FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

A/N: This story contains transformation, nudity, and anthropomorphic animals of multiple genders and orientations checking each other out in little or no clothing. If you're not legal or not into it, don't read it.

I've never been a lifeguard, but I understand from many friends that are that they have a much harder job than I've described. Sorry to the lifeguards reading this.

Also, this story isn't endorsed by Speedo. Too bad, eh?

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Very, very slowly, he raised his eyebrow.

"Problem?"

Harnoor looked up at Chloe, and saw the smirk on her face. He'd always found the cat's face attractive in a cute, slightly nerdy way. He'd never expected to see such a gloating look on it.

"Should I list the problems?"

"Be my guest."

"Well," the human muttered clearing his throat and lifting the garment in front of him. "This things is..." he checked the tag again, "...size 38?"

The cat nodded, her pleased grin barely holding back laughter. "Yes?"

"And my waist is about a size... 30?"

"That's what the drawstring's for."

"Ah, right," he replied. "A drawstring to tighten it up eight inches?"

"Hey, it's meant to fit tight on a size 38. Shouldn't be too much an issue tightening up to your waist."

"Of course," Harnoor replied, drawing it out. He cleared his throat, and then lifted the garment up again. "And about the whole fitting tight thing. I mean, a speedo? Really?"

"You're working with lifeguards. Of course you're going to be wearing a swimsuit."

"Yeah, but a speedo? I mean, I've got my own swim trunks I can use. Ones that fit and that, you know, aren't... a speedo. You've seen me in them." He couldn't resist a small jab. "Could've sworn I saw you checking me out in them the other day."

The cat snorted at that, shaking her head. "Right, 'cause I love checking out scrawny human boys with bad attitudes. Well the problem is that your shorts are the wrong colour. Gotta wear the uniform, you know? And besides, we know how good you are at swimming. We want you to be one of our responders for in-water emergencies, and you've gotta be fast for that. The tighter the better."

"Bullshit," he muttered. "You just wanna check out my junk."

"Hey, if you don't like it, then maybe you should think twice next time you're gonna cause a scene on the beach. Now suit up, newbie. Your shift starts soon."

With that, the black and white cat turned on her heel, and started walking away. Harnoor couldn't help but watch her retreating backside, licking his lips as he saw her long, lithe tail swaying back and forth behind her. Even when she was angry, the short cat was adorable. The only good thing about the next month of community service would be getting to see her in her bathing suit every day. Well, maybe one or two of the other lifeguards, too, but Chloe especially.

Sighing, the human headed into the locker room with his uniform in his hands. Along with the oversized speedo, there was a similarly large muscle shirt made from the same slick material. He couldn't help rolling his eyes as he started stripping down and tossing his stuff into one of the lockers. When it came time to put on the swimsuit, he put his legs through the holes carefully, as though he was repulsed by the material. He reached down, and tugged the bright red swimsuit up his legs. Like many lower-body garments these days, it was outfitted with a zipper in the back for tails. Just beneath this zipper, there was a broad white cross. It sagged down on his thin hips and smallish rump.

The human shook his head, looking over his shoulder at himself in the mirror. It looked ridiculous. He tugged the drawstring as tight as it would go, yanking hard until the waistband clung around his hips. He tied the string off, and then tucked it into the front pouch of his suit.

The uniform must have belonged to a former lifeguard, he reflected, tugging the slick shirt over his head. He found it hard imagining a lifeguard big enough to fit these clothes, but it was the only explanation. At least it was all clean, though.

Finally, he looked himself straight in the mirror. The white shirt, with a red cross on the front and back, was almost too big to catch on his shoulders. It stood out starkly from his darkly tanned brown skin. The shirt and the speedo together only just managed to cover up the trail of hair running from his chest down to his groin. The human sighed, then reached up to ruffle the messy brown hair on top of his head. He looked absolutely ridiculous. Anybody who looked at him would be able to tell that these clothes were meant for somebody probably twice his weight. If he had to do any actual swimming in them, he doubted that the swimsuit itself would even stay on.

"Well," he muttered, twisting a bit to look himself over, "this is what you get, Harnoor."

With that, he turned and walked out of the locker room. Chloe was already waiting for him. She wore a simple red one-piece swimsuit, with white crosses adorning her back and chest. Sure, it wasn't the most attractive swimsuit in the world, but it looked amazing on the black and white cat's body. It hugged her curves nicely, showing off all of those muscles toned from hours of swimming.

"Are you ready?" Chloe asked, her tail giving an annoyed twitch. "Or are you just going to keep staring at me?"

"Well, if that's an option..."

She gave him an unamused look, and then rolled her eyes. "Come on."

Harnoor followed her out the door to the lifeguard station and onto the beach. He had to shelter his eyes from the sun for a moment, and then the long strip of sand and water came into view. The place was pretty packed, as it was most days in summer. Towels, tablecloths, and parasols lit the beige-ish sand up with patches of colour. People milled around on the beach, moving down to the water for a swim, back to their towels to lie down and tan, or up to the changing stalls and vendors for food higher up on the beach.

Harnoor followed along a step behind Chloe as she started walking across the beach, weaving around running children and sunbathing parents. Much like Harnoor, she wore no shoes or sandals on the warm sand; both of them spent enough time at the beach for their feet to have grown accustomed to the heat.

"For the morning, the two of us are on beach duty," she explained, heading over towards one of the lifeguard sitting towers. "We're just roaming the beach, making sure everybody's behaving and staying safe. We might hit the water in the afternoon. Got it?"

"Yeah, whatever you say," Harnoor replied. His eyes were on a vixen who was laying front down on a towel, nothing but a revealing green bikini on her body. As they walked by her, the vixen glanced up, her eyes travelling over the two of them. When they fell on Harnoor, her eyes widened, then she raised an eyebrow and nodded at him. Harnoor was surprised, and glanced down at himself, only then remembering how he was dressed. He looked back to the vixen, and saw her sheltering a chuckle.

The human immediately looked away from her, and followed after Chloe with his head down and a heat in his cheeks. "Are you sure you guys don't have... you know, anything else to wear?"

"Feeling self-conscious?" the cat replied. She was looking away from him, but he could tell that she was grinning. "We've got some nice women swimsuits if you'd like."

"You're enjoying this too much," he muttered.

"Well next time don't start a fight on the beach." She stretched as they reached the base of the tower, her tail arching just enough to give him a good view of her pert rump. "I also might be more inclined to help you if you stopped looking at my ass."

Harnoor brought his eyes up. Right. Might be better to stay on her good side for this.

She exchanged a few words with the owl sitting on top of the tower, and then she headed off down along the beach again, Harnoor in tow. The human was surprised by how much he was sweating; he wasn't used to being at the beach for this long without getting in the water. He reached over to rub his arm, and the sweat made the skin feel very slick; almost smooth.

At first, it didn't seem like they were doing much. Mostly, Chloe just stopped to talk to people, occasionally knowing people by name. Harnoor would just nod non-committaly during these conversations, and generally keep his eyes scanning the bodies of many of the girls on the beach.

It was a bit of an odd experience for the human. Though a bit scrawny, he wasn't an unattractive guy. Normally the girls he stared at appreciated his looks, or at least didn't care. Now, though, whenever they looked back at him, they wound up giggling at him, no doubt because of his ridiculous clothes.

About an hour into their shift, as the two of them were walking away from a particularly nice old walrus couple, Harnoor finally sighed, and muttered, "People watching isn't nearly as fun when you're in a skimpy, oversized swimsuit."

"People watching?" Chloe asked. "You mean eying up girls?"

"Girls are people."

"Right." The cat rolled her eyes, and then sighed, and muttered, "Which one were you checking out this time?"

"That mouse back there." He gestured backwards with his head, and Chloe turned to look.

"The one with the purple and orange one-piece?"

"Bingo."

The cat was silent for a moment, and then she shrugged. "Well, she's got a nice butt, I'll give you that. She's wearing a few dozen too many layers of makeup, though."

Harnoor actually stopped walking at that, glancing over at Chloe in surprise. The cat returned his look, amusement clear on her face. The human took a second to gather himself, and then simply demanded, "What!?"

"Just speaking the truth." The cat turned slightly, and her tail flicked over to her right. "Now if you want some real eye candy, try that raccoon over there." When the human didn't look or respond, Chloe added, "Lifeguards get bored at work sometimes, too. With the amount of half-naked bodies on display, we can't really be blamed for taking a look every once in a while."

"But you're into girls?"

"Yes."

"What about guys?"

"Variety is the spice of life."

Harnoor simply stared at her, slack-jawed. To say the least, he hadn't expected it from her. She immediately shut him down every single time he made an advance towards her; he just couldn't process her checking people out on her shifts.

"How about I make you a deal?" she offered, the amusement still clear on her face. "If you promise to stop hitting on me, and to start talking a bit more with some of these people, then I'll check out girls with you. Sound fair?"

He licked his dry lips. "Fine."

She grinned. "Good. There's a family over here that I know pretty well. We can go and talk to them. Oh, and again..." she nodded over to the right, "...that raccoon. She's gotta be at least a nine."

With that, she walked off, her tail flicking pleasantly behind her. Harnoor stared after her for a second, before turning and glancing at the raccoon in question. She was laying back, a rather tight green bikini just managing to hold in her impressive bust. He wasn't sure, but he thought he could see the slight peaks of her nipples through the tight material. The bikini bottom was nestled in her off-grey fur, and despite her legs being held quite tightly together, the material was stretched tightly enough over her to leave little to the imagination. Though his mind was having trouble keeping up with what had just happened, he found himself muttering, "Oh, come on. Eight at best."

With that, he turned and ran after her. As he caught up, he reached down and adjusted his red speedo, loosening the drawstring. He may have been a bit overzealous with how tight he'd done it up. He carefully sat it around his pale-skinned hips, and sat the shirt so that it still covered up the very slight bit of hair running down his front. He'd never been all that hairy.

The human and the cat went around for a while more, talking to people on the beach. When Harnoor actually started participating in the talks, he found himself enjoying them. Most of the people were in a good mood, and just wanted to have a quick talk. Harnoor kept finding himself impressed by how much Chloe knew about each of them, asking about their friends or family or other things like that. The only time the conversations even felt like work were whenever Chloe reminded somebody to drink lots of water or wear sunscreen.

Between the conversations, Harnoor and Chloe would casually whisper back and forth to each other, casting furtive glances at different girls either sunbathing on or walking around the beach. They disagreed more often than they agreed, but it was a light-hearted disagreement. Harnoor started getting an idea of her tastes; she preferred girls that wore less make up, and especially those that showed a lot of skin... or fur or scales or feathers.

Getting closer to noon, the two of them had to stop to ask a few kids to move their game of frisbee away from some sun bathers, but that wound up being the most work-like thing they did all morning. They even joined in with the game for a bit, and Harnoor found himself enjoying it more than he expected.

Lunchtime found the two of them sitting at one of the picnic tables higher up on the beach. Between bites, the two of them were talking earnestly.

"So it's like racketeering?"

"I guess a bit. It's not like they actually pay us, but the discount on food is nice."

The two of them were quiet for a few seconds. Chloe was leaning back, watching Harnoor as he wolfed down a hamburger. Harnoor was too busy eating to really pay attention to her; he was ravenous. He'd never felt so hungry in his entire life.

"You normally eat that much?" Chloe finally remarked drily, raising her eyebrow at a couple bits of crumpled tinfoil that had contained two other burgers.

Harnoor paused at that, and glanced down at the discarded wrappers. He licked his thin lips once, and then shrugged sheepishly at Chloe. "Well, not normally. Probably just all the sun and the walking around."

"Uh-huh, and it has nothing to do with the food being half off?"

"Well," he replied, and a grin parted his face, "that certainly doesn't hurt."

She chuckled, and then stood up. He couldn't help watching her while she stretched, arching her back and pushing out her smallish chest. He returned his gaze to his burger long before she finished, and his mouth was full when she spoke again.

"Well, we should probably get back to work. I just hope that you'll still be able to float after all that."

She turned and started walking away towards the water. Again, Harnoor found his eyes taking her in, particularly that bushy tail flicking back and forth, making the material over her rump twitch. He swallowed quickly, and then got up, brushing himself off. He had to be careful with looks like that. He didn't want to get her angry with him again. As he stood, he reached down, and winced at how tight the drawstring on his swimsuit was.

He sighed, and carefully loosened it again, mentally berating himself for having done it up so tightly that morning. He finally got it to sit comfortably on his powerful hips, the slick material standing out from his smooth, pale grey skin. He gave his slight gut a rub, feeling the well-honed muscles just beneath the soft outer layer.

Harnoor nodded, satisfied that the suit wasn't so tight anymore. He started walking after Chloe, but had to stop and mutter beneath his voice in frustration. The suit still felt tight, but not around the waist. It seemed to be catching on something in the back and pushing out tight. He reached back, and his hands wandered over his rump for a second before they felt something. It was a short, yet broad bulge right at the base of his back. His eyes widened as his hand probed at it through the material, his forehead creasing in confusion.

Wait... was that...

He blinked, and then his fingers found the zipper in the upper back of the swimsuit. He carefully tugged it open just enough for the dark grey bulge to push out, and he sighed in satisfaction. That was better. He had no idea how he could have forgotten about that while he was getting dressed.

Without another thought, the human ran to catch up with Chloe.

The two of them spent the early afternoon in the water, mostly keeping to the shallows. They constantly had to dodge around splashing and playing children, and more than once they found themselves in the crossfire of water fights. Harnoor wasn't sure how well Chloe would react to these at first, but his fears were allayed after seeing how hard she laughed and wound up splashing back at a few of the older children.

Again, most of the time was spent just walking around, occasionally talking to a few of the older beachgoers. There were a few times when they had to break up splashing matches that were going too far or getting too rowdy, but for the most part things went smoothly.

Throughout it all, Harnoor and Chloe kept up their occasional back and forth of checking out some of the girls in the water. There were fewer of them here; most of the younger women preferred to either stay on the shore or head out into the deeper water. Occasionally, though, the human or the cat would point out somebody going by, and both of them would pause to take a good look. Much to his chagrin, though, many of the girls still gave Harnoor giggling looks whenever they noticed his eyes on them. Each time, Harnoor would simply look away, cheeks burning in embarrassment.

It was after one such incident with a rather svelte mallard that Chloe mercifully suggested that they move into deeper water. Harnoor immediately agreed, and they began wading deeper, letting the cool water travel higher up their legs.

"You shouldn't let them bother you."

"Easier said than done," he replied, averting his eyes as they passed by a man and woman walking the other way. "I don't normally care how I look. It's just... wearing this is different."

"So as long as you can cover yourself up, you don't feel ashamed of yourself?" There was a teasing lilt in her voice, but he could tell it wasn't meant to be mean. "I guess now would be a good time to remind you that what you're wearing right now is less revealing than what girls wear."

"True," Harnoor replied, and then reached down to plug at the loose space in his shirt. "Most girls wear swimsuits that actually fit, though. I still don't see why I couldn't have just worn my own bathing suit."

Chloe sighed, the exasperation clear in her voice. By this point, the water was up to their waists, and they finally stopped, letting the small waves push and pull rhythmically at them. The water slid smoothly over Harnoor's skin, tugging at the slick shirt he was wearing. Oddly, it felt like the shirt was catching over his back a bit, but he ignored it for the moment as Chloe kept talking.

"Look, it's all about facing a situation on its own terms as opposed to your own. We play around with the kids because they're more likely to listen to us when they like us and care what we think. We talk with the adults so that they think we're reasonable and are more open to our suggestions."

Harnoor was quiet for a moment after that. He let his arms wave back and forth in the water, and felt that nub at the base of his back twitching slightly in the wetness. When he spoke again, his voice was a bit more quiet and hesitant, "Alright, I can buy that. Still doesn't explain why I'm wearing a speedo that's a few sizes too big for me. Or why I'm wearing a speedo at all."

"That's me forcing you to come into this situation on my terms," Chloe replied, and then a grin parted her face. "And in return, I'm coming to you on your terms by talking about hot girls with you."

The human actually laughed at that. "So that's your motivation, eh? You've been playing me all along?"

"Of course," Chloe replied, forcing a mock serious look to her face. "Why, I would never check out girls in swimsuits for unprofessional reasons."

"What a burden this must be for you, having to humour me like this."

"It's a struggle." Chloe paused for a second, then added, a tad bit more seriously, "Of course, it does get old just looking at the girls."

"Hey, nobody's stopping you from checking out the guys," Harnoor defended, raising his hands. "Just don't expect me to share your appreciation."

"But that steals all the fun. Come on, just give it a shot."

"I'm not going to look at a guy like that!"

"Why not? Here, just try... try looking at their butts."

There was silence as Harnoor stared at her for a few moments. She held her ground, not backing down as he slowly muttered, "Their butts?"

"Yeah. I mean, guys can have good butts just like girls can. It's a wonderful gender equalizer."

"But you want me to look at a guy's butt?"

"Just give it a try!"

The human stared at her for a few moments more. Then, he reached up to rub a hand through his thin hair. "Fine, fine. If you see one that's worth looking at, then just tell me. This guy's butt had better be a friggin' ten, though."

She replied with a smile. Harnoor rolled his eyes, but let the topic drop. The two of them went back to hanging around in the water, talking to a few of the other waders out this deep. As they walked around and talked to people, Harnoor kept finding that he had to reach back and adjust his shirt. The feeling that it was catching something was getting more and more annoying, and he wasn't sure what was causing it.

It was as he was stopping to readjust his shirt for what felt like the hundredth time that Chloe grabbed his wrist and spoke quietly and urgently to him.

"Alright, that otter swimming by at eight o'clock."

Harnoor turned quickly, letting his eyes scan for said otter. He blinked, and his eyes widened a bit as his eyes immediately fell on the creature's rump. The otter was swimming away from them, giving a very clear view of that broad, muscled tail as it swung back and forth, propelling him along the surface of the water. Beneath that tail, Harnoor could just make out a bright yellow pair of square-cut swimming trunks. They were tight, very tight on the well-muscled hips and cheeks. The human could only stare as the powerful swimmer's legs kicked, causing those rump cheeks to slide up and down with well-honed, bulging muscles.

"So what do you think of that?" Chloe asked. She sounded smug, but Harnoor was still too busy staring to check her expression.

"It's alright," he finally muttered.

"Right," she snorted. "In that case, how about we head for some shallower water?"

"Let's give it a couple minutes."

"Why? That speedo suddenly feeling a bit tighter in the front?"

"Oh shut up."

"Touchy, aren't we?"

In response, Harnoor simply whipped a hand out and slapped the water. Chloe yelped in surprise as the splash hit her full in the face, making her stumble backwards a step. Harnoor was too busy laughing to react when she regained her balance and returned the splash. His laughing turned into sputtering, and he turned away, blinking his eyes to clear the water from them.

When he looked back, he just caught sight of Chloe's dripping wet tail and red-clad rump disappearing beneath the water with a splash. When she surfaced again, she was already several metres away, beginning her front crawl. Harnoor narrowed his eyes, and then threw himself forward, slipping under the cool water. The wetness flowed over him, surrounding him in the distant echoing of currents and waves for an instant as his legs began kicking with practiced motions.

He broke the surface, and then his arms started cupping and shovelling water. He pulled himself forward, turning his head to breathe occasionally as he took off after Chloe. Every few strokes, he would glanced up for a moment to make sure he was still following her, and was surprised to see how far ahead she was. As an accomplished beach bum, he considered himself quite a good swimmer. The cat, though, was lengths ahead of him.

As he kicked, he couldn't help but let out a grunt of frustration. He could feel the waistband of that damned speedo getting tugged at by the water streaming past him. On top of that, that damned shirt was beginning to get uncomfortable again. He could feel it catching in the back on something, the material getting pulled tight across his chest and stomach by whatever it was.

When they started pulling into deeper water, Harnoor cursed a bit. He would have to stop now and adjust the speedo before it got too deep for him to stand. He could tread water with the best of them, but he didn't relish having to do it while adjusting a swimsuit. He stopped, and stood on his toes to keep his head above the water as he reached down...

And rubbed a hand over the smooth, rubbery skin of his stomach a bit. Maybe he'd misjudged. The suit was still a bit big on him, but he was sure it would stay on. True, a suit like that was supposed to fit pretty snug, but it would probably be alright. It wasn't like it was too many sizes too big. Now if only he could come up with something to do with the damned shirt...

He shook his head, and then glanced up, cursing beneath his breath when he saw how far ahead Chloe was. It looked like she was heading for one of the many platforms set up out in the deeper water for diving off of. The human reached back quickly, and undid the zipper in the back of the suit a bit wider to give his short tail a bit more room. Then he slipped forward again, and began swimming.

His legs gave sharp, powerful kicks, driving him through the water quickly. For a second, he thought he felt something prickling on the top of his head, but he brushed the feeling away. Of course, his naturally hairless body didn't cause much drag, so he had that advantage over Chloe. However, he couldn't help but feel that he would be doing much better if that damned shirt wasn't restricting his breathing and getting caught on that... that...

He grunted beneath the water, and then in a quick movement, he rocked his torso left and then right, twisting it sharply. As he did, the tightly stretched material of the shirt pulled, and then gave way, tearing up along the back. Harnoor pulled his head above the water for a moment, sucking in a deep gasp of air through his thankfully unencumbered lungs. He gave one more sharp twist, and felt the fabric tear away fully, leaving his dorsal fin exposed to the air.

Harnoor dove back beneath the water, and kept swimming, rocketing along now that he could breathe properly. He kept his face pointed directly into the oncoming water, letting it cut a path for him. His legs kept kicking, and the motion forced his tail to flick back and forth, the small fluke on it helping to push him on faster.

He was surprised when the platform appeared in front of him. He was just lifting his head to take another breath when he saw it, not ten feet in front of him. Harnoor pulled up quickly, actually having to backpaddle a bit to keep from running into it. He tread water right next to the platform, panting for breath after the hard swim.

"So you actually can swim."

Chloe was already up and sitting on the platform. She was leaning back on her elbows, looking at him over the edge. Somehow, even sopping wet, she managed to maintain that almost arrogant feline grace.

"Did you doubt it?" Harnoor asked once he managed to catch his breath. He kicked himself over to the edge of the platform, and then heaved himself up onto it. He gave himself a bit of a shake to shed the water from his perfectly smooth grey skin, and then raised an eyebrow at the cat. "With a body like this?" He reached down to give his noticeable stomach a pat.

Chloe snorted at that. There was an outline of wetness on the boards of the platform around her, and it was still growing as water dripped from her fur. She sat up a bit straighter, and sheltered her eyes from the sun as she looked him up and down. "You lost your shirt."

"To be fair, you gave me a shirt without space for my dorsal fin," he replied evenly. "What did you expect to happen?"

"I don't mind. I'm just wondering whether you'll be alright with going around in just that." She nodded meaningfully down at the red material clinging around his hips.

There was a moment's hesitation at that. He looked down at himself again. "How long are we going to be out here?"

"A little while at least," she replied. The cat was watching him, clearly interested in his reaction. "We like to have at least a few people out this far just in case something happens."

He paused to consider this. He nodded very slowly, and muttered, "Well, alright then."

"I can't lie, I'm a bit surprised," Chloe said, and Harnoor returned his attention to her. "I didn't expect you to get so affected by something like this."

Harnoor raised an eyebrow at her, and muttered, "Well, look at me. I'm pretty much in my... no, not even. My underwear aren't slick and skin tight. How am I supposed to feel?"

"I just thought that somebody willing to pick a fight with a random guy on the beach would have a bit more self-confidence than that."

Harnoor was about to respond, but stopped himself, blinking a bit and looking very uncomfortable. He kicked his foot against the platform, splaying out his toes and looking at the thin webbing between them. Behind him, his tail flicked back and forth, scraping against the back of his knees occasionally. "Yeah, well..."

"Why did you get into that fight?" she asked, eying him up. "I mean, you don't seem like that much of a hothead now."

He shrugged, trying to make it look casual. "Not sure. Guy was annoying me, and one thing led to another."

"That's it?"

"What, were you expecting some sort of touching story about... I dunno, getting beaten or neglected as a kid or something? The guy was pissing me off, so I hit him."

She eyed him for a long moment after that before replying. "Well aren't you a badass?"

"What else am I supposed to do?" he asked, letting a bit more of an edge sneak into his voice. "Talk it over? Tell him that he's being annoying and ask him to please stop?"

"Yeah," she replied. "Exactly that."

"What, you think that actually works? This isn't an after school special."

"Have you ever tried it? Or do you always just lead in with your fists?"

"You're making it sound like I get in fights all the time. This is the time I've ever been charged with anything."

"But not the first time you've gotten into a fight, right? I've seen you all bruised up on the beach before. Don't try and tell me those are all from falling over."

"I can't be held responsible for what I say to people or how they react when we're both drunk."

"Do you actually believe that?"

Harnoor opened his mouth to respond, then hesitated. "Fine. No I don't."

He sighed, and then sat down next to Chloe, stretching out next to her on the wooden platform. After a while, he lied back, placing his hands behind his smooth, hairless head. Next to him, Chloe remained sitting up, keeping a careful eye on some of the other swimmers that were further out. The two of them were quiet, listening to the lapping of the waves slapping up underneath the platform. The motion bobbed them softly, rocking them as time ran on.

"You honestly seem like a nice guy," Chloe finally said, drawing Harnoor out of his daydreaming. "Today's been much more fun than I was expecting. You've still got a lot of growing up to do, though."

Harnoor considered her words for a long moment before replying. "I guess I should consider that a compliment?"

"Probably the best you'll ever get from me."

"Righty then. Today's been a lot more fun than I was expecting, too. You're surprisingly... not uptight."

Next to him, Chloe snorted. "I'll take that as a compliment, too. Oh yeah, a bunch of the lifeguards are getting together after work tonight for a bonfire on the beach. It ought to be lots of fun, and there'll be loads of food. Care to come along?"

Harnoor sat up slowly, stretching out stiff muscles. "Sure. If I'm going to be stuck with you guys for the rest of the month, I might as well, eh?"

He was met by Chloe's slightly mocking grin. "There's the spirit. Now come on. Let's get back to shore."

The cat stood up, and leapt from the platform, her body arching perfectly and cutting into the water with only a small splash. Harnoor watched her, and couldn't help but shake his head.

"Cats aren't supposed to be that good in the water."

He stood up, and then followed her in, his tail and webbed hands and feet propelling him after her.

The rest of the late afternoon and evening passed by in a blur. After Harnoor and Chloe got back to shore, they started the rounds again, talking to visitors and occasionally pointing out more attractive girls to each other. On one occasion, much to Harnoor's intense embarrassment, he pointed out a particularly nice ass belonging to a rabbit that Chloe was quick to point was a male. Beyond that, though, much of the late afternoon passed much as their morning had. They managed to get themselves briefly involved in a game of catch with some kids, and once or twice they helped flustered parents track down their hiding children as people started packing up and heading for home.

At sometime around seven, the two of them made their way over to one of the dug out firepits higher up on the beach. Several other young people around their age were already there, most of them wearing red swimsuits visible under their clothing. The fire was already well underway, covering the area in the smell of salty seawater and woodsmoke, and a grill had been set up with a pan and some hot dogs. When they arrived, Chloe immediately headed over to a cooler filled with half-thawed ice, and tossed Harnoor a can of beer.

He actually found himself enjoying the company of the other lifeguards. He got to talking with the owl that Chloe had greeted earlier at the sitting tower, and wound up getting a rather long explanation of the thesis the bird was working on. He finally managed to tear himself away from the owl and went to speak to a few of the other male lifeguards standing in a circle. He was relieved to find them talking about some of the girls they'd seen on the beach earlier on, and he was only too glad to join in. If any of them noticed the occasional glances down at their swimsuit-clad crotches or rumps, they didn't say anything.

The only slightly awkward moment came a bit later on into the evening, when Harnoor ran into the lifeguard that had broken up his fight on the beach. He was just polishing off another hot dog with the row of sharp teeth lining the slight bulge of his snout when he glanced up, and saw her looking at him. An alligator, slightly shorter than him. She was sitting on a towel spread across the sand, not paying attention to the other two lifeguards having a conversation next to her.

Harnoor stared at her for a long moment, his tail giving an uncomfortable flick. It was hard to read the look on her face as she glanced him up and down.

"So you enjoy your first shift?" she finally asked.

Harnoor gulped a bit, unsure how to respond at first. "It was good."

"Good. You seem like a pretty good swimmer."

"Thanks."

"I heard you got paired up with Chloe today."

"Yeah, she's great. She showed me a lot."

"Any idea on who you're with tomorrow?"

"Nope."

"You know, tomorrow I'm scheduled to be in the water for most of the day. Could do with a partner that knows how to swim well." She considered for a moment longer, and then asked, "What do you say?"

Harnoor hesitated for a moment. Though she was small, he knew for a fact that the gator could be quite terrifying. Thinking back to when she'd broken up his fight, he didn't think he'd ever heard anybody yell that loud or that angrily in his life. That swimming must have helped tone her body quite a bit, too, because she'd had no trouble pulling him off of that other guy...

"Why not?" he finally replied. He was going to be here for a month; he'd have to work with her at some point.

"Good. Try to be here at eight sharp. I like to start early. Name's Allie, by the by."

"Nice to meet you under, uh, different circumstances."

"Likewise." She stretched slowly, and then began turning back to her other conversation. Taking it as his cue to leave, Harnoor began looking around for Chloe, hoping to ask her about the alligator. Before he could leave, though, he just heard Allie's voice drift back over to him.

"By the by, the uniform looks damn good on you."

He jumped, and glanced over his shoulder at her. She wasn't even looking at him anymore; she was fully engaged in her other conversation. Harnoor stared at her in surprise, and then shook his head, turning towards the cooler. He needed a beer after that.

By the end of the evening, he'd met back up with Chloe. When the sun started setting, the two of them volunteered to head along the beach and double check that all of the fire pits had been smothered. They split up, each heading down along the shoreline in opposite directions.

Harnoor walked slowly, his head awash with thoughts. It had been a very long day. He grunted, and reached down to finally loosen the speedo all the way. The red material hung easily off of his wide hips, the material clinging to him like a second skin. He had no idea why he'd decided to tighten it up this morning; it wasn't like he needed it. The thing fit him perfectly.

His long tail flicked as he walked, the fully formed fluke touching against the backs of his ankles as he walked. He only had to stop once to kick some sand over a few dying embers. There was one firepit still being used by a family, and he stopped to say hello and talk for a short while. He wound up leaving the group with an extra popsicle that the family had brought along. He had a bit of trouble licking it with the slight, blunt snout poking out of his face, but all in all he thought it was a pretty satisfying tip.

It wasn't until he reached the very edges of the beach that he heard the sound of breaking glass. He glanced up in surprise, blinking. Up ahead, there were three figures around one of the fire pits. The fire itself had been extinguished, but the slightly acrid scent of the charred wood was tinged with something a bit stronger and more chemical. Harnoor gave a few more sniffs, and then groaned inwardly. Alcohol.

As he drew closer, he saw that the three people were in fact all in their early twenties. It was a trio of salamanders, their similar red and black markings leading Harnoor to assume they were related. There was a two-four at one of their feet, and as he walked closer Harnoor could tell that it was full of empties.

As he watched, the shortest of the salamanders bent down and pulled out another empty bottle. The amphibian brought the bottle up, and then whipped it down at the ring around the fire pit. The bottle immediately shattered, sending shards of brown glass scattering across the sand.

When the salamander started reaching for another bottle, Harnoor cleared his throat as loudly as possible, and called over, "Hey, guys. Could you cut that out? A lot of kids use this beach."

The salamander with the bottle looked over at him, swaying in position. After an uncomfortable long pause, the amphibian muttered, "So?"

"One of them could cut themselves on the glass."

"Well then why don't you clean it up, dolphin boy?"

He blinked at that, but ignored it, pressing on. "That isn't my job. Come on, there are recycling bins up at the parking lot. Why don't you go toss them out up there?"

The salamander was already swaggering up towards him before he finished speaking. He pushed his red and black chest outwards, and tried to glare at Harnoor. When he spoke, his breath reeked of beer.

"Why don't you go and do it for me? I'm just trying to have a good time, man. This is public property, you can't tell me what to do."

Harnoor took a deep breath in through his nose. Though short, the salamander was clearly well-built. That said, he was drunk, and Harnoor had only had two drinks over the course of a few hours. He could probably take him.

"Just take your bottles and go. You're drunk in a public place. Don't make me make this difficult for you."

"Difficult for me?" The salamander snorted, and nearly fell over from the effort. He reached forward and prodded Harnoor in the chest. "How are you going to make this 'difficult for me,' fatass?"

Harnoor felt his fingers curling into a fist. His heartbeat was in his ears, throbbing just behind his temples. "Leave now."

"Why should I?"

"Leave. Now."

The salamander met his glare, his eyes unsteady. There were a few long moments when neither of them spoke, and all seemed quiet on the beach except for the waves rolling into the shore.

Then, abruptly, the salamander stumbled back a bit. One of the others had stepped up and grabbed his shoulder, pulling him back.

"What the hell?"

"Let's just go. It isn't worth it."

"Did you hear what he..."

"We're going."

Harnoor watched the two of them go, the first salamander cursing and complaining the entire way. The third one quickly grabbed up the rest of the two-four and carried it away, leaving Harnoor standing where he was.

He didn't move for a little while. He simply stood with his eyes shut, and his chest heaving with deep breaths. His arms flexed as he clenched and unclenched his hands, wanting to hit something. Finally, after what felt like forever, he bent over, and started picking up the pieces of glass. He moved jerkily, still feeling that awful heat pumping behind his eyes.

"Harnoor?"

He jumped in surprise, and then cursed as one of the shards of glass bit into his hand. He immediately dropped the pile he was carrying, and clamped his good hand over the cut as he looked over at Chloe.

The cat was already walking over to him. She grabbed his wrist, and forced him to show her the cut. She cursed, and muttered, "Bloody hell, I may be starting to like you, but you can be an idiot. Come on." She tugged him softly, and started leading him back towards the lifeguard station.

"What about the glass?"

"I'll send some of the others to go and pick it up when we get back. You know, with actual gloves and stuff so they don't go and cut themselves. Jesus, what were you doing?"

"I dunno."

"You don't know?"

"Fine, I was being an idiot. Happy?"

She drew him up short, tugging him by the wrist until he was facing her. She was glaring at him, again surprising him with how quickly that pretty face could change. "What happened?"

"There were just some drunk idiots breaking bottles."

She watched his face just long enough to make him feel uncomfortable, and then tugged him along again, gently this time. "Tell me what happened."

He told her. By the time he was done his story, they had reached the lifeguard station. She exchanged a few quick words with the owl from earlier, and then led Harnoor into the locker room. It was empty, so she sat him down on one of the benches, and grabbed one of the first aid kits.

As she started wiping at the bloody cut in his palm, she finally spoke to him. "Well, for next time, try not to say anything threatening."

"And if they're not listening?"

"Tell them you'll call the cops. Most of the time, that's enough to sober anybody up."

"Right."

She grabbed out some bandaging, and wrapped it around tightly. After clipping it off with a safety pin, she stood up, and looked him up and down. "Well, the cut wasn't that bad. There was a lot of blood, but it wasn't that deep, so it should be healed over in a couple days."

"Right, thanks."

She sighed very loudly, and then reached down to grab him under his long snout. She forced him to look up at her, and said, "Look, you handled that well. I'm honestly impressed. Somebody doesn't just become an expert at conflict resolution in a day. Got it?"

Harnoor kept staring at her, thinking for a long moment. "Well, yeah, I guess so. That's not what's bothering me, though."

"Well then spit it out. What's the problem?"

He hesitated for a long moment, and then gestured down at his body. "I didn't... look like this this morning, did I?"

It was her turn to look surprised this time. The cat bit her lip, and then stood up very slowly crossing her arms. "No, you didn't."

He kept watching her, trying to read her reaction. When she didn't say anything more, he pushed a bit further in the most subtle way possible: "The hell?"

"Remember what I said about meeting people on their terms?"

"Yeah."

"Well..."

"Ah. Gotcha." He stood up slowly, and held his arms out to the side, looking down at himself. He twisted his torso a bit to glance over his shoulder at his dorsal fin, before facing her again. "So... am I stuck like this? I mean, I don't think I even have any clothes that will fit me."

"Well, if you want to go back, you probably can. That said..." Chloe said. Then, quite suddenly, she stepped towards him, pressing her chest against his. He blinked in surprise, and backed up until his dorsal fin was pressing up against the wall. His broad tail flicked uncomfortably as she pressed her fingers into the smooth, rubbery skin of his stomach, and she gazed up at his face. "I'll be totally honest with you. If you go back, you don't have a chance with me. Like this, though..."

And that's when she went up onto her toes and pressed her lips in against his snout.

Harnoor simply stood there, too shocked to react for a few long moments. Then, in a sudden movement, his hands were around behind her back, and his soft gut was pressing against her as he pulled her in closer. That broad tail of his flicked back and forth, and he could only gasp occasionally through his blowhole.

She broke away from the kiss just as quickly, leaving him off-balance and blinking. Her eyes were smiling up at him as she stepped back.

"See you tomorrow, regardless what shape you are. You've still got one month less a day of community service."

With that, she turned and walked away. He stared after her as she walked out of the locker room, too stunned to try and stop her.

When he finally managed to move again, he turned and faced the mirror. He looked himself up and down; the smooth, rubbery grey skin of his large stomach, the webbing between his long fingers, that long, fluked tail hanging down behind him. Finally, his eyes focused on the bright red speedo around his hips, hugging tightly and putting his package on prominent display. He sighed, and turned around, glancing over his shoulder at his darker back. Slowly, he raised his tail, and took a look at the white cross stretched tightly across his well-framed rump cheeks. He reached back, and carefully cupped one of the cheeks, raising it before letting it drop again with a slight wobble. The clothes he had worn here this morning would never fit him; he was walking home in it.

The dolphin sighed, and muttered, "She better put out by the end of the month."

With that, he swung his locker shut, and headed out, beginning to budget for new clothes in his head.