Waves crashed against the shore. Up above, seagulls let out their cries. In the sea, near some half-emerged rocks, one could barely make out some fishing bobbers.

Anon, Adagio, Aria, and Sonata all sat near the water. Each of them held a fishing pole with different levels of enthusiasm. As she had been doing lately, Adagio had opted not to take a chair, instead sitting in Anon’s lap. While this made it difficult for the two to use their fishing poles--more so since the Siren was decidedly handsy today--they were making do.

Sitting on Aria’s right was a bucket for any fish that they might catch today. The Sirens were interested in seeing how humans “captured their prey” first-hand, and Anon was more than happy to show them. He was also happy to show them how one gutted, de-scaled, and cooked a fish, but this had been met with some resistance. 

The Siren’s didn’t seem to understand why someone would gut them. They also didn’t seem to like the idea of “burning” a fish. He was told that it seemed like a whole lot of work for not much in return. Why not just eat the fish as is? The guts were good for you, and eating scales was good for the skin and teeth. When he had told them he had boiled the lobsters they had gotten him they seemed horrified at the idea.

There had been some back and forth, but he had finally gotten them to promise that they’d let him cook one of the catches they made today. Not the biggest one, or anything tasty, but he was willing to take what he could get.

Adagio shifted in his lap. She slid down, heels digging into the sand as she let out a sigh, half sitting, half lying on top of him. The Siren reeled her line in a bit before her grip on her pole loosened. She looked up at him. Anon looked down at her, ready to grab her pole if a fish took this opportunity to take her bait and run with it.

Adagio smiled, canines flashed as she leaned up to give his neck a nip. The bite was hard enough to make him tense, which had her giggling. She never broke the skin, but she had left a few nasty hickeys that he had to explain to his coworkers.

A few feet away, Aria groaned. “How in the High Seas do you humans do this?” she asked, letting her pole fall out of her hand and onto the ground. “I feel like my brain is leaking out of my ears!”

Everyone turned to look at her. Adagio was no longer smiling, a very unhappy glare on her face as Aria crossed her arms.

“What? What’s wrong?” Anon asked.

“This! Just… sitting here waiting for the prey to come to you! How can you just [i]wait[/i]?” Aria asked. “I know you humans are piss-poor swimmers, but come on. Haven’t you made some machine that makes you better in the water?”

“Fishing is fun.”

“This is the opposite of fun. This is the unfunnest thing I think I’ve ever done!”

“Unfunnest isn’t a word, Aria.”

“Shut your [i]mouth[/i], Sonata.”

Standing up, Aria marched into the water. With a mighty leap, she disappeared with a splash. Sonata giggled, Adagio let out an unhappy groan. Anon nearly lost his fishing pole as something gave it a tug. It wasn’t like how a fish would tug a line either, this was a full on yank.

A minute passed before the grumpy Siren emerged from the ocean. In her hand, she held two good-sized fish. Walking over, she threw them into the bucket.

“There, see? No fuss, no waiting around like some small-finned idiot, just food nice and quick.” she said, smacking her hands together. “That’s what we should be doing, not this shit.”

“Three things: One, that was great. Two, I know for a fact that no human on Earth could swim like you guys no matter how hard they trained. Three, even if I wanted to, I couldn’t,” Anon said.

“And why not?” Aria asked, arms crossing.

“I can’t swim,” the young man replied, reeling in his line a bit.

The scowl left Aria’s face, replaced by confusion. It was as if his words weren’t processing in her mind. Beside him, Sonata dropped her fishing pole, eyes widening. Adagio, making a sound that he couldn’t identify, leapt out of his lap, spinning around to face him.

Anon turned his attention away from fishing to look at the three. “...What?”

“You can’t swim?” Adagio said.

“Nope,” he replied, shaking his head. “Well, I mean, I can kinda doggy paddle but--”

“How can you not know how to swim?” Sonata asked. “Swimming’s like… it’s like [i]breathing[/i]!”

“There’s a lot of people around here that can’t actually. I know some of the fishermen around here that’ve been on boats all of their lives that can’t do it.”

Aria looked around. She took a step toward him, but just as quickly stepped back. The Siren then began bouncing in place like an anxious dog.

“What is… [i]wrong[/i] with you humans? Why wouldn’t you learn something so important?!”

“I’ve always wanted to,” Anon replied defensively. “It’s just they cut the class that taught us when I was little and my folks never had time to teach me. Whenever we came to the beach I just stayed waist deep since I was scared of sharks anyways, so I never learned.”

“Why would you be scared of sharks” Sonata asked. “They’re really cute!”

“They are not. They’re death machines with rows and rows of sharp teeth.” Anon leaned back in his chair. “It’s not really a big deal.”

Adagio’s eyes narrowed. She walked over, placing her hands on his shoulders. “We have to fix this supreme error in your upbringing, Anon.”

“Supreme error? I don’t know about--”

“Shush,” the Siren said, placing a finger against his lips. “I won’t hear anything about it. I don’t care what it takes, but you’re going to learn how to swim.”


~_~_~_~_~_~_~


A very long and slightly worrying conversation followed. Sirens give birth in the sea, and their children, or “pups” are they were called, are able to swim within minutes, even in the worst seas. A suggestion of taking him out into the middle of the sea and “let him learn or sink” was thrown out, which Anon immediately rejected.

Drowning aside, there were sharks in the ocean. Those sharks would see him flailing around and they’d see an all you can eat buffet. He didn’t care what the girls said, there was a thirty-foot great white somewhere close waiting to leap out of the water and swallow him up.

The conversation turned into an argument, then a shouting match, which Adagio quickly stopped. The Siren took him away, back toward their little cave and sat him down. After a few minutes, they had a compromise, one which left everyone happy.

There was a local YMCA in town. The place had been bought by the city years ago, and it had been just as long since it had been looked after. It was empty most days, since a lot of people in town didn’t even know it was still open, and those that did do so to use the gym. In the basement of the building, where some of the employees didn’t even know about, was a swimming pool. When the YMCA had first opened, it had been used as a place for the local swimming clubs and the occasional swimming competition, but now it barely saw any visitors, save for the cleaning staff and the occasional person that came to see if the filtration system still worked. 

This would be the perfect place to learn. There were no sharks, it was quiet, and close enough to Anon’s house that he could walk. The Y was open very early and very late as well, so he could go before or after work if he wanted. 

The girls grabbed some clothes and their toothbrushes, and they all made their way back toward his truck. All three of them were excited, like they usually were when coming into town, but today was going to be different. 

Anon drove toward the far end of town, toward an apartment complex. Helping the girls out of the truck, he lead them into the building, up to the second floor. There, a few doors down from the main lobby, was his home. The lock to his door didn’t want to turn--as usual--but he managed to twist it and open his door, stepping inside and turning on the light.

His apartment wasn’t too much to write home about. Pretty clean, with old, well-used furniture and a flat screen that he had gotten from a guy behind the Walmart. The thing sometimes flickered, but a smack made the picture as good as new. 

“Well, here it is. You guys can make--”

With a happy squeal, Sonata leapt through the door. She managed to stop just shy of slamming into his coffee table, head darting every which way yo take everything in. 

“Wow! This is your house, Anon? It’s so [i]big[/i]! Is that one of those TVs you talked about. Can you turn it on?! Please-please-please-please?!”

Aria brushed past him. She looked around as well, sniffing the air. “I’m gonna get something to eat,” she said, making her way in the direction of his kitchen. “Do you have any chips here? I want some beer too.”

Sonata jumped over his coffee table, onto his old couch. Finding the remote to his TV, she began pressing buttons until it turned on. Letting out an “Ohhhh!” she continued pressing buttons, changing the channel, turning the volume up and down, and somehow changing the saturation. 

From behind him, Anon heard a sigh. “I’m sorry, Anon. I would have left them back at the beach if I could have trusted them to not destroy everything while I was away,” Adagio said, stepping into his apartment. 

“Honestly, you guys didn’t really need to go through all of this trouble,” Anon said, closing the door behind him. “I could have just picked you up from the beach whenever work was done.”

“No, something as serious as this needs to be handled in a delicate and watchful manner,” the Siren said, shaking her head. “I just hope we don’t inconvenience you too much. I’ll try to make sure these two are on their best behavior while we’re here, but you know how they are.”

Anon opened his mouth to reply, only for Adagio to spin around and pull him into a tight hug.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get through this,” she said, fingers digging into his back. “By the time I’m done with you you’ll be the best swimmer in the sea.”

Anon looked down at her, a smile coming to his face. “Thanks, Dagi,” he said, returning the hug.

“No, thank you. Trusting me, trusting [i]us[/i], with something like this means far more than you know.” 

The Siren gave him a squeeze before her grip loosened. Her hands slide down his back, right above his butt. She looked up at him, using her biceps to squeeze her breasts together, a grin coming to her face when she caught him peeking. Leaning up, she gave him a kiss, which Anon returned.

The moment was cut short when they heard something breaking in the kitchen. “Hey, why do these boxes have pictures of food on them when there’s just dry shit in it? How do I make it like the food it shows?”

Adagio’s expression soured. Exhaling loudly through her nose, she broke their kiss. Anon couldn’t help but laugh at the look on her face, and in turn the Siren gave his ass a squeeze.

“Why don’t I order you guys something to eat? We can put a movie or something on too.”

“I wanna watch another movie about the ocean!” Sonata said.

“I want food,” Aria called from the kitchen, which was immediately followed by something else breaking.

Frowning, Adagio marched toward the kitchen, fists clenched as Anon pulled out his phone. Some pizzas were ordered and Free Willy was put on. Sirens seemed to really like whales--something about them being the “big sisters” of the sea--so they watched the movie with laser-focused attention. They were so absorbed that they didn’t notice the pizza guy knocking on the door. 

The guy seemed annoyed that he had to take five extra-large pizzas up a flight of stairs, but the tip Anon gave him seemed to brighten his mood. He wasn’t even able to place the pizzas onto the counter before the girls were tearing into them. It was fascinating, watching Aria, who must have weighed a hundred and twenty pounds, rip into two pizzas. The sight almost reminded him of watching something on Animal Planet. Adagio snuggled up to him on the couch, feeding him bites of each slice she helped herself to.

Four of the five pizzas were demolished, and an absolutely stuffed Aria was out cold soon after. Sonata was so absorbed in the movie that she barely ate anything. She was very vocal as the movie processed, and at one point she tried to get up and rush at the screen, only for Adagio to yank her back down onto the couch.

Halfway through the movie, Anon figured now would be as good of a time as any to get some things sorted before him and the girls went to bed. He didn’t want to stay up too late, since he had work in the morning, so he wanted to make sure the girls were comfortable for the hours that he’d be gone. Adagio tried keeping him close, even letting out a throaty growl when he tried to get up, but he eventually managed to wiggle out of her grasp.

Pillows and blankets were pulled out of his closet and set on the lazyboy in the living room. He made sure the bathroom was well stocked with everything that the Sirens would need. He checked his fridge to see if there was anything that they could eat while they he was gone. It was pretty full, but these girls could put away food like no one’s business; if they were staying here for a few days it might not be a bad idea to restock on some things after work.

He cleaned, getting things ready for tomorrow. Somewhere during this the movie ended and Sonata began to complain so loudly that he had to turn on Free Willy 2 for her. He felt like a fussy mom, even putting out a pitcher of water and some glasses in case the girls got thirsty in the middle of the night, but within an hour and some change he had everything ready.

“Hey, are you girls alright in there while I take a shower?” he called from his bedroom.

“A shower? What’s that?” Adagio asked.

“Did I explain what a bath is yet?”

“I know what a bath is, Anon.”

“It’s like that, but standing up. I guess.”

Anon waited for the Siren to respond, only to receive nothing but silence. He shrugged, figuring that she was eating more pizza. He made his way into his room, not completely closing the door in case the girls called out to him, also making sure to keep his bathroom door open as he stepped inside. Humming a tune to himself, he turned on his shower and began to strip. 
 
“When the levee breaks… there’s a ton of milkshakes… and everybody’s [i]happy[/i]…” 

He hopped into the shower, reeling back as cold water hit his bare chest. Darting forward, he twisted the hot water knob.

“Fucking…”

The water quickly warmed up, steam filling the bathroom. Placing his head underneath the stream of water, he blindly reached for his shampoo. As he grabbed it, still humming, he heard his bathroom door creak open. He poked his head through the shower curtain, blinking away the water droplets around his eyes, to see Adagio looking around.

“This bathroom is much smaller than the ones you showed us on that screen of yours,” she said, hands on her hips. “Then again, I suppose this is a smaller home yes? Having an overly large anything would take up too much space.”

She looked over at him as he wiped the water from his face.

“Are you naked in there?”

“Yes. Yes I am.”

“Oh, so it really is like bathing then?” she asked, looking at the pile of clothes he had near the foot of the shower. “Interesting...”

Reaching back, she tugged at the knot keeping her top on place.

“What are you doing?” Anon asked.

“I thought I’d come in here and see what the fuss was about with this whole shower business,” the Siren said. “Is that alright?”

Anon blinked. “Yes, yes it is. Absolutely.”

Adagio chuckled, a grin coming to her face as, with a tug, she undid her top. It fell away, revealing her round, full breasts. 

“There is enough room for two I hope?”

“If there wasn’t I’d make it.”

“Excellent.”

As she began to pull down her swim bottoms, Anon poked his head back into the shower. He looked around, gaze settling on the bottles that he had sitting on a shelf. Would regular soap be okay for her? Her skin was so much different than his; what if it gave her a rash? Maybe he had something laying around in his closet? 

As he leafed through them, seeing if he had a bottle of natural ingredient stuff, when Adagio gingerly stepped into the shower. He looked over his shoulder at her, then turned fully around, mouth hanging open as he took her in all of her glory. There was a blush on her face, though that didn’t stop her from placing her hands behind her back to give him the best look possible.

Her skin was as flawless as he was expecting, but she wasn’t completely hairless as he thought. There was hair around her groin; the same yellow-ish orange as she had on her head. The longer he stared, the redder Adagio got, until the Siren placed a hand under his chin and forced him to look her in the eye.

“I’m guessing bathing together is seen as intimate?” she asked.

“Wah…?”

“I thought so,” Adagio said, smiling. “Good. Now, how does one clean themselves in this shower, and what do you clean yourself with? Hand me something, I want to clean you first.”