Fic: Life in the Rock ('n' Roll) Pool (Bandom. Brendon/Spencer)
Title: Life in the Rock ('n' Roll) Pool
Author: bluejbird
Fandom/Pairing: Bandom. Brendon/Spencer (Pete/Patrick, Ryan/Jon)
Rating: PG-13 for language
Warnings: Mpreg. Boys as sea creatures. You can probably see where this is going. Really bad puns too.
Disclaimer: I can say without a shadow of a doubt that this is not real.
Summary: “So, I’m pretty sure she knocked me up before she left,” Brendon said, conversationally.
A/N: I don’t even know where this came from, but this is for mintyfiend who let me go on and on about this for ages. She kindly did an amazingly speedy beta- any mistakes left are all down to me. Also I doubt I’m responsible for any of the good lines in this fic, so if I said to you ‘hey, know any good fish jokes’ and you see them in here? Thanks very much! ♥ I did far, far too much research before writing this. At one point, in recent years, I considered becoming a marine biologist. It’s probably lucky for the world that I didn’t.
ETA: Wonderful fanart by finny91
and also by space_battle
Ryan was proving to be incredibly unhelpful.
“I told you,” he said, lazily, “I told you she was no good.”
Brendon pouted. “How could she do this to me?” he sobbed, pressing his face into Ryan’s side, ignoring the way Ryan tried to wave him away.
“You’re better off without her,” Jon said helpfully, sliding over to snuggle against Brendon’s other side. “Good riddance. And hey, there’s plenty more fish in the sea.”
“Ha ha,” Brendon laughed weakly, but he’d stopped sniffling and looked like he was attempting a smile.
“Seriously,” Ryan said, wriggling out from under Brendon and stretching. “You need to forget about her. She’s gone.”
Brendon ducked his head, looking sad. “I know,” he said miserably. “She’s not coming back, is she?”
Ryan shook his head. “I’m sorry, Bren,” he said, actually sounding like he meant it. “She’s gone for good.”
Brendon nodded, once, and glanced at Jon, then Ryan before looking down at his belly. “So, I’m pretty sure she knocked me up before she left,” he said, conversationally.
No one said anything for a long, drawn out moment, and then Ryan said “Are you sure?” at the exact same time Jon said “Have you told Spencer?”
“Yes,” Brendon said. “And no.” He sighed and glided over to Jon, who rubbed his chin on the top of Brendon’s head comfortingly.
“He’ll probably want to know,” Ryan pointed out and Brendon sighed.
“I know,” he said, forcing himself away from the comfort of Jon. “You know, sometimes it really sucks being a seahorse.”
Jon nodded. “It does,” he said. “But sometimes it’s really awesome too. And everything’s going to be okay.”
“Tell him,” Ryan told Brendon, as Spencer swam in.
“Tell who what?” Spencer asked, making a bitchface at Ryan when he shrugged and inclined his head towards Brendon, who hurried to Spencer’s side.
“Spencer, Spencer Smith,” Brendon said, reaching out with his tail and twining it with Spencer’s. Spencer rolled his eyes, but let Brendon tug him closer. “Spencer,” he said again, looking very solemn. “Would you still love me if I’m barefoot and pregnant?”
Spencer gave Brendon a strange look. “You don’t have feet,” he pointed out and Brendon huffed and brushed his fins against Spencer’s.
“Fine,” he said. “Would you still love me if I was footless and pregnant?”
“What?”
“I, uh. So. Me and Audrey broke up,” Brendon said.
“About fucking time,” Spencer said. “Let me guess, she’s gone out to see what the big wide ocean holds for her? Thinks she can make it, despite all the sharks?”
“Uh,” Brendon said, because that was pretty much exactly the leaving speech Audrey had given him, “something like that.”
“Well good,” Spencer smiled at him, and Brendon fluttered his fins happily for a moment.
“Um,” Brendon said, a little nervously. “She. Uh. Impregnated me. Before she left. Like, not on purpose or anything,” he added quickly as Spencer turned on him, looking mad.
“I’ll fucking kill her,” Spencer said, and Brendon believed him.
”No,” he said. “Um, no no no, that’s okay. I. I think. I mean, it’ll be okay, right? Tell me it’ll be okay, Spence. Because I’m kinda freaking out here.”
Spencer exchanged a glance with Ryan and Jon, then nodded, tucking Brendon’s head under his snout and holding him close. “Of course it’s going to be okay,” he said. “I promise it’ll be okay. I can’t believe she did that though. Can’t believe she left you. And I’m still gonna kill her if she comes back, okay?”
Brendon’s answer was muffled, mouth pressed against Spencer’s skin, but his body was shaking a little- either from laughter or sobbing, he wasn’t sure- as he said “Okay.”
Having Spencer promise things would be okay made Brendon feel better. Being with Spencer always made Brendon feel better. There was something about him that was calming, something that made Brendon feel safe and home since the day they’d met.
Spencer and Ryan had been in the same school together, had known each other all of their lives. And as soon as they were old enough they left the school and on the way they’d met Brendon. Brendon had been drifting for awhile, letting the tide pull him from place to place, never quite fitting in, never quite escaping the loneliness. But Spencer and Ryan had welcomed him with open fins, and then Jon had joined them too, introduced via Bill, a cool sea cucumber who Ryan would occasionally visit. Jon was a seahorse too, but a different species (“Hippocampus erectus,” Bill had informed them solemnly, sending Brendon into peals of laughter that had lasted for hours).
“What are we going to do?” Brendon asked, feeling even calmer when Spencer didn’t query the ‘we’ and instead said, matter of factly, “We go and talk to Patrick.”
~~~
“Well, well, well,” Pete said. “Look what the catfish dragged in.”
Pete was, as per usual, clinging to Patrick, who waved all of his arms in hello as Brendon and Spencer glided towards them.
“Ugh,” Patrick said, obviously trying to sound annoyed. “Pete, get off me, you fucking limpet.”
Pete made a small hurt noise. “I can’t help it,” he said. “I am a fucking limpet. And if you weren’t so attractive, I wouldn’t want to cling to you, you know. It’s not my fault you’re my star, Patrick.”
Patrick laughed. “What brings you two to this neck of the pool?” he asked, and Brendon hesitated, scuffing his tail along the pebbled floor. Spencer was right- Patrick was the one to ask, the resident expert on sea creatures. Brendon had particularly enjoyed Patrick telling them all about how magnificent and intelligent squid were. But it was hard, suddenly to ask for help for himself.
Spencer obviously sensed Brendon’s reluctance, and swam forward. “What do you know about seahorse pregnancy?” he asked, without preamble, and before Patrick could answer, Pete whooped with joy.
“Spencer! Congrats! Who’s the babymommy? I never thought you had it in you.”
“No,” Brendon said, in a small voice. “It’s not Spencer. It’s me.”
“Oh Brendon,” Patrick sighed. “Are you okay?”
“Dude, it’ll be fine,” Pete chimed in. “You’ll be a great dad! And Patrick here is, like, an expert in seahorse midwifery.”
Patrick snorted. “Something like that. It’ll be all over before you know it. Two or three weeks and you’ll have hundreds of little ones.”
“Hundreds?” Brendon asked, sounding panicked, voice rising shrilly. “Hundreds?”
“Shh,” Spencer said, soothingly, rubbing his side against Brendon’s and catching at the end of Brendon’s tail with his own. “It’s going to be fine,” he said again. “You’re going to be a fantastic dad, and we’ll all help and they’re going to swim off into the big wide ocean before you know it, so you won’t even have time to worry about them. You can do it, we can do it, even if there’s thousands.”
“No, no,” Brendon said. “I know, I know, and I believe you. It’s just. Hundreds. That’s a lot.”
“It’s not that many,” Spencer said calmly. “Really. We can handle hundreds.”
“I know,” Brendon said again, sounding more confident, “Just. Oh my god, how am I going to think up hundreds of names?”
Spencer rolled his eyes.
“I like the name Dylan,” Brendon said. “I wonder how many of the kids we can call that.”
Spencer looked like he was about to argue but there was a sudden awkward pause as Patrick, having walked across the rock to where a tiny mussel was sitting, minding its own business, threw up his stomach and ate it.
Spencer looked revolted.
“Dude!” Brendon said. “That’s disgusting. No wonder there’s bulimia rumours about you all over the pool.”
“Don’t tell Andy,” Pete warned. “You know what he’s like, all this ‘we shouldn’t eat each other’ stuff. In fact, steer clear of Andy for awhile anyway. He’ll just go on about how the pool community lacks the ability to support single parents and how we should all swim out into the ocean and shun organised society, and really, you don’t want to listen to a two hour lecture in your delicate state.”
Brendon pouted. Although he didn’t spend much time with Andy- crabs, even tiny hermit crabs, scared him a little- it meant he wouldn’t be able to see Joe until after the babies were born. Joe was maybe Brendon’s favourite sea turtle ever. He was so chilled and laid back and funny and Brendon was going to miss him. Suddenly the next two or three weeks felt like an eternity stretching ahead of him.
Spencer seemed to notice Brendon’s sudden panic, and he tightened his grip on Brendon’s tail, drawing him closer until Brendon sighed and nodded and relaxed.
“We can do this,” Brendon said, and in that moment, when Spencer nodded in agreement, he totally believed himself.
~~~
They got into a sort of routine, after that. Each morning, Spencer would appear at Brendon’s side, just before dawn, and would bully him into taking a morning swim. Sometimes, Brendon could even convince Spencer to let them hold each other’s tail as they swam. Seeing Spencer made the panic, which grew and grew in proportion to his ever increasing belly, subside a little. Spencer was there every morning, without fail, and Brendon loved the way Spencer’s skin flushed a creamy yellow whenever he swam up to him. When he mentioned this to Ryan, mentioned how the colour suited Spencer, made him bright like the sunshine, Ryan laughed and told Brendon that Spencer wasn’t the only one changing.
There was something in the way Ryan said this that made Brendon think it was significant, but he certainly wasn’t going to ask Ryan when he was sporting that superior smirk he always wore whenever he knew something and Brendon didn’t. And every time Brendon visited Patrick these days he had to listen to Pete’s not-so-subtle hints about how he and Patrick were looking for a baby to adopt, if Brendon had one to spare. Plus Gabe was always there, and not only was he pretty handsy (not that that was surprising, for an octopus) but he was convinced he should be godfather to every single one of the babies. Brendon liked Gabe a lot, but there was something fishy about how keen he was, and also about the way Bill insisted it’d be best to keep Gabe away from them until they were old enough to know better.
So Brendon was still in the dark about why Spencer changing colour was significant, and just chalked it up to Spencer being Spencerish. Like the way he’d get mad when Cash and Ian and the Alexes would try and get Brendon to chase them through the tall seaweed fields, which he’d done pretty much every day before the pregnancy. There was something about Spencer flapping his fins and rolling his eyes and yelling at the guppies to leave Brendon alone for a couple more weeks that made Brendon incredibly happy, even though it meant seeing Cash look sad and disappointed as he swam dejectedly away. But it was on days like that that Brendon would be able to convince Spencer to play with him. Spencer would let Brendon lead him in a dance through the grasses, would wrap his tail around the same fronds as Brendon and spiral around together in a slow dance. And whenever Jon teased him about it afterwards, Spencer would glare and insist it was good for the babies and tell Jon to go back to his weed.
Brendon had expected the three weeks to drag, for it to feel like an eternity. But the day that he was having breakfast with Jon and Ryan and suddenly felt a strange ripple of pain across his belly seemed to come only days after he’d told Spencer his big news. Brendon went very still, and Ryan looked up at him quizzically. The panic, the excitement, as realisation struck Brendon, must have been clear on his face, because Ryan immediately turned to Jon and said, in a calm, quiet voice, “Get Spencer. Now.”
Jon had gone without argument, zipping off through the seagrass, while Ryan had urged Brendon into a slow swim, holding his tail and keeping him distracted every time his muscles contracted tightly, making him gasp in pain. He could feel the babies’ eagerness to be born, but for reasons he didn’t quite understand, Brendon wanted to wait until Spencer was there. But the wait was agonising. A strong contraction ripped through his body, pulling his pouch open, and the first few babies were expelled just as Spencer swam up, slipping in behind him, and pressing himself along Brendon’s back, whispering soothingly to him, stroking him with fins and tail, as another contraction came, forcing more and more babies out of his pouch. Brendon watched them, at first, marvelled at how tiny they were, how precious, how he loved each and every one of them. It felt strange, losing something he’d never expected to have, and Brendon closed his eyes against the increasing emptiness he was feeling and leant back against Spencer, comforted by his presence as his body convulsed and expelled the last of the babies.
“Well done,” Spencer said. “Well done, Brendon. You’re a dad!”
Brendon stayed still for a long moment, training himself not to listen for the flutter of tiny heartbeats inside him, something he’d grown accustomed to doing each morning. Then he slowly opened his eyes.
”Where are they?” he asked, looking around. It had felt like he’d given birth to thousands, maybe, but there were only two tiny babies lingering to one side. Brendon felt panic and fear rise inside him. “Where are my babies? Where did they go?”
Brendon’s eyes darted around the pool, searching for any sign of them. He caught sight of Ryan, exchanging a look with Spencer, and he turned, going still at the sight of Spencer’s anguished expression.
“Brendon,” Spencer said, sadly. “I…I’m sorry. I thought you knew.”
Cold dread filled Brendon, and he shook his head as Spencer said, “Seahorse babies…they don’t stay with the parents when they’re born. They swim off, find their own way in the ocean, just like you did. Don’t you remember?”
Brendon never thought about his early years, the years before Spencer and Ryan, and the memories were hazy now, although he remembered being on his own, being scared and alone and lost. Like his babies were now.
He turned away from Spencer, surveying the pond. The last two babies had disappeared, and Jon was nodding towards the thick forest of seaweed. Brendon felt exhausted, body weak, and the feel of Spencer’s body holding him up was the only thing that felt right. But he couldn’t leave his babies, couldn’t let them go through what he’d gone through, couldn’t let them face that fear of always being alone. He had to find them. And so he pushed himself away from Spencer, swaying unsteadily for a moment or two.
“Brendon,” Ryan said, starting forward, “you’re exhausted-” but Brendon waved him off.
“I have to find them,” he said, heart aching. “I can’t. You don’t understand how this feels,” he finished, sounding anguished. And then he swam, slowly and deliberately into the weeds, not looking back.
~~~
“Hi.”
Brendon glanced up, hope flaring brightly inside at the sight of Spencer. It had been almost two weeks since the babies’ birthday, two long drawn out weeks, made worse by the absence of Spencer. Not that he hadn’t tried to visit, in those first few days after Brendon had had to admit defeat, heartbroken and aching for his lost children. Brendon had been angry, had felt betrayed by nature, by his friends, by Spencer, especially, and had refused to see anyone. After the third day, Spencer had stopped coming, and Brendon had felt even lonelier than before, despite the almost constant presence of Ryan and Jon, and occasionally Pete and Patrick.
“Hi,” Brendon replied, ducking his head shyly. He saw Spencer hesitate, then swim closer.
“I’m sorry,” Spencer said, and Brendon looked at him in surprise.
“It’s not you fault,” Brendon said truthfully, suddenly realising he’d been blaming Spencer for this. And that maybe Spencer had been blaming himself too. “I missed you. This week especially. You didn’t come and visit.” He tried to keep the resentment out of his voice, but Spencer’s face showed that he’d failed.
Spencer turned away, and Brendon watched his tail coil tightly, anxiously. “I left the pool,” Spencer said quietly, and Brendon gasped. Leaving the pool was a dangerous prospect, slipping into the ocean and its tides that could steal you away and carry you to unknown places. Brendon had been lucky he’d been carried to Spencer and Ryan, but few were as fortunate. And few were lucky enough to return.
“Why?”
Spencer gave him an incredulous look. “To search for our-“ he stopped, shook his head a little and hesitated. “To find your babies,” he said, finally, and Brendon swam closer to him.
“I’m sorry,” Spencer said, bowing his head. “I couldn’t find them.”
Brendon pressed himself close to Spencer’s side, letting his fin flutter against Spencer’s. “They’re gone,” Brendon said firmly. “They’re off starting their lives, like we did. And I hope they’re carried to where they’re supposed to be, like I was.” He believed it now, understood that was the way of things, as much as he wished he could change it. That Spencer had tried to find them, despite this, made Brendon’s heart clench tightly.
Spencer looked up, twisting his body in towards Brendon, and their tails brushed, then twined together.
“Let’s go for a swim,” Brendon suggested. “I miss that.”
Spencer flushed creamy yellow again, even brighter than he had before. It made him look radiant as they swam lazily through the weeds, still holding tails. The water was warm, heated by the midday sun that illuminated the bright pebbles on the bottom of the pool, making them shine and drawing Brendon’s attention. They ventured out of the safety of the weeds, out into the open where they swam over the glistening stones in companionable silence.
“Brendon,” Spencer said, and they stopped in a patch of sunlight. Spencer looked like he was struggling for words, about to say something profound, and Brendon wanted, desperately, to hear what Spencer had to say. But a shadow fell over them, suddenly, and something white flashed through the water behind them.
Spencer’s eyes went wide with terror. “SWIM!” he shouted, and nudged Brendon back towards the seaweeds. Brendon swam, his tail slipping out of Spencer’s, Spencer’s shouts of “Quick! Get to safety, Brendon!” ringing in his ears. Brendon swam faster than he’d ever swum before, reaching the weeds with a pounding heart. He turned around, looking for how far behind him Spencer was, relaxing a little when he saw Spencer was close.
”Hurry!” Brendon shouted, and then the white thing was back, moving slow enough now that Brendon could see it was some sort of net. And it was wrapped around Spencer, pulling him up towards the surface.
“SPENCER!” Brendon yelled, forgetting the danger and swimming at the net as it was lifted up. “Spencer!”
“Go back,” Spencer said, snout pressed against the netting, fins flapping uselessly. He sounded resigned. “Go back, Brendon. Go down where it’s safe, or it’ll get you too. Sorry. I-“ and then he was gone, lifted above the surface.
Brendon allowed himself the briefest moment of shock, staring out at the surface, where he couldn’t follow. Then he swam, swam without thinking, swam to get help. But Pete and Patrick’s rock was bare. Brendon suppressed a sob, suppressed the urge to scream and cry, and went to the next best place.
“Gerard!” Brendon shouted hysterically as he got nearer to their section of the pool. “Gerard! Gerard!”
He could see Ray’s tentacles sway in his direction, as three colourful fish tumbled out of them. Brendon realised he was swimming too fast, colliding with Frank before he could stop, and sending the tiny clownfish tumbling back against Ray, who righted him with his tentacles.
“Brendon?” Gerard asked, worriedly, “What’s happened?”
Brendon paused, pushing down his hysteria, and told him what happened in halting sentences between his sobs. Gerard nodded and Brendon felt a stab of hope that things would be alright, until he caught sight of the look Frank and Mikey were sharing. A look that said they believed Spencer was gone, was never coming back, was dead.
Brendon felt the panic rise again, because it couldn’t be true. He knew he couldn’t handle that. He needed Spencer, wanted Spencer, loved Spencer.
Loved Spencer.
Realisation hit Brendon suddenly making him gasp. He loved Spencer, and had never told him. And now he never would.
Brendon deflated, body slumping as he rested against a nearby rock. Everyone had gone very silent, defeat hanging heavy in the water around them.
And then there was a scuttling noise. Brendon looked up, seeing Bob coming towards him. He was a little bit scared of Bob, even though Spencer adored him and talked about how great a crab Bob was. Bob scrutinised him for a long moment, and, as Gerard swam closer, as Mikey said “I’m so sorry, Brendon,” Bob clicked his claws together determinedly.
“Fuck this,” he said. “I’m going to bring your boyfriend back.” And then he turned and climbed out of the pool, up onto the surface and was gone.
Brendon was stunned, staring at the place where Bob had disappeared wordlessly. Hope flared inside him.
The wait was agonising. Gerard's comforting words were just distant buzzing noises, drowned out by the thumping of Brendon’s racing heartbeat. It was too much, too long, and Brendon swayed, off balance. Ray's tentacles wrapped around Brendon, steadying him, and Brendon was grateful. Brendon liked Ray, liked that he made stupid jokes like "with anemones like me, who needs friends", liked that he would always let Brendon lie against his spongy side when he got too tired to chase Frank and Mikey around. But as comforting as he'd have liked it to be, Ray's gentle touch, Frank crowding close to his side, it wasn't enough.
"Bob will bring him back," Mikey said solemnly, as the time stretched out longer and longer. He looked confident, like he believed his words when he said, "If Bob says he's going to fix something, he will."
Brendon doesn't believe him. Doesn't want to dare to hope.
And then there was a splash, making them all jump as the net appeared again, sinking into the water much slower, with less deliberation, as if it had been dropped. It was hard to see through the folds of white netting, but there was something inside, something small and delicate looking and still.
Spencer.
Brendon forgot about the danger, and rushed towards him. The net was tangled around Spencer's body, and Brendon couldn't find a way to him, couldn't find the opening to the net. Jon and Ryan appeared, pushing him away and shushing him, and it was only then that Brendon realised he'd been shouting, shouting Spencer’s name, shouting that he was sorry. He struggled against his friends, but Ryan was stronger than he looked, holding him back as Gabe swam in, fanning out his tentacles to grasp one side of the net, Andy and Joe appearing on the other side to tear at the netting with claws and mouths until the material ripped, setting Spencer free. Brendon watched, unable to move for a long moment, as Spencer floated down, coming to a rest on the pebbles on the floor of the pool, still unmoving. Brendon went to him, getting there at the same time as Patrick and hovering nearby as Patrick prodded at Spencer with one of his arms, Pete exclaiming worriedly as he looked over Patrick's shoulder.
The moment before Spencer opened his eyes felt like an eternity. But then he stirred, shaking himself. "Brendon?" he asked and there was a flurry of movement as everyone converged on Spencer, pulling him upright and checking him over.
Brendon hung back, embarrassed as the others fussed over Spencer. He wondered if Spencer was mad, if he blamed Brendon for escaping while he got caught. He wondered if Spencer wouldn't want to know how Brendon would have felt if he hadn't come back. As he hesitated, Bob scuttled back into the pond beside Ray, and Brendon rushed to him, words of thanks tumbling over themselves out of his mouth. Bob waved him off with a tired claw, but later Brendon would learn about Bob's heroics, how he'd taken on the hideous pink surface walking creature that had caught Spencer it it's net, how he'd pinched it's strange flesh until it had dropped the net.
"Brendon," Spencer called, and Brendon turned away from Bob and Ray, hoping Bob understood how thankful he was, in time to see Spencer gently push Ryan out of the way to swim towards him. As he swam closer, Brendon could see his skin, turning from the usual mottled brown to that delightful yellow cream again, and suddenly Brendon realised the significance of it, remembered what he'd been taught in school about mates changing colour. He looked down at himself, heart racing when he saw his skin turning a matching shade. And then Spencer was right in front of him, just looking at him wordlessly.
"I think I love you," Brendon blurted before he could stop himself. Spencer ducked his head, looking pleased, looking relieved as Brendon added, "please, don't ever leave me again."
Spencer was silent and for a long, horrible moment. Brendon waited, worried that maybe Spencer was angry, that he did blame Brendon for getting him caught.
"I'm sorry," Brendon stuttered. "I didn't mean for that to happen. I didn't wait for you. I just swam and...I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, please don't hate me, I can't stand it if you hate me and-"
Spencer looked at him in surprise, then reached out and wrapped his tail around Brendon's, tighter than he'd ever done before. He pulled Brendon close as he interrupted. "I don't hate you, you idiot," he said, laughing. "I love you too."
There were a thousand things Brendon wanted to say, wanted to do, in that moment, but the crowd of friends behind Spencer watching made him suddenly shy. Brendon leant in, nuzzling his snout against Spencer's for a brief moment, and then pulled away, leading Spencer back over to their friends so Ryan, especially, could finish his worried fussing. Neither of them said another word, but Spencer didn't let go of Brendon's tail as the others gathered around them, and he kept sending Brendon pleased smiles.
“See,” Pete said to Patrick, sounding overjoyed. “I told you Spencer was his lobster.”
Brendon fluttered his fins happily, watching Ryan check Spencer over for injuries for the fifth time.
Pete sighed. “I wish I had someone to be my lobster,” he bemoaned, ignoring Patrick’s indignant “Hey!” “I’m all alone. No one cares about me,” Pete continued.
“Don’t be silly,” Frank said. “Everyone cares about you. Stop bringing us down, we should be celebrating!”
“Yeah,” Gabe said. “God Pete, sometimes you’re so shellfish”
There was a moment of silence. “Get it?” Gabe asked, nudging Mikey with one tentacle and knocking him against Joe’s shell. “Get it? Shellfish? Selfish? Ahahaha.”
“Anyways…” Gerard said into the silence. “We’re glad to have you back, Spencer.”
Spencer smiled. On the surface, Brendon could see the sun was setting, making the water around them shimmer golden.
“Frank’s right,” Pete said, looking cheery again. “We should celebrate. What do you say?”
Spencer glanced at Brendon, then shook his head. “Thanks,” he said. “But I think…I think right now I need to go home. We need to go home,” he added, squeezing Brendon’s tail.
Brendon nodded his agreement, and let Spencer pull him away from the crowd of friends, waving goodbye as they swam off into the sunset together.
~~~
Brendon was proving to be very unhelpful.
"That's fantastic news!" Brendon said, and Ryan stared at him like he was insane.
"Are you kidding?" Ryan asked, sounding hysterical. "I have...things! Growing inside me! Living things that will have to be born. And I saw what happened to you- that did not look fun at all."
"It'll be fine," Brendon said breezily. "We managed it okay," he said, butting his head against Spencer's side affectionately. Spencer rubbed his tail down Brendon's back, making Brendon shudder happily and Ryan thought he might be sick.
"Ugh," he said. "Do you have to do that here?"
Spencer gave Ryan a scathing, and he hastily changed the subject.
"It was easy for you two," Ryan pointed out. "You had Spencer to help. Keltie's gone off to the big rock pool and who knows if she's going to come back. You should lend me Spencer, Brendon."
Brendon shook his head. "Sorry," he said, not sounding sorry at all. "No can do. Spencer is...busy."
Ryan pouted. "Great. Then I'm all alone. Alone and unloved. Thanks, you two."
"That's a nice scarf, Ryan," Spencer said, suddenly. "Where'd you get it?"
Jarred by the change of topic, Ryan glanced down at the piece of purple and green seaweed wrapped around his neck. "Jon gave it to me this morning, when I told him about the babies," he said. "It was really sweet when he helped me put it on and he was all-"
Ryan stopped. "Huh," he said, realisation dawning. "Really?"
Spencer nodded. "I think you'll be fine, Ryan," he said confidently, laughing as Brendon nuzzled at one of his fins.
Ryan rolled his eyes at them, then turned tail and swam away, looking for Jon, and hoping he'd be able to convince Jon not to name all their babies Dylan like Brendon had done.
Author: bluejbird
Fandom/Pairing: Bandom. Brendon/Spencer (Pete/Patrick, Ryan/Jon)
Rating: PG-13 for language
Warnings: Mpreg. Boys as sea creatures. You can probably see where this is going. Really bad puns too.
Disclaimer: I can say without a shadow of a doubt that this is not real.
Summary: “So, I’m pretty sure she knocked me up before she left,” Brendon said, conversationally.
A/N: I don’t even know where this came from, but this is for mintyfiend who let me go on and on about this for ages. She kindly did an amazingly speedy beta- any mistakes left are all down to me. Also I doubt I’m responsible for any of the good lines in this fic, so if I said to you ‘hey, know any good fish jokes’ and you see them in here? Thanks very much! ♥ I did far, far too much research before writing this. At one point, in recent years, I considered becoming a marine biologist. It’s probably lucky for the world that I didn’t.
ETA: Wonderful fanart by finny91
and also by space_battle
Ryan was proving to be incredibly unhelpful.
“I told you,” he said, lazily, “I told you she was no good.”
Brendon pouted. “How could she do this to me?” he sobbed, pressing his face into Ryan’s side, ignoring the way Ryan tried to wave him away.
“You’re better off without her,” Jon said helpfully, sliding over to snuggle against Brendon’s other side. “Good riddance. And hey, there’s plenty more fish in the sea.”
“Ha ha,” Brendon laughed weakly, but he’d stopped sniffling and looked like he was attempting a smile.
“Seriously,” Ryan said, wriggling out from under Brendon and stretching. “You need to forget about her. She’s gone.”
Brendon ducked his head, looking sad. “I know,” he said miserably. “She’s not coming back, is she?”
Ryan shook his head. “I’m sorry, Bren,” he said, actually sounding like he meant it. “She’s gone for good.”
Brendon nodded, once, and glanced at Jon, then Ryan before looking down at his belly. “So, I’m pretty sure she knocked me up before she left,” he said, conversationally.
No one said anything for a long, drawn out moment, and then Ryan said “Are you sure?” at the exact same time Jon said “Have you told Spencer?”
“Yes,” Brendon said. “And no.” He sighed and glided over to Jon, who rubbed his chin on the top of Brendon’s head comfortingly.
“He’ll probably want to know,” Ryan pointed out and Brendon sighed.
“I know,” he said, forcing himself away from the comfort of Jon. “You know, sometimes it really sucks being a seahorse.”
Jon nodded. “It does,” he said. “But sometimes it’s really awesome too. And everything’s going to be okay.”
“Tell him,” Ryan told Brendon, as Spencer swam in.
“Tell who what?” Spencer asked, making a bitchface at Ryan when he shrugged and inclined his head towards Brendon, who hurried to Spencer’s side.
“Spencer, Spencer Smith,” Brendon said, reaching out with his tail and twining it with Spencer’s. Spencer rolled his eyes, but let Brendon tug him closer. “Spencer,” he said again, looking very solemn. “Would you still love me if I’m barefoot and pregnant?”
Spencer gave Brendon a strange look. “You don’t have feet,” he pointed out and Brendon huffed and brushed his fins against Spencer’s.
“Fine,” he said. “Would you still love me if I was footless and pregnant?”
“What?”
“I, uh. So. Me and Audrey broke up,” Brendon said.
“About fucking time,” Spencer said. “Let me guess, she’s gone out to see what the big wide ocean holds for her? Thinks she can make it, despite all the sharks?”
“Uh,” Brendon said, because that was pretty much exactly the leaving speech Audrey had given him, “something like that.”
“Well good,” Spencer smiled at him, and Brendon fluttered his fins happily for a moment.
“Um,” Brendon said, a little nervously. “She. Uh. Impregnated me. Before she left. Like, not on purpose or anything,” he added quickly as Spencer turned on him, looking mad.
“I’ll fucking kill her,” Spencer said, and Brendon believed him.
”No,” he said. “Um, no no no, that’s okay. I. I think. I mean, it’ll be okay, right? Tell me it’ll be okay, Spence. Because I’m kinda freaking out here.”
Spencer exchanged a glance with Ryan and Jon, then nodded, tucking Brendon’s head under his snout and holding him close. “Of course it’s going to be okay,” he said. “I promise it’ll be okay. I can’t believe she did that though. Can’t believe she left you. And I’m still gonna kill her if she comes back, okay?”
Brendon’s answer was muffled, mouth pressed against Spencer’s skin, but his body was shaking a little- either from laughter or sobbing, he wasn’t sure- as he said “Okay.”
Having Spencer promise things would be okay made Brendon feel better. Being with Spencer always made Brendon feel better. There was something about him that was calming, something that made Brendon feel safe and home since the day they’d met.
Spencer and Ryan had been in the same school together, had known each other all of their lives. And as soon as they were old enough they left the school and on the way they’d met Brendon. Brendon had been drifting for awhile, letting the tide pull him from place to place, never quite fitting in, never quite escaping the loneliness. But Spencer and Ryan had welcomed him with open fins, and then Jon had joined them too, introduced via Bill, a cool sea cucumber who Ryan would occasionally visit. Jon was a seahorse too, but a different species (“Hippocampus erectus,” Bill had informed them solemnly, sending Brendon into peals of laughter that had lasted for hours).
“What are we going to do?” Brendon asked, feeling even calmer when Spencer didn’t query the ‘we’ and instead said, matter of factly, “We go and talk to Patrick.”
~~~
“Well, well, well,” Pete said. “Look what the catfish dragged in.”
Pete was, as per usual, clinging to Patrick, who waved all of his arms in hello as Brendon and Spencer glided towards them.
“Ugh,” Patrick said, obviously trying to sound annoyed. “Pete, get off me, you fucking limpet.”
Pete made a small hurt noise. “I can’t help it,” he said. “I am a fucking limpet. And if you weren’t so attractive, I wouldn’t want to cling to you, you know. It’s not my fault you’re my star, Patrick.”
Patrick laughed. “What brings you two to this neck of the pool?” he asked, and Brendon hesitated, scuffing his tail along the pebbled floor. Spencer was right- Patrick was the one to ask, the resident expert on sea creatures. Brendon had particularly enjoyed Patrick telling them all about how magnificent and intelligent squid were. But it was hard, suddenly to ask for help for himself.
Spencer obviously sensed Brendon’s reluctance, and swam forward. “What do you know about seahorse pregnancy?” he asked, without preamble, and before Patrick could answer, Pete whooped with joy.
“Spencer! Congrats! Who’s the babymommy? I never thought you had it in you.”
“No,” Brendon said, in a small voice. “It’s not Spencer. It’s me.”
“Oh Brendon,” Patrick sighed. “Are you okay?”
“Dude, it’ll be fine,” Pete chimed in. “You’ll be a great dad! And Patrick here is, like, an expert in seahorse midwifery.”
Patrick snorted. “Something like that. It’ll be all over before you know it. Two or three weeks and you’ll have hundreds of little ones.”
“Hundreds?” Brendon asked, sounding panicked, voice rising shrilly. “Hundreds?”
“Shh,” Spencer said, soothingly, rubbing his side against Brendon’s and catching at the end of Brendon’s tail with his own. “It’s going to be fine,” he said again. “You’re going to be a fantastic dad, and we’ll all help and they’re going to swim off into the big wide ocean before you know it, so you won’t even have time to worry about them. You can do it, we can do it, even if there’s thousands.”
“No, no,” Brendon said. “I know, I know, and I believe you. It’s just. Hundreds. That’s a lot.”
“It’s not that many,” Spencer said calmly. “Really. We can handle hundreds.”
“I know,” Brendon said again, sounding more confident, “Just. Oh my god, how am I going to think up hundreds of names?”
Spencer rolled his eyes.
“I like the name Dylan,” Brendon said. “I wonder how many of the kids we can call that.”
Spencer looked like he was about to argue but there was a sudden awkward pause as Patrick, having walked across the rock to where a tiny mussel was sitting, minding its own business, threw up his stomach and ate it.
Spencer looked revolted.
“Dude!” Brendon said. “That’s disgusting. No wonder there’s bulimia rumours about you all over the pool.”
“Don’t tell Andy,” Pete warned. “You know what he’s like, all this ‘we shouldn’t eat each other’ stuff. In fact, steer clear of Andy for awhile anyway. He’ll just go on about how the pool community lacks the ability to support single parents and how we should all swim out into the ocean and shun organised society, and really, you don’t want to listen to a two hour lecture in your delicate state.”
Brendon pouted. Although he didn’t spend much time with Andy- crabs, even tiny hermit crabs, scared him a little- it meant he wouldn’t be able to see Joe until after the babies were born. Joe was maybe Brendon’s favourite sea turtle ever. He was so chilled and laid back and funny and Brendon was going to miss him. Suddenly the next two or three weeks felt like an eternity stretching ahead of him.
Spencer seemed to notice Brendon’s sudden panic, and he tightened his grip on Brendon’s tail, drawing him closer until Brendon sighed and nodded and relaxed.
“We can do this,” Brendon said, and in that moment, when Spencer nodded in agreement, he totally believed himself.
~~~
They got into a sort of routine, after that. Each morning, Spencer would appear at Brendon’s side, just before dawn, and would bully him into taking a morning swim. Sometimes, Brendon could even convince Spencer to let them hold each other’s tail as they swam. Seeing Spencer made the panic, which grew and grew in proportion to his ever increasing belly, subside a little. Spencer was there every morning, without fail, and Brendon loved the way Spencer’s skin flushed a creamy yellow whenever he swam up to him. When he mentioned this to Ryan, mentioned how the colour suited Spencer, made him bright like the sunshine, Ryan laughed and told Brendon that Spencer wasn’t the only one changing.
There was something in the way Ryan said this that made Brendon think it was significant, but he certainly wasn’t going to ask Ryan when he was sporting that superior smirk he always wore whenever he knew something and Brendon didn’t. And every time Brendon visited Patrick these days he had to listen to Pete’s not-so-subtle hints about how he and Patrick were looking for a baby to adopt, if Brendon had one to spare. Plus Gabe was always there, and not only was he pretty handsy (not that that was surprising, for an octopus) but he was convinced he should be godfather to every single one of the babies. Brendon liked Gabe a lot, but there was something fishy about how keen he was, and also about the way Bill insisted it’d be best to keep Gabe away from them until they were old enough to know better.
So Brendon was still in the dark about why Spencer changing colour was significant, and just chalked it up to Spencer being Spencerish. Like the way he’d get mad when Cash and Ian and the Alexes would try and get Brendon to chase them through the tall seaweed fields, which he’d done pretty much every day before the pregnancy. There was something about Spencer flapping his fins and rolling his eyes and yelling at the guppies to leave Brendon alone for a couple more weeks that made Brendon incredibly happy, even though it meant seeing Cash look sad and disappointed as he swam dejectedly away. But it was on days like that that Brendon would be able to convince Spencer to play with him. Spencer would let Brendon lead him in a dance through the grasses, would wrap his tail around the same fronds as Brendon and spiral around together in a slow dance. And whenever Jon teased him about it afterwards, Spencer would glare and insist it was good for the babies and tell Jon to go back to his weed.
Brendon had expected the three weeks to drag, for it to feel like an eternity. But the day that he was having breakfast with Jon and Ryan and suddenly felt a strange ripple of pain across his belly seemed to come only days after he’d told Spencer his big news. Brendon went very still, and Ryan looked up at him quizzically. The panic, the excitement, as realisation struck Brendon, must have been clear on his face, because Ryan immediately turned to Jon and said, in a calm, quiet voice, “Get Spencer. Now.”
Jon had gone without argument, zipping off through the seagrass, while Ryan had urged Brendon into a slow swim, holding his tail and keeping him distracted every time his muscles contracted tightly, making him gasp in pain. He could feel the babies’ eagerness to be born, but for reasons he didn’t quite understand, Brendon wanted to wait until Spencer was there. But the wait was agonising. A strong contraction ripped through his body, pulling his pouch open, and the first few babies were expelled just as Spencer swam up, slipping in behind him, and pressing himself along Brendon’s back, whispering soothingly to him, stroking him with fins and tail, as another contraction came, forcing more and more babies out of his pouch. Brendon watched them, at first, marvelled at how tiny they were, how precious, how he loved each and every one of them. It felt strange, losing something he’d never expected to have, and Brendon closed his eyes against the increasing emptiness he was feeling and leant back against Spencer, comforted by his presence as his body convulsed and expelled the last of the babies.
“Well done,” Spencer said. “Well done, Brendon. You’re a dad!”
Brendon stayed still for a long moment, training himself not to listen for the flutter of tiny heartbeats inside him, something he’d grown accustomed to doing each morning. Then he slowly opened his eyes.
”Where are they?” he asked, looking around. It had felt like he’d given birth to thousands, maybe, but there were only two tiny babies lingering to one side. Brendon felt panic and fear rise inside him. “Where are my babies? Where did they go?”
Brendon’s eyes darted around the pool, searching for any sign of them. He caught sight of Ryan, exchanging a look with Spencer, and he turned, going still at the sight of Spencer’s anguished expression.
“Brendon,” Spencer said, sadly. “I…I’m sorry. I thought you knew.”
Cold dread filled Brendon, and he shook his head as Spencer said, “Seahorse babies…they don’t stay with the parents when they’re born. They swim off, find their own way in the ocean, just like you did. Don’t you remember?”
Brendon never thought about his early years, the years before Spencer and Ryan, and the memories were hazy now, although he remembered being on his own, being scared and alone and lost. Like his babies were now.
He turned away from Spencer, surveying the pond. The last two babies had disappeared, and Jon was nodding towards the thick forest of seaweed. Brendon felt exhausted, body weak, and the feel of Spencer’s body holding him up was the only thing that felt right. But he couldn’t leave his babies, couldn’t let them go through what he’d gone through, couldn’t let them face that fear of always being alone. He had to find them. And so he pushed himself away from Spencer, swaying unsteadily for a moment or two.
“Brendon,” Ryan said, starting forward, “you’re exhausted-” but Brendon waved him off.
“I have to find them,” he said, heart aching. “I can’t. You don’t understand how this feels,” he finished, sounding anguished. And then he swam, slowly and deliberately into the weeds, not looking back.
~~~
“Hi.”
Brendon glanced up, hope flaring brightly inside at the sight of Spencer. It had been almost two weeks since the babies’ birthday, two long drawn out weeks, made worse by the absence of Spencer. Not that he hadn’t tried to visit, in those first few days after Brendon had had to admit defeat, heartbroken and aching for his lost children. Brendon had been angry, had felt betrayed by nature, by his friends, by Spencer, especially, and had refused to see anyone. After the third day, Spencer had stopped coming, and Brendon had felt even lonelier than before, despite the almost constant presence of Ryan and Jon, and occasionally Pete and Patrick.
“Hi,” Brendon replied, ducking his head shyly. He saw Spencer hesitate, then swim closer.
“I’m sorry,” Spencer said, and Brendon looked at him in surprise.
“It’s not you fault,” Brendon said truthfully, suddenly realising he’d been blaming Spencer for this. And that maybe Spencer had been blaming himself too. “I missed you. This week especially. You didn’t come and visit.” He tried to keep the resentment out of his voice, but Spencer’s face showed that he’d failed.
Spencer turned away, and Brendon watched his tail coil tightly, anxiously. “I left the pool,” Spencer said quietly, and Brendon gasped. Leaving the pool was a dangerous prospect, slipping into the ocean and its tides that could steal you away and carry you to unknown places. Brendon had been lucky he’d been carried to Spencer and Ryan, but few were as fortunate. And few were lucky enough to return.
“Why?”
Spencer gave him an incredulous look. “To search for our-“ he stopped, shook his head a little and hesitated. “To find your babies,” he said, finally, and Brendon swam closer to him.
“I’m sorry,” Spencer said, bowing his head. “I couldn’t find them.”
Brendon pressed himself close to Spencer’s side, letting his fin flutter against Spencer’s. “They’re gone,” Brendon said firmly. “They’re off starting their lives, like we did. And I hope they’re carried to where they’re supposed to be, like I was.” He believed it now, understood that was the way of things, as much as he wished he could change it. That Spencer had tried to find them, despite this, made Brendon’s heart clench tightly.
Spencer looked up, twisting his body in towards Brendon, and their tails brushed, then twined together.
“Let’s go for a swim,” Brendon suggested. “I miss that.”
Spencer flushed creamy yellow again, even brighter than he had before. It made him look radiant as they swam lazily through the weeds, still holding tails. The water was warm, heated by the midday sun that illuminated the bright pebbles on the bottom of the pool, making them shine and drawing Brendon’s attention. They ventured out of the safety of the weeds, out into the open where they swam over the glistening stones in companionable silence.
“Brendon,” Spencer said, and they stopped in a patch of sunlight. Spencer looked like he was struggling for words, about to say something profound, and Brendon wanted, desperately, to hear what Spencer had to say. But a shadow fell over them, suddenly, and something white flashed through the water behind them.
Spencer’s eyes went wide with terror. “SWIM!” he shouted, and nudged Brendon back towards the seaweeds. Brendon swam, his tail slipping out of Spencer’s, Spencer’s shouts of “Quick! Get to safety, Brendon!” ringing in his ears. Brendon swam faster than he’d ever swum before, reaching the weeds with a pounding heart. He turned around, looking for how far behind him Spencer was, relaxing a little when he saw Spencer was close.
”Hurry!” Brendon shouted, and then the white thing was back, moving slow enough now that Brendon could see it was some sort of net. And it was wrapped around Spencer, pulling him up towards the surface.
“SPENCER!” Brendon yelled, forgetting the danger and swimming at the net as it was lifted up. “Spencer!”
“Go back,” Spencer said, snout pressed against the netting, fins flapping uselessly. He sounded resigned. “Go back, Brendon. Go down where it’s safe, or it’ll get you too. Sorry. I-“ and then he was gone, lifted above the surface.
Brendon allowed himself the briefest moment of shock, staring out at the surface, where he couldn’t follow. Then he swam, swam without thinking, swam to get help. But Pete and Patrick’s rock was bare. Brendon suppressed a sob, suppressed the urge to scream and cry, and went to the next best place.
“Gerard!” Brendon shouted hysterically as he got nearer to their section of the pool. “Gerard! Gerard!”
He could see Ray’s tentacles sway in his direction, as three colourful fish tumbled out of them. Brendon realised he was swimming too fast, colliding with Frank before he could stop, and sending the tiny clownfish tumbling back against Ray, who righted him with his tentacles.
“Brendon?” Gerard asked, worriedly, “What’s happened?”
Brendon paused, pushing down his hysteria, and told him what happened in halting sentences between his sobs. Gerard nodded and Brendon felt a stab of hope that things would be alright, until he caught sight of the look Frank and Mikey were sharing. A look that said they believed Spencer was gone, was never coming back, was dead.
Brendon felt the panic rise again, because it couldn’t be true. He knew he couldn’t handle that. He needed Spencer, wanted Spencer, loved Spencer.
Loved Spencer.
Realisation hit Brendon suddenly making him gasp. He loved Spencer, and had never told him. And now he never would.
Brendon deflated, body slumping as he rested against a nearby rock. Everyone had gone very silent, defeat hanging heavy in the water around them.
And then there was a scuttling noise. Brendon looked up, seeing Bob coming towards him. He was a little bit scared of Bob, even though Spencer adored him and talked about how great a crab Bob was. Bob scrutinised him for a long moment, and, as Gerard swam closer, as Mikey said “I’m so sorry, Brendon,” Bob clicked his claws together determinedly.
“Fuck this,” he said. “I’m going to bring your boyfriend back.” And then he turned and climbed out of the pool, up onto the surface and was gone.
Brendon was stunned, staring at the place where Bob had disappeared wordlessly. Hope flared inside him.
The wait was agonising. Gerard's comforting words were just distant buzzing noises, drowned out by the thumping of Brendon’s racing heartbeat. It was too much, too long, and Brendon swayed, off balance. Ray's tentacles wrapped around Brendon, steadying him, and Brendon was grateful. Brendon liked Ray, liked that he made stupid jokes like "with anemones like me, who needs friends", liked that he would always let Brendon lie against his spongy side when he got too tired to chase Frank and Mikey around. But as comforting as he'd have liked it to be, Ray's gentle touch, Frank crowding close to his side, it wasn't enough.
"Bob will bring him back," Mikey said solemnly, as the time stretched out longer and longer. He looked confident, like he believed his words when he said, "If Bob says he's going to fix something, he will."
Brendon doesn't believe him. Doesn't want to dare to hope.
And then there was a splash, making them all jump as the net appeared again, sinking into the water much slower, with less deliberation, as if it had been dropped. It was hard to see through the folds of white netting, but there was something inside, something small and delicate looking and still.
Spencer.
Brendon forgot about the danger, and rushed towards him. The net was tangled around Spencer's body, and Brendon couldn't find a way to him, couldn't find the opening to the net. Jon and Ryan appeared, pushing him away and shushing him, and it was only then that Brendon realised he'd been shouting, shouting Spencer’s name, shouting that he was sorry. He struggled against his friends, but Ryan was stronger than he looked, holding him back as Gabe swam in, fanning out his tentacles to grasp one side of the net, Andy and Joe appearing on the other side to tear at the netting with claws and mouths until the material ripped, setting Spencer free. Brendon watched, unable to move for a long moment, as Spencer floated down, coming to a rest on the pebbles on the floor of the pool, still unmoving. Brendon went to him, getting there at the same time as Patrick and hovering nearby as Patrick prodded at Spencer with one of his arms, Pete exclaiming worriedly as he looked over Patrick's shoulder.
The moment before Spencer opened his eyes felt like an eternity. But then he stirred, shaking himself. "Brendon?" he asked and there was a flurry of movement as everyone converged on Spencer, pulling him upright and checking him over.
Brendon hung back, embarrassed as the others fussed over Spencer. He wondered if Spencer was mad, if he blamed Brendon for escaping while he got caught. He wondered if Spencer wouldn't want to know how Brendon would have felt if he hadn't come back. As he hesitated, Bob scuttled back into the pond beside Ray, and Brendon rushed to him, words of thanks tumbling over themselves out of his mouth. Bob waved him off with a tired claw, but later Brendon would learn about Bob's heroics, how he'd taken on the hideous pink surface walking creature that had caught Spencer it it's net, how he'd pinched it's strange flesh until it had dropped the net.
"Brendon," Spencer called, and Brendon turned away from Bob and Ray, hoping Bob understood how thankful he was, in time to see Spencer gently push Ryan out of the way to swim towards him. As he swam closer, Brendon could see his skin, turning from the usual mottled brown to that delightful yellow cream again, and suddenly Brendon realised the significance of it, remembered what he'd been taught in school about mates changing colour. He looked down at himself, heart racing when he saw his skin turning a matching shade. And then Spencer was right in front of him, just looking at him wordlessly.
"I think I love you," Brendon blurted before he could stop himself. Spencer ducked his head, looking pleased, looking relieved as Brendon added, "please, don't ever leave me again."
Spencer was silent and for a long, horrible moment. Brendon waited, worried that maybe Spencer was angry, that he did blame Brendon for getting him caught.
"I'm sorry," Brendon stuttered. "I didn't mean for that to happen. I didn't wait for you. I just swam and...I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, please don't hate me, I can't stand it if you hate me and-"
Spencer looked at him in surprise, then reached out and wrapped his tail around Brendon's, tighter than he'd ever done before. He pulled Brendon close as he interrupted. "I don't hate you, you idiot," he said, laughing. "I love you too."
There were a thousand things Brendon wanted to say, wanted to do, in that moment, but the crowd of friends behind Spencer watching made him suddenly shy. Brendon leant in, nuzzling his snout against Spencer's for a brief moment, and then pulled away, leading Spencer back over to their friends so Ryan, especially, could finish his worried fussing. Neither of them said another word, but Spencer didn't let go of Brendon's tail as the others gathered around them, and he kept sending Brendon pleased smiles.
“See,” Pete said to Patrick, sounding overjoyed. “I told you Spencer was his lobster.”
Brendon fluttered his fins happily, watching Ryan check Spencer over for injuries for the fifth time.
Pete sighed. “I wish I had someone to be my lobster,” he bemoaned, ignoring Patrick’s indignant “Hey!” “I’m all alone. No one cares about me,” Pete continued.
“Don’t be silly,” Frank said. “Everyone cares about you. Stop bringing us down, we should be celebrating!”
“Yeah,” Gabe said. “God Pete, sometimes you’re so shellfish”
There was a moment of silence. “Get it?” Gabe asked, nudging Mikey with one tentacle and knocking him against Joe’s shell. “Get it? Shellfish? Selfish? Ahahaha.”
“Anyways…” Gerard said into the silence. “We’re glad to have you back, Spencer.”
Spencer smiled. On the surface, Brendon could see the sun was setting, making the water around them shimmer golden.
“Frank’s right,” Pete said, looking cheery again. “We should celebrate. What do you say?”
Spencer glanced at Brendon, then shook his head. “Thanks,” he said. “But I think…I think right now I need to go home. We need to go home,” he added, squeezing Brendon’s tail.
Brendon nodded his agreement, and let Spencer pull him away from the crowd of friends, waving goodbye as they swam off into the sunset together.
~~~
Brendon was proving to be very unhelpful.
"That's fantastic news!" Brendon said, and Ryan stared at him like he was insane.
"Are you kidding?" Ryan asked, sounding hysterical. "I have...things! Growing inside me! Living things that will have to be born. And I saw what happened to you- that did not look fun at all."
"It'll be fine," Brendon said breezily. "We managed it okay," he said, butting his head against Spencer's side affectionately. Spencer rubbed his tail down Brendon's back, making Brendon shudder happily and Ryan thought he might be sick.
"Ugh," he said. "Do you have to do that here?"
Spencer gave Ryan a scathing, and he hastily changed the subject.
"It was easy for you two," Ryan pointed out. "You had Spencer to help. Keltie's gone off to the big rock pool and who knows if she's going to come back. You should lend me Spencer, Brendon."
Brendon shook his head. "Sorry," he said, not sounding sorry at all. "No can do. Spencer is...busy."
Ryan pouted. "Great. Then I'm all alone. Alone and unloved. Thanks, you two."
"That's a nice scarf, Ryan," Spencer said, suddenly. "Where'd you get it?"
Jarred by the change of topic, Ryan glanced down at the piece of purple and green seaweed wrapped around his neck. "Jon gave it to me this morning, when I told him about the babies," he said. "It was really sweet when he helped me put it on and he was all-"
Ryan stopped. "Huh," he said, realisation dawning. "Really?"
Spencer nodded. "I think you'll be fine, Ryan," he said confidently, laughing as Brendon nuzzled at one of his fins.
Ryan rolled his eyes at them, then turned tail and swam away, looking for Jon, and hoping he'd be able to convince Jon not to name all their babies Dylan like Brendon had done.