Petal feels heavy. Heavier than she did yesterday. Heavier than that first day she woke up on the Asturtium, even. She blinks her eyes open, rubbing her eyes with her one free hand. Is that…

Millie is asleep on top of her, and - she looks around - at her house? And she’s so cute! Petal tries to gently slide out from under her, but stops when she lets out a soft “mmrmmmrm”. Okay, not moving, Petal can do that. Honestly, now that she knows why it’s heavy, it’s really nice. Like the weight of the blanket of flowers that Delphinium made for her that one time, but beautiful, and human shaped. Although she had to admit that Delphinium’s blanket was also beautiful.

Is Millie going to be mad at Petal, when she realises what’s happening? When she realises that Petal didn’t wake her up? She presumably chose to be lying on top of her, so it’s probably fine?

She’s having a hard time remembering what happened, and when. It all feels so long ago, but also like it hasn’t even happened yet. She went home after her… appointment with Delphinium. She reaches up a hand to touch her still blessedly smooth cheek, and smiles. Then she decided to try some of that xenodrug, before she took it with Millie and discovered that it made her completely lose control or something. Which it seemed to do, so that was actually a pretty good idea, apparently.

After that, Millie messaged her, and was going to come over because Petal was high? Which does explain why she’s here. Everything after that was a bit of a blur, though. A good blur, full of electric touches, burning kisses, and…

“I love you.” There goes Petal and her damned mouth again. Maybe it’s because she’s still getting over the drugs? Maybe forcing herself not to tell Delphinium that her name is Petal is making it harder for her to not say other things that she shouldn’t. She barely even knows Millie, it’s-

“Hey. Love you too.” Millie’s awake. Millie’s awake! Petal’s whole body tenses, and Millie almost falls off, before she wraps her arms tightly around Petal’s chest. “Careful!”

“Sorry! I just- you- I- I mean, we-” 

Petal is interrupted by Millie planting a kiss on her lips. When it’s clear that Petal has calmed down, at least in terms of gross motor control, Millie pulls away slightly and smiles at Petal, who can’t help but smile back up at her. “Flirting, cuddling, and kissing. We didn’t go any further.”

“Um… okay.” That’s good, right? It was what they’d agreed to, and as amazing as Millie is, because she’s as amazing as she is, Petal’s still not sure how she’d feel about doing anything more than that. “That’s um, good?” Wait, what if she thinks that Petal thinks she’s-

Petal is interrupted by another kiss. That’s not fair. It’s probably good that her thoughts aren’t spiralling out of control, but it’s still not fair that Millie just gets to do that to her. Millie smiles down at Petal once again, and once again Petal can’t help but smile back. 

“You’re really cute, you know? I absolutely can’t wait to see how cute you’re going to be when you’ve been on your girly xenodrugs for a week or two, let alone a few months!” From almost anyone else, ‘girly xenodrugs’ would be enough to get Petal feeling defensive. It was still enough to get her blushing, but from Millie, it felt almost reassuring. It felt like love.

Wait. “A week or two? It’s not magic, Millie, they’re just… better drugs.”

“Yeah, but like, way better drugs. I mean, it’s gonna take more than a week or two to grow tits like mine, but… well, you’ll just have to wait and see, won’t you.”

“I… I guess?”

“You’re going to be so cute. Which reminds me!” Millie pulls out what looks like a hand-printed flyer. “I got this flyer for a music thing! They said it was some sort of… classic thing?"

Petal takes the flyer. A week from now, the day after her next appointment with Delphinium. "Like, classical? Or old-classic? Or nu-classic? Or astroclassical, or cosmoclassical, or classicist, or chronoclassicistic, or-"

"Wow, you know a lot about music."

"I… not exactly. I... don't actually know what any of them are actually supposed to be." 

"That's okay! Neither do I." Millie says with a smile.

Millie always seems to have the right thing to say. Petal smiles. Just being around her seems to make everything better.

"Anyway, I was thinking that it would be, like, a cute date. Maybe we get a bit high. And if we don't like the music we could head back here, or to my place, and flirt, and cuddle, and kiss, and maybe see how you feel about your body~." Millie strokes Petal’s cheek, and while it doesn’t feel anywhere near as amazing as it did the night before, her heart still aches at the warmth in Millie’s touch.

“Um… yeah. That sounds good.” Everything about Millie sounded good to Petal, except, well… “What about your mistress?”

“Oh, she said she’d be busy then. But she should be free today, if you’d like to meet her!”

“I, um… maybe another time?” It was bad enough having one affini trying to make her a pet, without bringing Millie’s mistress into the mix.

“Are you sure? You could thank her for the pictures she sent you~. Maybe see what it’s like from the other side~?” There’s a musical trill to Millie’s voice that sends shivers up and down Petal’s spine.

“Um…” Petal tried to squirm herself out from under Millie, but the floret seemed to have other ideas.

“It’s not exactly fair, you know~. That you got to see me like that, and I don’t get to see you like that?” Petal manages to slide her arms out from under Millie, but even her slight freedom is short lived, as Millie quickly captures her wrists, pressing them against the couch as she presses her lips against Petal’s. It’s not like that was fair, either. Not that she was complaining.

Millie pulls away, looking down at Petal with a love in her eyes that Petal can hardly believe is directed towards her. Petal is staring up into Millie’s eyes, and she can feel herself breathing along with the woman she loves, and for a long, long moment, she seriously considers agreeing to go with her to meet her mistress. She’s just about to tell Millie that she’ll go with her, when there’s an unfamiliar sound which immediately draws Millie’s attention away from her.

“Oh! Hold that thought!” Millie jumps off of Petal, who remembers to start breathing on her own again after a few seconds. Was she really about to do that? Go off with Millie, to meet a strange affini for the explicit purpose of having herself reduced to the same kind of utter mindless bliss that she saw Millie in? Become a floret in all but name?

“Okay, so, Mistress noticed I was awake, so I guess it’s time for the moment of truth~. Wanna come meet her?”

Yes. “Maybe another time?” Petal couldn’t let herself get lost to that. Not on a whim, not just because Millie kissed her and looked in her eyes. Not to mention that she had no idea how any of that would work with Delphinum’s Notice of Intent. One domineering plant lady wanting to be called ‘mistress’ was already more than enough for Petal. Maybe she should have said no, but she just couldn’t bring herself to actually disagree with Millie.

Millie steps back towards Petal. “Are you sure~?” Petal barely manages to nod. “Weeell, if you change your mind, you know where to find us~. Maybe Mistress will even send you some more ‘inspiration’~.” Well, at least last time she did that, Petal was too busy staring at it to even stand up, let alone leave her hab. Millie turned to walk out the door, Petal’s brain was too addled to even consider not staring.

There was something else, Petal just needed a moment to remember what it was. “Um…”

“Yeah, love?” Millie turns her head to look at Petal, and Petal needs to take another moment to remember to not just stare at how beautiful she is, and how good it feels to hear her call her ‘love’. How does it come so easily to her? How did it come so easily to Petal? Was that the question she had? She didn’t think it was, but she was having a hard time thinking of anything that didn’t involve the word ‘love’.

“How did your mistress know you were awake?”

“Uh… I don’t know, I guess my implant? It’s pretty cool like that. You wanna feel it?” Millie smirks, and Petal feels herself smiling and nodding. “Okay, but it’ll have to be real quick, unless you want Mistress to come looking for me~.” Millie almost skips back over to Petal, and sits down in front of her. She pulls her hair forwards, and Petal can see a faint scar just below Millie’s colourful collar. “Start at the scar, and slowly go down. It can be kinda hard to feel, but it’s definitely there.”

Petal puts her thumbs over Millie’s scar, and slowly starts to work them down along Millie’s spine, taking care not to push too hard. She feels her breath speed up ever so slightly, to match Millie’s. When she finally feels something… different, under Millie’s skin, Millie lets out a low moan. “Th-that’s it…” Their breathing speeds up, Petal still keeping time with Millie. She slowly presses more firmly against what can only be the implant. Millie moans again, and Petal can almost feel herself moaning along with her. 

She holds her thumb against the implant, and feels the gentle pulse of her lover’s heartbeat. She could almost swear that she could feel her own heartbeat trying to match it. She can hear it banging in her ears, and she can feel it beating in her thumb, and-

Millie pulls away, Petal’s hands follow after her, but the moment is lost. Millie smiles down at Petal, before giving her a short kiss. “You are so fucking cute, and I really wish I could stay, but I really have to be going.” Petal thinks she might be nodding, but she’s not quite sure. Millie walks over to the door, and Petal can’t help but think that it’s a good thing her legs are jelly, because if she could walk right now, she’d follow Millie anywhere.