fic: Homesick (ficuary)

[csi_sanders1129]

Title: Homesick
Chapters: 1/1
Author:csi_sanders1129
Genre: Fluff
Ratings: K+
Word Count: 501
Pairings/Characters: Tommy Dawkins/Merton Dingle
Synopsis: In which Tommy comes to a realization.
Comments: Written for Ficuary 2021, Prompt: Tranquil. Comments and kudos would be awesome. Enjoy!

Tommy comes to a realization.

He's been out of town for four days attending a cousin's wedding and they have been the longest four days of his life. The wolf's been on edge in a way it hasn't been since very early on. He's tense and anxious and irrationally grumpy to the point that even his parents shoot him curious looks. He can't sit still. Nothing smells right. He can't sleep – he blames his insomnia on the noisy neighbors across the hall in the hotel, but he knows it's something else. He had noisy neighbors in the dorm all last year, too, and it never bothered him there. No, something is missing.

And it's only when he gets back home that he figures out just what it was.

Who it was.

The long flight and the subsequent long drive back to Pleasantville gets them into town well after midnight. He'd fully intended to sleep at his parent's house and head home in the morning, but he can't bring himself to face another sleepless night. So, he drives back to State, instead.

The little house just off campus that he and Merton rent is dark and quiet when he returns, but the second he steps foot inside, the tension and anxiety instantly leave him. The familiar scent of Merton's favorite incense lingers in the air and he breathes it in, revels in the comfort it brings him, a carefully crafted mix of things Merton likes and things that don't bother the wolf's sensitive sense of smell. Another scent – Merton himself – draws him further into the house.

"Tommy?" Merton calls out from his bedroom, his voice still rough with sleep. A yawn, and then, "I thought you weren't coming back until morning."

When he reaches Merton's room, he can't stop himself from moving forward. He lets himself drop into the open space on the bed, worms his way half on top of the other boy. "I couldn't stay away any longer," he admits, nose buried against Merton's neck. "The wolf was awful."

Merton does not question his actions, which is good because Tommy does not have any answers that would suitably explain them. Only that the wolf needed this closeness after so long away from everything it was accustomed to and that Merton seems to represent all of those things.

Now, though, the wolf is much happier. Tommy bites back a relieved groan when Merton's hand lands on his back, his fingers lazily dragging up and down in smooth strokes that lull the rest of the tension out of him.

He curls an arm around Merton's side, pulls the other boy in closer and lets the exhaustion wash over him. "I think the wolf missed you," he says. But that's not the whole truth. A moment later, he adds, "I missed you," though he's not even sure Merton's awake enough to hear the quiet words.

But, Merton pulls the blankets up around them both and mumbles out a sleepy reply, "Missed you, too."