By Any Other Name (5 page)

The closer he got to his destination, the more nervous he became. He hadn’t seen Dru in about seven years. Not since the day he’d been picked up from Rowan Falls and watched through the window of the truck as his best friend, the always so proud and strong boy, crumbled next to the trailer Skye was leaving behind. Dru had never been soft, always the tough guy even if his strength almost never took a more physical form. He was loyal, loving, and very protective—something neither of Skye’s parents had ever been, not to each other and not to their son.

Losing Dru felt worse than having his mom die and his dad disappear. He had been ashamed for a long time in therapy at Haven, but he had been told it was normal to feel like that. It was as normal as the occasional feelings of grief when he thought about… the man he had lived with. It was hard to get away from those thought patterns, normal if you couldn’t even after two years of intensive therapy. When you were brainwashed, you didn’t think your own way anymore; your thoughts and ideas were replaced by those of the person doing the brainwashing.

Skye stretched in his seat, feeling far too tall and wide-shouldered for the small space inside the plane. Surprisingly he hadn’t freaked out at all, not at the first takeoff or the second and not at the landing either. The second landing was only minutes away now, the flight personnel were telling them.

He tried his best not to hyperventilate. Dru…. What would he look like in the flesh? There had been a few images from some fundraiser Dru had attended with his partner, and they had looked so happy and good together. Such a good match, Dru being blond with the piercing blue-green eyes Skye could still remember so clearly, and Thomas, inches taller than Dru, with almost-black hair and eyes that looked blue. Naturally Skye couldn’t tell how tall they were, but he had an idea Dru was in for a surprise. Skye had been lanky, skinny even, and always about the same height as Dru. They knew he had been malnourished when he’d been found, but now…. Skye smirked a little and then swallowed instinctively when his ears popped while the plane landed.

Okay, time to face the music. He was terrified and excited at the same time. He would get to see Dru! Luckily, he didn’t have any luggage, so he could go through with the carry-on duffle bag over his shoulder. Skye concentrated on walking evenly, step after step, staring at the floor and just occasionally looking up to see if he was headed in the right direction. And then there it was, the glass that separated the people who were waiting for their friends and families.

Skye saw them before they saw him. Thomas was standing there, arms around Dru, who didn’t seem to mind being seen in another man’s embrace. Thomas leaned a bit to murmur to Dru, who nodded and seemed to gather himself, straightening his blue button-down shirt and looking around at the people coming through the last doors. Looking for Skye.

He took a deep breath and walked to the doors and through them. Skye’s gaze landed on Dru, and as soon as Dru looked at him, recognition and amazement appeared on his face.

“Skye?” Dru asked as Skye walked up to him and Thomas, fighting his nervousness.

“Hi. Did you expect me to look like a kid?” he had to ask, trying to make the situation a bit lighter, especially when he felt Thomas’s eyes on him. Eyes that weren’t all friendly, and the man was clearly older than Dru and Skye and taller than Skye was by a couple of inches.

“No… I don’t know… but I didn’t expect this.” Dru gestured at him and grinned. “Jesus, never thought the lanky kid would turn into a hunk.”

Skye flinched at the J-word, and Thomas seemed to notice. He nudged Dru and then offered his hand. “I’m Thom, this idiot’s partner. Nice to meet you, Skye.”

The handshake was firm, and the hand was warm. There was nothing uncomfortable about it, and Skye was glad. “Hi,” he said again, this time looking into Thom’s brilliant blue eyes briefly. He made a mental note that the man had pronounced his name with an
h
,
Th
om, instead of
Taw
m like Skye would have thought.

“That all the luggage you got?” Dru asked, and Skye nodded.

“Let’s go, then,” Thom said and linked his hand with Dru’s before leading them outside to a dark gray SUV in the closest parking lot.

“Any preference where you want to sit?” Dru asked politely as Thom rounded the car and went to the driver’s seat.

“Nope, I can take the back,” Skye said, and Dru climbed in the front with Thom.

This was good—he didn’t have to look at the others, which made the possible conversation easier.

“So how was the trip? Did you get around the airports fine?” Dru asked, turning his torso a bit. Enough to be polite but not enough to make Skye feel crowded.

“It was okay, I was concentrating on myself and where I was going and kept ignoring the people, so I didn’t really panic at all,” Skye said, and Dru smiled at him.

“It’s about half an hour drive to the house; it’s twenty minutes from the city. We thought we’d cook for once, if that’s okay by you?” Dru asked.

“Yeah, I think it’s a good start.” Skye mumbled a bit; he wasn’t anywhere near ready to go into some restaurant or whatever the options were.

“We don’t cook often. Usually we order takeout,” Thom said and glanced at him through the rearview mirror. “I can’t always get out of work in time for cooking to make sense, and Dru doesn’t like cooking alone even though he works from home.”

“All I really like to do is bake,” Dru said, probably to fill the silence.

“Well, I can’t cook, but I can clean; that’s something I liked to do at Haven,” Skye said, and the others nodded, Dru smiling a little again. They were making an effort, all of them, and it felt vaguely good. These two strangers—because that was what Dru was now too—were taking him in, and he could work with what few skills he had.

“Sure, that would be great. Though I have to warn you that Dru’s office space is… chaotic. He doesn’t let me clean anything there. We should see if you have better luck.” Thom smirked, glancing at Skye through the mirror again, and Dru smacked his arm.

Two things happened at once: Thom said “Ow!” and Skye pulled back as fast as he could and as far as he could from where he had been leaning to hear the others better.

“Oh shit! Sorry, Skye!” Dru said in a panicked voice that would’ve been funny if the situation had been different.

Thom shot Dru a glare that intimidated Skye even more, and he closed his eyes to be able to concentrate on his breathing and letting his body relax into the seat. He fucking hated this, but the gut reactions hadn’t gone away.

“No… no… it’s just… fast hand movements and hitting someone even while playing like that…. It’s me who should be sorry. Nothing threatening about that at all,” he said quietly as his breathing returned to normal and the looming panic attack was avoided once again. He was getting better at calming himself down in these situations; it did give him some hope for the future.

“The problem is that Dru acts before he thinks. This will happen again, or not this, but something like it, and I’m apologizing beforehand, Skye,” Thom said in a compassionate voice, most likely trying to make his tone as non-threatening as possible. “We can all work on how we act and feel. It will take time, and we’re prepared for it, otherwise we wouldn’t have agreed to this.”

Skye took in a deep breath and then exhaled. Okay… so maybe this would work somehow.

“Skye?” Dru asked in a small, insecure voice Skye hadn’t heard ever before, not even when they were kids.

“Yeah?” he asked, slowly leaning forward again.

“I’m sorry. I’ll try to be better. And I’ll never hit you, okay? Or Thom. Neither of us has ever hit the other, and we’ve been together for three years now.” Dru turned to look at Skye. His eyes were apologetic, and it looked like he was close to crying.

This was more familiar in some ways. Even when they were younger, Dru had always taken responsibility for his own actions when he was wrong. Mostly with Skye, but sometimes with other people too. He didn’t want to let his friend down, and neither did Skye. The look in his eyes—eyes Skye remembered being cold most of the time—made something in Skye’s chest move. Without thinking, he did what he had done when they were kids and Dru had apologized to him over something: he raised a hand and took some of the blond hair between his fingers and tugged gently.

“It’s okay, Dru,” he said quietly, keeping the eye contact until Thom cleared his throat a bit. They snapped out of the flashback, and Skye pulled his hand away, muttering an apology to Thom. He leaned back in the seat and turned his head away to look out of the tinted windows for the rest of the way.

He could recognize some of the landmarks they passed. The old water tower that wasn’t in use anymore, a building he was sure he had seen before, and so on. When they turned onto a country road and the forest began to thicken, he looked around with more interest. He might have been scared of the dark, but even like this, when the light was lessening, he could see that the forest was lovely.

Thom carefully navigated a narrow bridge over a river. He explained that it was a shortcut, that otherwise they’d have to take the route via the highway. The bridge, even though it wasn’t safe for anything larger than their SUV, took thirty minutes off the drive. Right after they cleared the bridge, they passed a little cottage-style house.

“Our friend Kara lives there.” Dru nodded towards the house. “She’s our closest neighbor.”

They drove for a bit, past another stretch of forest, and Thom steered the car into a driveway that connected to a little front yard in front of a massive, modern-looking house.

“Home sweet home,” Thom said and turned the key as he parked the car next to what looked like a BMW or something like that, expensive whatever the case.

“You have two cars?” Skye asked as he got out of the car.

“Two and a half,” Dru chuckled.

“What the meanie is saying is that the little red car in Kara’s driveway is ours too. She’s borrowing it. And it’s a full car, not half a car.” Thom playfully glared at Dru. This seemed like an old conversation, and something about it made Skye smile a little.

They walked in through the front door that opened into a space as big as the Institute’s cafeteria.

“I’ll go and start making the dinner, you show Skye around,” Thom said and kissed Dru chastely. It made Skye look away, especially when Dru hummed contently.

“Sure,” Dru said and kicked off his shoes next to where Thom had put his as soon as they got in. Skye followed suit and toed off his sneakers. He took his denim jacket off and hung it on an empty hook by a large mirror near other hooks with coats hanging from them. He avoided the mirror, not caring if Dru noticed or not, and turned to look around.

“So, we have the kitchen here on the right,” Dru said, pointing to where Thom was now, digging through some cabinets. “Back there is the living room.” He pointed to some couches and a huge flat-screen TV with other electronics stored neatly under it next to some large windows that looked out on the backyard.

“This place is massive,” Skye observed, making Thom chuckle and turn to look at him in an amused manner. At least it was pleased rather than malicious amusement.

“There’s a library room through there.” Dru continued pointing out things to Skye, who was thinking he would wake up soon. Not in the “oh my God, this house is too good to be true” way, but more like he just couldn’t quite understand that this was where he would be living too, at least for a while.

There was a home gym room downstairs too, with an adjacent bathroom and a laundry room behind it.

“We just bring all the laundry down here. It’s probably the least convenient place, but there’s no basement in the building, so it’s about the only place where the washer and dryer fit,” Dru said and seemed to notice that Skye’s posture went rigid at the words. “Had to say it so that you know there isn’t one,” the blond said quietly as he walked back to the main part of the house.

“Go check out upstairs too so Skye can leave his bag there. But be back in ten minutes or I’ll let the food burn,” Thom said while they were passing the kitchen and heading to the stairs.