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My Roommate, The Centaur

Rylan had been your closest friend since you were both just in grade school. As children, you’d pass the time playing games of make believe and spent many a sunny afternoon exploring the woods that surrounded the subdivision where you grew up. The two of you would have other friends throughout your childhoods, but no matter who else came into your life, Rylan remained your most trusted confidant. You didn’t realize it at the time, but the bond you shared with Rylan would one day grow into something much stronger than friendship, into a desire to share every part of yourself with him, to be his mate.

Unfortunately, despite your close bond with Rylan, you were too timid to share your true feelings with him due to your fear that they may not be reciprocated. No matter how much time passed, though, your friendship never faltered. Even after the two of you returned to your hometown after attending separate colleges, you and Rylan agreed to split the rent on an apartment and move in together as roommates.

At first, you were content simply to be around Rylan again. When the two of you weren’t at work, you’d be up late playing video games with Rylan on your living room sofa, or you’d go out for jogs together (sometimes you would race, and Rylan was always kind enough to say you were the winner even when you weren’t), or you’d share a pitcher of beer at the microbrewery down the street from your shared apartment. But as anyone who’s ever had a roommate knows, once you live with someone, you start to notice all of their odd idiosyncrasies.

Rylan was no exception to this rule: sometimes he would leave the apartment for days on end and only offer flimsy explanations as to where he was going. Other times Rylan would lock himself in his bathroom for hours and you could swear you heard the sound of hard-soled shoes clip-clopping on the tile floor—was he wearing clogs? High heels? You didn’t care, really; after all, you weren’t one to judge, and, as far as you were concerned, Rylan could do no wrong. You just wish he’d be honest with you if he were up to something strange.

After a few months of Rylan’s odd behavior, you’d about had enough of him dodging your questions or changing the subject any time you brought it up. Rylan had once again left for one of his “outings”, leaving you home alone and, seeing as it was one of your days off from work, with nothing to do.

Lying on the couch, you looked up from reading some unimportant article on your phone at Rylan’s bathroom door. Suddenly, you had the idea to take a look inside to see if you could find anything that could enlighten you as to what Rylan had been getting up to. You knew it wasn’t the polite thing to do, but you told yourself you were only doing this because you were worried about your friend. That justifies it, right? Standing in front of the door, you hesitated for a moment with your hand over the doorknob before taking a deep breath, turning the knob, and barging into your best friend’s bathroom.

At first, nothing seemed too out of the ordinary. You realized you’d never actually been in his bathroom before, seeing as how you had one of your own. The only thing you noticed was that Rylan’s bathroom had an accessible shower, which was odd since your apartment was on the second floor and accessible apartments were usually only on the first. That, and Rylan was perfectly able-bodied, so why would he pay extra for an accessible bathroom when a standard one would suit him just fine?

As you continued snooping, you realized Rylan kept a bottle of Mane n’ Tail Shampoo in his shower, as well as a brush with handle that seemed unnecessarily long for an average person. You’d heard of people using horse shampoo before—something about it making hair extra sleek and shiny—and you surmised that Rylan might just prefer not to bend over when showering, hence the extra-long shower brush.

Still not satisfied with your findings, you began opening the drawers under Rylan’s sink; they were impressively well-organized, you noted. In the bottom drawer, you found a pair of slippers you’d gifted Rylan a few months ago, virtually untouched. Though you were a little crestfallen that Rylan didn’t seem to be using them, you remembered that Rylan never really wore shoes in the house anyway, so maybe he just wasn’t a slipper-wearing kind of guy. But then what were those clip-clopping sounds you’d hear whenever Rylan locked himself inside this room?

You stood up and looked at yourself in the mirror above Rylan’s sink. Seeing your reflection, you were somewhat ashamed with yourself for what you were doing, going through your best friend’s stuff, but your curiosity absolutely had to be sated. Though you hated yourself for what you were about to do, you reached for Rylan’s mirror to open it, revealing Rylan’s well-kept medicine cabinet. You scanned its contents quickly, hoping not to discover anything you’d be better off not knowing, while also hoping to find something that could shed some light on Rylan’s antics. Inside were the usual items: toothpaste, unguent, razors, and… ivermectin? What?

The jingling of keys at the front door made the hair on the back of your neck stand stiff. You closed Rylan’s medicine cabinet and quickly shut the drawer containing his unused slippers. Slamming the bathroom door behind you, you ran into the kitchen where you pretended to be making yourself a drink.

“Hey!” said Rylan, noticing the cocktail glass in your hand, “Oh… a little early for that, don’t you think?” Rylan was wearing a white tank-top and short running shorts; you hoped Rylan didn’t notice as you stole glances of his handsome cleavage and muscular arms.

You blushed, “Oh, y-yeah, silly me! I guess I was just bored. W-w-welcome home!”

Rylan laughed, “Well, if you are making a drink, fix one for me, too, OK? I’m gonna take a shower.” Rylan stripped off his tank top, revealing his thick, broad shoulders and svelte waist, and entered his bathroom, locking it behind him.

- - -

Ever since the day you pilfered through Rylan’s bathroom, questions plagued your mind about some of the odder things you found inside it, questions that still seemed to have no answer. You decided you had no other choice than to follow Rylan the next time he went on one of his unexplained outings. You weren’t excited about what that would mean for you—what would that make you? A stalker?—but you just couldn’t stop thinking about what Rylan was doing any time he left you by yourself for those long, lonely days.

A couple of weeks went by and Rylan announced he’d be leaving once again for the weekend. Not wanting to wait any longer, you knew this was your chance to find out what exactly he’d been up to. At about midday, Rylan said his goodbyes and left out the front door. You spied on him from your living room window, peeking through the blinds so that he wouldn’t see you looking down at him. You expected to see him get in his car, but were surprised instead to see him continue down the sidewalk on foot, turning in the direction of your old neighborhood. Once Rylan was far enough down the road, you quickly left your apartment and descended the stairs outside to begin your pursuit.

After about a half hour of walking, you had followed Rylan all the way back to your old childhood subdivision. Development on it had halted after the recession a few years back, so lots of the streets were lined with houses that were foreclosed or only half-built. It was strange to see your old neighborhood in such a bleak state when you had so many fond memories of growing up there, but you remembered to keep your focus on Rylan as to not lose sight of him.

As far as you could tell, Rylan hadn’t noticed you following him, and so he continued walking through the subdivision until he reached the edge of the woods that developers had planned to cut down to build more houses all those years ago. Rylan took a look around him and, when he assumed no one had followed him, he ran into the woods. You rushed after him, trying to stay as quiet as possible so as not to alert his attention. It wasn’t long until you and Rylan had reached the other side of the woods, where Rylan slowed his pace and stepped out onto a wide, grassy field at the edge of a small farm. Rylan stopped some distance out into the field, so you ducked behind a bush while you waited to see what he did next.

To your surprise, Rylan began undressing, first lifting his shirt over his shoulders and then pulling his shorts off over his running shoes, which he then kicked off into the grass. Rylan stood naked for a few moments with his chest out and his arms outstretched, letting the gentle breeze tickle his tan, perfect skin. Then, you saw something that you couldn’t believe: Rylan’s legs shone a bright, golden light, as his body below the waist began to change shape entirely. It happened quickly, but you trusted your senses enough to know what you were seeing. Rylan’s feet elongated as if he were standing on his toes as his thighs thickened and his buttocks plumped. He appeared to be growing taller as a powerful barrel grew between his upper and lower halves, gently pushing him upwards and forwards all at once. Just as it looked like he was about to fall forward, you saw what looked like arms extending from his hips, the appendages growing more muscular as they elongated and became a second set of legs that supported Rylan’s front end. Finally, a long, graceful tail emerged above Rylan’s rump, draping elegantly between what were now his hind legs. The light emitting from Rylan’s lower half soon faded, revealing a shining coat of chestnut-colored fur covering Rylan’s body below his waist, his four legs decorated with cream-colored socks. He flicked his brown tail in delight as he looked down at himself, seemingly satisfied with what he had become.

Rylan began to prance around the field happily while you continued to observe him from your leafy hiding spot. Though you couldn’t make sense of it, your senses did not deceive you: Rylan had transformed into a centaur right before your eyes! And what a graceful centaur he was. Beautiful, too—god, was he beautiful. Judging from how sure on his hooves he was, you were certain he’d done this many times before. Perhaps he’d even done it only feet away from you whenever he’d lock himself in his bathroom? That would certainly explain the clip-clopping sounds you heard, as well as the horse shampoo, the extra long shower brush, the ivermectin—yes, it was all clear to you now, your roommate, the object of your affection, your best friend was a real-live centaur!

You knew you couldn’t hide from your friend any longer. Now that you knew the truth, it was time to come clean and tell Rylan what you’d been doing the past few weeks. Stepping out into the field, you called out to your friend. “Rylan?”

Immediately, Rylan’s happy prancing came to a complete halt as you saw him tense up. He turned his head to look at you, his gaze practically shooting daggers into you. But he wasn’t angry, no, in fact, he seemed shy, as if he were embarrassed to be seen this way.

As you approached your friend, he didn’t appear to want to retreat. Standing by his flanks—you couldn’t believe your best friend had flanks—you held your hand over his withers. “May I?” you asked. Rylan nodded, and so you began stroking the fur covering your friend’s equine back. Rylan smiled, his cheeks flushed. Though you could tell he didn’t know what to say, you knew he was enjoying this, as if he’d wanted you to do this for a long, long time.

Rylan began to speak, “Look, I can explain—”

“No, me first,” you said. You proceeded to tell Rylan what you’d been doing these past weeks, how you snooped through his bathroom, how you followed him out here to the field behind your old childhood subdivision. “I’m so sorry, Rylan, I know it was a breach of trust. I… I just… I just like… I like you so much, and I couldn’t bear the thought of you keeping secrets from me.”

Rylan chuckled, “It’s all right. I’ve actually been trying to figure out how to tell you about this, gosh, pretty much ever since we were kids. See, my family… well…” Rylan told me how he was descended from a long, long line of centaurs tracing their roots all the way back to Chiron of Ancient Greece. As human civilization expanded, centaurs and other creatures found their homes encroached upon by human developments. While some fled to the most remote reaches of the world, others chose to blend in with the humans so as not to abandon their homes, finding ways to disguise themselves to make living among humans easier. “You’ve seen the way humans treat each other,” Rylan chuckled, “So you can only imagine how they’d treat someone who looks like me, well, the real me.”

As Rylan continued his explanation, the two of you had moved to a shady spot under a tree. Rylan was lying with his withers against the tree’s trunk and his legs folded beneath him while you were seated comfortably against his equine belly. Rylan explained that his family had devised a means to disguise themselves as humans so long as they assumed their true, centaur form during the cycle of the full moon, and that if they didn’t oblige, they’d be unable to become human again and would be stuck in their centaur forms for the rest of their lives. “I’ll admit, I’d actually prefer to stay this way all the time, but I…” Rylan paused, “I just liked being around you so much that I decided to keep up the act. You were always so accepting of me, but I… I was just waiting to find the right time to share this part of myself with you, to know that you’d still want me around once you knew the truth…”

“Rylan,” you said, “I… I’ll stand by you forever. Centaur or human, it doesn’t matter to me. I just want to be with you.”

Rylan was beaming. Looking down at you, he reached for your hands, leaned forward, and planted a kiss right on your lips. Your were stunned—you’d dreamed of this moment for years, and it was even better than you could have ever imagined—but you soon relaxed, throwing your arms around Rylan’s shoulders and pulling him in for an even deeper kiss.

“You know,” said Rylan, “Just like how there’s a way for me to disguise myself as a human, there is a way to make you a centaur, you know… if… if you wanted.” Rylan blushed, “B-but it’s up to you! If you want to stay human, we’ll make it work, I promise!”

You felt your cheeks flush with heat. Become a centaur? You’d admittedly always been fond of them ever since those lessons on Greek mythology back in high school English class, but you’d never thought you’d ever really meet one, let alone have the chance to become one. Hell, you didn’t know centaurs really existed until only a few moments ago!

You looked up at the handsome centaur you were seated against. He was smiling down at you, hoping for a response. In that moment, you knew you wanted nothing else than to spend the rest of your life with him; whether you were human or centaur was immaterial to you.

“So,” said Rylan with a warm, handsome smile, “have you made your decision?”