Work Text:
After Megan Halsey’s death and the events of the Miskatonic massacre, life at the Cain/West household had become dull. Maddeningly dull. Dan had lost the love of his life, almost had his medical license revoked, raised the rampaging dead through extremely unethical science, and now he had the audacity to be bored with the pairs’ new repetitive routine.
The investigation at Miskatonic had been intense, and both Dan and Herbert were interrogated thoroughly because of their connections to the dead and the hospital. But the police couldn’t make anything of the evidence left behind. People were dead, but for no apparent reason. There was no motive to be found, and they were stumped at the almost supernatural crime scene. When their old leads dried up and no new leads were to be found, the case was closed. The hospital was cleaned up and put back to business. The only evidence of the massacre was in a manila folder locked away in police headquarters somewhere.
When nothing could be traced back to them, the potential charges against Dan and Herbert were dropped. And with Dean Halsey gone, Dan was free to go back to school with his full scholarship. Herbert could have gone back too, but ever since the success of his reagent he had been a man possessed by his work, and his work only. “How should I be expected to waste my time listening to the senseless drivel at the university when I could be here working on my discovery? We’re curing death here. Use your brain Dan, how can you not see it?” Dan remembers him saying. Herbert spent all his time in the basement lab now, only ever stopping to occasionally eat or use the bathroom, and even that was done reluctantly.
With nothing else better to do, Dan had fallen into his own strict schedule. Classes in the morning, a shift at the hospital in the afternoon, and helping Herbert during the late nights in the lab. He clung desperately to any sort of normalcy that his life once had, but it was just a cheap recreation of what it used to be. It felt empty, and Dan was running out of steam.
So he decided that he and Herbert had to change it up. If life didn’t get any better he was going to go crazy, maybe even crazier than Herbert.
“Honey, I’m home!” Dan said to himself, pushing the front door to the house closed with his foot. He rounded the corner into the kitchen to put the things in his hands down, and found Herbert making a sandwich at the counter.
Herbert narrowed his eyes at him. “Don’t patronize me Dan.” He said, spreading mayo on the bread in front of him. “I’m not some housewife that tends to your beck and call when you show up.”
Dan set his coffee on the table and his bag down on the kitchen chair. He turned back to look at Herbert, “I’m sorry Herb, I thought you were still downstairs.” He smiled apologetically.
“Mmhm.” Was all he said back. He continued the construction of his late afternoon lunch.
Dan was glad Herbert was actually eating something for once, it was a rare sight to see. He didn’t dare voice that opinion though, in case Herbert decided to forego the meal out of spite. “You mind if I eat with you? I’m starving.”
Hebert stopped what he was doing and looked him up and down, deciding. “Not particularly.”
Dan’s face lit up. “You’re feeling generous today!” He said, going over to the fridge. He swung the door open. “What did I do to get on The Herbert West’s good side?”
Herbert rolled his eyes. “Are we going to eat or not?” He cut his sandwich into two perfect triangles.
From the fridge Dan said, “Yeah, yeah of course. We have any turkey left?” He sifted through the fridge drawer.
“I just used the last of it.” Herbert said, making a place for himself at the table.
“Oh. Well, that’s ok. I could go for some cereal then.” He grabbed the milk and shut the fridge. He put the cereal together and dunked a spoon in his bowl, strolling over to sit across from Herbert at the table. “How was your day?”
“Very domestic of you to ask Dan. It seems you’re set on this old married couple theme today.” He nibbled on one of the triangle pieces.
Dan sighed with a mouthful of cereal. He chewed and swallowed. “Herbert, I’m sorry I offended you earlier. It was a stupid joke. I was just trying to make small talk.”
He brushed off the apology, wanting to return to topics more familiar and comfortable to him. “Hm. Well, if you must know, my day was productive. I ran a few successful experiments on some specimens, and got a new shipment of fresh parts.” The corners of Herbert’s mouth turned up a little.
That gave Dan an idea. “Productive, huh? Does that mean we’re still working in the lab tonight? Because I’ve been thinking that we could-”
“Are you trying to get out of our work again? We have an arrangement.” Herbert cut him off. His eyes burned into Dan.
“I know. But can’t we take a break from the arrangement, just once?” Dan wondered aloud.
“Does the deaths of millions around the world every day mean nothing to you Dan? You’d really put off the work to what, flounce around with one of your women friends for a night?” He said coldly.
“Jesus Herbert, of course I care! But the calendar says we’re just making new batches of reagent tonight anyway, I think we can put it off a night.” Dan said. Herbert crossed his arms in annoyance. “And I wanted to do something with you tonight, jerk.” He tapped Herbert’s leg with his foot under the table. “Not that my sex life is any of your business.”
Herbert huffed, getting flustered. “I’m... flattered. But our work comes first.”
-----
Dan sulked off to the side of the lab, angry at himself for caving and listening to West yet again.
Herbert had on a long apron and a face shield over his glasses for his safety. He stood over a huge vat of glowing green reagent, mixing it with a large wooden spoon. The green reflected off his shield and glasses, further cementing the fact that this man was in fact a mad scientist. “Hand me the thermometer there, would you?” He pointed to the thermometer just out of reach.
Dan grumbled under his breath. “Sure.” He picked it up and held it out to Herbert’s expectant hand.
In grabbing the thermometer, Herbert’s skin brushed against Dan’s. The unexpected contact sent a jolt of electricity through him, and he staggered forward slightly. He bumped the metal table he was working on, and a beaker perched on the corner teetered off and shattered on the ground. He took the shield off to take a better look.
“Herb, are you ok?” Dan asked, concerned.
The electricity was still running up and down his spine. “I’m fine.” He breathed out. He bent down with shaky hands to pick up the small pieces of glass that littered the floor. He gingerly picked up the pieces and placed them in his other open palm.
“Here, let me help.” Dan went to bend down, and Herbert's hands slipped on the glass he was holding. It sliced his palm open, and blood started to pool.
He dropped the rest of the glass back to ground. “Oh, never mind.” He said, his annoyance growing. “I’ll see to that later.” He wiped his bleeding hand off on his dress pants. He hurried back over to stir the reagent.
“You’re bleeding! How bad is it? Let me see.” Dan’s eyebrows were high on his face with worry.
“It’s nothing.” Herbert said gruffly. He measured out the proper amount of formaldehyde and poured it into the vat.
“Herbert, will you just stop? You’re bleeding, you’re going to contaminate three months worth of reagent if you don’t. Give it a rest for the night.” Dan pleaded.
“No! We have to keep working.” He said, keeping his eyes on the swirling neon green.
Dan shook his head. “You’re impossible.” He strode over and ambushed Herbert. He took the wooden spoon out of his hand, put it down, and spun him to come face to face with him. Herbert started to protest, “Can I help you w-” but Dan ignored him and lifted the apron off over his head and threw it aside. He grabbed Herbert’s uninjured hand and dragged him out of the lab and up the stairs.
Herbert tried to resist, but Dan kept him in a firm grip. He led him into their living room. “Sit.” Dan commanded, pushing Herbert down to sit on their thrifted old couch. “Stay.” He pointed at him. “I mean it. I’ll be right back.” His eyes lingered on Herbert, warning him not to leave. He turned heel and went around the corner down the hall.
“And what’ll you do if I don’t?” Herbert called to Dan from the couch. Silence echoed back at him. “Hmpf.” He crossed his arms and sunk back into the couch.
Dan appeared again a few moments later with a washcloth and a first aid kit in his hands. He sat beside Herbert on the couch, and set the first aid kit on the coffee table in front of them. He held out his hand, “Let me see it.”
Herbert looked at his outstretched hand with hesitation. He sighed, and passively held out his hand for Dan to take care of. He made sure to look anywhere but at Dan out of pure embarrassment.
Dan held him by the wrist. He straightened out Herbert’s fingers with his other hand, and his eyes skated over the skin. “Well, good news.” He smiled. “The cut’s not too bad.”
Herbert groaned. “I could have told you that. I’m fine Dan.”
“I was going to patch you up either way. Hold still.” He said, trying to keep a grip on Herbert while he squirmed. He took the damp washcloth and softly wiped over the drying blood in his palm, turning the white fabric a soft pink.
Herbert shivered, he felt like his skin was on fire. His body instinctively tried to pull away from the contact.
Dan let him go. “Sorry, am I hurting you?” He said carefully. Dan always was praised for his excellent bedside manner.
Herbert shook his head. “No.” Quite the contrary. He actually craved physical contact, a fact that he had just barely learned.
“Ok, well, let me finish. I’m almost done. If it’s the work you’re worried about we can get back to it as soon as we’re done, if you want.”
Herbert braced himself and gave him his hand again. Dan went back to work. “I thought you didn’t want to do the work tonight.”
“It wasn’t what I had in mind, but I know it’s important to you. I know it’s important to you that I’m there.” He finished up cleaning his palm, and reached into the first aid kit for the hydrogen peroxide.
Herbert practically felt faint from all of this attention and touch. He had never in his life had someone treat him like this, with such care. He and Dan had a bond, of what kind he didn’t know, but whatever it was, it was strong. After all that happened Dan should have cursed him and left, or wrote him off as insane and nothing more. In every practical way Herbert had ruined his life. But here Dan was, caring for him in his own way. “... Then what did you have in mind?” He said, finally mustering up the courage to look Dan in the eye.
“I don’t know. Just that I wanted to do something different with you tonight, anything you wanted.” He grabbed a cotton ball out of the bag from the kit, and dashed some hydrogen peroxide on it.
“Is that some sort of innuendo Dan?” He asked suspiciously.
Dan laughed lightheartedly. “No, I didn’t mean it like that. I meant like watching a movie, or dinner out, you know. Something different than we usually do. It’d do us some good.”
Something in Hebert shrunk. He felt rejected in a way, though for what he wasn’t sure. Maybe because he thought Dan could never think of them that way. “Oh.”
“This might sting a little, ok?” Dan said. He dabbed at the little wound with the cotton ball to disinfect it. Herbert winced, his eyes falling to the floor.
Dan tossed the used cotton ball into the trash by the door. He took out the neosporin and smeared some around the newly cleaned and disinfected area. He unwrapped a medium sized bandage, and laid it out in the palm of Herbert’s hand, smoothing it out. “All done!” He looked very proud of himself for having success with another “patient”.
Herbert inspected Dan’s handiwork with a frown. He’d become quieter than he had been all night, just contemplating his hand.
“Herb? You ok?” Dan said, feeling Herbert’s mood shift. Herbert said nothing. “Did I say something wrong?” Silence again. “I don’t suppose you wanted me to make an innuendo.” He joked in an effort to lighten the mood.
Dan’s words made rage bubble up in Herbert. He whipped his body to the side to stare Dan down. “Would that really be so outlandish Dan? The idea of us together? Would that really be so awful?” He curled in on himself more into the couch, face burning with shame.
Dan was taken aback, surprised that he had hit a nerve somewhere unexpected. “Hey, hey, slow down there. I never said that.” He went to grab his shoulder to comfort him, but Herbert pushed his arm away.
“Oh, you implied it well enough. And I don’t take well to being laughed at.”
“I wasn’t laughing at you, I promise. I guess… I just didn’t know you felt that way.” There had been signs of how Herbert had felt about him. The jealousy of the girls he’d been with, or the obsession with Dan working with him on his discovery, or the long lingering looks, or the strange way Herbert acted whenever Dan touched him. But Dan chalked that up to him just reading too far into Herbert’s whims. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t feel the connection he and his roommate had, but he didn’t know the lengths to which said connection went.
“Well now you do.” Herbert snipped.
“Is that what you want then? For us to be together?”
Herbert turned a shade of red even darker than before. “Are you making fun of me?” He wasn’t a man that dealt in subtleties.
“No! I’m just asking. Communicating, whatever.” Dan was starting to get flustered now, the words in his brain getting too tangled to be as eloquent as he is usually.
Herbert turned the question around on him. “Do you want us to be together?” He arched an eyebrow.
All this thinking was making Dan’s head pound. There was too much he could say, and Herbert sat there staring into his soul. His normal suavity with romance had been lost, but he knew he had to do something. So, he acted.
He leaned in for a kiss, his arms curling around to rest on Herbert’s shoulders, and their lips connected. At first Herbert sat rigid, not knowing what to do from his lack of experience. But Dan’s enthusiasm encouraged him, and they both melted into the kiss. Herbert’s arms found their place around Dan’s neck, deepening the kiss.
They pulled away for some air, Dan moved to cradle Herbert’s face in his hands. Herbert’s skin buzzed from the touch, and he could get used to it. For the first time in a long time, they felt something close to contentment.
“I take it that’s a yes?” Herbert said deadpan.
Dan laughed loudly at that. “Yeah Herb, that’s a yes.”
“Good.” Herbert cracked a little smile. He pulled back, “But we should really finish up that batch of reagent. We still have,” He checked his watch. “Four more hours to complete it.”
Dan shook his head incredulously. “How can you still be thinking of work right now?”
“Because I’m nothing if not devoted.” He smoothed Dan’s shirt down in the front, and fixed the top button. He hopped up off of the couch. “Will you help me?”
Dan chuckled. The things he did for Herbert West. “You know I’m going to.”
And while Dan’s plan of switching their routine up didn’t go exactly according to plan, he knew things were definitely going to have a different change of pace from now on.