It was Summer, when they first met. He remembers that much. He doesn't know whether it was his teacher who introduced him or he introduced himself, but before long just plain 'Tony' soon became 'Tony and Spencer'. He didn't know what love was like at 4 years old, as no one does, but Spencer, with his black curls and big eyes, was the perfect best friend.
They did everything together those days, gaming (Spencer always won), trips away (rarely thanks to Spencer's long list of allergies and his custody visits with his dad, but camping in Tony's backyard counted, he guessed), school projects.
You name it, Tony and Spencer did it. Until 7th grade that is.
Tony didn't mean to hurt Spencer. In fact, if he was honest with himself back then, Tony /never/ wanted to hurt Spencer, but...things just happened that way.
It all started at the beginning of 6th grade, if he could really pinpoint an actual time.
He'd been playing football since he could walk, so it was no surprise that come a Friday, there was always a game on. Spencer's mom would always bring him after his after school classes to let him watch and cheer him on and then, they would go to Denny's afterwards, whether his team won or lost, to celebrate.
It should've been a normal game, but to Tony, it stood out as it was the beginning of the end for his and Spencer's friendship as they knew it. For it ceased to be friendship and turned into something...more. Different. Terrifying.
Tony should have been concentrating on the game, that what he'd told himself, but Spencer's eyes and red cheeks as well as his jumping up and down in excitement distracted him more than usual today. Soon enough, even after that football game, his presence alone was enough to make Tony shy, different, his heart racing every time Spencer came over or was with him.
Almost as if he was...falling in love with him.
Now, by this time in their lives, Tony had amassed a pretty substantial line of long forgotten ex-girlfriends, so he had a pretty clear feeling of what love, or at least it's barest form, was like. He refused outright for a long time to believe that he felt the same with Spencer.
Yet he knew it was true.
He couldn't deal with it, this new development in their lives. He wouldn't have minded something else, a new friend or son, as him and Spencer could work around that, but gay? No. His father was long gone, his mother was a church goer. He read and studied the Bible like it was a football strategy and went to church on Sundays, singing for Grace and the Lord himself. He couldn't by gay. He just...couldn't. Scared, panicked and upset, Tony finally stopped being friends with Spencer, thinking that maybe, maybe if he hoped hard enough, the feelings would go away, like they should.
Except they didn't.
By the time Tony was now 'Fridge' and Spencer had fallen down the ladder to become 'Werid Kid', the feelings (now well hidden) were still there. Still brewing under the skin. Burning and buzzing and making it hard for Fridge to keep his cool, on and off the football field.
He knew it had been a bad idea to rope Spencer into doing his homework for him from the start, but if it gave him a chance to see him where he didn't look like he was lovesick, it was worth it. He hated what he had to do to him to hide the truth, but if Brantford found out that one of the senior stars of their local high school football team was gay...small towns do what small towns do.
He will well admit that when the plan fell to pieces, he had hated Spencer for it, but really only had himself to blame. He had used his heart instead of his head for once and had paid the price.
Finding Jumanji however, turned out to be both his waking nightmare and of course, his saving grace. Funny how a stupid game can cause so much shit to come to the surface.
He hadn't honestly mean to get most of his stuff out, but come perhaps the second? third? day being stuck inside Franklin "Mouse" Finbar's body, Spencer (in his /giant/ and Greek god looking body) got cocky. If there was one thing Fridge /really/ didn't like about this new version of Spencer, it was how big balled he had seemed to become overnight.
Putting him in his place hadn't worked much (considering he had just come back straight after and /slapped/ him into a rock wall), but eventually, he found out on his own when Spencer succeeded in saving them and they become even. More than even.
Those feeling he hidden for so long were coming back again...and he didn't feel like stopping them this time like before. He allowed himself to settle in them instead, considering it was the only time he could. From afar of course, as he didn't want to freak him out too much. Thankfully, or maybe even not thankfully, it seemed the rest had either been oblivious or even just not asked, with the exception of Alex of course, when they located him.
Fridge never thought the question "So you and Spencer...are you guys...?" could produce such a response out of drunken him (mostly stumbling over words and nervous laughing) before he finally straightened out.
"Uh, no. No. No. Spencer doesn't...he's not like that. Neither am I. He likes Martha, I think."
He hated those words. 'He likes Martha, I think.'
There was no question he did, of course, it was obvious that Spencer had liked Martha.
Spencer had liked her since 7th grade, he had taken that information to heart when it made the rounds of the local student gossip chain. He hated it and he hated them.
Until the night they stopped the curse at least.
That night, or really, early afternoon, Fridge bumped into Spencer as he went to fill the team's canteens from the fresh water spring turned lake nearby...everything went to hell and back after that.
Fridge had just been minding his own business, looking though his backpack when Spencer had appeared in front of him, startling him. "Jesus Christ, man. What the hell you doing!?"
"Sorry, sorry." Spencer, or really Dr. Smolder Bravestone, smiled awkwardly. "I was just uh-" He pulled up several canteens by his side. "-filling these up."
"Cool." "Yeah."
Fridge just shook his head at Spencer's usual wordlessness, pocketing the stone and of course, that strange ass boomerang back into his backpack, before Spencer spoke again. "I, uh-actually, I'm really glad you're here."
Fridge had to look up again, standing when he happened to be seeing something different in Spencer's eyes. Well, they really /weren't/ Spencer's eyes, but you get the idea.
"I have something to tell you-" Spencer started, looking nervous to the other male despite his character supposedly being more than enough brave to make Spencer speak. "-and I want to tell you now, just in case the next time that-that we talk, if we talk again, I'm no longer brave."
"Okay…" Fridge said lowly, heart suddenly racing again and hands becoming sweaty, stomach flip flopping a bit as he waited.
"I like you, Tony." Spencer mumbled, biting his, Bravestone's, lip.
He did not just...he /did not/ just say that. Hell no. No. He said…
"What?" Fridge said dumbly, but it seemed Spencer wasn't finished. Or rambling.
"I like, /like/ like you. Like, I'm /fully/ into you."
"...You are?" Fridge murmured a little nervously, entire body shaking as he tried to process what was happening in front of him.
"I am-" Spencer confirmed rather confidently, shakily. Just like him. "- and I have been, since, like, the 5th grade."
The fuck?! "Really?" Fridge asked with doubt, biting his lip. When had Spencer gotten closer to him?
Spencer just nodded nervously, both of them standing there nervous before Spencer made to leave, Fridge's hand suddenly stopping him and closing around his wrist tightly.
"Sorry, this has just...never happened before." Fridge felt like he couldn't breathe. "I...I can't believe I'm doing this and-" Should he really do this? Ruin everything here, in a fucking jungle in some other guy's body? "-I...I know I'm going to hell, but man...I like you too, Spencer."
"What?" Spencer stood there in the same position as he had been before when Spencer had admitted the same, it was almost fitting.
"Yeah." Fridge nodded, swallowing hard. "Yes, Spencer. I like you too."
Spencer, dumbstruck, blinked before he gestured wildly to his body. "Are you sure it's not because of the, you know, like /all/ of-"
"What? Woah, no, no, hell no. No." Fridge had to laugh a little. Typical Spencer. "That is...no, it's not how you look, man. To be honest, I liked me better when I was with the old you."
"R-Really?" Spencer asked, seeming excited. If Fridge's smile got bigger, he barely noticed it.
The moment seemed to swell and the noise in the jungle seemed to fade away and become quiet the closer and closer he and Spencer became...well, until the moment was ruined by Spencer opening his mouth and licking his face. Clearly, he didn't know how this was done.
They would have possible gotten in another try, if it wasn't for Bethany, stuck in Professor Sheldon "Shelly" Oberon's body, informed them quickly of Alex's discovery about the statue.
Just like that, the moment was over. Over and unable to be taken again. They had to focus on the game, as well as each other's survival. His heart had to come last once again.
When he got back home, restored to 6 foot and after seeing Alex happy, in a family, safe and unharmed by the jungle just like them, Fridge got to thinking. It took the weekend, but he finally made his decision.
It was time that Anthony 'Fridge' Johnson paid the piper in full for his mistakes.
"So-" Bethany was by his side, Martha as well as they walked into school together. "Did you guys talked to Spencer?"
"Oh, I was texting him this weekend." Martha nodded shyly, looking up. "Have you talked to him?"
Fridge bit his lip, going to reply 'No.' when Bethany's voice stopped him. "There he is."
He stopped in his tracks, seeing Spencer in his hoodie and jeans, backpack weighing down his shoulders in the crowds of their fellow students coming up the path.
He barely heard the words "Go get that guy, Mouse." before he was moving, catching up with Spencer as he had stopped in the middle of the path when he saw him.
"Hi." Fridge smiled nervously down at his, well what was he? What was Spencer now? Friend? Former best friend? More?
"Hi." Spencer responded back, shy self back to completely normal after Bravestone.
"Yeah, uh, so I really wanted to call you man-"
"No, no, I get it, I mean, you're trying to work your way back onto the team and all-"
"Yeah, sorry, but still. I should have-"
"It's just weird, you know, not knowing if you're okay or anything, what's going on-"
Fridge had to interrupt the start of the rambling banter with a loud laugh at just how awkward they were both acting, making Spencer look curiously up at him. "What?"
Spencer soon found out as Fridge lent down and in front of everyone, kissed him.
It was better, more proper than Spencer had done and the moment they had wanted earlier was back again, stronger than the last time and it was so quiet as they just stood there, Spencer on Fridge's feet as they made out in front of their small town school, ignoring the gasps of shock and horror as wella s Bethany and Martha's more positive reactions...till they heard it.
Boom, boom, boom, boom.
Boom, boom, boom, boom.
Boom, boom, boom, boom.
One bowling bowl later, history was...well, history.
Oh, as for Fridge and Spencer, well, I think you mean Tony and Spencer.
That has a nice ring to it, I think.