Sorry this took a while, OP. It's nothing too special, but I hope you enjoy it at least a little.
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It was a relief for Marlin to back in the Great Reef with Nemo, having braved sharks and jellyfish and countless other terrors and returned unharmed. The adventure had reminded him that he wasn’t alone in this big, wide ocean. He’d left to look for his son alone, and he’d come back in a group of three.
There had been no real question about whether or not Dory would stay with Marlin and Nemo. After reuniting with his son, the clown fish had turned to his absent-minded friend with the intent of asking her what she planned to do with herself. One look in her wide eyes-too blissfully preoccupied with being happy for him to even consider her fate the way Marlin was-and he knew that she only had one place to go.
“I look at you and… I’m home.”
To his surprise, Marlin realized that he didn’t mind. He wanted Dory by his side, swimming back the way they had come, all the way to his modest home tucked into the colorful reef. And he did not need to ask her. She followed him and Nemo with reassuring certainty, as if she knew there was a place waiting for her. Or maybe she simply forgot to worry, as usual. Or maybe she really was that determined not to let Marlin swim off without her again.
Whatever the reason, the result was that every morning after watching his son swim off with his class on the speckled back of Mr. Ray, Marlin found his days filled with Dory.
“Whatcha wanna do?” she asked him on such a morning. Her fins fidgeted with a boundless energy he was familiar with. She suggested hopefully, “Ooh, ooh! Fan Coral Park?”
“Alright,” he agreed, chuckling at her replying squeal of delight. They swam off in the direction of the park, ducking through the natural pathways through the coral.
It was a picturesque day, sunlight dancing across the colorful reef in lazy patterns, and it put him in a more cheerful mood than usual. Dory darted forward in eagerness, nearly slapping him in the face with her frantic tail movements, and he zipped past her in retaliating cloud of bubbles, and soon they were racing each other.
Three near-crashes, one knocked-over starfish and several apologies to innocent bystanders later, Marlin swam through the entrance of the park in a much sobered mood. Dory, unsurprisingly, had already forgotten the poor orange starfish left yelling in their wake, and darted into the maze of fan corals with a pleased hum. He followed closely behind, happy for the moment to admire the look of happiness on her face as she gazed up at the translucent coral formations waving around them.
“Let’s bring Hugo-wait, is it Pedro? Oh, Nemo! Let’s bring Nemo here after he gets home from camp!”
“He’s at school, not camp,” Marlin corrected, not unkindly. Dory had been getting better at remembering Nemo’s name-not that Nemo ever minded. He seemed to find it funny more than anything. It was a relief that he and the blue Tang got on so well. When the three had started their journey home, Nemo had only asked his dad once, “Is Dory coming with us?” And when answered with, I think so, the little clown fish had grinned and swam about his new, oblivious friend in circles.
Dory’s voice interrupted his musings. “Hey there, Miss Yellow!” She was waving a fin frantically at a yellow fish across the park. Her name was actually Mrs. Blue, but that was a level of irony even most normal fish had trouble with, and it was certainly too much for Dory to remember.
Thankfully, Mrs. Blue was used to this confusion. She waved back politely. “Good morning, Dory. Good morning, Marlin. Out for a stroll again?”
“Yup!” Answered Dory cheerfully.
“Well, you two enjoy yourselves,” Mrs. Blue replied with a knowing wink at Marlin. He have an uncertain smile in return. Mrs. Blue swam away.
Fidgeting with his fins a moment in silence as Dory continued to lead their way between curtains of pink coral, Marlin decided that now was as good a time as any to bring up a certain conversation. “Mrs. Blue seems to think that, uh, haha, that you and I are a couple.”
Re: FILL - 2/2
anonymous
July 12 2011, 04:42:26 UTC
“Who’s Mrs. Blue?”
Marlin found it very difficult to resist planting his face into his fin. “The fish we just talked to. The yellow one?”
An amused laugh. “That was Miss Yellow, silly!”
“No, that was-okay, nevermind. Miss Yellow, then. Miss Yellow seems to think we’re a couple.” Feeling exasperated was actually making this a bit easier to talk about.
“Well, we are a couple-“ Marlin’s heart performed a sudden drum-roll. “-A couple of fish going for a swim! Wait, couple is two, right?”
“I-what I meant-yeah. Yeah, that’s right,” he sighed.
“What’s wrong?” She turned her large concerned eyes on him, ready as always to offer comfort. Marlin gave a small smile and shook his head.
“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
Her brows furrowed and she pouted in a way that communicated that she didn’t quite believe him. But then she gave a quick shrug of her blue scales and she happily darted off between the next set of fan corals, and Marlin struggled to follow.
He found her again when he spotted her energetic silhouette through one of the fans. Feeling a bit braver this way, he spoke to her from his place on the opposite side. “Dory, um… how long do you want to stay with me and Nemo?”
“Huh?” Her freckled face appeared above the swaying frills of the fan. “Sorry, what’d you say?”
He rolled his eyes and tried again. “How long do you want to stay with me and Nemo?”
Without any hesitation at all, she replied, “Forever.”
It was simple and matter-of-fact, like he’d just asked her the most obvious of questions. And it was all he could do just to stare at her and take in the simplicity and the enormity of it. Misunderstanding, she swam down to his level and stuttered, “I-I mean, if you don’t mind.”
“I don’t mind, Dory. I, uh, I’d actually really like that.”
Her suddenly bright expression spoke of all the happy, simple little feelings currently fluttering around inside him. She grabbed him in a forceful hug and spun him around with an overjoyed, “Yaaaay!”
“Aaaaagh, okay, if you don’t stop spinning we’re going to start a whirlpool!”
With a laugh she let him go, and he went floating off in small circles on his own until he righted himself and swam into an upright position. He plastered on a fake frown, but Dory saw right through it and laughed again.
She took his fin and they continued on through the park in silence. And Marlin imagined a lifetime of swims through the park, of having to correct mis-remembered names, of dizzy spinning and fin-holding. And he decided that forever sounded quite nice, actually.
“Dory,” he said, before the surge of emotion would leave him hesitant and timid again. “Would you like to get married? To, uh, to me, I mean.”
The moment he said it, he regretted it. He was being too forward, too sudden, too crazy.
Thankfully, Dory took the unexpected with oblivious ease-and even with eagerness, if her smack of a kiss gave any indication.
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It was a relief for Marlin to back in the Great Reef with Nemo, having braved sharks and jellyfish and countless other terrors and returned unharmed. The adventure had reminded him that he wasn’t alone in this big, wide ocean. He’d left to look for his son alone, and he’d come back in a group of three.
There had been no real question about whether or not Dory would stay with Marlin and Nemo. After reuniting with his son, the clown fish had turned to his absent-minded friend with the intent of asking her what she planned to do with herself. One look in her wide eyes-too blissfully preoccupied with being happy for him to even consider her fate the way Marlin was-and he knew that she only had one place to go.
“I look at you and… I’m home.”
To his surprise, Marlin realized that he didn’t mind. He wanted Dory by his side, swimming back the way they had come, all the way to his modest home tucked into the colorful reef. And he did not need to ask her. She followed him and Nemo with reassuring certainty, as if she knew there was a place waiting for her. Or maybe she simply forgot to worry, as usual. Or maybe she really was that determined not to let Marlin swim off without her again.
Whatever the reason, the result was that every morning after watching his son swim off with his class on the speckled back of Mr. Ray, Marlin found his days filled with Dory.
“Whatcha wanna do?” she asked him on such a morning. Her fins fidgeted with a boundless energy he was familiar with. She suggested hopefully, “Ooh, ooh! Fan Coral Park?”
“Alright,” he agreed, chuckling at her replying squeal of delight. They swam off in the direction of the park, ducking through the natural pathways through the coral.
It was a picturesque day, sunlight dancing across the colorful reef in lazy patterns, and it put him in a more cheerful mood than usual. Dory darted forward in eagerness, nearly slapping him in the face with her frantic tail movements, and he zipped past her in retaliating cloud of bubbles, and soon they were racing each other.
Three near-crashes, one knocked-over starfish and several apologies to innocent bystanders later, Marlin swam through the entrance of the park in a much sobered mood. Dory, unsurprisingly, had already forgotten the poor orange starfish left yelling in their wake, and darted into the maze of fan corals with a pleased hum. He followed closely behind, happy for the moment to admire the look of happiness on her face as she gazed up at the translucent coral formations waving around them.
“Let’s bring Hugo-wait, is it Pedro? Oh, Nemo! Let’s bring Nemo here after he gets home from camp!”
“He’s at school, not camp,” Marlin corrected, not unkindly. Dory had been getting better at remembering Nemo’s name-not that Nemo ever minded. He seemed to find it funny more than anything. It was a relief that he and the blue Tang got on so well. When the three had started their journey home, Nemo had only asked his dad once, “Is Dory coming with us?” And when answered with, I think so, the little clown fish had grinned and swam about his new, oblivious friend in circles.
Dory’s voice interrupted his musings. “Hey there, Miss Yellow!” She was waving a fin frantically at a yellow fish across the park. Her name was actually Mrs. Blue, but that was a level of irony even most normal fish had trouble with, and it was certainly too much for Dory to remember.
Thankfully, Mrs. Blue was used to this confusion. She waved back politely. “Good morning, Dory. Good morning, Marlin. Out for a stroll again?”
“Yup!” Answered Dory cheerfully.
“Well, you two enjoy yourselves,” Mrs. Blue replied with a knowing wink at Marlin. He have an uncertain smile in return. Mrs. Blue swam away.
Fidgeting with his fins a moment in silence as Dory continued to lead their way between curtains of pink coral, Marlin decided that now was as good a time as any to bring up a certain conversation. “Mrs. Blue seems to think that, uh, haha, that you and I are a couple.”
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Marlin found it very difficult to resist planting his face into his fin. “The fish we just talked to. The yellow one?”
An amused laugh. “That was Miss Yellow, silly!”
“No, that was-okay, nevermind. Miss Yellow, then. Miss Yellow seems to think we’re a couple.” Feeling exasperated was actually making this a bit easier to talk about.
“Well, we are a couple-“ Marlin’s heart performed a sudden drum-roll. “-A couple of fish going for a swim! Wait, couple is two, right?”
“I-what I meant-yeah. Yeah, that’s right,” he sighed.
“What’s wrong?” She turned her large concerned eyes on him, ready as always to offer comfort. Marlin gave a small smile and shook his head.
“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
Her brows furrowed and she pouted in a way that communicated that she didn’t quite believe him. But then she gave a quick shrug of her blue scales and she happily darted off between the next set of fan corals, and Marlin struggled to follow.
He found her again when he spotted her energetic silhouette through one of the fans. Feeling a bit braver this way, he spoke to her from his place on the opposite side. “Dory, um… how long do you want to stay with me and Nemo?”
“Huh?” Her freckled face appeared above the swaying frills of the fan. “Sorry, what’d you say?”
He rolled his eyes and tried again. “How long do you want to stay with me and Nemo?”
Without any hesitation at all, she replied, “Forever.”
It was simple and matter-of-fact, like he’d just asked her the most obvious of questions. And it was all he could do just to stare at her and take in the simplicity and the enormity of it. Misunderstanding, she swam down to his level and stuttered, “I-I mean, if you don’t mind.”
“I don’t mind, Dory. I, uh, I’d actually really like that.”
Her suddenly bright expression spoke of all the happy, simple little feelings currently fluttering around inside him. She grabbed him in a forceful hug and spun him around with an overjoyed, “Yaaaay!”
“Aaaaagh, okay, if you don’t stop spinning we’re going to start a whirlpool!”
With a laugh she let him go, and he went floating off in small circles on his own until he righted himself and swam into an upright position. He plastered on a fake frown, but Dory saw right through it and laughed again.
She took his fin and they continued on through the park in silence. And Marlin imagined a lifetime of swims through the park, of having to correct mis-remembered names, of dizzy spinning and fin-holding. And he decided that forever sounded quite nice, actually.
“Dory,” he said, before the surge of emotion would leave him hesitant and timid again. “Would you like to get married? To, uh, to me, I mean.”
The moment he said it, he regretted it. He was being too forward, too sudden, too crazy.
Thankfully, Dory took the unexpected with oblivious ease-and even with eagerness, if her smack of a kiss gave any indication.
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Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
Ohmigoodness, I love it. It's so cute. *squee* It's just what I was looking for! Ah, fluff. :D
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