By Any Other Name (26 page)

“Everything,” Dru said in a dangerously neutral and defeated tone. Then his eyes focused on Thom, and he tried to smile a little bit. “He’s leaving with Kara.”

It was like all the light had been sucked out of Dru’s eyes. If Thom had thought he was scared before, he hadn’t known anything. He was terrified.

He got on the couch and pulled Dru onto his lap. The younger man went through the motions and cuddled against him, but that was it. Thom couldn’t ask questions; there were no answers. When he glanced at the kitchen, praying to see the pill bottles on the counter, he noticed his French press on the counter instead.

So Skye had come by? Told Dru he was leaving? And now it was up to Thom to do something, anything, to make things right. But all he could do was hold Dru and hope for the best, that somehow Dru would get over this and they’d be even remotely happy together again, eventually.

They sat there until Thom’s stomach growled. He picked up the phone and ordered pizza without moving from the couch. When the doorbell rang twenty minutes later, Dru jerked almost violently. A hope lit his eyes and suddenly died again when he saw the phone on the table. Just pizza.

Thom got up and went to the door to get the food. Then he got some drinks from the kitchen and walked back to the couch.

“I know you don’t want to, but you have to eat. Two slices, then bed,” he said quietly and handed Dru the bottle of water first. “And drink that. All of it.”

Either Dru was too numb to do anything to challenge him or he was able to put himself on autopilot, because he ate two slices and drank the bottle of water before just sitting there again.

Thom considered calling his mother. Maybe she could comfort Dru somehow? Wasn’t that what mothers did? Well, obviously not Dru’s own mother, but moms in general. Maybe tomorrow?

After he had hastily eaten his very early dinner, he pulled Dru up off the couch and up the stairs as well. He made sure Dru got undressed and under the covers. Anything else, like brushing his teeth, seemed too much to ask. They’d know more tomorrow, he suspected. The truck had to go by their house anyway, so they’d know when Kara was gone. She seemed to be in hiding. Thom suspected she was not sure what to think about everything.

Thom was positive Kara wasn’t in love with Skye, figuring she knew that he was in turn in love with Dru and maybe Thom as well. But she was a great friend, and he knew she’d put Skye first, even if her friendship with Dru had been solid before. He knew why, of course, because Dru would always have Thom, and Skye really had no one else.

When Thom undressed and crawled next to Dru, his lover just turned around, buried his head in Thom’s neck, and sighed. Dru’s arms around him were like a vise, a death grip to keep him close, and Thom welcomed the almost-painful way his lover hung on to him.

He fell asleep after Dru did even though the afternoon had barely changed into evening, and they slept for hours until Thom’s bladder woke him up. He was still lying on his back, Dru draped over him and holding on for dear life even in his sleep, and Thom had to work to get out of the bed. He got back to the bedroom to find Dru awake, staring at the ceiling with tears rolling down his cheeks.

“Babe,” Thom said in a gentle tone as he got back into bed and pulled Dru close.

Dru was silent, like words had completely escaped him.

“Somehow we’ll get through this. Might take time, but we will,” Thom promised, and Dru exhaled a little, his shoulders shaking a bit with soundless sobs.

“I love you, and even though it looks like we’re losing Skye, it might not be for forever. He might come back to visit or even stay, once he figures things out.” Thom spoke quietly, almost whispering into Dru’s hair.

“Don’t think so. He… left once before,” Dru said in a dead tone that made Thom’s skin crawl.

“That was different, love. You know that. He didn’t leave by his own free will, he had to.”

Dru said nothing, and after a while Thom realized he was asleep again.

He reached for a book from the nightstand and read until he felt sleepy enough to go to sleep again. He never slept like this, but now he had to, because every time he moved, Dru seemed to become restless, and he didn’t want that. Dru needed a respite from all of this.

The
next morning they woke up really early. It was still dark. Dru was quiet, and Thom dragged him into the shower and to brush his teeth, even letting him brush his teeth while in the shower, which earned him a tiny flicker of amusement in Dru’s eyes.

He left Dru in the shower and went downstairs to make coffee. Neither of them was up for breakfast at this hour, no matter how much they had slept, so he skipped that and was sitting in the library when Dru came in with his own coffee. For some reason, Dru walked to the chair Thom was occupying and sat on the floor next to his feet. Then he leaned his head on Thom’s knee and sighed a bit.

Thom ran his fingers through Dru’s hair for a long time, enjoying the quiet and the coffee, even though it wasn’t a pleasant situation on the greater scale. The situation was pretty crappy, but there was nothing he could do about it, really.

Around nine in the morning, they were in the kitchen. Thom was looking into the cabinets for something to eat, but they really needed to go to the grocery store. “Yesterday’s pizza?” he asked hopefully.

Dru nodded and tried to smile, clearly making an effort for him. The blond was sitting at the breakfast bar, leafing through the morning paper.

Thom was just taking the slices out of the microwave when they heard the sound they had been dreading. The truck went past their house toward Kara’s, and Dru turned into a statue.

Thom made him eat and drink some more after hugging him close for a long time. They were done with their few slices of pizza by the time the truck came back. This time they both froze.

The truck stopped in front of their house, and Thom raised a brow.

“The key. He didn’t leave the key yesterday,” Dru croaked with a voice hoarse from crying.

“Oh,” Thom said, disappointment washing over him too.

The doorbell rang, and Thom got up, walking slowly to open it. He felt like an old man, suddenly, faced with losing Skye.

And then the door was open and the brunet was there, looking at Thom with his hazel eyes filled with emotions.

“Hi,” Skye said, and Thom nodded, backing up a bit to give Skye room to step in.

“You’re going, then?” Thom managed with a strangled voice.

“Yeah… I… the key, I forgot to give it back,” Skye said and then looked over Thom’s shoulder at something.

Thom turned his head and saw Dru hovering a few feet behind him. He reached a hand to grab Dru’s but didn’t pull him closer.

“So here’s the key,” Skye said, holding it out towards Thom.

He could do nothing but stare at the key, feeling like his heart was being shredded into two pieces.

It was now or never. The seconds were ticking away, and soon Skye would get into the truck and leave, probably for good. And Dru would try to cope, and Thom would be there for him like he always was. They’d go to therapy, both of them, to get over this, but….

Something within him snapped.

He reached for the key, but instead of taking it, he grabbed Skye’s wrist and pulled him closer.

“Thom, wh—?” Skye managed, and then Dru stepped forward, bringing his free hand up to touch Skye’s cheek.

“Would you stay with us? Both of us?” Dru asked quietly, pleadingly, and Thom held his breath.

It wasn’t an easy decision, he could tell immediately. They were a long way from having anything truly established, anything stable and real. With the problems they had between the three of them, both individually and with each other…. No, it would not be easy, but losing Skye now didn’t seem like an option either.

“Erm… I…,” Skye stuttered. His eyes were wild, fear palpable in his whole being. Suddenly he yanked his hand from Thom’s grip, thrust the key at Dru, and bolted out the door.

The muffled, pained sound from Dru made Thom instinctively grab his lover and wrap his arms around the younger man protectively. Nothing would happen to his Dru, not on his watch, but he couldn’t make Skye stay.

“It’s okay, baby, everything will be okay,” Thom said, trying to keep his own heartache at bay for long enough to support Dru.

The front door was still open. They stood off to the side, but the sound of the truck’s engine revving was still something that cut deep into Thom’s heart. Dru let out another tortured little mewl, and the key with the silly lightsaber chain Dru had bought for Skye fell to the floor with a sharp clink. Thom struggled to get them all the way to the couch before collapsing under Dru’s weight and their mutual sorrow.

The sudden brimming of tears in his own eyes was a bit more surprising than the way his shirt was getting wet from Dru’s tears. Thom rocked the smaller man on his lap, mumbled soothing nonsense into his hair, and closed his own eyes against the emotions threatening to overwhelm him.

Suddenly there was a clearing of a throat from behind them, and Thom froze. He turned his head to look at Skye, who was standing there, looking lost but determined now, his duffel slung over his shoulder.

Dru hadn’t registered anything yet. He was still sobbing against Thom’s chest, and carefully, Thom gestured at Skye to come closer. Skye smiled a little and placed the bag on the floor. Then he sat down on the couple’s other side, careful not to jostle them too much.

Hesitantly, Skye placed a hand on Dru’s back and began to stroke it. While Dru’s sobbing turned into something more like confusion and gulping for air, Skye and Thom looked into each other’s eyes, smiling a little.

When Dru finally figured out there was an extra hand petting him, his head snapped up, and he turned to look at Skye. “You… you came back?” he asked hoarsely.

The pain in Skye’s eyes was evident. “I’m sorry. I bolted because… I couldn’t believe it. Then I got to the truck and Kara was holding my bag out to me. She was already sure I’d stay.”

Thom chuckled. At least one of their inner circle saw things clearly.

“So you’ll stay?” Dru asked, immediately hiding his face in Thom’s neck like a small child who was afraid of the answer.

“Yes, I’ll stay. We’ll… try this… whatever it is,” Skye said carefully, then added, “if you’ll both have me.”

Thom snorted and then laughed, getting two confused looks from the others. “Oh, we’ll have you, all right, but only when you’re ready,” he said, making the confusion turn into laughter and joy.

There could never be enough of those.