Lucy enjoyed a relaxing cup of coffee while Kate prepared a bath for them in the large tub of their shared apartment. The wolfess inhaled the gentle aroma of her java, the smells mixing and sending a shiver of pleasure through her chest. She heard music start to play from the bedroom, and walked down the hall to see what sort of romantic surprise Kate had prepared for her.

"Hello?" she called out. After there was no response, she came into the empty bedroom. Kate's clothes were on the bed and the surrounding floor, but the snake herself was nowhere to be seen. Lucy noticed the bathroom door was propped open, and gently stripped down to her underwear and tiptoed into the inviting atmosphere of their bathroom.

"Kate?" She looked around, and saw her lover on the floor. "Kate?!" She hurried closer to look at the shape and realized it was not an unconscious body, but something else. It looked like she was deflated or something. She reached down to touch it, and... "EWWW!!!!!!" She pulled her hand away as she realized it was a complete shed snakeskin. "Oh, gross!"

Kate appeared in the door, a smirk on her face. "I just love a fresh set of scales. So silky smooth, like a new hatchling."

"You just left that on the floor?" Lucy cried out.

"You didn't seem to mind rubbing up against it a couple of nights ago. Besides, I never complain when it's shedding season." Kate giggled.

Lucy hurried into the hall and returned with a Yiffer Wetjet swiffer, and gingerly attempted to pick up the skin without letting it touch her. "It's still so icky!"

"Icky? It's part of being a snake, love. It's how my body works. I'm sorry for the prank, but you have to admit, you're so cute when you're squicked out." Kate gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"I... Can you just get rid of it, please?" Lucy shivered and dropped the wetjet, hugging herself and bouncing from one foot to the other.

Kate giggled. "It's just dead skin, you leave yours all over too, it's just in smaller pieces."

"Ick! Ick!" Lucy shivered some more, looking at Kate as she bent over. "How'd you get out of that in one piece?"

"You're a lupine, you know how to be flexible..."

Art by defiance