Title: Lemon Lime

Author/pseudonym: Caroline Crane

Fandom: Big Wolf on Campus

Paring: Tommy/Merton

Rating: NC17

Status: new, complete

Archive: yes to list archives

Series/Sequel: nope

Disclaimers: If I owned either of these two the show would feature a lot less monsters, a lot less inane plot devices and it wouldn't be suitable for children anymore. Guess that would explain why no one pays me to corrupt children's programming this way.

Notes: The title was unceremoniously ripped off from Soul Coughing's "Lemon Lime", which is one of several Soul Coughing songs I had on repeat while I wrote this bit of silliness. If you're not listening to them you should be.

Summary: Merton's got plans for a quiet evening with a little light reading, but Tommy shows up and smut ensues. PWP about slash fiction this time.

Warnings: No spoilers, but I do poke a whole lot of good-natured fun at our common interest, fan fiction in general and slash in particular. It's all in good fun, I love this stuff as much as everybody else.

Lemon Lime
by Caroline Crane

It was a dark and stormy night. Not that it mattered, because Merton was settled comfortably at his desk, a steaming mug of hot chocolate in one hand and his mouse in the other. He glanced absently at the sound of rain beating against the basement window and hoped the storm wouldn’t knock the power out and ruin his plans for the evening. "So far so good," he muttered into the stillness of the lair as he listened to his modem dial and then connect to his server. It had been awhile since he’d had a whole night to himself with no homework and no bad guys to help Tommy battle, and he was looking forward to a quiet evening surfing the net. With any luck some of his favorite sites had been updated and he’d have plenty of reading material before bed.

He opened his media player and scrolled through the list of mp3 files until he found the Soul Coughing files he’d downloaded, pressing play and letting his head move to the beat as the opening strains of "Rollin’" filled the room. He took a sip of hot cocoa and clicked his bookmarks, scrolling until he found the site he was looking for. When the site loaded he smiled fondly at the graphic on the main page, thinking to himself what a cute couple the two faces staring back at him made. Quickly he clicked on the updates link and smiled triumphantly when he saw the list of new files that had been uploaded since his last visit. "Yes!" he exclaimed when he saw that his favorite author had not just one, but three new stories on the site. One of them he’d read a few months ago on one of his mailing lists, but it was a great story and it had been awhile. The other two were brand new as far as he could tell, and he hoped at least one of them was a sequel to the last fic he’d read by the author.

Merton would never admit it to anyone, especially not Tommy, but before they started hanging out he’d spent a lot of time reading fan fiction. Way too much time, probably, but he couldn’t help it if the stuff was addictive. There were a lot of fandoms he enjoyed reading, but this one was definitely his favorite. In fact he liked the idea of his favorite fanfic couple so much that he’d had to stop watching the show. Tommy thought he’d just gotten his fill of vampires and weird happenings in real life and given up on the stylized, Hollywood version shown on Buffy the Vampire Slayer every week, but the truth was that Merton just couldn’t stand the thought of Spike and Buffy together. It just seemed wrong, almost like he was betraying Spike and Xander by watching what was going on between Spike and Buffy on the show.

And anyway, there were so many great slash fics about Spike and Xander that he didn’t even need to watch the show to get a Spike fix anymore. Not to mention the fact that every so often he’d stumble across the random Oz/Xander or Oz/Giles fic, they were few and far between but he devoured every one regardless of the writing quality. Normally he was picky about whose stuff he’d read, bad writing detracted from his enjoyment of an otherwise promising story. Besides, he liked a little romance in his slash, and he really hated the depressing stuff. He had enough heartache in his real life, he didn’t need to seek it out in fan fiction.

A soft sigh escaped Merton’s lips at the thought of the source of that heartache, and he automatically clicked on a Spike/Xander story instead of the new Oz one he was considering reading. He knew the only reason he liked Oz fics so much was because Oz was a werewolf, and if he couldn’t have Tommy at least he could read slash about a werewolf and pretend for awhile. Not that he had a prayer even if Tommy was into guys, which as far as Merton could tell he definitely wasn’t. Granted he hadn’t dated much in the time Merton had known him but when he had it was always a girl. Not to mention the fact that when they used to watch Buffy together Tommy made a point of going on and on about how hot Sarah Michelle Gellar was. It got so annoying eventually that Merton just refused to watch with him anymore, feeding Tommy the line about seeing enough vampires and demons in real life. He didn’t need his best friend catching on that he was nursing a crush, that would ruin everything between them and he didn’t want to risk losing Tommy. Even if he couldn’t have him the way he wanted he had Tommy’s friendship, and any way he could get Tommy was better than what his life had been like before they became friends.

He wasn’t thinking about Tommy tonight, though, in fact he wasn’t thinking about anything but the wealth of new slash fiction at his fingertips. And if he ran out of good Spike/Xander slash he could always surf on over to the Star Wars slash sites and see if there was any new Darth Maul/Obi Wan fic. Maybe it was perverse but he couldn’t resist the whole "fine line between love and hate" dynamic of those two, especially the stuff that was set pre-Phantom Menace. He smiled fondly at the thought of his second favorite slash pairing and reached for his cocoa again, absently sipping at the warm liquid as he settled in to enjoy the Buffy fic he’d chosen.

An amused chuckle escaped his throat as he scrolled past the usual "if you’re underage go away" warnings. As if, like any self-respecting teenager would pay attention to lame warnings anyway. Honestly, he didn’t know why people bothered wasting their energy typing that stuff. Oh well, probably some legal mumbo jumbo, he told himself with a shrug. That whole "better safe than sorry" concept probably had some merit, and anyway it wasn’t like it detracted from his enjoyment of the story. He settled a little further into his chair and began reading, smiling at the opening scene. He loved it when Xander pined for Spike, he could totally relate to being hung up on a seemingly unattainable crush. Only he could usually rest assured that unlike himself, Xander would get his man in the end, and that at least made him feel better for a little while.

He was so enthralled in the steamy love scene at the end of the fic that he didn’t hear the outer door to the lair open, and when he felt a hand land on his shoulder it startled him so much that he nearly jumped out of his chair. "Geez, Merton, settle down," Tommy’s voice sounded in his ear, amusement at scaring his best friend half to death evident in his voice. "What’s so fascinating that you didn’t even hear the door?"

Merton minimized the web browser as soon as his motor skills came back to him, his face flushed as he silently prayed that Tommy hadn’t gotten a good look at what he’d been reading. When the window was hidden he took a deep breath and turned around, hoping the low candlelight in the room would prevent Tommy from seeing his flushed skin or the slightly glazed look in his eyes. "H-hey, Tommy," he stammered, his gaze focusing on Tommy as he turned to face his friend. As soon as he took in the other boy’s appearance his breath caught in his throat again, and it was all he could do not to reach out and touch his friend’s damp skin. Tommy was soaked from the storm outside, his shirt was literally clinging to his skin and dark brown curls of rain-soaked hair clung to his temples. Slowly Merton regained his ability to breathe and he shifted in his chair, hoping his best friend wouldn’t notice just how happy he was to see him. "What brings you out in this weather?"

Tommy chuckled low in his throat and shook his head slightly, sending a shower of cold droplets raining down on Merton’s cheek. "Oh, sorry, buddy. I was just out for a run and it started pouring, I was closer to your place than mine so I figured I’d stop by and ride out the storm. Has to let up sometime, right?"

"Sure, no problem," Merton answered, too flustered to realize that Tommy hadn’t actually bothered to ask if it was okay that he’d dropped in unannounced. Not that he didn’t do it all the time, sometimes with an alarmingly bad sense of timing. So far Merton had managed to avoid his best friend catching him in any too compromising positions, though, and he breathed a short sigh of relief that Tommy didn’t seem that concerned with what Merton had been reading. "You wanna watch a movie or something?"

"Actually a towel would be great," Tommy said, grinning as Merton blushed a little harder and stood up.

"Oh, sorry." Merton stood up and crossed to the bathroom, fumbling around for a reasonably clean towel before he reappeared in his bedroom and handed it to Tommy. He didn’t mean to watch as Tommy ran the dry cloth over his face and hair, but it was pretty hard to tear his gaze away from the progress of the towel over his friend’s skin. Tommy was standing in the center of the room, his head back and his eyes closed as he ran the towel over his neck. Without warning he stopped, his eyes opening and landing squarely on Merton as he dropped the towel on the desk. Something like a smirk lit up his features and Merton found himself blushing all over again, looking away for anything to preoccupy him while Tommy made himself at home.

When he ventured a glance back at the other boy his breath caught and he choked on a gasp. He was definitely not prepared for the sight of Tommy reaching down and yanking his soaking wet shirt over his head, dropping it to the carpet without a second thought before he reached for the towel again. Part of Merton almost expected cheesy instrumental music to start playing as Tommy closed his eyes again and ran the towel down his chest, the whole scene was way too close to the script for a bad porn. He knew the furthest thing from Tommy’s mind was stripping off the rest of his clothes and tossing out a cheesy line about Merton helping to warm him up, but the mere thought of it combined with the sight of his half-naked best friend was too much for him.

An odd, strangled noise escaped his throat and he took a few steps backwards, ignoring the slightly bemused expression on Tommy’s face as he stumbled over the couch and headed toward the stairs. "I’ll just go get some chips and stuff. For the movie."

He turned without waiting for an answer and bolted up the stairs, realizing belatedly that Tommy had never actually agreed to watch a movie. Merton couldn’t think of anything else they might do, though, it wasn’t like their were a lot of options while they were stuck in the lair together. Besides, he needed to get out of there while Tommy finished doing whatever it was he was doing. There was no way Merton could stand there and watch his friend dry off without Tommy figuring out that something was up, so to speak. He rolled his eyes at the seriously bad pun and opened the fridge, taking a moment to let the cool air wash over his fevered skin before he grabbed a couple Cokes and shut the door again.

This was so not what he needed tonight, not when he’d specifically told himself that he wasn’t going to even think about his best friend for the entire evening. It would just figure that the one time he didn’t want Tommy around he’d show up, and looking…well, edible. Maybe all the magic and spell-casting had pissed off God or something and this was his retribution. Maybe the Christians were right after all and he’d brought down the wrath of the Almighty on his hormone-ridden, teenage self. That had to be it, this was just some kind of twisted torture that was supposed to teach him a lesson about lusting after things he couldn’t have. He should have paid attention to those NC17 warnings on the fanfics he’d been reading, if he had he wouldn’t be completely turned on and about to go downstairs to make small talk with the object of most of his fantasies.

With a groan worthy of Lori when her mother was lecturing her on being more ladylike, he grabbed a bag of Doritos and tucked the Cokes under his arm, forcing himself to head back downstairs before Tommy got bored and started poking around. He didn’t think there was anything incriminating lying around where Tommy could get at it, but there was no telling what kind of trouble his best friend could get into in a few minutes. After all, trouble seemed to follow Tommy around like he was its reason for being.

The sight that greeted him when he reached the bottom of the stairs made his jaw drop and the hair on the back of his neck stand up, and he barely managed to set the food and drinks down before he rushed over to his desk. There was his best friend, dry except for his hair but wearing only the towel he’d used to dry off. His clothes were nowhere to be seen, and he was leaning forward in front of Merton’s computer monitor. There was a strange half-smile turning up the corners of his mouth as his eyes moved back and forth across the screen, and Merton knew without a doubt that it was too late to try to talk his way out of this. How could he explain to Tommy what he’d been reading when he showed up out of nowhere? He couldn’t think of a single plausible explanation for what Tommy was reading, even if he claimed that he stumbled on it accidentally that didn’t explain the fact that he was nearly at the end of a rather long fic when Tommy showed up.

"Interesting story," Tommy said without looking up, but even in the dim candlelight Merton could see his eyebrows quirking.

"I…I…I…" That was as much as Merton managed before Tommy did turn to look at him. As soon as their eyes met Merton blushed from the top of his head all the way to his feet and clamped his mouth shut, his eyes wide as he stared at Tommy.

Tommy didn’t say anything about his obvious humiliation, he just grinned and let his eyes wander over his friend for a moment before he turned back to the computer. "Spike and Xander, huh? I mean I guess it could work in a ‘I love you so I’m mean to you’ kind of way, but I always kinda liked the idea of Spike and Angel. Yeah, he’s got his own show now and all, but it’s not that much of a stretch."

"Too obvious," Merton answered automatically. It took a second or two for his brain to catch up with him, but as soon as it did he cocked his head to the side and played Tommy’s last words back over in his head. I always kinda liked the idea of Spike and Angel. Something about that statement definitely didn’t sound right coming from Tommy’s mouth, and not just the obvious fact that Spike and Angel were all wrong for each other. "Wait a second, you’ve…you’ve thought about…Spike and Angel?"

"Well neither of them are really my type," Tommy answered, his gaze still glued to the screen as he continued to read. He sounded almost distracted, as though he really was focused on the story and not at all weirded out by the fact that he was calmly discussing slash fiction with his best friend. "But you know they’ve done it. I mean come on, they’re vampires. That automatically makes them bisexual."

Merton blinked, then shook his head as he tried to wake himself up from possibly the weirdest dream he’d ever had. This beat even the time he’d fallen asleep watching Night of the Living Dead and dreamed that a mob of killer zombies was trying to break into the lair. Of course that was before he met Tommy, so maybe that particular dream was just a little bout of precognition. This, though…there was no explanation for this.

"Dude, is that even possible?"

Merton’s eyes shot up and he focused on Tommy again only to find his best friend sitting forward in his desk chair, one foot bouncing with pent-up energy as he evidently got to the part of the story that had Merton so enraptured that he hadn’t heard Tommy come in. "Um, Tommy?"

"Yeah?" Tommy answered distractedly, not bothering to look up at Merton’s strangled tone.

"Where are your clothes?"

If it was possible for Merton to drop dead of humiliation he would have at that moment, and part of him almost wished that he could. Unfortunately he was a healthy seventeen-year-old boy, a little on the scrawny side maybe but otherwise in perfect health. He had no idea why he’d brought attention to the fact that his best friend was, for all rights and purposes, sitting in his room naked. It was bad enough that he was reading the gay porn he’d caught Merton redhanded with, but Merton couldn’t leave it at that. No, he just had to go and draw attention to the fact that Tommy had elected to take off and evidently hide all his clothes.

"Oh, I, uh, I hung them in the bathroom," Tommy murmured, still not even glancing in Merton’s direction. "Hope that’s okay. I mean they were soaked, I didn’t want to get your furniture all wet. And I don’t think your clothes will fit me."

The logical part of Merton’s brain accepted that explanation, nodding its understanding before taking a step back and letting the rest of Merton’s thought processes have free reign again. Things were definitely getting weirder by the minute, and Merton wasn’t sure if he’d be able to work out what was going on without having some kind of breakdown. For one thing, Tommy had showed up out of nowhere soaked to the skin and looking, well, amazing. Then he’d stripped down to nothing but a towel and a smile and now he was talking calmly about two vampires having sex? Two male vampires, the logical part of Merton’s brain piped up long enough to remind him.

Okay, maybe Tommy just assumed that all vampires were inherently bisexual. It was a safe assumption, and it definitely beat the alternative. Any other explanation would mean that Merton had been all wrong about Tommy from the beginning, and he was having a hard enough time dealing with what had happened so far that evening. Then again, if he’d been wrong about Tommy all this time things could get interesting very quickly. That is if his friend was even remotely attracted to him, which was a huge ‘if’.

"Man, did you finish reading this?" Tommy asked, finally turning away from the computer screen long enough to let his eyes come to rest on his currently very confused-looking best friend. Merton just shook his head mutely and did his best not to throw up on his shoes. "I swear I don’t think that’s even possible. I mean how would somebody bend that far?"

Merton’s hormones piped up long enough to wonder vaguely what exactly was confusing Tommy so much about the position described in the story. Then again Merton had just gotten to the good part when Tommy showed up, so obviously he’d missed something interesting. He had no idea how to answer, or even if Tommy was expecting him to. In fact he wasn’t even sure if his voice was still working, all he really knew in that moment was that if he didn’t die of embarrassment the ache in his groin was going to kill him.

"Merton, are you okay?" Merton blinked rapidly and looked up at Tommy again, his mind racing as he tried to make sense of whatever Tommy had just said to him. It sounded like English, but for some reason he couldn’t quite remember what the words meant.

"I…uh…look, Tommy, I wasn’t really expecting you. I mean not that I’m sorry you’re here…well, considering the circumstances…but the thing is…"

The sound of Tommy’s soft laughter filled his ears and drowned out whatever thought he’d been trying to force past his lips. He clamped his mouth shut again and stared helplessly at his best friend, watching as Tommy stood up and crossed the room to stop in front of him. "Merton, relax. It’s no big deal. So you like reading fan fiction, it’s a little embarrassing but I won’t tell anybody."

Yeah, he could count on Tommy not to go spreading rumors, of course. Wait…fan fiction was embarrassing? "Uh, Tommy…"

The soft laugh became a deep, throaty chuckle as Tommy’s hand landed on his cheek, green eyes searching his face for any sign that he was reading Merton wrong. "What? You seriously didn’t know how much I’ve wanted to do this?" Tommy whispered just before their lips met, a helpless whimper escaping Merton’s throat as Tommy’s lips brushed his softly and then pulled back again. "I figured I’d give you a little time to catch up with me, but I’m getting tired of waiting."

Merton had a second to register the predatory gleam in Tommy’s eyes before their lips met again, but this time there was nothing soft about Tommy’s kiss. His mouth was demanding, tongue darting out to tease Merton’s lips open and explore the recesses of his mouth. Whatever was left of Merton’s brain fried on impact and he gave himself over to the kiss, his knees wobbling dangerously. Vaguely he registered the feeling of Tommy’s arm locking around his waist to hold him up, his whole body pressed against his best friend’s as they kissed frantically. He let his hands wander the smooth planes of Tommy’s solid back, smiling against the other boy’s mouth as Tommy let out a muffled groan. In a million years he never thought he’d have this kind of affect on his beautiful best friend, he figured even if Tommy swung both ways that he’d always just be the geeky sidekick. Only that wasn’t what Tommy’s mouth and hands were telling him, and he suddenly became painfully aware that a towel was all that was keeping this from becoming fodder for his best wet dreams.

"You know for the smart one you sure are taking your time catching up," Tommy panted as he tore their lips apart to gasp for air. When Merton looked up his best friend was smiling, though, something like affection mingled with the lust in his eyes as he began working on Merton’s buttons.

"What’s going on here?" Merton finally managed to gasp, unreasonably pleased with himself for finally getting his voice to work even if the question was ridiculous.

"If I have to tell you that you’ve been reading the wrong stuff," Tommy teased, grinning at the bewildered frustration in Merton’s features. "Come on, Merton, I thought for sure you would have figured it out by now. When’s the last time I actually dated a girl? I spend all my free time with you, we go to movies together, we hang out together all the time…hell, I even asked you to go to the winter dance with me."

"No you didn’t," Merton said, the fog in his brain clearing suddenly as he stared back at Tommy.

"Come on, Merton, yes I did." Tommy looked down and shrugged, his fingers stilling on his best friend’s shirt just before he pushed it off Merton’s shoulders. "You turned me down, but I definitely asked."

Merton shook his head vehemently, wracking his brain for any memory of Tommy asking him out. That he definitely wouldn’t forget, even if aliens kidnapped him and erased his thoughts. There was no way in hell he’d ever forget Tommy Dawkins asking him out on a date, and to something as public and couple-oriented as a school dance. "You did not. All you said was, ‘Hey, let’s go to the dance. I bet Lori’s mom makes her wear a dress, it’ll be hilarious’."

For a second Tommy just stared at him, his forehead furrowed as he listened to Merton repeat his exact words back to him. Finally he shrugged again and grinned sheepishly. "So I’m not that romantic. I’m a seventeen-year-old guy, give me a break. Anyway you said you didn’t want to go, what was I supposed to think?"

"So that was…like…an invitation?" Merton murmured, his brain busily trying to wrap itself around the fact that Tommy had asked him out on a date. To a school function. Where all his teammates would see them together. "I thought you just wanted an excuse to hang around Lori all night."

Tommy rolled his eyes and let his hands start moving again, pushing Merton’s shirt off his shoulders and down his arms. He leaned forward and pressed his mouth to the soft skin just beneath Merton’s ear, letting his tongue trail along the base of his friend’s earlobe as his hands found their way to the button at the top of Merton’s jeans. He smiled against the smaller boy’s skin as he nipped gently at his neck and elicited a shiver from his friend, sliding the zipper of Merton’s jeans down and pushing the denim down his hips. "Next time I’ll try to be more clear," he murmured as he pulled back to look at Merton again.

"Oh, I think I get the point this time," Merton answered, sliding his hand around Tommy’s neck to draw him down for another kiss. Tommy moaned and parted his lips against Merton’s mouth, taking hold of his friend’s hips and backing them both toward the couch. When his legs hit the arm of the couch Merton stopped, tearing his mouth away from Tommy’s long enough to look up at his best friend. "Wait a second. The winter dance was months ago. How come you waited so long to say anything else?"

"I figured you weren’t interested," Tommy answered, remembered hurt clouding his features for a second before he continued. "Either that or you were oblivious. Either way I figured it was for the best. Until I found your Biology notebook. You should be more careful about where you leave that stuff lying around, you know."

His Biology notebook…Merton wracked his brain for what he could have left in there that would make Tommy think he was interested. Meanwhile the other boy took advantage of Merton’s distraction to dispense with the rest of his clothes before he pushed him back onto the couch and climbed over him. He stopped when they were face to face again, bracing his hands on either side of Merton’s face as he grinned down at his friend. "Don’t worry, Merton. I won’t tell anybody you write fan fiction either."

"I-I don’t…" Merton stammered, his eyes wide as he watched Tommy raise his eyebrows at the lie. Finally he sighed and closed his eyes again, only the fact that Tommy’s body was pinning his arms to his sides keeping him from covering his face with his hands. He hadn’t planned on anyone he actually knew ever finding out he wrote anything, let alone fan fiction. He knew he shouldn’t keep that stuff in his school notebooks, but he was a slave to his muse and he couldn’t help it if inspiration struck most often in Biology class. "Which one?" he mumbled miserably.

"Something about Obi-Wan and Darth Maul and Jedi training," Tommy answered, shifting his weight so he would be able to touch his friend’s face without crushing him. "Come on, Merton, it’s no big deal. I thought it was good. Wait a second, you mean you have more? Can I read them?"

"No," Merton answered automatically, forcing one eye open long enough to gauge whether or not Tommy was laughing at him. As soon as he looked up he registered for the first time exactly how close they were, it had all happened so fast that he barely noticed the fact that somehow Tommy had managed to get all his clothes off. "Um, Tommy, what…what are we doing here?"

Tommy smirked and shifted again, pressing their hips together and evoking a groan from Merton as he felt just how turned on Tommy was by…him? No, it had to be the fanfic he’d been reading, that was the only explanation. "You’re the one that writes this stuff, buddy. I figured you knew what you were doing."

"Yeah, well, writing it and actually doing it…two completely…oh God," Merton trailed off with a gasp as Tommy leaned down and began trailing wet kisses down the side of his neck.

"I think we can figure it out," Tommy murmured against his skin as he began working his way down Merton’s chest. For a brief, perfect moment Merton was lost in a wave of pleasure and want and more than a little fear, but then Tommy pulled back to look at him again and all he could think was that the other boy had finally come to his senses and realized who he was kissing. Maybe Tommy hit his head on the way over or something, or he took a hit a little too hard in football practice or something. "Merton? Am I moving way too fast here or what?"

"Wh-what?"

One look at Merton’s confused expression and Tommy sighed, pushing himself up on the couch and adjusting the towel that was still somehow clinging to his hips. Merton’s first reaction was to frown at the fact that Tommy was still wearing something and he wasn’t. That was completely unfair, even if it was just a towel, and one of his at that. A second later his brain caught up with him, though, and his heart fell as he realized Tommy was pulling away. Okay, something wasn’t right here, he was missing something. He just had to figure out what, because one minute Tommy was kissing him and the next he was looking like his dog just died. Merton took a deep breath and reached out with shaking fingers, closing his eyes briefly as his hand connected with the solid muscle of Tommy’s shoulder.

As soon as his fingers connected with the other boy’s skin Tommy turned around, his expression a mixture of hope and resignation. "I must be totally losing my touch or something," Tommy said, his shoulders slumped as he searched Merton’s expression. "I could have sworn…I mean I thought you were into me. For awhile after the whole thing with the dance I thought maybe I was crazy, but I don’t know, lately I’ve kinda gotten the feeling that maybe I wasn’t crazy after all. Then I found that story and, well…"

Merton shook his head, the rest of Tommy’s explanation lost on him as he struggled to make sense of the words ‘I thought you were into me’. Did that mean… "So, you…you’ve thought about this? About me?"

"Yeah, of course," Tommy answered, his grin returning as he watched Merton’s eyes get wide again. "I mean if you’re not interested just say so. We can still be friends, though, right?"

Suddenly Merton felt the need to sit down, only he was already sitting and it wasn’t helping the room stop spinning any. In fact he was pretty sure sitting this close to a nearly naked Tommy was making things worse, because now he was hallucinating. He could have sworn he’d just heard Tommy more or less say that he was interested in…something, maybe not a romance per se but he was definitely interested in finishing what they’d started. Okay, so that was a start, he could work with that. He’d just worry about the part where Tommy broke his heart later, and maybe if he was lucky he wouldn’t have to worry about that part at all. The thought of him and Tommy actually dating made his whole face light up suddenly, and he leaned forward before he could talk himself out of it to press his lips to Tommy’s again.

A low growl tore from Tommy’s throat as he turned and pushed Merton back down onto the couch again, the sound sending a shiver of anticipation down Merton’s spine. He reached down and gripped the edges of Tommy’s towel, yanking it free and tossing it somewhere in the direction of the coffee table. One of them groaned when their aching erections finally pressed together for the first time, Merton wasn’t sure which of them made the noise but it didn’t matter when Tommy shoved one of his legs between Merton’s and started rocking their hips together.

"Oh," Merton gasped when Tommy’s mouth left his again, although whether it was from the loss of soft lips against his or from the sensations threatening to fry his synapses he didn’t know. Their hands were everywhere, Tommy’s mouth moved back to his throat to nip and suck at pale skin and Merton gasped and gripped the other boy’s hips as he struggled for just a little more, that extra pressure that would push him over the edge. Tommy groaned and reached down to pull Merton’s leg over his hip, bringing their bodies flush and capturing Merton’s lips again in a desperate kiss.

Merton’s lips parted automatically as he leaned up to taste Tommy again, his movements frantic as they moved together. It still wasn’t quite enough, though, so he reached between them and closed his fist around both their shafts. Tommy gasped against his mouth as his hand made contact, and he smiled and began stroking them together. "Fuck," Tommy choked out, his voice strangled as he pulled back enough to close his fist around Merton’s and increase the pressure of the strokes.

For a moment Merton couldn’t focus on anything besides the agonizing pleasure shooting through him, the same state of ecstasy mirrored back on Tommy’s face as his eyes closed and his head arched back. He could feel how close his best friend was, he knew Tommy was as close as he was and without thinking he leaned up and sank his teeth into the smooth skin of Tommy’s shoulder. A startled gasp escaped Tommy’s throat, followed by a low grunt as his friend tensed and jerked forward. His hand closed tight around Merton’s, that and the sensation of wet warmth hitting both their chests was enough to push Merton over the edge and he moaned his release against Tommy’s shoulder before pulling back to collapse onto the couch.

He pulled Tommy down with him, the solid weight of his best friend reassuring as they lay in a tangle of sweaty limbs. "Jesus, Merton, that was…you’ve never? With anybody?" he asked, struggling to regain enough control over his boneless limbs to push himself up to look down at the other boy.

"Well I didn’t say that," Merton answered, a shy grin lighting up his features as Tommy’s eyes got wide again.

"When? Who?" Tommy demanded, his eyes shining with jealousy that Merton would have almost found cute if it hadn’t been accompanied by a hint of yellow that told him the wolf was jealous too.

Merton sighed and ran a soothing hand over Tommy’s face, pushing still-damp hair back off his forehead before he answered. "Summer camp, it’s not all just computer hacking. Besides, I haven’t done all of it. Just, you know, a little experimenting. And that was nothing like this."

"Yeah?" Tommy asked, suitably mollified for the time being. Merton had a sneaking suspicion that there would be more questions later about what exactly he’d been doing at summer camp and who else was involved, and he found himself suddenly thankful that his friend Hunter lived in Michigan where Tommy couldn’t kill him easily. Still, it was almost nice that his best friend was jealous, maybe that meant that this wasn’t just sex after all.

"Yeah," Merton answered, matching Tommy’s grin with one of his own. "I mean, wow, Tommy. Where’d you learn to kiss like that? Wait, you know what, I don’t think I want to know."

Tommy laughed and settled back down into the couch cushions, shifting so that Merton was lying more or less next to and a little on top of him. "Maybe I’m a natural."

"Ow!" Merton complained, his laughter stopping abruptly when Tommy smacked the back of his head. "Okay, okay, you don’t have to get physical."

"I thought that was the point," Tommy joked, his eyes closed as he finally quit struggling to stay awake. "So what do you say? You wanna go to the prom with me? That’ll freak everybody out for sure."

Merton’s eyes opened to stare down at Tommy with a mixture of fear and longing. For a long moment he studied Tommy’s features, trying to decide if his best friend was joking or not. Finally he decided that Tommy couldn’t be serious and let out a low chuckle, doing his best to keep the disappointment out of his voice. "Yeah, right. Quarterback for Pleasantville High and his boy toy at the prom together? That’d go over huge."

"Boy toy? I kinda like the sound of that." Tommy laughed at the image of everyone’s expressions when he and Merton walked into the biggest social event of their high school careers together. He didn’t really care what any of them thought, though, and part of him had kind of hoped that Merton wouldn’t care either. After all, Merton was used to people staring at him like he was some kind of science experiment. If people found out he was gay they’d probably just decide that it explained a few things about him, and considering the rumors Tommy had heard since they’d started hanging out he was guessing no one would be all that shocked about him either. "You think I care what those guys think of me? Keeping the werewolf secret is one thing, if that got out there would be a lynch mob after me. This is totally different."

"I don’t know, I’m guessing a lynch mob is still a definite possibility," Merton chuckled. He didn’t mean to sound nervous, but the thought of the whole school watching him and Tommy come out together was…well, it was unsettling to say the least. "I bet you look pretty hot in a tux though."

"Only one way to find out." Tommy grinned and shifted so he could look down at the other boy, smiling softly as he reached out and traced the outline of the mark he’d left on Merton’s neck. For a few minutes they just lay next to each other and breathed, the only sound in the room the music still playing on Merton’s computer. Finally Tommy smiled again and pushed himself up, swinging his legs over the other boy’s and pulling them both into a sitting position. "So…about all that stuff you’ve never tried before. Want a little firsthand experience to help you with your writing?"

Merton groaned as he realized Tommy was never going to let him live down the fact that he’d written a few slash fics. In fact he had a sneaking suspicion that Tommy wasn’t going to let it go until Merton finally agreed to let him read everything he’d ever written. Right now, though, he was being hauled to his feet and shoved unceremoniously in the direction of his bed, a very naked and willing Tommy on his heels. "Hey, you know me," Merton finally answered as Tommy pushed him back onto the bed and crawled over him again, "I definitely believe in the value of hands-on research."

"Good, because I read this thing just now that sounded pretty interesting," Tommy answered, leaning forward to brush his lips against Merton’s again.

"Oh yeah? And what exactly are we doing?"

Tommy stopped kissing the other boy long enough to pull back and raise one eyebrow suggestively. "Well, we’re gonna need some lube…"

The End