The man was Anag Foxtrot. A tall lean fox with an amazing voice and always dressed sharply at all times. He was everything, from a visual aspect, that a person would want to have. Dice remembered him, after all, who could not forget about their last lover. Dice knew his personality was hidden under his charming smile.
"So..." Foxtrot walked up to Dice and Porsha with a strut in his step. "You have a new little toy?" He scoffs and takes Porsha's hand. "This porcelain doll will break if you two ever get frisky."Porsha quickly removed her hand from his as he turned away with his tail in her face.
Porsha coughed as Dice stood in front of her. "That was not a very nice thing to say."
Foxtrot smirked and stated his snarky remark back. "Not my fault you're soft. I guess I am just able to have the bigger and better package than you." He eyes Porsha up and down like a slab of meat. "If you ever need someone better, I'll be here all week."
Dice scoffed bitterly while taking Porsha's hand and walked away from him. The nerve! Dice thought to himself, not realizing Porsha calling his name, and finally, she pulled him into focus with pulling him backward.
"DICE! Are you alright!?" She asked again, finally being heard by him.
"Y-yes. I-uh, just need to get as far away from him as possible..."
She noticed his rapid breathing, as if anxiety flooded over him, and the two walked home. They arrived at her apartment and she unlocked the door. Silence fell upon her noticing that Dice's attitude changed from being happy to worrisome. Porsha pulled a bit on his sleeve for him to come inside. He sat down on the couch in the living room and she made some tea. As Porsha brought up the tea she realized that the man they encountered could have been one of Dice's ex-lovers, so, she braved up the courage to ask him.
She sat down beside him and he took the cup of tea from her hand. "Thank you, Porsha."
"Dice." She took in a deep breath and then let it out slowly. "If we are going to be in this relationship then we have to be open and honest with one another. If something or someone troubles you, don't be afraid to tell me. Also, in a relationship, it is like a team or deck of cards. One cannot function if the deck is incomplete or on opposing sides. So, what I am trying to say is that we can work things out even when it is hard to do."
Dice heard her words and wanted to embrace her, but held back. He rested his elbows on his knees with his hand holding his head. "That man was my last lover..."
"He was? Well, he wasn't very smooth like you are." She replied and Dice moved his hands down his lap.
"True, but he wasn't like that when I first met him...but I need more time to tell you...I'm sorry, I ain't ready to re-open these wounds yet..." Dice said bitting his own tongue on wanting to tell her everything, but his fear held him back.
"Dice..." Porsha pulled him into an embrace. "I understand, you take your time on this. It will take baby steps and I have all the time in the world."
He buried his face into her chest and wanted this warm embrace to last forever. This time it did. Porsha cuddled him until they both fell asleep after midnight passed over them. She knew he was still hurting and it would take time. Time was the kicker for relationships to succeed or fail and she wanted this to last. At least for Dice to have someone he can trust to lean on. Someone he can come to and be able to simply be himself around without any judgment or pressure.
~~~(Dice's Dream)~~~
Dice walked into the casino, seeing it bustling and functioning as normal when someone pulled him aside. "I have work to do, so-" He was cut off by a kiss from Foxtrot.
"Not even for me? You can't spare one measly minute?" The sly fox asked while he pinned Dice's hands to the wall.
"Please, not here...it's too public..." Dice responded getting flustered.
"Than when? You never want to do it anywhere but in private! Why not live a little?" Foxtrot asked and he got the same response.
"...B-because this is a place of work and not for tomfoolery! Please, we saw each other no less than five minutes ago and after that no less than an hour ago."
Foxtrot huffed in frustration, "You don't love me? Why are you being this way now when you weren't last night?" and he turned his back to hide his devilish grin.
Dice paused, realizing his face grew redder by the thought, and sighed after trying to reason with his love. "Meet me at noon in my office...we could have lunch and chat about our day then?"
The fox turned back around and smiled. "You know it won't just be talking and see ya then?" His deep tone caused panic to fill Dice's mind.
He held it in, after all this is a relationship and he had to keep him happy. Dice had to be at his beck and call because that was what a relationship was...right? He noticed people were beginning to stare at him as Mr. Wheezy ushered him into his office.
"You still with the guy?" Wheezy's concerned voice made Dice's slight panic increase. Dice looked away and down to his feet. "Ya gotta tell him the borderlines. Yer look'in even more exhausted today than yesterday. What is he doin' to ya?" Wheezy asked and Dice replied hesitantly.
"We-"
"Dice, love, sweetheart, we talked about this. No other male can talk to you but me." Foxtrot interrupted pulling Dice to him.
"Sorry, I forgot..." Dice said holding his head with his hand.
"Forgot?" He turned to Wheezy and shooed the cigar away. Wheezy closed the door on the way out. "You need another refresher on how we work?"
Dice shot into focus on those words. "N-no, please! I won't do it again!"
"Then show me you won't" The fox answered and Dice hesitated, realizing what he meant.
"Please, don't make me do it..."
"If you don't then I guess you don't love me." Foxtrot answered looking saddened by his sentence.
The gracious and thankful timing of the Demon himself walking in stopped Dice and Foxtrot from going any further. Dice was relieved and Foxtrot stormed out of the room. He slammed the door on his way out and Dice sat down in his chair in relief. The Devil looked at Dice and noticed more bags under his eyes and it looked like he had lost weight. The demon realized that the poor lad hadn't been eating as much ever since he starting dating this animal. The Devil put down some paperwork that needed to be filed and then put down a paper bag with food in it.
"Eat." The Devil said and Dice pushed the bag aside to get to the paperwork.
"...not hungry, sir...but thank you for the generous offer..." Dice replied as he flipped through the files.
"What is he doing to you?" He asked, sitting down awaiting the reply.
Dice did not answer. He didn't want to tell his own boss that he was in a relationship that was one side, so, he griped and bore it. This made the demon get irritated, causing his ear to twitch, and he asked again.
"What is he doing to you?"
Dice answered. "He isn't doing anything. I am just trying to make him happy..."
"Well, that ain't happening." The Devil replied and looked at Dice to find him about to weep. He stood up and walked over to Dice. "H-hey, that was a joke. Don't get all bent out of shape."
Dice couldn't stop the tears now and the Demon snapped his fingers, causing the door to lock itself. "Dice. King Dice. Tell me what happened, please? You know you can talk to me."
"...I'm tired...I'm scared...I don't know what to do..." Dice muttered through the panicked breaths.
The Devil put his hand on Dice's shoulder and this reaction caused the lad to wince in pain. He notices this and gripped Dice shoulder's, so, he would look at him. "Son. What did he do?"
Dice replied through his tears and panic. "W-what didn't he do...I had no say...I never do with him...what happened to the guy I met before..."
The Devil realized that Dice was heartbroken. With those words and his breakdown as evidence. This was not who Dice thought the man was and yet Dice still was with him. "You want to end it?" The demon asked and was shocked by Dice's response.
"N-no...I can't-he won't..."
There was a knock on the door to the office. "Honey, it's lunchtime!" Foxtrot said in a sweet tone, causing Dice to try composing himself. The Devil sighed and patted his back.
"Tell me when and we can help." He replied handing dice his make-up bag then walking out. He sneered at Foxtrot and the animal smiled back at him.
Foxtrot closed the door as Dice was done with concealing his face. "You gettin' dolled up for me? You shouldn't have."
"Well, I had to look like I wasn't tired from work anyways." Dice replied as he got up.
Foxtrot handed him a drink and smiled. "Here. You need it."
"T-thank you. Oh, there is also, lunch over here for you." Dice replied and Foxtrot scoffed.
"That's not food and it's loaded with carbs." He replied and noticed Dice taking a sip of the drink. "King Dice?"
Dice put the cup down, feeling woozy, and put his hand on the table for balance. Foxtrot pushed him down to the back wall as Dice realized he had been drugged. He looked at Foxtrot, shocked.
"...W-why..." Dice asked scarcely and noticed the fox on top of him. "...N-no...s-stop...please..." He tried to move, but couldn't, which caused a panic to arise as he called for help...but couldn't because of his mouth being covered. When Foxtrot had his way he left Dice in his office and shut the door. No one heard from him all that day and the Devil grew suspicious of it.
"Where's King Dice?" He asked the animal.
"He had to leave. Said he felt sick or somethin' like that." The tone was cold and unloving.
The demon huffed bitterly and walked off to Dice's office. "I don't believe you."
The Devil grabbed the doorknob to Dice's office, turned the knob, realized it was locked and unlocked it. He opened the door and at first, he didn't see anything out of place. Except, except seeing Dice's bowtie on the floor beside his desk. He looked closer and realized there had been a skirmish and quickly walked over to the desk, picking up the bowtie. The Devil dropped the bow, realizing what had occurred while seeing Dice unconscious on the floor.
"GET A DOCTOR! NOW!" The Devil boomed with a hissing snarl.
~~~(End of Dice's Dream)~~~
Dice woke up, remembering that day, and it caused his stomach to turn into knots. He pulled the cover closer to him as he realized this wasn't his apartment. He noticed from his eye level that there was a little arrangement of Succulents in a pot. He sighed in relief, realizing it was Porsha's place, as she put a cup filled with the warm scent of coffee down on the table.
"Morning love! Did you sleep well?" She asked as Dice sat up rubbing his eyes.
He looked at the clock and realized it was past noon. "You let me sleep in?"
Porsha looked perplexed. "You were tired, so, I let you rest."
"I guess I was a bit tired..." Dice replied as he remembered something. "Porsha...I had a dream...would you?"
Porsha sat down beside him and kissed his forehead. "Do you want me to see, love?" She asked and Dice nodded.
She sat down beside him and held his head gently in her hands. Dice gripped her hand with his as he closed his eyes. He loved her soft warm hands. They always made him feel safe, but he wondered why they did. Porsha used her abilities to go through Dice's mind.
She saw that he was troubled, from the night before, and found her answer through Dice's memories. The dream was, in fact, a memory, but his subconscious did so because of the horrific abuse. Porsha wanted to know further, but was only allowed to see what Dice wanted to show her. So, she looked at him with worry while he looked away at her.
"...those weren't dreams...were they?" Dice asked feeling queasy.
"Dice. That dream was a repressed memory...it just now came from the back of your subconscious to manifest itself in a dreamlike form..." Porsha tried to explain as he moved his hands to his lap. "Dice?" She said his name sweetly and noticed him start to shiver.
"...he never stopped...I-I couldn't-" He was cut off by Porsha Hugging him tightly in her arms.
"He won't hurt you again and I will make sure of it."
"...What if he hurts you?" Dice asked looking up at her.
"Then there will be hell to pay. Now, I am more concerned about you." Porsha replied to him as the two finished their embrace. "Do you need more time?"
"N-no, I want to be with you. I-it's just..." Dice took her hands in his and held them tightly. "I don't want you to get hurt because of my consequences...If it is possible...could we take our time? Not rushing into things...not hurting one another, b-but working alongside each other?"
Porsha smiled at him while looking directly into his green eyes. "Yes, love, that is how relationships work. It is never one side, but two. If one is in trouble or conflicting then the other helps. If they fall into bickering then they reach a compromise. To be in love means that both people in that relationship want the best for that other person, so, they can succeed in life."
Dice smiled at her, which made her feel relieved. "Porsha, you are amazing...I-I think that's why I fell for you."
Porsha gave him a peck on the cheek. "I fell for you for more than your dashing good looks, love. You are a smart man and use that head of yours around me."
"I hope so." Dice laughed while seeing her get up from the couch.
~Author's Note~
Annnnnd now there is more drama! Past relationships have arrived and are waiting to be unraveled! I want to thank every one of my readers for getting this fanfiction to be 400 views! You all are amazing and beautiful human beings! Keep being unique and have a wonderful day!