Title: 7 Out Of 10
Author: Dark-Dreymer
Pairing: Tommy/Merton
Rating: PG-13
Summary: What started out as an idea for one little scene involving a kiss morphed into this, hopefully funny, little one-shot. Hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: Do not own the show, the actors or anything else. I am a werewolf though
Comments: Are very much appreciated. Constructive criticism preferred, but flames welcome. Go nuts!
It was lunch on a Friday and Tommy was starting to hope that perhaps the week would pass with no wolfy incidents, so far the only potentially supernatural occurrence had been when everyone had fallen asleep in Biology class, Merton had suspected some kind of enchantment but the actual source had been Taylor's report on bullfrog mating habits.
Merton was nowhere to been seen at the moment though, he'd bailed on Tommy and Lori at the start of lunch claiming he had very important issues to deal with in regards to the Gothic Fantasy Guild; to some extent Tommy missed having his friend around but the silence his absence created had at least given him some much needed time to think.
"Okay, what's the problem?" Lori asked out of the blue, while simultaneously picking through her fries.
"Huh?" Tommy snapped out of his daze at the sound of her voice.
"You've been staring off into space for about ten minutes now." Lori supplied in explanation, "…and it's not your usual daydream staring, something's up."
"Oh, it's nothing." Tommy lied, giving a charming smile to reassure her he was telling the truth. Lori's face stayed steadfastly neutral, her whole demeanor practically screamed 'Don't lie to me!' "Okay fine…" Tommy sighed when she refused to stop her fixed stare, "I sort of have a crush on someone."
"Really, who?" Where as Merton would probably have been eager for details, Lori sounded positively casual.
"It doesn't matter… it's just I'm not sure how to tell them, they're sorta a really good friend and I don't want to mess that up."
"Tommy." Lori somehow managed to sound exasperated and reassuring at the same time, patting Tommy's hand in a friendly manner she smiled and continued, "You're one of the hottest guys in school, and a really nice person on top of that. Whoever this girl is I'm sure she'd be happy to go out with you. Just tell her how you feel."
"Yeah." Somehow Lori's words cleared through the mist and doubt that had been clogging his mind the past few weeks and he felt confident, "Thanks Lori." With that he stood up and hurried out of the cafeteria.
Tommy had jogged down the corridor heading for the Gothic Fantasy Guild Hall, but with every step the confidence Lori's words had given him faded a little and his fears began to build again; by the time Tommy found himself outside the Guild Hall he was planning to just turn back round, but hearing voices inside made him curious; pushing the door open slightly he peered in to see what was happening. Merton wasn't alone in the Gothic Fantasy Guild's room, that in itself was something to notice but the thing that really stopped Tommy in his tracks was that Merton was talking to himself, and not in the 'I should talk to the school therapist' kind of way; he was conversing with a living breathing clone of himself; a perfect mirror image down to the tips of his hair spikes. Even more bizarrely, behind the two Merton's stood a near perfect replica of Lori; only with red hair, and a slighter slimmer version of Tommy himself.
"Tommy." One of the Merton's noticed him and exclaimed happily, making his way over and placing one hand on his friend's shoulder as he pulled him inside, "They're dimensional travelers Tommy; can you believe it!" Merton's voice was lowered to stop the others from hearing, though his voice was tinged with the excitement that only a supernatural occurrence could produce.
"No." Tommy replied with fake enthusiasm before adding, "What's a dimensional traveler?"
"Oh." Merton stopped to think for a few seconds before starting to explain, gesturing vaguely as he went, "It's like the, admittedly disappointing, TV sci-fi series Sliders."
"What happened?"
"Well round about season 3 the writers lost track of the 'what-if?' scenarios of the early episodes and started producing cheesy rip-offs of Hollywood movies; and after they killed off The Professor…"
"No Merton." Tommy snapped his friend out of his usual tangent, "What happened in the show?"
"Oh right." Merton grinned slightly as he realized he'd managed to lose track of what he was explaining yet again, "A physics student creates a device which can open a wormhole…"
"Like that one that took us back to 1989?"
"Sort of. The wormhole he creates allows him to travel to alternate universes parallel to his own where it's the same year and place but things can be very different. They sometimes bump into themselves from other universes that they call 'doubles' and that's what's happened here."
"So they're us from a different universe?" Tommy asked looking over at the trio, the redheaded Lori giving him a little wave.
"Exactly."
"So why are they here?" Tommy asked after a moment of thought.
"That's Merton's fault." The other Tommy stated, grinning slightly when Tommy and Merton pulled apart; realizing they'd been overheard, "He forgot to put co-ordinates on the device and now we have to keep traveling around until we find our way home."
"…and he managed to land on it when we landed here so now it's busted and we have to fix it." Lori added.
"That was mostly not my fault." The other Merton argued, his voice slightly high-pitched; Tommy couldn't help but notice it was exactly what his Merton was like when something was completely his fault.
"Anyway Tommy." Merton spun to look at Tommy, "I have the materials they need to fix the device back at the Lair, but they can't risk being caught sneaking out of here. Could you make a distraction for us while we sneak out?"
"What sort of distraction?" Tommy asked bemused.
"Oh I don't know. Start singing, fall over, start some 'school spirit' pep rally or something. Anything!" Merton fixed Tommy with a pleading gaze. Tommy ignored the flutter in his chest that the adorable look caused and gave a quick nod, "Great." Merton grinned wildly and pushed Tommy towards the door, "Go get 'em." Tommy hovered outside the door for a second before turning to look at the crowds milling about the hallway and wondering how best to gain everyone's attention. Noticing Lori he called her name and hurried over; hoping she'd come up with some plan.
"Lori. Can I talk to you for a sec?"
"Oh, now you want to talk?" Tommy recoiled slightly at the sheer venom in Lori's words.
"Have I upset you or something?" He asked awkwardly.
"Have you upset me?" Lori shouted hysterically, causing quite a few people to look over, "First you're casually flirting with me and right when I say I want to go out with you again; you bail on me."
"Flirting with you?" Tommy repeated incredulously, before thinking back to the conversation in the cafeteria and realizing how she may have interpreted his words, "Oh no, you misunderstood." Over Lori's shoulder Tommy saw Merton peek his head out of the door; giving Tommy a quick thumbs up signal before sneaking out with the doubles following behind.
"What's to misunderstand? You have a crush on some girl you're good friends with and you want to go steady with her; tell me where I went wrong!"
He was really going to have to make this up to her later, but: "You're not my only friend Lori; I'm sorry if you got the wrong idea but I don't want to be more than friends with you. You think you're so special but you never stopped to think that there are plenty of pretty girls out there."
Lori physically flinched as if slapped, and the gathered crowd all sucked in a breath as if anticipating a verbal battle; Tommy could almost hear the cries of 'Jerry! Jerry!', but then Lori's features relaxed and she turned away, looking over her shoulder to deliver the final blow: "See you around Tommy."
"Lori wait." Tommy called hopelessly after his departing friend, he knew as well as everyone else that in girl speak 'See you around' meant 'Don't talk to me ever again.'
"Hi Tommy." As the crowd slowly dissipated he was aware of Becky popping up out of nowhere, "So did you and Lori just break up?"
"No, I…" Tommy started to explain the real scenario before deciding it wasn't worth bothering with, "Yeah I guess."
"That's too bad." To her credit Becky managed to sound at least a little sympathetic, "Some of my friends are meeting up at The Factory later, maybe you could come with us… get your mind off Lori."
"Not right now, Becky." Tommy said while heading towards the main doors.
"So, tomorrow maybe?" Becky called after him, but Tommy barely heard; his mind too focused on catching up with Merton.
"Let's go." Tommy tried to keep the frustration out of his tone as he slammed the passenger side door of the hearse shut.
"…Are you okay?" Tommy could tell from Merton's tone that he'd changed his question right before he asked it.
"I'm fine." Tommy muttered trying to ignore the odd looks he was receiving from the doubles piled in the back.
Nobody was at the Dingle household when they arrived, which meant they didn't have to worry about sneaking down to the Lair unnoticed. Once there the two Mertons set about repairing the wormhole device while Lori flitted around distracting herself with the various knick-knacks lying around. Tommy sank onto the sofa and buried his head in his hands, switching between worrying about what he'd say to Lori and what he'd say to Merton.
"You okay?" Tommy looked up and shivered slightly when he found himself staring into his own eyes.
"Uh, yeah I guess."
"It's not a good idea to lie to me you know. It's practically denial." Tommy's double sank onto the sofa beside him, "Now, tell me what's troubling you."
"I really messed things up with Lori today… I don't want her to be mad at me."
"Really?" The double seemed incredulous, "Lori's what's bothering you?"
"Yeah." It wasn't exactly a lie, "Why would that surprise you."
"Well…" The double looked over his shoulder at the two Mertons briefly, "I've been to a lot of universes over the past year or so and I found out that 7 out of 10 times it isn't Lori that's the problem."
Tommy tried to fight the urge to look over at Merton, but he was sure his double saw it in his gaze; "…Really?" It was difficult to sound nonchalant around the sudden lump in his throat, "You and…" He flicked his gaze over to the Mertons for a second, his double just grinned widely, "…and he said yes?"
"Like I said, 7 out of 10 times." The double repeated patting him on the shoulder before standing up and heading over to talk to Lori.
Tommy felt his head sink into his hands again, a whole new train of thought suddenly colliding with the others.
The wormhole when it opened was a swirling mass of yellow and white, occasionally glowing up to gold and silver intensity before sliding back down again; for a few seconds Tommy could do nothing but stare at it in amazement.
"Well, thanks." Lori smiled at them before leaping into the swirling void and disappearing in an instant.
"It was nice to meet you, I mean me, I mean…" Merton started tripping over his farewell and so his double helped him out by cutting across him with a quick 'you too.'
"Remember what I said, hope things work out for you." Tommy's double said with a hint of a grin, before taking hold of his Merton's hand and pushing them both towards the wormhole.
"Simply incredible…" Merton was still in awe of the wormhole and had spent the time since it's closure talking about quantum possibilities and molecular doodads and Tommy was pretty sure the word unstable had been thrown in there at some point, but he wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention. Normally he would be happy to let Merton ramble on about things he would never be able to comprehend, happy just to see Merton so enthusiastic and to hear the sound of his voice, but with the words of his double still ringing in his ears Tommy knew he would have to interrupt.
"Merton." The Goth stopped short, spinning round to face Tommy from where he'd been pacing, "I…" That was all Tommy managed before he stopped short. His cheeks heated first with a blush and then the spread of rapidly growing hair as his embarrassment made him wolf-out.
"You okay Tommy?" Merton placed a friendly hand on Tommy's shoulder, which did nothing to improve the situation.
"Merton I…" Tommy broke out of his friend's grip, crossing the room and facing away from the Goth as he spoke, "…I like you."
"I like you too Tommy."
"No Merton…" Tommy turned to look at his friend as he said it, "I like you, like you." He felt a weight settle in his chest as Merton's eyes widened and waited for the screaming at him to leave the Lair and never come back, or worse the 'I like you, but not in that way' speech.
"But…" Looking slightly shell-shocked Merton sank onto the sofa, forgetting his own worries for a moment Tommy made his way over to Merton to check he was okay.
"Merton, you okay buddy?" In response Merton reached out and ran his fingers through Tommy's soft hair without speaking a word, Tommy shivered under the gentle touch resisting the urge to whine appreciatively. It took a few minutes but finally Merton's touch helped Tommy de-wolf; once he had done Merton patted the space on the sofa beside him and feeling some of the worry from earlier return Tommy sat on the seat tentatively.
"How long?" It was all Merton said, but Tommy knew exactly what he meant. Tommy looked away, fighting the lump that had formed in his throat, "Please." The Goth said simply, fingers entwining Tommy's reassuringly.
"I figured it out a few weeks ago, but I think it's been months, maybe ever since we first met."
"A few weeks?" Merton sighed and shook his head, "You're just confused, trust me…."
"No." Tommy muttered quietly, "This isn't the first time."
"What isn't?" Merton asked confused.
Tommy sighed, he'd never told this to anyone before but friends were supposed to tell each other everything and Merton was by far the best friend he'd ever had, "When I was in 7th grade I got a crush on Alec Scott."
"Alec Scott?" Merton repeated amusement in his tone.
"He wasn't as weird back then." Tommy said defensively, "Anyway I wasn't sure what to do so I did what those kids in TV shows do; I talked to a guidance councilor. She told me it was a phase and I'd get over it; three weeks later I did."
"Well you see…"
"Until Sophomore year." Tommy cut across Merton again, "One day after football practice Leo he… well I'm pretty sure he was the one who started it but the point is we kissed. It went on for a couple of months and then he moved schools, I guess I just went along with it and tried not to think too hard about what it meant."
There was silence for a while and Tommy started fidgeting before Merton spoke up, "So what about with me?"
"I think it was the wolf that helped me realize it. Whenever you're in danger I always wolf-out and at first I thought it was just because you were my friend… but then those vampires kidnapped you." Merton remembered, a few weeks ago a trio of vampires had snatched him while he was walking back from the grocery store; they'd taken Lori too and tied them both up in the graveyard, which Merton had been quick to point out was a terrible cliché, it turned out they'd been planning to sacrifice them to some vampire god in return for immunity to sunlight; Tommy had rescued them but not before Merton had been stripped down to his underwear.
"Oh." Merton felt a sense of mortification creep over him at the memory.
"…After that I started thinking about it and I realized I'd been sort of crushing on you for a while without even realizing it." Tommy finished his explanation; leading to another uncomfortable silence.
"So does that mean you're…?" Merton couldn't bring himself to say it, and Tommy flinched at the sheer thought of labeling himself as… that.
"Let's not put any words to it just yet." Tommy said, "All I know is that I like you Merton."
"I…" Merton bit his lower lip, eyes shut tight before letting out a breath and confessing it, "I like you too Tommy."
"Really?" Tommy sounded shocked, and when Merton opened his eyes he found the younger boy's eyes filled with wonder. Merton nodded and made an odd noise in his throat that may have passed as an affirmation, and then Tommy's lips were on his.
"Hey Freakenstine…" Almost as soon as the kiss had begun it was interrupted by the slamming open of the door and Becky's less than friendly greeting. Despite both leaping away at the sound there could be no doubt that she had seen everything. Reacting to some insane impulse Tommy pushed at the tingling still under his skin and wolfed-out.
"I will eat your flesh!" Tommy yelled the first threatening statement that came to mind and waved his arms wildly, the shouting had the desired effect as Becky's eyes rolled into the back of her head and she slumped to the ground.
"Becky?" Somewhere from the swirling mist in front of her Becky could hear her brother's voice, "Becky, are you awake?"
"Leave me alone Freaker." As Merton's face came into focus Becky lifted one weary arm and swatted at him, as she did so she became aware of the other figure in the room her eyes widening in fear: "Werewolf!"
"Becky?" Merton pressed a hand to his sister's forehead, "You need to calm down, we found you passed out in the hallway and you've got a nasty bump on your head."
"No, Tommy turned into a werewolf; and he was kissing you and…" Watching the looks on the older boy's faces Becky became aware of how implausible her story sounded.
"Maybe we should take her to the hospital." Tommy whispered to his friend, though it was loud enough that Becky could hear.
"No." The girl shook her head, then regretted it as it just made everything swirl, "I'll just get some sleep."
"If you're sure." Merton said starting to back out of the room, pushing Tommy behind him, "There's water and pills on the bedside table if you get a headache."
Pulling the door shut behind them they made their way down the stairs before collapsing into relieved laughter against the wall.
"That was some pretty quick thinking." Merton complimented as he found his breath.
"Thanks." Tommy grinned and hugged Merton tightly.
"Do you wanna watch a movie?"
"Sure."
"Great I'll go get the popcorn." Merton stepped out of his friend's embrace, pressing a chaste kiss to his lips before turning to the kitchen.
Tommy smiled to himself as he made his way back down to the Lair; he still had to apologize to Lori and he had no idea how he'd explain to her about him and Merton, not to mention how they'd keep it secret from the rest of the school, how their parents would react, whether Becky would doubt their hallucination lie and what would happen to them when they graduated; but those were all problems for another day. For now Merton was his and nobody else needed to know, and they'd spend a few hours watching awful movies and maybe fit some kissing into the schedule, and that was, in Tommy's opinion, perfect.