Fae & Maza Ch. 02

II

Four months ago...

Maza was at her desk, lost in contemplation while looking at the little wooden duckling besides her computer screen. She was thinking about her evening, what she should cook for dinner, maybe she could eat out, some pizza or sushis, it was a friday after all and she might as well start the weekend with something fancy, after all she had eaten well all week and it was not so-

"Miss Grognuk!"

Maza fazed back into reality and looked up. Her boss was standing right in front of her desk, glaring at her.

"Yes Mister Lilac, I'm sorry."

"Focus up, girl, you have a job to do."

"Yes, I'm sorry."

She closed her hands in front of her and tried to avoid her boss' eyes.

"The candidates will be here soon, make sure to greet them as they arrive, you are representing the company."

"Yes Sir, I will."

He groaned and then nonchalantly walked back into his office. As the assistant of Mister Lilac, Maza's desk was right besides his door, giving her a good view upon the rest of the floor's cubicle. At the opposite end of the room were the elevator, which would soon open up with the candidates for the new job opening. She looked down at the pile of résumés and started going through them. The opening was for two new graphic designers, but there were at least ten candidates currently in the pile.

In the distance the ding of the elevator caught her attention. Over the next thirty minutes, several men and women walked up to her desk, asking to see Mr. Lilac. She had them sit on the row of chairs put on specifically in preparation for the interview process. While the first interviewee was in Mr. Lilac's office, she watched the remaining people, trying to guess which individual belonged to which résumé.

Maza, preoccupied with her guessing game, didn't hear the bell of the elevator and only noticed the newcomer as they were a few meters from her desk. Maza eye's caught a glimpse of them and she looked up to meet the sight of the incoming person. They were a short, bubbly, androgynous human with medium-length dirty blond hair tied up in a ponytail. On their left shoulder they held a black portfolio covered in pins and stickers and in their right hand they had a cup of red bubble tea.

Their eyes were hidden behind a pair of star-shaped sunglasses but their full soft-looking lips seemed to beckon Maza's gaze. She barely had time to glance at the newcomer's outfit as they dropped their drink right on her desk.

"Hi, you must be Maza Grognuk, right? Assistant to Mister Lilac?"

Maza looked at the human standing in front of her. They were short enough that Maza managed to be taller than them even while sitting down, yet there was some unspoken energy that emanated from them. There was also the fact that they were gorgeous and having them so close to her made Maza blush. The orc wanted to respond, to say something to this entrancing and mysterious newcomer, but before she had a chance to say anything, the door of Mister Lilac's office opened and the first interviewee stepped out.

"Oh, it was a pleasure meeting you, darling," the beautiful human said before quickly going through the door into the office and closing the door behind them.

Maza looked at the candidates waiting a few meters from her. They were either staring at her or at the office door, seemingly unhappy that someone swooped in and cut and line and that she had done nothing to stop this from happening.

"I'm sorry, but I arrived here first, how come they went in before me?" asked a blond hipster with a long well-trimmed goatee.

"You will have your interview opportunity soon, sir, do not worry." Maza tried to sound reassuring and sincere as best she could.

The man scuffed and sank back in his chair, but Maza was already ignoring him and focusing on something new. There was a lingering aroma floating around her desk, a perfume unlike anything she had ever had the chance to smell. It was delicate and sweet, but at the same time it... it turned her on. She knew that this scent had to come from the good-looking artist, but she couldn't pinpoint if it was some perfume they had put on or just their natural aroma. Then she looked down on her desk at the cup of bubble tea.

About ten minutes later, Mr. Lilac opened the door to allow the artist to come out. Maza had never seen her boss in such a good mood before. He was jovial, holding the door open while he was at the end of a laugh, seemingly from a joke he had been told.

"Oh, Roger, you are too much! I really hope I'll get to hear the end of that fishing story some time!"

"Maybe you will, if we pick you for the job I'm sure we'll have plenty of time to talk!"

Mr. Lilac winked at the short human, while making sure his back was against the rest of the people waiting for their shot at an interview. His wide grin, his flushed cheeks and his amicable mannerism suggested to Maza that he had already decided this newcomer would be getting one of the available job.

She called out the next in line, the pouty hipster and he got up and walked towards Mr. Lilac, who instantly reverted back to his old grumpy professional persona. They both disappeared in his office, leaving the androgynous hottie standing by Maza's desk. She looked down at her computer screen, pretending to work, despite the urge to stare at the nearby artist.

"I think that went well."

She heard the voice clear and close by, and it took her a few seconds to realize that she was being talked to. She slowly looked away from her screen and met the gaze of... She gasped. They had taken off the sunglasses, revealing a piercing set of blue eyes, looking directly into her soul and caressing it.

"I..."

"Hi to you too."

They bent a forward a bit over her desk, at the same time grabbing the drink they had left there earlier.

"You know," they whispered, "we'll probably be colleagues soon."

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."

They took a sip of tea. "That's because I haven't told it yet."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I-"

"Why are you apologizing? It's not your fault, girl." They held out a open hand towards her. "I'm Fae."

Maza looked at the extended hand for a second, then sheepishly held up her own. The human hand disappeared within her large green fingers, yet Fae's wrist dictated the movement of the handshake.

"I'm Maza."

They looked into each other's eyes for a few moments, but then Maza broke eye contact. Her gaze darted down to the portfolio and the decorative pins on it. The central one was a flag that she recognized, the yellow, white, purple and black lines of the non-binary flag.

"Tell me, Maza, how is the working environment here? Are people happy?"

"Oh, huh, yeah it's, it's alright."

"Say, I'm new in town, do you have any recommendations for a good sushi place?"

*They like sushis too!* thought Maza excitedly. Then she remembered *oh, but everyone loves sushi though. But no that's not true, I know someone who doesn't but...*

"Hum... Yeah there are a few places. There's this one spot close to the office that's great..."

"Yeah I'll trust you on that, but you better text me the name and address or else I'll forget about it, I'm not good at remembering numbers."

"T-Text you?"

"Yeah, I mean you could write it on a post-it note and give it to me but with my luck, I would end up losing it. Here I'll give you my number and you can send it to me."

Fae opened their portfolio, taking out a sheet of paper and a purple gel pen. While they wrote, Maza looked at their outfit. Fae was wearing a yellow blouse with a low cut which showed a bit of cleavage from her small chest. Maza didn't want to get caught eyeing someone's breast so she quickly moved her eyesight towards the portfolio bag. There were a bunch of pins with political stuff and LGBT+ awareness, but also some highly detailed artistic stuff, like a huge pin with a cartoon centipede.

"Here you go! Just text me whenever you can." they said enthusiastically while handing her a scrap of paper with half of a dragon doodle ripped out of their sketchbook and a phone number.

"I will." Maza looked at the paper, trying to hide her giddiness. A phone number from a hot person.

"You know what," Fae paused to let Maza react and look back up to meet their eyes, "if you happen to be free tonight, you could show me the place yourself?"

Maza's cheeks flushed. She was usually thankful for her dark green skin that made it hard to see when she was blushing, but right now she had a feeling that the change in color was definitely visible.

"You don't have to, I mean it's friday night, a good-looking gal like you probably already has plans."

"I- I'm free!"

"What time do you finish here?"

"Hum, five-thirty."

"How far is the sushi place from here?"

"Ten minutes, I think."

"If we meet there at six, that works for you?"

"Yeah, yeah I can... I can do that."

"Great! Well that's a date, don't forget to text me the address!"

On that, Fae walked away, leaving the blushing orc all flustered.

*Wait, did they say date?* Maza fumbled for words to respond, blurting out a soft "Good-bye" as she caught a glimpse of Fae from behind. What she saw left her mouth agape.

The most perfect bubble butt she had ever seen, round and plump and swaying in a pair of short jean shorts over a pair of black stockings. She felt blood pumping down towards her crotch and as she felt herself getting hard, she was glad to have the desk protecting her from the others' view. She looked away to try and calm herself, looking towards the other candidates instead of glaring at an ass, but when she saw that at least six of them were also staring at the ass, she moved her eyes down on her desk instead.

She looked at the piece of paper with the number on it and then quickly got out her cell phone to text Fae. They responded a few seconds later, a thumbs-up emoji with a blowing-kiss emoji. Maza felt all giddy and her heart was beating fast.

...

Maza was angry with herself. She shouldn't have accepted a date right after work. She had been both excited and stressed-out all afternoon, which had led to her sweating more than usual. She should have told Fae to meet at a later hour, to give her time to go home to shower and change. She was wearing a white blouse underneath a dark blue blazer with thin vertical white lines matching her pencil skirt, with some black pantyhose. The long-sleeved blazer felt warm but she dared not take it off, because she knew her white blouse would have clearly visible pools of armpit sweat.

She didn't know how to keep her hair. At the office she had worn them in a long ponytail behind her, but now she wondered if a more casual hairstyle was better. While using her phone as a makeshift mirror, she tried letting them loose but then felt insecure about it, resorting to putting them up as a bun.

On the street she felt like everyone was smelling her and judging her, which stressed her more and made her feel she was sweating more.

"Hey, Maza!" the soft voice of Fae caught her from behind and she turned in time to see them approach, only to notice that they were dressed differently now. Fae wore a black low-cut tank top that showed off their toned abs, as well as a short black skirt over fishnets stockings. They had also ditched the star-shaped sunglasses for a pair of thick black-rimmed glasses and had a cute little choker around their neck. Their whole outfit was black, with the exception of the bright red ribbon holding their ponytail up. They also wore a bit more eyeliner than before and had a bit more color to their lips. Maza couldn't help but notice the belly button piercing.

The difference in size was staggering. At over eight feet tall, Maza dwarfed pretty much every human, but she looked down at Fae who seemed to be barely above five feet. The silver lining for her was that at that height, maybe they wouldn't be able to smell her armpits. But now she started feeling self-conscious about her crotch and her ass. And on top of that, her nostrils caught a whiff of Fae's entrancing perfume, which made her forget about everything in the world outside a ten meter radius.

"Come on, let's go in," they said, marching forward. Maza followed quickly behind them.

They were seated rather quickly and Maza looked silently at Fae as they looked through the menu while commenting about sushis and seafood. Once they were done perusing, they looked back up at Maza, who tried her best to withstand the eye contact, but ended up flustered and looking down at her glass of water.

"Are you comfortable, Maza?"

"Y-Yeah, I am. I am. It's just, well.."

"It's just that you are a little shy, is that it?"

She nodded.

"That's okay. I mean, you're cute when you look all flustered."

Maza looked up. She hadn't thought her awkwardness was invisible, but she also hadn't expected it to be so obvious. And having Fae comment on it made her blush.

"I... I haven't been on a date in a while," she said.

"How long?"

"How long? huh... let's just say, a long time ago. I... I noticed the nb flag pin on your bag."

"Yeah, it's because I am non-binary," they said with a smile. "If you wanna know, my personal pronouns are generally they/them, but my friends can use he/him as well."

"Oh, alright... I go by she/her."

A waiter came with a platter, allowing them to start eating. Maza tried to be careful not to look sloppy while eating, but when she noticed how Fae was just chomping down tempura shrimps in one bite, she had a feeling that they wouldn't judge her eating habits too much.

"How long have you lived in this city?" they asked.

"My parents moved here when I was three years old."

"And you've lived here ever since?"

"Yes... I've been in this town for almost twenty-four years."

"So... you're twenty-seven?"

"I'm not, not yet. My birthday is in two weeks, I'm twenty-six."

"Oh, I'll keep a note of that, I'll be sure to send you some birthday wishes!"

Maza smiled, then pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. She was curious to know how old Fae was, but she was too shy to ask it outright. They looked as if they could have been eighteen, but they might have been thirty with lucky genes that kept them looking young. There was something mysterious about them, which was only drawing Maza further in.

They kept talking about everything and nothing over the course of the meal. Maza was surprised by how much information she was giving, as if Fae knew exactly how to word their questions to get answers out of the shy introverted orc.

"Hey, do you want to go somewhere else?" asked Fae as they were waiting in line at the register to pay their bill.

"Oh, I don't know. What kind of place did you have in mind?"

"Somewhere that sells drinks?"

"Oh.. I... I'm not really a bar kind of person..."

"What kind of person are you then?"

"I don't know. I like calmer settings. I like reading, and board games, and video games."

"Wow, you're such a nerd."

Maza looked at Fae with an apprehensive look. As if Fae had read her mind, they added, "Oh I'm sorry, I didn't want to make you feel bad about it! I'm a nerd too! We could go back to your place and play if you want."

"Play?"

"Yeah, whatever you're feeling like. Board games, video games, sex."

Maza's eyes grew wide and she let out a faint whimper.

"Oh I didn't mean to startle you, but I want to be honest with you, I find you very attractive and I would like to have sex with you."

Again, Maza's response was more sounds than words.

"I don't mean to make you uncomfortable, dear, and obviously if you're not interested you do not have to do anything. It's okay if you just want to be friends. Or maybe you think this is going too fast? We don't have to fuck right away, if you want to wait until we know each other more that's fine too."

"I..." Maza was trembling, she felt her armpits growing damper by the second. To have such a perfect cutie wanting her like that was like a dream, but to be on the spot, stressed out and unable to put one word in front of another was like a nightmare. What if Fae was interested now but would be revolted by her stink as she got undressed? What if she was bad in bed and Fae ended up being unimpressed and walked away? What if...

Fae placed a hand on her wrists. "It's okay," they said in a reassuring tone, "whatever you want to say, you can tell me."

"I... I think I would like to be... with you, in that way, as well. But... maybe not on the first date."

Fae smiled and gently squeezed her wrist. "I'm fine with that, Maza."

...

Fae and Maza took the subway to get to her apartment. They were lucky enough to get a wagon with few people in it and Maza sat on a double seat made for two human butts. Fae sat sideways to her on a nearby seat and placed their legs on top of her knees. Maza enjoyed the physical proximity, but that didn't stop her from being anxious about her smell. She kept looking at Fae to see if they were wrinkling their nose in disgust or glaring at her. Either Fae didn't notice the smell, or they didn't care, which suited Maza.

At some point she realized that Fae had asked her a question, but with the loud noise in the subway she hadn't heard them. She mouthed a "what", to which Fae responded by getting up and sitting on her knees, catching her by surprise. The delicate human was on top of her, moving their lips closer to her ears to be heard. The question was mundane, they had simply asked how long it would take until they reached her station, but feeling them so close to her, almost caressing her neck, Maza couldn't help but fluster and babble while looking away. She also feared that being so close would cause Fae to get a noseful of her stench.

"Maza? What is it? Have I gone too far? I can get back on my seat if I'm making you uncomfortable."

"I'm sorry, I don't usually..."

"Don't be sorry, darling, what is it?"

"I didn't have time to shower, you shouldn't be this close..."

Fae's eyebrows lifted and they placed their hands on Maza's shoulder while looking her in the eyes.

"Awww, darling, you really don't have to worry about that." They moved in closer to be by her ear again. "I actually quite like the way you smell right now."

It took a while for Maza to finally say "You do?"

"Yeah, it's one of the first things I noticed about you back in the office. When I got close to you earlier, I caught a whiff of your scent and I have to admit, it worked me up a little."

"But... but that's not... you really like it?"

"I don't mean to be improper, Maza, but right now I wish I could rub my face under your armpit."

Maza let out a meek squeal of surprise then blushed.

"You look so fucking adorable when you blush."

"I'm sorry, I can't control it!"

"Then don't, you big shy nerd." Fae kissed her on the cheek, then got up from her knees and stood up next to their seats, looking around for a map of the subway. Maza had just enough wits to realize that they were one station away from hers, so she stood up as well, bowing her head slightly in the human-made subway.

They got off at the next stop and made their way to her apartment, which would have been quite spacious for Fae, but was just large enough that Maza didn't need to crouch under every door frame.

"I think I should go get changed..."

"Oh, really? But you look so good in this outfit, you got that secretary look going on and it's really cute."

Maza hadn't forgotten what Fae had told her in the subway, but she was having a hard time believing it to be true.

"But I've had a long day at work, I can't make you endure my..." She didn't want to say stench out loud, as if she would be more dignified and stink less if she said nothing.

"Darling, do you want to change because you are feeling physically uncomfortable right now, or is it because you want to change clothes for me?