I cannot believe I'm on my third, but I can safely say not my last, fanfiction. So far my stories have been really popular. Alright, this story is my own version of "Underneath the Blue Paint", but this is Don Lino's POV instead of Lenny's. And to the author of "Underneath the Blue Paint", please understand that I'm not stealing your idea; I just loved your story so much that I wanted to put it in my own version. Thanks everyone!
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So many thoughts were rushin' inside my head. I had no idea what I did to deserve all this! First that no-good Sharkslayer took away my older son Frankie, then he makes my other son Lenny dress up like a freakish dolphin, and now he trapped me and Lenny in Sykes' Whale Wash! I was a combination of frustrated, confused, exhausted, and unable to move because of the equipment I was stuck in. As soon as I got outta' there, I'd finally kill that Sharkslayer and have Lenny grounded for the rest of his life! I looked down at the Sharkslayer and said in my mind, "Oh sure, he thinks he's some sortta' hero! Well we'll see about that once I'm outta' here." He was surrounded by practically every fish on the reef, including the News Media, and all of 'em were chanting "Sharkslayer!" And then I looked at Lenny, who was tryin' to tell that little idiot to get him out so he could just run away from me again.
"Look what you did to him!" I yelled to the Sharkslayer, who thought he could weasel his way out by sayin' it was all a misunderstanding. But I was not expectin' what happened as soon as he turned back to all the other fish.
"I AM NOT A REAL SHARKSLAYER!!!" He yelled. Everyone went so quiet that I possibly could here a pin fall to the floor.
"I lied." The Sharkslayer continued. I could not believe what I was hearin'.
"What?" I was really more confused than frustrated now, 'cause if he lied than how in the heck did my son get killed?
"And I'm not a real financial advisor!" said some stupid crab. I had no idea what that was about, and clearly neither did the so-called Sharkslayer.
"It was an anchor that killed Frankie," he said to me. I felt so guilty; my son's death was just an accident that just couldn't have been avoided, and I had been blaming everyone else for it.
"I didn't have anything to do with it, and neither did Lenny." Now my attention turned to Lenny, who looked more than melancholy.
"Well then if that was true, why did you run away?" I could see in his eyes that Lenny was about to cry.
"Because you always wanted me to be like Frankie. I'll never be the shark you want me to be."
The "Sharkslayer" was getting very upset with me.
"What is your problem?" he asked me. Ordinarily I would've been ticked that a puny fish had the nerve to say something like that to me, but right now I felt like I should listen to what he had to say.
"So your son likes kelp. So his best friend's a fish. So he likes to dress like a dolphin. So WHAT? Everybody loves him just the way he is." I felt a little better on the inside when I saw him pat Lenny on his head. "Why can't you?" I didn't answer because I was too afraid to think of a reason why I shouldn't have loved my own kid.
"Don't make the same mistake that I did." He continued. "I didn't know what I had until I lost it." It was all starting to make sense to me. If I just continued to force Lenny to be someone he wasn't, I could've lost him again. I couldn't say another word; I just stared at Lenny and was surprised to see that he was smiling at me. He hadn't smiled at me that way since he was nine years old. I was now so mad at myself and I just wanted to hug him and tell him everything was gonna be alright.
"Will ya get me outta' this, so I can hug my kid and tell 'im I'm sorry?"
The smile on his face got better when I said that.
"Pop." He said. Without saying a word the phony Sharkslayer, or I'll just call him Oscar seeing as that's his real name, pressed the button that made all the machinery Lenny and I were stuck in let us go. At first I was happy that I was able to move my fins again, but then I looked at Lenny and was even happier to see that he was okay.
"Come here, you." I hadn't said that to him for at least ten years, and it felt great to be saying it again. But it felt even better to see him smile at me, and to hold him in my fins.
"I love you, son, no matter what you eat or how you dress." I felt like I was about to cry so my voice sounded shaky when I said that. He laid his head down on my shoulder and said, "I love you too, Pop." When he said that to me, I felt almost completely better. After all I still had to apologize to him.
"Lenny," I said, "I'm really sorry about everything."
"No, Pop. I'm the one that should be sorry. I never should've run away like that, I should've just told you how I was feeling. But instead, I made you and mom think I was dead." I thought about that for a moment.
"Well, you did have us worried sick, but I honestly don't blame you for doing what you did. I probably would've done the same thing if I were you." He looked at me and I could tell he was confused.
"You mean you're not gonna punish me?" All I could do then was laugh a little bit.
"Nah, I think what you….and I have been through today's been punishment enough." He looked a little happier, and not just because of my small joke. "Let's just agree to actually talk and listen to each other if we ever argue again. Deal?" I asked holding out my fin. Lenny chuckled and held out his own fin.
"Deal." We shook on it, and then hugged again. A few seconds later, the Sharkslayer…I mean Oscar…and his apparently new girlfriend appeared.
"So um…Lino, eh, Don," he said. For the record, I was getting a little tired of him forgetting how to say my name.
"We cool, right? I mean like the reef is safe. We can all walk the streets ya know without 'Ahhhhhhh'. Eh, ya know?" Amazing as this may sound, I knew exactly what he was trying to say. I thought at first about saying no because fish had always been my favorite thing to eat, but then I thought that I should really be thinking about Lenny and how he felt about eating living things.
"Yeah," I agreed, "We're cool." Then some female fish from the News Media appeared and started to ask Oscar questions. But my attention turned to Lenny.
"Ya ready to come home, Kiddo?"
He answered without even taking time to think. "I am so much more than ready, Pop." He buried his face in my shoulder again and I buried my face in the top of his head.
"We are truly best friends forever." I said to him.
"You said it." He replied. Neither of us could've been any happier.
The End.
