Work Text:
You didn’t know if it was lucky or unlucky that your little office window faced the big glass wall of the gym across the street, because while you appreciated the view you got from time to time, it definitely made it harder to work. There was an incredible looking minotaur woman who led weightlifting classes and coached the powerlifters. Her broad back was covered in tawny fur, and irregular white spots. You knew from the times she would correct form that she had a big white splotch on her muzzle and around her eyes, giving her long white eyelashes and a cute pink nose. You desperately wanted to know what it felt like to have those huge hands caressing over your curves. You sigh, your little queer heart aflutter, before you’re pulled out of your reverie by the shrill ringing of your office phone.
By the time you return from the early afternoon meeting, where you’re forced to listen to the higher-ups drone on and pat themselves on the back for projects actually managed and completed by workers like you they consider peons, you’ve almost ground your teeth down to nothing. You collapse into your desk chair and huff, thankful the clock says you’ve only got three more hours before you can go home. At five on the nose you shut down and clock out, sighing in relief as you walk through the front door of the building and start off down the street to get home. Your commute isn’t long, but it does tend to be cramped, which can make you even more self conscious of the amount of space you fear you take up. Sure you aren’t as big as, say, an orc, but it’s not like they can help it! They’re merely built that way as a species! You were just a chubby human.
You make it back to your apartment, your little studio feeling lonelier and lonelier as of late. You’ve been considering adopting a pet for a while, but have been concerned that your lifestyle would make it hard on an animal companion. A dog was definitely out of the question, but perhaps now that you’re working more regular hours you can get yourself a cat to come home to. That’s how you find yourself walking into your local shelter on a warm Saturday, out of your professional clothes and in a flowy, summery dress printed with pale watercolor roses. The broad smile that crosses your face when you walk into the air conditioned front room gives way to a shy blush when the gorgeous minotaur woman from the gym struts by in a volunteer apron, two large bags of dog food slung over her shoulders. You miss the greeting from the human behind the counter, which just makes her giggle and send you a knowing wink before repeating herself. “Welcome, what brings you in today? Looking for a furry friend, maybe a fuzzy girlfriend?”
The sly addition just makes you blush and stutter back that you were hoping to come by and adopt a cat. Someone calm and older than a kitten, but still cuddly and playful on their own terms. Her smile brightens and she perks up. “Oh I’m so glad to hear you say that! We have many older cats looking for loving homes, let me get someone to take you into the cat room with a few of our options…” The smirk on her face almost seems sinister, if her eyes hadn’t been so warm and understanding you may have been concerned, but before you can voice any of this to her she turns and heads into the back, coming back mere moments later with the huge minotaur woman in tow.
You feel tiny as she looks down at you with a warm and professional smile. You give her a shy grin, cheeks hot, and try to stutter out a greeting. “Kharya will show you to the back room and give you a run down on some of our tenants, I’d argue you’re best with those little purr machines. I know how much you love p...cats.” You’re so busy getting caught up in being so close to this huge beautiful woman, and Goddess if she doesn’t seem bigger and more imposing in real life, that you miss the innuendo and almost-slip-up. The minotaur, Kharya, gives her coworker a deadpan look before turning and smiling at you, her eyes crinkling, and you want to know what it feels like to pet over her soft pink nose and up the tawny fur of her snout. The two of you are brought out of staring at each other by the snorting laugh of the human and her mumbled “useless lesbians” which just makes Kharya glare hard at the back of her head.
“Let me show you to the back room where we keep our fully grown cats.” For the love of all that is holy that voice. It was a bit higher than you expected from someone so huge, but it suited her. Her long, snow-white eyelashes suited her, framing warm chocolate eyes. Her smile is a little shy, she seems as flustered by her coworker as you were. Your head barely reaches her chest, and you feel intimately aware of her muscles shifting as she walks near you. Her smile is still soft as she opens the door and gestures for you to enter. “Just take a seat on the floor and I’ll let a few of these guys out, we’ll see who comes over to take a look and go from there.”
You take a chance to study her, up close this time, while she releases a few cats into the playroom. She has two quite cute and dainty little horns curving up and around her ears, it somehow suits her better than hair could, and her strong shoulders stole your attention next as they flexed while she reached up for a particularly high crate. You’re certainly smitten with her, but try to make sure your gaze is averted by the time she turns around, having opened about half a dozen little doors. It’s easy as it turns out, because a sweet looking ball of fluff had come out of hiding sometime during your shameless ogling of the woman in front of you. The black ball of fuzz mewed at you indignantly, pawing at your knee before headbutting and then nuzzling your leg.
You giggle and scratch the little critter behind the ears, making it purr and drop like a sack of potatoes against your leg. The giggle morphs into a laugh, matched by a chuckle from Kharya across from you, looking down at you with a fond tenderness in her gaze. “That’s Sprite, he’s usually a bit of a recluse, but something seems to have gotten his attention.” Her smile widens, “he isn’t the only one…” Her gaze is full of open affection, and it makes your cheeks heat. “You work in the building across from mine, yeah? I’ve seen you around…” Your face feels on fire, oh god what do you do? You weren’t prepared for this, like at all. You just nod mutely, gazing up at her, but something about your response seems to have been enough for her, since she just laughs and crosses the room to sit next to you, allowing one of the other cats curious enough to leave his enclosure to hop up into her lap and curl up. You were jealous of that cat for a moment.
“I’ve...I’ve seen you around too.” Your voice is quiet, but when you glance back up at her you can see she’s fixed you with an unreadable look. Your fingers nervously skitter around on Sprite’s chin, making the fuzzbutt purr louder and lean further into your soft thigh. “I’m happy to see you here today though, I’m always too chicken to talk to you.”
She looks worried, her brow furrowed and her mouth twisted into what you’d guess is a sneer. “You’re afraid of me?” The loud peal of laughter from you at least smooths out her face, making her smile fondly down.
“No! No, I’m not afraid of you. But...beautiful women make me nervous…” You’re feeling uncharacteristically bold, reaching your free hand over to touch her hand as you speak, feeling the soft downy fur on the back and trailing your fingers until you feel it fade into the calloused surface of her palm. She brightens up at that, large brown eyes positively sparkling with delight as she turns her hand over beneath yours, lacing fingers together.
Needless to say you went home that afternoon with Sprite, apparently short for Soot Sprite, the black void with big green eyes who decided to come flop on your leg. You may have also left still holding the hand of the large minotaur woman Kharya while the two of you strolled over to the pet store, picking out all of the necessities considering you were starting from scratch. Just as you were internally figuring out how to get all of this back Kharya offers to help you carry it home. “Are you sure you don’t mind? I’m sure I could just have them deliver most of this, I don’t want to bother you any more than I already have!”
She chuckles and nuzzles your cheek, her tongue just peeking out to lick a kiss on the side of your face making you blush. “Never a bother, besides, what’s the use of all this muscle if I can’t even show off for a cute girl?” This only makes your cheeks hotter, sputtering a little but agreeing.
“It isn’t too far, maybe ten minutes, if you’re sure it isn’t a big deal?” In reply she simply hefts up the large packages with the cat tree, litter, anything heavy really, and allows you to lead the way left carrying Sprite’s crate and a few bags of toys and treats. The walk is beautiful, and the company only makes it better. She probes you with questions about where you grew up, your family, what you do for work, and she tells you all about her childhood in the country, her job at the gym, her history as a competitive lifter. Conversation and laughter are both flowing easily as you slow down in front of your building, biting your lip in consideration. “Do you maybe want to come upstairs and help get Sprite settled in?”
You try not to sound too hopeful, gazing up at her a little nervously. Kharya’s answer is a wide smile and nod. “Lead the way.” You grin back at her and turn to key in your door code, holding the front door open for the large woman, who still has to duck to get through the door. The elevator ride is full of giggles as you try to fit both of you and all the bags into the tiny box, thankful you seem to all come in under capacity. Your front door opens with a key fob, and you’re thankful it can be read inside the pocket of your dress as you bump your hip up against the door and push down the handle with your elbow.
The ceilings are thankfully high, so while Kharya does have to duck to get inside once in she’s quite comfortable. She sets down the packages, hardly seeming to have broken a sweat, and smiles down at you sweetly. She grips your chin between her thumb and forefinger, leaning down to press your foreheads together in an intimate gesture, sharing breath and space. Pulling back she swipes a kiss across your forehead with her tongue before releasing your face and moving back to the packages. You stand there dazed for a moment before her voice breaks you out of your reverie. “Why don’t you open Sprite’s cage and we’ll see if he wants to get out and explore.”
Your cheeks are still hot, but it seems like you’re always blushing around the beautiful minotaur, so you just nod and go to open the carrier. He’s out of there immediately, headbutting your face affectionately before gazing around and claiming a spot on a couch cushion near the window in the sun. “Well...that seems easier than it should have been.”
Kharya glances over at you from where she’s opening the box with the cat tree in it, a full throated laugh coming out as she notices Sprite’s sleeping spot. She’s full of mirth, her eyes watering with the force of her laughter. “Oh, wow, yeah, cats usually don’t take like that. It must be something about you…” She winks at you flirtatiously, and you giggle and blow her a kiss back, making her eyes widen and then narrow in a playful smirk.
You spend a little while together just getting things set up for Sprite. The litter box is in the bathroom, the circulating water dish is set up on the tile floor of the kitchen for easy cleanup in case of accidents, there are toys in every room and Kharya has set up the absolutely overly massive cat tower you bought because you wanted to make sure Sprite had enough things to climb. You and Kharya are now sitting on the couch, Sprite having moved to a lounge chair in a spot much more preferable - where he could nap in the sun undisturbed by the movement of those other pesky creatures around the abode.
The two of you are drinking beer and relaxing after a job well done, Kharya has one massive arm thrown over the back of the couch and you can just feel the heat radiating off of her skin. It’s quiet, but comfortable, and you’re thisclose to just leaning over to rest your head on her shoulder. She clears her throat, making you peer up at her, the nervous look on her face simultaneously endearing and heartbreaking. “So...I’ve kinda been hoping...that maybe you’d be willing to...um...y’know maybe you’d be willing...to go on a date with me?” She’s studiously avoiding your eyes, although she still has her face turned towards you.
You giggle and she almost looks crestfallen for a moment before you lean up and press a kiss on her cute pink nose. “I was kinda hoping that maybe this could count as our first date? I’d love to go on another…” She grins and laughs, bringing her arm down from the back of the sofa and wrapping it around your shoulders firmly, pulling you into her side. “How do you feel about tonight? Maybe we could play with Sprite and order takeout? There’s this killer Thai place near here I’ve been craving.” You worry you might be moving this too fast, but damn if you want to stop this feeling, and you’d be lying to yourself if you said you wanted to wait. Sure, you knew that’s what you should do, what logic would dictate, but you didn’t want to let go of her, afraid that if you did you’d realize this was only some fever dream. That you’d wake up alone, in bed, no Sprite, no Kharya, just another day of the usual monotony.
She perks up, leaning down to nuzzle the top of your head. “Oh it’s like we’re on the same wavelength already!” Her chuckle is deep, but still feminine, and it makes you just burrow further into her warm, strong side. “I think this is the start of a beautiful relationship.”