"Can you show me?" Bummie spoke after a while.
Surely this was a joke.
"Sure! But it dries a lot slower at night since the sun is down." Jae explains.
"That's ok I'll get a towel." Bummie hopped up and hurried into his house to retrieve the item.
What was a towel again? Jae looked at the house in confusion. He shook it off and began to back towards the walls of the pond. With his back facing the wall, he set his hands on the ground behind him and lifted himself up. Now sitting on the edge of the pond, Jae waited patiently for Bummie to return.
Bummie soon rushed out with a fluffy cloth in his hands.
"Is that a towel?" Jae asked, tilting his head.
"Yes, it is," Bummie responded.
Bummie went down on his knees next to a smiling Jae. The sea creature scooted backward so his tail came out of the water. He then looked up at Bummie expectantly. The owner of the house placed the towel on the sea creature's head and ruffled his hair, drying it. Jae let out soft laughter.
"That feels funny!" Jae says while laughing.
Bummie let out an awkward chuckle, at least this person was pleasant.
After a few minutes of this, Bummie touched Jae's hair to check it.
Ok, so it's dry what no-
Bummie gazed in concern and shock as scales from Jae's tail fell. When the process finished there in front of him were two legs, just like any other pair of human legs. Bummie examined the legs and ran his hands over the smooth skin. Bummie lifted his head to speak to Jae, but the words were caught in his throat as he saw the sweetest smile on the creature's face.
Their faces were so close. This was much more than he was expecting. He didn't know what to do. Bummie felt his face grow red.
He gulped.
Jae giggled.
"Told ya," The fish, now with a human appearance, mocked.
Bummie looks away with reddened cheeks and coughs.
"So, how'd you do that?" Bummie backed up a bit.
What the hell just happened.
"Don' know, just kinda happens." Jae shrugs his shoulders.
Bummie's heart starts to race and he studies Jae's legs. They were long with gray shorts rising mid-thigh. Wait, how did that work?
"How do these stay on when you change?" Bummie was confused.
"Oh, I don't know. I put them on when I changed the other day and my tail kinda grew over them?" Jae's statement sounded more like a question.
Bummie mentally facepalms.
"Oh, I'm sorry for coming in without your permission," Jae says apologetically.
"It's fine, but why did you jump in the pond?" The sea creature was too cute, Bummie doesn't think he could be upset with him.
"Well, I was walking over there-" Jae pointed to the boardwalk.
Bummie's eyes followed him, he nodded.
"-and my skin was getting really dry, so much that it hurt, and the ocean was far so I jumped in here," Jae pointed back to the pond cutely.
"Does it hurt now?!" Bummie panicked.
Jae let out his signature giggle.
"Nope!" Jae tried to put Bummie at ease.
Bummie let out a sigh of relief, as a thought came to his attention he gulped.
"Are you going back to the ocean now?" Bummie scans Jae's face.
"I probably should, but I want to stay!" Jae pouts.
After a moment of silence, Bummie spoke up.
"Y-You can always stay here,"
He barely managed to get that out.
Bummie didn't know why he was feeling this way, but he didn't want the creature to go. This was his first time experiencing anything like this whole ordeal. Jae was adorable, cheerful, and really easy to talk to. Nothing could go wrong!
What if he went into the ocean and never came back? Bummie would be left with so many unanswered questions. Plus, living alone got, well, lonely. Jae could keep him company as well as satisfy his curiosity.
"Really?! You mean it?" Jae looked at him pleadingly.
"Yeah, I have a guest room so you can stay as long as you'd like. Tomorrow you can come with me to work and I can show you around." Bummie tries his best to persuade.
What he didn't know was that he had Jae at the word stay.
"Yes, Yes! I don't know what a guest room is, but I can only keep my legs for two hours. If I wet my legs I can keep them without any problem, but I can't get my hair wet."Jae explained.
"hm," Bummie pondered.
"That's fine, I can pour saltwater in the bath and you stay there, in your tail, until morning. Then we can just water your legs throughout the day." Bummie compromised.
"Yes! Thank you so much!" Jae was exhilarated.
"Of course, but what do I call you?" Bummie had never caught his name.
"My name is Jae, You're Bummie right?" Jae had forgotten to introduce himself.
"Yup," Bummie confirmed while standing.
Jae stood up shakily then turned to Bummie with his bright smile.
"Ok, Jae, let's head inside."
Jae took Bummie's hand in his. The contact initiated by Jae had Bummie flustered once again. It seemed that Bummie was too soft for Jae.
He was always had trouble dealing with bright people.
Bummie squeezed Jae's hand lightly and began to lead him inside the house as Jae tried his best to mirror the other's actions.
It was much easier than Jae expected it to be and he hopped up the stairs happily. Bummie chuckled at the cheerful sea creature, he could get used to this. Once up the stairs, they reached the hallway which consisted of three doors. The guest room, Bummie's room, and the bathroom. The duo walked towards the bathroom.
Bummie swung the door open.
"Ok, you can sit in the tub and I'll go get some water to start filling it." Bummie pointed to the bathtub.
It was pretty big, large enough for Jae to be comfortable. The bathroom was pure white decorated with red appliances. Strangely, it matched with Jae's tail and hair.
There was a reason for the color scheme, I guess you could say being a lifeguard rubbed off on Bummie.
Jae laid down in the tub eagerly. After checking to make sure Jae was alright, Bummie headed downstairs to get his bucket and fill it with the saltwater from his pond. Jae waited patiently in the tub.
It didn't take long for Bummie to come back up with the full bucket. He proceeded to pour the water into the tub and chuckle at the cute little sea creature's reactions. This process was repeated until the bathtub was halfway full.
Bummie panted as he looked at the water in the tub. It took quite a long time and it was now 2 am. He started to sigh at the realization that he would only get a few hours of sleep, but when he looked and Jae's smile he figured it'd be alright.
The excitement would've kept him up anyway.
"Are you comfortable?" Bummie asked.
Jae nodded adorably.
"Ok, I have to go to bed now, but I'll be a few feet away so you can change back and sleep." Bummie tried his best to keep Jae happy.
"Ok!" Jae replied then wet his hair.
The two legs started to bind together as scales grew rapidly. Jae's bottom enlarged as color started to come to it. The product was a miraculous red tail that shined beautifully.
Bummie would never get used to that.