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As bright ideas went this one had to be pretty far down on the list of Merton's all-time strokes of genius. It was a pretty long list, too, so that was saying a lot. He took another look around the group of teenagers gathered in front of what he was almost sure was a direct portal to Hell, but looked close enough to an ordinary closet to fool the average citizen.
When he'd badgered Tommy into taking him to the party he'd expected loud music, food guaranteed to give him a sugar rush, possibly a little underage drinking. It was supposed to be one last blast for the senior class, just a bunch of kids celebrating the end of their high school careers. What he hadn't expected was to be subjected to the kind of torture he thought kids grew out of in junior high. He was stuck now, though, and there was no way he could just leave without making everyone think he was trying to get out of playing the game. Which would be the truth, but he didn't really want everyone in his class knowing he was afraid to play Seven Minutes in Heaven.
And who had come up with that name, anyway? Since when was being locked in a musty old closet with a member of the opposite sex anything even close to heavenly? It certainly wasn't Merton's idea of heaven; in fact, right now his idea of heaven was a nice, quiet evening in the lair, just him and Tommy and a Hellraiser marathon on the VCR. The only problem was that he'd barely seen Tommy since they walked into the house, and he was pretty sure his best friend was going to be the most popular guy in the room as soon as the game started.
Not that he begrudged Tommy his popularity – most of the time – but he really didn't want to stand around and watch the girls line up for a shot at being alone in a closet with Tommy Dawkins for a full seven minutes each. Not that he could really blame them, because Tommy was…well, Tommy. Merton would be first in line if he didn't think it would get him pounded into next week. Still, his own jealousy aside, seven minutes with every girl in their class would take a lot longer than Merton wanted to spend hanging around feeling like the ugly stepsister.
Sure, he put on a good show for Tommy's benefit most of the time, but the truth was that sometimes his status as class freak bothered him. Not a lot, especially not since he and Tommy had gotten so close, but enough to make him wonder what he'd been thinking talking Tommy into coming to the party.
That was the worst part, because if he tracked Tommy down now and said he wanted to leave he'd just get a big, fat 'I told you so', accompanied by that toothpaste commercial grin that made him either want to kiss Tommy or kill him. He couldn't do either, though, so the only thing he could think of to save himself was to ditch Tommy and hope nobody noticed.
Slowly he began inching toward the door, invoking the Jedi mind tricks he'd practiced as a kid on the off chance that they might actually work. Hey, it was worth a shot and the theory behind Jedi philosophy was more or less sound, so if he could convince his classmates that he was invisible, great. And if not…well, nobody would have to know that he'd been trying. He was caught between wanting to believe that he really was capable of mass hypnosis and the sinking realization that nobody cared if he left when his back collided with something solid and warm and definitely not made of front door-type materials.
"Where are you going?"
The low, rich voice rang in his ear, sending an involuntary shiver down his spine. He was glad Tommy had closed his hands around Merton's arms or his knees might have given out from the sound of his best friend's voice alone. Well, he would have been glad, anyway, if it didn't mean he was pretty much at Tommy's mercy.
"Nowhere," he answered, hoping Tommy would chalk the hysterical edge in his voice up to…something other than hysteria. "Just…you know. Getting some air."
"Right. So you weren't planning to ditch me."
"Ditch you? I haven't even seen you since we got here." Okay, and he hadn't meant to say that out loud, because he didn't like to make Tommy feel responsible for him. At least not unless he thought it was going to get him something he wanted.
A sigh escaped Tommy's throat, his grip on Merton's arms loosening. Merton knew they couldn't just stand there like that all night, at least not if they didn't want the rest of the kids to start wondering what exactly they were doing. He couldn't help missing the warmth of Tommy's chest pressed against his back, though, and he had to stop himself from getting too close when he turned to face the other boy.
"Look, Merton, I told you this was gonna happen. That's why I didn't want to come here tonight."
"I know, I know, you were right," Merton answered, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms over his chest. "It was fine until they started with the party games. Who still plays Seven Minutes in Heaven?"
Tommy smirked and glanced over Merton's shoulder in the direction of the game. "You ever played before?"
"I'm not in junior high," Merton grumbled, but he could feel the heat rising in his cheeks. The last thing he wanted to do was admit to Tommy that he hadn't been invited to these parties even in junior high, although Tommy would have been at all of them so technically he already knew.
"It's fun. You should try it."
Merton frowned at the other boy's expression; it was obvious Tommy was making fun of him, which he maybe deserved a little considering he'd wanted to come to the party. Still, Tommy knew as well as Merton did that he wasn't exactly going to be the hit of a game like that, and he knew Merton didn't need it pointed out to him.
"Hilarious, Tommy. Can we please go now?"
He knew Tommy could hear the desperation in his voice, but he didn't care. He didn't care about much besides getting out of there before his best friend totally embarrassed him. It was possible Tommy thought it would teach him some kind of lesson about worrying about what the rest of the school thought of him, but that was a lesson he really didn't need to learn. At least not with a humiliating round of Seven Minutes in Heaven.
Tommy was shaking his head, though, and before Merton could even think about making a break for it a strong hand closed around his arm again. "Tommy, come on…"
"Sorry, buddy," Tommy answered, his voice buzzing in Merton's ear again. "Everybody's gotta try it once. It's like a law or something."
Merton opened his mouth to protest, to appeal to Tommy's sense of decency or even offer him an appropriate bribe, but the words died on his lips when he realized the other boy was dragging him in the opposite direction of the game. Before he figured out Tommy's plan he found himself being pulled to an abrupt stop in front of a closed door. "Tommy, what are we…?"
Instead of answering Tommy pulled the door open, revealing a small closet filled with coats and a vacuum. He paused long enough to pull the vacuum out into the hallway before he shoved the coats aside and pushed Merton into the closet. Tommy stepped in behind him and closed the door, leaving them in darkness so thick that Merton couldn't see the other boy even though he could feel Tommy standing almost directly in front of him. "Are you crazy?" Merton asked, although he'd known Tommy long enough to know the answer to that one. It wasn't so much that his best friend was crazy, he just did what he wanted and he didn't think too hard about consequences. That was Merton's job – reminding Tommy when something was too dangerous or, in this case, potentially embarrassing. "Somebody's going to find us."
"Seven minutes," Tommy said. Merton felt the other boy shift, then the light on Tommy's watch lit up, bathing the other boy's face in a weird blue-green glow. Tommy pressed a few buttons, then grinned and turned the light off again.
"Tommy…" Merton tried again, but when Tommy pressed him back against the wall and braced his hands on either side of Merton's face he remembered that saying about gift horses and decided to just quit while he was ahead. And yeah, they were probably going to get caught making out in the coat closet, but it was almost the end of the year anyway and if Tommy wasn't worried about it Merton wasn't either. Not much, anyway.
Besides, he'd never been able to think clearly when Tommy was kissing him, a fact Tommy knew and took full advantage of at every available opportunity. It really wasn't fair, but Merton couldn't bring himself to complain about it because then Tommy might actually stop doing it. Given the choice between being at his boyfriend's mercy and not having a boyfriend at all, the choice was pretty obvious.
And seven minutes was a pretty long time, but when Tommy's hands left the wall to slide around his waist it didn't seem like nearly long enough. By the time the alarm on Tommy's watch went off Merton didn't even remember where they were, let alone that the entire senior class was just down the hall and most likely wondering where Tommy was. All he knew were slow, leisurely kisses and the press of warm, solid teenage boy holding him against the wall. He knew he was breathing just as hard as Tommy was and his heartbeat was loud in the silence of the closet, but Tommy's hands were in his hair and his mouth was still moving against Merton's neck and as it turned out he really, really liked this game after all.
"So," Tommy whispered against his skin, his mouth moving lazily up Merton's neck to nip at his jaw, "you wanna tell me why you were trying to ditch me?"
It took Merton a full thirty seconds to remember what Tommy was talking about, and when he did he was glad it was dark in the closet so the other boy wouldn't see him blush. "I figured you'd be…you know, busy. With the game."
"Merton," Tommy whispered, and his voice was infused with a mixture of hurt and affection that made Merton's heart skip a beat, "do you really think I'd do that to you?"
"It's just a game, Tommy. It's not like I actually thought you'd do anything," Merton lied. He wasn't about to admit the truth, that he'd figured Tommy would consider it his duty as one of the popular kids to go along with the game. As far as the rest of his friends were concerned Tommy was single, and that meant he was fair game. He couldn't expect Tommy to out himself to the entire senior class just to get out of a little kissing.
Tommy just shook his head and leaned forward, pressing his lips to Merton's again. When he pulled away their faces were barely an inch apart, hot breath warming Merton's cheek and sending another shiver down his spine. "I don't want to play this game with anybody but you. Okay?"
All Merton could do was nod, but he knew Tommy could see in the dark a lot better than he could. He didn't trust his voice, not so soon after hearing Tommy say that. It might not seem like much to anybody else, but it was the closest they'd ever gotten to actually talking about what was going on between them. He took a deep breath to steady his shaky legs when Tommy straightened up and pulled the closet door open, glancing down the hall before he reached behind him and grabbed Merton's hand.
"Now we can go," Tommy said, grinning over his shoulder at Merton as he practically dragged the other boy toward the front door. "Unless you want to stick around for Spin the Bottle."