Cathy sprang up from the bench, and with deep concern in her face, put her hands on his shoulders.

"Oh my gosh," she teared up, "what happened to you Wy?"

"I guess...," he said, "I let things get a little out of hand."

"A little?" Jenna said. She just couldn't believe that Wyatt had let it go this far.

"You got more gene juice didn't you?" Cathy asked.

Wyatt shook his head. He walked over to the bench, and they sat down, with him between the two of them.

"Not exactly... I've looked it up. After you do a one time change, the altering virus can sit dormant for a bit until the fully disposes of it. But becuause I had problems breaking my canine instincts, it didn't let the virus die. It kind of stayed active, and my body was confused."

"You got sick a bunch," Jenna said.

"Yes," Wyatt said, licking his nose. "And during that time... I let it go full force. And because I didn't choose to let it die, like you're supposed to with one time uses, I gained the ability to change back into a dog."

A very embarrassed expression came to Cathy's face, one that needed no interpretation. Wyatt had been that dog nearby. He'd been listening in on them. He'd heard everything.

Cathy wheezed, too distresed to even sob. It sounded eerily similar to the canine whines that Jenna had gotten used to hearing Wyatt make now.

"But what about this?" Jenna said, trying to distract Wyatt from Cathy. She gestured to all of him.

"I've got kind of good at striking a balance," Wyatt explained. "This... this is the place I like to be. I've... I've never felt... quite human, if that makes sense. But when I first changed, that didn't feel exactly right either. But here in between... I like this."

Cathy was trying to hide her emotion, wiping her eyes with her head turned.

"I'm sorry I listened in on you," he said to her. "....Cathy."

Cathy looked about to break apart again, and Wyatt wrapped his arms around her. Cathy held onto his embrace in turn, the fur under Wyatt's shirt rubbing against her.

Jenna noticed, interestingly, that Wyatt didn't simply have hands, or paws, but a combination. He had the shape of his normal hands, but covered in fur, with pads on them. His arms and legs also had their regular skeletal structure. His face had elongated similar to a dog's muzzle, but it was shorter.

Huh. It reminded Jenna of a video she'd watched, about how pet dogs had something called domestication syndrome, that caused their muzzles to be shorter than their ancestral wolves. Jenna supposed being intelligent was technically domesticating even more.

Jenna shook her distracting thoughts away as the two of them held onto each other.

"Looks like we've both been keeping secrets," Wyatt said to Cathy.

"Yeah," she said with a hoarse voice.

"I guess we're sort of at an even ground of awkwardness then," he said. "You're feeling awkward because your childhood friend now knows you're in love with him, and that you want to be a girl, and I'm feeling awkward because I just admitted I want to be half animal."

"You're not awkward Wyatt," Cathy said, ending their hug. "You said your secret freely, without fear. I... I said it because I thought we were alone."

"Are you mad at me?" Wyatt asked.

"No," Cathy said. "I'm mad that I couldn't tell you sooner."

"Well I told you my secret because I have absolutely no filter, and don't know when it's smarter to keep things in."

"Sometimes...," Cathy said, "it's nice... to be around someone who doesn't hide."

"Plus," Wyatt said, "I feel like I owed it to you to make myself feel embarrassed, after what I did that to you."

"I don't want you to be embarrassed," Cathy said.

"I don't want you to be either," Wyatt smiled. There was something very lovable about his smile as a dog. He literally had puppy dog eyes on him.

"So....," Cathy started. Then didn't say anything. She seemed to have a hard time continuing.

The sounds of the park and the nearby woods roamed around them. Thankfully, no one took this part of the bike trail often, which was the exact reason why Jenna had stopped here to talk to Cathy.

Now though, Jenna was feeling a bit like a third wheel to the conversation. But these were her two oldest friends. No. She was not a third wheel. She was here to support both of them.

"What do you think of me?' Cathy whispered.

"I like your hair," Wyatt said, characteristically indirect, only at the time someone wanted him to be bold.

"C'mon Wy," Cathy smiled a bit in her sobbing, then she frowned again. "Just... just say no, I'm not interested."

Wyatt sighed. "I'm sorry Cathy," he said, "but I'm not sure I can give you what you want right now. From either side of you. I'm not ready to say yes. I'm not ready to say no."

"Augh," Cathy moaned. "Why can't it just be one or the other. I hate my own indecisiveness. Why does it have to -"

"I just," Wyatt interrupted, then moved to a calming tone, "I just... I don't hate you Cathy. And I'm not mad or anything. You and Jenna are my best friends. But I'm not ready to say for sure if I feel about you the way you seem to feel about me."

Cathy craned her head upward, squeezing her eyes shut as tears trickled down the side of her head.

"But what I can say Cathy," he said, "is that I fully accept your decision to be a girl. I know how you feel. I've been afraid to act the way that I want to. I wish that people like me were as accepted as transgender people like you and Jenna are."

Cathy made full eye contact with Wyatt for the first time since he'd sat on the bench. "I... I accept you Wy," she managed a smile.

Wyatt began wagging his tail slightly.

"Is... is it weird that I think that you look cute like this?" she asked.

"You've kind of been dropping hints about it for a while," Wyatt said. "I started to suspect you were gay, but not that you wanted to be a girl."

"Are... are you gay?" Cathy asked. "Because... if... if you are... I don't have to go through with this, I..."

"Please... please don't sacrifice who you are for me Cathy," he said. I'm not gay. But if I was, I don't think I could be comfortable saying I cared about you if I was forcing you to be someone you're not. People that love each other don't do things like that."

"I... I don't want... I don't want you to change Wy," Cathy sobbed. "But... after I... hopefully... become a girl..."

"Like I said Cathy," Wyatt said, "I'm not sure yet. We're in a whirlwind of surprises right now, and I'm going to need some time to think this through."

Cathy was still crying, though it wasn't accompanied by any sobbing or wheezing.

"Okay," she said. "I... I think that's reasonable. I've imagined when I'd tell you this. It would always go one of two ways in my mind, and neither... neither was very realistic."

"Well," Wyatt smirked, "I doubted that your wildest dreams involved me being a dog."

Cathy looked down at her feet. Then glanced over at Wyatt's bare feet, which had paw-like toes.

"You've made me a furry," Cathy said. "I'm not sure how I feel about that."

"You've finally admitted it," he said with a grin. That makes me happy."

Wyatt glanced at Jenna.

"What?" Jenna laughed, "I'm not party to this. I know some people say so, but us merfolk aren't furries."

"Hmph, I suppose," Wyatt smirked.

"So are you going to stay like that?" Cathy asked Wyatt.

"I've been privately becoming a real furry more and more lately," Wyatt said. "I've kind of gotten to where my body naturally wants to change into this when I get home from school."

"Do your parents know?" she asked.

"Yes," he said. "But they haven't been very happy about it. I think a lot of people don't like messing with genetics stuff, but my parents especially don't. I think they're afraid I'm going to go off and design my future children when I'm older."

He sighed. "But they tolerate it. My brothers haven't been the kindest though."

"Well I won't make fun of you," Cathy said.

"I didn't doubt it," Wyatt said. "If I thought you would, I never would've shown myself to you."

"Someday," Cathy said with flat emotion, "I'll show you myself too."

Wyatt smiled, hugging her again. "I can't wait."