Chapter 4

Early monday morning I woke to movement in the bed.

“David?” I muttered sleepily.

“Morning,” he whispered. “Sorry for waking you, I was trying to be quiet.”

“What time is it?”

“Five thirty.”

“Do you get up this early every morning?” I asked with a groan.

“When I have to work, yes.” From the glow of David’s phone that he was using as a light, I was able to seen him coming over to my side of the bed. Leaning over, he kissed the top of my nose, just behind my muzzle, making me smile. “Go on back to sleep.”

“I’m already awake, so I might as well get up.”

“Ok, sorry,” David apologized again.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m glad I got to see you this morning anyway.” I sat up and smiled again, remembering how we spent the entire day before together. David leaned over again and kissed me again, this time on my lips.

“I’m glad I was able to see you too.”

David went to the other bedroom for a couple minutes, and when he came back out he was fully dressed for the day. After making coffee and his lunch, it was time for him to go.

“Have a good day,” I said with a smile. He reached out and cupped the side of my face for a moment, then pulled me down into another short kiss.

“You too.” After that he left. When the door shut behind him I felt the same breaking of my heart as when he dropped me off at work on Saturday. I’d been anticipating it though, so it was a bit more manageable, and I expected it to become even more so over time.

I went back to the bedroom to get dressed and started to wonder what to do with the morning, having gotten up a couple hours earlier than usual. When I opened the closet I got an idea and smiled. For the next couple hours I went through my clothes and started sorting them by whether or not I wanted to keep them or not. By the time I was done I had nearly half of my closet emptied, as well as a couple drawers in my dresser, and I put the clothes to be discarded in trash bags to take to a thrift store. I put the bags in the corner of David’s old room, figuring he wouldn’t mind it, and since I didn’t have work I decided to work on cleaning the apartment a bit.

A couple hours later it was just about lunch time and I went to take out the trash to the apartment complex’s communal dumpster. On the way back I saw one of the neighbors in her doorway. She was a middle aged female centaur with black hair and fur, and to my surprise she was waving me over. I was curious, so I headed over.

“Come on in, let’s get out of the cold,” she said as she stepped back inside. Not expecting to be outside for more than a minute, I wasn’t dressed for cool October weather so I gratefully followed her inside.

I’d never been inside any of the other apartments before, but a glance it looked like the general layout was the same as mine. One major difference was that it had no furniture to sit on, though it did have a couple of large mats on the floor.

“It’s been a couple years since we spoke so you probably don’t really remember, but I’m Felicia,” she greeted politely.

“I’m Ruth, it’s nice to meet you again.” She gestured to the kitchen.

“I just put on some tea. Would you like some?”

“No thank you,” I answered politely.

“Very well.” She lowered herself to one of the mats on the floor. “I don’t have anything like a chair for you to sit on, but you can use the mat if you’d like.”

“Again, no thank you, I’m fine standing.” She nodded.

“I’m sure you’re wondering why I invited you over.”

“Yes, I am.” I waited patiently for her to continue.

“I suppose it’s about that human who lives in your apartment.” Dread filled my gut, but I tried to keep my face neutral and hoped that Felicia wasn’t familiar enough with minotaur facial expressions to know otherwise.

“His name is David, and what about him?”

“As you would imagine, many of us weren’t very pleased when he moved in.” Despite my best efforts, I wasn’t able to fully stifle a snort and my tail started flicking irritatedly, though being invited over almost immediately after David and I first mated had me a bit concerned.

“He’s been here for months, why are you just bringing this up now?”

“To be honest, we all assumed he’d do the belligerent human thing and you’d kick him out shortly after he moved in.” I scowled, though I was relieved that the timing seemed to be a coincidence.

“If you must know, I’ve grown very fond of him and his company.”

“Oh...” Felicia mumbled, clearly taken aback. I was tempted to reveal the nature of our relationship, but I decided not to do so without speaking with David about it first. Even so, I wasn’t done.

“David is a good man, and I will not be kicking him out.”

“I see ... most of our dealings with humans haven’t left good impressions, so while ‘good man’ isn’t a completely foreign concept, it is unusual.”

“I understand that. I will agree that there are a lot of humans that are absolutely wretched, especially those in positions of authority. However, many of them are good people. My best friend is a human named Sara who is also the person who got me my job. There are a couple of people I work with that I prefer to avoid, but most of my coworkers are very nice,” I said quickly, thinking of Tiffany and Jenny respectively. “As for David, he has been nothing but kind and generous. I consider myself fortunate that he was the only one who answered my ad for a roommate, because if I’d had a female or non-human option I would most likely have gone with that person instead. However, I couldn’t have asked for a better person to live in my home than David.” I kept my voice as even as I could, but doing so was becoming a struggle after hearing Alicia’s overly broad generalizations. “Perhaps you should meet and talk with him sometime. You might be pleasantly surprised. In any case, I’ve got to get back to my chores.” Felicia stood quietly and seemed to be considering my words.

“I ... will think about that. It was nice talking to you. Goodbye Ruth.”

“Goodbye Felicia.” I turned and left.

One I arrived back at my own apartment I plopped down on the couch with a sigh that turned into a yawn. I was getting sleepy from the early morning, and I figured I’d done enough for one day so I laid down and within minutes I was dozing peacefully.

Some time later I woke to something soft, and familiar pressing against my mouth. I cooed happily and when it pulled away I opened my eyes and saw David, smiling over the kiss he’d stolen.

“I couldn’t resist,” he teased.

“I’m glad you didn’t,” I replied warmly.

“You know you’re adorable when you’re asleep.”

“So are you,” I teased back with a giggle and he kissed my nose. “How was your day?”

“Meh,” he grunted non-committally, “it was alright. Yours?” I sighed and sat up.

“While I was taking out the trash, one of our neighbors invited me over to talk,” I answered flatly.

“From your tone, it doesn’t sound like it went well...”

“She may have used different words, but it was clear she was asking how much longer until I told you to leave.”

“What!?”

“Yes. I told her I wasn’t going to, and that I have grown quite fond of you.” He sat next to me and started softly rubbing circles into my back. “I didn’t tell her just how fond though. I wanted to talk to you first.”

“I’m ok with telling people about us, though for the most part I’d imagine it would be easier if we were together when we did.”

“I agree. I told her that she should meet you sometime. We could reveal it then.”

“Yeah, we could do that,” David replied with a nod.

Remembering my earlier activities I broke into a smile.

“I have something to show you,” I said excitedly. I stood up and helped him up too. I led him to the bedroom and he followed eagerly. I smiled widely as I opened up the closet door!

“Oh, wow.” David’s eyes widened a bit.

“I figured since you’re moving in here you’ll need a place to put your clothes.”

“Thank you. This really means a lot,” David said with a grin. “I think I’ll work on it a when you’ve got the evening shift, and maybe this weekend.”

“That sounds good to me.” We were quiet for a moment but then I chuckled softly.

“Something funny?” Asked David as he turned to face me.

“I’m just remembering when you were first moving in.”

“What about it?”

“I was nearly heartbroken that my safe space wasn’t going to be just mine anymore. I almost cried.

“Oh...” David’s face fell.

“By the time you were done unpacking, it didn’t even look like my home anymore.”

“I’m sorry...” I tilted David’s face up by the chin and smiled warmly at him.

“Don’t be. I didn’t know it then, but you moving in is the best thing to have ever happened to me.” I started inching my face closer to his. “I love you David.”

“I love you too, Ruth.” He finished closing the distance and I hummed in delight when our lips connected. We kissed for several seconds before David started kissing under my chin and down my neck while running his hands up my face. The feeling on my neck was undoubtedly muffled by my fur, but it was still very nice, and the touch of his hands was wonderful. I started unbuttoning my shirt to give him access to more, which he took full advantage of and kissed further down my chest until he was at the top of my bra.

“I want to see if I can get this,” David said with a chuckle, and he reached his arms under my shirt and around to my back. It took a minute and some fumbling, but he was eventually able to get my bra unhooked. I put my arms down and David slid my shirt off, and I let him pull my bra away too, figuring he deserved it for his effort. Per usual, he was completely enamored with my bust, but I loved seeing the wide-eyed desire in his face, and knowing that it was me that he wanted. After a few seconds he moved his face forward and latched onto my nipple, suckling and licking it as if he was a calf. It was amazing and I felt a tingling in my groin, making me let out several audible moans, and he started teasing my other breast and nipple with his hand. My knees went weak and I fell backwards onto the bed with a yelp, accidentally pulling David with me. We collapsed in a heap and started laughing.

David crawled over me to lay down normally, and I adjusted similarly. We started kissing again, but then I got and idea and pulled away.

“There’s something I’ve been wanting to try since Saturday. Would that be ok?” I asked.

“Of course!” He exclaimed with a wide grin. I reached down and started tugging at his belt and pants. With a little bit of David’s help a minute later he was nude from the waist down. In the shuffle I ended up kneeling with my head over his midsection. I glanced up at David’s face and he was staring back with his eyes wide in anticipation. It looked like he somehow knew what I had in mind, but neither of us said anything. Looking back down, David’s penis was standing straight up and it was the first time I’d seen it so close. It was mostly the same flesh color as the rest of his skin, though the helmet-shaped head was a darker red. I knew it was shaped a bit different than a bull’s, but that didn’t change how much I was enjoying looking at it. Remembering the pleasure that it had been giving me over the last few days only made me appreciate it even more. However, it was my intention to give pleasure, rather than receive. Sticking out my tongue, I tentatively licked the underside of the spongy head and David gasped. It was a little salty from what I presumed was a little bit of sweat, but it mostly just tasted similar to the skin on his neck or face.