Title: Finding Nemo
By: Caroline Crane
Pairing: Nick/Greg
Rating: PG
Nota bene: I like The Little Mermaid. I have the soundtrack, even! And almost all of this is cribbed directly from my nephew's Nemo obsession.

~

The truth was, Nick had actually enjoyed Finding Nemo the first time he saw it. It was a kid's movie, sure, but there was enough adult humor to keep him interested, and the turtle reminded him a little of Greg, in some other universe where Greg had skipped college to become a stoner beach bum. Not that he'd ever admit that, at least not if he wanted to sleep in their bed on a regular basis. But the point was it wasn't a bad movie.

Until he'd seen it at least four times a day for a week. Once they hit day three Nemo's charms started to wear a little thin, but by day seven he was ready to put something through the TV. It's how kids learn, his sister told him when Nick complained. And he'd read all the books, so he knew she was right, but that didn't make him feel any less like he was losing his mind.

It made him miss the night shift for the first time since he moved to California, and when he caught himself devising plans to con someone into switching shifts with him, he knew he something had to be done.

He was almost an hour late getting home from work, but if his plan worked it would be worth it. It would even be worth getting caught in late afternoon rush hour if it meant hearing something other than talking fish for a night.

Nick let himself into the house and dropped his keys on the kitchen counter, holding his breath while he listened for the familiar sounds coming from the family room. But there were no cartoon voices, which meant he might not be too late.

When he reached the family room Greg was there, one hand on the drawer where they kept Benji's DVDs. "Come on, don't you want to watch something else? What about Cars, you liked that one."

"I want Nemo," Benji said in his most pitiful voice, which Nick knew for a fact was total theater, but Greg fell for every time. In Greg's defense, Benji was good; that kid was probably going to take Hollywood by storm in a few years.

"Hey," Nick interrupted, waving the stack of DVDs in his hand as he walked into the room. He could feel Greg's resolve faltering already, which was pretty sad considering they'd promised each other they were going to put their foot down this time. "Look what I've got, buddy."

He sank down onto the carpet and held up the first DVD, grin tightening just a little when Benji wrinkled his nose at the cover of Aladdin. "I brought you some new movies. This one's got magic."

Benji's lip started to quiver, but Nick managed not to roll his eyes as he pulled out another movie. "How about Toy Story? You know your army men? This movie's got ones that talk."

All that got him was another head shake, shaggy blond hair falling into big blue eyes, and Nick made a mental note to take Benji to the barber on his next day off. Right after her ran over that damn Finding Nemo DVD with his truck a few times.

He had a feeling he was going to regret his next move, partly because he was really sick of talking fish, but mostly because if it worked and Benji loved this movie as much as he loved Finding Nemo, they'd never get the songs out of their heads again. But he could see Greg already reaching for Nemo out of the corner of his eye, so he gritted his teeth and held up his trump card.

"What about The Little Mermaid? This one's got fish and music."

For a second Benji just blinked at him, eyes wide and a little watery. Nick held his ground for a beat, then another one, and just when he thought Benji wasn't going to back down, his whole face lit up. "Yeah! I want that one."

Nick grinned and straightened up, setting the stack of rented videos next to the DVD player before he opened the right case and pulled out the DVD. A few seconds later the familiar sound of Disney credits started to roll, and Benji settled in with his stuffed Nemo to watch.

He felt Greg sidle up next to him, and when Nick glanced over he found Greg watching him. "You know this is a chick movie."

"Don't care."

"We're going to be singing these songs in our sleep."

"Well, at least we know we can distract him now. We'll just have to go through every kid's movie at the rental place before it gets to that point."

Greg grinned, leaning in to brush a quick kiss against Nick's cheek. "My hero."

"Just remember you said that when we're shopping for Little Mermaid sheets," Nick said, and Greg's laugh made the terrible music pouring out of their TV seem just a little more bearable.