By Any Other Name (10 page)

“So I was thinking….”

Here we go
, Dru thought and turned his head just a little. Enough to show he was listening but not staring.

“This thing I have, about being touched… maybe we could work on it? Like I can’t be touched yet, but how about….” Skye swallowed hard and blushed and then asked in a quieter voice, “Would it be okay if I touched you? And Thom, if it’s okay with him? Like you do with Kara and stuff… like people do?” Skye looked away toward the TV, though Dru could tell he didn’t really see the talk show that was on.

“Sure, that’s probably the easiest way to get used to it. I’m sure Thom won’t mind either. On your terms, Skye. We’ll get you better, but it has to be on your terms and as slow as you want to go.” Dru spoke with conviction he felt in his whole being. They would make it work. It hurt him like hell to see Skye being so shy and insecure when he had the looks and potential to do anything he wanted.

“So, dinner. I thought it could be takeout night. Anything you’d prefer?” Dru said, sitting up straighter, a bit slower than he’d do usually, and flashing a smile at Skye.

The smile he got was hesitant, but it was there.

“Chinese? If that’s okay? I mean my friend, the nurse, Tim… he ordered Chinese occasionally and would share with me,” Skye said and smiled.

“Absolutely, let’s go see the menus in the kitchen,” Dru said, and they went to do so.

When Thom got back, there were takeout cartons on top of the island, and they were chatting a bit while eating at the table.

“You started without me!” he said, and Dru got up from his seat just to go and give him a hug and a kiss that, for Skye’s benefit, lasted for a shorter time than usual. “Mmm… sweet and sour,” Thom murmured against Dru’s lips after the kiss and placed his briefcase next to the island.

“Go change; we’ll leave you some,” Dru commanded, and Thom rolled his eyes at Skye, who grinned a bit.

“I’ll make sure he leaves you some spring rolls and the chili chicken,” Skye promised, and it appeared that he was trying to look more serious for a moment.

“You’re a lifesaver, man!” Thom smirked and grabbed his case again before practically jogging up the stairs to change out of his monkey suit.

“You two are so going to make some sort of alliance and plot against me,” Dru said in mock seriousness and tried to sneak his hand toward the last spring rolls.

“Stop that!” Skye exclaimed with a chuckle, and he reached a hand to pat Dru’s before either of them had time to realize. When their hands met across the table, they both froze, and then Dru smiled.

“Okay, you win. But I’m having more of the sweet and sour, then.” Dru pulled his hand away and grabbed the box before the situation got uncomfortable for either of them.

When Thom came back downstairs in a pair of lounge pants and a T-shirt, they were eating again, this time in relative silence.

Thom sat next to Dru, and they began to chat about their days. When Skye asked Thom, in a very shy way even though Dru was smiling at him encouragingly, about the plan, Thom smiled and said that he thought it was a good idea too.

“We don’t want to crowd you. We’ll try not to do that, but if you take initiative yourself, it’s not going to bother us, and that way you can take your own time. I think it’s faster for the long-term goal. I mean, if we just tried to avoid any contact with you until you got used to us fucking up all the time, it might take longer. If you contribute to it in your own way, it will be less strained and give you some sense of having control, you know?” Thom asked, and Dru looked at him in a funny way.

“What? I took some psychology courses in college.” Thom rolled his eyes at his lover.

“So what do we do for the rest of the evening?” Dru asked the others when they had eaten and cleaned up the dining area.

“Movie?” Thom asked, and Skye nodded.

“Anything you want to see or don’t want to see?” Thom asked and went to the living room to open the doors to a narrow but tall modern-looking cabinet in the corner of the room. “Take a look; we can watch pretty much anything. We buy a lot of movies and don’t have time to watch most of them.”

Thom went to sit on the couch, and Dru walked to him, plopping down next to his lover and curling up against Thom’s side. He sighed contentedly and closed his eyes for a moment.

“This okay? I’ve seen it once, but I’d really like to see it again.” Skye held up a comedy.

Dru snorted a giggle. “That’s a hilarious one, haven’t seen it in a couple of years. Sure, let’s watch it.”

Thom nodded, and they ignored the little fumbling it took Skye to get the DVD player to operate properly. It was one of those high-tech new players, and they seemed to agree that Skye needed to learn these things from the start himself. Dru doubted the Institute had many DVD players for the patients to use, let alone one like theirs.

“Okay, does anyone want anything to drink?” Thom asked as the trailers began to run.

“Yeah, a soda for me,” Dru said and leaned to kiss Thom’s cheek.

“Skye?”

“I’ll have one too. Thanks,” their guest said and smiled shyly.

When Thom came back with their drinks and his own bottle of beer, Dru curled up against him and Skye took his spot at the other end of the couch. It was nice, very cozy somehow. Dru and both of his favorite men watching a movie and laughing their asses off at the silly things on the screen.

Skye

Skye
woke up drenched in sweat and trying to catch his breath. He couldn’t remember where he had been, which house, basement, which chains or cuffs or what pain he had endured, but it was still there, the feeling he got every time he woke up like this. He knew now where he was; immediately after waking up, he knew that he was safe and cared for, but the dreams hadn’t stopped.

They would never stop, he knew that. It wasn’t something he wanted to live with, but he didn’t really have a choice in the matter, did he? So like always, he got out of the bed and walked into his little bathroom and took a quick shower, just a few seconds to get the sweat off his hair and body. He avoided the mirror as he dried himself afterward. Then he thought, why not? Another thing he would have to get used to. He had put off going to the mall for now, and Dru had understood. They would go when Skye said he was ready.

Hesitantly, he raised his eyes to the mirror. Brown eyes, brown, slightly curly hair that now clung to his temples in tendrils. The bangs reached his forehead when he wasn’t pushing them back. One of the things he was glad about was the placement of all the scars he had. None of them were on his neck or face, though there was a faint line around his neck, low enough to be concealed with a shirt collar. Collar… yeah, it had been a metal one that had left the line in the first place. After that he had figured it was easier not to jerk against his restraints when they were made of something sharp and heavy.

Skye turned around and looked at his back over his shoulder. The scars crisscrossing his body were ugly. There were welts, some wide, some narrow. Cuts and cigarette burns. Turning around again, he concentrated on his front. Less scarring there, a few cuts and a line of cigarette burns under his left nipple, but that was it. His arms were a different deal, because they were almost fully free of scars that weren’t self-inflicted. Reminders of his own weakness, of not being able to escape this life for good, were annoying.

And he had wanted that, to be finally over his miserable existence. It had been good for a few years when he had had Dru in his life, but then he had slid deeper into the pits of hell than ever before. Truthfully, it had been the thought of Dru that had kept him from killing himself. It hadn’t been Dru who had kept him from going completely insane while being held by that man, because he hadn’t wanted to think about Dru at all. Not when he was drugged, chained to a wall, beaten, raped, cut…. No, Dru would not be used against fighting those things. So for years he had tried not to think about his boyhood friend at all. What had kept him clinging to his sanity was his well-honed ability to block everything from his mind. Some things you just pick up as a little kid, when you have to deal with parents who fight, even violently, all the time.

It was the times when he felt safer, like being stuffed in the back of the man’s van while they were moving to a new place, when he had pulled out the memories of his friend. While driving, the man couldn’t hurt him, and he was safe for a moment. That was when Skye went into the secret place in his mind. There was sunshine and lying on the grass in the backyard of the Beckett house. Seeing Dru grinning at him when he did something silly or, better yet, hearing the echoes of Dru’s laughter, laughter that Skye had made happen. He had never felt so loved before, not like when he was around Dru. The blond represented everything good in his life, and he couldn’t taint that by thinking of him outside of those car rides.

Skye shook himself a bit, turning away from his image in the mirror, and went to pull on some of Thom’s old sleep pants. They fit him and weren’t that long, and he liked that they were soft against his skin from previous use and washing. He pulled on a T-shirt and looked at the clock on the table. Eight. He had slept a lot, then. That was a good sign; he was getting more sleep even if he woke up from nightmares. And what did he expect? He had only been here two weeks.

Thom would be at work already, and Dru would still be in bed. Maybe he should go to the gym for awhile before making them some breakfast. With a sigh, he changed into some shorts now that he had changed his plan and walked out of the room. It was convenient to have the gym inside the house, especially on a rainy day like this one. It seemed like it was pouring; the steady hum against the roof soothed him somehow. Maybe that had helped him with the sleep too. Skye made his way to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water before going to the gym.

It had everything for a basic workout. He clicked on the TV on the wall and went onto the treadmill to warm up a little. While watching the morning news, he moved from a walk to a jog, and when another morning talk show began, he went to the front of the room and began to do push-ups and sit-ups. It was easy, routine from the Institute, and something he found joy in: pushing his limits and making his body feel alive instead of abused or something that disgusted him.

He half-listened to the conversation on TV and let his mind wander a bit. He had met Dru and Skye’s friend Kara a couple of times now. She seemed to pop up occasionally after work or on her lunch break. She worked as a vet’s assistant, and since the clinic wasn’t that far, she came home to let her dog out when there was time or on her breaks. Kara was nice and calm, and even though she seemed positive and sometimes a bit giggly, she was considerate. She did have this funny, kind of snarky side with plenty of sarcasm to boot, and her verbal battles with Dru made Skye laugh. It was something that was new for him, laughing so much. It made him feel good, alive.

Without really noticing, his exercise routine had taken an hour and a half, and he finally went to the adjacent shower and tossed his sweaty clothing into the laundry. It wasn’t until he grabbed a clean towel from the cabinet that he realized he had forgotten his clean clothes upstairs. Hoping that Dru wasn’t up yet, he sneaked out of the bathroom and found the kitchen and the loft empty. There was humming from the master bedroom, so he supposed Dru was dressing after his shower or maybe to go jogging. Dru hadn’t been joking, Skye thought as he quietly walked past the bedroom door to his own. His friend worked out regularly and a lot, no matter the weather.