By the Numbers (7 page)

He didn't want this to be one of them.

Deuce put the last box of things in his car and looked at Pete. "How come there's always one box of random crap, no matter what? Almost everything I own is in storage or had to be tossed because of smoke damage, and I still have a box of crap."

"It's the way of the universe, man." Pete grinned at him and then winced as his puppy bit his ankle. "You need to leave before I change my mind."

"Hey, if you give it back, I have to unpack the car and move back in. Trey said no more than three dogs can come with me, including his."

Pete rolled his eyes dramatically. "I let you stay with all of them."

"He's giving me my own bathroom. Sorry." Deuce offered his hand. "Thanks, man. I really appreciate the space. I owe you, big time."

Pete shook his hand and then pulled him into a back thumping hug. "Get out of here. Don't be a stranger."

In the car, two puppies started crying.

"I better go before Q bails." Deuce got in his car, thankful that he hadn't really bought too much stuff since the fire. He could move in one trip, even with the dog crate in the back seat. "See you around." He pulled out of Pete's drive and headed the few miles to Trey's place --
his
new place -- singing at the top of his lungs to keep the dogs from being upset.

When he got there he pulled right up, not sure if he should park in the drive or on the street but wanting to be close to unload. First things were first, though and he got the leashes. Dogs needed to sniff and pee before all else.

Trey must have been waiting for him, because he appeared as soon as Deuce opened the car door and stepped out. "Hi." Trey grinned, giving the interior of the car a once-over, likely to make sure that Deuce only had three dogs.

"Q, yours, mine." Deuce grinned. "Plus all my worldly goods that aren't locked up at Storage Haven. Small locker." Not a lot had been spared from the smoke and water damage.

Deuce got a sheepish grin in return. "I trusted you; it's cool." Trey opened the back door and reached for the crate that held the two puppies. Q sat in the front seat and turned her head to watch Trey. "Hi," he said to her, giving her chin a scratch. "Welcome home."

"Out you get, Q." Deuce opened up all the doors so Q could take her pick and waved a leash at her. "This is the end of line. All passengers must exit the train at this station. There are no further stops."

Q got out of the car and stretched, taking her time and completely ignoring the crate with her pups. Then she went to sniff the grass and promptly marked her territory.

"Classy." Deuce rolled his eyes and clipped on one of the leashes. "Got two more leashes here, do you want to let them out here or in the back?"

"Here, I guess. And it's okay if they pee. I told my lawn guy I was getting dogs, and he's got some stuff, I dunno." Trey set the crate down and opened the latch. "Just clip it on their collars?"

"There's a D ring near the buckle." Deuce grabbed one of the puppies -- Trey's, as it turned out -- and showed him. "That's all there is to it. Mind you, sometimes they're slippery and you're halfway across the yard before you get to the D ring."

Trey furrowed his brow and concentrated on getting the leashes attached to the dogs before they bolted. He managed to get both of them on and proudly displayed his handiwork to Deuce. "I can be a dog owner. This is easy."

The puppies promptly took that opportunity to make a run for it, not realizing they were leashed. Their leads got tangled around Trey's legs as they went in opposite directions, and Deuce winced as Trey tried and failed to keep his balance.

"Shit," Trey said to the sky. To his credit, he still had the leashes in one hand.

Deuce went to him and offered a hand up. "Maybe I should take one of those. You keep Six, I'll take Q and Nameless." He did not laugh, though he did grin. Trey was adorable even flat on his back.

Trey took the hand and pulled himself to his feet. "Good idea," he said ruefully, and handed over Deuce's puppy. Six sat down and wagged his little tail, oblivious to the fact that he'd just sent his new owner sprawling on his nice, tight ass. "Let's bring them to the backyard and they can run around there."

"Good plan." Deuce closed up the car and maneuvered his way to the backyard with two leashes, the puppies working in a constant zigzag pattern that seemed designed to trip him. Q just walked, stepping over the puppy without any apparent effort. "So, I figure it will take me all of an hour to unload the car and unpack. Then I'll go buy some food, I guess."

"I can help." Trey seemed to be concentrating hard on getting Six to walk in a straight line, although the puppy wasn't cooperating. "Why do they do this? Why don't they just... walk?" He stopped short as Deuce's puppy unexpectedly crossed in front of him.

"Too many things to smell and see." Deuce smiled as the puppies stopped walking to play. "They won't actually even be ready to learn how to walk on a leash for another few weeks. But we can teach them to sit and stuff. Leash and heel is hard."

When Six decided once again to wrap his lead around Trey's ankle, Trey let out an exasperated snort and picked the puppy up. "You would think dogs would just know how." He gave the puppy an affectionate rub on the head and led the way around the side of the house to the latched gate. "I took care of the side door," he pointed out. And indeed, the woodwork that now covered the open spaces in the gate looked freshly cut.

"Oh, nice." Deuce showed Q the wood. "Don't eat it." Q hadn't chewed anything in years, but it never hurt to tell her, he figured. "This will do great. Did you tell Lacey yet? About Six, I mean."

"I said I had a surprise for her. If I told her what it was, she'd blab it to Holly, and then I'd get an earful before Lacey got here. This way, she and I can talk about how much her mom really needs to know." Trey's tone had turned grim.

"About a dog, about a new housemate, or about me in the specific?" Deuce didn't want to get in the middle of family drama, not when things were only at the kissing stage.

"Well, I meant just the dog. But the other thing will come into play eventually." Trey rolled his eyes and sat down on the grass in the back yard. "Don't worry, she won't harass you or anything. And we don't ever fight around Lacey. She and I just tend to have heated conversations when it's anything more than 'Lacey has ballet on Wednesday' or 'Be at the school at two on Friday for her parent conference'."

"Breaking up is never fun." Deuce sat down too and let the dogs wander, keeping an eye on things to stop any digging. "At least you two manage the parenting part okay. Lacey's lucky to have that."

"I guess." Trey shrugged and Deuce saw his gaze follow the puppies. "She'd be luckier to have an intact family. Or maybe a father who isn't gay. She'll have to deal with fallout from that."

"The world is changing. Maybe in a few years it will be even less of an issue. It's not something that you can beat yourself up about -- it's not like it's a choice, after all. All you can do is continue to be a good, responsible parent." Deuce hoped he didn't sound like he was talking out his ass. What did he know about being a parent, gay or otherwise? But he knew that happy parents made happy kids, and denying himself wouldn't make Trey happy. Therefore, being a gay, out parent kind of had to be better than being a miserable person trying to be a good parent.

Or something. It was confusing.

"None of my business," Deuce added, feeling utterly lame. "Sorry."

Trey turned to look at him. His blue eyes were serious but untroubled. "Sure it is," he said. "You'll be living here. You might be witness to some of it. If we hadn't, you know, kissed and whatever, I wouldn't be talking to you about it. But we did, so now you're involved. Kind of." A worried look crept into Trey's eyes. "I guess I'm the one who should be sorry. This probably isn't what you bargained for."

Deuce smiled at him. "I have no expectations. None. I signed up for hanging out and more kissing, and just seeing how it goes. If it goes in the direction of that, I'm okay with it. Life is life. I'm not going to run from an ex-wife, promise."

"You haven't met her." Trey sighed. "But that's cool. I don't run or back down from her either, which she hates. She's five feet three inches of terror. Anyway, that's not for a while down the road, so don't worry about it. Lacey will be here tomorrow, though. Are you ready for that?"

"Yep. Should I have something for her? I didn't think I should; that would be weird. But maybe a book? Kind of 'hey, we're going to be sharing space a few days a week, and I heard you like to read.' Is that dumb? Will she think I'm trying to buy her affection?" Deuce had woken up three times the night before, unsure of what to do.

The corner of Trey's mouth turned up, and he spoke warmly. "You already have something for her." He pointed across the yard at Six, who was sniffing the edge of the brick planter. "That's plenty. Don't worry. If you take her up on her offer to play Operation at least twice, you're in."

"They still make that?" Deuce grinned. "Man, my mom hated that sound. BUZZZZZ." The dogs all looked over. "Nameless needs a name. Any suggestions? Maybe Lacey can name him."

"Not if you don't want a name like Prince Eric or something from the Disney movies. We can probably come up with something that fits better."

"Chewy? Bitey? What were the seven dwarfs' names, again?" Deuce laughed. "How about Pup. Or Dog. Henry. Jack."

Trey raised a brow. "You need help with animal names, clearly. I've never even had a dog, and I know those are less than creative." He paused and watched a puppy sniff one of the sprinkler heads. "We have a two and three. And a Six. Another number name would fit right in there, I guess."

"Pi." Deuce grinned. "Pi, for sure." That was odd and would make Q feel more secure about her name, he thought.

"Pie." Trey tilted his head thoughtfully. "That's not a... oh! Pi. Like the number." Deuce wasn't sure, but there might have been a hint of a blush on Trey's cheeks. "Got it. Told you; dumb fireman." He grinned. "Pi works for me. It's your puppy."

"You're not dumb." Deuce rolled his eyes and then laughed. "When I get a name tag made, I'll put 3.14 on it." That'd be cool. He hoped he wouldn't have to spend ages getting the name right on the paperwork at the vet's office. Q's name had utterly confounded one of the techs, and he was always having to adjust it from 'cue' or 'coo'.

The puppies had made their way around the yard and were now nosing at both of the humans. Trey lifted Six into his lap and stroked the silky puppy fur with a big hand. "If you want to get started on unloading, we can leave them back here. They should be okay, if we check on them every fifteen minutes or so."

"Sure?" Deuce looked around and didn't see any means of escape. "They might dig a bit, if they're not watched."

"That's okay. I warned my gardener, remember? If they start totally destroying everything, we'll figure something out." Trey deposited the puppy back on the grass and stood up, offering a hand to Deuce.

Taking it and pulling himself up, Deuce held on to Trey’s hand a moment longer. "Thanks." For the hand, for everything, really. He tried to put it all into that word. "I'll make you supper later. Nothing as fancy as what you did, but edible."

"You want to?" Trey gave him a faint smile. "It's hard to turn down a meal made by somebody else. Thank you." He slid open the glass door that led to the kitchen and waited for Deuce to follow him inside. "I don't have fancy stuff to cook with, but you'll find what you need."

"I'll go buy food after I unpack." Deuce was pretty easy about that, and he figured he had to stock his bathroom, too, anyway. "How about super fancy burgers and homemade fries? I can even do it low-fat, if that's a big thing. Big salad, something for dessert..." Great, now he was hungry and he hadn't even moved his boxes in.

"I'll leave it up to you," Trey laughed. "I'm due for a gym workout tomorrow morning anyway, so whatever you want to make is fine with me." He continued on through the house and out the front door. "So this is everything?"

"Yup. I have a few things in a storage unit, but it's mostly crap like dishes. I lost all my soft furniture to smoke and water, but there's a couple of tables I'll try to save, later on. This is my clothes, mostly, and some things like books, work stuff. My bike is all taken apart. My TV is the biggest thing in here, and it's pretty small, for a TV." It was pathetic, how his life could fit in his car.

It wasn't a big car.

"Okay." Trey didn't seem bothered by any of that. "So let's get to it, huh?" He glanced inside the car at the TV and looked thoughtful. "I still have my old flat screen that Holly and I had in our bedroom. It's up in the attic. You can have it for your room, if you want."

Deuce thought about that for a moment. There wasn't anything actually wrong with his TV except it was old and small. "Maybe Lacey could hook video games up to this one or something."

Trey nodded. "She has her hand-held one, but she's been asking me for a Wii. I don't really want to put one in her room, though. Hey, if you want to hold onto your own TV, I totally get it. Just wanted to offer."

"And I appreciate it." Deuce smiled at him and dragged his suitcase out of the car. "A bigger screen would be cool. We can put this one in a closet until we figure things out. I don't spend a lot of time watching TV, but when you're at work I'll probably hole up in my room with the remote, for sure."