AU after Finding Dory.

Title: Fish Out of Water. (Formerly known as Finding Love.)

Series/Movie/Base: Finding Nemo.

Pairings: Slash: Gill+Nemo. Hetero: Marlin+Dory

Disclaimer: Err. Pixar owns it. I'm just trespassing in their little sea thing.

"I miss Gill," Nemo moaned. He was currently lying in his favorite position—floating upside-down over his bed. "I haven't seen him in years," he continued to the coral ceiling. "Are he and the others still in the aquarium?" Twelve years had passed since the 'Finding Nemo' (or 'Finding Me' as Nemo liked to call it) incident, without a hello or even a note from his trapped friends telling him if they were okay or if they'd been given to Darla. He'd been temporarily distracted from his plight by Marlin and Dory's courtship and later wedding, which he'd seen coming from leagues away. Then, two weeks ago, without any warning, his dad had moved them all to a barrier reef just off an island, and Nemo had no friends at all. All he wanted were his old ones. Squirt... Mr. Ray... out of his entire class, the kids he missed the most were Tad, Sheldon and Pearl.

I just wish Gill could have come with us, he thought. Now that I'm older, sometimes I wish we could have been. . . more than friends. He wasn't such a bad guy, even with the cold don't-touch-me attitude, and not a bad-looking one; the scars just added character. I just wish I could be with him- just for one night. Nemo had spent a lot of time thinking about Gil as he'd gotten older, and the way he used to think about the older fish had gradually shifted from hero-worship into something that made him feel like he'd swallowed a bubble cluster. As he drifted off to sleep, he was completely unaware that somewhere nearby, someone else was making the exact same wish.

‡

Nemo awoke on his back, spluttering, looking up at the star dusted black sky, back pressed into the dry sand.

Dry sand? Dry? Oh god! He sprang up into the warm night air coughing like he hadn't since he'd been tossed around the dentist's office.

Fish couldn't breathe in the air! He scrambled down to the water, shoved his head under, and promptly tried to breathe in the all-too-familiar water. It flooded his lungs and he pulled out, gasping and retching. What was wrong with him? His hand grasped his face and he rubbed his temples—wait—hand? Hand? He threw himself back into knee-deep water and frantically looked for his reflection. There, in the gently rippling water, a red-haired human stared back at him with his own, wide, panicked eyes. "I'm a—human!"

He didn't even want to look at his own reflection, let alone think about what he was trapped as. Humans had been the cause of his adventure years ago, and while he was happy for the experience, he'd learned that humans weren't the nicest beings on the planet. Now starting to panic, he looked around. He was clearly on a beach near his home reef. He had seen it from Nigel's beak while they were flying here—the pelican had been nice enough to fly them instead of making them take the EAC—and seen more of it from underwater. There was a small stand of palm trees, and some rocks in a natural circle, both on the other side of the small island. He couldn't see anyone else, and his head hurt. Did he still have his lucky fin?

He looked down. A small, limp arm hung from his shoulder. It was obviously going to be as much use as his normal fin. Yup. Still got it.

He sighed, and trudged back to the beach above where the waves were reaching, and sat down right there on the dry sand, buried his face in his new arms, and to his astonishment, seawater started leaking from his eyes. For a while, he just sat there, letting the seawater come, and wishing that someone, anyone, would come and take him away, or explain it—or—or something!

Suddenly something did come. The something touched his shoulder and he spun around in fear. "What—who—"

"Easy." Another human stood before him. It was no one Nemo recognized, but then again if it had been the dentist he would have been swimming as deep as he could go, gills or no gills. The man had long black hair in a ponytail and was a lot taller than Nemo. He was wearing black pants and a white shirt, and possessed a vaguely familiar deep voice. Nemo instinctively wanted to trust him because of that voice, and the most distinctive of this new man's features was the scarring running down the side of his neck and one arm, and he had—Nemo swallowed—Gill's distinctive toffee-colored eyes. He hadn't seen eyes like that since the tank.

"You look somewhat familiar," the strange man said. "What's your name?"

"N-N-Nemo," he stammered.

The stranger's eyes widened. "Nemo, huh? You- uh, wouldn't by any chance ever have met a little girl named Darla, would you?" he asked. There was an almost teasing lilt to his voice.

Could it be?

"Gill?"

The man nodded. "Nemo." It was more of a statement than a question, but Gill spoke his name in an unnaturally hoarse voice that Nemo had never heard him use before.

"Gill!" Nemo threw himself at human-Gill, and the surprised older fish-now-human caught him, enfolding him in his strong arms. Gill smelled like—well, fish, obviously, but he also smelled like that round, rolled-up brown thing with white topping that Nemo had loved and looked for ever since it fell off a boat.

The older fish-human held him close as Nemo started shaking in relief, but also in fear. Why was Gill here, of all times and places? "Gill, why are we like this?" he asked, hoping to draw Gill's attention from his heated face.

Gill rubbed his back gently. "I don't know, Sharkbait."

Nemo pulled away. He could feel a strange pressure in his eyes, and his vision was getting blurry.

"What is it?" Gill asked.

"You—you called me Sharkbait. I've missed that name so much!"

Gill pulled them both down onto the sand. "I've missed you!"

The moon traveled above them in the sky as they pondered out loud what could have caused them to change into humans.

"Gill, did you guys get away from that aquarium?" Nemo asked curiously, after a long time of pointless musing.

"Oh, yeah. We jammed the Aqua Scum with a leaf blade and the dentist put us in the bags, just like we originally planned, and we rolled right out the window to the harbor."

"Oh. Where are you living now?"

"That reef," Gill pointed toward the discoloration in the water that circled the island and marked the reef where Nemo lived. "A little bit offshore. Nice outfit, by the way."

"Huh?" Nemo looked down and discovered that he was clad in a white tank top and tight orange pants. Funny; he hadn't noticed that before. "Oh. Thanks. Uh, what happened to everyone else?"

"Well, we've all settled in pretty much the same area. Gurgle and Bubbles are going to a therapist for their obsessions with cleanliness and bubbles, respectively. Jacque's a cleaning crab. He's started his own cleaning company. As much as I hate to admit it, he's doing pretty well for himself."

Nemo snorted. "That seems like just the kind of thing Jacque would do."

Gill sobered, and gave Nemo a long look.

"What?" Nemo asked.

"Nothing. Nemo, how old are you?"

"Eighteen. How old are you?"

"Erm- thirty two." That was younger than Nemo had thought. Not very old at all.

"Kay," Nemo answered casually. "So... did anything unusual happen today?"

"Huh? Oh. No, not really. I was just thinking about..."

"About what?"

"Uh—nothing, nothing. Did you eat anything unusual today?"

Huh?

"No."

"Did anything unusual happen?"

"Other than me turning into a human? No."

Gill winced. "Not exactly what I meant."

"Then what am I supposed to be thinking of?" Nemo cried. "I can't—I won't—god, this is just so stupid! A wish couldn't have done this!"

Gill very visibly froze. "A wish?"

Nemo nodded hesitantly.

"What kind of a wish?"

Nemo felt his cheeks grow hot again. "I—uh, I wished that we could be together. I mean—no, that's not it—I wished that—uh—um... yeah..."

Gill gave him another long look, then sighed. Nemo could tell that the older man was blushing, too, even though his face was turned away; the back of his neck was red, more of a pale pink in the moonlight.

"Did you wish that we could have been more than friends? Like—together?" the older man asked slowly.

Nemo blushed harder, then looked down. "Uh, yeah, I did," he mumbled.

All too suddenly, Gill was right beside him, and Nemo found himself looking into the human's eyes. Gill's eyes.

"Follow my lead," the fishman murmured, then his mouth moved to touch Nemo's.

What is he—oh, this feels nice. . . Nemo thought as their lips connected.

Instinctively his lips moved against Gill's and his hand rose up to touch the scarring on Gill's neck. He traced it and Gill shivered. Their eyes closed simultaneously and Gill leaned closer.

Something soft probed at Nemo's lips and he realized it was Gill's tongue. He pulled away, startled, and fell back onto the sand. "What—why—"

"Relax," Gill soothed him. "It's normal, and it feels good for humans. I saw the dentist do it with his secretary hundreds of times."

Really, that was the least of what he did with her, Nemo thought wryly. He'd seen most of what the married dentist had done with his secretary—most of it had involved the desk or the dental surgery chair.

Slowly, Nemo relaxed a hair. Gill was probably right.

"Nemo, I won't hurt you." Gill said urgently. "Relax."

He leaned over Nemo and braced his arms on either side of him, leaning down and kissing him again.

Nemo's hand started stroking the side of Gill's neck again and suddenly he felt Gill's tongue on his lips again. Nervously, he opened his lips and Gill's tongue slipped into his mouth. Ooh. Mmmm.

Nemo's free hand came up to grasp Gill's shoulder, gently clenching and unclenching whenever Gill did something that made him shiver. What seemed like only minutes later but had to have been hours, the sky in the east started turning pink.

As soon as the first rays of dawn hit them, Nemo felt funny.

"Gill?" he made the name speak volumes.

"I know, Nemo. I feel it, too. Don't- don't forget tonight."

"How could I?" Nemo whispered. He nuzzled Gill's throat.

"I love you," he murmured into the white-and-black-clad man's ear. Gill kissed him again briefly. "I love you, too, Sharkbait." The sun fully rose over the horizon and Nemo couldn't see—hear—feel—smell—taste—touch—exist—

‡

"Nemo. Nemo... wait... who's Nemo?"

"He's our son."

"Oh. I knew that."

"Nemo, wake up!"

"Ungh." The blurry faces of Marlin and Dory swam into view.

"Come on, Nemo. It's late."

"Wha? Gill!" Was it a—dream? I have to know! He shot past his startled father and adopted mother, out of the house, and around the curves and through the forests of coral and sea grass. When he reached the other side of the island, he started asking about a thin black and white fish with scarring in his right side. As he swam, he passed a single red crab busily cleaning the inside of a coral home and a small group of chatting creatures consisting of a puffer fish, a pink starfish, a yellow-purple fish, and a blue fish. They turned as one to stare at the young clownfish as he swam determinedly past.

"Isn't that—" the puffer began, but was silenced with a "Shhhh!" from the starfish.

Up ahead, away from the rest of the reef, was an outcropping of rock. Under it was an old piece of cracked, dead coral. There were a few large holes and inside one, Nemo could dimly make out a light with a familiar figure silhouetted against it.

‡

Up on the island, two pairs of clothing, one orange, one black, fluttered in the breeze. Everything was going to be all right, now.

FIN. (no pun intended)

Please review, even if it's just to say you hated it. (We're all masochists at heart. :-P)