With Teeth
Title: With Teeth
Author: Helloiamsilver
Disclaimer: I own none of the people mentioned and this (as far as I know) never happened
Pairing: Adam Lambert/ Tommy Joe Ratliff
Rating: PG-13 (language mostly)
Length: 3839
Warnings: None
Summary: Adam has a secret. And it’s got lots and lots of teeth.
Author's Note: Title taken from the Nine Inch Nails song of the same name
It was when they were entering Europe that Tommy found out.
Everyone was showing their passports and going through all the customs crap. Tommy had been right behind Adam when he said it to the official.
"Oh! I almost forgot. I need to register my..." Adam paused and glanced at Tommy, “My uh, Were status before I go in..." He murmured with a wince. Tommy's jaw dropped.
"What the fuck Adam? You're a Were!?" he shouted in shock.
Adam just shot him a look and held up a finger to silence him as the official entered Adam's stats into the computer. Governments were careful about keeping track of Weres these days. Once they were waved in, Tommy turned to confront Adam.
"Why the fuck didn't you tell me you were a Were!"
"It's not a big deal..." Adam dropped his gaze and tried to duck around a corner, only to have Tommy block his way.
"Not a big deal!?" Tommy asked in disbelief
"Are you saying it's a problem?" Adam folded his arms over his chest in challenge.
"Not at all!” Tommy was insulted that Adam even thought it would be, “It's actually really fucking cool. I'm just a little pissed off and confused that you didn't tell me before,"
"I told you. It's no big thing," Adam kept his eyes averted and began inspecting the contents of his bag.
"I'd say being able to turn into an animal is kind of a big thing!" Tommy insisted.
"Not for me," Adam muttered.
"Why not?" Tommy asked, confused.
"I can't exactly do it all that often,"
"Explain..?"
"What I can turn into… Well it isn't really conducive to every day transformations,” He huffed out a sigh at Tommy’s confused look, “I'm not a wolf or a leopard or something like that,"
"What are you?" Tommy asked the obvious question.
"I'm...a shark," Tommy’s jaw dropped.
"Whoa! Dude that's rad!"
"Really?" Adam asked, disbelieving.
"Seriously! You're a fucking shark!? That's badass!" Tommy couldn’t believe that Adam couldn’t see this. He was a god damn shark!
"I'm glad you think so,” Adam said with a wry smile, “But you can see why it never really came up before. It's just not something I think about telling people right away,”
"Right, right, I get it. Whatever but still man!" Tommy wasn’t going to let this go that easily.
Adam just pursed his lips at him. Tommy decided to ignore this in favor of his newest revelation.
"Dude! You so need to show me!" His face lit up at the idea of seeing shark-Adam.
"I can't right now. I don't exactly wanna die just yet,” Adam rolled his eyes.
"The first beach we see!" Tommy said enthusiastically not letting go.
"Tommy…” Adam groaned, “We don't have enough time for me to jet off to the beach and shark-up whenever I feel like it,"
"Come on. Don't tell me you don't wanna stretch those fins!” Tommy mimed two flapping fins with his hands.
"I do. More than you know,” Adam said, earnestly, “It's killing me I can't change whenever I want, but I just can't anytime soon okay?" His voice became sharp.
"Why are you being all huffy?" Tommy asked, confused.
"I'm not being huffy!" Tommy just folded his arms and gave Adam a look. Adam sighed and his face softened.
"I don't know...I feel like it’s gonna be weird now, you know,” Adam cast his eyes downward.
"Weird how?” Tommy asked before it hit him, “You worried I'm gonna be some asshole about it or something? What the hell Adam? Do you honestly think I'd care about that shit?" Tommy knew there were bigoted assholes out there but did Adam really expect that from him?
"You never know how people will react sometimes," Adam murmured.
"Hey Adam? Look at me,” Tommy put his hand on the side of Adam’s face and forced him to meet his eyes, “You're still Adam ok? No matter what you can turn into," Tommy tried to convey the message as much as he could through his eyes. Adam smiled softly, but his eyes still seemed sad.
"It's just...a lot of people don't like Weres,"
"A lot of people don't like gays but you haven't let that keep you down,” Tommy pointed out, You're a fuckin' rockstar! And a fuckin' Were-shark! That's fuckin' awesome man,"
"So you don't think I'm a freak?" Adam asked like he honestly was worried about the answer.
"Oh you're a freak all right,” Tommy raised one eyebrow, “But not because you're secretly Jaws," Adam burst into laughter.
"Fuck you Tommy," He said between giggles. Tommy smiled widely, proud he had gotten Adam out of his sour mood.
"You still totally need to show me," Adam nodded his acquiescence.
"When we get back to LA. But under one condition," Adam held up a finger, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.
"Sure, anything," Tommy agreed.
"You need to swim with me," Adam smiled a broad grin and Tommy could almost picture pointed teeth. He swallowed thickly.
"Swim like...in the water?" He couldn't help the way his voice raised in pitch.
"No Tommy, in the sky," Adam rolled his eyes before narrowing them deviously and smirking
"What? Not scared are you?"
"No! It's you! I can, uh totally swim. In the water. With you. As a shark." Tommy nodded furiously, hoping it would mask his sudden nervousness.
Adam saw right through it by the way smile only grew wider
"You wouldn't...by any chance be a small shark would you?" Tommy asked hesitantly.
Adam just shook his head slowly, still grinning.
"Medium shark?"
Adam shook his head. Tommy took a deep sigh.
"You're a giant shark aren't you?"
Adam nodded, shit-eating grin still in place.
"Twenty feet," He murmured in a husky voice. Tommy let out a low whistle
"Tiger shark," Adam added, letting the “K” drag out on his lips before cutting off dramatically.
"Mrow," Tommy growled at him.
Adam just exploded into a fit of laughter.
--
The rest of the tour was filled with Tommy plaguing Adam with a never-ending stream of shark related questions, much to Adam’s annoyance.
“Hey Adam. Have you ever been on shark week?”
"Hey Adam. This is totally why you've got that giant saltwater pool at your house isn't it? 'Chlorine screws up my hair dye' my ass!"
"Hey Adam. Do you secretly have one of those tracker things scientists put on sharks?”
“Hey Adam. Do you have shark friends? Oh my god! Have you ever gotten in a shark fight!?”
"Hey Adam. Aren't tiger sharks the ones that eat a bunch of junk?
Like license plates and tires and fried chicken and chain mail and dead birds and people and shit? Is that why you diet so much? Ow! Don't throw shit at me!"
"Hey Adam. Have you ever eaten a seal?"
"Hey Adam. It says here sharks have two dicks. Oh my god! You totally have two dicks don't you? Three! Counting the human one! Dude! You could totally fuck two sharks at the same time! They could be dude sharks. Do they have gay sharks? Can you even tell the difference between dude and chick sharks? Adam! Answer me!"
And so forth…
--
Tommy got so into the whole shark thing that when they finally did get back to LA, he had almost completely forgotten about Adam’s one condition. That is until he was standing on an abandoned dock in a wetsuit staring out into the sea while Adam was standing next to him giving what Tommy had become to think of as his ‘shark-face’. Narrowed eyes and devilish smile. The face that made it look like Adam was two seconds away from sinking his teeth into him.
Tommy rubbed his hands together nervously, despite the fact it was a perfectly warm sunny day.
“You okay there Tommy Joe?” Adam asked with a raised eyebrow. Tommy just snorted.
“I’m fine. Just hurry up and get your shark on!” He demanded. Adam giggled lightly. Tommy refused to think that Adam was laughing at him.
“Baby, you’re not really all that scared are you?” Adam asked with sudden concern in his eyes.
“No!” Tommy immediately said.
“Tommy…”
“Ok. So I may have had a small traumatizing experience when I was eight years old. No big deal,” Tommy relented. It wasn’t his fault his stupid friend had decided to wear a fake shark fin in the water and that stupid Tommy had been so freaked out he nearly pissed his pants and still had nightmares about it to this day.
“Oh baby…You gonna be okay with this? I mean you don’t have to get in the water,”
“No! No, I am gonna swim with your sharky ass no matter what!” Tommy insisted, folding his arms to emphasize his point. Adam smiled
“If you say so. If you get scared just remember,” Adam cupped Tommy’s face in his hands, “It’s always just me,” He winked.
“I’m gonna have to take my clothes off so feel free to avert your eyes to protect your modesty,” Adam instructed sarcastically. Tommy just rolled his eyes and kept looking. Adam smirked at him before undressing.
“Oh, one more thing,” Adam added, “Be careful if you touch me. Shark skin’s really rough,” Tommy nodded, “And also…” Adam looked away for a moment, “Try not to get any blood in the water,” He murmured dramatically.
Tommy’s eyes widened before Adam stuck his tongue out at him and began cracking up
“Kidding! God. You should’ve seen your face!” Adam said as he laughed. Tommy just flipped him off.
“Fuck you Adam. Just go shark-up you asshole,”
Adam laughed once more before walking a little ways down the dock. He turned and winked once at Tommy before taking a running start towards the ocean. Once he reached the edge he leaped off into the air and Tommy watched, jaw dropped, as, mid-air, Adam transformed. He saw as his body stretched and lengthened and his arms shrunk back into fins as his legs morphed into a tail. It happened in about 1 and half seconds max.
The splash Adam made when he landed was tremendous. His twenty foot long heavy shark body slamming down into the water.
“Holy shit…” Tommy muttered to himself. He briefly lost sight of Adam as he swam deep beneath the surface only to launch up a second later, hitting Tommy with another spray of water.
“You motherfucker!” He shouted as he bent down to peer at where Adam was suspended near the surface, his head pushed above the water. He swore to god he could see that shark face smirk at him.
That theory was confirmed when Adam lashed his tail around to splash him again. Tommy wiped the saltwater out of his eyes and contemplated giving Adam a “Fuck you!” before he decided it was probably a bad idea keep insulting the giant man-eating beast he was about to get in the water with.
Oh god. He was about to get in the water with it. Him, not it. This was Adam. Adam who stayed up at night watching Gossip Girl marathons with ice cream. Adam who was terrified out of his mind of a spider and had forced Monte to come and kill it so he could get in the shower. Adam who did not equal a man-eating beast.
Tommy decided to man up and grow a pair before Adam started thinking that Tommy actually did think he was a freak.
He started slow and got down onto his knees and crept towards to edge where Adam still had his head poked up just enough so that his gills were still under the water. Tommy hedged just a little closer and put his hand out. Adam got the hint and swam even closer, his nose nearly touching the dock.
Tommy reached out even more, and keeping a careful eye on the wide mouthful of serrated teeth, gently laid his hand on the top of Adam’s head. He could distinctly feel when Adam pushed back against his hand, almost like Tommy was caressing his face. Which, hey, suddenly seemed like a good idea.
Keeping careful mind of the abrasive grain of Adam’s skin, Tommy gently let his hand wander down the side of his head, skirting just past his eyes, which fluttered shut at his touch. As Tommy’s hand continued towards his nose, Adam’s eyes flicked open again and he quickly darted forwards bumping his nose into Tommy’s, causing Tommy to laugh.
“You’re like a god damn dolphin at SeaWorld,” He shook his head. Adam couldn’t exactly smile in this form but the way he flicked his tail back and forth happily reminded him of a puppy. Tommy laughed again. Adam then turned and bumped his nose into the side of the dock next to Tommy where his goggles were located. Tommy got the hint.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m getting in the water,” Tommy snapped the goggles on his head and stared at where Adam was waiting. Ok, so maybe Adam hadn’t seemed so scary while Tommy was still on land but it went against a whole lot of human survival instinct to jump into the water with a twenty foot shark with a mouthful of pointy teeth. Tommy liked having human survival instinct.
He took a deep calming breath before steadily putting one foot into the water. Adam nudged at it with his nose and Tommy quickly flinched back.
“Could you just wait for a minute!?” Tommy asked and he most certainly did not squeal. Adam swam a little ways away although Tommy swore he saw Adam roll his eyes at him.
Tommy put his foot back into the water, followed by the other one. He shivered a little at the cold as he slid his whole body into the water, closing his eyes as he acclimated to the temperature. When he opened them back up, Adam was gone.
“Ok. This isn’t funny dude!” Tommy whipped around, treading water furiously as he looked for Adam. He ducked under water all the way but he didn’t see anything except a vague shape in the distance that might’ve been shark-like.
“Adam! That’s not cool!” Tommy shouted as if Adam could hear him, still spinning in circles.
He swam a little ways out further from the dock, trying to see if he could spot anything. He quickly whipped around when he thought he caught something in the corner of his eye and flinched when he felt something touch his foot.
“Adam. I hate you so much right now!” That better be Adam. Oh god. What if it wasn’t Adam!? What if he was about to be devoured by some sea-beast that wasn’t Adam!?
He nearly jumped ten feet in the air when he saw an ominous pointed fin appear out of the water right in front of him and start circling him.
“Adam. You are such a piece of shit!” Tommy shouted and kicked out with his foot, aiming for Adam’s eye. Sharks got pissed when you hit them in the eye right? Eventually Adam stopped circling and popped back up, once again doing that happy tail wag. Tommy gave him his best glare. Although the impact may have been softened slightly by the goggles, Adam’s fins drooped a little bit and he came up and nudged Tommy’s side. Tommy sighed angrily.
“All right you big fishy baby,” He laid his hand back on top of Adam’s head and once again ignored the little voice in his head that said “Bolt! You dumbass! Bolt!! Get away from the pointy teeth!! Go to LAND!” Tommy swallowed back against his fear and instead focused on how incredibly cool this was. I mean, come on. He was swimming with a giant-ass tiger shark! That was fucking sweet.
Tommy ducked under the water and swam a little ways down. Adam followed and Tommy was finally able to take in all of Adam’s glory. The goggles gave him a perfect view of the gorgeous striping pattern all along Adam’s body. He watched as Adam’s body undulated elegantly with the current, allowing him to stay in place. He ran his hand softly down Adam’s side as he swam the length of him, eventually wrapping his hands around the top half of his tail to feel the muscles pulse under the surface of his rough skin.
He was shocked out of his awe-filled reverie when Adam suddenly burst forward into the water, Tommy dragging behind him as he struggled to hold on to Adam’s tail fin and his whipped back in forth with Adam’s movement.
He held on as long as he could, but eventually he had to go up for air. Adam stopped when he felt that Tommy let go and circled back around to him, looking almost smug.
“Fuck you,” Tommy gently slapped Adam’s tail fin, only to have it whip water in his face. Tommy spluttered for a moment before he grabbed a hold of Adam’s dorsal fin with both hands.
“How about we try this? You can swim me around like Shamu,” Adam flicked his tail towards him once more before he went back under and started swimming in earnest.
Wow, he could go a lot faster than Tommy thought. He felt the wind whip through his hair as he was pulled forward through the water and when he glanced back he could see the dock quickly shrinking in the distance.
He was riding a fucking shark.
Tommy let that thought sink into his head as he threw his head back and laughed to the sky. Okay, fuck being scared. This was awesome! Adam was awesome!
He held on as Adam whipped around and suddenly dived beneath the surface of the water. Tommy wondered what caused this when he noticed a school of large fish gathered just in front of them. Sweet! Tommy was going to see Adam hunt!
He gently let go of Adam’s dorsal fin and went up for a deep gulp of air before diving back down to watch. He saw as Adam slowly circled around the school, staying just far enough away that none of them would dart. And then, suddenly. He shot forward with a huge burst of speed, his tail fin whipping violently in the water, and his mouth quickly clamping down on one of the fish.
Tommy could see the way his teeth sunk into the flesh and the seep of fish juice and blood into the current. Adam whipped his head sharply side to side until the fish was no longer flopping and most certainly dead.
He swam up to where Tommy was waiting by the surface, fish held triumphantly in his jaws.
“If you get fish guts on me, I will never forgive you,” Tommy threatened. Adam flicked his tail at him. Tommy was taking that to be shark language for “fuck you”.
Tommy sat back a ways and watched as Adam quickly gulped the fish down. Afterwards he swam towards Tommy and playfully circled him a little bit before nudging into him with his nose. Tommy patted the top of his head.
“Good boy,” Tommy said. Adam bumped him one more time before darting under the water.
When he surfaced again, he was back to a man.
“Good boy? Am I a dog now?” Adam asked, faux-angry.
“Well, you certainly acted like one with all the tail-wagging,” Tommy teased.
“Fuck you Tommy Joe. Let’s see you try communicating when you’re a fucking shark,” He splashed water on him with the side of his hand. Apparently some things didn’t change. Tommy just laughed.
“So…You still scared of me?” Adam challenged with a raised eyebrow. Tommy didn’t have to think for one second.
“Not at all. It was actually really cool,” Tommy said earnestly. Adam grinned broadly.
“I’m glad. It’s always so much more fun to change when I’ve got someone else around,” He winked.
“Happy to be of service,”
“And you were right,” Adam added, “I really did need to stretch my fins. It always feels so good to change when I haven’t for a while,”
Tommy nodded at him.
“So. It’s still not freaky that I’m a shark?” Adam asked.
“Nope, in fact…” Tommy trailed off, looking at Adam’s wet mussed hair and glinting eyes and thinking of his long lean stripy shark body, “I’d actually say it’s kinda sexy that you’re a shark,” Tommy winked.
“Oh really? Sexy?” Adam made his smirking shark face as he swam closer to Tommy, who was suddenly very aware that Adam was, in fact, naked.
“Oh yes. Very, very sexy…” Tommy swam a little closer himself. All he heard was a low growl before Adam’s hands were on Tommy’s face and his tongue was in his mouth.
They kissed deep and messy for a while (with plenty of teeth) before Adam was the one to come up for air.
“Maybe,” He sucked in a few panting breaths, “Maybe we should move this to the shore?”
“Couldn’t agree more,” Tommy said breathily as Adam latched his teeth onto his neck, “Couldn’t’ agree more,”
--
It was backstage after the concert that Tommy showed him.
It was an important concert too. This was the first concert where Adam officially told the world that he was a Were. He gave a perfect speech about acceptance of all kinds of diversity and his support against prejudice everywhere.
Tommy and the rest of the band had waited backstage while Adam made his announcement and Tommy was almost bouncing on the balls of his feet as he waited for Adam to be done so he could show him his surprise.
Not that Tommy wasn’t ecstatic that Adam was finally coming out of the shark cage; he was. He had a bone-deep happiness that Adam had seemed to finally accept his Were-ness. It was like Adam always sang about. No more hiding. Tommy was incredibly proud that he had had a part in Adam’s newfound Were pride.
But that was a conversation for later.
“Hey Adam!” Tommy called out as a sweaty and grinning Adam came backstage.
“Yeah?” Adam asked as he wiped down his face. He looked a little concerned at Tommy’s manic grin.
“I have to show you something!” He didn’t wait for Adam to respond and simply pushed up the sleeve of his shirt to fully display his newest tattoo. Right amongst all his horror tattoos now sat the classic portrait of Jaws.
Adam just stared at it for a moment before shaking his head.
“You didn’t…”
“I did!” Tommy nodded and smiled.
“You do know that movie is horribly stereotypical of sharks everywhere right?” Adam asked with his arms folded. Tommy just shrugged.
“Whatever. It’s still badass,”
Adam kept up his glare for a solid second before breaking into laughs.
“Ok, ok. That is really sweet,” Adam relented. Tommy beamed up at him. Adam just shook his head fondly as he put his hand under Tommy’s chin and lifted him up for a sweet, chaste kiss.
No teeth.