There must have been something in the water

Nick didn’t know if this was a good idea or not.

“Kim… are you sure we should do this?” He asked.

“Of course…” Kim said softly. “What’s the problem?”

“But… I’m getting married tomorrow.”

“That’s okay… Mary won’t mind.”

Nick sighed. “…Fair enough,” he admitted. “But still. Taking a bath together? Really?”

The two of them were standing outside the bathhouse. Kim had dressed up in her schoolgirl uniform again, though she would be getting out of it very soon. What she was suggesting should have been embarrassing for both of them, and yet…

“Hey, it’s just getting in the bath together,” Kim laughed, tossing a smirk Nick’s way. “Come on, are you saying you don’t trust me?”

She narrowed her eyes suggestively. “…Oooor… are you saying you don’t trust yourself?”

Nick frowned. “I was naked with Dani in the sauna, you know!” He pointed out.

“And how did that end again?”

…Fair point.

“That… was because of the aphrodisiacs. But you said there aren’t any.”

Kim tapped her chin thoughtfully. “…Did I…?”

“Kim!”

“Kidding, kidding. Come on, you can’t take a joke?” She laughed, socking him in the arm. “It’ll be just fine.”

Truth be told, she was putting up a tough exterior, but she was actually a little uneasy about all this herself. She and Nick had danced around things a lot. She’d shown him her naked body, she’d seen him with his pants down and his dick out, and they both very clearly had romantic interest in each other.

Putting them in the bath together? It might be chaste. But at the same time, there was a good chance something more could happen.

Kim quickly disabused herself of that possibility.

That’s not why you invited him! She reminded herself. You did it so that you could be more comfortable around him in situations like this!

Kim was starting to get used to Nick seeing her in little clothing (or nothing) but wasn’t all the way there yet. She hoped that if they got in the bath together, in an environment without any sexual connotations where she was just focusing on relaxing, everything would be fine.

It’s not a big deal! She kept going over that in her mind. This wouldn’t be a big deal, because Nick had already seen her naked.

They entered the individual changing rooms for boys and girls.

That was probably one of Sylvia’s twisted jokes. Why make individualized changing rooms, when the only bath available was a mixed bath?

The tension, of course.

Kim rolled her eyes and stepped out into the bath chamber with nothing but a towel wrapped around her. Her figure had really started to trim down this past week, not that she was all that fat to begin with. But another few weeks of this, and she’d be quite toned!

She heard a noise from behind her, the sound of the other door sliding open, and she took a deep breath. She dropped her towel and turned to face him, forcing one of her best smiles onto her face to conceal her embarrassment.

“Well? Is it everything you hoped for?” She teased, as if this were the first time she’d ever stripped for him.

Nick offered her an awkward smile in return. His towel hid considerably less than hers did, and yet he seemed more focused on keeping his modesty than her.

Maybe because Kim was way more used to people checking her out now.

“Well? Come on buddy, this ain’t a free show,” she teased, stepping back into the water. She sank into the hot spring and let out a sigh, feeling the soothing warmth of the pond soothe her aches and pains away.

Nick’s **** soon faded when he saw that Kim wasn’t making a big deal about this. This is what he wanted, right? To hang out with someone so he wouldn’t feel lonely? And she was right, she’d already seen his penis before, even if it had been under dubious circumstances.

He dropped his towel and revealed himself, getting a whistle of approval from the other girl.

“That’s what I’m talking about!” Kim called. “You see? It’s totally fine! We’re both adults here, we can be naked around each other!”

She laughed at that thought, and Nick chuckled a little too. He stepped in the water, and he had to admit, she was right.

It felt great.

“You like?” Kim batted her eyelashes and smiled. “Awesome, yeah?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever been in a hot spring before,” Nick admitted, stepping further into the pond and going deeper into the water. “I’ve taken hot baths before, but this…”

“It really soothes you down to your bones,” Kim hummed, nodding in agreement. She paddled over to him and leaned her arms back against the wall, trying not to show how embarrassed she was to reveal her body like this.

He’s already seen it, he’s already seen it. And it’s nothing worth looking at anyway. She was trying so hard to make this seem normal that she was actually bashing her own appearance. That was quite an odd decision.

“You said Dani brought you here, huh? Good choice on her part,” Nick mused.

“Yeah, I guess she wasn’t scared away from the spa,” Kim joked. “In spite of your little incident together.”

Nick’s face got hotter, and it wasn’t because of the steam. “Please don’t bring that up,” he begged. “We weren’t in control of ourselves, and it was an accident. We’re trying to put that behind us and just be friends.”

“Yeah, sure, forgotten,” Kim agreed with a nod. “Hey, so about your fetish for short-haired girls…”

Nick fell back in the water with a splash, caught completely off-guard.

“WHAT?! What are you even talking about?!” He exclaimed in shock. “I don’t have a… are you crazy?!”

Kim smirked. “Oh, really? This not doing it for you?” She teased, flicking her fingers right at the edge of her hair to emphasize its new length.

“It’s not like that all!” Nick asserted.

“Well… okay then,” Kim said, a little disappointed she couldn’t get a better reaction out of him. Ever since she started trying to live more freely and behave like her previous self had under Dakota’s little gift, she had been a bit more daring- and it seemed to be having results!

She couldn’t imagine ever goofing around with Nick like this with them both being naked even a week ago; heck, even after she’d stripped for him for the last challenge, it had taken all of her willpower! And yet now, it felt like going around in underwear, or naked, or wearing whatever wasn’t a big deal at all. She even relished the fact that she was showing off to him.

Her eyes slid down, wondering if he was hard beneath the surface. It could be, right? Because her breasts were average-sized, they didn’t sink down into the water like the other girls’, so they hung above in full view.

And she could tell that he appreciated that, because every minute or so he would glance at them.

Before, she would have withdrawn shyly like Mary would. But now she wanted to tease like Rose or Carly.

“They’re about a B cup,” she informed him.

“H-huh?” Nick jumped a little.

“My cup size. I’m a large B. Almost at C!” Fairly average compared to the mountains on some of the girls, but it wasn’t like she planned to change that any time soon.

“I-I didn’t ask,” Nick said, averting his eyes.

“Not with your mouth, anyway,” Kim prodded, and Nick’s blush intensified.

“Kim, if this is just going to be about teasing me…” Nick enjoyed the feeling of the water. But his little friend was enjoying it too, and a lot more than he was.

And that was a problem. The whole point of this little experiment was so that they could just hang out without it getting weird, and yet Kim seemed to be hell bent on trying to turn things the other way around, for some reason.

And she kept showing off her boobs, too. The way she sat back against the side of the spring with her back arched, presenting her juicy tits up for him to see, it was like she was just begging him to look! And in spite of her self-deprecating tone, they were quite lovely. Nice, modest handfuls that were springy with youth, and their slight flushing giving them the appearance of ripe peaches just begging to be-

“You’re looking again…” She sang.

Damn it! Nick tried to will his erection to disappear, but it just wouldn’t go away. He was no longer convinced that Sylvia hadn’t put something in the water.

“M-maybe I should go,” Nick said, scooting towards the edge of the pool, where his towel sat. He certainly wasn’t going to be standing up with his flag standing at a full salute.

“Huh!?” Kim’s eyes widened. “No, don’t go!” She plodded through the water and grabbed him by the arm. “Stay! We’re having a good time!”

This constituted a good time?

“Y-you don’t mind then?” He asked. “I know you said you wanted us to just hang out and prove it wouldn’t be weird, but…”

This sort of behavior was the kind of thing he expected from Carly, who relished in the attention. Or from Dani, whose transformation meant being seen naked wouldn’t be a very big deal (though he hadn’t really experienced that for himself yet).

But Kim just seemed so… composed all the time. If he had to pick one of the girls in his harem to peg as a normal person, it was definitely her.

And yet he never would have imagined she’d be cool with the two of them chilling together naked like this.

Well… we have done a lot of stuff, he acknowledged. Maybe this is something like a next step before she’s ready to have sex. Yeah, when I think about it that way, everything makes sense. She’s just trying to ease into it. It’s not going to happen today, but she wants to get used to being naked around me in order to prepare herself.

He took a deep breath and exhaled.

Maybe… maybe she has the right idea, he admitted. Maybe that’s something I should open myself up to more, too.

They were going to have sex at some point. It was basically inevitable. He’d been handling Kim with kid gloves since she was so much younger and still a virgin, but even Mary was being more forward. Back when the two of them were flirting in the checkout lane he wouldn’t have had a problem with this!

So he allowed himself to embrace his impulses and relax.

Kim smiled. She didn’t know what had changed, but she could sense that something had.

“Sorry I got so weird,” Nick apologized. “I guess I was still trying to get used to the fact that you’re being more proactive about stuff like this.”

“I’m still trying to get used to it, too,” Kim said, laughing. “But what can I say? I’m gonna be the younger side-piece to a married man pretty damn soon, I gotta embrace my role, right?”

Nick rolled his eyes. “That’s terrible! Don’t put it like that!”

“Oh? Someone’s feeling a little sensitive,” Kim leaned forward, showing off her chest a little bit. She felt even more daring than usual knowing Nick was on board now. “You thinking about Mary right now, is that it? Getting a bit of a guilty conscience?”

Nick splashed some hot water on her in response.

“You’re the one who keeps bringing her up,” he pointed out. “Maybe you’re the one feeling guilty about trying to make a move on her fiancé!”

“Oh, is that what I’m doing?” Kim scooted away and raised her eyebrow, her smile taking on an amused tone. “I’m making a move on you now, is that it?”

“This isn’t that?” Nick asked.

“Sounds to me like you really ARE thinking pretty highly of yourself!” She teased, splashing him with some more water. “Though I suppose having a cute girl in lingerie wait on you hand and foot for a couple hours can certainly be ego-building. I suppose I’ll have to make you deflate.”

There was a lull in the conversation after that, where the two of them let those words sink in. They stared at each other, realizing they were a lot closer than they were when they’d started this little game of teasing.

And on the topic of deflating…

She didn’t mean that as an innuendo, right? Nick grabbed his cock to try and **** it down. It was so active and eager that he thought it would shoot out of the water then and there and slap Kim in the face!

But he wasn’t about to let that happen.

He needed something to change the subject. Anything. “Hey, Kim, so do you, um, come here often?” He asked.

Way to go, jackass. You default to the worst pickup line in the world, is that it? He chastised himself.

If Kim found that amusing it didn’t show. She took the question seriously, which was surprising considering her dark sense of humor.

“Yeah, I have been pretty recently,” she acknowledged with a nod. “The first time I came here, I was really worn-out from Dani’s workout, you know? I was exhausted and in pain, and, well, I needed a release.”

She shrugged.

“Dani brought me here, and what can I say? It felt pretty soothing.”

Nick nodded. He could totally understand why she felt that way.

“And I mean, no, it’s not perfect,” Kim admitted. “We can only use one hour for free each day. And yeah, I could always pay for more, but you know I’m not going to do that.”

Nick nodded. He couldn’t agree more. “Yeah, you’re way too cheap to waste your BP on something like a bath.”

Kim splashed him in the face. “Hey!” She snapped. “I don’t know what you’re trying to say, but I love taking baths! …I mean, yes, we could only afford for me to take one shower a week back at home, but still!”

“Maybe that’s why,” Nick said solemnly. “You only had a shower back when you lived on earth, right?”

Kim winced, and nodded. “Yeah. So… maybe you’re right. Maybe that’s it…”

She let out a long sigh and sank back into the water, leaning back so her head was resting in the spring while the rest of her body floated listlessly below her. She looked up at the sky covered in “stars” and wondered what her family was doing right now.

“I get to live a life of luxury… but my parents… my siblings… I hope they’re doing okay,” she murmured. “I’d love to be able to take them to a bath like this…”

They were silent for a long time.

“Nick…” She straightened up and looked him in the eye, her expression turning serious. “You know why I’m competing in this game, right? It’s not just because of my feelings for you.”

Nick nodded. “Yeah, I know,” he said.

“I’m doing it because I want to win and get that prize. Any wish… anything I want…”

“And when you get it, you’re planning on wishing for something for your family, right?”

Kim nodded. “I’m not a greedy person at heart. I just… I want enough where they can live comfortably and not have to worry, that’s all. They deserve that much, at least.”

Tears welled up in her eyes as she pictured her family’s smiling faces.

“That’s not wrong, is it?” She asked, looking up and staring him in the eye. “Wanting my family to live happily?”

Nick shook his head. “Of course not,” he assured her. “Not at all.”

Kim let out a sigh of relief. “Good,” she murmured. “I’m glad. Because… I have something else to tell you, Nick.”

Nick tensed. The tone of her voice suggested that this wouldn’t be very pleasant to hear. “What is it?” He asked.

“It’s… about my family.”

He suspected.

“They’re counting on me, you know?” Kim could see her mother right in front of her practically. “My mom is working on her resume with my dad’s help, but my siblings, they’re both still in school. And I just want… I want to take care of them. Even if I don’t win this. But I’m not positive that I can.”

She scooted even closer to Nick, until he could smell the minerals in the water covering her skin.

“Look… I want to marry you, Nick. But I need to put my family first. Even before my feelings. Can you promise me that you’ll be able to help support them?”

Nick winced. Of course he couldn’t promise that.

“Once I get a job…”

“No, forget that,” Kim said, shaking her head. “When we get back home, if we’re already married… or, god forbid, pregnant… what are you going to do? How are you going to help support the two of us, so that I can work to improve my family’s station in life?”

This was somewhat cruel of her to ask. Because the fact of the matter was, this was a test of sorts. A test to see what sort of man the guy she loved was.

Would he be willing to support her? Or would he deflect?

She couldn’t blame him for not wanting to support a family of five on top of his other obligations. Kim’s father may have made decent money, but it wasn’t enough when factoring in the costs and debts that the family had accrued over the years.

If Nick wouldn’t help, if Nick didn’t want to help, could she really have him as a part of her life? Maybe it was better to let him go and focus on working.

“I… Kim, if I’m being honest, I don’t know if I can,” Nick admitted. “I’ll do my best, but… when it comes to supporting your whole family… look, I promise, I’ll do the best I can, okay?”

Kim smiled. That would have to do for now.

“Okay,” she agreed. She hugged him close and he flushed as he felt her breasts press against his chest. “That’ll do for me, too.”

She pulled back and the two of them looked at each other.

Nick had a rock-hard grip on his rock-hard erection.

And Kim could see the shadow of his hand under the surface.

She turned red. “Nick,” she whispered, shifting her position slightly. “Are you… touching yourself beneath the water?”

Nick gulped. “That’s…”

“I-I mean, it’s not a big deal if you are!” Kim hastily scooted way, her face red. “Just… give a girl some warning next time, alright?!”

The tense moment between them had ignited an entirely different awkward discussion, and the two of them stared at each other not sure what to say next.