"This whole rerouting thing screwed me up man!" The anthropomorphic frog screamed into his phone, another passenger confused by the city's renewed metro system. Typical anthros, they love to be theatrical and dramatic, not that it bothered Johnny that much. In fact, he thought it was funny to see someone croak like that.

Although letting someone have a panic attack wasn't the nice thing to do. So the human felt forced to help, it's not like anybody else seemed to care.  "Where are you heading?" They were sitting right next to each other, so it wasn't too awkward of a position to start talking. The moment Johnny opened his mouth however, the anthro immediately jumped and almost dropped his phone. "YIKES! You scared me!" The frog yelled out while breathing heavily.

"Hey, it's alright. Just saw you struggling there, do you need any help?"  To appear friendly he tried to maintain eye contact. The way the frog stared back was intense, making it seem like he was afraid he'd get his soul stolen if he looked away. 

Eventually he took a deep breath and calmed himself down before addressing the question. "Sorry about that, I'm a bit lost. Not really used to talking to humans either hehe…" The anthro croaked involuntarily, clearly more uncomfortable with the human beside him than with the fact he might miss his station. You'd think nowadays with how much anthro/human relations get pushed everyone would be used to each other. "Can you… just show me how to get to the 7th avenue station?"

Johnny sighed and gave him full instructions on how to reach his destination. "...So hop out at the next spot, and follow those 2 other lines until the end, ok?" They stared at the station guide for a few seconds before the anthro got up from his seat “Thanks. You're a real lifesaver my friend!" Before the human could even respond the train had stopped and the frog hopped off into the station.

Still, Johnny couldn't help but think about his startled reaction. Would he have acted differently if he wasn't human? The subway car they were on wasn't very full considering the time, guess very few people actually ride this metro line on Saturday Morning. Around him there was a total of 15 people, out of them only one was an anthro… at least he thought it was an anthro.

He was wearing a brown hoodie and cargo shorts with really long socks, his shoes were some hideous children's brand that had seen years of wear. There was barely any skin visible, but the hood couldn't cover the strange fish mouth the anthro had, it was almost as wide as the hood itself. That was odd, Johnny hadn't seen an anthro fish in over a decade, maybe it's a weird looking lizard? 

At that moment the "fish" grabbed a water bottle from his backpack and guzzled the whole thing down in a few seconds. It was quite an impressive sight. When he closed the bottle his head immediately turned to Johnny. The fish sat up and slowly walked towards him before sitting on the spot the frog man left vacant. It wasn't that noticeable before but he had a large fin-like tail that almost touched the floor as it trailed behind him. 

They had stopped at multiple stations since the frog anthro hopped off, with only 10 other people left in their subway car. The fish put the bottle back in his bag before taking off his hood, revealing his full face. "Jonathan! It's been so long! Don't think I didn't notice you staring at me, guess you recognized me first" Oh god, it was her…

Her voice sounded frail and small, even though she was clearly excited, it also had a distinctively feminine flair. The face was pretty much what you'd expect from an anthropomorphic fish, a wide mouth, dark brown skin with white dots all over, wait, was skin the correct term? Or was it scales? What did fish even have? Johnny couldn't quite remember. Unlike regular fish her gills were barely visible, seemingly non-functional and mostly blocked out by her wet and messy black hair, an element that truly stood out on her. She was a lungfish anthro, one that had fully adapted to living away from water. "Hello? Jonathan?"

"Oh! Apologies, I didn't mean to be rude. Hi there… you. It's been so long! Jessie right?" She immediately frowned when he tried guessing her name. "It's Debbie… don't you remember? We went to school together for 6 years… back in Aberwood?" Oh god, his memories were flowing back in, he hadn't thought about her for so long.

She went to grab something from her pocket, giving a clear view of her strange hands. The appendages were like something out of the creature from the black lagoon, with long almost tentacle-like fingers that had an extra bit of skin connecting them. "Here, I have an old picture of me." The phone displayed Debbie proudly holding a fishing rod,  sitting by her side was…

Johnny, it was him alright, the short black hair, scar on the left cheek, almond eyes. It all added up to a much younger version of him, but still him nonetheless. The sight of the picture activated more memories in his brain. It was over a decade ago and he wasn't great at remembering things in the first place. His college years of partying left him a bit blank on certain details of his past, still this girl was a childhood friend, why was she so hard to remember?

"We were inseparable back then. I showed you how to fish, remember?" Oh god, he realized why it was so hard to remember, he purposely tried to forget her. 

The freak that wanted to marry the fish girl, all the other kids would mock the two. He tried and tried and tried to make those bad memories go away after leaving that place. Now he was thinking about how she felt when his family moved out, did she ever make any other friends? 

"Debbie! It's been so long, I was just heading back home after staying at a friend's house last night, how are you holding up?" Her face lit up when he referred to her by name, she could barely contain her excitement at seeing him again. "Oh I'm doing great! I'm gonna fish by lake mead today, leaving on the same stop as you too! Coincidences am I right?" All these years and she still had the same hobbies, but she looked more confident than his ressurging memories told him she should be.

"Oh that's nice" Debbie nodded her head, pointing at the stop in the confusing metro map. It was a nice walk to the lake, crazy coincidence that it was the same stop as his… wait… "How did you even know my stop?" She froze for a few seconds, unsure of what to do.

"I… take this same route a lot… sometimes I saw you but just… d-d-d-didn't know how to approach y-y-y-y-y-y-y" She kept stuttering, unable to let out that final word, barely even breathing, there was a bizarre gurgling sound coming from her throat. She grabbed a water bottle in desperation and chugged it all in less than 5 seconds. "Sorry, when I'm stressed I… well you saw what happened. Drinking water calms me down" 

"I see… guess this conversation isn't just a way to pass the time during a ride…" She shook at his words, unable to respond. Looking at her sad face unearthed more memories of their childhood, the years that they had spent as friends… Why had he never talked to her after that? Then it finally hit, like a truck dashing into his head, the day he moved out.

-

“It's nice that you like her but… she's a fish Jonathan! You'll meet some new girls, human ones hopefully" The woman tried to be nice, but she had to let her son know that this was the right thing. Other people could be with as many anthros as they wanted, not her son though, her son would have a perfect family.

The boy was on the verge of tears, how could his own mother try to separate him from his best friend? “But Uncle's wife is a-" 

“WE DON'T TALK ABOUT THAT" The anger in her eyes was visible, there was nothing he could say to change her mind. “You're 16 Johnny, you're young. There's so many nice girls out there… nice… human girls"

"But…" He couldn't understand why this was happening. In one moment things felt like they were perfect, then it all tumbled down once his mom caught them.

"No buts, this is final. We're moving out tomorrow, your dad finally took the transfer offer they had been giving him for years." There was no more arguing, no matter how many tears left his eyes. He didn't even get to give her a proper goodbye, she kept all of their pictures too, the ones his mom didn't throw out anyway. Reminders of their time together, forever away from his grasp. As the years passed the memory faded and the scars healed. Or so Jonathan believed…

-

"Are you okay Johnny? Our stop is next, we should get going…" The man was woken up from his daydreaming, Debbie smiled, the way he looked at her now showed he was remembering their time together. "Come on, we don't want to stay here alone on the metro…"

"Sure, let's go Debbie, we have a lot to catch up on!" This was exciting for him, like finding a forbidden fruit that had been kept hidden for years. Back when his mother found them right when they were starting to understand their feelings for each other. His family was never truly fond of their friendship, so they decided to run off so as to not create a scandal. It was already hard to deal with their son being the fish girl's best friend, they didn't need him to be her boyfriend either.

And yet, why shouldn't they be friends? Everyone accepted anthros now, and the ones that didn't were forced to pay hefty fines and even deal with jail time. It's Saturday after all, so why not rekindle a friendship? Maybe even rekindle their… 

"Come on Johnny! Here's the stop." He took her hand as she hopped off her seat. It was wet, almost slimy, but it felt surprisingly good to touch. "You're… Johnny, you don't have to be seen with me in public. Let's meet at the lake"

"Who cares what they see." Her eyes light up and a smile spread across her face. He had forgotten just how cute she could be. The subway was basically empty and nobody seemed to mind them anyway, but it was the gesture that really mattered. 

The two reunited friends rushed out into the station, it was a slow day, not many people actually lived near this place. Their hands were interlocked in a tight grip, in spite of the strange nature of Debbie's skin she had learned to deal with how slippery it could be. "I really missed you, I tried talking to other people, even meeting other anthros. None of them wanted anything more than friendship, but you did… why?" The question put Johnny in a shock, why did he like her? Something inside him told him he's always liked her, but there had to be a reason right?

As they left the station and started their trek towards the lake, he looked into her eyes and the answers began coming back to him. "You're adorable y'know?" Wait… What was he saying?! He hadn't seen this girl in years, there was no reason to believe he still liked her. 

"Now you're just pulling my fin hehehe" she was laughing at her own joke, a gurgling noise coming along with it. Debbie was all caught up in her quirks to notice Johnny second guessing himself. The trip towards the lake was dedicated to playing catch-up, they both had surprisingly similar histories after leaving their parents. Living in the same town and going to the same university, but Deb's Nursing course and Johnathan's Engineering course didn't really communicate. After college finding a job in the same town was hard but they both managed, somehow they were even in the same neighborhood. 

Johnny wondered how long she had been watching him, longing to re-establish their connection. What drove her to finally talk to him? Was it the way he treated that frog man as if he were like anyone else? "We're here, I know a good spot where we can fish alone" His train of thought was stopped by Debbie, who clearly wanted to avoid the crowded lake. Too many onlookers would question if a lungfish anthro fishing regular fish was ethical or not. 

-

There they were, the secret spot. Johnny had no clue how she found a completely deserted place considering how full the rest of the lake was. "We're alone now… Johnny, why did you leave right when we finally got together?" Oh boy, she was serious now, Deb hadn't even bothered to take her fishing rods out of her backpack. Maybe it would be better to tell her a less speciest version. "Debbie, my dad got a better job and moved ou-"

"LIAR!" She jumped at Johnny, tackling him down and sitting on his chest while grabbing his shoulders. He could see her eyes water up more than usual, tears began dripping onto his chest. "Deb! What the hell?"

"Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about! You never even tried contacting me again, no letters, no calls, no visits, NOTHING!" She was screaming and crying at his face now, it tugged at his heartstrings to know just how much he hurt her. Dammit, why did it have to be like this. "Debbie…" He started caressing the side of her face, she started gurgling a bit while crying. Most people would've found her gross, a weird evolutionary mistake, but for him it was different. Maybe being with her for so long during his developing years connected something in his brain that made her the most beautiful woman in the world.

"My parents didn't want us together, they just… It doesn't matter." He almost gave up on her again, letting his mother's decisions guide him again, but he was an adult now. No longer bound by others, free to choose his fate. "I still like you Deb, a lot"

She jumped off his chest "I'm sorry, we were kids, my parents kept telling me to forget you. Just let it go… but I couldn't." Johnny got up and stood in front of her with a warm smile on his face.

They just stared at each other for the next few moments, unsure how they could move things forward.

“My parents told me the same thing…"

-

The lake was calm this time of year, perfect for catching fish. Not that Johnny knew how, but his dad insisted that he learned. It was something his family had done for generations now, one of the few traditions that remained alive for them.

The hook was under the water already, fully prepped with some bait for the fishes. Jonathan was excited, only a matter of time before his first catch.  "Ok, so now we wait until they bite into…" His father suddenly stopped talking, leaving him holding the fishing rod all on his own. "Dad? You alright?"

A horrific noise crawled its way out the man's stomach as his son began to laugh. “You got a tummy ache! Hahahaha!" He grimaced while his insides felt like they were about to empty themselves. “Oh man, why did I let you choose Taco Bell for lunch? Stay here, I'll be right back!" Before he could even let out a word his dad was rushing out to find a toilet. Leaving Johnny alone with the rod still waiting to get some fish.

“Dad, wait! What do I do when something takes the bait?!" He was all alone now, the sounds of the lake slowly building fear into his heart. What if someone attacked him? A bear? A criminal? A lake shark that smelled his fear?

"Need help?" Johnny jumped after hearing a voice coming from behind him. The shock almost caused him to drop his fishing rod. He slowly turned around, spotting an anthropomorphic fish walking towards him. "Sorry if I scared you, I'm Debbie!" 

"I'm Johnny… are you a lake shark?" The girl started laughing at his question, but before she could answer a fish finally took the bait. "AH! WHAT DO I DO?!" He gripped at the rod as hard as he could, whatever fish he was catching was big!

"Here!" Debbie rushed to his side, expertly maneuvering the rod to perfectly bring the fish to the surface. It was a huge carp, probably bigger than anything Johnny's dad had caught. It flopped around in the grass for a while, as the two kids thought of what to do next. "I have a camera here Johnny… wanna take a picture before throwing it back?" 

"Throw it back?" He was weirded out by the question, weren't people supposed to eat the fish they caught? "Yeah! Throw it back, then we can catch it again." Now it clicked for Johnny, that was the point of this game, to see how many times you could catch the fish.

"Come on let's take a picture" She brought a digital camera out and set it on a rock, setting up a timer so that they could both be in the picture. The two of them tried holding the flopping fish while posing, but only managed to look goofy as he slipped around their hands. After hearing the flash, Johnny tossed the fish back into the lake as Debbie went to check the picture.

"Look!" The anthro lungfish showed off the image on her digital camera, the two laughing as the fish almost slipped off their grasp, they chuckled a bit at the silly nature of the image. "Hey, I just moved in… do you study in Mazovisch Elementary?" Debbie asked, realizing she had no way of giving him the picture until she printed it.

"Yeah, I'm gonna start 5th grade." A smile squeezed its way into the girl's face as Johnny told her his class. "I'm starting 5th grade too! We're gonna be classmates, I'll give you the picture on monday, ok? Mom is gonna be mad if I don't come back soon" 

"Alright! See you monday" and with that she ran off into the woods, leaving the boy alone to think about what just happened. A few seconds later he heard another person run across the woods. Though this time it was a much more familiar sight that jumped off the bushes.

"Hey J-man! Your pops had to go to the bathroom and I rushed down here to make sure you were ok!." It was his Uncle's girlfriend Jeane, Johnny was surprised that his father picked her of all people to help him. "Did you catch something?" She tried to get him to reply, but he just stayed quiet.

His uncle and Jeane were the black sheep of the family, mostly due to her status as a Sheep Anthro. Johnny remembered his father mocking her in dinners, talking about how his brother's girlfriend had to shave with an electric razor and would "baaaah" during sex. Thought that last comment would get a reprimand for talking about sex in front of kids.

"Johnny? Did you catch anything?" He kept quiet, thinking about how long it had been since he'd seen his dad and uncle together, their relationship strained thanks to her. Yet his encounter with Debbie left him with a question: Why should she be treated so differently anyway?

"Yeah, I caught a big one!" He said with a proud smile on his face. She laughed a bit at his reply. "What a great fisherman you are! But where is it?" Johnny grimaced when he realized there was no way to actually prove he caught a fish, at least not until he got the picture from Debbie. 

"A fish girl helped me catch it and we threw it back." She was taken back by his words. "Wait, do you mean an anthro helped you catch a fish?"

"Yeah! We took a picture too, I'll get it from her on Monday and show everyone I'm the best fisherman ever!" Jeane smiled, but right as she would respond another person crawled out the woods. "Jonathan!"

They both looked towards the figure that had invaded their conversation, realizing it was Johnny's mother. She pushed the sheep anthro to the side in a rather aggressive manner. Focusing her sights on her son. "Oh, are you alright Johnathan? Did you get hurt?"

"He's fine, don't worry about it." Jeane's answer prompted a look of disgust from his mom. "Why did I agree to this?" she whispered to herself.

"What was that?" The two women stared at each other, neither truly wanting to escalate the situation. Despite being a sheep anthro, Jeane was almost double the size of Johnny's mom and surprisingly muscular. Neither really wanted a fight, but both seemed ready to throw down if the other made a wrong move.

"Just grab the fishing rod" the human woman took her son's hand and left Jeane to pick up his stuff. As they both left the lake shore Johnny looked back to see the sheep give him a friendly smile and a wave.

-

Debbie broke away from their unintentional staring contest "I'm sorry I acted the way I did. I was so angry at you for years, thinking that you had abandoned me and seeing you act like you did… I tried to hide it, but  I guess I really am just a dumb ani-"

"Hey, don't say stuff like that." Johnny got closer to her, bringing his hand to her face slowly and pushing her hair to the side. "It's only you and me now, so how about we catch u-"

Debbie grabbed him by his shirt and gave him a powerful kiss, which Johnny returned without hesitation. It was just like the first time they did it, her tongue playing around in his mouth while he took in all of her passion.

Then, as if she realized something, Debbie broke from their kiss. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry… I rushed things again, I always rush things and ruin everything, just like I did back then." She went to her backpack, grabbing and drinking another bottle of water as Johnny tried to think of a way to reply.

"You never ruined anything, I did… I could've looked for you all these years but I chose to live my life trying to forget" They inched closer to each other, once again entering a passionate kiss. He softly held her hand as they did so, like they were 2 teenagers on their first date. Those slippery wet fingers reminded him of her non-human nature, yet now that felt like the least important thing in the world.

He broke from the kiss slowly, prompting a confused look from his lover. "It's a nice day out, maybe we can fish now and have some fun later… back at my house." She smiled at his proposal, giving him a big hug. "I'd love to!"

They got up and started setting up the fishing supplies. The sun shone brightly in the clear blue sky and they could see fish swimming across the lake. "Wonder if we'll get a carp as big as the first." Debbie gave him a smug smile. "We'll pull something way bigger!"

-

"Had a nice day at school, son? I know you're probably sad the summer's over, but we can do fun stuff on the weekend!" Johnny jumped into the backseat of his father's car, throwing his backpack to the side. He had an excited smile on his face and a picture on his hand. "What's that you're holding"

"The fish I caught! I told you it was real, look!" Johnny gave his dad the picture, prompting a look of shock to spread on his face as he noticed the girl right next to his son. A short anthro lungfish with messy wet hair, white dots all over her body and a large tail. Anthro ages were hard to tell, but considering her appearance and the fact his son got the picture at school he could only guess they were around the same age.

Johnny looked at his father with a smirk. "So, what do you think?"

"...Nice Catch…"

-

"Hey… don't you feel a bit awkward when you fish?" Debbie held her fishing rod firmly and looked back towards him with a confused frown. "What do you mean? You know my hands work just fine right?"

"No… I mean, since you're also a fish" After hearing those words she seemingly got even more confused. "I'm not sure I get you"

"Since they're like your distant relatives, I'm sure I'd feel weird about capturing monkeys y'know?" Johnny was getting worried that smoke was going to start coming out of Debbie's head. Then a realization hit her.

"We can capture monkeys if you want to! I've Always Wanted to try hunting" She looked so excited that he didn't have the heart to tell her no. 

"Sure Debbie, we'll capture some big monkeys soon." He chuckled to himself, satisfied with his non-answer. Johnny could just guess that nobody else had the heart to tell her how weird an anthro fish that fished feral fish was.

"Awesome! I wonder how big monkeys can get…" Truth is, Debbie played dumb, guess he really didn't remember everything. Maybe one day she'd tell him the story again, but for now, a joke answer was enough.