"He's not single! He's dating Kelly!" Kat yelled back.
"They went on one date! She's not his girlfriend or anything!" Selene argued.
"Oh and suddenly you're the kind of girl who wants to steal someone else's man?" Kat asked.
"He's not her man! And what if I am? What if I'm the type of woman who gets off on seducing single men away from women they might have potentially dated? There's nothing wrong with that!" Selene was yelling now too.
"There's nothing wrong with that?" Kat screamed.
"Are they married?" Selene asked.
"That's not the-"
"Are they boyfriend/girlfriend? Are they living together? Are they committed to one another?" Selene rapid-fired the questions to the point where both knew Kat couldn't answer, so Selene responded for her. "No. There's nothing wrong with what we're doing, and you just have to get over it! You were the one encouraging me to go after him just a few hours ago!"
"I was teasing you! I didn't think you'd actually-"
"Oh, you didn't think I would actually try to date him? You didn't think he might be attracted to me? You didn't think he might find my interests interesting, or think my sense of style was cute?"
From the other side of the door, Arthur felt that these last few items were from much older arguments and had nothing to do with him at all. He knew Kat and Selene got along well and were even friends as well as sisters, but he'd also heard it said that no one could get under your skin like siblings. His stomach sounded like a Nazgul's Hellhawk but was muffled and weak for wanting food. He looked to the closed door and sighed. Did Selene keep any snacks in here?
He checked her desk. She would forgive him for rifling through her drawers, he hoped. He could hear the continuation of the fight going on. It would be a miracle if their neighbors couldn't listen to it. Some were college students like them, but others were normal people. Families, even. He hoped nothing too inappropriate got yelled too loudly.
The first drawer contained little more than office supplies. The second had a legal pad with doodles and a Lisa Frank folder. He opened the Lisa Frank folder to find several sketches of characters he didn't recognize. He was pretty sure they were anime characters, but he couldn't have told anyone which one. They were primarily long-legged girls, similar in build to Serene. They might have been self-portraits, except that their faces were all different. Maybe she was just terrible at faces? No. They were distinct characters. He was pretty sure.
The third drawer was random junk, except for something wrapped up in cloth at the bottom. He pulled it out and smiled, looking back toward the door. He found her rabbit vibrator. He chuckled to himself and put it back. He could make use of it later if they were still doing this kind of thing once her sister was through with them. Arthur knew he didn't have to be afraid, but for some reason, he still was. The wrong kind of accusation could threaten to end not only his entire social life but his freedom.
Selene would never lie about something like that, though she was out there defending him now. He only hoped Kat listened. He didn't want word getting around campus that he was some kind of sexually deviant freak. He only had two semesters left of undergrad, but he wanted to get his MBA, and he was planning on doing that here.
No snacks. He checked the shelves, the dresser - just to be safe - and the closet. But there wasn't a scrap of food in the entire bedroom. Not even under the bed. His stomach growled again as he approached the door and did his best to listen once more.
"-And tell her what?" Selene asked.
"That you're uh..." Kat faltered.
"A slut?" Selene asked.
Kat made a face like she'd been slapped. "Don't use that kind of language with me."
"Oh, forgive me, Princess Kat. I forgot we have to keep things posh so as to keep from offending your incredibly conservative sensibilities." Selene spat as she curtseyed in mockery.
"Stop it! You're being a bitch." Kat yelled.
"And you're being a prude!" Selene yelled back.
"FINE!" Kat yelled. "Do what you want. I don't care anymore! I'm... I'm going for a walk! And I don't want him here when I get back!"
"FINE!" Selene yelled as Kat stormed past her and slammed the front door hard enough that Arthur heard it through the wall and bedroom door.
He wondered for a moment if he should step out of the bedroom or if his sudden appearance would only make things worse if Kat decided to spin around and come back inside for some reason. He hesitated, and Selene opened the bedroom door. Her face was red from yelling, and the water in her eyes had torn down her face in spots. She sniffled, and Arthur stepped forward and hugged her.
There was nothing electric about the contact the way there had been since they'd known each other. There was nothing erotic about the atmosphere anymore or about being alone together in her apartment. He simply held her in a hug between his two strong arms and let her cry. They stood in a hug like that, with her leaning on him and resting her head against his chest, staining his shirt with her tears, for a long few silent minutes.
Until it was finally interrupted by a growl from Arthur's stomach so long and varied, it almost seemed as if it were trying to form a sentence and speak out for itself since Arthur wasn't going to.
Selene laughed, startled from her mood by the sheer absurdity of the sound, and she immediately felt better. She wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her sweater and looked up to Arthur with a soft smile on her face.
"Let's get you something to eat, Master." She took his hand and pulled him toward the kitchen.
"It's okay." Arthur said hesitantly. "We don't have to-"
"Do you not want to?" Selene asked.
"I don't want to impose and we don't have to keep playing right now. It sounds like you and Kat-"
"Kat will get over it." Selene interrupted. "I was... I was really enjoying it until she walked in. That was hot. And I know you were ready for another round before all of that. And I know you're hungry. And I want to take care of you, and I want to call you Master while I do it. Is that okay?"
"Sure." Arthur answered, knowing when to make demands and when it was time to shut up and give her what she needed. "I mean... Very good. Slave. Though I know what I want for dinner. If you're up for it."
Selene raised an eyebrow. "And what is that, Master?"
"Dumplings from Charlie's." Arthur said with a solid and affirmative nod. Those dumplings, from the takeout place called the Garden Wok, whose owner and cook was named Charlie, were Selene's favorite, and he knew it.
"I'm sure I can order us some." Selene smiled.
"Us? Did I say that you could have any?" Arthur asked.
"Please Master?" Selene whined, but she was still smiling. "I'll earn them! I promise!"
Arthur chuckled. "Okay. Take this card, and order us a dozen. And some Wontons. And some Boneless Spare Ribs. And egg rolls. Ooo, and those crab rangoons." Arthur took out his wallet and handed the credit card to Selene to pay for dinner. She handed it back to him.
"I'll cover it." Selene assured him.
"You got pizza last night. I'll buy dinner tonight." Arthur argued.
"It's okay I-"
"Slave." Arthur's voice took on that dark edge again. "You're being disobedient. Now put the order through, and when it gets here, I'm taking one of your dumplings for your disobedience."
Selene smiled.
"Do you want to lose all your dumplings?" Arthur asked.
"No, sir!" Selene jumped for the card, grabbed it, and headed back to her room to put the order through.
Arthur sighed and looked around the room. There was a bowl of fruit on the kitchen table, apples, and bananas. He took one of the bananas and had it halfway gone by the time Selene came back into the room.
"Ordered, sir. Though I... took the initiative to have them deliver it to your place. I hope that's okay." Selene said with a smile. "Though, it was a lot of food. It might take them a while."
"That's fine." Arthur nodded. "This is Kat's apartment too after all, and we might want to give her some space to cool down."
"Yeah, that was quite the blowup." Selene shook her head. "Sorry about that."
"It's not your fault." Arthur assured her as he nodded back toward her bedroom. She led the way back into it, and Arthur took a deep breath.
"No. It's Kat's." Selene frowned. "She should have knocked, or... I dunno. Something. I thought I locked the door."
"You did." Arthur assured her. "I saw you do it and heard the click, or I would have locked it myself."
"Well..." Selene shut the door, locked it, then pulled it open without turning the door handle. The mechanism opened the door, whether Selene locked it or not. "Shit."
"You should pack an overnight bag." Arthur decided to change the subject before Selene's mood got too low. "And you should get changed. You're wearing that outfit tomorrow, after all, so you'll need another one for tonight."
Selene appreciated his effort to distract her and smiled. "Yes Master."
"Corset, chainmail bikini - why do you have that, by the way?" Arthur asked partway through his list as Selene reached under the bed for her duffel bag.
"Dave bought it for me as a joke because I always complained about the bikini armor in games, and they had it at the Ren Faire. It's surprisingly comfortable, but other than trying them on, I've only ever worn the bra, and that was over a blouse." Selene explained as she picked it up and put it in the duffel bag, as well as the corset. "What should I wear over to your place?"
"Hm..." Arthur thought for a moment. "Blue thong, yoga pants, your usual shoes - which you can wear tomorrow by the way - that polkadot bra, and..." Arthur "This cami." He handed her a pink one from her drawer that she set on her bed. "And that zip up hoodie in your closet. For the walk over."
"I don't imagine I'll be wearing much once we get there?" Selene asked, a playful, maybe hopeful, edge in her tone.
Arthur chuckled and shook his head. "If you're a good girl, and not a little gun shy."
"Your apartment door locks, right, right?" Selene smirked, but her tone had more dry mirth than her usual bubbly self.
"Yeah." Arthur said quietly as Selene began to change clothes.
She was trying to be quick about it, so she didn't put any effort into trying to get a rise out of Arthur by teasing him or stripping for his pleasure. He allowed it since they needed to get to his apartment before Kat came back, which might happen at any moment.
"Are you and Kat going to be okay?" Arthur asked.
"We'll be fine. She's just... dramatic." Selene said as the dress came up over her head and into the duffel.
"Does she not like me?"
"She likes you fine." Selene said as she took off her bra. "She's been encouraging me to try and date you for a while actually."
"She has?" Arthur's surprise got him a look from Selene as she took off her bra, folded it, and placed it in the duffel as well.
"Yeah. I think she was just... surprised. She didn't know what I was into with that kind of thing. We don't... We don't talk about that kind of thing in our family." Selene hooked her fingers into her waistband and started to pull down the thong panties. Arthur couldn't help but reach over and lift her chin as she began to bend.
"Are you okay?" Arthur asked.
"I'm a little upset still, to be honest. But... you helped, and are helping. I'm sure I'll feel better once we get to your place, and we can get back to playing properly, Master." Selene smiled and waited for him to release her chin before she finished taking off her underwear. She stepped out of it and slid on the fresh pair, followed by her bra, the yoga pants, and then the cami. The zip-up hoodie was an older one and purposefully shorter than most. With a long shirt, it would have been fine, letting the t-shirt flair out under it, but for now, it just exposed the high waist of the yoga pants as they and the cami clung to her body, showing off her flat stomach and round butt.
"I'm not asking as your Master." Arthur put a hand on her shoulder. "Seriously. Selene. Are you okay? Do you want to stop things tonight and you can work things out with Kat and we'll play more later?"
"I'm good, Arthur. I want to keep playing. If I didn't, I would have used my safewords or taken off my collar." Selene thrust her chin up to show off the strip of leather still around her neck like a choker.
"Oh your collar. Hm..."
"What's wrong with it?" Selene asked.
"Nothing, but if you wear it twenty-four seven, people might start to notice it and think something's up. We should probably rotate it." Arthur brushed it with his fingers and then let them slide down the top of her chest.
"Do you have other collars for me to wear?" Selene looked up at him as she moved away slightly, only to put her shoes on.
"Not yet." Arthur shook his head. "But you have chokers - I've seen you wear them. Maybe one of those could work?"
"Maybe..." Selene looked over to her dresser. The jewelry box on top of it didn't have any expensive jewelry in it, but there were a lot of dangly earrings and chokers. "You should pick one for me. If you want me to wear one."
"Do you not want to stop wearing the collar you've got?" Arthur asked.
"I like this one." Selene said as she touched it. "It's special, and it's... yours. You gave it to me. It has a lot of meaning, doesn't it?"
Arthur nodded, stepped over to her, and hugged her. "You're right." He said after a moment. "You can wear that one for as long as you like."
"Thank you." Selene said softly.
"Not like we'll be able to keep it secret much longer anyway. I'd be amazed if Kat hasn't told the world by tomorrow." Arthur shrugged.
"Oh, Kat won't tell anyone." Selene assured him as she touched his arm.
"She won't?" Arthur asked, confused.
"Are you kidding? She doesn't even talk to me about sex. There's no way she's going to tell anyone else what she saw. She's a little upset right now, sure, but she's a lot more conservative and traditional when it comes to that stuff, which is why she's so upset. Culture shock - kinda."
"Okay." Arthur had to take her word for it. He didn't know Kat that well. He'd hung out with her a few times, but only when he was hanging out with Selene or when Selene invited him to something. He didn't think he'd ever had a conversation with her completely one on one. He imagined now she might not want to talk to him at all.
"Anything else I should bring?" Selene asked as she finished getting dressed.
"These." Arthur held up a pair of black high heels, about three inches tall. They were the tallest ones Selene owned, though they weren't that dressy. "And your vibrator." Arthur said as he bent down and pulled it from her bottom desk drawer.
Selene's face was struck by surprise as he produced it, and she blushed a little but didn't protest as he placed it on top of the items in the duffel.
"And any toiletries you want to bring? You have an early class tomorrow, right?"
"I can skip it." Selene waved the concern away.
"No." Arthur said. "We're here for classes. We pay good money for them. We're not skipping classes to play."
"But you skipped your class tonight!" Selene protested and started to pout.
"Well, no more skipping classes to play." Arthur said firmly. "Unless I say otherwise."
Selene smirked at him but obeyed. "Yes, sir. Let me just grab a few things from the bathroom, and then I'll be ready. You want to bring Return of the King?"
"We've seen it before." Arthur smirked. "I've got a few ideas on how to better spend our time."
"Oh?" Selene asked as she passed by him and headed into the bathroom to grab her things. She left the door open, and Arthur peeked in as she packed, always astounded by how the counter stayed up with the sheer number of products and tools laid out on it.
"Yeah." Arthur nodded. "I think I've come up with a few ideas of what to do until the food gets there, and for a while after."
Selene smirked and glanced over at him but finished packing up her things and zipped the duffel closed. It was far from full, but it had everything she needed for an overnight stay at Arthur's. She'd never packed something to stay over there before. Most of the time, she'd slept there because it was late, and she was tired after hanging out, and she'd fallen asleep without really meaning to. This time, she was packing a bag, and they both knew that she would spend the night with the express purpose of fucking as much as possible. Or, at least, so she hoped.
Arthur's apartment was just across the parking lot after descending the stairs in her apartment building and climbing them in his. The walk was quick, but Arthur stopped her just before they left the apartment.
"I want you to slave-walk behind me." Arthur said.
"Slave-walk?" Selene asked, arching an eyebrow. It was clear she'd never heard of it and was pretty sure it was something Arthur made up and was only slightly worried it would be some kind of weird crawl.
"Don't worry, it's nothing too showy. It's just a small demonstration of submission, walking as though you were on a leash, but without the leash, at least to start." Arthur did his best to explain what he had in mind.
Selene hadn't thought of that particular fantasy, but now that he'd mentioned it, it was all she could see in her mind's eye. Her, naked except for her collar and leash, walking on her hands and knees as he pulled her along. The mental image was startling erotic to her, and she couldn't help but smile slightly at the thought.
"How do I-?" Selene started to ask.
"It's easy." Arthur answered and moved her slightly away from the door, placing her exactly where he wanted her. "Fold your hands, either in front or behind you. Keep your head down, with your eyes at the ground directly in front of my feet. And you keep pace just a half or pace or so behind me and on my left."
"It might be difficult to do that and carry the duffel." Selene hesitated.
"I'll be carrying that." Arthur said as he took it from her and slung it over his right shoulder. "You just focus on walking. Take small steps, but don't dawdle. Ready?"
"Ready Master." Selene answered as she took the pose he'd demonstrated. She stood with her toned legs straight while her head tilted down, with her eyes on his heels. She let him start walking, and then she followed a pace behind after making sure the door was locked. She first kept her hands folded in front of her but switched them to behind her after a few paces, which felt more submissive as she rolled her shoulders back and down. It was like she was presenting her front to anyone who passed by, though no one did, and the thought made her blush slightly.
All the way across the parking lot, she stayed at his side and slightly behind him, like a heeled dog, with her eyes downcast on the ground in front of her feet. It was cooler outside but not cold. Almost everyone was home by now, so there were no pedestrians in the lot beside the two of them. It was a short walk, but by the end of it, she found her face flushed with more than exertion. She kept the pose when they reached his building and took her steps carefully into it.
He stopped at the mailbox just inside the door to his building, and she stopped and waited, breathing deeply as she glanced around to see if anyone was coming. She felt the instinct to put her arms in front of her again but didn't. She knew he had a better view of her if she kept them behind her, and she was rewarded when he glanced over his shoulder at her and smiled. She smiled too, and then he nodded toward the stairs. She followed him up, inhaled a deep breath while she waited for him to unlock his apartment door, and then let it out in relief when the door opened, and she practically jumped inside.