Sorry about the long delay, writer's block is a bitch. That, and other projects have been distracting me for the last month or so. ^^;; Heh heh. So anyway, enjoy the chapter. Possible OOC ahead, but I like the way it works for the plot. I've always thought that Lori was a practical sort of girl, so that's what I've made her.



All disclaimers and warnings still apply.



Merton's eyes ached from staring at his computer screen all night for the second night in a row. The early morning sun beat against the thick curtains on his window, filling the dusty Lair with dim gray light. He scrubbed at his face with both hands, and heaved a frustrated sigh. Still no luck in his search for a cure. He'd lurked in magical chat rooms and message boards all night, hoping that if he couldn't find the answers, someone else would tell him flat out what he needed to do. Unfortunately, very few online sorcerers had even heard of Eros' Revenge, and those who did simply told him he was doomed - sorry.

In other words, he was not in a very good mood. He was just glad that he'd made Tommy promise to stay away. Having the other boy around would just complicate matters. It would make concentrating nearly impossible, for one thing...

And too make everything more interesting, today the girl he'd met online was supposed to show up. She was from Clayborough, a town about two hours away. They'd found each other in *)GoTh ChAt(* and had hit it off rather well. As yet, she was sight unseen, but Merton decided not to be too picky. After all, she seemed to be his dream girl, personality wise, though it was hard to judge over the Internet. Text messages weren't the best way to get nuances across.

Merton stood and stretched, feeling all the vertebrae in his spine crack and pop into some semblance of alignment. A quick look at the clock showed that he had plenty of time before when the girl would show up this afternoon. He'd take a nap and shower so he wouldn't frighten her off as soon as she saw him. He'd just collapsed on his bed when there was a knock on the door. He groaned unintelligently as the door opened, flipping over to see - who else? - Tommy standing by his desk, looking uncertain.

"Uh, hey," Tommy said. "Did you find anything out?"

"No," Merton snapped, displeased. Not only was Tommy depriving him of sleep, but Merton could feel his blood rushing faster already. How come he'd never noticed how... graceful Tommy was, how sinuous and sensuous he seemed. His skin was so unflawed tanned that it made Merton look sickly by comparison. And the jock's hair was disheveled still; obviously, he'd just gotten up. The overall effect was... disturbing.

Merton swallowed nervously. "Look, I thought we agreed to stay away from each other. What are you doing here?"

Tommy bit his lower lip. "Well, actually, ~I~ never agreed to stay away. You just kinda ~told~ me to stay away. And anyway, I wanted to know if there was anything new that I should know."

"Well, there's not. So go away and let me sleep," Merton said, trying to sound cruel. If he pissed Tommy off enough, then maybe it would get him to leave.

Tommy hesitated, his eyes lingering on Merton for a couple seconds too long. Merton felt his face heat, practically able to hear Tommy's thoughts - after all, they were probably thinking exactly the same thing anyway. Merton kept his eyes lowered, remembering what happened the ~last~ time their gazes had met. Of course, the very act of remembering was enough to make him flush deeper.

"Look, Tommy, it's been a long night and I don't have time for -" he began, but broke off when Tommy was suddenly looming over him. Christ, Tommy was fast when he used his werewolf powers; Merton hadn't even seen him move. And a trace of fear ran up his back as he stared up at his friend, wondering if he would be able to get away if Tommy tried to... do anything.

"I'm goin' crazy here, Merton," Tommy said, his voice low and frustrated. He ran his hands through his hair. "God, I don't know what's happening anymore. I mean, I know this whole curse is messed up and everything, but you're my ~best friend~. When you told me to back off, it just goes to show that the curse ~is~ ruining our friendship, and I don't want that. So I thought we should talk."

Merton sighed. Tommy had a point, now that he thought about it. Maybe he'd been a bit hasty with his demand that they not see each other around until this whole thing blew over. Especially when it was starting to look like it ~wouldn't~ blow over.

"Look," he said slowly. "I don't want this to mess up our friendship either. But I don't know how wise of idea it is to be in the same room together, especially alone. I mean, look what we did at school yesterday. It's just dangerous and stupid. Plus if we keep doing stuff like that, it will ~definitely~ ruin our friendship."

"I know," Tommy said tiredly. He turned to sit on the edge of the bed, not facing Merton and putting his head in his hands. "That's the sucky part."

Merton grunted an affirmative and tried to keep his eyes from wandering down Tommy's well-muscled back to the boy's rounded posterior. Yet another blush stained his cheeks and he averted his eyes to the ceiling. He would not check out Tommy. He would not give in to the very strong urge to jump up and pin him to the mattress.

"So what should we do?" Tommy asked, sounding desolate.

"I don't know. I'm too tired to think. I haven't slept in two days," Merton said, yawning yet again.

"Sorry, man. You should get some rest, then," Tommy advised.

There was a long pause as neither boy moved.

"Um, Tommy - " Merton began awkwardly.

"Please," Tommy cut in. Then in a voice barely above a whisper added, "Please. Just let me... stay here."

Something in Merton twisted, pulled. His heart fluttered strangely. In a similar tone, he said, "All right."

Merton rolled over to face the wall, and despite his worries and misgivings, he was asleep in minutes.



Consciousness came back to Merton all too quickly. He woke to the sound of someone pounding on the door to the Lair, and he snapped his head up in a haze of confusion, glaring blearily at his alarm. It should have gone off an hour before his date showed up - but it was reading several hours before when he'd set it for. So that meant either his date was here early or -

"Merton! I know you're in there! I want to talk to you!" Lori's muffled shout reached his ears.

Okay, that explained that. But when he tried to leap out of bed, he noticed something else that he felt he really should have noticed sooner.

Tommy was laying beside him. Well, wrapped around him would be a better description. Spooned, like. With an arm slung over Merton's hip. And he was still snoozing peacefully. An interesting mix of warm and fuzzy feelings and horrible dread filled him, and he panicked. He began trying to disentangle himself from Tommy, but unfortunately the other boy had different plans. With a sleepy noise of dissent, he tightened the arm around Merton's waist, and nuzzled Merton's shoulder, an undeniably cute frown crossing his features.

"Oh shit," Merton muttered vaguely. Then he began desperately smacking Tommy on the head, shoulders, arms, anywhere he could reach. "Tommy, wake up!"

"Ow ow ow," Tommy said, opening his eyes slowly. He focused on Merton and smiled. His arm drew the black-haired boy even closer. "Mornin' buddy."

"Goddammit! Get off me! Lori's here," he said, unable to keep the slightly hysterical edge out of his voice.

That seemed to penetrate Tommy's euphoric waking state, because his eyes widened and he looked down to see just what his limbs had done when he'd been unaware. With a strange high-pitched noise, Tommy jerked hurriedly away, only to fall unceremoniously on the floor. Relieved at his freedom, Merton leapt up and prodded Tommy with his socked feet.

"Get under the bed! Quick!"

Too startled to really argue, Tommy obediently scooted himself under the bed and Merton artfully pulled his covers down to hide the gap between the mattress and the floor. Just as he turned towards the door to go open it, it burst open and Lori stormed in. She looked pretty pissed, but with Lori this was not an uncommon occurrence. Merton did his best to look sleepily confused and not guilty at nearly being caught in a very compromising position with his best friend.

"Merton," Lori began without preamble, "I can't find Tommy. And since I can't pester him about what's going on with you two, I thought you'd be the next best person to ask."

Merton stared at her in disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me. That's ~all~? You woke me up for ~that~?"

Lori gave him a look of doom and crossed her arms. "I happen to take this very seriously. Do you have any idea how annoying it is to put up with you both moping when you're mad at each other? Of course not, because it would require you two to think about something beyond the ends of your own problems, and no man is capable of such deep thought."

Used to such rants against males in general, Merton yawned and stretched, walking stiffly over to his computer desk. "Like I said yesterday, it's nothing important. Tommy and I just need to have a break."

"Yeah, right. You guys were perfectly fine until the other night when that "poltergeist" showed up," Lori said, doing the air quotes and everything. "What the hell is going on?"

Underneath the bed, Tommy was tense as a wire. He did ~not~ want Lori to know, but he also knew that Lori was way too sharp his and Merton's good. She'd bother the hell out of them until she would be able to piece together what had happened on her own. And when she found out... Well, assuming she didn't die of shock or laughing, she'd be pretty pissed that they hadn't just told her in the first place. Girls were weird about stuff like that.

Tommy was tempted to just come out from under the bed and tell her exactly what was going on. After all, he though dismally, his chances of ever getting back together with her had never been very good. The only thing that gave him pause was what Merton was likely to do to him if he opened his big mouth.

However, it was at this moment that Merton did something quite unexpected.

"Well, if you want to know the truth, Tommy and I have fallen deeply in love with each other. We just don't want anyone to expect it, so we're going to act like we hate each other until the end of the year, and then we're going to elope," the Goth said in a nonchalant tone, sitting down in his computer chair.

Tommy resisted a surprised swear word and let his forehead plop down against the dusty floor.

There was a short pause on Lori's part. Then she said, "That is so stupid, Merton."

"Oh, don't you believe me? Tommy's hiding right under the bed if you want to ask him."

Lori was not known for being predictable, either. "I think I will."

Both Tommy and Merton were heartily dismayed when she marched over to bed and lifted up the sheets, tipping upside-down to look at Tommy with a piercing blue gaze. She pursed her lips.

"I see," she said slowly. "I think you guys have quite a bit of explaining to do."

There was an extremely awkward moment as Tommy extracted himself and sat down on the edge of the bed. Both he and Merton looked very green indeed. Lori watched them both with a calculating expression on her face. She paced back and forth for a moment or two before she stopped and glared at them both.

"Well?" she demanded. "How much of what was just said is true? When were you planning on letting ~me~ know? And what the hell are you doing going on a date with some internet floozy when you're supposedly eloping?"

"I - uh - I kinda exaggerated a bit," Merton mumbled miserably, not looking at either of them. He fidgeted under Lori's gaze, but refused to say anything more. She turned her formidable look on Tommy, who was wretchedly trying to become invisible.

"Um," he said intelligently. "We're not eloping."

"Yeah," Merton agreed forcefully. "That's for damn sure."

Lori's lips pressed into an even thinner line. "Well then. What are you doing?"

Both boys sighed in unison. "We have no idea."

"I think you'd better tell me exactly what happened the other night. The ~truth~ this time," she said, leaning on the back of the couch.

So, with extreme reluctance, they told her about Eros' Revenge and how it had occurred that they became its victims. Occasionally she had to prod and pry for them to admit certain things, but over all, she seemed to be taking it fairly well. She offered no condemnations or even repulsion. In fact, she'd had an actual giggling fit when they told her about their close call in school. When she could no longer squeeze the information out of them, she stood thoughtfully chewing her lower lip.

"So," she began after a while. "Have you tried to get rid of it? I mean, from what you say, it sounds like it'd be pretty easy to stop this curse in its tracks if you caught it early enough. A quick little peck and poof! - no desire."

"We - uh - tried that. Didn't work," Merton volunteered, face the color of a beet.

Lori sighed. "Well, then, it seems like the only way out of the curse is to actually... you know."

"We know," Tommy snapped, crossing his arms defensively.

"So, why don't you?" she asked.

Both boys choked and turned scarlet-faced glares on her. She blinked back unfazed.

"Oh come on. It's the only way out, short of suicide, and you'll probably end up doing it eventually. That's how this curse works. If you get it over with now, there'll be a lot less time wasted on angst and re-evaluating your sexual preferences," she said bluntly. "It's just stupid to draw it out like this."

"Easy for you to say," Merton bit out. "You don't actually have to - to - ~you know~ - with your best friend."

Lori shrugged. "If I was in your guys' position, I'd just get it over with. Quick and painless like, and then never think about it again."

"Oh yeah? Well, what if it happened to you with another ~girl~?" Merton asked.

"Doesn't matter. It's a curse, not a choice. Just get it over with and move on," she replied practically. Then she paused and blushed for the first time since she'd gotten there. "Well, I suppose it might take a bit more time for me to work up the nerve if it were another girl, but still. I'd get it over with as soon as possible."

"Yeah right," Tommy muttered and received a cool glance in response. He returned the look adamantly. "Look, it's different for you. It's more okay for girls to... do it... with girls. It's all over the place. But for guys, it's a lot harder."

Lori bristled. "The only reason lesbians are popular is because guys like to see sexy girls kissing each other on television. In real life, girls can be just as homophobic as guys, so don't make up sexist bullshit about how it's easier for lesbians to get away with it. And anyway, it hardly matters about society and stuff right now. No one knows about this but us three, and no one's telling anyone else."

"It's bad enough that ~you~ know," Tommy said darkly. She ignored him.

"Think about it like this, then: The sooner you two get it on, the sooner you can get back to your regularly scheduled heterosexual lives," she told them in exasperation. She looked at her watch. "And if you hurry, you can get it over with before your date shows up, with time to shower afterwards."

"Yeah, like you know how long sex takes," Merton snorted derisively. Surprisingly, Lori looked sheepish. Merton blinked. "Wait. You ~do~ know?"

Tommy sat up straight, staring at Lori with an open mouth. She had the decency to flush, but she glared back unapologetically.

"Oh come on," she said. "You didn't actually think I was ~that~ innocent. But if it makes you feel better, I've never went all the way myself. I just have friends who get around."

"Right," Tommy said shortly, reining in his jealousy. Then he remembered that Lori was usually the virgin of choice for demon sacrifices in the area, and took comfort in the proof.

"Anyway, I'm gonna go to the library and see if they have anything on this curse powder of yours. I'll leave you two to... talk things over," she said with not so subtle innuendo.

After the door closed behind her, there was a heavy silence. The fact of the matter had been laid bare to them in very awkward but no uncertain terms. The only way they could possibly get their lives back was to totally give in to the temporary insanity and... consummate the desire.

So it didn't really surprise either of them when Tommy hurriedly got up and muttered something about having to be back home for lunch before running out of the Lair. Merton didn't blame him. He felt the same desperate fear, the same petrifying feeling that they were doomed either way. He sighed in defeat, laying his head down on his desk. He should start getting ready for his guest soon, but for now he needed time to freak out in peace.



TBC....