As she approached her home, Stacy pondered if her office job was worth it.
Sure, it had allowed her to break the millennial curse and actually buy a house, where she and her girlfriend could live without fear of landlords, but 'assistant data analyst' barely sounded like a real position and yet the stress it put on her was so very real.
Tall, strong, and broad-shouldered, Stacy hunched as she walked, ready to strip out of her polo shirt and slacks the second she was inside the confines of her house. The exterior of her single story home still remained largely undecorated. She and Cassie had talked about a trans pride flag, but...
Well, Stacy found herself looking around, nervous that her neighbors were scrutinizing her, just by being trans and living in this area. She felt like she was easy to clock. Her beard shadow never really went away, even with make-up, her chest was too wide to really show off her big boobs, and her belly had a distinctly 'masculine' shape to it, in her opinion. Actually putting up a flag would be declaring open season on herself.
Still, Stacy reached the front door, deciding to shove all of those thoughts away. Home meant air conditioning and cute clothes (or no clothes) and most of all it meant Cassie. "Honey, I'm home!" Stacy called out, slipping off her shoes and neatly putting them on the nearby shoe tree.
From the office, she heard a giggle in response. "Seriously, babe?"
It was only then that she realized she'd accidentally used a stock phrase... and one especially meant to be used by a husband. Squirming with extra dysphoria, Stacy set her purse down on the kitchen table before heading down the hallway to Cassie's office.
As expected, her girlfriend was all dressed for work, with gloves, a hardy apron, and safety goggles covering up her usual adorable aesthetic. Cassie was a good foot and a half shorter than Stacy, with a far more svelte build. She complained that her arms and legs were too chubby, but that just made Stacy kiss those parts of her all over and lavish them with praise.
Cassie was cute, and this remained true even as she dusted and chiseled and smashed rocks. At least, that's what Stacy thought she did. Geology was Cassie's field, not hers. At the moment, she had a bunch of geodes and strange lumps of metal or rock strewn across her work table, but as Stacy entered, Cassie turned her attention away from her work to smile up at her girlfriend. "What's with the big smile? You see me every day."
Pale cheeks darkening with a spreading blush, Stacy ran a hand through her short dirty blonde hair and shrugged. "Yeah, well, I see sunrises every day too. Doesn't stop them from being beautiful." Then, with strong hands, she gently grabbed Cassie by the hips and tugged her closer.
There was nothing about Cassie that Stacy didn't love, from her freckled cheeks to her short kinky hair to her brilliant smile. "That is
too
cheesy. What's gotten into you today~?" Cassie smiled up at her, eyes glittering with amusement behind her goggles.
Reaching up, Stacy pulled those goggles up and away. "Tired, I guess. Missed you." Then, she leaned down, and drew her small girlfriend into a kiss. Cassie practically melted against her, hands quickly seeking out the small of Stacy's back to rub in small circles while Stacy held her close.
Eventually, unfortunately, the kiss had to end, if only because of just how exhausted Stacy felt. "Do you...
have
to keep working?" she asked Cassie, hope bleeding into her voice.
Cassie sighed. "Normally, I wouldn't, but I've got to properly examine these samples and send in my preliminary results before I can call it a day. These are from a recent dig, possibly ancient meteorites that landed her thousands of years ago. It shouldn't take more than half an hour, though." Standing up on her tip-toes, she kissed Stacy, her lips as soft as clouds, before whispering, "You go start dinner, I'll be in by the time it's done."
Forcing herself to disentangle from Cassie, Stacy nodded, though she wasn't happy about it. After a day full of light misgendering and stressful deadlines like she'd had, Stacy was eager to just... well, to throw Cassie onto their bed and make her cry in delight, really.
But she could be patient, and besides, she was hungry too. Deciding to take a couple of the boxed pasta meals they had and mix them together, plus some extra fancy steps, Stacy got to work. They may have only been two people, but Stacy had a big appetite and food would help improve her day.
It was easy to fall into the rote work of prepping dinner. Water boiling, salt, add dry pasta, get roux going, add spice packets, drain pasta, save some of the water...
Before she knew it, the meal was done before her eyes, a delicious mix of cheese and meat and spice. "Food's done!" she called out, setting the baking dish full of food onto the table.
"One second, I'm almost... ah!"
Within seconds of hearing Cassie's cry, Stacy was racing in. "Are you okay?" she asked, just as her head crossed the barrier of the room.
"Yeah, I... I think so?" Cassie turned to look at her, a streak of bright blue liquid of some kind splashed across her cheek and forehead. Parts of her face that were only bare because Stacy had taken her goggles off. One of the rocks, now looking strangely hollow, was directly in front of Cassie, a large hole in one side. "Can you grab me... ugh, I guess a towel. Would've been nice to get a sample of whatever this is."
Not wasting a second, Stacy was darting down the hall, to the bathroom, grabbing a washcloth and a full towel, heading back... only to see Cassie with her face entirely clean. "Oh, did you find something in here to clean it off with?" Stacy asked her, tilting her head to one side in confusion.
"No? What are you talking about, hand me the towel, babe." Cassie extended a hand, taking the towel as her befuddled girlfriend offered it, raising it up to wipe off the goo... only to pull it back and find the fibers clean. "What? But that's... I was examining the rock, it was weirdly soft, kind of popped, and this viscous blue fluid was all over my face!" She turned to Stacy, looking for confirmation.
Nodding along, Stacy confirmed, "I saw it too! I guess..." She bit her lip. Did she want to say out loud the first thought that came to her mind? That maybe, possibly, it had been... absorbed into her skin or something? "Maybe it evaporated?"
"Maybe..." Considering the situation for a few seconds, Cassie finally shrugged and began to take off her work clothes. "Whatever. I'm starving, dinner smells incredible, and that report can wait until tomorrow morning." Taking Stacy's hand in hers, Cassie started walking towards the kitchen, clearly doing her best to put what just happened out of her mind.