-Bad Day-

I think the title is rather self-explanatory. BWoC isn't mine. Orginial characters are. Enjoy.

Merton yawned, flopping down on his bed the second he reached it. His day had gone straight to hell the second he found out Tommy was home sick, of course, that was after he slept though his alarm, took a cold shower, and was forced to drive Becky and her three friends to school. Once Tim and Travis discovered Tommy's absence they took full advantage of it, taking every opportunity to corner him possible. Without his protector there, he was at the mercy of the two bullies and the developing bruises on his flesh proved their dislike for the limited time frame.

After suffering through an entire school day of abuse, he tripped going down the stairs, which led to crashing into the football coach, sending the elders coffee all over both of them. As punishment for his clumsiness, he was forced to run laps for an hour after school, all the while avoiding the football team that despised him for stealing their leader.

As if the day wasn't bad enough already, the hearse had a flat tire – No doubt the twins had something to do with that… He walked home, his muscles protesting every movement his exhausted body made, in the pouring rain.

Now, as his soaked clothes clung to his skin, he bordered on the verge of consciousness, with every intention of sleeping the weekend away.

"Hey, Freaker!" Becky yelled down the stairs, not bothered enough to actually enter the lair for once.

"What?" He groaned, head buried in his pillows.

"Mom wants you upstairs now! Aunt Diana's here and she brought the twins."

Merton rolled over, glaring at the ceiling. "Oh, please… Not them…" He begged silently, only to be tackled roughly by the two nine year olds. The only person he trusted with the possessions in his room was Tommy, and even he ended up knocking things over occasionally. No way in hell did he trust the terrible twins in his room.

"Adam! Brett! Get out now!" He yelled, grabbing the nearest pillow and covering his pounding head.

"Merton!" The sharp voice at the top of the stairs scolded, followed by the resounding echo of high heeled shoes on the wooden steps. A woman a few years younger than his mother appeared in the doorway, her fancy, frilly clothes a sharp contrast to his own drenched button down shirt and jeans, his aunt looked ready to have tea with the president as opposed to dinner at her sister's house. "You're still involved with that gothic nonsense, I see." She chided, gazing disapprovingly around the room.

One of the twins latched on to his mother's leg. "Momma, he was being mean to us again!" Adam whined, a pout taking root on his face. "We were just playing!"

"No one is allowed in my room." He explained, moving the pillow aside long enough to glare pointedly at the closer brother.

"Surely you can allow them to play with your things for a little while, they can't hurt anything." Diana protested, dismissing the obviously fragile items that lay scattered around the room.

Merton snorted. "You have no idea."

"We wanna play with Cousin Merton!" Brett announced, bouncing on the bed, which was doing absolutely nothing for the bass drum drilling itself into the teenager's skull. "Please, Mommy?"

"Fine!" Merton growled. "Just… stop bouncing!"

The bed finally stilled and the high heels retreated up the stairs.

"Can we play a game?" Adam asked, attaching himself to Merton's arm, irritating the bruises that were forming. "Huh? Can we? Please?"

Brett joined in. "Yeah! Come on, let's play!"

"What do you want to play? Dare I ask..."

"Oh! Look, a snake!" Adam spotted the oblivious albino corn snake wrapped around one of the bed posts. He grabbed for it, but the teenager pulled him back.

He latched on to the other's collar as well, simply as a precaution. "Oh, no. Rasputin is off limits."

"Aww..." Brett pouted, sulking.

"Yeah. Real shame." Merton rolled his eyes, fearing for the snake's safety. "Back to my question. Games?"

The twins looked to each other before turning back to him. "ARMY!"

"What did I do to deserve this…?" Merton whimpered, allowing himself to be dragged across the room. How the two boys planned to play 'Army' he didn't know, but he figured sooner or later they'd give up and go bug Becky.

However, the twins seemed hell bent on tormenting him, as everyone else had today, as he found himself in the middle of some Army-style role-playing game that could only be concocted in the mind of a nine-year old. He was on the receiving end of Nerf-ball attacks, doing his best to protect the fragile items on his desk –which he was using as a shield. He cringed as one of the skulls on his desk fell to the ground and shattered, followed by several books that had been meandering on the edge of the table, spreading papers everywhere, one of the heavy texts landing on his foot. He yelped, sending himself out into enemy territory.

"Attack!" Adam declared, barreling forward and diving onto Merton's shoulders. The black haired boy bit his lip hard enough to draw blood with the unexpected contact to his sore and battered back.

Brett, always the follower to his brother, grabbed his knees, sending their cousin to the ground with a loud 'Oof!'

He squirmed, trying to escape the hold the two had on him. "I thought we were playing Army, not wrestling!" He complained. "Get off of me!"

The door to the Lair opened and closed somewhere behind him and he didn't have to look to know it was Tommy, he just prayed the other boy wasn't wolfed out.

"Merton?" The football player questioned, eyes falling on the mass that was his best friend pinned beneath two children. "You okay, buddy?"

"Tommy! Tommy, save me!" He begged, waving an arm frantically. "They won't get off!"

Stifling his laughter, he kneeled down beside the older boy. "And how exactly did you get yourself into this mess?"

While he contemplated how to answer that, the twins interrupted. "Who are you? Merton doesn't have any friends!" Adam questioned, bouncing on his cousins back.

"Yes, actually he does. And, as his best friend, I would appreciate it if you let him stand up, okay?" He asked politely.

"No! He'll yell at us again!" Brett answered, crossing his arms defiantly over his chest.

"I won't, I promise!" Merton begged, squirming again. "Just let me up. Tommy! Help me!" The twins giggled to themselves as they watched their cousin struggle. "Please, Tommy, I've had the worst day in the history of history, just get these sadists off of me!"

Tommy nodded, putting his strength to good use and lifting the boy from his friends back, followed by the one sitting on his knees. "Alright, you're free." He offered a hand to his friend, helping him to his feet.

"Thanks," Merton sighed deeply, deciding it wasn't such a good idea when his ribs protested. He turned to the twins, glaring. "I said I wouldn't yell. I said nothing about killing them." He lunged toward the boys, stopped by the strong arm that wrapped around his torso.

"Not so fast, buddy." Tommy held tight, keeping him from an attack that wouldn't happen anyway. "You two, upstairs."

The boys saluted, marching off toward the steps.

"Why'd they listen to you?" Merton wondered, flopping down on the bed yet again.

"Are you okay?"

He shrugged. "No, not really. Where were you today? You're obviously not sick."

Tommy moved to sit beside his best friend on the bed. "I had to go some college orientation thing at State for the sports scholarship I'm going for. I thought I told you, baby…" He subconsciously ran his fingers through the other's jet black hair, relaxing his lover with the gesture.

"You failed to mention that. Any fun?" Merton rolled further into Tommy's arms, calm for the first time all day.

"Not without you there. I wish you were going with me. Kinda hard to believe that in a few weeks you'll be half way across the world from me." He admitted. He squeezed Merton's shoulder lightly, a gesture he'd done many times in the last year. The flinching reaction was new though. "What?"

He shook his head. "Nothing."

"You know that I know you better than to fall for that..." Tommy reminded him, reaching for the top button of Merton's shirt. "Tell."

"Let's just say that my cousins weren't the first twins I've put up with today." He allowed the other to push the fabric off of his shoulders, revealing the purpling bruises that were forming on his pale skin.

The younger boy let out an exasperated growl, his eyes taking in the damage to his best friends body. "I can't believe them! Why do they insist on going after you?" He ran a hand carefully across one of the more serious bruises, examining it closer. "Are they ever gonna learn that you're off limits?"

Merton shrugged, his head pressed against the other's neck. "They're not gonna change, Tommy. They'll always be like this." He nuzzled against the sensitive skin, breathing in the scent of his lover. "And by the way... You're football coach is the spawn of Satan."

"Please tell me you're being figurative...?" Hey, in this town, they'd learned not to be shocked anymore. He felt the nod against his shoulder, his arms threading around the other's frame. "What'd he do?"

"Someone tripped me on the stairs. He spilled his coffee all over both of us, and I got to play cat and mouse with the rest of the football team." He felt his eyes growing heavy as he spoke, being in Tommy's arms soothing his bad day away. "Crashing here tonight?"

Tommy smiled, shifting until Merton was resting against his chest, the wolf's possessive streak settling in over not being there to protect him. "Not going anywhere, love." He pressed a kiss to the back of Merton's neck, tracing random patterns across his stomach.

A noise from the doorway startled the two boys. "Aww! You're so adorable!" The feminine voice squeaked, staring at the couple curled up on the bed. "Merton! Who's this?" The sixteen year old girl pounced on him.

"Haley, Tommy. Tommy, Haley. Now get off of me! I've reached my quota for being tackled today!" Merton groaned, startled from his sleep. He pried himself out from under the teenage girl, pulling his shirt on quickly.

Haley smirked. "Ah, so you're Tommy. Becky went on and on about you."

"Nice to meet you?" The football player replied, not knowing exactly how to react to any of this situation. "You're one of Merton's cousins, right?"

She nodded. "And the only fun one, in my opinion at least." The girl wandered over to the vast bookshelf against the wall, looking through the titles. "Nice collection, it's expanded quite a bit. So, you two are... together?"

They blinked, absorbing the simple question. She'd asked like it was the equivalent of weekend plans or something. "If you must know... Yes, we are."

"Awesome." Haley replied, confusing the two further.

"Pardon?"

"That's awesome. You guys are really cute together." She flopped down on the bed beside Merton. "If you don't mind my saying so."

"Nope. So long as you don't say so to anyone else." Merton warned her.

"No worries. Secrets safe with me." She hugged her cousin. "I'm glad you finally let someone get close to you. It took you damn long enough."

"Merton, Haley, dinner!" Laura Dingle yelled down the steps.

"Tommy's here, too!"

"All three of you come on up, then." She replied, going to set an extra place, a rather routine action.

The three teenagers sighed and headed upstairs, quickly washing up and falling into their chairs. Becky tried to steal the spot beside Tommy before her brother could sit down, but Haley distracted her long enough for her favorite cousin to claim his rightful spot. Adam and Brett took seats across from Merton, 'accidentally' kicking him in the shins every few moments.

"Hey, psycho twins, knock it off." Haley scolded, glaring at her brothers.

Once everyone was seated, the chaos began, having eight people at a table meant for five tended to have that effect. The four teenagers talked amongst themselves about school and college, and at Becky's insistence, the school dance that was coming up, as well.

"I don't think I'm going." Tommy sighed, looking to Merton. If the two of them couldn't go together he would rather spend the night in the Lair.

"Why not? The football team is always there, the starting quarterback just can't not show up!" Becky protested, turning on her brother. "See? I told you that you'd drag Tommy down with your non-existent social status! I can't believe I'm related to you!" She scoffed, storming off upstairs, Haley hot on her heels, no doubt to tell her off for that little outburst.

Merton rolled his eyes at his sisters actions, quite used to them. He smiled when Tommy reached over, a hand on his thigh. "Ignore her." He whispered, squeezing lightly.

"Is it okay if we go back downstairs, Mom? I'll do the dishes later, I promise." Merton asked, dragging Tommy back down to the basement after being excused.

The second the door closed behind them, Tommy spun Merton around, pinning him against the wooden frame. "Ignore your sister." He repeated. "You're not dragging me anywhere, except maybe into bed."

"And apparently I've dragged your mind into the gutter as well, you pervert." Merton teased, kissing his lover passionately. "We can't do this right now though. Hopefully they're not spending the night."

"Spending the night?" He pouted.

"They live a while away, if Aunt Diana and my mom get to talking, it'll get late and they'll just stay here." The older boy explained.

Tommy dragged the other boy further into the room. "Alright, just let me kiss you." He leaned down, capturing Merton's lips again. The kiss led to several others, and eventually to the football player's hand down Merton's pants, both boys too distracted to hear the door creak open.

"Mommy!" One of the two nine year olds shouted, quickly attracting the attention of the two adults sitting in the kitchen, as well as his brother, the two teenagers scrambling away from each other, trying to make it look like they hadn't been interrupted in the midst of a very heated make-out session.

"What is it, Brett?" Diana asked.

"Why was Tommy touching Merton's private parts?" He questioned, curiously.

There was a brief silence. "Excuse me?" The two sisters appeared at the base of the stairs, eyes scanning the room.

"They were kissing like you and Daddy do, Mommy! Eww! Don't they know that boys are supposed to kiss girls?"

Tommy was close to wolfing out, and he knew Merton could tell, between their current situation and the abrupt ending to their previous activities, they were both extremely uncomfortable, but there was no way he was bailing on Merton right now.

"Boys, what is going on?" Laura asked, tapping her foot impatiently, fully aware that the two teenagers looked like they'd been caught with their hands in the cookie jar, which probably wasn't all that far from the truth. Merton glanced pointedly at the twins who stood in the doorway, signaling that they should probably not overhear this conversation, his mother seemed to get the hint. "I'll be up in a minute, would you mind taking Adam and Brett here back upstairs, I think there's some ice cream in the freezer." Diana nodded, dragging the two kids away.

"Mom, Tommy and I are together. We were just kissing, I swear!" Well, technically, Tommy had been doing a bit more, but his mother didn't need to know that.

"Just try to refrain from anything more than PG rated when the twins are around." She chided them, turning back to the door.

They blinked. "That's it? Keep it PG? No banning of Tommy from the house? Not that I want that at all, but I was prepared for a much more hostile reaction…" Merton stared after his mother, who turned back to them, laughing at her sons characteristic outburst.

She smiled. "I've known for months now. You two always seem to forget that the basement echoes… And you'll probably get a much different reaction from your father." Laura headed back upstairs, leaving the teenagers in shock behind her.

"That was weird…" Tommy sighed, collapsing on the bed.

"No kidding."

"Does PG mean I can hold you when we go to sleep?"

"I don't see why it wouldn't." He smiled, falling back into his lovers arms, the comfort of the warm body made his body remember how tired it really was. "In fact, I think I'd like to do that now."

Tommy ran his fingers through the older boy's hair, an arm curling around his torso. He pulled Merton closer to him, holding tight.

So, really, maybe today really hadn't been that bad after all.