Fortunately for Petal, Millie needed her face not to move too much while she applied the make-up, so Petal had a slight reprieve from being expected to be able to respond to Millie's flirting. Unfortunately for Petal, Millie just used that as an excuse to shower Petal with compliments. This doesn’t make what Petal’s about to do, what Petal needs to do, any easier. It would be so easy to just go along with what Millie says and pretend like she’s worth taking on a date like this, that she’s worth even a fraction of the love and affection that Millie and Delphinium have shown her.

“So, what do you think?” Petal finds herself being spun to face the mirror, before Millie leans forward to rest her head on Petal’s shoulder from behind. “Pretty good, right?”

Petal stares at the reflection in the mirror, seeking out all of the tiny flaws that only get worse when everything else has been taken care of by somebody as amazing as Millie. It’s still recognisably her, it’s still the same face she’s stared at in mirrors before and felt, at best, a complete disconnect from and at worst, utter revulsion and disgust.

…

Okay, that’s not fair! She’s still nowhere near as pretty as Millie, of course. Something like that would probably be beyond even the ability of the Affini. But still, there’s nothing in the mirror that looks wrong. It looks fine, she looks fine.

Worse than that, she actually kinda maybe looks… good?

Well, she already knew that Millie was amazing, and xenodrugs are actually as good as advertised, so it shouldn’t be that surprising. Even if Petal wanted to find something, anything to criticise, to help show Millie that Petal wasn’t ever going to be appreciative enough, she couldn’t.

“I look… good?”

“You looked good. Now, you look amazing!”

“I- I don’t… I don’t look that good.”

“Oh, really? Maybe I should send a picture to Mistress, and she can decide how good you look for us~.”

“No! No.” That could not go well. Or rather, it would probably go amazingly, which is exactly why it would be terrible. “No, you’re right. I… I look amazing.” The worst part was, she actually believed what she was saying.

“Good girl! Although I’m sure Mistress would still like to see it~.”

“No.”

“No, really, I’m sure she would!”

“I mean it Millie, no.” Not now, and if everything works today, not ever.

“Ooookaaay. But she would.”

“Maybe she would, but it’s still a no. I’m still... not ready for that.” If Petal hadn’t learned the truth, she probably would have said yes to that, and that… that would have been all kinds of awkward.

"Well… okay. But wait till you see the rest of yourself before you make a final decision."

"I'm not going to change my mind, Millie."

"You should still see yourself. Your dress looks amazing on you."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure it's fine." Petal stands up and let's Millie lead her to her floor length mirror, and…

"Fuck." It's not quite the body that she wants, but it's a body she'd be happy with. And the dress does look incredible.

"I mean… if you're ready for that, we could just fuck, instead of going out." Millie steps up behind her, looking at Petal's reflection over her shoulder.

"I- um… wha?" Petal's cheeks seem to be trying to match the pinks on her dress. 

Millie giggles, and puts a hand on Petal's other shoulder. "We get high, take our clothes off, and I do what I wanted to do when I came over and you were just… so adorably high."

"Y-you… you wanted to?"

"Petal, love, I've wanted to fuck you since I met you. Probably from around about when I called you a good girl, and you just got so adorably flustered?"

"Oh." Petal wasn't even going to make it out the door before she lost all will to show Millie how terrible a girlfriend she'd actually be, and just went along with whatever she said.

No, she'd just have to stay strong. She ruined plenty of dates with her ex, she can ruin a date with Millie.

"Hey Petal, I think there is something missing from your look~."

"There- there is?"

Millie gently strokes the back of her fingernails across Petal's jaw, before gently wrapping her fingers around her neck. "Yeah! Something that goes right about here~."

"Um…" Fuck, she really does just look like a floret, with Millie’s hand around her neck to hide the lack of a collar.

"You'd look really cute with a collar, is what I'm saying."

"Uh…" She really would, wouldn’t she?

"Maybe even Mistress' collar?"

"I-!" Petal pulls away, turning back to face Millie. “N-no, I-… just no. I can’t.” She can’t do that to Delphinium. She can’t do that to Millie. Maybe she’d be cute, maybe it would last for a few weeks, or even a few months, maybe even a year or two, but sooner or later she’d just ruin it like she ruined her last relationship.

“It’s okay to want it, Petal.” Why does Millie have to be so kind all the time? Doesn’t she know that’s just going to get her hurt?

“Who says I want it? You? Her? Don’t I get a say in this?!” If Petal lashes out, maybe Millie will finally get the idea that she’s not worth her time, she can save everyone from the heartache of finding out how bad she is later. It’s better to hurt her a little bit now, to spare her the bigger hurt later.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay.” Millie steps closer to Petal, her arms open to offer her a hug.

“No! It’s not okay!” Petal steps back again. "Everyone keeps acting like I want to be a pet, like they think they know me! Like I don't get to choose anything myself!"

"I'm sorry, okay, I just…" Wait, is Millie sad? Millie isn't supposed to get sad! Well, she is, but not like this! Not like she did anything wrong! Millie's face scrunches up for a moment, and then her eyes soften, and her face relaxes. "I just want you to want to. I want you to want to be with her, with us, with me." Millie has been slowly walking towards Petal, who's been keeping her distance. 

"You-... you shouldn't want me." Petal steps back.

"Why not?" Millie follows.

"Because- because you shouldn't!" Petal can feel the bed at her back.

"But why not?" Millie follows, and Petal can feel herself falling backwards onto the bed. 

"Because I'm a terrible girlfriend, and I make you take care of me, and I thought you were plotting against me but then I realised that you couldn't be because you're so amazing, and I suspected you and I'm the worst and you should hate me and-" Petal is completely silenced when she feels Millie's lips press into hers. She hadn't even noticed Millie climbing onto the bed.

"Okay, but I love you," Millie says as she briefly pulls away to take a breath, coming back to resume the kiss just as Petal was about to raise her next objection.

"And I want you." Again, Millie only pulls away long enough to say her thing and take a breath, stifling Petal's complaints before she can raise them. 

"And you don't get to tell me otherwise." This time Millie gives Petal some time to respond, but Petal can't think of what to say.

Millie giggles. "Only Mistress gets to do that~." Damnit, how does Millie always manage to make being owned sound so hot?

Petal looks away, shamefacedly, and Millie lies down beside her, her face in front of Petal's.

"So… do you wanna talk about what's going on? Because I was kinda following, up until you said something about plotting against you, and then I was really confused. And then I kissed you."

"I did notice that, actually."

Millie giggles, and once again Petal is torn between what she knows she should do, and what her heart was telling her to do.

"So? What's up?"

…

Fine. It's not like she's got a choice, at this point. 

"I maybe already know Delphinium? As maybe my vet? And from the ship? And she maybe already signed a thing saying that she wants me to be her pet? And, um… maybe…"

Millie's face quickly turns from confused, to amused, to giddily excited. "That's great! But… wait, are you that cute patient she really likes?"

"I… what?"

"Yeah, she was really worried after she sent you home. She needed to spend the rest of the day petting me to calm down."

"Oh, fuck, I'm sorry, I-"

"Shhh, it's okay. Mistress had me then, and now it's your turn."

"W-well… okay. So I maybe didn't realise what was going on until the appointment, and when I figured it out, I maybe, kinda, freaked out a bit."

"Oh, that would be the plotting against you thing. Got it."

"I… yeah."

"So how come mistress doesn't know?"

"W-well, um…" Fuck, she's supposed to be ruining everything, not blushing, again. "I maybe haven't told anyone my name? Except you?"

"But it's such a lovely name, why wouldn't you tell anyone?"

"W-well it's maybe specifically Delphinium that I don't want to tell?"

"Why not, she'll think it's a lovely name!"

"Because… maybe… she… calledmepetal?"

"So?" Millie pauses to think about it. Petal can't bring herself to say anything, so she just has to wait until Millie starts giggling. "She did the 'good girl' trick with your name, and she didn't even mean to?"

"I- m-maybe?!"

"That's the most adorable thing I've ever heard! Knowing you… let me guess, you passed out?"

"I was drugged! But, well… maybe? Like twice? But I was drugged both times!"

"Roots, you're adorable. And it's going to be so fun to tease you both with this!"

"I, uh…"

"Right, maybe when you've settled down a bit. But it's still really cute."

"I… I guess."

"Okay, so, big 'oh no, they're plotting against me', Mistress calmed you down with drugs, and Julia helped carry you home." Petal nods. "And then…?"

"And then I realised how wrong I was and how terrible I was, and that you shouldn't want to be with me, even if you did. Especially if you did. And I was maybe going to try to make you have a terrible date by being just completely myself on our date today."

"Hmm… I see. Well, okay!" 

"Okay, what?"

"We'll go on the date, and you can just be yourself and if it's actually bad, then we can stop seeing each other."

"Huh?"

"But if it's good, we go home to Mistress after the date. Together."

"W-well, I, uh…"

"Or I could just ask Mistress to come over right away~."

"Okay, okay, we'll go on a date, and it'll be terr-"

"And it will be amazing, and then we'll get to laugh at Mistress for being the last to find out!" Millie gives Petal another long kiss. 

Petal is almost tempted to suggest that they could still do that, and have the date here, but when Millie pulls away, she stands up and pulls Petal along with her.

"C'mon, time for us to go get high, make out, cuddle and listen to music. And if you do anything, anything at all to ruin our date, I will make out with you so hard that you forget your name!"

Of course Millie is going to be completely unfair.