AN: Looking like I'll be doing this in (at least) four parts? We'll see if the characters cooperate :) I'll up the rating later on (if necessary... probably necessary), and updates will be to tumblr first jhoomwrites
Long story short, someone in town dies violent. It's all over the local news and papers. But that's not what catches Thomas' attention. There are strange occurences in the house where they died. Accidents that almost kill people. Everyone's dismissive. The family is distraught, imagining things. Clearly.
He knows better. He doesn't knowhow he knows, but he knows. A few searches online confirm what he suspects.
Salt and burn.
A term he learns digging through websites that others would dismiss as jokes or the workings of distrubed individuals. It sounds familiar, and despite what his limited first hand experience tells him (sprained wrist and bruised hip), it sounds easy.
He makes a decision. Rash, perhaps, but he's instantly satisfied once it's been made. He's going to be a hunter.
Not that he knows that term. Hunter. Not in this sense. He doesn't learn it until his third ghost. Runs into another kid around his age, doing the same thing.
Except he's been trained by his mother and is infinitely more prepared. Which is of little comfort when they're both getting slammed into a wall. But it makes for interesting conversation after.
Thomas decides to spend the summer with this other boy. He learns as much as he can, both from his companion and now fellow-hunter, and from books and internet research. It comes as easily to him as... well, perhaps it comes more easily than anything else he's ever tried. Itfits. Itsuits him. And he loves that feeling.
It's that love of this feeling ofbelonging (and the immense relief from surviving that werewolf attack) that leads to him clumsily fucking his new hunter friend against a wall.
But it only lasts the summer.
His parents wouldn't be happy with his choice - not that they would believe our understand it - so he continues with his plans to go to college. He's pleased with the school he had already chosen months ago. Not for the programs they offer but for its location. Close to major highways so that he can travel for cases.
With his course load, he only manages to squeeze in a few hunts a semester. He stays local as much as possible, if for no other reason than the cost of gas. And while his classes are engaging, he knows that he will at best finish his Bachelor's and then be done with it. He'll find a job that allows him to continue hunting.
He enjoys it. Saving people. Hunting things. It brings him a peace he didn't know he'd been lacking his whole life.
It does strike him as a lonely type of life, though. So much time spent alone on the road. Yes, you make connections with the people you help. But then you're gone. He's not sure if he feels sad about the prospect. He's always felt lonely, even with people around, and he doesn't feelmore lonely now.
Of course he misses his family, as to be expected when you leave home to go to school. There's also a bit of undelrying guilt. While he is nottechnically lying about what he's doing, he is not being open about it. He tries to convince himself that it's because he doesn't want to scare them or have them worrying about him. But when he's honest, it's because he doesn't want them to try and stop him.
Thomas survives his first year of college. And hunting. He's not sure which is the more impressive feat.
He spends a month at home. His parents (and even his sister) are glad to have him back. To avoid any unnecessary questions, he refrains from hunting while there. But he does take a martial arts class and sneaks out to the shooting range on weekends.
His parents wouldn't care about him learning to shoot, but they would flip if they found out about the gun he had purchased last winter. And it shouldn't have been an issue, except that his sister finds his ammo one evening. She doesn't want to rat him out, though. She just wants him to teach her too.
When he hunts, he rarely encounters other hunters. Sometimes he'll run into others going after the same monster or ghost. Sometimes he'll correspond with them via email or on a forum. There's a community of them out there, killing the things that go bump in the night, and he takes comfort in that.
He slowly picks up the lingo. Learns the tips and tricks. A good old-fashioned haunting doesn't take more than a day of his time, maybe two if the investigation takes a while. Monsters take a bit more, but he's never needed more than four days to finish up in a town and head back to school. He's surprised at the variety of creatures out there. But all in all he's good at hunting. Dangerous though it might be flying solo, he's extremely effective.
The only problem area is gathering intel. Libraries, record halls and the internet provide the bulk of the info he needs, but sometimes seeing the body up close is essential. He knows other hunters disguise themselves as FBI and the like, but he looks too young to pull it off. His height and (now thankfully) deep voice do nothing to disguise the fact that he isn't even old enough to drink yet. So he learns to lock-pick and sneak into places.
His mother would be furious.
He's 20 when he first hears of them.
It's at some hole in the war bar with a pair of twins he'd run into on this hunt. They didn't grow up in the life. Like him, they picked it up in college, though they're about six years older than him.
They have a comfortable buzz going - and yes, this town is so backwater they didn't even bother to card him. As always when with other hunters, they're comparing kills. While Thomas' most impressive hunt is when he single handedly exorcized a demon. The twins, though clearly intrigued that this nerdy kid had pulled it off, smile knowingly before leading into their all time best hunt.
"Took out almost half the vamp nest before they even knew what hit them." She smirks at the memory as she sips her beer.
"It was awesome," her sister agrees. But her smile turns a little sour around the edges. "Would've been even better if the damn Winchesters hadn't shown up. They come in halfway through and take all the credit."
The sisters start arguing about whether they needed the help - one adamant that they could've handled it, the other not so sure since it turns out the vampires were being controlled by a nasty coven of wtiches. But it doesn't matter, Thomas has stopped listening.
Winchester.
It knocks the breath from his lungs. It makes him light-headed. It nearly causes his knees to give out. The twins know next to nothing, just enough to get him curious when he presses for more info. After that night, every chance he gets, Thomas greedily seeks out as much as he can about them.
They're legends among the hunting community (and among the monsters, but he rarely has a chance to ask them about it). They both started and then stopped the Apocalypse. They stopped (and unleashed?) the Leviathan. They killed the mother of monsters. They're friends with the King of Hell.
They even say one of them fell in love with an angel.
There are so many stories about them that it's impossible to sift through them all for any sign of truth.
The only thing he knows for certain is that he must find them.