g/t one-shot book

melt my heart to stone (f/f)

"I can't do this anymore."

The words left Cassandra's lips before she even knew she said them. Heather had long gone, citing a group outing that she'd talked about all week long. Still, the borrower found herself embarrassed by the proclamation.

"You know better," her thoughts reprimanded, and for once she agreed. Humans weren't supposed to know her kind existed, and here she was about to confess her love for one of them.

Oddly enough, Cass didn't really mind breaking the rules for her human. They'd first met because she was gaping at her, after all. Heather chalked up the borrower's intense staring to fear, and went so far as to reassure the tiny woman that she wasn't going to try anything.

Cassandra's cheeks flushed at the memory. It was the first time she'd seen the human's face, and something about her took the borrower's breath away. From the piercing that sat proudly at her septum, to the way her hair sat short but mighty on the top of her head, Cassandra had been memorized at first glimpse.

She managed a small smile. The human pampering her with gentle reassurances had only made her more flustered at the time.

Cassandra didn't know how she faced the titan of a woman after that. But somehow, Heather enjoyed her presence enough to invite her back. Cass initially declined - she was too certain her feelings would get in the way.

She'd been right.

Still, it was nice to be around Heather. Existing was easy - too easy, and the women never ran out things to talk about. Cass told her stories of her existence before they met, and Heather told her stories of the human world. Sometimes they'd share deeper - qualms, aspirations, feelings - and Cassandra would tuck those moments away in her brain - they were treasured memories to her. Existing around Heather had been easy.

Falling in love with her had been hard.

At first, Cassandra tried denying it. She'd let her walls down long enough to have engaging conversations, then slip away and lift them back up like nothing happened. She found herself muttering sweet nothings to herself, that no, she wasn't in love, and yes, she was scared of the human. It'd been easy at first, avoiding her true feelings. But time didn't entertain her lies.

Fear wouldn't admire Heather's smile like she did, the way the human's eyes would crinkle at any given moment. It hadn't registered her breaths as comforting, or her heartbeat as lulling. Being afraid wasn't eagerly jumping into her palm, or stretching arms-wide to hold as much of her as possible. Fear was what her people had told her, the stories of humans mercilessly crushing them beneath their feet and eating their offspring. But the longer she got to know Heather, the more she realized the human was nothing like those tales.

Cassandra bit her lip. All of that wouldn't have been a problem if yesterday hadn't happened. Because yesterday, they'd talked about their love lives. And yesterday, her human had confessed something in passing. It was quick, so quick that Cass could've easily missed it if she hadn't been laser focused on the bigger woman.

"Honestly, I've never really liked men like that," She had said, "but women, hell, they drive me crazy! Is that weird?"

Like that. Drive her crazy. Men. Women. It took everything in her not to fall apart when the realization hit. The borrower had talked about her dating history before, but Bianca and Garrett didn't hold a candle to Heather. In fact, Cassandra hadn't thought about them since she met the human until she asked. And somehow, both of them breaking her heart didn't hurt as much when she was telling it to her crush. It was almost...endearing, to share them with Heather. But Heather responding with her own confession, something the borrower wasn't prepared for.