A random chapter from the potential sequel to The Firm Handshake.

The Deep End

It is not uncommon for a gym to have a pool. However, it is uncommon for many anthros to actually use it. Going to the gym with Blackthorn and his partner Julian was all very well and good, but you could only do so much cardio before you wanted to keel over from the routine. You knew how to swim, you had been to pools and the beach. It would be good for a change of pace and not being opposed to the idea the two equines had agreed. They had fallen for the trap.

The pool smelled differently to what you recalled, before you determined it was the lack of chlorine. It made sense, anthros would probably suffer more from it than humans. But apart from that, it was like any other gym pool you’d seen before. Large rectangle, pale cyan, tiled, with floating lines of red and white floats.

It was so like Blackthorn to wear a long set of black spandex trunks. It made him look like an action figure. No unwholesome outline here, no sir. Julian was nowhere near as competitive and came out of the shower rinse with a very colourful set of budgie smugglers that belonged more in a tanning salon. You had cracked out a set of shorts that were the industry standard at any tourist beach around the world.

‘I haven’t been swimming in years,’ said Blackthorn with a note of nostalgia. ‘I think the last time was that holiday in…’ he trailed off as the foreign name failed to load and shrugged as Julian gave a huff of a laugh as he failed to remember it too.
At the far end, sitting on an elevated platform, was the lifeguard. He sat at a 90-degree angle, so that one side of his body faced the pool, or, more specifically, so one of his eyes could see more readily. It was no surprise to you that it was a shark, a great white to be exact , but you had never so far seen any aquatic anthro in person before you had discounted that even one might be here in the city. He was built like a battleship without a neck, every part of him was a sturdy sea-worthy construction of smooth curves and power. His eyes were utterly black in all respects, yet clearly observing everything without issue. From his pose you saw his stark white underside collide with the dark bluish grey of his back. Webbed hands, webbed feet, fins, sleek tail…gills. They pulsed slightly in time with his chest as his mouth, kept purposefully closed, drew in the cold air.
The shark adjusted his stance, swivelling on the chair so his other side could confirm what the first one had seen. The bright red swim briefs he wore, and it was certainly a he, had the word LIFEGUARD across the posterior and a medical plus sign on the front. Both inscriptions were noticeably warped by their contents, even at this distance.

You walked around to the deep end with Blackthorn. Julian gingerly lowered himself into the cold water in the manner that all males must do at the shallows and waved at the far end.
‘Race you?’ asked Blackthorn, who did so with a tone that wasn’t mocking, but certainly thought he would win if you were to accept.

You smiled. ‘Certainly,’ and dived in.

Blackthorn didn’t stand a chance. Nature had given him power over the lands, but certainly not the seas. His dive might have been more elegant than yours, but it soon became clear to you that anthros, as a whole, did not have much of a swimming culture. Too many differences meant that a vast majority were not naturally good at it. Oh, you would have lost to the otter down in one of the admin departments, but a dense horse with hooves for propulsion simply didn’t have the physiology. You passed Blackthorn on your return. It wasn’t as big of a lead as you would have liked, but when you surfaced you had plenty of time to watch him make the return trip.

He wasn’t out of breath, but he was clearly surprised. ‘If I hadn’t been going to the gym with you, you might have won,’ you conceded with just the right mix of politeness to petty jabbing before playfully poking his chest.

‘Again?’ asked Blackthorn.
‘Absolutely not.’ You were not about to lose to his stamina.

Behind you was the scrape of a stool being stood up from. Both of you craned your necks to see a shark standing above. The lifeguard stood on the lone low diving board and, well, dived. Blackthorn had dived in perfectly, you had done so with a half-remembered technique from childhood, but what the lifeguard did was simply transition from land to liquid without any real point between the two. The water didn’t need to part, that would imply either it or he would be in the way of the other. You could feel the water left in his wake shudder with power, like feeling the shuddering window of a car with a powerful engine. You, Blackthorn, and Julian all had to paddle to move, but the shark had no such limitations. An unearthly movement played out before you, like a video game character flying by cheating, except limited to the confines of the pool. At the far end the shark neatly accelerated upwards and out of the water, which clung on to him like a cellophane wrap until he fully parted its embrace, so that his feet perfectly came into line with the pool’s edge. Then he turned around, dark grey to white once more, and dove back in. The dark blur rocketed towards you and Blackthorn, a bow wave forming as it slowed and rose to the waterline.

The lifeguard stopped a polite but still close distance away from you both and settled his arms over one of the floating lane dividers. ‘Permit me my sideways countenance, the world above is at odds with my kind,’ he said in a voice that you expected to be rough, but instead came out like a freshly cast church bell. Deep, certainly, but curiously limpid. He then turned his body so that one eye could see the two of you better. ‘I am Linné. I have never beheld a human inside this room before,’ he held out a webbed hand; the fingers terminated into claws which had been filed blunt.

You took it out of reflex, with the part of you that worried about the skin coming too late the argument to intervene. You had never touched a shark before this point, but knew from a distant memory it shouldn’t feel like this. It was like rubber, except it had a more “alive” quality. Linné’s thumb briefly moved down the back of your hand, the smoothness of it at odds with the fine hairs and imperfections of your skin.

‘Vance,’ you replied. The teeth were mesmerizing.
‘Theodore,’ Blackthorn responded and also took a proffered webbed hand. He at least was doing a better job of not staring at the teeth or failing to politely look into the black abyss of the eye.

‘Please, you must place me into the path of your dentist, Vance,’ Linné said who then made a point of clamping his mouth shut to hide his teeth. ‘A minor jest amongst fresh faces, I assure you,’ he reached out and ruffled your hair. ‘I am aware of the effect it can have; it has never offended me. Stare or do not, whatever makes you comfortable.’

‘Lifeguards don’t normally go for a casual swim,’ you said and vaguely gesture at him for emphasis.

‘You cannot deny that which only empowers me, and a pool such as this needs monitoring when free of chemicals. I have flawless safety record, besides.’ He deftly turned around so that the other eye took over duty. ‘And I was intrigued to watch you both swim. This one,’ he pointed at Blackthorn, his body being not well suited for nodding, ‘I have seen many times. You, not so much.’

‘I don’t think I have enough bodyfat,’ said Blackthorn, patting his midriff as if the absolutely minuscule ratio to the muscle wasn’t exactly how he strove to keep it.

‘But you have good technique. You are a creature endeavouring to become who he imagines himself to be and doing it well.’

‘Don’t feed his ego too much,’ you chop the water with your hand and send a slim slice of water at the horse’s face where it impacted dead-on with his nose. ‘It’s bad for him.’

Sensing prolonged conversation, and with a boyfriend to extract pity from, Blackthorn placed his hooves against the wall and pushed off towards Julian, who had been merrily chuffing up the lane.
Linné lowered himself onto his back in such a way that invited you to do the same. There are many differences between you and him, but as you do a backstroke you realise the reason your able to hold a conversation was because he didn’t need to move his arms or legs at all. His tail casually kept him in line with your pace, which compared to him must have been positively glacial.

‘It lifts the heart to see a human swim. Truly, I say unto you, the eye that never lingers soon forgets what it has seen.’

‘I am going to ask about your way of speaking, so we may as well have that conversation before we hit the wall at the other end.’

‘Is it not said that sharks have been around for 650 million years? That is a venerable age, prestigious even. Thusly so we are taught to be. Humans have yet to enjoy even a million years. Stuck upon the land, yet through cunning devices have been deeper in the oceans than my own kind.’

‘Most people I know still prefer a blow up floaty though,’ you glanced to make sure you wouldn’t whack your head and continued swimming. You didn’t bother turning your head to speak, so in a strange way Linné’s voice seemed to come from the ceiling far above you.

‘Formless until given breath, a pool toy is no different to any man.’

Your hand touched his. He had put it on the wall where your head would have struck should you have been careless.

‘I suppose to you this pool is a toy?’
‘It is akin to the small wooden huts on the beaches, less than a home, but still homely in its way. A garden I tend where the plants are people.’

You kicked off and began another backstroke. ‘And my swimming?’

‘I see the path of Vance the swimmer, had you been fed and raised differently. Though it is closed to you now.’

‘I thought you were meant to say “anything’s possible if you work at it”?’

‘My people have a long history. Ages have come and gone; the rocks of aeons have become sand. We are realistic in our expectations, tempered by reason. Etiquette is tradition, and tradition is but peer pressure from the dead. I do not expect you to ever breathe water.’

You glided then, trying to imagine what having gills would be like. Then you asked the same.

‘Up here I must breathe through my mouth, down there I may breathe with my nose. You adapt, but comfort is familiarity.’

If he could breathe the water, then presumably that meant he smelled and thus tasted in it better than the air with that analogy. It wasn’t a great idea to just admit to the HDG casually, even if the average anthro didn’t really consider it to be real without a law firm explaining to them in the welcoming package. Drifting next to you, gills in the water mere feet away, the air in the room might be voluminous enough to disperse it, but until the pool filters got a hold of it, the water was a confined space.
‘Now I ask you a question in the same vein; which path led you here today with your equine friends?’

‘The black one is my manager, we work at the same law firm,’ you both traversed close by the other pair so you raised your voice a little ‘he’s a pretty okay guy.’ Evidently, Blackthorn didn’t hear you from his furious swimming, but Julian, who wasn’t trying nearly quite so hard, did and gave a thumbs up on his behalf. ‘The other is his boyfriend. He’s nice too.’

‘Most unexpected, through the waters I thought you were his boyfriend at the start of all this. You both smell of the same car.’

That was also most unexpected. Or was he being polite about the fact that Blackthorn was all over you a significant amount of the week.

‘Does that mean you end up tasting a lot of…’ you trailed off trying to decide which word to use in a room which echoed a lot.

‘Urine? Certainly. I have them thrown out. Chlorine stings, but shame stings more acutely. In the water I can smell and taste a world, invisible pockets of texture and experience. Most of it those native to the land do not wish to discuss, but for my kind it is like the weather – a part of life. But, your job, please elaborate?’

His hand blocked your head bumping the wall this time. He had to be able to smell it. Maybe he didn’t know what it was, but perhaps it was the first pleasant smell that had entered his pool for a while and he was trying to figure out what it was. ‘I just do paperwork and spreadsheets. Sometimes teach some staff how to do the same. They’re the big shot lawyers.’

‘I see. Your form, may I?’ he reached out to show he wanted to touch you. Once again, neither his legs or arms were needed to propel him so there was no outward sign of how he was matching your pace. After an acknowledgement, a single finger encouraged your spine straighter. Again, rubber wasn’t quite the right word. It had a certain grippiness to the texture, and a coolness, but neither was unpleasant, just simply strange. ‘In here you are unique. I see scales and fur, but rarely skin. Most of my kind are bad in the water, but not yours.’

‘Your kind? You see Blackthorn and Julian closer than me?’

‘They are built for the plains, I am made for the sea. But your kind made its own destiny in the cities.’

‘But not as anthro or human? Or even animal?’ You paused swimming then. It was hard to be philosophical when you were concerned about bashing your head. Linné stopped with you. Whilst you had the lane divider to prop you up, it immediately became apparent that Linné had only used it to avoid immediately revealing he could effectively be at any depth or orientation in the water without effort. He used this to “stand” in a loose use of the word so he was at your head height.

‘Such distinction has always been laughable. We are all creatures. In the oceans which cover more of the globe than the land are my kin who will never breach the surface. Yet you are more familiar with a pet dog, who has never spoken a word. Our territory is greater, and we can use all of it from the surface to the floor. Yet, if we took the word of all creatures, a cup of mould would outvote us all. I am anthro only as a useful title to say I am sad your kind didn’t remain in the seas to build this city there.’

‘Why?’

‘Because you are pleasant to talk to, swim better than most, and you did not recoil from my touch.’

‘Oh, I get along with most –’ you began, before watching his gills ripple. ‘You know what, just ask.’

‘I can take a 15-minute break. Then after if you desire, I’ll throw some foam noodles into the pool. I think that horse needs one.’

You float to the ladder. Blackthorn rolled his eyes with a grin and Julian gave a wink. A brief walkie-talkie beep later and the shark was replaced by an otter, and you found yourself not being led to the communal showers, but a small room that contained only one for the staff. Linné seemed almost stiff outside of the water, though that was driven simply by comparison. You watched the word LIFEGUARD flex back and forth as he walked.

He reached and turned the shower on. It was better than the communal one, because it didn’t have to be restarted constantly, which meant no sudden cold interruptions.

‘You want to know, do you not?’

‘I won’t lie; it did cross my mind.’

His webbed hand took yours and slid it over the surface of his swim briefs. There was undeniably two in there, but the other accompanying act was presumably inside his body. Under the heat of the shower water, the strangeness of his body became instead better defined as exotic. The light caught it better, rendering it shiny from the tube lights in the ceiling.

‘It is a metaphor unto my kind, that we might experience half of all things,’ he put his hands on your shoulders and began an idle massage as he mused. ‘For example, I cannot give you oral. Normally, there is some biting involved, but not as you probably would enjoy it.’

‘And water is a terrible lubricant.’

‘And yes, water is a terrible lubricant.’

‘Have you ever done this with a human?’ you ask as his hands worked on knots in your back. His claws never seemed to come close to touching you.

‘Never. Before now I have only known my own kin. This will be a quarter-hour I will remember very fondly. I hope you’ll be instructive.’

‘You’re off to a good start.’

‘I see bodies move the same way each day. Familiar shadows on familiar walls. This is but a rare moment where I join them as an equal.’ His hands moved lower and into your swim shorts. ‘I can feel how far you walk each day.’ An appreciative squeeze followed for emphasis. ‘How long you sit for, and how often.’

‘And how often I fuck?’ you reply knowingly.

‘That I can smell on you. Are you popular because you do not flinch, I wonder?’ His hands moved over your hips, perhaps testing your thrusting potential. You can feel a great set of wickedly dangerous teeth speak softly into your ear as the hands venture around to the front. ‘Swimming alongside you left behind many different experiences. Yet I tasted no regret.’

‘I lead a charmed life,’ you say as you let your shorts drop. ‘Unique, you could say.’

‘We thus become two shadows for a while, indistinguishable upon the wall of life. We are both charmed.’

He is hunched over you now, head tilted to see what his hands are feeling, which happens to be your nuts. The shark is enamoured by them. To him, you supposed, it must be like being able to touch your own heart, or some other internal vital organ normally inaccessible to you. Though it is hard to read, you get the sense he is bemused by how they move. In the small of your back, both of his members are rods of heat that are camouflaged by the heat of the shower water.

‘I would like to ask of you something,’ Linné said, keeping his voice low so that the sound of the cascading water could compete with it. ‘I can smell we are, well, two lead dancers. But even so, I find myself wanting. This request may seem strange to you…could you…bite my dorsal?’

Being ignorant of cultures means blundering through them as best you can. ‘Like, hard or…?’ Linné turned his head away, which also meant turning half his body and he politely made a little humming cough and put a webbed finger to his mouth in embarrassment.

‘As hard as you are able?’

As it was once said, if they’ve got a thing for feet, say “fuck it, sweep me off them”. You bid him to turn around and kneel. He has to lean backwards, and brace himself with his hands behind him to give you the right angle. The anatomy in front of you was so close to recognisable, but the arrangement was unfamiliar. The head sat upon the shoulders, but without a neck. The back had the familiar muscles, which you gripped to steady him and yourself, but the dorsal fin sprung from it. You were used to tails at this point, but not with the texture of more fins at the bottom. He was like a living latex creature with the water sheen, the dark grey skin gives a hazy reflection of your naked self looking back, bemused. There was a joke about a fishy taste during sex that was being fought back down as you leant in.

You could feel it through your teeth, the living creature that inhabited the flesh. You sought to free it with your bite, grabbing hard with your fingers so your knuckles went white. Hot water from the shower tricked your mind for the feeling of blood upon your lips and the shuddering ecstasy from Linné felt like a wounded beast dying to your hunt. You push forward, unsure as to why you were doing it. Linné goes from leaning backwards, to forwards, to being shoved prone and you straddling him. You are unsure if you are able to hurt him, but redouble your efforts to try. Fingers dig into his shoulders, both massaging for his and your benefits. You pull with your head for leverage. You have no clue if what you’re doing is right, only what feels right.

‘Ah! Enough…of that.’ Linné pushes upwards, sliding you off of him. Your legs squeak on the wet skin. ‘Together, please.’ It was little surprise he was rock solid on both counts, but it was one when you learned you were just as much so. He extracted himself from the confines of his swim briefs and for the first time since you saw him the lifeguard logo on the front finally was allowed to return to its proper shape. His hands come and sandwich your member between his own and begins to pump them all in earnest, focusing on your own benefit most. His hunched body and your back shielded the exchange from the water. ‘If nothing else, you will never be able to say-’ the eloquence was being hampered by huffing breaths now, ‘that you beat me off in the water.’

‘A-a lame joke, now?’ was the only thing that came to mind. Your brain was trying to come to terms with the exotic experience and your diction was under a lot of pressure right about now.

You fired a shot. The battleship launched a broadside back at you. After a pause to allow for the come down and the cum to come off in the waters, Linné stepped away from the shower. When he returned, he had in his webbed hand and clutched carefully between the short claws a paper cup with some ice-cold water in it and handed it to you. It had been thirsty work.

‘Though we are both of the same mind, I would not mind sharing someone between us next time. Someone who we can both savage to our content.’

‘If I can persuade Blackthorn to go swimming again, perhaps we might get lucky and find someone if we fish in a busier pool.’