
Ronan picks up the vibrator. “The Wand of Resonant Invocation.”
I put my face on the table.
Cami is laughing so hard she's wheezing.
Micah covers his mouth.
Griffin says, “Of course he did.”
Ronan picks up the cock ring. “The Band of Delayed Gratification.”
I lift my head. “No.”
“Yes.”
“The blindfold?”
“The Veil of Obscured Perception.”
“The cuffs?”
“Manacles of Voluntary Restraint.”
Cami wipes tears from her cheeks before saying, “Ronan.”
“What?”
“Did you name these alone?”
“Yes.”
“That's somehow worse.”
I point at the plug. “Please.”
Ronan looks at it. “The Keystone of Fortitude.”
There is silence.
Then Griffin laughs.
Actually laughs.
I stare at him. “You laughed with intent.”
Ronan covers the box again.
“Loot is earned through critical success or exceptional play.”
I sit back. “This is the best day of my life.”
Micah looks at my ring. “Second best.”
My chest does a stupid warm thing in the middle of being painfully hard.
“Fine. Second.”
His foot brushes my thigh once under the table.
It’s enough.
Ronan picks up the initiative cards.
“Reroll.”
Phase two.
Combat.
This time Micah goes first.
Then Griffin.
Then me.
Then Cami.
Micah looks around the table once and settles on me. “I want his pants off.”
Of course he does.
Ronan gives him Sleight of Hand again.
Micah rolls sixteen.
“Successful. Remove them.”
I stand only because Ronan nods permission.
Micah unbuttons me slowly.
His fingers brush my stomach, then the line of hair below my navel.
My cock presses hard against my briefs.
Micah pulls my jeans down.
His eyes stay on me the whole time.
I step out.
Then sit.
Ronan says, “Bonus action available.”
Micah looks at him.
Then at me. “I want to touch him.”
“Draw.”
Micah reaches for his deck.
Turns over a card.
THIGHS
I laugh. “Oh, that's evil.”
Micah's mouth curves. “No, it's not.”
His hand settles high on my thigh.
Really fucking high.
But not where I want it.
His thumb circles against the inside, close enough that every movement sends heat directly into my dick.
I glare at Ronan.
He looks unmoved.
Micah spends his allotted thirty seconds torturing me.
Then Griffin's turn.
He looks at Cami.
Of course.
But this time, before he speaks, Ronan says, “You have a bonus option from your prior critical.”
Griffin raises an eyebrow. “Which is?”
“A Strength-based positioning action.”
Cami's breathing catches.
So does mine.
Griffin looks at her. “You okay with that?”
“Yes.”
Ronan nods. “Declare.”
Griffin's gaze stays on Cami. “I want her on the table.”
Oh.
Fuck.
Cami's mouth opens.
Ronan says, “Athletics.”
Griffin rolls.
Eighteen.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I murmur.
Ronan gestures. “Granted.”
Griffin stands.
The whole room changes.
He moves around Cami, slides one arm behind her back and one under her knees.
She laughs once.
Then he picks her up.
Just lifts her like she weighs nothing.
Like the fucking buff guy he is.
“Holy shit,” I whisper.
Griffin puts her on the table.
Our dining room table like she’s a fucking meal.
Now she's sitting on it in a black bra and jeans, hair falling around her shoulders, Griffin standing between her knees.
My brain stops.
Micah's hand clenches on the table.
“Yeah,” I whisper.
Ronan says, “Your primary action remains.”
Griffin looks down at Cami. “I want her jeans off.”
“Strength is not relevant.”
Griffin looks at him.
“Dexterity.”
Griffin rolls fourteen.
Ronan nods. “Successful.”
He unbuttons her jeans.
Cami lifts her hips.
Griffin pulls them off.
Black lace panties.
Matching.
I lean toward Micah. “Do you think that was intentional?”
“Yes.”
I grab and kiss his hand before Ronan can tell me not to.
“Reaction spent,” Ronan says.
I freeze. “Wait. That counted?”
“Yes.”
“I didn't know reactions existed.”
“They do now.”
“I hate this game.”
“No, you don't.”
“No, I really don't.”
My turn.
I look at Ronan.
Then Cami.
Then Micah.
I grin. “I want to go down on Cami.”
Griffin coughs.
Cami's thighs press together.
Ronan looks at me. “That will require eighteen.”
I sit back. “Eighteen?”
“You're asking for sustained explicit access in phase two.”
“Objection. She likes my mouth.”
Cami raises a hand. “Can confirm.”
Ronan doesn't blink. “Eighteen.”
I grab my die.
“Can I use inspiration for advantage?”
“Yes.”
I slide a bead toward him.
Two dice.
Sixteen.
“Fuck.”
Ronan shakes his head. “Denied.”
Cami actually pouts at me.
“I'm sorry, Dollface.”
“You suck.”
“Apparently not,” Griffin counters.
I turn toward him so fast I almost fall out of my chair. “THAT WAS A JOKE.”
His mouth twitches.
Micah starts laughing.
Even Ronan smiles.
Cami's turn.
She looks at Ronan. “I want the vibrator.”
My mouth drops open.
Ronan raises an eyebrow. “Petitioning for loot without a critical?”
“I have an argument.”
“Go ahead.”
She gestures toward herself. “I am currently on the table.”
Ronan waits. “That's the argument?”
“Yes.”
Dex logic recognizes Dex logic.
I nod supportively.
Ronan does not. “Roll Persuasion.”
Cami rolls.
Natural twenty.
The whole table explodes.
She throws both hands up. “Yes!”