Fic: "Romanticus Interruptus" Chapter 1

[foolish_m0rtal]

Romanticus Interruptus (1648 words) by foolish_mortal
Chapters: 1/6
Fandom: Big Wolf on Campus
Rating: Mature
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Tommy Dawkins/Merton Dingle
Characters: Tommy Dawkins, Merton Dingle, Lori Baxter
Summary: Merton and Tommy try to fall in love, but the supernatural world keeps getting in the way.

A very VERY belated birthday present for theotherdibbler. I realised it would take forever to post if I tried to finish the complete story first, so I just went ahead and posted the first chapter. Hope that's fine!

The first time they went out on a date—a real date at a local Italian restaurant that was more upscale than the college pizza joints they were used to—they were interrupted before they could even get to the tiramisu. The date hadn't been going well: Tommy's new shirt itched, Merton had managed to spill his antipasto all over himself ten minutes in, and they'd been arguing about who was supposed to pay the bill. Merton's nervous babbling was in full force, and for once Tommy didn't mind because at least it covered the uncomfortable silences. It was the first time they'd had uncomfortable silences. They'd sat through hundreds of monster movie marathons and long drives back to Pleasantville in long restful stillness, but there was something about a formal date that made him feel prickly and sweaty at once.

"And anyway," Merton continued. "Critics tend to glorify the written word over its translation onto the screen, so I would say that while her Thought Monster was a great pulp story, the Fiend Without a Face adaptation wasn't too shabby."

"Mhm," Tommy mumbled and wondered how long it would take for their main courses to arrive. The wolf was chafing at the confinement of his tie and suit jacket, the cramped table in the corner next to the window, and the tiny portions that didn't have enough meat. Tommy had been brought up to be suspicious of Italian places that didn't give you your body weight in portions. The place had a good reputation though, and the internet had assured Tommy that the food always the right amount of spices and enough garlic to kill an elephant. Dammit, Tommy hadn't even thought about the potential for garlic breath. He should have ordered a salad.

And god, he didn't even want to think about kissing right now, or he was going to officially freak out. Sure, Tommy had kissed girls before, but this was Merton, and Merton wasn't just anybody. He was Tommy's best friend, his partner in crime, and Tommy couldn't stand to fuck this up. Tommy ran an appraising eye over Merton's uncharacteristically neat hair and the dark sports jacket he was wearing over a Cradle of Filth t-shirt. Unlike Tommy, he looked comfortable. He looked good, and who'd have thought that it had just taken some fitted shirts and a newfound sense of confidence in college for the wolf to sit up and pay attention to Merton's scent and the lines of his waist when he entered a room.

It was great that the wolf was finally on board with the whole Merton thing, but Tommy now had to spend extra effort to keep it from randomly jumping Merton whenever it felt like it. It didn't help that he and Merton were roommates. Tommy had woken up some nights to find himself fully wolfed out and curled up at the foot of Merton's bed like a puppy. Tommy thanked his luck that Merton slept like the dead and had never woken up.

Tommy was never quite sure what made his wolfy senses tingle when the figure passed by their window. Maybe it was the jacket the figure was wearing in the dense July evening heat or the way he hunched in his shoulders and started walking faster when the door to the Italian place opened and closed, sending a waft of rich red sauce and noodles spilling out into the street.

"Merton," Tommy growled and stood up, nearly knocking over his chair.

Merton stopped mid-sentence, a rare occurrence that Tommy didn't have time to appreciate. Because Tommy's life had a great sense of comedic timing, their dinners came out to the table right then, and they had to ask for boxes. They both slammed down their credit cards at the same time and left it for the waiter to sort out, and Tommy guessed that was one way to settle their argument about picking up the cheque.

Tommy pelted down the street with Merton at his heels, and the figure finally caught on that they were following him. Tommy was almost relieved when it ducked into a dark alley because that gave him the cover to wolf out. His tie strained against his neck, and he tore it off and threw it away, wishing he had a better way to transform in public. Superman had really known what he was doing with the phone booth thing.

Tommy put on an extra burst of speed and grabbed the figure by the shoulders and spun him around. The thing's face was like death, white and chalky in the flickering electric light in the alley. It looked like a man, but it wasn't. It hissed, baring its huge pointed canines and flaring its bloodshot eyes wide. Its mouth was dribbling with fresh blood. It must have just fed.

"Vampire!" Tommy shouted. "Merton!"

"Hold it!" Merton shouted. "Face it towards me!"

Tommy grabbed the vampire in a headlock. He started getting suspicious when the vampire struggled and actually managed to make Tommy break a sweat. Most vampire strength was nothing compared to his when he was in tip-top werewolf form. A vampire with the strength to match him had to be ancient.

He turned the vampire to face Merton. Something metal glinted in Merton's hand, and Tommy realised he had appropriated one of the restaurant's knives before they'd rushed off. Tommy had never guessed that petty theft could turn him on, but he suspected that wasn't something to bring up at the moment.

Merton stabbed the vampire in the heart with practiced accuracy and stumbled back with a crow of triumph. The vampire thrashed and screamed and screamed. And then shoved Tommy off and began to laugh.

"Seriously?" it said. "That isn't even an actual stake. Maybe if it had been made of silver."

"I knew that was a cheap restaurant," Tommy said.

The vampire pulled the knife out with a sickening crunch. It clinged to the floor of the dirty alley, and the vampire stepped over it towards Merton. "Or a crucifix," it suggested. "That would have been good too."

"I'm a pagan, you asshole," Merton spat with every ounce of his old bravado and didn't break eye contact, but he backed up a step. Tommy thought Merton really had to reconsider his priorities.

The vampire shrugged and came closer. "Sorry. No offence."

"None taken," Tommy replied and tackled the vampire from behind. "Merton, run!"

"No!" Merton said.

The vampire elbowed Tommy in the jaw and threw him off. Tommy bared his teeth and got in a lucky swipe with his claws. The vampire snarled, but the gash healed up before Tommy's eyes. Oh yeah, they were in serious trouble. "Merton, go. Find something that will stop this sonovabitch."

And then he didn't have time to talk because the vampire was all over him with punches that felt like his head was being slammed into a concrete wall. It must have given him at least a minor concussion because he couldn’t remember how long he and the vampire duked it out. Tommy remembered being lifted and thrown into a set of garbage cans at some point, if the week-old lettuce smeared in his hair was any indication. All he knew was that Merton was safe, and that was all that mattered.

"You can't keep this up forever," the vampire hissed at him. "I can feel you weakening. I am hundreds of years older than you, and you will fall eventually. Then I'm going to find your friend and drain him dry."

"No!" Tommy shouted and tried to kick it in the ribs. The vampire grabbed his ankle and threw him to the ground. Pain flared up Tommy's entire left side.

"Tommy! Grab him!" Merton's voice drifted towards him. "I have an idea."

And Tommy wanted to tell him to turn around and run as fast as he could, because they couldn't defeat this vampire. The best they could hope for was that one of them survived this, and Tommy was willing to hold the vampire off till he dropped.

"Tommy!" Merton shouted again, and Tommy moved on instinct, tackling the vampire and pinning it down like he had done countless times at football practice. He could feel the vampire already wriggling away, and he just felt an odd detached disappointment that he was going to die before he and Merton even got to the kissing. He had been looking forward to the kissing.

Merton skidded to a stop with his takeaway box from the restaurant in one hand. He opened the box and grabbed a handful of pasta and sauce.

"You're feeding him? That's your plan?" Tommy shouted, but then Merton threw the pasta at the vampire, who began to scream and smoke where the sauce touched it.

"Garlic," Merton gasped. "Open its mouth."

"You're a genius," Tommy said and forced the vampire's jaws open. Merton poured the rest of the sauce down its throat, and the vampire let out a throttled scream and exploded into a ball of fiery dust motes. Tommy sank to the ground breathing heavily and clutching his ribs.

The hospital said that Tommy had three cracked ribs and a slight concussion along with numerous bumps and bruises. Tommy wasn't sure what lies Merton had spun to explain that away along with the garbage and pasta sauce all over his clothes, but Tommy found himself a few hours later freshly showered and sitting up in a hospital bed in a borrowed pair of scrubs with a tray of canned peaches and foil-wrapped chicken surprise on his lap.

Merton was sitting on the bed next to him and eating his steamed green beans, which he knew Tommy hated. "Now this is dinner," he said.

"Yeah," Tommy agreed, and when Merton leaned over to press a light careful kiss against Tommy's split lower lip, he thought that against all odds the date had been a success.