By Any Other Name (6 page)

They walked up, and Skye looked around the open space.

“So this is your mess, then?” he asked in a slightly teasing tone that made Dru duck his head and shake it.

“Damn, you two will give me a hard time over this, won’t you?” Dru asked and stopped walking toward the hallway when he saw that Skye was interested in something.

“What is it?”

“Just… I know what kind of a business you run, but I can see at least five computers here. Seriously, Dru?” Skye grinned.

“There’s a backup laptop and a backup desktop and… well, that’s Thom’s old laptop, and then there’s a spare one that’s a Mac.”

“Because all that makes sense.” Skye shook his head.

“You can have the Mac if you need a computer to use. I don’t really do much with it anyway, use it for surfing the web when I want to take a computer downstairs or something.” Dru shrugged, and Skye looked at him wide-eyed. He should’ve remembered the casual way Dru, who had been born into money, handed over things he didn’t need. It had happened so many times when they were kids that Skye had gotten used to it.

“Okay… we’ll see about that,” Skye just said and gestured towards the hall for Dru to go on.

“So, this is the master bedroom, we knocked down some walls to make it big enough and to have that walk-in closet over there.” Dru pointed at an open door from the bedroom doorway. “The house is a bit funny in the architectural sense, so there’s this hall with rooms on one side only,” he said and pointed at the wall with windows high up near the ceiling opposite the doors to the room.

“That’s the master bathroom, but there’s one smaller one on the other side, crammed into the corner here,” Dru said as he walked to the door at the end of the hall. He opened the door and flicked on the lights before stepping away to give Skye some room. “And this is your room. The bathroom is through there.” He pointed at a door, as he had said, near the corner.

Skye walked to the middle of the room and looked around. There was a window seat on the back wall near the headboard of a bed that looked king-size. He liked the idea of natural light during the day.

“This was meant to be the master bedroom, but since the bathroom was next to it, there was no way of expanding it, so we made this the guestroom and had another bathroom added for everyone’s convenience,” Dru said from where he was now leaning, his back against the door frame.

“It’s really nice. I like the colors too,” Skye said and smiled, looking around again. The colors were rich chocolate brown and light blue with hints of other colors that mixed perfectly with the warmth.

“There’s the dresser and the desk. I was going to put a little couch in there, but it turned out cramped. If you want to change something, just say so and we’ll do it.”

“Oh no, I like it as it is,” Skye said hastily. The room was perfect, so comfortable and homey. It was probably the nicest room he had ever been in, and now he would get to live in it!

“Of course we need to figure out some more clothes for you to actually put something in the dresser. We could make a trip to the city, the mall, in a couple of days or when you feel ready for it,” Dru said, pushing himself away from the doorway. “You’re taller than me and shorter than Thom and more built than either of us. So not much of what we have would fit you. I mean, I thought about it; if you feel awkward taking our money, then I could’ve made you take our clothes and bought us new ones.” There was the old mischievous glint Skye could remember from the past in Dru’s eyes.

“Yeah, I remember getting your portable CD player when mine broke down. You told your mom you lost it and she bought you a new one.” Skye smiled.

“I might have done something like that,” Dru murmured as he turned to walk out of the room again. “We better go before Thom gets annoyed and burns the dinner.”

“I’ll go freshen up and be right back,” Skye said. After all, he had just spent over nine hours traveling pretty much across the country.

“Sure. Just call us if you need anything and be down soon.” Dru smiled warmly and left the room.

Thom

Thom
was chopping peppers and onions for dinner and trying to think about how to be rational about this. How did a skinny kid with bad skin turn out looking like
that
? No matter what Skye had been through, he had bounced back. And then some. Hell, if Thom himself could get a body like Skye’s without using all his free time exercising like crazy, he’d try immediately. He knew he couldn’t, so that was that. He’d just have to live with a hunk whom his partner had been in love with under his roof from now on.

He avoided cutting off the tip of his finger by sheer reflex and cursed under his breath. It meant nothing, right? Having the self-esteem issues he did and then having Skye tossed into the mix. It didn’t have to mean anything. It was just that he had seen the way Dru stroked the scar on his knee while reading the letter on Friday. He had also seen the casual way Skye tugged at Dru’s hair in the car. There was history there. So maybe Skye was broken and healing, but….

“Honey, what are you doing?” Dru’s voice shook him from his misery.

“Hmm?”

“You’re staring at the fridge. Did it do something to you?” There was a teasing edge to Dru’s tone, and Thom tried his best not to get annoyed. It would be very petty to get annoyed by a joke that wasn’t meant to be offensive. The only offensive things were his own thoughts, which were heading down the “how can he want me? I wouldn’t want me” loop.

“Sorry… just thoughtful, I suppose,” Thom said and turned to receive a kiss. “Where’s Skye?” he asked when he noticed the man hadn’t come downstairs yet.

“He’s freshening up,” Dru said and moved to stand behind Thom, pressing himself against the taller man’s back. “Anything I can do to help?”

“Not really. Doing something quick. Pasta, maybe? You can help by staying where you are,” Thom said and leaned back a little, enjoying the way Dru’s arms around his waist tightened for a moment.

“That I can do,” Dru said, and Thom felt him smile against his back, even through the T-shirt he was wearing.

“Can I help?” Skye asked from the bottom of the stairs, and for some reason, Dru didn’t move away from Thom.

“Yeah, I got the monkey on my back, so you could check that cabinet”—Thom pointed with the knife—“to see what kind of pasta we have.”

“Okay. What are you making?” Skye asked and opened the cabinet door to look at the contents.

“You eat meat, right?” Thom asked, and after getting a nod, he thought for a moment. “Well, I suppose I’ll improvise. Lots of veggies and something resembling a Bolognese sauce, I think.”

“You have… fusilli here, that might be okay with the veggies too?” Skye held out a container with the short, spiral-shaped pasta.

“Works for me,” Dru commented, otherwise still and quiet against Thom.

“Fusilli it is, then.” Thom nodded and showed Skye where to find a pot to boil the pasta in.

“I could see if we have any of the precooked baguettes in the freezer,” Dru said and finally stepped away from Thom to rummage through the freezer in the corner of the kitchen.

They worked as a team, which sort of surprised Thom. He asked Skye to get what vegetables he wanted from the fridge and cut those and some mushrooms for the sauce. Thirty minutes later, the main level of the house was filling with the scent of garlic from the baguettes, and Skye and Dru were goofing around a little while setting the table between the kitchen and living room. They didn’t really have a dining room and didn’t really use the table they had that often, because the breakfast bar was more convenient and takeout was often eaten on the couch while watching a movie.

While they were settling down to eat, Thom came up with a question. “Skye, your doctor said you need to follow your routines, that it keeps you more balanced. Care to tell us more about what you think they should be here so we can figure out how to incorporate them with our own?”

Skye nodded and took a sip of his glass of water. The others were having red wine. “Well, I think the most important thing is to stay on my meds, and I’d like to keep them in the kitchen, if that’s okay? I don’t forget to take them, and I wouldn’t not take them on purpose, but I feel better if they’re where you can see them.” He looked at the other two quickly before taking another bite of his food.

“That’s fine, we can figure a spot where they can be,” Dru said, and Thom agreed easily.

“In Haven, it was pretty much get up early, have breakfast, then either therapy or art or whatever and lunch, therapy, possible doc’s appointments, group therapy, free time, which I used for exercising, mostly, dinner, and then whatever people wanted to do before lights-out. It was scheduled but not that restricting as long as you stuck with your therapy.” Skye shrugged a little bit.

It seemed very organized to Thom, but then again he was very organized himself. He had to be for his job, and maybe it was Dru’s job to be the disorganized one.

“Dru usually wakes up late, around nine or ten, and then goes for a run and has breakfast when he gets back. Then he works up in the loft for most of the day and we figure out the evening when we get there,” Thom said and leaned back in his chair a bit before taking a sip of his wine.

“Yeah, I’m lazy, but I employ myself so….” Dru shrugged with a smirk and made Skye smile a little.

“Right, and my schedule varies with what I am working on. This week it’s mostly paperwork and interviews for an upcoming court case, which will take most of next week if it gets messy,” Thom added.

“What Thom means is that this week he’ll pretty much overwork himself, but next week it will be more steady because the court can’t take all night.” Dru’s expression was amused; after all, he had gotten used to all of this already.

“What time do you wake up?” Skye asked Thom as he was finishing his dinner.

“Six, give or take. I usually get something to eat quickly and then go for a run either outside or, if the weather is crappy, on the treadmill. Then I shower and get going so I can get to the office in time. The commute is a bitch some mornings.”

Suddenly Skye yawned widely and made Dru chuckle. “Tired?”

“Yeah, the changes and the traveling….” Skye rubbed his eyes and looked at the other two sleepily.

“Do you think you can sleep in your room, and what can we do to help you with it?” Thom asked as Dru got up to clear the table.

“I don’t know… I suppose we’ll see?” Skye’s tone was hesitant. “I should probably drop one of the nurses, Tim, a line. He’s a friend, and I should tell him I’m okay.”

“Thom, can you get the Mac for him and make sure he has everything while I clean the kitchen?” Dru asked over his shoulder as he carried the plates away.

“Sure. Come on, then.” Thom smiled and wondered if Dru was doing this on purpose, including him in taking care of Skye.