A birthday story for Coffewithsprinkles on Deviantart. Here you go, Amiga! Happy Birthday! :)

Cuphead belongs to Studio MDHR. I own nothing.

A/N: This is my second time including the casino mini-bosses in a story, but my first time writing them as the main characters, so please be gentle in the reviews. Thank you.

The Soft Side Of The Dice

Stress was common for King Dice in his line of work, but most of the time, it was workable stress that didn't leave him with a headache or fill him with fury.

But today, his stress was beyond that.

The day had started out well at the casino with the atmosphere jovial and a couple people celebrating their anniversaries. But then, trouble had come in the form of some punks that still owed a debt to the monster who no longer ran the casino. Dice had been having trouble with them and had sent them away numerous times.

Today, though, the punks went too far.

They had come in with bats and brass knuckles, looking for a fight. Everyone had scattered and King Dice refused to fight them, trying to send them away, but they charged.

The second they charged, Hopus Pocus appeared out of nowhere and held up his magic hat. "Looks like you're itching for some pitching!" He said with a crazy laugh and began doing his crazy magic tricks. Pip and Dot jumped in to help too.

Chips Bettigan, Phear Lap, and the Tipsy Troop, hearing the commotion, came running out with Pirouletta, Mr. Wheezy, and Mangosteen right behind them. "Come on, guys! Yee-haw!" Chips exclaimed as he charged into battle. A clash of cymbals rang out and they saw Mr. Chimes come out and the toy monkey clashed his cymbals loudly, letting out a loud screech now and again.

Tipsy Troop and Mr. Wheezy teamed up to attack and Pirouletta danced as gracefully as a ballerina, but with acute precision. Mangosteen helped her out before the bullies charged again, dodging attacks and attacking the mini-bosses.

They smashed Tipsy Troop up badly, stomped on Mr. Wheezy, sent Chips flying everywhere with just one swing of the bat, and punched Pip and Dot back a ways, forcing Hopus Pocus to catch them, but he crashed into Phear Lap, who whinnied in alarm as he felt to pieces, tangling up the other two.

Pirouletta danced towards them, ready to kick them when one grabbed her and spun her around rapidly before cruelly tripping her, making her fall to the floor before another grabbed Mangosteen and shook his up to the point that he was dizzy and then threw him at Pirouletta, knocking the wind out of her and making her crash hard again to the floor.

Mr. Chimes tried to stop the bullies, but he was kicked aside and his cymbals were bent to the point that they were useless. The bullies laughed and taunted the mini-bosses cruelly and that was the breaking point for King Dice, who called out his card minions and sent them to attack the bullies, who were soon surrounded and kicked out of the casino with the warning to never return. Djimmi, who was nearby with Beppi, heard the commotion and immediately ran over to the casino to find an angry Dice glaring at some bullies before he looked at the two. "Would you two handle these bullies please?" He asked. "I need to see to my helpers."

The genie and clown nodded and chased after the bullies, who ran as King Dice went back into the casino, surveying the damage and seeing the mini-bosses on the floor with various injuries. Knowing no one would come to the casino for the rest of the day, he locked the door and sighed a deep sigh before seeing to the mini-bosses.

Tipsy Troop had taken the worst of the cruelty, so Dice gave all three strong healing potions before treating the outward injuries, being gentle and soon, the Tipsy Troop were in the cupboard, sleeping soundly as the healing potion had also a bit of a sleeping potion in it to help them sleep through the pain.

Phear Lap had managed to pull himself together again, but was shaky on his feet, and so was placed upon a couch and given a healing potion, which the skeleton horse drank gratefully and then settled down.

Hopus Pocus used his magic to help Chips recover, though the stack of chips looked a bit dizzy still, and to help Mr. Wheezy recover too, but the cigar was looking like something had fizzled out his fire and he groaned while Dice laid him and Chips down on two other sofas, making sure they were resting comfortably before turning his attention to Hopus, who was favoring his left arm. "I'm fine, Dice," he said.

"Let me see your arm," Dice said, gently moving the rabbit's arm and finding it to only be sprained. Wrapping it up and giving the rabbit a strong healing potion, he found Pip and Dot and Mangosteen getting up as they only had some bruising, but nothing serious. That didn't stop the casino owner though as he gave them healing potions and put them on couches to rest.

The only two left were Pirouletta and Mr. Chimes, who was trying to rouse the dancer, but she was unconscious. Picking her up gently, Dice took her to his office and set her on the couch in there before turning to Mr. Chimes. A little magic and the monkey was good as new with repaired cymbals. "Watch over the others for me and if you see trouble, bang your cymbals loudly," he said.

Nodding, the monkey took off for the door while Dice went over to Pirouletta, the mini-boss he was fond of as she was a wonderful dancer and there were times when he would be stressed out and she'd do a dance routine for him, dancing to soft music or music that was famous in plays and such. No matter the song or music number, she could adapt and dance to it naturally.

A groan made him realize she was waking up and she opened her eyes, one which was a bit bruised, but not swollen thankfully. "King Dice?" She asked softly.

"Shh," he shushed her, placing a gentle finger over her mouth. "Rest, my little dancer. You're injured."

Surprised at his concern, she let him tend to her injuries and sat up after a moment, but gloved hands gently pushed her to lie back down. "Rest, my dear," he said softly.

"Dice, I'm fine," she protested, trying to sit up, but he again gently pushed her back down.

"Pirouletta, you either lie down and rest or I'll shock you into doing so," he said.

She looked at him. "You may be my boss, but...,"

That was as far as she got when he suddenly kissed her, making her jump in surprise. She raised one hand, but two gloved hands grabbed her wrists gently and held them in a gentle, firm grip as the casino owner gently ran his tongue over the dancer's lips, making her gasp and giving him the chance to give her a French kiss. Unable to struggle (then again, she really didn't have the heart to), she let him kiss her, kissing him back.

Smiling, he gently broke the kiss. "Now, are you going to rest, my dear?" He asked. "If not, I'll kiss you breathless."

She giggled. "Why, Dice, you do have a soft side," she said before sitting up. "But you'll have to do better than that."

She was pinned to the couch as he loomed over her, giving her a grin that made her shudder pleasantly. "Oh?" He asked before uncapping a healing potion and giving it to her. Confused, she drank the potion, sighing in relief as the pain faded, but then she gasped as the casino owner kissed her neck and cheeks before giving her another French kiss, taking her breath away as they kissed.

After a few moments, Dice broke the kiss, leaving the dancer flustered and breathless. "Now, rest, my beautiful dancer," he cooed in her ear. "And after I attend to the others, I'll be back to kiss you some more."

She was too breathless to say anything as he kissed her cheek before heading back to check on the others, hovering over them like a mother hen.

By evening, the other mini-bosses had recovered mostly and were sleeping soundly while Pirouletta was still in Dice's office, recovering. He came in and picked her up, giving her another healing potion, which she drank, before he took her to his room and put her in his bed. "Rest, my beautiful dancer. I'll be here if you need me," he said.

She reached for him. "My king," she said. "Kiss me?"

His response was another deep French kiss before the sleeping potion of the healing potion kicked in and the dancer fell alseep while King Dice smiled lovingly at her and kept watch.

"No one's going to hurt the mini-bosses, especially you, my beautiful dancer, ever again," he said. "I'll make sure of it."

After all, they were important to him and she was very important to both him and his heart.

Well, this one took off on me. :)

Please leave a review, but no flames!

GoldGuardian2418