wonkyinagoodway wrote a bunch of prompt fic for this one meme... and I ended up owing her a Gardino/Huey/Dewey fic because of it. :)

well here it is....
Might as well jump:

Sometime during the EIGHTIES…

Tom was hanging outside the Academy steps, hoping to catch his roommate before everyone left for break. He spotted the head of shoulder length curly hair making it’s way to the parking lot. “Hey, Louis! Wait up a sec!”

They were in civilian garb. Which meant the stonewashed denim pants Louis had were clinging to his ass. Giving Tom a nice view to watch as he jogged to catch up with his roommate. Converse sneakers skidded to a halt, sending a few pebbles flying ahead. Tom brushed aside his Miami Vice bangs and gave Louis his most charming grin.

“So I was thinkin…”

“No Tom.”

“Aw! But you didn’t even hear me out this time!”

Louis just smiles and shrugs. “Hey, you know I’m all for these crazy ideas of yours, but it’s the last break before I graduate. I can’t screw anything up. So sorry, but no.”

“But Louis! Come on, man. Just listen. There’s practically no risk to this one. I’ve got it all figured out.” Tom goes on to explain his latest, greatest scheme yet. They’re gonna crash one of the biggest graduation parties of the year! The one thrown by that really rich kid’s parents!

Louis thinks it over for a minute. He looks reluctant, but at the mention of all the free drinks, he caves in. “Alright, okay, but this is the last one! Got it?”

“Sure, sure.” Tom smirks and throws an arm around Louis’s shoulders. They’ve always gotten along pretty well. The Academy clowns, most of the time they team up on the greatest ideas and have tons of fun.

But every once in a while Louis gets all reluctant and starts talking about things like ‘permanent records’ and ‘career’.

Tom loves the idea of becoming a cop. All the action! All the respect! What’s not to love?

But career? No way.

---

The party is in full swing by the time they make it through the checklist security. Tom and Louis exchange mischievous grins and split up to comb over more of the beach. There is a patio and awning set up that looks kickin. So Tom goes over to investigate the music.

All of his favorite songs are playing one right after the other, and this party couldn’t get any sweeter! That is until Tom sees something out of the corner of his eye.

It’s a man.

He’s a black guy, standing alone. His back against the wall, the guy’s eyes are closed and he’s finger drumming to some internal beat. Because it doesn’t match the Van Halen booming around them.

Tom becomes aware he’s staring when he can’t take his eyes off the checkered wrist band the guy is wearing under his African style shirt. He’s about to make a move on the guy, test the waters to see if there’s any chance this guy swings his way, but a commotion startles Tom out of his haze.

It’s the rich kid. He’s yelling at Louis to get out of his party. Tom sighs. The sacrifices you have to make for your friends. With one last longing look back at the wall, Tom is disappointed to find that his object of affections has vanished in the crowd. Tom sighs again.

He runs over to Louis’s side. “Let’s go. Let’s just go.” There’s no point staying at a party where they’re going to be uptight, and all the hot guys vanish before you can put out your best lines.

Louis frowns and shakes his head. Uh oh. Tom should have thought about that. When someone picks a fight with Louis, he never backs down. Never.

Tom takes a few steps back and waits for the punches to fly. The rich kid is getting right into Louis’s face. Louis just starts yelling right back at him. Pretty soon there are a bunch of people circled around, ready to watch the fight. Somebody pushes against Tom.

“Excuse me.” It’s the guy Tom drooled over. Up close he’s even better. His voice is low and rough and sends ripples down Tom’s spine. Without thinking about it, Tom steps out of his way.

The guy goes right up to Louis and the rich kid and steps between them. “That’s enough.” He turns to the rich kid. “Your dad is here, do you really want to get into this right now?”

“Shut up, Jack! I’m sick of you always thinking you know what’s best for everybody!” The swing that everybody’s been waiting for finally comes. But not at Louis, the rich kid punches Jack right in the cheek.

Jack staggers back a step, and Louis is right behind him, keeping him to his feet. Tom can see Louis’s fists clench is preparation. But Jack holds him back with an open palm. “Whatever, look if that’s what you really think. I’ll just go get my stuff.”

Tom follows Louis, who follows Jack away from the party. They get out to where all the cars are parked and Jack stops. He half laughs, sounding rueful. “I didn’t drive. He was my ride back to the dorm.”

“We can take you.” Tom pipes up from behind and is rewarded by one of Jack’s smiles. Louis just nods and points to Tom’s car.

“You’re in my graduating class, aren’t you? Jack Huey, right?”

“Yeah.” Jack offers a hand which Louis takes and shakes. “It’s Louis Gardino. I remember you in basic hand to hand defense. You broke the instructor’s nose.”

Louis’s head ducks and he looks sheepish. “It was an accident, really.”

“He deserved it. That guy was an asshole.” Jack laughs and gets into Tom’s backseat. He looks comfortable. He looks like he belongs, right there. Tom shakes his head and tries to focus on the road.

Soon they’re back at the Academy dorm and Louis has offered to help Jack move his stuff out. He’s also volunteered Tom to help.

“Thanks guys.” Jack really doesn’t have that much to move. Most of it has already been sent back home till he can pick it up after graduation. “He wasn’t a bad roommate, just a bit of a jerk sometimes.”

Louis seems to hesitate before he asks straight out. “You got a place to stay?”

“Not exactly, no.”

“You can crash at our room then.”

---

“I just want to thank you guys again.” The few boxes Jack brought with him are stacked in the far corner of Tom and Louis’s dorm. They didn’t even have to re-arrange anything to fit him in.

Tom thought this was a shame, because he had the greatest idea. Push the beds together and let Jack sleep in the middle!

Somehow he doubted that he could convince the other two to go along with his plan. Even though Louis and Jack were practically instant best-friends. They’d just started talking about classes they had, and where they grew up. They found out that they were going to work in the same precint after graduation even.

Tom was starting to feel left out.

That’s when Jack looked over at him and took pity. “Bored?”

“Like you wouldn’t believe.”

“You guys like to play cards?”

---

Note to self, Tom.

Playing strip poker with Louis and Jack is a bad idea.

Playing strip poker with a drunk Louis and a drunk Jack and winning like there’s no tomorrow however, is a very good idea.

Tom curls in between the other two. They ended up listen to his idea and pushing the beds together. Of course Tom always knew his ideas were the greatest.