I'm not afraid, I pushed through the pain

“And here you are!” Kim set a plate of sushi in front of Nick, and already he was salivating. This wasn’t just a couple pieces of raw fish on some bundled rice. Seared salmon, spicy tuna, somehow Kim had even made some shrimp tempura for a dragon roll. Wanting to flex her talents Kim made a wide selection of sushi for him to sample, and it all looked delicious.

Kim wasn’t really focused on her food, though. She gazed across the table at her date, cradling her chin in her hands while giving him a dreamy stare.

“You’re drooling,” she commented, causing Nick to snap up and refocus his attention on her. His eyes widened and she giggled, charmed.

“It’s not a bad thing!” She said quickly, shaking her head. Her eyelashes fluttered. “If anything, I think it’s flattering you feel so highly about my food. At least now I know you’re drooling because of my cooking and not because I was serving it on my body.”

She winked at him and he had to smile.

“That was a delicious sight too,” he informed her, earning him a charmed laugh from the tomboy.

“Well, don’t count on getting it again anytime soon,” she said with just a faint hint of regret in her voice. She shook her head. “That would require me getting out of this costume, and…”

She glanced down at the bright red qipao. It was so tight on her the fabric had changed to a slightly different shade. A sigh of frustration escaped her lips. Even from across the table Nick could see how much she was struggling in it.

“…Kinda feels like this thing is glued to me,” she said with a laugh. Kim really didn’t like wearing this qipao. But as she was quickly finding out, unlike the schoolgirl uniforms that would burst at the first wrong move she made, this thing was built to last.

If I’d known that, I would have gone with the red dress instead. At least that one’s not making a mockery of my nationality. With that being said, Kim’s dress covered a lot less. With how her body had been expanding and changing all day, she couldn’t begin to imagine how obscene that would have ended up.

“Everything okay, Kim?” Nick asked, noting the look of restrained tension on her face. Kim perked up and quickly shook her head.

“No… yes. It’s fine,” she assured him. “Just thinking… this morning, I woke up in the Master’s Suite, and my body was completely normal. Skinny, toned, and pretty damn great. Now…” She gestured to her stunning curves. “It’s like I’m a completely different person. It feels like that was weeks ago but it was just this morning.”

“I kinda get what you mean,” Nick said, nodding. Kim still looked amazing, of course, but in a completely different way. The first thing he ever noticed about the cashier was her dazzling smile, but even though she had the prettiest smile he had ever seen, that wasn’t what drew him to her. It was how casual everything between them had seen. Ironically, her plainness back then had given her the appeal of a girl next door. And after what had happened to Dakota, that hole in his heart had sought out someone else to fill it.

Now the girl sitting across from him hardly resembled that girl next door at all. Soft as Silk had removed all the minute imperfections of her skin, and various transformations and spells had morphed her slender figure into cartoonish proportions of sexuality. Even her hair was different- back then, Kim’s long hair had been dull and brittle from lack of maintenance and care. It was one of the reasons she’d been happy to chop it all off; short hair was more convenient. Now it was glossy and vibrant; another perk of the transformation she had borrowed from Dani.

But even through all those changes, Kim was still the person she had always been. Her complexion was healthier and she no longer had those bags under her eyes, or the greasy skin from her bad diet and poor hygiene routine. It reminded Nick of when the Plain Jane childhood friend in a romcom steps onscreen after her makeover and sways the male lead away from the vapid, superficial cheerleader he’d been crushing on all movie. Or like that one Taylor Swift song.

“…Dude, you’ve been staring, the sushi’s getting cold,” Kim said, raising her eyebrow.

That snapped Nick out of it. He quickly sat up straight, blushing. “S-sorry,” he apologized, taking the chopsticks (Kim had insisted) and taking a bite of the sushi. His face lit up.

“Wow!” He gushed. “This is as good as I remember! Maybe even better! I knew I wasn’t wrong voting you the winner of that competition, Kim,” he laughed.

Kim laughed back. “Well, I’m glad. I was a little nervous that the presentation was lacking this time around.

“Embellishment is always appreciated,” Nick joked. “But I still like your cooking on the merits alone, you can believe that at least.”

Kim did. And she was so glad she did. Nick… he was just so sweet to her, it was the best.

“…Still… the way you were looking at me earlier, I was kinda worried,” she admitted, scratching her cheek. “I mean… since it’s definitely off the table now…”

“Huh?” Nick wasn’t sure what she meant.

“Oh, just, uh, you know, the body sushi thing,” Kim clarified. “Like I said…” she tucked her finger into the collar of her qipao. She could barely fit. “Not happening.”

Nick shook his head. “No, that… that wasn’t why I was staring.”

The look of shame that crossed his face sent a stab of anxiety through Kim’s breast. “Is everything alright, Nick?” She asked worriedly.

Nick raised his head. “Yeah…” he said, nodding. “Everything is fine… really. I just…”

She could tell that in spite of his claims, everything was very much not fine.

“Nick… seriously.” Kim gave him her serious look.

“…This is gonna sound really lame, but… I couldn’t help but appreciate just how amazing you look right now,” he said sincerely. Now they were both blushing.

“Well, uh… just… just now?” Kim scratched her cheek. “Don’t I always look amazing?”

Nick walked right into that one. “Of course you do,” he assured her without hesitation. “That’s not what I meant.”

She looked at him curiously. “Then what did you mean? Are you saying you’d like me to always look like this?” Kim wasn’t sure if she wanted that for herself. But she did want to hear how Nick felt about her body. “It’s okay to be honest,” she assured him. “I do look wildly different.”

“Different doesn’t always mean better,” Nick said firmly. “I like you either way, it’s just… look, I’m about to say something that’s gonna sound really awful, so please don’t take it the wrong way, alright?”

Kim raised her eyebrow. Usually Nick stuck his foot in his mouth without realizing it. But he seemed to be consciously aware now that what he was about to say might resound poorly with her.

“…Go ahead, Nick,” she encouraged. After how much he’d supported and helped her already today, what kind of woman would she be if she didn’t offer him the same level of support?

Nick sighed in relief. He hoped Kim would maintain that attitude through this whole thing.

“Kim… I like you. A lot.”

“Oh, you do? Well that’s such a relief,” Kim said, her voice dripping with playful sarcasm. “I was kinda worried…”

“No, I’m serious,” Nick said with a groan that was almost a laugh. “All the way back when you were working at the grocery store.”

Kim flashed a lopsided grin. “I kinda figured,” she giggled. “When you’re willing to wait for ten minutes behind an old lady with a mountain of items to scan, instead of going to the newly-opened lane next door, saying ‘moving my stuff would be too much effort, it’s fine’ doesn’t really ring true.”

Nick winced. “You noticed that, huh?”

“Noticed, and didn’t mind. Talking to you was the highlight of my day whenever you walked in the door,” Kim said with her usual charming smile.

Well, at least he didn’t come off as a total creep.

“Talking to you was always comfortable for me,” Nick explained. “That smile of yours… it was soothing. I could tell you were tired and worn out, but you always seemed to brighten up whenever we spoke, and that… it was kind of addicting.”

“Yup, I know all this already,” Kim said, nodding in agreement. “What are you trying to say, Nick?” She asked curiously.

Nick felt that concern in his chest again. He sighed. “What I’m trying to say, Kim… I liked the way you were so… easy. Not in that way!” He hastily clarified. “It was like… talking to someone I had known for years. I just felt really comfortable around you. And… well… now look at you. You’re gorgeous and amazing, and… what am I even saying…?”

“You were complimenting me, I believe,” Kim said, primping her hair. Odd. She never cared this much about her looks before. But hearing Nick lay on the praise had her getting all vain and self-absorbed, which was completely unlike her.

“Well, it’s hard not to,” Nick pointed out. “When you look like that.”

She smirked. “True. If I did the body sushi now… there’d be a lot more room to work with. Though… it wouldn’t be nearly as stable.”

Only Kim could turn her naturally modest physique into a joke.

“Yeah… you’re really gorgeous now,” Nick said, nodding. He took her in with a warmth in his gaze. “And not just because of your new body. Your smile is brighter, everything about you is just so… it’s like you’ve come into yourself.”

“Uh-huh, uh-huh,” Kim kept nodding. “And…?”

“And… well…” Now for the difficult part, the part that made Nick feel like a jerk. “If you looked like this back when you were working as a cashier… I probably would have felt too intimidated to chat you up like I did.”

He winced, bracing for a look of disappointment from his date. But she just looked confused.

“Huh?” Kim tilted her head to the side. “You feeling okay?”

“Sorry, it’s just…” Nick gestured at her. “…Look at you, Kim. Right now, it’s like you’re a 10 out of 10. You look like you could be a model, or, like, a health product saleswoman or something. If I walked into the grocery store and saw you like this, I wouldn’t have gotten ‘girl next door’ vibes, I would have been overwhelmed by that smile of yours.”

He sagged into his chair. “Sorry to ruin the mood… that’s probably the last thing you want to hear on a date.”

But Kim didn’t look put-off or disappointed.

She burst out laughing.

“What… that’s it? You’re feeling all wound up because I look like this now?”

Kim got up out of her chair and walked around the table, leaning forward and looking into Nick’s eyes.

“Listen,” she said, poking him in the forehead, “I’m still the girl next door. Even if I look like this. And, you know, grew up in a building that probably should have been condemned and not the suburbs like you.”

“I know you are!” Nick said. “Believe me, this isn’t about you! It’s about my own insecurities. And… me feeling like a piece of shit. The truth is, I started crushing on you because… I thought… after everything I went through already, I thought… you were in my league.”

Kim blinked. She stood up straight and looked down at him, her playful smile morphing into an even expression. “…In your league?”

Nick’s heart sank. He felt like shit for telling her that. But today had been so amazing, even if it was wild and crazy. They’d already been having sex, but it felt like something even stronger was forming between the two of them, and he needed to get this feeling of guilt off his chest.

“You were pretty… but in a plain sort of way.” He was only digging himself deeper. “For a guy who’d been suffering terrible luck with women his entire life… I thought that you were someone down to earth, someone on my level, that we could be happy together.”

“…And if I looked like I do now, you wouldn’t have thought that,” Kim said slowly, like she was dissecting how every word sounded on her lips.

Thrown back in his face like that it sounded even worse.

“…Yeah.”

“Huh.”

Kim looked at him for a good long while, processing his statement. “Well… Nick, I’ll be honest here, that really was NOT where I expected tonight to go.”

He winced. She was mad, he knew she was, he-

Kim reached down and grabbed his cheeks and pulled him into a kiss.

Nick’s eyes widened in surprise as he felt her kissing him, too confused to understand what was going on. Then she separated, her face warm with a blush.

“To be honest… I felt the same way,” Kim admitted, fidgeting. “My only experience with men at that point was creeps who hit on me while I was just trying to do my job. But you… you were different. You tried to get to know me. I thought ‘This guy, he’s kind of a doofus but he’s so sincere. Sure he may look like a slob, but I’m no prize myself. Maybe we could really be something together.’ …And look at you now! Sure, you’re no model, but you’re taking better care of yourself than you were back then,” she pointed out.

She wasn’t wrong. Nick had been living a healthier life himself, in part because of the boost to his self-esteem that being surrounded by so many beautiful women gave him.

Kim gave him a reassuring smile and placed her hand on his shoulder. “Maybe you only let yourself be comfortable around me because I looked so plain back then… but there’s nothing wrong with that. We ended up liking each other because we felt a connection. On some level, we both got the feeling that we would be a good match. That we just fit. And we were right. Even now that we’re living healthier lives and looking and feeling better, we still feel that connection because it’s real.”

“Yeah… you’re right,” Nick agreed. “Only you look way better than I do.”

Kim laughed. “Well, I’ve been getting transformations all day!” She reminded him.

Nick shook his head. “No, even before that,” he assured her. “Even the way you normally look is amazing, Kim.”

She turned red. “W-well… thank you for saying that.” She twisted a lock of dark hair. “Um… let… let’s get back to dinner now. Walking around all day really worked up an appetite!”

Nick felt hungrier now that he’d gotten that weight off his chest. He felt comfortable moving forward with Kim and getting more serious with her now; and tonight would put that to the test.

After dinner, Kim showed Nick the rest of her dream house. She moved with such energy and grace that Nick couldn’t help but follow behind her, hanging on her every word as she led him from room to room.

“And finally, the last part of the tour…” Kim stopped in front of one last door at the end of the hallway on the second floor, and pushed it open. “…The master bedroom.”

Her eyes flickered over to his and he knew immediately what she was thinking. He swallowed, and saw her do the same.

“So, uh… yeah…” Kim stepped into the room and led Nick inside. Nick wasn’t sure if she’d always envisioned the room this way or if this was a product of her current emotional state, but regardless he doubted it was a coincidence that the bed had ended up right next to the door.

Kim looked at him again and he could feel her drilling holes into him with her stare. He turned to meet her gaze and the two shared a look of mutual understanding.

He could hear her gulp.

“So… we’ve put it off long enough,” Kim breathed, her face heating up. Her voice quivered with anticipation.

“Yeah,” Nick agreed, nodding.

Kim reached up and undid the clasp on her qipao.

Nothing happened.

“…Shit,” she groaned, feeling the sexual tension drain out of the room. “I knew this was gonna be an issue, fuck! The damn thing’s so tight…”

She pried at the cloth, using her enhanced strength to peel it off of herself. Nick was reminded of the shrinkwrap stores put around certain objects to ensure they remained unsealed. Only even with a seam to work with, Kim was still having trouble.

Finally she managed to get her fingers in under the cloth, and the rest was just basic physics. Once she managed to pull it up off of her skin she was able to unwrap herself like a birthday present, and her body did the rest. Her breasts pushed themselves to freedom and in a second she was all but topless, with only the bra she borrowed from Gina struggling futilely to contain her massive bosom.

Without the qipao to provide extra pressure holding her chest down, it strained under the **** of her enhanced chest and snapped open with such **** Nick half-expected it to fly across the room. Instead if just dropped to the floor, ruined, letting Kim’s delicious chest bounce free at last.

“I, uh… I wasn’t expecting that,” Kim said, blushing sheepishly. “Do you think Gina’s going to be mad at me for…?

“No, she probably wouldn’t even notice if you gave it back,” Nick assured her with a laugh. He had it on good authority that Gina didn’t even remember to wear a bra herself half the time.

Kim’s laugh made her breasts bounce on her chest, immediately drawing Nick’s eyes. But was wonderful as those glistening, sweat-soaked orbs were, they had nothing on the vast expanse of flesh behind her. Kim’s qipao rested on the shelf of her ass like a useless rag, and they both realized that it had been hard enough getting it that far.

Peeling the rest of the garment off that butt would be an endeavor of herculean proportions, much like her own herculean proportions.

“Good thing I’m not trying to give you a show,” Kim said as she tried to work the dress down her enhanced booty and hips, attempting to make light of the situation to hide her embarrassment. It didn’t help her feel less self-conscious, sadly.

“Take your time,” Nick said tenderly, trying not to worry her. He could wait as long as it took.

Kim was relieved to hear that. She kept working, and finally she managed the before-now impossible-seeming task of actually getting the red silk qipao down over the massive curve of her ass.

It dropped to the floor the second she did, leaving Kim in a single pair of panties that clung so tightly to her figure they were practically dental floss within her meaty curves.

With a resigned sigh, Kim reached down and gave the string a tug that snapped it immediately, leaving her butt naked.

“…Wasn’t gonna bother with that headache, she giggled, raising her head and giving Nick a dazzling smile. “Any complaints?”

Nick stared at her in numb excitement and slowly shook his head. “N-no, he stammered. “None at all…”

Kim grinned at him. “Good. Then shall we get to it, then?”

She turned towards the bed, butt wobbling as she walked, and Nick found himself following after her like a man possessed. Seeing the wall of flesh bouncing in front of him as she swung her hips, it was just too much. With a groan he raised his hand and brought it down on that tempting piece of meat.

He didn’t do it lightly, either.

Kim jerked like she’d been struck by lightning. That hurt. Way more than she’d expected, but also… not nearly as much as she’d feared. “O-oh,” she murmured, biting her lip. She turned and looked back to Nick, seeing the look of horror on his face as he realized what he’d just done.

“K-Kim,” Nick croaked.

She relieved him with a smile. “It’s alright,” she whispered, assuring him. “I’m ready to start now, if you are.”

That was just the first slap. 49 more to go. And maybe so many more after that… Kim could hear her stomach churning with desire as she flopped down on the bed. How convenient- the ropes were already there for her.

Oh yeah, this was gonna be quite a night. And as worried as she might have been, she knew she was safe in Nick’s hands. In every possible meaning of the phrase.