Chapter 2: I'll keep your secret

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"You're... You're a m-mermaid?"
Sven felt completely vulnerable, and that terrified him. He backed himself up to the wall, flailing his tail side-to-side like a shark. "Snälla du! Snälla få mig inte att gå tillbaka! Jag ska bete mig! Snälla du!"
Burt had to take a moment to process, but once he did, he saw Sven sobbing his eyes out. His white-shark tail, his light blonde hair, his blue gemstone eyes, and a black tattoo on the back of his right shoulder of a '02' with a bar code underneath. He dealt down and in the softest voice, he could speak. "Hey. Shhh. It's ok. I'm not gonna hurt you. I'll keep your secret, I promise. Cross my heart." He gestured over his chest to seal his promise.
Sven started to calm down. "Tack."
"Now, how do you get legs again?" Burt asked keeping an eye on the door.
Sven rubbed his tail.
"Oh. You dry your tail?"
The merman nods.
"Ok. I'll be right back." The accountant got up, grabbed some paper towels and returned, dabbing his tail.
After a few minutes of doing that, his tail split into legs, clothed in his unique blue cotton pants.
"Tack." Sven said again, sounding like he's saying 'thank you'.
Burt let out a half-snicker "No problem. Here, I'll take you to my place so we can talk in private." And Sven agreed to that quickly with rapid nodding.

The walk through the city seemed a lot more enjoyable with someone who knows the area. Sven would just get lost in those brown eyes that shimmered like a sea snail's shell in the light. Until a passing car horn made him yelp, jumping into the accountant's arms.
Burt was stunned for a moment "You've never heard a car horn before?"
Sven shrank his head down in embarrassment.
"Have you lived your whole life in the ocean? Wait, if that was true, then how do you know Swedish?"
Sven looked at him with interest "vänta. Känner du svenska?"
"Or whatever it is your speaking. It sounds like Swedish. Am I wrong?"
The merman pouts  "Sw...Swe-dish."
Burt smiles at hearing Sven's first attempt at English "So I was right. Nice." That is what he said. But inside, his mind was racing. 'Oh my god! That was too cute! How does he look so soft and squishable? His lips look so... Nononono! Now's not time for gay time! I just met him! What am I doing? Bringing him home? Why? Leprechaun and Carol are gonna have a million questions. What do I tell them? Oh yeah, don't mind him! He's just the shark merman that saved me from drowning and now I said I'd teach him English since he only speaks Swedish?! Fuck! What do I do?!' He glances at the merman.
Sven was looking into a toy shop as if he was starstruck. Burt takes a look and notices he was eyeing a blue plush shark with gold button-eyes that seemed as big as his torso.
"Wait right here." Burt states and goes into the shop, coming out with the shark plush.
Sven simply lights up and snuggles into the stuffed toy. He looks up at Burt, his eyes sparkling and his cheeks as pink as peonies. "Tack!" He exclaims.
Burt blushes "Y-yeah. Don't mention it."
Their walk was enjoyable as Burt taught him a few words like Street, sign, car, store, hi, bye, and sorry.

Upon returning home, Carol was the first to greet them at the door. "So what did right hand say? Oh. Hello."
"Hi!" Sven waved.
Burt sighed "I'll fill you in later."
"And... who's your new friend?" She looks at the blonde with a cold expression, sending shivers up Sven's spine.
"This is Sven. He's... new to the city and his... luggage was stolen! So I offered to help. Sven, this is my friend, Carol."
"Hi!" Sven waves again.
"Yes... Hi." Carol turns her gaze back to Burt "It's nice You're helping a tourist, but you're playing a dangerous game. Keep him in your room, ok?"
"Jeez. You make it sound like he's a pet? But ok. C'mon Sven." Burt takes the merman's hand and leads him down the hall.

In Burt's room, his private AC has been on low all day. It felt freezing to Sven that he fell on the bed drifting into a hibernation state. The accountant put the covers over him and slowly he began to wake up again.
"I'll turn off the AC." Getting up, the cold stopped blowing in and he took off his sweater. "So you're a shark mermaid."
Sven nods. Of course, he's collecting his thoughts one more time. All of a sudden, learning that mermaids exist. That would be a lot to handle and the promise to keep his secret, probably puts a strain on the predicament. The merman cuddles deeper under the blanket, still holding his shark toy.
Burt sighed "so... How can you understand English, but only speak Swedish? Where are you from?"
Sven didn't want to talk about it, but he was ready to tell this man everything. The problem was the language barrier. "I... Ah... Sw-shhh..." He made all sorts of sounds trying to speak English to him. But alas.
"I got an idea." He picks up a tablet from his computer desk and opens a new note for Sven to write with. "Maybe, try texting."
Sven takes the Android pad and slowly starts typing. 'Doctor'
Burt looked confused. "A doctor taught you Swedish?"
Sven nodded and continued typing 'Doctor taught me everything I know.'

To be continued...

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