A Bet's a Bet

It was a stupid bet.

Aria was staring at the large white box on her bed.

Karla had cheated! I always thrash her at Magic.

She did invite you to the pre-release; it's not her fault you missed out on getting the new set early. That combo is pure cheese though; it'll be banned in no time!

The bet had been simple. If Karla won a best of three game of Magic, Aria had to go to a Halloween party in a costume of Karla's choosing. Karla had reassured her it would be something suitably nerdy, and that Karla would have a costume to match, at least.

Karla and Aria were a study in opposites who had been living together for nearly eight months. They nominally worked for the same company but never saw each other in the office itself. Karla was a mid-level executive in the HR department, power-suit clad and smashing her way through the glass ceiling towards senior management.

Aria, on the other hand, worked in IT. She had managed to negotiate an almost entirely remote role despite living only thirty minutes from the office. On the rare occasions she did go in, it was with the stratospheric clearance she'd wheedled out of security, to do maintenance in the dead of night. They had only crossed paths because Karla had handled Aria's induction.

Aria lifted the lid of the box. Its contents lay neatly folded amongst layers of almost transparent paper, the topmost layer glinting in the lamplight.

"Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me!"

Aria's jaw hung slack as she stared, dumbstruck, at the contents of the box.

"You ready yet, Aria?"

Karla yelled from the far side of the door. Aria snapped out of her stupor, marched up to her bedroom door and yanked it open. Her objections caught in her throat when she saw what Karla was wearing. Karla was leant against the doorframe wearing a cocky grin and Han Solo's signature outfit.

"You said we would have the same costume!"

"I said we would have a matching costume. And I match."

Karla gestured down at herself.

"And you need to change. A bet's a bet..."

Aria half-heartedly threw the door closed and stomped back to her bed.

You know she's only doing this for your own good, right?

How many parties, how many nights out, how much have you missed out on?

Okay, but this! This is jumping in at the deep end!

Well, if you refuse to get into the shallows...

As her internal conflict raged, Aria unpacked the box and laid the costume out on the bed. What little there was of it. Staring up at her was a Princess Leia slave bikini, complete with collar, leash and jewellery.

Didn't she only have one bracelet in the movie, not two?

"You at least opened the box yet, Ar's?"

"Yes..."

"And?"

"And I hate you right now."

It's just a bikini. People wear them at the beach all the time...

You never have! And you're not going to a beach!

"Come on, Ar's, party's starting soon!"

"I'm changing, I'm changing!"

Aria huffed, stroppily stripping out of her baggy hoodie and throwing her pyjamas to the floor.

Okay, how do I even put this thing on...

She held up the bra by its loose strings.

"Do you need help getting dressed?"

"No!"

Aria blurted it out a bit too eagerly, throwing her hands up to cover her bare chest. She glared at her bedroom door to make sure it was still shut.

"No peeking!"

Karla chuckled from behind the door.

Aria hastily flipped the top around and began to fumble with the closure behind her neck. She was confused to find that rather than a simple tie, the garment had a hidden clasp behind a decorative knot. When she finally managed to align the two pieces, they snicked together.

Weird...

Aria settled the top over her modest bust. She was relieved to find the cups were relatively covering, as bikinis went. It was still more flesh on show than she would have liked, but at least Karla wasn't demanding she strut around in a gold micro-bikini like the ones on some cosplay sites. Like the ones Aria secretly liked to look at...

The lower tie behind her back clicked into place in the same way. Just out of curiosity she pulled on the threads and was reassured when they only popped open under a decent amount of force.

Don't know why they opted for magnets, but I guess I don't have to worry about any knots coming undone...

Aria picked up the skirt and, on closer inspection, was relieved again to find it far more modest than it could have been. As she recalled, Leia had been wearing nary but a sliver of purple gauze between her legs. This could almost reasonably be described as a skirt, though it would leave her thighs exposed with every stride...

It was also unexpectedly heavy. The skirt was affixed to what felt like an actual metal belt, a series of golden chains and plates. A rounded plate hung just over her mound, offering some modesty as well as holding the centre of the skirt in place. She held the interlinked segments over her hips and, just like the top, they clicked into place.

Well, at least you didn't cheap out on the costume budget, Karla. But I've seen your paycheque, so no reason you should!

Next came the accessories. The bracers, the bicep cuff, the collar...

Just like the rest of the costume, these were no mere plastic toys or cheap trinkets. They felt almost unnervingly real.

Okay, how much DID you spend on all this, Karls...

The bicep cuff snicked into place.

The bracers clamped over her wrists.

The collar...

Aria gulped.

She held the collar in her hands, staring at it. Just like the rest of the "costume", it had weight...

It hinged at the front. She held the angled halves up to her throat.

She closed it around her neck.

With a snick, it sealed shut.

Panicked, she wrenched it open, and found the magnets yielded.

It's just a costume, it's just a costume...

She closed the collar around her neck once again.

And exhaled deeply...

Timidly, she tiptoed back to her door and cracked it open. Karla was still stood there waiting. She whistled lewdly as she spotted Aria creeping around the door.

"Not helping!"

Aria blushed and instinctively threw her arms up to cover herself.

"Where am I even going to keep my phone, my keys? There aren't exactly any pockets on this thing!"

"Give them to me. I'll look after you tonight."

If Aria twigged that Karla had said she would look after her, not after her things, she didn't show it.

Karla glanced down at Aria's hips. She reached out and flicked a corner of the skirt open.

"Hey!"

Aria threw her hands down and pinned the skirt in place.

"To quote George Lucas, 'There's no underwear in space!' Carrie didn't wear underwear, so neither shall you."

Karla winked.

"How is it the only parts of Star Wars you know are the smuttiest parts?"

"They're the best parts, obviously..."

"But you can't be serious."

"I am. Go on."

Grumbling half-heartedly, Aria trudged back into her bedroom.

I CAN'T believe she's talking me into this.

But you didn't say no, did you...

Aria hooked her thumbs into the waistband of her knickers and shimmied them down her legs, kicking them off to one side.

At least the skirt covers everything...

Blushing heavily, she gathered up her phone and wallet, trudged back to the door and handed them over to Karla, who stashed them in the plethora of pockets she had available.

"Excellent. Let's go."

Karla pulled her own phone from one of her manifold pockets and thumbed through it to summon a taxi.

* * *

Aria was expecting the taxi to take them into town. Karla had mentioned a few of her regular haunts close to the office, where she hung out with her colleagues. Instead, the taxi took them a good thirty minutes out of town, towards a semi-obscure suburb.

It stopped outside what looked like an old industrial building. Karla thanked the driver while Aria clambered out awkwardly, making sure to pin her skirt in place as she did.

"Where are we, Karla?"

"Just somewhere I thought might be a good first foray."

Aria was confused but didn't probe any deeper. They crossed the street and walked up to a door that was utterly nondescript, apart from the bouncer stood beside it and the subtle thump coming from within. Karla flashed something on her phone and, without a word, the bouncer waved them through.

As the door opened, they were assailed by a wall of sound from a DJ who compensated for a lack of talent with volume and bass. As they climbed the stairs, Karla pressed a small case into Aria's palm.

"Got you some gold Loops. Thought they'd match the outfit better than your black set."

Aria mouthed a thank you as she worked the buds into her ears, and the din dimmed to something felt through the bones rather than an assault on the ears.

As they crested the steps, they were greeted by a stereotypically tacky Halloween party. A smoke machine billowed in the corner; plastic skeletons hung from the walls. Along one wall, folding tables covered in orange plastic offered brightly coloured liquids in bowls and a variety of snacks on paper plates.

Most people wore the cheapest, lowest-effort costumes: budget shop-bought, or nothing more than a black dress with cat whiskers drawn on in mascara.

Aria paused at the top of the stairs, overwhelmed by it all. The noise, the people... With a start she noticed Karla suddenly in front of her. Holding a gold chain. Hooked to her collar...

Aria gulped.

"Is that really necessary?" Aria shouted over the music.

"It's canon! You agreed!" Karla shouted back, giving her a gentle tug towards the crowd.

"I agreed to a costume, not walkies!"

Aria grumbled, hoping she wouldn't be heard over the music. She trudged behind her friend, unsure what to do with her hands.

Whether it was the quality of the costume or simply being a bikini-clad slave on a chain, Aria was attracting a lot of looks. She was thankful she couldn't hear any remarks over the pounding music. Her gaze darted around the room. Real or imagined, she saw everyone looking at her. People staring. People pointing.

"You okay, Ar's?"

Aria snapped into focus. Karla was looking at her, concern written across her face.

"I, erm, this is..." Aria stammered.

Karla dropped the leash and placed both hands on Aria's shoulders.

"Look at me. Deep breaths."

Karla took a deep breath in. Aria followed, the tang of the smoke machine and sweat almost overwhelming, and together they breathed through a few more.

"You good?"

"Yeah..."

Karla took up the leash once more and raised an eyebrow at Aria. Aria paused, took another deep breath, then nodded.

* * *

Aria's nervousness had slowly turned to boredom. They'd had a few scant conversations, mostly limited to comments about the costume, and had stopped by the buffet table to help themselves to something sickly sweet and very mildly alcoholic.

Karla led her to a corner just out of sight of the main floor.

"Are you ready for your outfit for the evening, Ar's?"

Confused, Aria turned to Karla.

"But... I'm already wearing it?"

Chuckling ruefully, Karla unlocked her phone and opened an app.

"Oh no, my dear. You're wearing a costume. This is your outfit."

Karla thumbed a large button on the screen.

"What do you—"

Aria was cut off by her clothing humming, buzzing, radiating a faint warmth. The cups shifted against her skin; the skirt tugged inward at her hips. Her hands flew to the collar that had sat loose at her throat. It was already shrinking, snug, then snugger, until barely a finger could squeeze beneath it. She yanked at the once-simple closure and found it sealed shut.

Only then did she look down in horror. The bra cups were shrinking as the straps tightened. Her chest had gone from plainly covered to lewdly displayed. So too the skirt, withdrawing into the belt until her legs and the sides of her thighs were on full display.

"What? How!"

"Oh, I won't pretend to understand the tech. That's your department, Ar's."

Aria was blushing furiously, stammering, unsure what to say. She started to take a timid step back.

Karla strode forward, took the end of the golden chain and drew Aria back to her with a jolt.

Aria gulped, looking down at her friend's fist wrapped around the leash to her suddenly very real collar. Smiling in what she hoped was a reassuring manner, Karla put her free hand on Aria's shoulder.

"There's a reason I chose this cheap, tacky Halloween party I'd normally never be caught dead at. No one here knows us. No one here works for the company. I checked.

I know you want to get out more. I know you want to make more friends. I know you struggle.

So here's your choice. I call a taxi, we go home, and we never have to speak of this again.

Or..."

Karla gave the golden chain a twirl. "I drag you, quite literally, out to a party."

Aria's mouth opened. Closed. Her pulse hammered against the sealed collar. She could feel cool air on newly bared thighs, and Karla's fist warm on the leash.

She didn't step back.

She nodded, small, terrified, sure, and whispered, "Party."

Karla's smile softened. She shortened the chain and tipped her head towards the dance floor.

"Good girl. Come on, then."

* * *

An hour later, Karla pulled her friend into the quietest corner she could find, though they still had to half yell over the music.

"Having fun, Ar's?"

"Um, yeah, actually. I kind of am."

"Are you ready to see how deep the rabbit hole goes?"

"You trying to win me over with nerdy quotes again? What do you even—"

Karla had her phone out. Same app from before. Her thumb hovered over a new button.

"Oh..."

"Same deal," Karla said, softer. "We don't have to do this. This one's a big step."

Aria leapt forward and smashed the button herself.

Karla barked a startled laugh. "Okay! Don't say I didn't try to warn you!"

"Come on, Karla. I've come this far!"

Aria stepped back, chin up, almost grinning, ready to revel in whatever came next.

The suit hummed. Warmth flooded the cups as they shrank yet further, to little more than pasties. Then came pain, sharp and intimate, as the tiny cups cinched tight and stayed, anchored hard.

"Argh! What the hell was that?!"

Her hands flew to her chest.

"Yeah," Karla said, wincing with a sympathy she didn't quite mean. "Cups that small don't stay put with straps alone. They lock on to your nipples. I was trying to explain before you jumped on the button." She glanced at the phone. "Might want to hold on to something for the next part."

"What do you mean by—"

The skirt was shrinking yet again, until it barely covered her mound.

"What else is there— argh!"

Aria's knees buckled. She slapped a hand against the wall and caught herself, mouth open, breathing shallow. Something warm and wet was spreading between her legs, probing, moulding itself to her folds. It found her clit, wormed beneath the hood and took her in a firm, precise grip.

"Holy fuck, Karla!"

"I did try to warn you." Karla smirked at the screen. "Oh, and definitely hold on for this bit."

Aria's reply died as a squeak. A slender tendril slid into her with near-effortless slickness, then thickened, grew, pressing gently on all sides until it filled her completely.

"Hope it fits," Karla murmured. "I had to guess your size. Well, not entirely. There was that time you left one of your toys by the bath..."

Aria blushed even harder. She'd thought she had smuggled that back to her bedroom without Karla noticing.

"You don't have to hide it, you know," Karla said.

"What do you mean?" Aria replied, somewhat breathlessly.

"You're not as sneaky as you think. I hear you at night."

Karla placed a hand on Aria's bare thigh.

"I..." Karla faltered, and for the first time all evening the cocky grin slipped. "I lie there and listen. Every time..."

The music thumped on around them. Aria stared at her.

Karla, who argued down board directors before breakfast. Karla, who had marched her through induction like a drill sergeant. Karla, who had spent more money than Aria wanted to think about on a costume for a bet, and found a party where nobody would know them, and remembered her earbuds.

"Is that why you rigged the bet?"

"I didn't rig the bet. I just had a better deck."

The grin flickered back for half a second.

"The rest of it, though... yeah. That's why."

Aria chuckled

"So, you set this..."

She gestured down at her costume.

"Whole thing up because you couldn't just talk to me, and I thought I was the awkward one!"

"Oh for...

Sod it"

Karla took up the golden leash and pulled Aria in close. She leant in. Paused. She tilted her head and pressed in. Aria blushed, then reciprocated. It was clumsy for a heartbeat, they chuckled. They leant against each other. Karla's hand slid from Aria's thigh to the small of her back and drew her in closer.

When they finally broke apart, Karla's voice was rough.

"You're sure?"

"I've been sure since the white box," Aria said. "I just didn't know it yet..."

Karla looked at her for a long moment. Then she backed Aria gently into the corner, one hand braced on the wall beside her head, the other cupping the phone low between them where no one else could see the screen.

She thumbed at the controls.

The thing inside Aria woke up.

It began as a slow pulse, deep and patient, and the grip on her clit answered it in rhythm. Aria gasped and grabbed at Karla's shirt.

"Breathe," Karla said into her ear, the same word she'd used on the stairs. "In for me."

Aria breathed in. The pulse climbed.

"And out."

She shuddered out a breath as Karla nudged the slider a fraction higher. The tendril swelled and flexed inside her, and the tiny cups on her chest buzzed in sympathy, sharp little sparks that ran straight down her spine to meet it. Her hips rocked of their own accord, chasing it, the heavy metal plate swinging against her thigh.

"Karla..."

"I've got you."

Somewhere behind them someone whooped at the DJ. A skeleton swayed on the wall. None of it mattered. There was Karla's body shielding her from the room, Karla's breath on her neck, Karla's hand steady on the leash, and the relentless, perfect rhythm building between her legs.

"Please," Aria whispered, not even sure what she was asking for.

Karla knew. She kissed her again, hard, and pushed the slider all the way up.

Aria came with a cry Karla swallowed whole. It tore through her in long, rolling waves, her legs giving out completely, and Karla held her up against the wall through every one of them, murmuring into her mouth, until the pulse finally eased and slowed and settled into a gentle, contented hum.

They stayed there a while, foreheads touching, breathing together.

"So," Karla said eventually. "Good first foray?"

Aria laughed, a shaky, giddy sound. "I hate you."

"No, you don't."

"No," Aria agreed.

"I really don't."

* * *

The taxi home was quieter. Aria sat curled against Karla's side, wearing Han Solo's waistcoat around her shoulders, the gold chain coiled loosely in Karla's lap. Aria kept her wrists in the small of her back pinned in place by the bracelets Karla had locked together on the way out of the party. The orange glow of the town crept back into the windows, mile by mile.

A fresh wave of embarrassment burned through Aria as she was led through the halls of their apartment at the end of a leash. Thankfully no one was out in the halls tonight.

In the hallway of their flat, Karla held up the phone.

"I should probably let you out of this before you get any ideas about strangling me with your own leash."

"I think I'd struggle with that at the moment"

Aria shrugged her shoulders whilst tugging at her pinned wrists.

"But I wouldn't mind getting out of this outfit, and what are you..."

Karla had her phone out again. She gave a grin and pushed the button.

All at once Aria's bikini fell to the floor with a clatter, leaving her standing in nothing but her collar and cuffs.

"Oh...

I am very glad I didn't push that button at the party..."

Karla chuckled and dragged Aria towards her room.

"I dunno, I wouldn't have mind..."

Aria blushed and squirmed under a fresh wave of embarrassment.

"Okay but next party, we're having a new game, and you are not using pre-release cards this time!"