I need peace to borrow, give that shit back tomorrow

Morgana looked even more nervous than usual, standing in the elevator alone with Nick as they headed out to get their date started. Or maybe Nick only thought that because she looked so physically different; with her slender physique, Morgana’s shyness seemed to be more prominent.

Nick understood the position she was in, and he worried about her. But he also wasn’t sure how to help her relax. That had always been a bit of an issue with Morgana.

Maybe he could propose something that would help them break the ice.

“Hey, do you want to get breakfast?” He suggested, knowing that if Morgana had spent all morning preparing for her date with him, she probably hadn’t gotten the chance to eat anything yet. A nice meal would be an excellent reset for the both of them, he figured.

Morgana jumped, her red eyes widening with surprise.

“B-breakfast?” She squeaked. “That…”

She bit her lip and swallowed, and a small smile reached her face.

“N-no, I’m fine,” she assured him, glancing at his waist for a moment before her eyes shot back up to meet his. Morgana was certain that, living with Mary, Nick must have already eaten. It was so sweet of him, to be considerate of her and invite her to breakfast, but she didn’t want him to have to go out of his way! “I’m not really that hungry, so…”

“Grrrglllrrrooow…”

A rumbling, churning noise echoed through the elevator. Nick and Morgana stared at each other in silence as Morgana’s mortified face slowly turned redder and redder.

“THAT-!” She gasped out, covering her face with her hands. “I-I DIDN’T-! I-!”

She could die. She could just die. How could she have done something so embarrassing less than five minutes into their date together!?

“DAWN! HELP ME! HELP!” Morgana mentally cried to her cat girl friend, who had wisely decided to wait for the next elevator to take her to breakfast to give the two of them some time together.

As Morgana’s psychic screams echoed through Dawn’s head, the cat girl decided to tune her out, choosing not to respond.

Sorry, Morgana, she thought, taking care not to direct her thoughts to the person in question, but I can’t keep bailing you out. If you want to have the experience of a real date with him, then that’s what you’re going to get. Good luck!

She did feel a little bad, but she knew it was in Morgana’s best interest. She couldn’t keep rescuing her friend all the time.

Not getting any response from Dawn, Morgana knew she was on her own. But that was what she’d wanted, right? To spend the day with Nick, just the two of them, having a good time together without having to rely on her friend as a crutch. An opportunity for Nick to get to know the real her, behind all the fantasies and the sexy transformations.

So even though she remained utterly mortified, Morgana slowly lowered her hands and raised her head, looking up into Nick’s eyes with a wary expression on her face.

“…I’m sorry,” she apologized sheepishly. “This is embarrassing… the date just started, and I already…”

“No, it’s fine,” Nick assured her. Having gone on a date with Ella the day before, he knew how mortified Morgana must have felt, having her stomach rumble like that right in front of him. The last thing he wanted was to embarrass the poor girl. “You’re just hungry. Like I said, we can go get something to eat, have a chat over breakfast, you know. Date stuff.”

To Nick’s chagrin, he was realizing that he actually didn’t know that much about Morgana. She was an oversharer, but so much of what she shared with him was superficial; surface-level stuff about her fantasies and her obsessions, because he seldom spent that much time with her one on one. Part of today was about changing that. So taking things slow and getting a coffee together might be a good way to ease into a real date.

Morgana looked up at him again, feeling the compassion burning into her from his sincere gaze aimed her way. He was so sweet… he really wanted to do right by her, and she appreciated that, she really, really did.

So why did she still feel like she had to defend herself?

“…I know you’re just being nice, but… thanks…” Morgana played with her fingers to distract herself, knowing that if she had to focus on Nick with 100% of her attention she might well pass out on the spot. It was helping her relax, keeping her heartbeat from filling the elevator the same way her stomach rumbling just had. “We don’t need to get breakfast… really…”

The grumble of her stomach said otherwise.

Nick found himself in a difficult position. Obviously, if Morgana went into this date hungry, she wasn’t likely to have a good time. But if he pushed the issue, she might feel even more self-conscious, and as a result, get even more defensive.

He didn’t think either of those were good outcomes. As he wracked his brain trying to come up with something to say, and fast, it was actually Morgana who relieved him. Not at all what he would have expected.

“You… you already ate, after all,” the goth mumbled, a shaky smile tugging up her lips. Just play it cool. Play it cool. Act like it’s not a big deal… because it isn’t.

“So… we don’t need to eat… on my account…”

That was actually the “in” he needed to change the course of the conversation without seeming too pushy.

“Yeah, I did eat breakfast,” he confirmed. “But this isn’t about me. It’s about us having a good day together.”

Morgana blinked, her eyes widening. “…O-oh?”

Nick gave her a smile that he hoped looked relaxed and casual, like this wasn’t a big deal. “If you’re hungry all day, you’ll be nervous, listless, and you probably won’t be paying much attention to me,” he pointed out. “And personally I’d like to spend today getting to have fun with the real Morgana, not the hungry Morgana. So isn’t it the best thing for the both of us if we take a stop so you can have a light breakfast? Hmm?”

Morgana’s eyes widened. She hadn’t actually thought about it that way… but when he put it like that, she could kind of see where he was coming from.

“Yeah…” she admitted with a slow nod. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

Her face burned with embarrassment and she grinned a shaky grin, hoping that this was the right decision. So he wasn’t just doing it for her sake… but because it would be good for the date… that… that was…

That’s good, right? If he’s trying to have a good time, then… yeah, that’s gotta be a good thing!

“Great!” Nick grinned, his relief at resolving the situation evident in his smile. “Then we can just take it easy and enjoy ourselves! That’s what I’m really looking for, you know? On a date, I mean. I’m sure you can appreciate that!”

Morgana didn’t have a lot of experience with dates. Her experience before coming onto the show was zero, and even after being here, she’d only been on a few, and they had been a little weird. So even though this wasn’t her first date with Nick, given her general anxiety about dating in general it might as well have been, for how comfortable she felt about it.

So… she did appreciate Nick looking out for her and trying to make her feel comfortable. She really did. After all, that’s what she wanted out of today, wasn’t it?

For the two of them to get along with one another and have fun together? Wasn’t that what dating was all about?

Sure it is. It’s not just about having sex. We need to… appreciate the whole day together! Morgana had heard the stories from Rose and Dawn and Holly about all the wild and exciting things they’d done on dates with Nick. For her, the craziest date she’d been on was having sex by the lake! And that had been… really exciting, yes, but…

But she wanted a nice, normal date, too.

A chance to get to know him, to just sit down and chat with him over coffee, which was what it sounded like he was proposing.

Yeah… Morgana could do this. Even if she didn’t like coffee.

At all.

“Maybe, um, maybe we could get… coffee, or… or something,” Morgana proposed, trying to sound smooth and casual. She utterly flubbed it, she was certain, but the important thing was that Nick didn’t know how anxious she felt just asking him! “…And maybe, some… some breakfast along with that, maybe? Not, not… not that I need to eat, or… or anything…”

“Gurrgrgglllerrrmm…”

Morgana’s face turned red again and her eyes slowly lowered towards the elevator floor as she reached up to pull the brim of her hat down over her face.

Please just forget you heard that! She screamed. “…Okay, um… maybe I’m a little hungry…”

It was humiliating to admit, but Dawn had emphasized over and over again the importance of being honest when on her date with him. Holly had, too.

“You need to express your feelings to him directly,” Dawn had firmly advised her. “Nick can be very dense at times, and if you aren’t being honest with him, he won’t know how you really feel! If you two want to have fun together, it’s essential!”

“Dawn’s right about the honesty but she’s wrong about Nick being dense,” Holly had countered. “If only he was dense! No, that’s not the problem. He’s actually very adept at picking up on when something is wrong! The problem is, without an explanation to guide him, he’ll blame himself and stop looking for the actual issue and how to fix it.”

The advice her two friends had given her had been slightly different, but the underneath that they both emphasized the same point. Morgana needed to get better about expressing herself and what she wanted, so that Nick could be comfortable with her. If she was just trapped in her own head for the entire date, there was a good chance he’d get nervous and self-conscious.

And she knew well how bad that could feel…

I’m a different Morgana now! She reminded herself, forcing her head up to look at him again. I’m bolder! I took a big risk and paid a hefty cost for today, and if I just keep being my usual self then it’s not going to be worth it!

She’d spent 9000 BP suppressing her transformations just so she could have the opportunity to see how Nick got along with the real her. If their date started at 6:00 and would likely end when they went to sleep around 8:00 or 9:00, then that meant every minute she spent caught in her own head and not getting to spend time with him was BP down the drain! That’s right, every minute that passed she was losing, um… she was losing…

14 or 15 hours together… 9000 BP… so that means, uh… wait, what was it again?

…

Okay, fine, she wasn’t a math genius like Dawn. But she deserved credit for not running to her friend asking her to do the math for her, right? Unable to calculate the exact cost of her date, Morgana shoved those worries aside, and decided to focus.

She needed to make sure that this date worked out for both of them!

So far, none of Morgana’s concerns about Nick had been validated, much to her relief. The two of them sat together at a table on the patio, sipping coffee, as Morgana tried to pretend like the bacon and egg breakfast sandwich she’d gotten was just to taste it, and not because she was hungry.

Nick wasn’t looking at her any differently. …Well, he was, but not in a way that she needed to worry about. What Morgana had feared most about this date was that it would all go terribly. Nick would be bored and disinterested because she wasn’t pretty and curvy anymore, and within an hour she’d be feeling like she’d made a huge mistake.

If that had happened, Morgana would have probably slipped into a depression she would never be able to pull herself out of. It would be like confirmation that Nick only liked being around her for her body. But… that wasn’t what she was seeing right now.

He was actually enjoying himself? Maybe? It helped that Morgana was constantly reminding herself to keep the conversation from shifting towards topics that she knew she could be a little overwhelming when talking about.

Unfortunately, those topics made up, like, 90% of the things she liked, so she was finding herself a little pressed to come up with conversation starters. And she hadn’t exactly been the best at small talk already.

“So, um… coffee… I’m glad you suggested it,” Morgana said awkwardly, bringing her mug to her lips.

Actually Morgana had been the one to propose getting coffee, but Nick didn’t think it would help to point that out.

Judging by what he was seeing right now, that might have been a bad call.

Every time Morgana took a sip, her face would twist up into a grimace and she’d set her cup back down, then not touch it for at least three minutes of awkward small talk. At this rate, they’d spend the whole day sitting in the café! And while Nick might have been fine with that, he knew that Morgana had probably planned out a lot of stuff for today with Dawn and Holly’s help, and he didn’t want those plans to go to waste.

So seeing no other options, he **** the topic.

“Are you sure you’re going to finish that?” He asked, indicating to Morgana’s cup. “I didn’t take you as a coffee drinker.”

Morgana’s face paled. “O-oh… um… that, uh…” Her eyes flickered over to the steamy black sludge congealing in the paper cup. She gulped, and immediately wished she didn’t- the shift in her mouth caused the bitter taste to rear back up on her, and made her want to barf.

“Do you not like black coffee?” Nick asked, trying to be as considerate as he could.

He wasn’t surprised in the slightest by her reaction, given that she’d boldly told the faerie barista that she wanted, quote, “The strongest, blackest coffee you have, as dark as the soul of a fallen angel in misery.”

Yeah, she could be a bit dramatic at times.

“No, of-of course I like black coffee!” Morgana lied through her stained teeth, puffing out her meager chest with pride. “I am, after all, a girl who studies the dark arts, and a witch who is improving her craft every moment of every day! A drink that suits my palate would of course be the bitter kiss of a dark roast of coffee!”

Right. He’d believe that, she was sure of it!

…Of course, Nick could see right through her. He tried not to let it show, and picked up his own drink, which he’d hardly touched.

“Well, I’m glad you like it, then,” he said, getting her to perk up. “I prefer going on a date with someone who knows what she wants, and isn’t afraid to say it.”

Would she pick up what he was putting down?

The look of guilt that flashed across Morgana’s face was obvious. She was probably hoping he wouldn’t be able to tell, but… yeah. It was really, really obvious.

She kept her mouth firmly shut, however, clearly too embarrassed to admit the truth. Which put Nick in a bit of an awkward position.

Fortunately, he had a backup plan ready to go.

“Me, personally, I’m not so lucky,” he said, picking up his cup again and giving it a little shake. “I know I said I wanted something that tasted sweet, but I think there’s a little too much sugar in this thing.”

He took a loud sip and made a disgusted face to prove his point, while Morgana watched him carefully, absorbing every word.

“…Blech. I’d order another one, not like it would cost me anything,” Nick said with a sheepish laugh. “But it would feel kind of insulting, you know? Since the faeries worked hard to make it and all.”

Actually he was pretty sure they just conjured it with magic, but he didn’t say that part.

Morgana swallowed, and he saw her bite down on her lip in such a cute way. He relaxed, and let her take the lead. He’d made his case. Whether she took him up on the subtle offer or not…

“Well… um…”

Nick perked up when he heard Morgana’s voice. He leaned in slightly as her eyes met his with a hesitant gaze.

“…If… if you don’t want it, um…” Morgana fidgeted for a couple seconds before sitting up straight in her chair, and she put on a bold expression. “I suppose I could take it off your hands,” she declared. “I can handle sweet things as well as bitter things, after all!”

“Wow, that’s really sweet of you,” Nick said, offering his cup to her as if he was glad to accept her generosity and not the one who’d arranged the situation in the first place. “In that case, you want to trade?”

“…I suppose, if you insist,” Morgana said, twirling her pigtail while not trying to look too eager. She didn’t want to give Nick the impression that she was a child, after all!

They switched drinks. Morgana dug her fingers into the cup, realizing far too late that what had been proposed was…

“Wait, um… this… this is an indirect kiss…” Morgana pointed out, blushing.

Nick just stared at her.

“…We’ve already had sex,” he pointed out.

…

“…Oh, yeah. Right…” Feeling a little sheepish Morgana brought the straw up to her lips and took a sip. A blissful expression immediately flowed across her face as the sweet taste of Nick’s sugary coffee blend washed away the bitter remnants of her original drink.

That, of course, left Nick with the oozing black coffee, which looked more like tar or toxic waste than something meant to be consumed by humans. Nevertheless he couldn’t let Morgana’s sympathies go to waste, so he brought it to his lips and took a nice, long sip.

Ugh. It tastes even worse than I thought! I can’t believe Amelia can drink these! Nick thought, trying not to let his distaste for the beverage he’d been traded show. He raised his head and saw Morgana’s joyful expression as she continued drinking her own coffee, and that helped the taste of his go down a little bit better.

Smiling, Nick sat back in his chair, thinking that maybe today would end up going better than he had hoped.