Outplayed

Author's note:

This is my entry for the 2020 Geek Pride Day Story Event. As per the rules of the event, this is a stand-alone story. However, if you would like to read more about the couple (including how they first met), they also appear in my story "Footspotting", which you can find on my submissions page. Also, thanks to CuriousKnight for assistance in editing.

***

"Well, Erica and Kevin bailed on us," Ingrid declared with exasperation from the couch. It was the middle of winter and, despite the apartment's heater, her skinny physique made her feel cold all the time. She wore a sweater, leggings, and heavy wool socks.

"Wait, isn't that everyone?" Roger asked his girlfriend, looking up from the rule book he was reading.

"Yup," she replied, setting her phone on the coffee table in frustration. "Dan said he had a huge research paper due on Monday that he had forgotten about. Susan said she's feeling sick, but she probably just doesn't want to come. And now Erica and Kevin are out because they 'don't want to be up too late' tonight."

"Fuck," Roger swore to himself, setting down the booklet. He and Ingrid had spent the past hour setting up the massive board game that lay sprawled out on the dinner table before him: Crepuscular Interregnum, a strategy game of galactic domination, with tenuous alliances, complex resource management, and epic starship battles. It needed a minimum of three players and could hold up to eight, and was supposed to take six hours or more to complete.

Before he had met Ingrid, about two and a half years ago, Roger would not have been able to even imagine that such a game could exist. But as they dated, her hobbies rubbed off on him. He played more and more board games and joined the D&D game she was a part of too. His hobbies—photography and video games—had transferred to her only a little, but that didn't really bother him.

"So, what, we just pack all this up again?" Roger asked, getting frustrated too. "It's a minimum of three people, right?"

Ingrid rose from the couch to join him at the game table. She scrutinized the setup and adjusted her huge wire frame glasses. They were dorky as hell but, like her name, Roger had come to love them.

"Technically, it needs a minimum of three factions," she clarified, emphasizing the final word of her statement. Roger could see where she was going with this. "So, if we each play two factions, we could make it work. More or less. We would need to tweak a few things though..." she trailed off in thought.

Roger nodded at the idea as he thought it over himself.

"Should we pick our factions or draw them randomly?" he asked. They had planned on random factions, for the group, but this situation was a little different.

"Both," she declared with a clever grin. "First one random, second one chosen. So, you don't build the perfect combo from the start, but you do get some semblance of strategic choice."

Roger hummed in assent.

"And how about final scoring? Just add up the Galactic Influence scores between your two factions?"

"That makes sense to me," she agreed. "Better than just using the highest of your two. That way you have to actually play both factions to their maximum efficiency, rather than just letting one be a boring support for the other."

These were Roger's thoughts exactly.

"How about trading between the two factions?"

"You can trade anything you normally could with another player—credits and assets, but not ships or combat cards."

Another fair ruling, Roger figured. The whole thing might actually work...

"But, I think a couple of other new rules are in order," Ingrid said with a sly grin. Roger had seen this grin before. He had a good idea of where her "new rules" were headed.

"There are six rounds in the game total," she began. "At the end of each round, the person with the most Influence gets to make the other one strip a piece of clothing."

Roger returned her grin. She was an incorrigible pervert at heart, and he loved that about her.

"And the winner of the whole thing," she continued, "gets to choose how we have sex tonight."

"So, we're having sex regardless, right?" Roger clarified.

"Duh," she replied. "But the winner calls the shots. Picks the positions or whatever."

"Sounds good to me," Roger said with a smile. The "or whatever" clause was already exciting his imagination. They both leaned across the table to seal the deal with a kiss.

"Now, let's get this thing started," Ingrid said with a clap of her hands. "It's already past 5:00. Alright, first thing. Factions."

She loosely shuffled the small stack of 8 faction cardboard playmats and set it on the table. She drew hers first.

The Racharti. These slender cat-like aliens had mild telekinetic abilities and were master battlefield tacticians. They weren't combat powerhouses, but had abilities that let them evade destruction or use low-power combat cards in place of higher-power ones. All in all, they sounded, to Roger, like a faction that was going to be extremely annoying to have to deal with.

Roger drew his first faction next.

The Golvatu. Stoic-looking rock aliens with huge battleships, heavy armor, and big guns. Roger had wanted to get this one because he hoped to have one "simple" faction and another that was a little more complex. And they didn't come simpler than the Golvatu.

Ingrid took the remaining six playmats and turned them over for them both to see.

"Go ahead," she offered.

After a short period of consideration, Roger picked the Neroda. These slug-like multi-eyed aliens were expert merchants and traders. His thinking was that they could rack up credits, which his Golvatu faction could then spend on expensive fleets of battleships. As they had just established, trading money between factions would be allowed.

Without hesitation, Ingrid took the Zargaxians as her second faction. Well, technically, they were the "New Zargaxian Empire". It was a weird choice, Roger thought. The Zargaxians were humans, basically, and were diplomats. They had abilities that gave them stronger control over the planets that they occupied, effectively giving them more points per planet. They were also very difficult to drive out from the planets they controlled. In summary, another super-annoying faction to go up against.

"Well, this will be interesting," Roger declared.

Ingrid just smirked as she put away the unused faction boards and got out the color-coded pieces for the four they were using. The board itself had been set up, but now they needed to organize all the ships, ability card decks, and other specialized things that went with their factions. Half an hour later, they were ready to actually begin.

Ingrid picked up the rule book and dramatically cleared her throat.

"The galaxy is in chaos. The Zargaxian Empire is crumbling and civil unrest spreads across the star systems as—"

"You know, I've read that already," Roger interrupted impatiently.

"I know," she said with a sharp glare. "But I was going to read it, for the group. I practiced my dramatic movie trailer voiceover delivery."

Roger smiled and rolled his eyes.

"Civil unrest spreads across the star systems as fractured pieces of the Empire vie for dominance," she continued, speaking in an even deeper, more melodramatic tone. "Space pirates have reappeared in great numbers, trade routes are disrupted and the Galactic Senate weakens as more and more members drop out."

"Hey, let me do the next paragraph," Roger said, holding out his hand for the booklet. "I'll show you to really ham up this corny intro."

Ingrid passed him the manual and he cleared his throat.

"Now is your chance to seize control of the galaxy. By force, bribery, or diplomacy, your faction must spread its influence across the star systems, rebuild the Galactic Senate, and forge a new Empire."

"Not bad," Ingrid admitted. "Now, let's get it started. Phase I. Event deck. Oh, we skip this phase in the first round. Phase II. Exploration..."

Slowly but surely, they went about the business of the first round of gameplay. Roger's factions had been placed near one another at an edge of the galaxy. He spent the first round spreading to the unclaimed systems nearby, crushing those that fought back with his Golvatu fleet and strengthening trade routes with his Neroda faction.

A peculiar rule of Ingrid's Zargaxian faction was that it had to be placed in the center of the galaxy. It made sense with the backstory of the game—they were the remnants of the falling Empire, trying to rise from its ashes or whatever. But it painted a target on them to be approached by every other faction. She spent her round slowly trying to build a connection between her Zargaxians and her Racharti, which had been placed at the galaxy edge opposite Roger's.

This first round took an hour and a half, all said and done. Managing two separate factions was mentally taxing, leaving little room for the kind of gaming banter they usually had with one another. As they wrapped up the round, he had almost forgotten about their wager.

"Well, I figured this would happen, since you spread out so aggressively," Ingrid said, tallying up their Galactic Influence totals. "But you're in control of the Senate for the next round." She took a step back from the table and stood before him, arms spread in presentation. "So, what's it gonna be?"

Roger grinned at her deviously.

"Oh, I think you know," he said slyly.

"Fuck, but they get so cold in the winter," she complained as she sat on the couch and pulled off her socks.

From the very beginning of their relationship, she had known of his love for feet. It wasn't a fetish that completely overrode everything else—he also loved her petite breasts, her skinny legs and her small, but cute, ass. But feet were definitely number one to Roger. And, to him, Ingrid's feet were perfect.

She normally indulged him in this fixation of his, being barefoot in the apartment, wearing sandals when going out. Having frequent pedicures and catchy colors of nail polish. But the winter months were not kind to her, and her beautiful toes were hidden in warm socks more often than not.

"Hey, it was your idea," Roger pointed out as he leered at her now exposed feet. She had recently painted the nails a deep shade of purple and he hadn't had much of a chance to check them out. "Besides, I can keep 'em warm for you."

She gave him another sly grin in response to the proposition.

"But, first, dinner, right?" she suggested. It was a good idea. It was already almost 7:00 p.m. They had planned to order pizza, when they had expected to have guests over. But with only the two of them, they just ate a hurried dinner of leftovers and chips.

"Alright, round 2," Ingrid announced as she sat at the table in front of her faction playmats. She scooted her chair close to the table as she could and stretched her legs forward to Roger. He spread his legs, rested her feet in the seat of his chair, and began to 'keep them warm'—massaging the instep and the balls, running his fingers slowly through the gaps between the toes and thumbing the smooth gel polish on the nails.

"Phase I," Ingrid continued, smiling contentedly at the ongoing massage. "Events."

She drew a card from the top of the event deck and read its complicated text aloud. Basically, there was a galactic shortage on metal this round, and ships cost additional credits to construct. It was no matter to Roger—his Neroda traders were about to bring in plenty of money.

The rest of the round played out more or less like the first. Roger's Golvatu armada scooped up nearby star systems while his merchants made bank off of the now somewhat unified cluster of systems. Ingrid managed to connect her two factions, but her rate of expansion was much slower. The systems she had influence over were very loyal to her, but she possessed far fewer of them than Roger.

He actually started to wonder if the foot massage he was giving was distracting her. She made her decisions with seemingly little thought and hummed to herself in pleasure whenever he kneaded the tough muscles of her ankle or instep.

However, that turned out to very much not be the case. In the final steps of the round, Roger purchased several new warships for his Golvatu fleet, which was starting to grow a little thin, being so spread out. He had collected just enough revenue from his other faction to fund this expensive venture. But, as he was counting credits into the bank, Ingrid tapped the event card, which rested face up on the game board.

"Gotta pay extra for those," she stated condescendingly.

"Fuck!" Roger swore. "I forgot all about that."

Ingrid grinned slyly. Roger immediately stopped what he was doing with her feet.

"You did that on purpose, didn't you?" he accused, removing her feet from his chair to the floor. "To distract me from the game."

She shrugged and continued to grin broadly.

"Hey, it was your idea," she replied.

Roger pouted. He recounted his credits and paid the extra fees for his ships. The fleet grew, but nowhere near as much as he had expected it to. He would be spread very thin indeed, the next round.

He quickly got over it. He was still on the lead. Or, at least, he assumed he was. Ingrid counted up their respective total Galactic Influence scores and let out a sigh.

"You're still winning," she said, standing and preparing to strip the garment of his choice.

Roger scrutinized her closely.

"I'm on to your tricks..." he said thoughtfully. "Lose the pants. And keep those sexy legs out of sight, under the table."

"What, these sexy legs?" Ingrid taunted as she slowly pulled down her leggings, exposing her plain white panties. She turned away from him to wiggle her ass in his direction as she continued to shimmy out. When the pants hit the floor, she stepped out with one foot and used the other to kick them across the room, to the couch.

Roger's cock had been at about half-mast since he started massaging her feet, but now he was completely hard.

"Round 3," he said through narrowed eyes and gritted teeth. Ingrid giggled at his frustration and took up her seat at the table—legs and feet out of sight and out of mind.

The round's event card was revealed: dissent was spreading across the galaxy and any systems with less than a certain threshold of Control would openly rebel—effectively, needing to be conquered again.

"Oh, damn it," Roger swore as he read the text. His rapid expansion had led to many systems with poor Control and his fleets were spread too thin to recapture them all. The third round went especially poorly for him, while Ingrid continued her slow but steady expansion.

To neither of their surprise, Ingrid was in the lead as the round concluded. Roger, with exaggerated glumness, stepped back from the table and spread his arms wide in surrender.

"Off with the pants!" Ingrid shouted excitedly, standing to get a better view of him. Roger made no attempt at a sexy striptease as he pulled down and stepped out of his pants.

"What, no big halftime show?" she said with disappointment.

Roger grinned as he stepped toward her, wrapped both arms loosely around her waist, and looked down into her eyes.

"I have some ideas for a show we could put on together," he said slyly as he leaned in for a kiss. Their embrace tightened as she wrapped her arms around him too, amidst a flurry of kisses. Roger felt one of her hands reach down and grab his hardening cock through his underwear.

And then she gently pushed him back and stepped away.

"No, let's save it for the end," she said as she resumed her spot at the table.

Now Roger was all riled up. But it was almost 10:00 p.m—they had been playing for 5 hours and they were only just halfway through! If he had to wait that much longer, it would have to have to be worth it. He had to win.

Round 4 began with another event. Plague had broken out across the galaxy. This had a bunch of effects on various aspects of the game, but it ended up affecting both of them about equally.

With this round, Roger began a new tactic. If Ingrid's slow but strong spread across her side of the galaxy was more effective than his more rapid, aggressive expansion, he would have to start capturing systems from her—making gains that were also her losses.

He couldn't actually reach her systems this round, but his intentions were certainly clear as his fleets made a beeline toward the center of the galaxy, and her Zargaxian homeworld. She reacted to this by maneuvering her other faction, the Racharti, in a protective shield around the precious high-point-total galactic center.

When the round was over, Roger was still behind in total Galactic Influence, as he had expected. He was still recovering from the rebellions of the previous round. But come the next round, he expected things to be different...

"Underwear, off!" Ingrid demanded triumphantly.

Roger was a little confused. He had expected to lose his shirt next.

"What, you want me walking around completely bottomless?" he questioned, hesitantly removing his boxer briefs.

"Yeah, I wanna see that dong floppin' around," she declared lecherously. She leered at his exposed member. The attention started to make him hard again...

"That's more like it," she said with a wide grin.

"Hey, I need that blood for my brain!" Roger protested, seating himself to hide from her lewd, but arousing, gaze.

"You sure do," she taunted back, seating herself as well. "Alright. Round 5."

Things intensified during the final two rounds of the game as the rules called for two event cards to be drawn instead of just one. The first event was an increase in space pirate activity for the round, disrupting trade and commerce. This ended up affecting Ingrid more severely—Roger's Neroda faction of merchants actually had an ability that allowed them to bribe space pirates and thereby suffer fewer losses. The second event was an anomaly in hyperspace, which increased the mobility of all ships as they moved across the map. This would be extremely advantageous to Roger...

As the round progressed, Ingrid changed her positioning in her chair to sit with her legs tucked to her chest. She rubbed her bare legs with her sweater-clad arms for warmth. The change of position also brought her feet back into sight, and she occasionally warmed these with her sweater as well.

Roger easily saw through this as another means to distract him from the game. He tried to focus on the game board, but he couldn't help stealing occasional glances at the dark plum color of her nail polish.

During one of his peeks, made while she was seemingly distracted by a decision on the board, she reached down with one hand and slowly ran a single finger across the toes, spreading them out as she went. It was a move that she knew drove him wild and she looked up from the game to meet his gaze, a mischievous grin on her face.

"Try all you want, you're not gonna get me to make another mistake," Roger bluffed. It was past midnight and the fatigue of managing two factions in an already incredibly complex game was starting to get to him.

"Maybe so," she taunted. "Or maybe I just like it better when your dick's hard."

Her eyes lowered. Roger had been standing to get a better look at the far end of the game map and, indeed, his full erection was on display. He furrowed his brow at her as she giggled mischievously at him. He sat and continued his play.

During this fifth round, Roger began his attack on Ingrid's star systems. Her Racharti fleets were clearly outgunned by his Golvatu ships, but she stymied his efforts at conquest at every turn. The "master tactician" Racharti faction was every bit as annoying as Roger had assumed they would be. They had cards and abilities that let them stalemate unfavorable battles, use low-value combat cards to inflict massive damage, or withdraw their ships from a fight, losing holdings but suffering no losses to their fleet.