Keeping Tom

AN: Sorry once again for the lack of updates. I'll update both stories tonight and if I get the time later tonight I might even post a second chapter on both.
*****

Stan and his wife Julie were waiting at the airport for Andrew and his two friends. Andrew had told him all about the two young men that were coming with him and the kind of pasts they had. Julie worked as a therapist and was willing to give the two young men references to the therapists in Melbourne that specialized in rape and trauma victims. Julie had never met Andrew before because Stan had married her after he moved to Australia but she could tell from the excited look in her husband’s eyes that he had spotted his friend.

The trio drew a few stares but one glare from the tallest of the three and the people would look away with shame in their eyes. The tallest man had short, black hair, brown eyes with a tough looking face and a body to match his face. The one who was in the middle height wise was a rather skinny, pale young man with short, blond hair and green eyes. The shortest of the three had long, black hair and surprisingly blue eyes. The shorter two had visible scars on their faces and that was how Julie knew which one was Andrew.

Andrew smiled big and pulled Stan into a hug. “It’s good to see you again man!” He pulled back and then looked over at Julie and said, “This must be the wife?”

Julie looked slightly offended and said, “Yes, this is the wife. My name is Julie.”

Andrew smiled and said, “No offense meant Julie, really. I just have to give Stan here a hard time cause he always said he’d never get married.”

This made Julie smile and then she said, “Well I changed his mind there. So, who are these two?”

Andrew wrapped an arm around Tom and Damien’s shoulders and said, “The guy on my left is Tom and the guy on my right is Damien.” At the raised eyebrow he got from his friend he said, “Let’s get out of this airport before we talk more alright Stan?” Stan nodded and led the way to his car. He and Julie sat in the front and the other three sat in the back with Andrew in the middle.

Julie turned to face the guys in the back since Stan was driving, “My husband tells me you two had a rather rough life so far. If you need any therapy I’m a therapist and I can recommend the best therapists in the area for you to see while you’re here.”

“Thanks, we’d appreciate that. Do you know any who specialize in…” Tom had a hard time still calling what he’d been through rape. After a while he had just sat still and let it happen.

“Rape and trauma?” When she got two nods in response she said, “Yes, one of my best friends actually. He’s very good at what he does. Do you want me to talk to him and see if he can take on new patients?” When she got silent nods in response once more she smiled and said, “Now that that is out of the way, what exactly is the relationship between you three? I can see that none of you are related.”

The two younger men looked at Andrew who cleared his throat and said, “Well, we started out as friends but… well right before we left it kind of turned into more but not a lot more. I mean… I love both of these men but a physical relationship is a long way in the future if ever and really I’m fine with that.”

Stan looked at his friend through his rearview mirror and smiled at the look in his long time friend’s eyes. He hadn’t seen that particular look before and it took away any doubt he may have had about the relationship between the three. “Well, you two just have to make sure this one here doesn’t drink too much. He gets all weepy when he’s drunk.”

“Shut it Stan!” Everyone in the car laughed except Andrew who had a look close to pouting on his face which was quite comical in itself. Andrew did not a have a face that lent itself to pouting.

Tom smiled and rubbed Andrew’s arm, “Oh don’t worry about it Drew. We’ll just keep you away from booze and there won’t be any more embarrassment for you.”

Andrew sighed and buried his face in his hands. He mumbled out, “I’m starting to regret introducing the three of you.” This once again got everyone else laughing.

A few minutes later they were driving into the driveway of Stan’s house. Andrew looked at the place and was quite impressed, it was rather large. “You’ve got yourself quite the place here Stan.”

“Well I got a better job over here and it helps to have a wife who has one of the most successful practices in the city and who inherited this place from her grandparents.” Everyone got out of the car and started to unload the men’s luggage. As soon as they were inside they were greeted by an ecstatic bulldog. “Tank! Behave!” The dog looked up at Stan and then went right back to what he was doing.

Tom chuckled and crouched down in front of the dog who instantly licked his face. “My grandpa had one of these when I was little. It was quite old and died a year before my grandpa but she was a sweet dog.”

Julie smiled and said, “They are great dogs. The best way to be greeted after a hard day is that dog running towards you with his whole body wiggling away. He seems to really like you Tom.”

Tom fell over onto his bum when Tank got a little over excited. He chuckled and pet the dog not noticing the way the others were watching him. This dog made him get the same look on his face that Damien had when he first met the twins. The almost carefree and really happy look that you seldom saw on his face.

***

That night Tank decided that he liked Tom so much he crawled up on the bed and curled up between Tom and Andrew. Andrew was a bit annoyed by this but the content look on Tom’s face was worth a bit of irritation. He rolled over and faced Damien, “Looks like we’ve been replaced by a drooling, wrinkled dog.”

Damien smiled slightly and then pulled Andrew close. Nights were always hard on him and having someone close to hold onto who didn’t expect anything out of him was an amazing feeling. Andrew seemed to sense his darkening mood and rubbed his back in small circles. “You alright?”

Damien sighed and shook his head, “No… I… I’m n-not a fan of th-the dark. R-reminds me of that r-room.”

Andrew reached over Damien and turned on the lamp on the bedside table. Tom stirred but stayed asleep and Tank curled up closer to him. Tom looked a bit more relaxed with the light on as well. “Thanks.”

“No problem. I can sleep in pretty much any condition really. My parents like to say I could sleep through an earthquake.” He reached up and put his hand gently on the side of Damien’s face. There was a deep scar that ran from above his left eye, across his nose and curved around to his lip. He ran his fingers over it lightly and said, “Anything in particular that’s bugging you?”

“Just thinking about the first n-night me and T-tom met. There w-was more to it than what he s-said in the courtr-room.” He got an encouraging look from Andrew and then continued, “That was m-my first night in that r-room. I scar easily so I c-couldn’t go on stage. A man ch-chained me to the wall and… and beat me with a wh-whip for what seemed l-like hours. W-when he took me he was so r-rough I ended up p-passing out.” At this point he buried his face in Andrew’s big, strong shoulder and started to cry.

“Shh, it’s alright. You don’t have to tell me.”

“I want t-to. It h-helps to talk ab-about it.” After he calmed down a bit he continued, “F-frank sent Tom in to t-take care of me afterwards. He l-let me down and then cl-cleaned my wounds. That was the first bit of g-genuine k-kindness I had in m-my life. Sad isn’t it that a t-ten year old, 13 years into my life was th-the first one to really be n-nice to me.”

“I take it that means your parents were never nice.”

“No… I was a m-mistake. Something they told me ev-very chance they g-got. I had sc-scars before I ever got to Fr-frank’s. My f-father thought a b-belt was the best way to teach me to be a g-good kid.”

Andrew sighed and rubbed his thumb gently over Damien’s cheek. “Well you’ve got me and Tom now. You know we’ll be kind to you. Hell I’ll be more than kind, I’ll love you.”

Damien smiled and kissed Andrew gently and then tucked his head under the bigger man’s chin. They were all lucky the bedroom in the guest bedroom in Julie and Stan’s house was a king size. Even though Tom had Tank next to him, if he hadn’t known Andrew and Damien were close he wouldn’t have been able to fall asleep, even with the dog. Half way through the night Tom had a nightmare and woke up in a cold sweat. He crawled over Tank and spooned up tight behind Andrew who automatically reached back and placed a hand on his side. Tank was grumpy at first but then he moved down to the foot of the bed and fell asleep on Andrew’s feet.

***

That was how Stan found them in the morning. He smiled at the way his friend was trying to protect both of the younger men. When Tank jumped off the bed and started to bark the three men on the bed woke up and looked at Stan with sleepy eyes. “I was just going to get Tank to let him outside but I guess he decided to turn himself into an alarm clock. Julie’s going to work soon. She’s already eaten but I figured we could go to my favorite breakfast place once you’re all up.”

Damien’s stomach growled and he blushed slightly, “Sounds g-good to me.”

The other two were more awake now and nodded. Stan smiled and said, “Alright, well there’s a bathroom attached to this one with a nice big shower and a tub. We’ve got plenty of hot water so all three of you could take separate baths and you’d still have hot water.”

Andrew nodded and watched as his friend left with a bulldog shaped shadow. He turned first to Tom and then Damien. He wrapped his arms around them and held them close. He placed gentle kisses on the tops of their heads and said, “Who wants to shower first?”

Tom burrowed further into Andrew and said, “I don’t want to go away from you. I had… a nightmare last night.”

Andrew pulled him extra close and kissed his forehead. He looked between the two again and said, “We could all shower together. We could keep our boxers on if you guys want to. I won’t touch you or anything.”

Tom and Damien exchanged a look and then nodded. Damien looked down at his arms nervously and then said, “I… I need to tell you g-guys something-g.” He got two expectant but supportive looks and swallowed hard. “About a year or s-so b-before the c-cops came. I-I tried-d to k-kill myself-f. A guy l-left b-behind his knife and I cut my arms t-to try to k-kill myself but J-johnny came in and f-found me.”

Andrew pulled him extra close as well and rubbed his back. “That’s fine Damien.” He looked at Tom who nodded and then said, “We can both understand why. Don’t worry, we won’t judge you. I love you far too much.”

Damien found himself crying again and nodded. When he had calmed down the three men got out of the bed and went into the bathroom. Andrew looked at the other two and said, “Boxers?” He got two nods in response and stripped down to his boxers. He turned and worked on getting the water temperature right to let the other two be more comfortable as they got undressed. It was a nice big shower and had four different shower heads. He turned on three of them and then turned back around.

He saw the two younger men eying his body. He spoke in a worried voice, “Is this still alright? I can leave if you want me to and take my own shower.”

All three of them seemed to be able to communicate without speaking but Tom and Damien definitely had a better connection. They looked at each other for a few moments and then nodded. They walked over to him and pulled him into a hug. For the first time in their lives, their flesh touching another’s felt good and comforting, not scary. The big arms that wrapped around them tentatively made them feel even better. Both were also feeling a physical attraction to the man that they had never felt before and it confused them slightly but he was their main source of comfort.

Andrew rubbed their backs and said, “What are you two thinking, please tell me. I want to know so I don’t do something wrong.”

Tom was the one to speak but he did speak for both of them, “We’re confused. We find you attractive but we’ve never felt that way before. For the first time, our skin touching another person’s doesn’t feel wrong or scary, it feels nice. Just… let’s stay with boxers on for now and keep with just hugs but we might be able to do more… in the future.”

Andrew nodded and kissed their foreheads before he led the way into the shower. This was his and Tom’s first time seeing Damien’s scars on his arms. They were quite jagged and long and Damien wrapped his arms around himself. Andrew carefully pulled Damien’s arms away from him and pulled them up and kissed his arms lightly. He kept eye contact with Damien the whole time. The younger man blushed and then pulled Andrew close.

Nothing else big happened during the shower except for a few hugs. When they got out they all toweled off and took turns out in the bedroom getting dressed in dry clothes. Once they were all dressed they walked out into the sitting room holding hands with Andrew in the middle. Stan looked at the three and could tell some important things had happened since he woke them up but he didn’t ask what. The two younger men looked more relaxed and that was a good thing.

He smiled and led the way to his car. Tank was out in the backyard running around in happy circles chasing after his favorite toy. Stan drove to his favorite breakfast spot but was bothered by the motorcycle that followed them the whole way. He kept his eye on the man who got off the bike as he got them seated at his favorite table out on the patio. The man was clearly watching them but he tried not to draw attention to it. He didn’t want to bother the other three men but he kept his eye on the man.

He looked back over at the younger men and said, “Julie’s going to talk to her friend today and she should give me a call around lunchtime to let us know if he can see you. She told me to ask you guys if there’s anything in particular you want to focus on in your sessions so her friend can know whether he needs to set aside one or two hours for each of you.”