I'm not Cassandra's boyfriend, and she's not my girlfriend either. It's just that our circumstances have lent themselves to a certain degree of intimacy.

Twice a day, usually, though sometimes more, she'll show up at my little desk and ask for my help. I'll get a few buckets of water, sponges and soap, hook up the hose to the modified tap I built, get out the scraper and a brush... She brings her own kit too, of course.

And while I get to work caring for her, sometimes we talk. Usually, though, we don't. She's very proud, as a person, and I sometimes get the feeling she resents having to ask someone like me - someone merely human - for help cleaning herself up.

I mean, if you think about it, where she comes from... Centaurs are very social, and don't have the same taboos about body exposure that we do, so any two friends will usually just soap up each other's backs, you know? But a lone centaur can't do that. And it leads to a certain amount of unhappiness.

But we're... friendly. Enough that I don’t call her “Miss” or “Miss Cassandra” anymore. Just Cassandra, or Cas.

I run warm water over her back, from her lower set of shoulders down to her tail, and when she’s wet enough I start rubbing the soap into her coat. I do her flanks, then her forelegs, then her belly, then her hindquarters and hind legs, and then I rinse and scrape, just like with a regular horse. And some of that I think she could do on her own, if she bent down or something, but given that I’m already doing for her somewhat, I always figured I’d do the whole bit, except the parts of her that have human skin. She hasn’t objected. I also brush out her tail, because she asked me once, and… well, all of it is very pleasant. Having a warm body in front of you, belonging to someone you like, at that, and she’s asking you to rub her down, and brush out her tail like you’d brush a woman’s hair? It’s pretty nice.

Now, I didn’t know this, but it turns out centaur culture values education and knowledge, and as Cas and I have gotten to know each other better, she’s started to teach me things. I’m learning a bit about classical literature, a bit about calculus – you might think, since I’m a stablehand, that I’m completely unschooled. Well, I’m not. I just dropped out of college years ago. But learning from her, the way she teaches, is fun, and she’s not asking for tuition or anything. Given what I earn, that’s pretty helpful.

But it makes me feel awkward.

I’ve known Cas for a little over a year. I’ve been helping her grooming all this time. I don’t know why she picked me, but… hey, she did. And I like her, and I like the feeling that I can do something for her. The thing that makes it awkward is, I sometimes feel like I’d like a romantic relationship with her. And I ask myself: is it really true? Would she have anything more to do with you, anyway? Or is it just that you do this intimate thing with her, for her, and you want to take advantage of that? And even if she said yes… half of her body is a horse, you’re not equipped for that, short of your whole arm.

I’m too shy, too embarrassed, to ask. Yet. And I won’t make a move until and unless I ask and she says yes. Maybe I’ll ask her… not today, but some day.

---

As seen on 4chan's /tg/ board.

If I have to tell you what the pic is, I will reach through the internet and fwap you with a rolled-up newspaper, ok