What could he ask his roommate? As far as Reed was concerned, it was normal for Ben to be a centaur. He hesitated, then said "The quiche is really good. Thanks." Reed grinned and nodded. "Told ya so!"
As he finished the quiche, which really did taste excellent, Ben tried to figure out what to do. Now that the initial panic and confusion was fading some, he was starting to get curious about how being a centaur worked. He felt normal. Every aspect of movement and use of his body came naturally, though he had not had four legs and a horse's body up until a very short time ago. Reed came over while he was eating and started to rub his human and equine backs. It felt really nice, even somehow familiar, though also odd for his roommate to be touching him like that. Then he nearly spit out a mouthful of quiche as his friend squatted down and started digging his fingers into Ben's sheath! "Hey!"
"What? You want me to wait? I thought I could get head start." Reed stood up and looked curiously at Ben. "Are you sore down there? You need to let me know about any health stuff."
Sore down there? Reed had been handling his... Ben frowned, trying to think of what he knew about horses. There was something they had to do with males - some fluid or excretion that dried up and had to be cleaned out of the sheath. "Um, no. Sorry. It just startled me." He flushed and turned back to the quiche, forcing himself to stay calm. "Go ahead and finish"
Reed got back to work. It only took a couple of minutes - he was obviously kept clean by his diligent friend. Ben felt no erotic sensations at all - much to his relief, though he was embarrassed again when he saw Reed washing his hands off in the sink. Several things occurred to him. His lack of pants, and the irrelevance of a shirt to Reed made it pretty obvious that centaur Ben had little use for clothing. And this casual cleaning of what had in the past been his 'privates' indicated that human standards of modesty and propriety no longer applied.
These observations were reinforced when it came time for his bath and grooming. After cleaning up from Ben's breakfast, Reed headed for the bathroom. "Come on. You know you love this part." Ben followed, clopping through the living room again and entering what was a much larger bathroom than he remembered. He realized with a start that the back of the bathroom had been expanded out into what had been a third, small bedroom. The original stall shower was now an oversized walk-in with shower heads on both ends, no curtain and a thick rubber mat with multiple drains. The drains had mesh grates and some small trapped debris that puzzled Ben until he saw the large wheeled can set over in a corner with a heavy rake-like tool.
Reed patted Ben's equine rump. "You must be ready to burst - you didn't go last night. Take care of business while I get ready."
A quick look around the bathroom confirmed Ben's worst fears. The normal human commode was still in the corner, unusable by his new centaur form. The shower was apparently also his toilet. To make matters worse, Reed was stripping off his clothing and hanging things up using hooks on the wall. He glanced over at Ben with a puzzled look. "Go on! I signed up for normal showers, not golden ones!" He grinned and resumed stripping.
Still very uncertain, Ben stepped onto the mat and then positioned himself so he was fully inside. Any concerns about what came next were answered by his body, which knew what to do automatically. Ben's tail lifted and his impressive penis dropped as equine or centaur instincts kicked in. His bowels churned and pushed, he felt his anus extend, and then there was pressure followed by a loud plop as whatever he had eaten the day before hit the mat behind him. At the same time, at least a gallon of urine splattered underneath. The bodily functions took care of a need he had not been aware of, and felt very good.
"All done?" Reed came in behind him with the manure fork and expertly scooped the still-steaming manure off the floor and into the waiting can. Then he stood the fork in the corner of the shower and picked up a bottle of 'Mane and Tail' shampoo. "Just warn me if you feel another load about to drop, OK? I still think that last time was on purpose!" Then he turned on the back shower sprayer, waited until the water ran warm, and began shampooing Ben's back half.
As odd as the whole experience was, Ben both enjoyed and understood the whole cleanup routine. Any notions of personal space, privacy, even social taboos were washed away along with his loose hair and dirt. Reed washed all the equine parts and Ben's human back, then handed him the shampoo for the human parts he could reach. His friend used the same soap to wash himself off, then squeegeed excess water from Ben's equine coat after they both used towels for human skin.
Reed brushed out his tail, then used stiff and soft brushed on Ben's equine coat, grabbing the tools he needed from a drawer. After making a final check of Ben's hooves, which the centaur automatically lifted at a tap on each leg, Ben shooed him out and washed the shed hair, dirt, and remains of urine and manure down the drains. Then he washed off the manure fork, and finally, gave his legs and feet a final rinse. "That should hold you until next week, unless you roll somewhere or try another Secretariat impression and get yourself all lathered up on a run."
Ben grinned, still a little bewildered, but finding this strange new existence oddly appealing. Although in many ways Ben was treating him as if he were a normal horse, they still seemed to be friends. Reed appeared to be acting as his caretaker, a notion that should have bothered Ben more. In truth, he rather liked being pampered like this.