Tick… Tock… Tick… Tock…
Ever since Rumble was still a foal, that grandfather clock remained in his and Thunderlane’s living room completely unmoved. Aside from the the occasional dusting or spring cleaning, nothing was ever done to the massive clock. But still, it always ticked away the seconds in a constant, monotonous rhythm. The light grey stallion never really paid much attention to the clock, so he couldn’t really say it was too loud or detracting from anything he was doing; however, on the night he decided to come out to his older brother, Rumble could’ve sworn that the clock’s constant ticking became a near-deafening repetition in accompaniment with the awkward silence in the room.
Of course, it wasn’t the coming out itself that caused Thunderlane to look so stoic in the chair across from Rumble. In fact, the older stallion was downright thrilled when Rumble admitted he was seeing someone. Thunderlane even suggested that his brother should bring his boyfriend over to meet. Unfortunately, the reveal of who Rumble was seeing was what caused that grandfather clock to suddenly sound a lot louder in the living room.
Tick… Tock… Tick… Tock…
Rumble could recall everything that happened in the past five minutes like it was nothing. He first told his boyfriend to wait outside, just so the teenager could have everything ready. He then asked Thunderlane to sit in the loveseat and wait with his eyes closed. And after the older Pegasus agreed, Rumble brought his special someone into the house, and they sat opposite of Thunderlane on the couch.
It’s been about three minutes now since Thunderlane opened his eyes, and he still hasn’t said a single word to Rumble or Spike.
Tick… Tock… Tick… Tock…
Granted, the fact that it was Spike might have been a pretty big surprise for anypony. Heck, his crush on Rarity was common enough knowledge to anyone who lived in Ponyville. But from the way Thunderlane’s formerly relaxed smile now looked frozen on his face, his right eye twitching occasionally, Rumble could’ve guessed that his brother thought he was dating a Changeling. Meanwhile, Spike was noticeably becoming more uncomfortable as the seconds passed. The drake began to twiddle his claws together in an attempt to focus his thoughts on something other than what Thunderlane may have been thinking. Even though he was roughly half the size of his boyfriend, Spike couldn’t help feeling a lot smaller in the situation he was in.
Tick… Tock… Tick… Tock…
“S… so…”
Thunderlane didn’t seem like he was even aware he was beginning to speak. Rumble flinched a little in surprise when his brother’s voice briefly interrupted the silent void in the room. Meanwhile, the dark grey Pegasus just stared between Rumble and Spike as his muzzle stayed open.
“S-so you’re… you’re dating... Spike.”
The way that Thunderlane inflected that last word made the dragon wince in worry. It didn’t sound demeaning, or even upset for that matter. But still, Thunderlane’s tone made his confirmation it was Spike sound very… cautious.
“Ummm… yes,” said Rumble in a more confident tone than his brother’s. His head motioned towards the drake while keeping eye contact with Thunderlane. “I’m with Spike. He’s my boyfriend.”
Spike nodded his head in confirmation, but he still seemed apprehensive to say anything in addition to that. Thunderlane blinked a couple times. His previously frozen smile was finally melting, but it became a more uneasy-looking skew across half of his muzzle. He glanced back down at Spike for a moment, which made the dragon struggle not to visibly squirm in his seat. Thunderlane then looked back at Rumble before speaking. “Are… are you joking?”
Rumble was baffled. “No, I’m not! Seriously, why are you acting like this?!”
Thunderlane’s head tilted to the side as his eyes widened slightly. From the way he was staring at Rumble, it could’ve been assumed that the teenager just asked what color an orange was. As his eyes darted between Rumble and Spike, Thunderlane looked like he was about to hyperventilate from how rapid his breathing was becoming. His voice stumbled a couple times before he was able to give a suitable answer towards his brother. “Y-you… you’re… y-you’re with a BABY!!!”
Rumble jolted in his seat from that outburst at the end. Spike just groaned and covered his face with one of his claws. “I told you he was going to say that,” he muttered under his breath.
“What?!” shouted Rumble.
“It’s true!” yelled Thunderlane, a hoof pointed at the drake. “Spike is a baby dragon! Do you REALLY not see a problem with that?!”
“Dude, come on! Spike is NOT a baby!”
“Uhh…” Despite not wanting to intervene while his coltfriend was getting so peeved at Thunderlane, Spike still put down his claw to clarify. “Well, technically speaking I kinda am.”
“SEE?!” shouted Thunderlane in a befuddled tone towards Rumble.
“So what?! We’re still the same age!” To emphasize his point of view, Rumble didn’t hesitate to use one of his wings to pull Spike in effortlessly. Since the drake’s entire body was small enough to be encased in one of the stallion’s wings, Spike was pretty much smushed in against his coltfriend. “You know, I really thought that YOU of all ponies would be accepting with who I’m dating!”
“HE’S A CHILD!” Thunderlane didn’t want to appear too angry in his brother’s eyes, but that didn’t stop his voice from raising alongside his panic. “Dude, LOOK AT HIM! He’s still a friggin kid!”
“Hey, come on!” Spike pulled himself away from Rumble’s side long enough to point a claw at Thunderlane angrily. “Just because I’m physically a baby doesn’t mean I’m mentally one too!”
“That REALLY doesn’t make it that much better!!”
Spike groaned and looked away from Thunderlane with a pout and his arms crossed. Meanwhile, Rumble kept an angry and perplexed glare on his brother and asked, “Dude, what the buck is your problem?! Are you really going to treat my boyfriend like that because of how he looks?!”
“How he LOOKS?!” Thunderlane’s jaw almost hit the floor. “Rumble, Spike is literally a baby!”
“But he’s still the same age as me! Both mentally AND literally!”
“But not PHYSICALLY!” By now, it was unsure whether Thunderlane’s voice sounded more frustrated or panicked. “Rumble, for crying out loud, this HAS to be illegal! Any court would look at him as still being a child!”
“HEY!!!” snapped Rumble in an instant bout rage. “Don’t you DARE try to assume anything like that! I know he might be different from me physically, but that gives you NO RIGHT to call me a bucking fillyphile!”
“I’m not saying that!” the stallion quickly said with his hooves out in clarification. “Alright? I’m not saying that, and you know I never would!”
That statement was enough to keep Rumble from jumping out of the couch, and he settled in his seat with a low and brooding growl. Meanwhile, Spike glanced over at his coltfriend to make sure he wasn’t going to do anything before turning his attention towards Thunderlane. “Thank you for saying that,” he began in a sincere tone. “Look, I know this is really weird, alright? I know it, and Rumble knows it too. But you have to understand that dragons age a lot slower than ponies! I’ll probably still be this size for another hundred years, at least!”
Despite the fact that Spike sounded honest about that point, Thunderlane looked confused as he asked, “Wait a minute, didn’t you turn really big a few years back on your birthday?”
Spike cringed and scratched the back of his head. “Well, that was because of Dragon Greed, which isn’t the same as natural growth. Technically speaking, it would take me centuries to get to that kind of size again.”
Thunderlane widened his eyes in surprise. “Wait, really?”
“Really,” echoed Spike honestly. “I mean, in all seriousness, I could live up to a thousand years. So technically yes, I AM still a baby in the grand scale of things.” He scooted in closer to Rumble as he continued. “But the fact of the matter is that I’m still just as much an adult as Rumble when it comes to making my own decisions. I know that the lifespan thing is definitely a big issue, and I’m not going to lie and say it’s an easy thing to forget about…”
That statement made Thunderlane’s ears droop down a little. Rumble sighed as his head lowered uneasily, clearly already knowing that fact as he nodded faintly. The drake wrapped an arm around Rumble’s back, and the teenager leaned in to give the top of Spike’s head a caring nuzzle. Even though the sight made Thunderlane somewhat uncomfortable, he didn’t say anything about it as Spike continued.
“But I’m still just as capable to make decisions as your brother. Despite how young I might be physically, we’re still the same age, and I’m old enough to know that I really care about him.”
Rumble looked down at his boyfriend with a smile on his blushed muzzle. “Th-thanks, Spike.”
Spike smiled back up at him warmly. “No problem.”
The two then bent in for a kiss, which only lasted as a second-long peck before Thunderlane spoke up. “Whoa, whoa, WHOA!!!”
Rumble groaned as he pulled away from the dragon to glare at his brother. “Oh, come on! I never complained when YOU brought random mares home and kissed THEM!”
“Actually, you did,” stated the older Pegasus flatly. “A lot.”
As Rumble looked away with an annoyed huff, Thunderlane paused for a moment to rub his temple with a hoof. “Okay,” began the stallion after sighing heavily to try and keep a respectful tone towards the couple. “I can understand what you guys mean... a little.” He looked back up at the two with his hoof out to emphasize just how small he meant. “A little! But the physical difference is still a big deal here! Seriously, what’s going to happen if the two of you decide to have sex?!”
Thunderlane hoped that his question was blunt and stern enough to make both of them immediately start to worry. What he wasn’t expecting was to see Spike and Rumble instantly blush and go wide-eyed. Even though neither of them said anything in response, their shared silence was a good enough clue that the stallion asked that question too late.
Thunderlane’s jaw gaped open the instant he realized what was up. “Oh sweet Celestia.”
“Okay, before you start freaking out,” said Rumble as quickly as he could with his hooves out in defense, “what we did was completely consensual, and we--
“YOU TWO HAD SEX?!?”
The bellowed scream from Thunderlane made Spike and Rumble almost jump out of their seats. While the older Pegasus just gawked at the two like they just admitted to murder, Spike decided to press his luck as he put out a claw in clarification.
“Define ‘sex’.”
“SPIKE!” shouted Rumble panically towards him.
“What?! It wasn’t like we did a lot our first time!”
“WHAT THE BUCK DO YOU MEAN THE FIRST TIME?!”
Spike instantly regretted adding that detail. His head slowly turned back to the shocked stallion as he made a meager chuckle out of fear. “U-uh…”
Out of instinct, Rumble pointed a hoof at Spike and blurted out, “It was his idea.”
“WHAT?!” Spike whipped his head back to the teen in shock. “No it wasn’t!”
“Yes it was! You were the one who suggested we take a bath together!”
“Yeah, after YOU kept teasing me for over an hour!”
“Teasing you?! We were eating lunch!”
“No, I was the one eating lunch! You just sucked on a banana for thirty minutes while staring at me!”
“GAH!!!” Thunderlane was fed up with their argument as he gripped his Mohawk with both hooves and looked down to the floor. He was struggling to breathe normally as he muttered to himself in a panic. “Ohhhhh, no no no no no…”
“Dude, come on…” Rumble bit the bullet and decided to lean in towards his brother. He tried to make himself sound calm when he said, “Spike and I are both adults, remember? You said yourself that you were with mares when you were way younger!”
“NOT THAT YOUNG!” he shouted when he pulled himself back up and pointed a hoof right at Spike. The Pegasus then made a quick exhale and settled back in his seat with his hooves covering his face. “Sorry, I’m sorry,” he muttered in correction, “I’m just trying not to go nuts right now.”
“No, it’s alright,” said Rumble in assurance. “I get it. What we said would probably make a lot of ponies go nuts.”
Spike involuntarily giggled at the mention of the word ‘Nuts’ and admitted, “That kinda reminds me of the time Rumble tried to--”
The teenager immediately shot a nasty glare in Spike’s direction to shut him up. The drake clenched his mouth shut with a deep blush on his cheeks. Luckily, Thunderlane wasn’t paying much attention, so he was a bit calmer when he finally lifted his head up to look at Rumble.
The younger Pegasus winced a little when he saw the serious stare that his brother had on him. A couple seconds passed before Thunderlane asked very firmly, “Does Twilight know about you two?”
Spike and Rumble both cringed hard. While Rumble settled back on his spot on the couch, Spike twiddled his claws again with his eyes pointed away from Thunderlane. “W-well,” began the drake meekly, “she’s not exactly a fan, but… she’s aware we’re together.”
Judging from the blushes that both of them had, Thunderlane’s eyes widened as he realized he may have been lucky at just hearing about their escapades. “What happened?” he asked in a tone that sounded like he was worried Guards were going to crash through the front door.
Rumble shrugged his shoulders in discomfort before admitting, “Uhhh… she sorta forgot to knock one day, and walked in on the two of us.”
“Oh noooo…” groaned Thunderlane as he sunk into his hooves again. Rumble winced for the brief second that his brother was silent, but the older stallion quickly brought his head back up and asked, “Wait, was that the day you came home and half your mane was burnt off?!”
Rumble bit his lip and nodded. “Y-yeah,” he said with a shrug. He brought a hoof up to the left side of his jet black mane, which was just starting to grow out long enough to look more like a trendy shave than just some mistake from a magic beam. “I’m just glad she was off by an inch. But to be fair, she kinda caught us in a really bad position, so I can’t really blame her for blasting at me like that.”
“But I managed to talk with her about it personally,” added Spike insistently. “Seriously, she knows better than anypony else that what Rumble and I are doing isn’t illegal! It took her a while to settle down about it, but she’s accepting enough to not try and forbid us from being together.”
Thunderlane’s brows raised in surprise. “Wait, really?”
“Yes, really,” said the dragon. As he leaned back in his spot on the couch, Spike chuckled timidly when he continued in a rant towards himself. “I mean, I guess it’s not surprising how freaked out she got. I mean, Twi raised me my whole life, and she’s one of the closest things I have to a Mom. After all the time I spent gushing over Rarity, I guess I can’t blame her for being surprised I was gay, let alone sexually ac--”
“Do not finish that sentence,” stated Thunderlane firmly.
Spike paused briefly enough to nod. “Right,” he blurted with a blush. “Anyway, she… she always saw me as her little baby. Like, I know that I kinda am, but I guess she always saw me as that mentally as well. Because of that, it was kinda hard for me to talk with her when I was realizing I wasn’t into any other mares. After Rarity got married, I just felt really… alone.”
Spike was becoming more solemn near the end of that statement, which caused Rumble to take the reins and add, “Yeah, I… kinda had that problem too.” As the teen looked over at Spike sympathetically, he sighed with a smile before turning back to his brother. “Of course, I think I was more aware I was into guys than Spike was. I was never into any of the girls at school, so I spent a lot of my time at the castle library.”
Spike nodded with a faint smile. “Y-yeah… That was actually how we got to know each other. I was asleep by a desk with some of those self-help books for gay ponies, and Rumble came by and saw what they were about.”
That made Rumble giggle guiltily. “Yeah. I honestly never would’ve expected that Spike was even bi-curious! I mean, I guess it makes sense if Rarity was the only girl he was into. Even I think she’s a good catch.”
“Yeah,” admitted Spike as he scratched the scales on the back of his head. “But anyway, when I woke up and realized Rumble caught me, I got all freaked out and was begging him not to tell anypony. And the first thing that he did was hug me…" He blushed heavily as he paused. "...and he said that everything was going to be okay.”
Rumble nodded while biting the inside of his cheek. “Well, I used to be in that position too, so I knew how important it was for him to know he had friends.”
Spike smiled up at his coltfriend gratefully, which was returned by Rumble with a blush of his own. Even Thunderlane, who stayed silent as the two explained their story, couldn’t help cracking a small smile at the corners of his muzzle.
“Anyway,” continued Rumble as he turned back to his brother. “We got to talking for a while, and we ended up becoming a lot closer as friends. I didn’t even think about the idea of us becoming boyfriends, but it just sorta… happened.”
Spike nodded weakly with an embarrassed smile on his face. “I can’t really explain when the feelings between us changed like that,” began the dragon as his blush became heavier with each word. “But after a while our conversations became a lot more… personal, I guess.”
It was Rumble’s turn to nod his head before adding, “We really started to realize how much we had in common. I mean, neither of us knew who our parents were when growing up. And we were both raised by sibling figures.”
Thunderlane’s eyes widened slightly, not even taking that into consideration. Even though he knew that Twilight wasn’t biologically Spike’s Mom, it never even occurred to him that she had the same relationship that the Pegasus had with his own brother.
“It kinda helped us feel a lot closer to each other,” continued Spike as he sat himself a little closer next to Rumble. “For a while I figured we were just becoming good friends, you know? Like, I was trying to avoid thinking it was anything closer than that. But a couple months back when he came to sleep over, we were talking about stuff when we just… stopped.”
Thunderlane tilted his head in confusion. “Stopped?”
“I can’t really explain it,” said Rumble with a shrug as he glanced back to his drake. “But while we were talking on his bed, the two us just stopped for a while and… looked at each other.”
Spike looked back up at his boyfriend with a blushed smile of his own. He nodded meagerly at Rumble’s detail and added, “I just… I never felt anything like I did when I was staring back at him, and after about a minute, we…”
Thunderlane looked away from the two uncomfortably, already able to fill in the blanks about the romantic actions that occurred. Rumble still looked back to his brother and stated, “We didn’t have sex that night! We just kissed!”
“Th-that’s right!” added Spike as he realized that detail may have been needed. But after another moment, he looked back up at his coltfriend as his smile reemerged. “But still, I… all I could think about when it happened was how great it felt. And… and that was when I realized how much I was feeling for him.”
Rumble turned back towards Spike with an enamored smile. “M-me too…”
If Thunderlane wasn’t in the room, there probably wouldn’t be any good guess how long those two would be staring at each other lovingly. Fortunately, Spike was able to look back to the older stallion and say, “Listen, I get how weird this might look. And you have every right to be worried. So was Twi, and it took her a while to accept the idea. But just know that despite the differences Rumble and I have, he still means more to me than I ever would’ve imagined. He was there for me when I needed him, and neither of us have any regrets about being in a relationship. And if you want to disapprove, I honestly don’t care. Because despite whatever you have to say, it doesn’t change how much I love him.”
Thunderlane’s eyes grew to the size of frisbees. “How much you what?”
Spike’s whole body was shaking, but it was unclear whether that was from fear or from the excitement of saying that word out loud. Nevertheless, he still inhaled shakily before repeating himself. “I… I love him,” the drake said in a crackling voice. “And… and there’s nobody else I’d rather be with.”
Rumble’s lips were trembling while looking down at Spike. With his purple eyes welling, the teenager pulled Spike up for a tight hug. “Oh, Spike!” he said with vigor while nuzzling him sweetly. “I love you too!”
Due to their emotional states, neither of them cared anymore as they kissed each other deeply. Of course, the sight of his teenaged brother making out with a baby dragon just made Thunderlane groan and look away with a grimace. “UGH! Come on guys, really?!”
After a few more seconds (even though it felt MUCH longer to Thunderlane), Rumble was the first to pull his lips back to apologize. “S-sorry, sorry…”After putting Spike down and wiping his eyes with a hoof, Rumble sniffed with a smile as he looked back at his brother. “B-but… just know that what we said is true,” he said as he wrapped a wing around his dragon tightly. “Spike and I are in love. And even though I’m sure you’re not okay with it, I’d really want to keep you as my brother.”
That statement absolutely floored the Pegasus. Not wanting Rumble to think otherwise, Thunderlane sighed heavily and quickly exclaimed, “Dude, come on! Of course I still love you! You’re my brother! Nothing will ever change that!”
Rumble’s shaky smile grew even wider as he began to tear up again.
“But,” added Thunderlane with a hoof out as he closed his eyes to take a breath, “like Spike said, I definitely need some time to let all this sink in! I mean, I want to be okay with this. I really do.”
“It’s okay,” said Spike insistently. “We completely understand.”
“Thank you.” Thunderlane reopened his eyes and stared at the couple before saying, “Look, if you two are happy, I’m happy for you. I promise. Just… just please don’t make out like that while I’m still in the bucking room!”
“Alright, alright,” said Rumble with a roll of his eyes. “We’ll give you all the time you need to adjust.”
After making an exasperated sigh, Thunderlane got out of his seat and muttered, “Celestia, I need a drink.”
Spike and Rumble didn’t say anything in response to that, and just let the stallion leave silently. Unfortunately, the sound of the fridge opening was immediately followed by a painful groan and Thunderlane yelling, “Dammit, I forgot to get more beer!”
“You know what?” began Rumble as he got off the couch before his boyfriend. “I think Spike and I will leave you alone for tonight, ‘kay?”
“Fine, fine,” groaned the stallion from the other room. With that, the two made their way to the door with Spike perched on top of Rumble’s back.
“That could’ve gone better,” said Spike uncomfortably.
“Eh, maybe,” admitted Rumble with a shrug before glancing back at him. “But at least he didn’t try to kill either of us like Twilight did.”
“What was I supposed to do!?” asked Spike with both claws raised. “I wasn’t really able to say much to her with the ball-gag in my mouth!”
“The ball-gag was YOUR idea!”
“UGH!!” cried out Thunderlane from the other side of the house. “Get out! Get out! Get out!”
“Okay, sorry!” yelled back Rumble in a panic as the two rushed out of the house like it was on fire. Meanwhile, Thunderlane sat perched at the kitchen table with one of the few remaining bottles of beer he had in his fridge. After uncapping it with his hoof, the stallion downed half of it in one go and slammed it on the table.
“Urrrrrgh…” The stallion sank his face into one of his hooves. “This was not how I wanted to spend my night.”
Less than a minute later, Thunderlane’s ears perked up when he heard the front door open again. “Uhhh… Thunderlane?” asked Rumble in a cautious tone of voice.
“Yeah?”
“... Do you know where my lube is?”
“GET OUT!!!”
The End