DD 304 Ch 31 (Patreon)

"Going already?" Bellaire asked, rolling over in the bed and holding onto the sheets with some sense of propriety. Still it made he only more beautiful, there was something about the look of a woman with messy hair trying and failing to be modest that stirred me.

Her neck was a wash of red hickeys that would fade in a few hours. I knew there were plenty more beneath those sheets she covered herself with.

"I don't get to talk the talk at a press conference and then not back it up, now do I?" I asked.

"Suppose not," Bellaire answered. "And it’s probably for the best. I don't have anything left in me to entertain you." She flopped back onto the bed, and I got the faint sense that her words were more of an excuse to let me go than the reality.

The look in her eye said differently. I had a feeling she was still plenty hungry for more.

"Well, come by Star City more often." I brushed her hair aside and kissed her forehead. "Des is always trying to get more reinforcements."

"I'll tell Des you said that," Bellaire teased as she stood up to put her clothes on.

"You wouldn't dare." I told her while taking in her stunning form. My eyes making me linger longer than necessary.

"I absolutely would. But don't worry, I'm sure there's something you have to offer as an apology." She bounced her eyebrows, and it seemed I wasn't going to be putting my clothes on just yet. I figured it did not hurt to make sure the stat incubation really stuck.

***

Bellaire was passed out on the bed, and there was no way I was getting back to sleep, so knowing I had work to do I portaled back to Haylon with my books in tow. Weaving my way through the library, I headed towards a place to sit down and study.

What I really wanted to do was dive back into the dungeon, but I needed a party for that, and I knew that after everything that had happened recently, the rest of the group needed a break from fighting.

I might be a dungeon-head, but I knew when others needed a moment. Yet, I was anxious to get back in and train. We’d lost so many, and that was motivation to me to do better, to be stronger. I needed to prevent that outcome the next time we went into battle.

This time when I reached the little alcove where I liked to study, Helen was already there. I paused and leaned against the doorway.

"Oh, hello, study partner." I greeted her as I moved to sit down. "I figured you'd be relaxing like everyone else."

"Well, you clearly aren't." She looked up from her book, and I half-expected a scowl, only to find a rather soft smile on her face. It didn’t belong there.

"I don't need pity," I said, reading it in her expression.

"Not pity," she said quickly. "Just sympathy. That much is okay, right? Or is the famed Ken Nagato too tough to even accept that?"

I glowered at her but didn't respond, sitting down and cracking open my book.

"Sorry, that was harsh." She was at least trying to make amends.

"It's been a shitty few days for me, Helen. I don't really have time for your crap. I just got back from a press conference where I had to promise I'd solve all this by making humanity stronger." I grumbled.

"Well, that was a stupid thing to promise," Helen said.

"I do have all of the UG supporting me on it, so it's not like it can't be done. Just… it's not exactly going to be easy." That plate of my was overflowing and starting to make a real mess of everything. All I could do was clear one thing off at a time. That and scoop as much as I could onto Sandra or others who could bear it. I wasn’t alone, sometimes I needed a reminder as much as the next person.

"Well, how are you going to do it?” Helen asked.

"Training regimens," I said quickly. "My group's been down on floor sixty-five in a boss room that spawns infinite adds. It's a great spot for grinding experience."

"Spots like that are incredibly limited," Helen told me as if she had extensive experience in searching for them. "My mother had a training regimen for her harem."

I tilted my head. "Really?"

"Of course. They can all give her some of their strength. That ability is the core of my mother's, well, everything. They've done plenty to try and optimize ways to give her strength. Even if only five at a time can join her in the dungeon, the rest are always training, because if they can get another twenty or thirty points of strength, it just means it's more likely my mother's going to come back alive from her latest round in the dungeon. They all kind of knew the deal when they signed up to be with her," Helen stated with a dismissive wave. "So yeah, me or my mom could probably help you quite a bit with training regimens. And if you set it up so she gets bonus points with the UG, even better. I do owe you something," Helen said, "but I'm not sure this is really enough to count."

I leaned forward, squinting at her. "I would appreciate it. And about this whole faking-it-with-your-mother thing… the lie is making me uncomfortable. Your mother was more excited than I expected.” I let that sink in, hoping to ease everything back and get out of the present situation. Going and having her mother help me now would only deepen this and I needed to get out before I dug a hole so big I could never get out.

"Of course my mother's over the moon. Now I'm apparently a giant pervert like her, because I'm dating a rampant sex fiend like you." She told me. At least the sympathy was gone and replaced by a bland if slightly annoyed glare.

 I sighed and palmed my face. "Helen, that wasn't the point," I sighed.

"So, you want me to come clean. What if I say no?" She crossed her arms, and I had no idea what to do with that question. She was supposed to be a paladin and righteous.

"We're lying to your mother." I reiterated.

"She's my mother, not yours. Trust me, this is better than the alternative." Helen’s tone was hard, there was no room in it for me to convince her otherwise. At least not cordially.

I scowled at her. "What if I decide I'm no longer going to play along?" I asked, and Helen's smile stretched across her face, as if she'd been waiting for exactly that moment.

"Well, then we're just going to have to find a way to change your mind, now aren't we?" she said, with such absolute conviction that I wondered exactly how she planned to do it.

"Helen, I'm on a pretty uncomfortable line here. Obviously, I let this happen, but I don’t want to continue lying.” I sat back and let us be at odds. Perhaps if I let us sit against each other in silence she’d at least get to a point where she’d be willing to negotiate.

"Great. Then go on a date with me," she said, without missing a beat.

"Helen, I have no interest," I said, and her face turned bright red with anger.

"You think I do? You said that lying makes you uncomfortable. A solution is that we could go on a date for real. Then we wouldn't be lying to my mother." She smacked the table loud enough that I worried one of the librarians would come kick us out.

"Or we just don't force this at all, and tell your mother we've broken up," I said, which I thought was the obvious answer.

Helen, however, was growing increasingly red in the face. "Fine. If this makes you uncomfortable, then just consider it a job." She snapped.

"I certainly don't need your money." I was stupid rich. Well, the Silverfangs was, but as their leader it was pretty much my money. I’d put it all into the guild rather than hold onto it and do nothing but hoard it.

My repeat denials just seemed to frustrate her further.

"Helen, I'm sure we can find some other guy who's not such an uncomfortable sex fiend for you to play this out with. It doesn't have to be me." I offered.

"No, it has to be you," she said, with absolute conviction as she shook her curly red hair trying to shake off some thought. "No one else will work."

"Well, then we've got a problem, because I don't much like lying." I said with added emphasis.

"Well, then why'd you agree to it in the first place?" Helen snapped.

"A moment of compulsiveness. I don't know. But whatever it was, I can say it was a bad decision." I could own up to that.

Helen was now standing, her book and studying entirely forgotten. "Whatever. You've ruined any peace in this room. I'm not going to get any studying done anyway."

"Find someone else," I snapped before she could prolong this by just walking away.

"It has to be you." She jumped up and blocked my exit.

"Why?" I demanded, wondering if I was actually going to have to force my way out of the room.

"Because you're the only guy remotely strong enough," she said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh yeah? Well, regardless of strength, I'm still the crazy sex fiend, am I not?" I wiggled my fingers in front of her, as if I was going to pounce and get her to move out of the doorway. But to my surprise, she just stuck her chest out.

"I dare you," she challenged. Her chest was rather large, even contained in the mauve turtle-neck sweater she was wearing.

I let my fingers dangle closer and closer until I decided to call her bluff. My hands clamped down on her chest, fingers sinking into her soft breasts as I gave them a very full squeeze, only for Helen to surprise me as her hands clamped down on top of mine and pushed them deeper.

I blurted out the first thing that came to my mind as I realized she had them bound and they were still as big as they were. "Holy shit, these are… you might actually have a bigger set than your mother."

"Is that what matters most right now?" Helen scowled. "Fucking men," she excclaimed with pure disgust. "And besides, after you did this, how are you going to go back on this agreement?"

She was still pressing my hands to her chest. They'd been stuck there in my moment of surprise, and I hadn't pulled them back yet, which only seemed to encourage her. She grabbed me by the nape of the neck, pulling my face into her cleavage and shimmying her torso and battering my face with them before finally releasing me with a look of pure satisfaction.

"There. Now you're no longer lying so much to my mother," she said, a furious blush on her face. "Just don't get any funny ideas." She pointed a finger at me and spun around, exiting the room while I was still trying to fully understand what had just happened.

The paladin had completely stun locked me. And holy shit, they had to be bigger than Des’ if she unbound them.

***

After recovering from being thoroughly stun-locked by Helen, I went back to the house in Star City, only to find a number of my harem sitting around the table discussing something. I approached and they grew suspiciously quiet.

Most of them began to sneak glances at Des for direction.

"I already know about the haunted house." I cut right through the tension.

"Dammit, which one of you—" Des stood up, ready to fight the rest of the table.

"Headmistress Marlow," I said, before anyone could get into trouble.

"That bitch, I'll cut her," Des pounded a fist on the table. “Crimson, are you coming with me?” She asked with a hand raised ready to make a portal.

"Calm down. I don't understand why this is such a big deal," I said, taking a seat at the table.

"Because we're doing a sexy haunted house," Des said, gesturing at the table in front of her and the stack of papers. I paused, glancing over it to see what exactly that meant. There were costume design sketches, and I stared at them in utter disbelief.

"What is this?" I held up one that I thought was supposed to be a mummy, but far more of the mummy's body was on display than covered by bandages.

"I knew you wouldn't get it, Ken." Des threw her hands up.

"Does it have to be sexy?" I asked, only for everyone at the table to apparently be on the same page without me.

"Duh," Crimson said, and even Bun-bun was nodding along with them.

"Okay, well… for those of us uninitiated in the ways of the sexy haunted house, how exactly does this work?" I asked turning one the designs as if it would make more sense from a different angle.

"Well, it's a haunted house, but all the monsters are incredibly revealing." Des pulled out a whole stack of designs to show me.

"And you're all good with this?" I asked, looking around the table.

Every one of them nodded.

"Great. Then let's do it," I said, much to Des's surprise. "What, you thought I was going to stop you?" It wasn’t the worst thing in the world and I wasn’t so possessive to spot them from flaunting their incredible bodies.

"Sort of," Des admitted. "After all, we're going up against the headmistress. We're all going to make a thing of this, and of course you're going to have your own part to play." That last part caught me by surprise.

"Wait, what am I doing in all of this?" Sudden images of me in assless chaps or otherwise revealing outfits made me pause.

"Duh! You're going to be the sexy vampire at the end." Des rolled her eyes and pulled out another design. This one, at least, had full pants. Though my shirt was completely open, showing off my chest and abs.

Des hummed as she looked at it, and licked her lips. "It's going to be fantastic.”

“And whoever scares the most people gets to spend the night with Vampire Ken, right?" Crimson confirmed, and I couldn't help but close my eyes. Of course there was a part to it all like this.

"Is that what this is all about?" I asked.

"Nope, but a little healthy competition is fun," Des said, and made the design disappear.

"Competition can be good. Right, Ken?" Crimson asked.

"Des. Crimson. I'm watching you two," I said, pointing at my eyes, then back at them.

"We'll be good, I swear," Des said, putting her arms behind her back and batting her lashes at me.

"Why does that somehow make me feel like you're absolutely going to cause trouble?"

"Well, the headmistress is certainly going to pitch a fit," Crimson said, with a massive grin.

"And she's going to blame me for all of this," I pointed out.

"It's a price you'll have to pay," Crimson said. "And we get Vampire Ken. But which one of us would you like the most?" Crimson asked, holding out the ream of designs like a menu. I couldn't believe her.

"What are you going to be, Des? A succubus?" I asked.

"No, I can be that any day," she said, with a completely serious expression. "For this, I get to be something completely different. There's no way I'm wasting it on being some boring old succubus. But don't worry," she said, as if I possibly would, "there are a bunch of other ideas for me to have fun with." 

I wasn't worried in the slightest. When it came to sexy costumes, I had a feeling Des had no end of creativity and ideas. Well, I wasn’t worried about her lack of ideas, perhaps there was a twinge that she could go too far.

Des slid the ream of designs across to me. "We have extras. You should use this and maybe let your imagination go wild. After all, we're the ones dressing you up as a vampire. Turnabout is completely fair play. You should choose what we each wear."

I stared at the designs for a second before picking them up. "Well, it would only be polite for me to look through them."

"Of course, and if you want to look at this lingerie add-on section too, that would be fantastic," Des said, and stuffed another into my arms. Two more swiftly followed until I had my arms full.

"All right, ladies, it seems we can stop fighting over who gets what outfit. It's all on Ken now." Des beamed, and I couldn't help but scowl at her, feeling like I'd somehow ended up with a live grenade in my hands, especially as they all stared back at me expectantly.

"Yeah, no." I slid them back to Des. "I'm not going to pick for everyone. If you guys want something, just wear it. It's not like any of you could look bad in these."

"You’re so sweet that I think I'm going to get a cavity." Des bounded up and gave me a smoldering kiss. "All right, ladies, you heard Ken. Pick your favorite, and then we have to get back to the design and the script. Now that Ken's on board, there's no excuse to do anything less than our best.”

Somehow I suddenly felt like I’d played right into her hands.

AN - Any must haves for character/costume synergy?! If you can get some people to agree in the comments I'll make it happen.