The next morning, Bummie took a few minutes. He took a few minutes to figure out if last night was real or not. Then, he decided to check his bathroom.
Bummie opened the door and there he was, the beautiful sea creature he had met at 1 am. Jae was sleeping peacefully, much to Bummie's delight. Bummie sat on the bathroom floor. He looked at the bright red tail and reached out to touch it. He poked the scales gently.
It was so strange.
Jae opened one eye to take a peek at the human. Who was completely unaware of his consciousness. The mermaid suppressed his giggles as the human tickled his tail with pure amazement on his face.
When Jae's tail moved slightly to the side, Bummie jerked back. He peered up at the sea creature to see him looking right back at him. Jae gazed directly into Bummie's eyes with his usual sweet smile. Bummie's face grew hot with embarrassment.
"H-hi," Bummie stammered.
Jae let out a small laugh.
"Hi," Jae said in response.
There was a moment of silence.
"You can touch it, I really don't mind." Jae offered.
One thing Jae did know was that humans were very curious... and touchy.
"Huh?" Bummie gulped.
"My tail, you can touch it," Jae explained further.
Jae knew he wanted to touch it. He didn't mind it either. Since this human was being so nice.
"Thank you, I'm sorry if it's weird-" The last thing Bummie wanted to do was scare the sea creature away.
Damn, he shouldn't have touched it in the first place.
Jae shakes his head.
It made Jae a bit happy. He was pretty proud of his tail. Now he could show it off.
"It's just, I've never seen anything like you." Bummie continued slowly.
"It's ok, I don't mind it at all!" Jae said as he shook his head again and gave a thumbs up.
Complimented by a short smile.
"Are you sure?" Bummie genuinely cared about his opinion and wanted to be considerate.
Although he must admit that touching it was not very considerate- Bummie was shocked! You could say he's building a sense of boundaries with Jae.
"Of course, silly!" Jae didn't see what the big deal was.
Jae came off as radiant. A radiant that Bummie absolutely loved.
..He was soft for nice people.
Bummie leaned forward to, once again, press his hand against Jae's tail. Sliding his hands across it. He felt the red tail awkwardly before looking to Jae for reassurance.
'don't fuck it up' was all that came to mind.
Jae simply smiled and nodded. He really didn't care. He wanted to make that apparent.
With a clear sign to continue, Bummie resumed the gliding of his hand against Jae's tail. He ran his fingers up to the creature's waist, down to the bottom of the tail, and decided he was satisfied.
The more he thought about it the more guilty he felt.
Bummie reached under Jae's tail to yank the drain up, the water left the tub.
"Hey, I'm going to lift you up and set you on the edge of the tub ok?" Bummie warned.
He was trying to carry this out smoothly.
"Mhm,"
A low hum in response.
Bummie grabbed Jae gently by the waist and lifted him. He sat the sea creature on the edge of the tub. The mermaid was a tiny bit heavy and it was tricky since he was wet. However, you can't underestimate a lifeguard's ability.
While making sure Jae had gained balance, Bummie went into the cupboard and retrieved a fluffy towel.
Jae grinned at the sight of the object, he liked towels quite a bit.
Bummie began to dry the happy sea creature's hair. After a while, Jae's hair was dry and he recovered his human legs. Bummie was still amazed by the sequence, but he already knew it would become familiar to him eventually.
Maybe not.
Bummie pulled the mermaid up to his feet and led him to the bedroom.
"I'll give you some of my clothes to wear," Bummie told Jae as they walked into the bedroom.
Jae cheered, this whole experience was exhilarating.
Bummie first got a body towel to dry Jae off. When he started this action, all Jae did was smile. A good reaction he supposed.
Bummie moved to search his drawer for some clothes to fit the other. He ended up pulling out red swim shorts and a white tank top. Both the items fit tight on himself so they should be perfect for Jae.
Bummie handed Jae the items, the mermaid glanced at him confused.
"Oh, right." Bummie shook his head.
The lifeguard grabbed back the items of clothes and began to dress the sea creature. Bummie slid the red shorts over the tight grey ones. He placed the tank-top over Jae's and pulled Jae's arms through the holes.
"Alright, all done!" Bummie pat Jae's head.
Jae giggled.
"Ok, now I have to get ready. I'll turn on the tv so you can watch it while you wait." Bummie grabbed the remote and turned on the small television sitting on the dresser.
Jae's eyes extended as he inspected the colors playing on the screen.
Bummie chuckled as he sat Jae down on the bed.
Bummie glanced back at Jae for reassurance before heading into the bathroom to get ready. After about ten minutes Bummie came back into the bedroom to see Jae right where he left him. Well, that was a relief. The sea creature was just blankly staring at the tv with his mouth agape.
Bummie laughed before turning the tv off and pulling Jae up.
"Ok, time to go now," Bummie instructed.
"Bummie! That box with all the colors was so cool! There were people on it and then people that looked like people, but weren't really people!" Jae tried to describe the cartoons he saw.
Bummie laughed as he seized his work items along with a few extra things for Jae.
"That's great, you can watch more of it when we get home. I'll show you some of my favorite shows, sound good?" Bummie suggested.
"Really? You're the best human I've ever met Bummie! A lot of them are mean, but you've been so nice this whole time!" Jae praised.
Bummie frowned.
"I'm sorry, you don't deserve to be treated harshly. You're too sweet to be harmed in any way." Bummie confessed.
Jae's eyes sparkled.
Bummie blushed as the cute creature looked at him so fondly. Bummie wondered if he looked like that when he was staring at Jae. What he did know, was that his heart beat faster at the possibility that they viewed each other the same way.
The duo stopped at the front door. Bummie held the doorknob and then turned to Jae with a smile. He spoke.
"Are you ready?" Bummie asked teasingly.
"Of course I'm ready!" Jae beamed.
Bummie opened the door.
"Welp, let's go"