I really like King Dice's little cards and decided to make them as cute possible. Whenever they're not being used as his main weapons, they're his eyes and ears in the casino. But I guess everyone also has the same head-canon in the Cuphead fandom. Also, a lot of Devildice flirting in this chapter so please enjoy!


The next day, King Dice kept extra busy in the casino where he monitored the patrons, invited popular guests to join in this evening's entertainments, and lured unsuspecting gamblers into games of chances. Ever since his efforts in stopping Pauper Rich, King Dice was firmly instructed by the Devil to keep an eye out for any more debtors who'd come looking for trouble. And thanks to the Devil's gift, King Dice had his own main weapon at his disposal in case anyone made the unwise mistake of messing with him. Like the crazed drunk gambler who got so frustrated at the claw-machine that he angrily picked up a nearby chair to try to smash the glass for his prize while ignoring the furious screeching from Mr. Chimes from within.

King Dice arrived in time and with just a flick of his right hand, powerful poker-cards shot out like bullets that never missed their target. The drunken gambler was easily knocked back by the blow of the cards, immediately rendering him incapacitated. King Dice stood over the sloshed guy with a dangerously polite smile. "You sir have had a lil' too much to drink. I'm afraid I'm gonna have to ask ya to leave."

With a snap of his fingers, King Dice easily summoned forward a bunch of cackling imps to lift the drunken patron over their shoulders and prepared to toss him out on his rear. Once the hassle had been dealt with, King Dice leaned in to congratulate Mr. Chimes. "Good job chiseling that guy for his loose change…" Mr. Chimes gave a sneaky wink in return.

Whenever they weren't being used as weapons, the little poker-cards were very obedient and loyal to King Dice and always followed his every command. And it wasn't long before Dice began bonding with his card minions. Sometimes he'd allow the lively cards to sit on his shoulder, tap-dance on his arms or wiggle into his pockets for warmth. But best of all, Dice could cheat better than ever because his cards worked in perfect harmony with his sleight of hand abilities.

Afterwards, King Dice often liked patrolling around the gaming floors and engaging some of the well-known patrons into conversation. However he started to get feeling he was being watched and when Dice turned his square-head to look, it was to see the Devil making his grand entrance into the casino. It never ceased to amaze Dice how the Devil had a very commanding presence, one that caught people's attention without fail. Sensing Dice's eyes on him, the Devil had no trouble spotting his casino manager in the large crowd. The Devil locked eyes with Dice and the two shared an intimate stare. Dice hadn't forgotten their conversation last night. In fact…his boss had been on his mind lately.

The Devil continued to stare at Dice and then to his surprise, Dice smiled and bowed to him in respect. The Devil's yellow eyes widen in surprise upon this unexpected gesture but then he grinned devilishly. Upon seeing the Devil's reaction, Dice's smile grew bigger. But then he looked away embarrassedly and felt silly to be making googly-eyes at his own boss. He certainly needed to act more professional. Unfortunately this hadn't gone unnoticed because as Dice was walking by the roulette table, he stopped when he saw Pirouletta, Pip & Dot all watching him.

"Wow, I've never seen that before. How did you do that?" Pirouletta said to Dice. "I've never seen the Devil smile at anyone like that before." Then Pirouletta sighed romantically. "It's so sweet. Just like how my Wheezy looks at me…"

"I'll say," Pip agreed. "It reminds me of the special days I've spent courting my precious lil' Dot." Pip and Dot exchanged adoring looks at one another. "Tee-hee, you're such a hopeless romantic," Dot giggled flirtatiously up at her hubby.

"What?" Dice said, frowning at the domino couple. "It's not like that. I just work for the Devil." Dice grew uncomfortably aware of the sly grins Pip and Dot were giving him. "Quit lookin' at me like that!" Dice said agitatedly. "What I do with the Devil is strictly business. There's nothin' goin' on between us." Pirouletta and Dot shared a girlish laugh. "Awright that's it! Back to work! All of ya!" Dice said irritably.

Dice turned on his heel and walked away from his fellow employees in a huff. He was so aggravated that he accidentally ended up bumping into someone. Just as Dice looked up to excuse himself, he saw it was none other than the Devil himself. Right on cue, his heart did a back-flip inside his chest and he couldn't look away as the Devil gave him a cheeky grin. Dice was so busy gawking that it took him a second to realize the Devil was holding a couple of envelopes in his hand.

"King Dice, can you have these letters mailed for me?" the Devil handed over the envelopes to Dice. "I have some important clients I need to entertainment right now."

"Right away, boss," Dice said meekly. Taking the envelopes in hand, Dice watched as the Devil, still grinning, walked past him. Dice felt the Devil's black fur brush him, followed by his fork-tail playfully tickling him under the chin before slipping away. Dice stood there in a daze that he could feel the eyes of Pirouletta and Pip & Dot on him. Dice straighten his suspenders and tried to act like his charming boss had no effect on him…

All day today, the Devil and King Dice seemed to run into each other in the casino rather they meant to or not. During a game of Craps where King Dice and the Devil ended up playing together at the same table and had fun making harmless wagers with each other. Later at the dining-area where the Devil invited old associates for a drink, King Dice often found himself fondly watching his boss and even ordered Lime Cocktails for his boss and guests to enjoy. The Devil looked in King Dice's direction and raised his glass graciously to him. King Dice knew he should be focusing on his duties but every now and then, he'd become distracted whenever the Devil entered a room. Soon everyone was starting to notice the interactions between the Devil and his casino manager.

"So what's going on with you and the head honcho?" Hopus Pocus later asked Dice. The rabbit was sitting comfortably on his top-hat with his eyes on Dice. Hopus was on better terms with Dice ever since Dice protected the rabbit from Pauper Rich's attack.

"Nothin' goin' on…," Dice said with a bored look. He stood around with hands behind his back while watching a game of poker between spooky ghosts. "The Devil is my boss. We get along with each other. I'm nothin' more than another employee to em'."

"Another employee, huh?" Hopus studied Dice thoughtfully for a moment. "The Devil pays you an awful lot of attention," he cleverly pointed out. "The Devil hardly leaves his office, prefers dining alone, he's an unsociable grump and he never hangs around the casino much." Hopus then added with a sly evil grin. "That all changed the second you started work here…"

Dice felt his cheeks reddening a little at the implications. He never realized it before but his boss did pay special attention to him. There were even times where the Devil came off flirty towards him… Hopus waited for him to say something but instead Dice quickly opted for a distraction so as to avoid the subject. "Oh look, there are new guests comin' in. I'd better go welcome em'. Wouldn't this be a good time to make yourself disappear, Hopus?"

King Dice put on his best smile and went over to greet the newcomers. "Welcome to the Devil's Casino!" But Dice saw to his chagrin that it was the same gang of five weasels who'd entered and they had no trouble recognizing him. "Oh drat… Talk about bad luck…" Dice muttered to himself in dismay.

"Well I'll be a son of a gun! Look who it is, boys. The cheating scumbag," the weasels glared viciously at Dice. "So this is where you've been hiding, is it? Y'know, we haven't forgotten about ya swindling us of our hard-earned money."

King Dice didn't stop smiling politely to them. "Aw shucks, guys. I put my swindlin' days behind me. Now I'm a simple casino manager. Can't we put this lil' ugly disagreement behind us? Let bygones be bygones? I'm sure you lucky fellers can win back your money in no time. May I suggest a game of…?" King Dice was interrupted when all five weasels pulled out their pistols and pointed them at him.

"Aw no you don't!" the leader weasel demanded. "I've waited too long for this! And now that I've got ya in my sights, I'm gonna turn you into swish-cheese!"

Upon seeing the gang of weasels pointing their guns at his manager, Hopus Pocus hurried to King Dice's defense right away. "Lemme take care of em' for ya, boss!"

"No me, boss!" Chips Bettigan boldly arrived on the scene.

"No me, boss!" Mangosteen eagerly volunteered too.

A few minutes later and even Mr. Chimes arrived on the scene and clapped his cymbals together threateningly. But King Dice merely held up a hand to stop them. "No… I'm perfectly capable of handling it. Stay out of it…" King Dice told them. They heard the authority in his deep voice and so his employees backed off in respect. There King Dice turned back to the gang of weasels. "Last warning, gentlemen… Put your shooters away"

"Ha! You gonna take us on by yourself?" the leader weasel scoffed at Dice. "It's five of us against one of you. I'll bet you can't take on all of us at once!"

King Dice's smirk widens. "Hot dog! You're on!" With that, Dice held up a deck of five cards like a fan. The gang of weasels laughed at Dice's choice of weapon and aimed their pistols. With just one toss, the five-cards shot out at each weasel and whizzed through their weapons. At first this attack seemingly didn't do anything.

"Is that it? Pathetic!" the weasel leader laughed derisively. "Now it's our…" He spoke too soon. All their gun barrels broke off, rendering their weapons completely useless. The poker-cards packed more of a punch than they thought. And now the weasels stood there unarmed and nervous. They didn't realize Dice had gotten a lot stronger than the last time they've seen him. Not to mention him having gained a very powerful demonic ally…

"Whaddya know, I won the bet," King Dice sneered triumphantly. "What should I claim as my prize?" Then King Dice added with a wicked glint in his green eyes. "How about…your souls?"

The gang of weasels now terrified of King Dice was all bumping into each other in their desperate attempt to bolt out the door and escape from the Devil's casino. They now knew not to mess with King Dice… Dice chuckles evilly to himself and turned around to see Hopus, Chips, Mangosteen and Mr. Chimes gathering around him and looking impressed. Dice was feeling really proud of himself and his own power. And that's when he happened to look over and saw standing not too far away was the Devil himself. Devil was casually leaning on his pitchfork and judging by his pleased smile, his boss was impressed by how he handled himself too. The Devil and Dice both shared a smug smirk…


By the end of the day, King Dice was feeling satisfied with a job well-done. The casino was making a good profit off of all the irresponsible gamblers who'd given away all their money and possessions. After a long day, Dice was glad for the chance to retire to his room and take some time to himself. As Dice was removing his shoes, he looked up to spot his poker-cards watching him with their curious beady eyes. Dice held out his hand and his little cards willingly hopped into them. His cards loved to be shuffled and they've grown accustomed to Dice's skillful hands. Finally Dice put his cards back down where they gazed up at him disappointedly.

"Take a load off, fellas," Dice sleepily told his poker-cards. With a little yawn, Dice rested his die-head on the pillow and closed his eyes. Just when he was getting comfortable, he heard a knock at his door. "Ugh… Now wha?" With a groan, Dice got out of bed and walked over to his door and opened it to find a little imp standing there.

"The master wants to see you, King Dice. Please follow me and I will take you to him," the imp said in a tiny raspy voice. There the little imp turned and went down the hallway.

"For cryin' out loud! It's late and I'm beat. Doesn't the boss ever get tired?" Dice complained a little. The imp kept on walking and at first Dice thought of not going but then his curiosity got the better of him. And besides, he realized he'd like to see the Devil too. So Dice went to go follow the imp.

At first Dice assumed the Devil was hanging around his office as usual during work-hours but to his surprise, the imp was leading him to somewhere different. A place he'd never been to before. Dice saw the imp lead him over to a big ruby-red colored door where two more imps bowed their heads to him in greeting and pulled the double-doors open for him to enter. Once Dice went through the red-door, it closed behind him. After taking a few steps forward, Dice found himself in the most magnificent room he'd ever been in.

The room was wide and cavernous and even had a breath-taking view of the volcanic mountains and the molten streams of lava in the background. The sky was a deep dark-red which meant it was around night-time. Dice wiped sweat from his brow because it was especially hot in here. Then he gazed up and noticed the Devil for the first time. His boss was large and sitting in an equally-large throne-chair which was surrounded by four pillars decorated with fire designs. The Devil had been relaxing but then grinned upon seeing that Dice had arrived. He held out his big clawed-hand and beckoned Dice to come closer.

"Welcome to my chamber, Dice. I hope my imps treated you well?" Devil said, looking down at Dice who was about the size of a doll compared to him. "Well what do ya think? This is my sanctuary. I only hold the most important meetings here."

Dice nodded his head while standing formally before the Devil in his throne-chair. "Uh-huh. I've mailed your letters, sir. I've had that one broken slot-machine fixed and I've also had today's casino earnings locked in your vault for safe-keepin' and I was able to…"

But Dice was interrupted by the Devil's sudden laughing at him. "Hey that's swell and all… But I didn't bring you here to talk business. A week working here and you're already being so strait-laced," the Devil chuckled. Seeing the annoyed scowl on Dice's face, the Devil quickly changed his tone. "I guess what I'm trying to say is I'd like for you to stay here with me…"

"Is that it?" Dice said uninterested. "It's been a long day, boss. I've been workin' nonstop and I'd like a little shut-eye." And as Dice turned away to leave, he did say nonchalantly over his shoulder to the Devil. "Don't you ever sleep around here?"

"No. I don't need sleep," the Devil replied.

This was enough to stop Dice from leaving and he turned around to look back at the Devil. "Wait? You don't sleep? Like ever?" Despite his earlier sleepiness, Dice was suddenly feeling wide-awake. And then he went back over to the Devil sitting in his throne. "How is that?"

The Devil was secretly glad that he had Dice's attention again. "You once asked me what it was like being the Devil. I can tell you if you're willing to listen," he said. Dice thought about it for a moment before smiling and he was willing to listen to the Devil talk.

In minutes the Devil started talking and Dice listened. Dice learned a lot of interesting things about the Devil. The Devil didn't sleep. The longest he'd gone without it was in eight months! The Devil couldn't get sick at all. The Devil was immortal and he'd been around since the time of creation. Dice asked him how old he was and the Devil gave a mysterious reply, "a whole lot older than you!" The Devil talked about all the monsters and demons that resided in Inkwell Hell. The Devil bragged that he was the supreme ruler over all evil. Then the two talked about each other… The Devil favored red-wine, liked Cuban-cigars, enjoyed reading French poetry, he was a lover of music of all kinds, especially classical and Jazz, and he loved gourmet foods.

Even though his eyelids were getting heavy, Dice didn't mind staying up late and talking with his boss. As they continued their conversation, Dice was talking more about himself than he ever has before. Soon the Devil knew Dice's favorite color was purple, his favorite sweets was cakes and brownies, Dice was excellent at math which was what made him a sharp card-dealer, he was right-handed, he wasn't much of a drinker but did enjoy a good glass of champagne or wine. And as Devil listened to Dice's every word, he came to realize something for the first time. Over the years, the Devil has dealt with a lot of characters in Inkwell Isles, but Dice was the only one to ever talk to him like he was an actual person. In this chamber, the Devil didn't have to be the embodiment of evil… He was free to be himself and have a normal conversation with his manager.

What Dice said next totally took the Devil off-guard. "You're the first real friend I've ever made." Devil looked down at his manager and was completely thunderstruck. Even Dice was surprised by his own admission. But it was the truth. And then he looked up to the Devil and then he smiled sincerely. "I've never had a friend before."

Dice waited for the Devil to say something but the big black fuzzy demon just sat there on his throne, looking down at him with the most unfathomable-looking expression. Then Dice became embarrassed and realized he must have overstepped his boundaries here. They were only employer and employee… And besides, what made him think the Devil saw him as an actual friend? Perhaps he was no different than the little imps and lesser demons. He was just another minion… When the Devil said nothing, Dice took it as a sign that his boss didn't feel the same way. Dice frowned bitterly and turned his back on the Devil in utter disgust. What a waste of time. He had a good mind to leave the chamber and head straight to bed.

That's when Dice felt strong claws on his shoulder and when he around, it was to see that the Devil had shrunken down to his regular size although he was still a good head-taller than him. And Devil was wearing his usual mischievous toothy grin. "Don't turn your back on me," he scolded playfully.

The Devil loved sneaking up on Dice and taking him by surprise. But after spending time with his young casino manager, the Devil came to a better understanding of why he's come to favor Dice so much. He'd always liked the fact that Dice was a very willing participant in their evil schemes. And as Dice gazed up at him, that's when the Devil noticed the color of Dice's eyes for the first time.

"You have green eyes?" Devil leaned in close towards Dice's face for a better look.

"Y-Yes…," Dice said softly, aware that he was blushing fiercely upon having the Devil standing so close to him. Then he added shyly. "It only happens when I'm feelin' very strong emotions." That's when Dice came to notice the Devil's blazing-red eyes gleaming back at him and he thought they were beautiful…

For a few moments, two villains stood gazing into each other's eyes. Dice has never felt this way before; he used to think he was incapable of caring about anyone but himself. But the Devil was different. The Devil was just like him. As for the Devil, he saw the way Dice blushed red as his clawed-hands gently caressed his face. Dice put up no resistance and welcomed his touch. The Devil had lived for centuries and he's never met anyone like Dice before. The feelings this die-headed man inspired in him… emotions the Devil thought were long dead. The Devil usually looked down his nose on mortals…but Dice… he was something else.

After an awkward moment of staring at each other, Dice spoke first. "It's…it's gettin' late, boss. I'd better get to bed." But then he added with a cool smile. "I won't say it hasn't been a pleasure. We oughta do this more often, am I right?"

The Devil gazed upon his manager's cute youthful face one last time before removing his paws and allowing Dice to turn around and leave. Dice took a couple of steps but stopped when the Devil said to him. "I'll see you here again tomorrow night, Dice…"

Now the Devil eagerly waited for Dice's reaction. Dice looked over his shoulder and considered his boss's words with a thoughtful expression. At last Dice smiled and he nodded his head to show he accepted the Devil's invitation. "As you like, boss." With that, Dice headed for the door and he couldn't stop smiling happily to himself. Maybe it wasn't one-sided like he originally thought. Perhaps he and Devil were going to get along just fine after all…