5:41 p.m. Not even close.

Leia stretched her shoulders. She looked around at the remains of the box scattered on the floor around her that held her captive for quite a while. Its accompanying bondage accessories were similarly sprawled across the floor.

I guess I should go freshen up.

Leia scuttled herself across the floor, still just an upper half of a woman with nothing below her waist, and held onto her now crouched lower half’s hips. Her already top heavy legs quickly adjusted themselves to accommodate the extra weight of her torso. Each step she made was calculated to perfection, as if she was born and raised as two halves of a woman. Without losing her stride, she opened the bathroom door and closed it behind her.

Ah, I forgot to leave my shoes outside.

Setting her torso down on the bathroom floor, Leia started undressing. First, her shoes; second, her jeans; third, her top; last, her underwear; all her clothes were neatly folded and stacked into a corner of the room, to be included in tomorrow’s laundry. Her shoes were carefully placed as a pair beside them.

Separately, both of Leia’s halves stepped into the shower. She turned on the knob; lukewarm water bombarded her bisected body.

I wonder why Michael would spring this onto me now. I remember him saying back then that I didn’t need these, but now we’re here.

Should I be glad? Should I be worried?

I mean, I appreciate the gesture, but Haley needed two of these before she formally joined us.

Could I be losing my edge?

Earlier, he overestimated my pain tolerance, which led to him worrying over me. Maybe I’m as fit for this job as I initially thought.

Maybe I should go back into training—test my body against those new lasers he’s been working on. 

Michael, am I still good enough for you?

Before she knew it, Leia had finished her shower. After stepping out of the shower, she quickly dried herself, then kept her hair in a towel wrap while it dries. With her torso holding onto her legs, she dropped her torso off near her dresser before sitting her legs down on the bed. She climbed her torso up onto her the chair by her dresser to check out what Michael left for her.

A black garter belt, black panties, black stockings—a full set of black everything... I can’t say I’m surprised.

She noticed that Michael had also left her a note on the dresser. It read:

The top can be anything. Be creative! :D

P.S. Use the same shoes

Leia let out a sigh.

6:26 p.m. Not close at all…

>>Fast Forward>>

Michael was happily calm. The lighting in his room had finally been fixed yesterday, so he could properly set a cozy mood for tonight. As he was setting up the plates, he watched the digital clock on the wall was counting down the seconds, as per normal. It was 6:58 p.m. He set down two, a plate each for Leia and himself. As he grabbed the needed utensils, he noticed the minute had passed.

6:59:41… 42… I know Leia’s the diligent one around here, but I’d be actually surprised if she showed up exactly on time.

With the final spoon, Michael had finished setting up everything right before seven. He glanced back at the clock.

6:59:57… 58… 59… 7:00:00 p.m.

Knock-knock!

“Oh, good lord!” The genuinely startled Michael exclaimed, catching himself. He recovered his composure a little and briskly walked to the door. At the door, he dusted himself off before opening it. Behind the door was Leia, her torso on the floor with her legs standing beside her. Her legs were wearing the suggested clothes Michael picked out, while her torso wore a matching black camisole.

“Come in. Come in,” invited Michael. Leia walked right in, while she reached out her arms for Michael to carry her. Of course, Michael was already crouching down to get her. He set her down on one of the chairs.

“Thanks,” said Leia.

“Hehe, no problem,” Michael responded. “Due to limited seating, however,” he brought her attention to the two chairs and then went over to and gestured to her legs, “you have to sit on the couch.”

Leia made a pretend squinting of her eyes, while she “begrudgingly” went to the living area and sat down in the middle of the couch. She crossed her legs like she was having a fit. Michael made his way back to the dining area. He looked at Leia.

“Not gonna lie, you look… hot,” Michael awkwardly blurted out. Leia was stunned for a bit. “I don’t mean to creep you out or anything, but I never really expected for those garter stockings to work so well on you.”

In an attempt to relieve himself of the embarrassment he’s feeling right now, Michael hesitantly gave Leia a kiss on the forehead. “What I mean to say is, you look great.” He then, a bit less awkwardly, shuffled himself to his seat and sat down.

Leia was flattered, but she only showed it through a chuckle. “Thanks,” she replied. “You look great as well. New shirt?” She noticed that Michael was wearing just a simple loose shirt and shorts.

“Technically, it’s a new old shirt. I’ve been skipping this shirt for some reason. I don’t remember exactly why or when, but I remember it was for something special. That’s why I thought to finally put it on tonight. I hope you don’t mind, even though you have this sexy look going on.”

“No, no, I don’t mind. I only ever really see you in your work ensemble, so seeing you in this is refreshing.”

“Thanks for that, you’re the best.”

“I know that already, so what are we eating?”

“Oh, crap, right, right. So, for tonight, I have prepared for you, a Corsair family original recipe…”

>>Fast Forward>>

With dinner wrapped up, Michael picked up Leia and set her down on the near end of the couch. As he went away to tidy up the dishes, Leia’s doubts about herself surfaced once more. She stared at her legs, moving to her whim even as they’ve been separated. She focused on the cut, the wound taking on a darker shade of red due to the use of lasers. The sight of her own weakness mesmerized her.

“Okay, the dishes have been soaked, so that’s the first part of our evening done,” said Michael, snapping Leia out of her self-induced trance.

“The first part?” wondered Leia. “There’s more?”

“Hell, yeah, there’s more!” Michael exclaimed. He went over and sat down in the middle of the couch, but not before Leia automatically stood up and moved to the far side of the couch. “Well, the second part is just watching a movie, but…!” he emphasized the ‘but’, “…there’s a twist.”

Michael produced a healthy length of rope out of thin air, as per usual. “The twist is… I put your torso in a box tie, while I caress your legs. Should be fun.” Quickly, he turned Leia so that her back was facing him and began to tie her up.

“Wait, Michael…” Leia interjected.

“Yeah?” Michael asked, continuing to tie her up.

“I don’t think I’m cut out for this anymore.”

“What do you mean?” he responded, his tying up of her, uninterrupted.

“I don’t think I’m fit to be your assistant anymore,” Leia finally managed.

Michael put down the rope he was holding. “Now that’s not true at all,” he replied.

“But it is!” Leia exclaimed. “For weeks now, I’ve noticed that my pain tolerance has been steadily decreasing. Taking a blade to my neck used to be nothing, but now, it feels like some ants bit my neck. Being impaled used to feel like pole-sized udon sliding up my ass, but now feels like I’m having a menstrual cramp with each centimetre.” She collected her breath; her rant had caused her to quicken her breathing.

“When I joined you and became an assistant, I swore that I could take as much pain as you needed me to…” Leia lowered her head, “…but look at me now, I’m as wimpy as a leaf. I even made you worry.”

Taking a couple moments for all her words to set in, Michael turned Leia around to face him.

“Leia,” he called her name, but she remained quiet.

“Leia, look at me.” She looked up at him while keeping her head down.

“You’re being stupid.”

“何？ (What?)” Leia was so surprised with that remark, her Japanese came out.

“I said you’re being stupid,” repeated Michael. “Of course, I would worry about you! You’re my assistant, which, sure, means that you should be able to take a lot of pain, but you’re also my co-worker, and my friend, too. We gotta look out for each other; that’s how you produce an amicable work environment.”

Michael continued, “I know you take pride in being perfect and consistent, but no person is always perfectly consistent. Dips in performance will always occur; we’re just people.”

“Plus, I’m your boss. I gotta make sure I don’t overwork those under me, otherwise, they’ll hate me or themselves. I don’t want you to hate me or yourself, so please, let me turn down the pain.”

Leia raised her gaze to meet Michael’s. She then hugged him, leaning her head against him. “Thank you for caring about me.”

“Eh, what are friends for,” he replied as he hugged her back and kissed her head.

After a short while, they released each other from the hug. “You okay now?” Michael asked. Leia nodded and turned herself around.

As he resumed tying her up, Michael explained, “You know, the purpose of these little ‘Date Nights’ of mine is to have fun.”

“How does tying me up help me have fun?” Leia retorted.

“Well, think of it this way. Our shows usually involve a lot of pain and blood, so I thought, why not use my magic in less violent settings to have fun?” Michael explained.

“That doesn’t answer my question. Why the bondage?”

“Well, that’s my fun—that… and caressing your body parts. You know me.”

With a final knot, Leia was now in a chest cross box tie. Acknowledging her helpless state, Michael turned her torso and set her into the near corner of the couch.

“Now, for the final touch,” he said as he used his hand to cover her mouth. Upon pulling his hand away, Leia could only stare cross-eyed as her mouth was now taped shut. She looked back at him and let out a whimper to confirm her inability to speak.

Reaching for the remote, Michael switched on the TV and changed the channel to the one with the movie they were to watch.

“Hmmm, 8:48 p.m.,” Michael said as he looked at the clock, “eight minutes late…” He turned to Leia. “Don’t worry, we should be fine. Your legs, please?” With some maneuvering, she managed to take off her heels and swing her legs onto his lap.

Though the ropes were tight and the occasional wiggle, Leia was comfortable in her bondage. That, combined with Michael’s gentle stroking of her legs, had put her in a state of relaxation. Around halfway through the movie, Leia stood up and sat closer to Michael, so he could caress her legs better.

When the end credits began to roll, Michael looked at the time, 11:03 p.m. “Well, time to sleep,” he said. He carefully set down Leia’s legs, placing feet back onto the floor. As if to protest, she crossed her legs. He turned to her torso and looked at her. Leia, mouth still taped shut, gave an inquisitive whimper and a slightly confused look. He turned her around and began to untie her torso, much to Leia’s surprise. After finishing untying her, Michael cleared the center table in front of the couch and carefully lay her down on her back.

“Could you spread your arms out for me?” Michael requested.

Leia silently obliged.

“All right, hold still.”

Producing a cleaver from his hand, Michael suddenly chopped both her arms off below the armpit. Leia whimpered at both cuts, but true to his word, he toned down the pain, now only feeling like an accidental knife cut on your finger. He disappeared for a moment to grab a second towel, then he used it to wipe away the residual blood from Leia’s new arm stumps and from the table.

With the living area cleaned up, Michael produced a pair of handcuffs from his pockets and cuffed the wrists of Leia’s lifeless arms together. He threw them onto the couch, and said to her, “You don’t need those tomorrow, right?” Leia, now armless, nodded from the table.

Holding her gently at her sides, Michael picked up Leia’s torso and motioned for her legs to follow. He lay her torso down on the left side of the bed by the bedside table, while her legs stood attentive beside her. He turned on the lamp on the table before leaving Leia’s sight and proceeding to the bathroom.

Being an armless torso meant that Leia could only move her head side to side. She decided to look at her legs as Michael went about his pre-sleep routine. The sounds of teeth being brushed and toilets being flushed could be heard from the bathroom. As its light was switched off and door was shut, Leia could see all the other lights dim as they were turned off, as well as hear plugs being pulled from their sockets. This continued until only the bedside lamp remained on and Michael reappeared in front of her.

“Hey, don’t worry about brushing your teeth and cleaning yourself up and all that. I already took care of it. This is the last part of our evening: I get to use your torso and legs as literal body pillows. Don’t worry, all I’ll just cuddle you as I sleep,” Michael explained. He kissed her forehead, “Good night,” and he turned off the lamp.

Leia’s sight was instantly filled with darkness as Michael’s silhouette left her view, with him escorting her legs to the other side of the bed. Behind her, she could feel the bed shift with both the weight of Michael lying down on his side and her legs sitting down right behind him. She swung her legs onto the bed, and found herself right behind Michael’s legs. She attempted to slide her right leg into the gap between his legs, and was happily surprised to feel Michael adjust his right leg up to wrapped around hers.

With their legs now comfortable, Michael went ahead and pulled Leia’s torso closer to him and wrapped his right arm around her. Her thoughts raced around in her mind as she has never felt so vulnerable, yet so safe. As Leia’s eyes became heavy, she recalled everything that happened to her tonight: being cooked for by, watching a movie with, and currently, sleeping beside and being cuddled by, her friend, Michael.

As her eyes closed, Leia could only think of one thing.

This was fun, Michael. I hope you’re always around…