Chapter Text
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Merton groaned loud and long as he collapsed onto the couch, unbuckling his black platform boots with his eyes closed. By Odin’s merciful power, he was at last finished with his last final exam. The semester was over. His exhausted brain, overloaded with mostly worthless information from all the general education courses he had to take this semester, could finally rest.
It was December. The room was comfortably chill. The air just cold enough to feel crisp and clean to where Merton - slightly sweating in his bodily creases from all the layers of clothes he’d donned that morning to protect his sensitive skin from the snowflakes that had been falling at a near constant stream all day - felt refreshed.
Merton had always been a cleanly person, so despite how desperately he wanted to just collapse into bed right next to Tommy and curl up into the warm curve of his body, he forced himself to stand and shuffle over to his hamper. Layer by layer, he unwrapped himself, tossing his clothes into the hamper, hanging up his skull patterned black scarf and matching earmuffs he’d gotten as a birthday present from Becky last year.
He grabbed a towel, and shuffled over to the bathroom.
Hearing a mumble from the bed, Merton smirked and said, “You’ll have to use full words, puppy. Didn’t catch that.”
Tommy gave a guttural moan and turned over to where his face was now visible, as well as his hair sticking up at a truly ridiculous angle. “Don’t shower.” He patted the bed next to him with a heavy hand, definitely still clinging onto sleep. “Come to bed.”
Cringing at his boyfriend, Merton replied. “No and never. I’m all sweaty. And besides, I’ll only be ten minutes. You won’t even notice I’m gone.”
He could hear Tommy whining as he shut the door.
The warm stream of water beating down on his skin felt like a reward. Merton sighed deeply and let his shoulders sag. Oh yeah, that was the stuff. While the warmth and the feeling of being clean was nice, Merton could feel the bone-deep exhaustion - the specific kind known only by University students during finals week - really start to weigh him down. He made quick work of his shower, lathering up his wash rag with his unscented soap and scrubbing over his whole body, and pumping his neutrally scented shampoo into his hand and sudsing it into his hair. He massaged his scalp and leaned against the wall. His eyes popped wide open as he stumbled. Man, he was tired.
Merton rinsed off, shut off the water, and towelled off, stepping carefully out of the shower onto the mat. Damn. He hadn’t grabbed his pajamas. Merton sighed, shuffled over to the sink, and brushed his teeth, towel wrapped around his waist. Nightly routine mostly done, Merton stepped out of the bathroom and shut the light off.
It was only six, so the window against the far wall was still letting in shafts of light through the blinds, casting a slanted pattern of orange lines across the second bed they never used except to fold laundry, and the carpeted floor. Their dorm was a decent size, roughly the same size as the Lair, so most of it was taken up by Merton’s old decor - plus some extra after a couple of Christmas holidays there. Tommy wasn’t one for living space decoration, other than insisting upon suitable shelving and a truly obnoxious amount of framed photos of their family and friends. They had really made it their home.
The dorm was cozy, so Merton didn’t blame himself when he gravitated towards the bed where Tommy was, by all appearances, sound asleep under the covers - instead of walking to his closet on the other side of the room to put on pajamas. He tossed his towel into the hamper, and crawled under the covers into the pocket of warmth Tommy had generated with his body.
Feeling the dip in the bed, Tommy turned over and opened his arms. Merton tucked his head under Tommy’s chin and wrapped his arms around him, sighing deeply at the feel of the soft fabric of his sweatpants and undershirt against his shower warmed skin. Tommy turned onto his back so that he wasn’t trapping Merton’s arm under him, and rubbed his hand up and down the length of his spine, dropping a kiss to the top of his head.
Merton curled into his boyfriend, head resting on his chest, one arm thrown over his waist, and leg hooking over Tommy’s like a limpet. He loved how warm he got. It was like sleeping with a heater.
“How’d your last exam go?” Tommy asked softly, his voice rumbling a bit from where Merton had his ear pressed to his chest.
With a sigh, Merton ran his fingertips through the patch Tommy’s chest hair that peeked out from his vee neck, and answered just as soft, “It was fine. The study guide was actually helpful this time, so I didn’t have many problems with the essay section. I think I aced it, thank the deities.” He chuckled a bit. “But honestly, I couldn’t tell you a single question that was on it. I’m so tired I think I could sleep for a week.”
Tommy squeezed his body somehow even closer to him in a quick hug. “Knew you could do it, my smart little genius pants.” He leaned down and kissed Merton’s forehead, straightening back onto his pillow with a soft plop. “Sleeping for a week sounds like a dream. You wanna?”
“Hm?” Merton sighed out, eyes already closed and body gently succumbing to sleep.
Chuckling, Tommy whispered, “You wanna sleep for a week? Live in bed and only leave to get food from as far as our front door?”
“Mng sound gud.” Merton mumbled, only registering the context of that sentence in a vague way.
He was asleep in seconds.
--
Merton woke in increments. He felt before even opening his eyes the sensation of wide hands rubbing over the curve of his shoulders, down his arms, over his elbows, curling around his wrists - before bringing them both up to his nose. Merton’s eyes fluttered. He could feel Tommy nose at his wrists, kissing at the places where his skin stretched thin over veins, the dip under his thumbs. Merton felt him sigh, the moist hot breath warming his skin.
He became aware of the fact that he was now fully on top of Tommy, his head turned to where his cheek rested on the left side of his chest, the length of Merton’s body cradled in the space Tommy made by spreading his legs out to either side of him. He could feel where Tommy was half hard in his sweatpants, nudging against Merton’s stomach.
It wasn’t until Tommy took a couple of his fingers in his mouth before Merton was fully conscious. His eyes opening wide at the slick, burning hot sensation. He squirmed.
Tommy moaned, letting go of his fingers with a pop. “Good morning, gorgeous.”
Merton could feel his boyfriend grow harder underneath him at the accidental stimulation of his previous wiggling. He had never quite decided if he liked when Tommy sucked on his fingers. And man, did Tommy love to get his mouth on any part of Merton that he could. Most of it was okay, but fingers just seemed unsanitary. Not to mention… Tommy’s other favorite place to get his mouth on Merton. Though, that one he didn’t mind so much provided he’d taken a shower very recently. Which he had. Fuck.
Wanting to nip this shit in the bud, Merton leaned up and rested his arms on Tommy’s chest. “Good morning, dog breath.” He smiled, softening the insult.
Pouting, Tommy leaned towards him, “Say that into my mouth.”
“Augh!” Merton cried, pushing Tommy’s face back into the pillow. “Stop, stop, stop. No kissing before you brush your teeth.”
Tommy wrapped his arms around Merton and turned them over to where he was on top. “Yes, my liege.” He said, kissing Merton on the cheek before bounding out of bed.
Merton squeaked at the rush of cold air against his naked body, wrapping the covers around him quickly to cocoon the warmth inside. “Bastard!”
He heard cackling from the bathroom before the running of the sink and the unmistakable sound of Tommy quickly brushing his teeth.
Still with the covers wrapped around him, Merton scooted over to where he could get at the side table, opening the drawer and taking out a listerine strip. He placed it on his tongue and let the burn of the mint spread throughout his whole mouth, killing off whatever horrible morning breath he had. He shut the drawer and plopped back onto the pillow, feeling the slow creep of chill from the air leak into his warm cocoon.
“Are you done yet?” He questioned, turning to where he could see the bathroom door and frowning. “It’s getting cold.”
Tommy turned the light off and came back, grinning. “You want me to warm you up, babe?”
“Hurry up before I turn into a popsicle,” Merton quipped.
Sliding under the covers, turned towards Merton, Tommy wrapped him up in his arms and pulled him to the heat of his body - something Merton could feel even through his clothes. They kissed, a soft meeting of their lips over and over.
Tommy pulled back, whispering against Merton’s lips, “If you did turn into a popsicle, I would just lick you until you melted.” He kissed Merton’s nose.
Scrunching up his face, Merton said, “I know you meant that in a sexy way, but I’m pretty sure in a scenario where I was turned into a popsicle that would be the opposite of what you would want.”
“Ooh baby, you get me hot,” Tommy growled against his cheek, nudging under his chin and kissing his neck, running his tongue up to the place behind his ear and laving at the skin, nicking it with his teeth just a little.
Merton bit his lip to keep in the giggle, not wanting his boyfriend to have the smug satisfaction. Moving his arms up from where they were curled against Tommy’s chest, he cupped his hands around his boyfriend’s face and brought him back to his mouth, kissing him deeply.
He pulled back just so he could whisper, “You’re such a dork,” before resuming their make-out.
Tommy’s hand slid down Merton’s back and gripped his ass, pulling him closer, nudging a leg in between Mertons, and starting a slow grind. Merton moaned into his mouth, moving his hand from Tommy’s cheek and around to the back of his neck, fingers edging into his curly hair and gripping. Then it was Tommy’s turn to moan, his hips stuttering.
“I’m at my limit, babe,” he panted into Merton’s mouth. “I’m gonna wolf out.”
Merton backed up, kissing Tommy one more time and ruffling his curly hair. “Let’s cool off then. I’m too exhausted to actually fuck, let alone with the wolf version of your dick.” He turned around and tugged Tommy’s arm around him so he could be the little spoon.
Tommy scooched forward and slotted up behind him, kissing him on the back of the neck, and rubbing his cheek against him. “Hm,” he sighed. “While I appreciate that scentless shampoo and soap you use, you always lose some of yours and most of my smell whenever you shower.”
Chuckling, Merton brought up one of Tommy’s hands and kissed it, tucking it back around him. “You sap.”
Tommy kept rubbing his cheek against Merton’s neck where it met his left shoulder, kissing it once, and then laved at the spot to taste his skin. Merton squirmed. Tommy rubbed his cheek down Merton’s shoulder and across the back of his neck, kissing and licking as he went. He rumbled a growl low in his chest. Merton smelled a little bit like him now, but not enough.
When Tommy’s eyes flashed yellow, Merton slapped at his arm. “Hey, hey. Control the wolfy tendencies, baby. Let's finish sleeping, and when I’m not so completely exhausted, you can scent me in whatever way you want.”
Tommy sighed, but nodded, kissing his neck one last time before settling. He was tired too. They were both definitely due for as much sleep as they could get. Even though his wolf had some other ideas about what they could be doing in bed right now. That idea of just living in their bed for the next week was still so very appealing, in more ways than one.
They both gradually fell back asleep, lulled by the warmth of their embrace.
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