Ready to achieve amazing things

While most of Nick’s harem was working on throwing a nice little party to show their appreciation for Rose, Nick found himself in an awkward position. He felt that he should be helping out with the party- after all, it was his negligence that had necessitated it in the first place. If he had been more considerate of Rose and her feelings, things never would have gotten to this point, and it was too late to go back and try to redo things now. That was just an unavoidable fact of reality. So ultimately, he felt like he’d put himself in an untenable position and there wasn’t a lot he could do to make up for it- but he could at least show her how much he appreciated her with a party, right?

…Evidently, the answer to that question was a resounding “NO!” because Rose had insisted that his presence wasn’t needed for helping sort things out. In fact, she’d said that she would prefer if he wasn’t involved in the party planning at all.

“It’s thanks to Morgana that you found the strength to come after me, right?” She’d told him. “If that didn’t happen, we might never have made up. I could have ended up ruining the whole day due to my feelings. And it isn’t fair that I take up even more of her day by making you help out. So why don’t you do what you were supposed to do in the first place, and make sure Morgana is enjoying herself, alright?”

Nick had been stunned by the maturity she exhibited, especially since this was Rose. He knew that she could be possessive, jealous, and petty, so for her to make a gesture like that meant a lot. It wasn’t the sort of offer he would have expected from her when she first came on the show.

Rose had grown considerably herself, and he would be remiss for not acknowledging that very obvious fact.

…Of course, being Rose…

“Although, I do expect her to lend you back to me for the party itself. After all, what kind of party in my honor would it be if I didn’t have my beloved fiancé hanging on my arm?”

Yes, that sounded like the Rose he knew and loved. It brought a smile to his lips just thinking about it. And to his relief, Morgana was happy to go along with that deal.

What had caught him by surprise, however, and what was confusing him even now, was that in fact he was not spending his day with just Morgana after all.

“Okay… perfect! Just perfect!”

“Are… are you sure? It doesn’t look weird, does it?”

“No way, not at all! Nick? What do you think? Doesn’t she look just adorable?”

Carly’s cheery voice rang through the air as she beckoned him over. The girls had stopped by the boutique Kim worked at (on her day off, of course, because Kim couldn’t have anything nice these days) and got a new outfit for Morgana.

Why was Carly tagging along? Well, mainly it was because Morgana didn’t say she couldn’t, which came as a surprise. Given how she’d been able to speak her mind up until this point, Nick would have thought she’d be fine with putting her foot down and telling Carly that she had no intention of sharing her time with him with anybody else.

But apparently, she didn’t mind Carly’s presence, so Nick was happy to accommodate the cosplayer’s request, since Morgana was okay with.

Right now, though, he wondered if maybe the goth girl was regretting making that choice.

“You really… really like it?” Morgana’s voice was radiating doubt and insecurity as she looked at Nick while chewing her lip like crazy. She could barely meet his gaze, and it wasn’t like he could blame her for feeling uncomfortable.

The clothes Morgana was wearing weren’t that dissimilar to the kinds of outfits she usually picked out for herself, but it was obvious just by looking at her that she certainly wasn’t comfortable wearing them due to the insinuation they made about her.

“I think it looks great, Morgana! Trust me!” Carly insisted. “Nick!” She gave him a sharp look. “Tell her how you feel, and don’t hold anything back!”

Carly was a pretty laidback person most of the time, but when she put her heart into something she could be as domineering as Mary or Rose. The look in her eye brooked no arguments, and Nick knew that he better be as open and honest as he could.

“You really do look cute,” he said. “I like the lacy frills and all that, it’s adorable on you, Morgana! I think you really pull it off!” Nick wasn’t sure what Morgana wanted to hear, but judging by the way her face was turning red, she appreciated what he had to say.

“P-pull it off? No, I… I don’t think… not yet, I mean…”

“Don’t worry, Morgana, he’s not going to pull it off you yet,” Carly laughed, patting her on the back.

Nick’s face turned red. “Hey! That’s not what I-”

“But honestly, Nick, come on now, you can do better!” Carly winked at him. “You think a girl goes dressed like this because she wants the boy she likes to call her cute?”

She struck a pose for him. “Would you call me cute if I asked you what your opinion was?” She prompted him, pushing her chest out alluringly.

Nick realized what she was going for. And judging by Morgana’s mortified expression and the way she was looking at Carly, it appeared that his cosplaying friend had “Said the quiet part out loud” as it were, much to her chagrin.

So that’s what this is about.

Nick took another look at Morgana and came to appreciate just how much work she’d really put into picking out this costume. She looked amazing.

“I’m sorry,” Nick apologized sincerely. “I shouldn’t have said you look cute.”

“You don’t think I look cute!?” Morgana screeched.

“Wait, no, that isn’t what I meant!” Why did he keep messing up? He blamed his exhaustion, but knew that was just a cover. He just sucked at this. “I meant that you’re not just cute, Morgana. You, um… you also… look really sexy.”

That was the truth, and he’d felt that from the second he saw her step out of the dressing room with her cleavage on display. So why had he hesitated to say it? It wasn’t because Carly naturally sucked all the “sexy” air out of the room and left nothing for the other women (although she definitely looked sexy too, even with her more modest costume) it was…

His own fault. Again.

“I owe you an apology, Morgana,” he said sincerely.

Carly frowned. “Nick, it’s fine, you just said what you felt,” she said, shaking her head. “Morgana doesn’t mind it, right?”

Morgana quickly shook her head, making her twintails bounce. “It was really nice to hear that you think I’m sexy!” She assured him. In the back of her mind, she realized that her transformation was wearing off. She had basically reverted back to her original self at this point- not the fantasy girl she imagined who was strong enough to tell Nick how she felt.

I wish I looked even sexier. That was where her mind was at right now. But saying that out loud, in front of Nick and Carly?

Mortifying.

Nick had no idea about the emotional war being waged in Morgana’s head, he just knew she looked uncomfortable about something. And he also knew she deserved an apology. Not just for what he’d said, but for the reason he’d said it in the first place.

“No, I need to apologize, Morgana,” he said firmly. “If today taught me anything, it’s that if I don’t speak my mind, I can end up hurting the people I care about.”

Carly whistled in approval. “Yeah, go Nick! That’s the way to approach this!” She cheered him on. Nick appreciated the gesture, he did, but in his heart, he still had his doubts.

He turned and looked at Morgana, who was still fussing nervously.

“…I get that you’re trying to look sexy, Morgana, I appreciate that, really, I do, and I think you’re also doing a really good job of it,” he assured her. “It’s my fault that the first thing I think when I look at you is that you’re cute.”

Morgana looked doubtfully up at him. “R-really?”

It didn’t seem like something Nick should take the blame for. Wasn’t it her own fault that her “cute” won out over her “sexy”?

Heck- she wasn’t even that upset. Just being called “cute” was frankly good enough, even if she had been going for “sexy” too.

“I think it’s because you’re cute, and you’re a lot younger than me,” Nick confessed. He knew it would probably hurt for her to hear that, but he needed to be honest. “Don’t get me wrong, obviously you’re really beautiful and I’m attracted to you. But I think because of our age gap, my brain keeps putting you in the ‘Cute’ box even when you’re trying to be sexy, and that’s something I need to work on, it’s not something that’s your fault.”

“Oh… I-I guess I get it…” Morgana nodded. She tried to smile, but Nick could see that his words bothered her.

That made him feel like a jerk.

What’s wrong with me? I’m messing things up with women left and right today! Nick chastised himself out of frustration.

Not to mention the fact that Nick himself thought it was really, really creepy that he was making an active effort to see an 18-year-old girl as sexy. It was something that he’d always had to contend with when it came to Morgana, but he’d always fought off the idea that it was gross or wrong before now, given his own experiences.

“Hey, how about this?” Carly jostled him in the arm with her elbow. “Eyes on me, buddy.”

Nick turned to her in surprise, and saw that she wasn’t angry at him. Just the opposite, in fact, she was giving him a playful look that caught him by surprise, because it definitely didn’t feel like something he’d earned.

Morgana looked shocked to see Carly making that kind of face at him herself.

“C-Carly?” She questioned, giving the other girl an uneasy glance. What Nick had said eased some of her worries, but had also given her new ones.

“Take a look at me,” Carly said, taking a step back and running her hand up and down her body. “You like what you see, right?”

She winked at him.

Nick blushed. “W-well, of course,” he acknowledged, even though he felt like a jerk again for saying that in front of Morgana, especially given what had just happened.

Carly nodded, flashing a self-assured smile. “Yeah, of course you do,” she giggled. “And why wouldn’t you? I look sexy, don’t I?”

Nick felt his face heat up even more. “Yeah, I mean…”

“Say it, say ‘Carly, you look sexy’ say it.”

“Huh!?” Morgana squeaked. Her mouth dropped open in shock. Nick glanced at her and she looked back at him, and the two of them exchanged confused expressions with one another.

Carly crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m wait-ing,” she hummed.

“Carly… you look sexy,” Nick said. He gave Morgana another questioning look, wondering if she knew anything about what was going on, but the other girl just shook her head in confusion.

Clearly, she was as in the dark about where Carly was going with this as he was.

“There, see? That wasn’t so hard,” Carly laughed. “I mean, obviously you think I’m sexy.” She walked over to Morgana and draped her arm over the other girl’s shoulder. “Is it because she’s shorter than me? Because it’s not by much.”

“No, of course not,” Nick said, shaking his head.

“But you see me as sexy and her as cute, even though we’ve both got pretty big breasts,” Carly pointed out. “And she’s even showing her cleavage!”

Morgana bit her lip and glanced at Nick. Honestly, she wasn’t sure what she wanted him to say in response to that.

Nick wasn’t sure what he should say either, if he was being honest. He just nodded slowly. “Yeah, I know she is, but-”

“But there’s something different there, right?” Carly’s blue eyes sparkled.

“He-he said it… didn’t he?” Morgana stammered. She clutched the hem of her apron and looked down. “Nick… he thinks I’m cute because… I’m still a child in a lot of ways…”

“No, he’s totally wrong,” Carly assured her. “Because when I was your age, that’s when he first met me,” she pointed out. She flashed a coquettish smile back at him. “And he never thought I was cute, he saw me as sexy.”

“That’s not true!” Nick said before he could stop himself. “I always thought you were cute, even back then, Carly!”

Carly’s jaw dropped. “Eh… no way, for real? Geez, guy…” She scratched her head and looked embarrassed for about a fraction of a second. “…Look, anyway, that’s not the point! The point is, Nick, do you think that if you met 18-year-old me again, like, the me I was back then, not me now aged down to be as young as Morgana- do you think you would find her sexy? Or cute?”

“Uh…” Nick had no idea how he was even supposed to answer that. And Carly didn’t give him much of a chance. She walked forward and leaned in, and pressed her breasts against his chest.

“Keep in mind,” she whispered into his ear, “18-year-old me was so hungry for you sometimes she couldn’t hold herself back.”

Morgana let out a little “Yeep!” and covered her mouth. In spite of Carly’s efforts, she’d heard every word.

…Then again, the cosplayer had been whispering pretty loudly…

Nick’s face burned. He pulled away from Carly and realized that her point had been made. “Yeah… you’re right,” he conceded. “I think… I would still consider you more sexy than cute.”

Even though it had been almost ten years since Carly had been that young freshwoman drinking and partying and looked at him with shiny eyes full of mischief, she was still very similar to the person she’d been in that first semester of college. He could see the ways she’d changed and matured, but in a lot of ways, she had stayed very much the same.

Maybe it was his exposure to her back then that was clouding his judgment compared with Morgana right now, but the more he thought about it, the more he was forced to acknowledge that if he was sent back in time right now and saw Carly as she was when he first met her, he would still put her in the “Sexy” box and not the “Cute” box.

“So you see?” Carly said triumphantly, putting her hands on her hips, “It has nothing to do with age, Morgana!”

“Um… okay?” Morgana bit her lip again. Was she supposed to feel happy about that or something? Because she didn’t really…

Nick looked uneasily at her. Carly had given him a lot to think about as far as his relationship with Morgana was concerned.

On their last date together, Morgana had been crushed by the anxiety of worrying that Nick wouldn’t be attracted to her real self. And he thought he had disabused her of that notion. Morgana was alluring regardless of whether she had huge breasts and a giant ass, or not.

But being attractive wasn’t everything.

“Sexy” was a completely different category, and one that Nick found much more nebulous to ascribe to her.

“I think… it’s because she’s such a sweet person,” he finally confessed.

Morgana’s mouth fell open. “Huh!?”

“Oh, interesting…” Carly tapped her chin thoughtfully. She’d come along on this date to spend more time with Nick, and had pivoted towards getting Morgana involved by dressing her up in a maid costume like she was wearing.

But when the topic of sexiness came up, she decided to pivot.

Carly could feel something wiggling in the back of her brain. It was her Veteran Experience transformation kicking in.

• Veteran Experience: Carly has been in the business of pleasing people with her appearance for quite some time. She’s what you might call an expert. And she’ll be happy to share that expertise with her fellow contestants! Other contestants will feel compelled to come seek out Carly’s advice for how to look more sexy and appeal better to Nick’s tastes, and Carly will give them her honest opinion. (Content Creator)

Even though Morgana had not come to her directly for advice, clearly she subconsciously wanted it, or else Carly wouldn’t be feeling the compulsion of her transformation right now.

Well- she was happy to help.

“Look, it’s not… it’s not a big thing or any sort of issue,” Nick said quickly. He shook his head. “I really, um… I just…”

He looked hesitantly at Morgana, who stared back at him with her big, red eyes.

“…I like that you’re so sweet, Morgana, and it’s not that you can’t be sexy AND sweet at the same time, just… well…”

“She’s such an innocent sweetheart that sometimes you have trouble seeing her sexy charms, is that right?” Carly wrapped both arms around Morgana this time, one right over her chest and the other around her waist.

This allowed her to practically hoist Morgana’s boobs out of her bodice like she was offering them up to Nick to sample from, much to his embarrassment.

“C-Carly-!” He sputtered, eyes wide.

“Don’t worry, we can work on that,” Carly purred. “Morgana, it’s up to you! Do you want to be the ‘cute’ goth girl? Or the ‘sexy’ goth girl? Hmm?”

“Eh!? Uh…” Morgana’s mouth flopped open and closed. Her eyes shot back and forth between Carly and Nick, and it felt like she was being pulled in two directions at the same time. “Err… wh-whatever Nick would want most! I-I guess…”

Carly made a noise with her throat like a buzzer on a gameshow signaling the wrong answer. “Errrrnntt! Nope, no way! It’s not about what Nick wants, it’s about what YOU want Nick to want. Understand?”

“Um… no…”

Carly rested her chin on the other girl’s shoulder and winked at her. “Being sexy isn’t about giving somebody want they want. It’s about making them want something they didn’t even realize they wanted. Sexiness is like a weapon you wield to force the other person to see you how you want to be seen- confident, powerful, alluring! If you’re just doing whatever they want, sure, they’ll be happy, and that’s great! But if you’re just wearing skimpy lingerie because you know they like it, are you really being sexy?”

Carly was making a surprising amount of sense to Nick. Even Morgana seemed to be getting where she was coming from, and nodded along thoughtfully.

“No, I… I guess not,” she conceded, shaking her head.

Carly grinned. “No! Of course not! There’s nothing sexier than a woman who knows what she wants- and will tease a man until he’s willing to give it to her!”

She reached down and took a nice handful of Morgana’s round ass, making the flustered girl squeak with surprise.

“Stick with me, Morgana- you and I are going to make quite a pair together, I promise you!”

Nick wasn’t sure if he should be excited or scared by the promise in her voice.