Fifteen minutes of walking behind Mr. Soft Coat—which I would much more accurately call getting-pulled-along-by—had me breathing in short, heavy gasps. His long, limber body hid an intimidating athleticism that I had never acquired in my short, twenty-five years of life. We quickly passed the road that would lead to my house and made the trip to the shore in record time—at least for me. I preferred to meander and take my time enjoying the scenery. Mr. Soft Coat, on the other hand, was all business.

His face was set into a grim line, his jaw ticking with nerves or anger, I couldn't tell. The hand holding mine was firm, I would not be able to extract my hand without effort, but wasn't bruising. We did not speak for those fifteen minutes; the set of his jaw warning me away.

I knew we were close. The salt in the air and the never silent call of seagulls were getting stronger. His hand tightened on mine almost imperceptibly, then it relaxed. We broke through the last line of trees, the last barrier, and the roar of the ocean waves greeted us in warning.

Mr. Soft Coat lifted our hands and guided me over the large, precarious stones. Our slow progress brought us steadily closer to the shoreline. I could feel the salt spray on my face and as I reached to wipe it from my cheeks, I stumbled.

"Whoa—"

A wiry arm wrapped around my waist and I was pulled by my still-held hand and the new point of contact in to Mr. Soft Coat's chest. Surprised from the sudden change from falling to pulling, I shot my free hand out and it met his chest with a thud. Heart thudding in my chest, my eyes dragged slowly from my palm pressed against flannel, to a bobbing Adam's apple, to dark whirlpool eyes. The thud of my own heart echoed in the heavy beat against my own palm.

"Thank—thank you."

He blinked slowly and nodded, swallowing heavily. The hand at the small of my back twitched, fingers tightening slightly, and I flinched away, closer to him.

"I'm good, you—you can let go now."

He blinked quickly this time, multiple times in secession, then his hand slid away from my back and back into the pocket of his coat. Steel-toed boots took a few steps back, and the overwhelming closeness was reduced to a simple handhold. I thought I heard a mumbled, "sorry," but the waves and his turned head garbled the sound. I decided to let it go and pretend like it never happened,

"So when are you going to show me... whatever you were going to show me?"

"Now."

We had reached the shore and were encroaching upon a clump of ebony-dark rocks that stood taller than me. Mr. Soft Coat dropped my hand, shoving the remaining one back into the coat. I watched silently as he took a deep breath, then proceeded to take of his coat. Then his shirt.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what are you doing?!" I quickly flipped around before I saw anything else. He'd only gotten as far as the fourth button down, but the plain view of unblemished skin was enough for me.

"Showing you."

"Showing me what?! Public nudity? Put your clothes back on, it's almost winter, are you crazy?!"

He chuckled quietly, almost a scoff,

"Maybe."

"That isn't comforting in the slightest. Are you dressed?"

Silence.

"I said, are you dressed yet?"

Still silence.

Curiosity taking over, I turned slowly, keeping my eyes raised high to where his face should be. But it wasn't there. Quickly, my eyes scanned farther left, then right. Still nothing. Finally, they slid down, and there he was. Mr. Soft Coat, obviously shirtless and probably pants-less, wrapping himself in his soft gray coat, sitting on the rocky beach.

"What are you doing?!"

"Showing you."

"Um, no. That's gross."

He gave me a quizzical look, but kept wrapping the coat around his body, which struck me as odd. It hadn't seemed that long when I picked it up. Or gray. Or spotted. With a hood.

Morbid curiosity kept me frozen in place as I watched Mr. Soft Coat cover his bare calves completely with the coat. Blanket? Was it actually a blanket? He paused in his ministrations and made eye contact.

"I am going to change—"

"Obviously," I interrupted. He shot me a glare that shut my mouth.

"I am going to change, different from your change. You must watch."

I grimaced, but nodded. This guy was cute, but he got off in weird ways. If he was just a little bit more normal, I would consider being his friend, maybe even dating but this—

My train of thought screeched to a halt as the coat came alive. The two folds over his legs fused together and continued to fuse quickly up his body. Mr. Soft Coat laid back into the coat, pulling the hood—now visible as an animal head of some kind—as he went, over the crown of his head and his eyes. The fusing folds of the coat quickly covered his belly, chest, then neck in black-spotted gray fur, the fur of the coat. The hood was the last to meld with the coat, but when it did, the entire thing seemed to give a shiver.

A few moments of silence and absolute stillness, then his—its—head jerked up to look at me. There, sitting in front of me, was a man that had somehow become a harbor seal. He rolled onto his stomach and started to wrinkle waddle his way over to me.

I freaked out a little bit.

Backing away, I slipped on a smooth rock and fell, hard. The seal wrinkle ran faster while I tried to run away. Docs slipping on the smooth, wet rocks, I fell again; this time, landing hard on my tailbone. Tears watered my eyes as I laid back, breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth.

"I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay," I whisper-chanted to myself. A slight nudge against my boot let me know the Mr. Soft Coat the Seal Man and caught up to my pretty pathetic failure of an attempt to escape. I squeezed my eyes shut, praying that he would leave me alone, but another and stronger nudge threw that idea out the window.

I gingerly lifted my head to peer over my boots. Round, solid black eyes met mine. We stared at each other for a few seconds before he broke it with a sneeze. A choked laugh escaped my mouth, and his eyes shot back to mine. With a snuffle, he scooted closer and gently pressed his nose against my boot.

I waited for him to stop before I ever so slowly shifted my feet underneath me. He cocked his head to the side and watched me closely, his black eyes wide and alert. Painstakingly slow, I opened up my right hand and held it out, palm out, to him. He snuffed again, and before I knew it, whiskers tickled my palm, and then the cold wet push of his nose pressed against the soft skin of my inner hand.

The world stopped for me as we sat there, nose to palm. It could have been seconds, minutes, or hours, I didn't know. The could have gone on forever. But it didn't. Mr. Soft Coat the Abnormally Large Harbor Seal Person ducked his head and slid the top beneath my palm, like my aunt's dog did when she was demanding pets.

I laughed and ran my fingers with the grain of his fur. He gave a soft whuff, and scooted closer. His head was now at my knee, and my fingers dragged from the top of his head to about where his shoulder should be. That kept him happy for a little, but then he huffed again and scooted even closer. His head fell clumsily into my lap and his eyes closed. Chuckling a bit to myself, reminded even more of my aunt's great dane, I started scratching around his head and neck.

Around his chin, I found a good spot, because his back fin started kicking against the sand I believe against his will. Seals being dogs of the sea was an accurate description. But hold on, this was a person, or at least I thought he was. On that train of thought, I stilled my hands. His eyes opened again to look up at me inquisitively.

"So are you all seal right now, or can you understand me?"

A huff.

"Huff twice for yes, you can understand me. Once for no."

Two huffs.

"Okay, so are you like were-seal or something?"

What sounded like an offended bark rumbled from Mr. Soft Coat.

"Okay then, so what are you?"

Mr. Soft Coat the Seal lifted his head from my lap, blinked at me slowly, then laboriously turned his heavy body around to head back to where he had started. I didn't follow, as I definitely wouldn't be able to help with whatever he was doing, and my tailbone still hurt, so sitting still was still my best option for the moment.

Stopping by his clothes, he rolled over onto his back and started to wriggle. As I watched, a seam began to open starting below his snout. Once I saw the first bit of skin, I brought my knees up and hid behind them, looking straight down into my lap. After a few seconds, and the sound of rustling clothes, I felt a soft touch on my boot.

Startled, my head shot up to meet Mr. Soft Coat's forehead with my own.

"Ow! Sorry, you startled me." I apologized, rubbing the offending spot. He was rubbing his own, grinning madly,

"You did not run."

"No, no I did not."

"Why?"

I paused, why didn't I run?

"I guess seals just aren't that naturally intimidating, I guess." He nodded, taking what I said seriously. Obviously, he thought so, too.

"You asked me what I am."

"Yeah, yeah I did. So what are you?"

"I am a selkie."

"A what?"