The Farm

[Demeter]

Essence glanced into the back seat of her spiffy sports car and grinned. She wasn't sure how they'd managaged it but she and Brenna were taking Dru out to her uncle's farm. She was going there to pick up Hope from her day of working on Uncle Trey's farm. Ever since her mother had discovered Hope's love of children and animals, the younger girl had been allowed to spend her free time out on the farm.

She knew why Brenna, who was practically bouncing in the front passenger seat, had come along. She loved the farm and never past up the chance to see Trey working shirtless. Which, considering the weather, Uncle Trey's shirt was probably tossed over some handy fence post. Essence just didn't have the heart to tell Brenna that Trey would rather be caught looking at Dru's ass rather then Brenna's.

Thinking of Dru, Essence took another glance at the backseat to the blue-haired young man sitting behind her. "So, Dru, exactly how did Brenna talk you into coming out this way? You normally decline in taking this trip. Did she blackmail or bribe you into coming with us?"

Essence didn't wait for an answer from the backseat. She whipped her car into the dirt lane that led to her Uncle's farm, calling out a sorry when the back end of her car slid left. "So, Dru, why are you with us again."
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Trey sighed when he saw the cloud of dust rising from the driveway and the speedy red car roaring downt he lane. Essence was here to pick up Hope and, probably, show him and his animals off to her friends. Something she'd been doing since her high school years.

Trey watched from his position in the hayloft of the main barn as three people climbed out of the car. Essence, who went over to the young woman walking his newest horse around of the front paddocks. The second girl, Brenna, went straight for the pack of dogs that occupied another of the front paddocks. Trey shook his head as the girl clambered over the fence to play with the dogs. Sooner or later the girl was going to take some of those mutts off his hands.

The third person who exited the car interested him. Male and blue-haired. A friend or relative of Brenna's, maybe? He'd always found the girl cute, in a girl sort of way but a male version? Now that held some possiblities. When the male wandered toward Brenna and the dogs, Trey shrugged. He didn't have the time to oogle blue-haired boys. He had horses to feed. And he didn't have a shirt on, it was hanging from one the exposed rafter nails. Both Bella and Hope were down there so he was sure that the amount of trouble those three could get into was limited.
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Essence popped out of her car and hopped over to the nearest paddock. Bella was walking her uncle's newest horse around in slow circles. Essence leaned against the top railing of the fence and crooned at the animal. Once she was satisfied that the horse knew his worth, she turned to the woman. "Hey, Bella, you haven't seen my uncle or Hope around, have you. My mother wants Hope home early tonight. Something about a dinner with some child services representitive."

When Bella went off to find the girl, Essence turned her attention to Brenna and Dru. Brenna was in her natural environment, crouched down with a dozen dogs surrounding her. Essence giggled and glanced around the area. She spotted Khan, her uncle's eventer horse, standing calmly infront of one on the barns, saddled.

"Big, black brute," she muttered under her breathe. Khan was a terror on four legs, much like her cousin Rowan. She only knew of two people who could control him. Hope had the temperment and ability to that made the monster act like a lovestricken bunny rabbit. Her uncle had the strength needed to handle him when he was running free.

When she heard a squeal, Essence groaned. Brenna had spotted Khan. She watched as her friend scurried over to the horse, stopping well out of kicking range and eyed Khan. Essence ambled her way over to Khan and stood next to Dru, who'd followed his sister over. "She's as much in love with that horse as she is my uncle but both are completely untouchable to her." Essence glanced at Dru. "What do you think of him? He's just like one of those fancy cars you like to toy with. Fast, mean, and beautiful."

[nyoka]

The whole car ride Dru was pretty quite, not because he was shy but he kept asking himself why he decided to come this time over all of the others. Essense startled him out of his thoughts when she asked the same question he was trying to figure out himself. Opening his mouth she made her sharp turn and he shouted a rather loud "WhooHoo!" from his back seat. Laughing now, he lean forward and flicked his sister's ear. "The little twit begged me until I finally caved, that and she promised me a surprise, yay surprise."

The car barely stopped before out hopped Brenna going directly for the critters, as usual. Stepping out of the car, Dru tied his hair back into a loose pony at the base of his neck. He grinned as he took in the whole farm but fixed his vision on the shirtless male entering the barn. Raising an eyebrow he heard the squeel that was so familiar to him. What did she find now?

Following the girls to a great black horse, Dru's mouth hung open a bit. The horse looked as if it was chisled from stone and full of muscle. "Hey, if all horses looked like this one, I would be a horse person too." Dru stepped closer examining the shape and build of him. Then Essence's remark hit him, "Untouchable?" he grinned and looked toward the barn.

[Maira]

Brenna was practically bouncing as Essence drove out to her uncle's farm. It was a nice warm day so she was pretty sure she'd get at least a glimpse of Trey topless. Not to metion, there was a new litter of puppies that she wanted to cuddle and snuggle. She'd never been much of a dog person but there was just something about great danes that she couldn't get enough of. After the sharp turn onto the dirt road, and Dru yelling in her ear, Brenna flinched as he then flicked her ear. "Hey!' she shouted both at Dru for the flicking and at Essence for the sudden burst of speed.

The moment the car came to a stop, Brenna was out of the door and went to the paddock being used for the puppies. She climbed through the fence and was immediately mauled by seven wriggling buddles of puppy joy. After a few minutes, Brenna heard a familiar snort from behind her and she looked over her should to see Khan, a big black freisian brute tied to the fence. With a squeal of joy, Brenna abandoned her puppy pals and climbed back through the fence to get closer, but not in kicking distance, to Khan. When Dru came over to stand beside her and Essence egged her brother on about the horse being like a car, Brenna first glared at Essence then helped, comletely missing the reference about Trey being untouchable. "Yeah Dru, you should try him out. You've never felt power from a car like you would from Khan there."

*****

Bella was perfectly well absorbed in getting a feel for Trey's newest charge and completely missed when Essence's sporty red car pulled up to the farm. When the other woman came over, leaned on the fence and crooned at the gelding she did notice though. Looking up she smiled at Essence and answered, "Last I saw Trey, he was up in the hayloft tossing some down. Hope was getting Khan ready for a bit of gentle excersise." Looking around she saw Khan tied to the nearby fence and she gestured with her head, "See, there's Khan, Hope must be close by." With another smile she turned her attention back to the new gelding and went about working out some of his kinks from being in a stall all day.

*****

Hope had just run back into the tack room to put away the brushes and hoofpick and to grab her helmet when she heard a loud smack, a yell, and thunder as a horse pounded by the side of the barn. More than a little confused, she mumbled, "What in the world?" Then, hearing Essence and Brenna laughing, Hope's stomach flip-flopped. What had those two done?! She'd seen them pull up, had seen a guy that she assumed was Brenna's brother get out of the car too and she had a sinking feeling he'd just been introduced to Khan.

Dropping her helmet and rushing out of the barn, Hope watched in horror as her worst fears were confirmed. Furious, and scared to death for Brenna's poor brother, Hope turned on her foster sister and her friend, "What have you two idiots done? Khan could kill him!' Then turning toward the barn she shouted at the top of her lungs, "Trey!!! Get down here a stop Khan!!!" Sparing the other girls one more glare she rushed back into the barn and grabbed a horse and a bridle and had them ready for Trey when he came down out of the hayloft. Watching her uncle practically fly down the stairs and leap onto the horse and then bolt off down the pasture was an amazing sight but one she didn't get to see as she was glaring at Essence and Brenna again.

[Demeter]

Essence smirked as she watched Dru and Khan run around one of the feilds. "Khan could attempt to do some killing, yes, but cats have nine lives. Dru can survive smashing into another car at over 100 mph, he can survive Khan." Essence still sighed when Trey took off. She knew that he'd more then likely stop speaking to her for a while but really, someone had to do something. The man rarely left his farm anymore. How was he supposed to forget about that bastard Jonathan when he never left the farm? And when he did leave the farm, he mostly went to other places were his ex could be. Dru liked men, Trey liked men, arrange a little near tragic accident and everyone would be happy.
-----
Trey didn't both with thinking, he just urged Light Foot, another one of his abused racehorses, faster. If that boy was Brenna's brother, he was more then likely feline and Khan always had a harder time doing feline's in. They were slippery. When Khan suddenly turned and tossed up his back end, Trey groaned. The boy didn't have a proper seat and he went flying over Khan's head.

The horse had enough power to see to it that the boy flew across several feet and Trey didn't have enough time to get off Light Foot. As the boy's face came closer, Trey squeezed his eyes shut and thanked whatever diety was listening that Hope hadn't had the time to saddle the mare.

When the boy hit him square in the chest and they both went toppeling to the ground. After a few minutes, Trey opened his eyes to see Khan, calmly standing by his side. He could swear that the animal was laughing at him. Trey pushed the boy over and looked down at him. "Are you okay?"

[nyoka]

Dru stepped closer to the big brute, big was the understatement. The girls were standing back a bit but they were just probably intimidated by the size of him. Dru grew a cocky smirk and stepped up and hopped on Khan. After a few moments of situating himself, he looked back down at the girls, "See, not so bad ladies". Dru felt a sense of rank as he was perched on Khan's back, "Well you know the term for cars comes from horsepower...."

Unable to finish his sentence, Khan was off and kicking attemping to get him off in any means possible. Dru freaked a bit and Levi started to come forth, he felt the change occuring as he tightened his grip on the horse. Although he leaned into the bucks and slipped into the turns Khan was making, he still ended up losing his grip and flew over the horse's head. Levi began to panic and flailed as they collided with another man riding near by attemping a rescue, he presumed.

Opening his eyes, the first thing Dru saw was the ground and a man with Strawberry hair next to him. A little dazed and unable to move he coughed and was turned over. Dru brought his hands up to his face and rubbed the dirt away to find himself staring into the eyes of the man he saw go into the barn, realizing then this was Essence’s uncle. “Yea, I’m moving and nothing seems to be in too much pain…” trailing off he wanted to make a sarcastic remark but being half dazed left him drawing a blank.

After sitting up and dusting himself off, he only then realized that the uncle was shirtless, raising an eyebrow he made a random humming tune. “So after that little meeting, I think I should know your name. I’m Dru, Brenna’s brother if you can’t tell by the hair.”

[Maira]

Brenna squealed with glee at the sight of her brother flailing headlong over Khan's neck. When he collided with Trey and knocked them both to the ground she was practically bouncing. She knew that Levi would take care of Dru and she was fairly certain that Trey had been in worse riding accidents in his life. When she turned to smirk at Essence, she saw the glare she was getting from Hope and she stepped away from the girl a few steps. Normally Hope was a sweet passive thing and to see the murderous glare coming from that girl's eyes was just freaky. Stepping around Essence to avoid the bulk of Hope's glare, Brenna whispered, "I think Hope wants to kill us for that Essence."

Hope did indeed want to kill her foster sister and her foster sister's friend but right now there were two horses that needed tending so she stalked off to go fetch them. She also figured it would be good to see if Trey and Dru were alright, though she figured one of them would have hollered if there was something wrong with the other one. Stalking through the field, kicking at random dirt clods that Khan had kicked up in his antics, she eventually came to the two horses who were grazing a short distance from each other and a ways away from their riders. Seeing the looks on both men's faces, Hope just raised an eyebrow then asked, "I take it you two are both okay?" Then she gathered up both Khan and LIghtfoot's reigns and headed back to the barn.

When Hope returned to the barn, Bella was waiting and was looking quite concerned. "Are they okay?" she asked after Dru and Trey. Hope just nodded and grumbled, "No thanks to those two." Giving one last sidelong glare at Brenna and Essence, Hope handed Lightfoot's reigns to Bella and walked Khan to outdoor arena. She was allowed to ride him in enclosed spaces and right now he was so dancy from the excitement that there was no way he'd go back in his paddock without getting a good run first. Plus, she already had him saddled up and ready to ride so she may as well do what she had planned.

Bella watched Hope take Khan away then she turned to the other two females staring after the men in the field and scolded, "You guys really could have gotten one of them hurt with that stunt. And you're incredibly lucky that neither of the horses got hurt, they're both irreplacable and Trey would likely have had both your hides for a scratch on either one of them." Then she too stalked off, taking Lightfoot to the indoor arena to do the same for her that Hope was doing for Khan outside.

[Demeter]

Essence rolls her eyes. She knew that she'd be in some serious trouble, as would Brenna but really, if this little stunt paid off, the trouble would be worth it. Essence glanced towards Hope and huffed out a breathe at the girl's glare. She turned back to Brenna. "Hope can kill me all she wants. This was good for my uncle. Now all I have to do is get his bastard ex back for breaking Trey's heart like this."

She'd been around Trey longer then both Hope and Bella and they had only seen him post-Jonathan. It had taken her mother plus all of her aunts, Nerissa had even flown to the states, just to drag him out of his initial depression. Essence watched as the two girls led the horses off in opposite directions. She also knew the risk to both horses but Khan was to ornery to be seriously injured and Lightfoot was surefooted. She smirked at them both. "Uncle Trey can stratch my hide all he wants. This was for his own good. Come on, Brenna, lets get out of here before your brother and my uncle get back. Dru can probably find his own way back."

Essence grabbed ahold of Brenna's sleeve and dragged her back to the car. She really didn't need to face Trey right now.
-----
Trey watched as the boy stood up, looking for any injuries. At the squeal of tires, Trey looked over his shoulder and growled. It seemed that Essence was making her escape as to avoid any damage. "I'm Trey and I would just like to apologize for my niece's behavior. I really don't know what got into her."

Trey nodded to Hope as she led the horses away from the feild. He then looked down at his own shirtlessness and blushed. "Um, why don't you come back to the house with me. You can use one of the bathrooms and then I can give you a ride back to town. I promise to whoop that girl's ass the first chance I get."

[nyoka]

Dru was in the process of dusting some dirt from his clothes when he heard the car peel out leaving just a large dirt cloud. Groaning a bit as he knew that was really his only ride, he turned back to Trey "Well I'm sure it wasn't all Essence's fault, I'm pretty sure Brenna had her hand in it as well."

Dru grinned as Trey blushed, but he really did try to keep a nice smile instead of an evil smirk at Trey's bare chest. "Thanks, for both offers I mean, and if you get to Essence then I get to deal with my lovely little sister."

As the were walking back to the house Dru caught a glimpse of Khan before both he and Hope took off riding. "So yea Khan is one big brute.... what kind of horse is he?"

[Demeter]

Trey looked towards the barn and Khan. "That bastard of a horse is a thoroughbred and Fresian mix., which basically makes him mean, big and pretty." Trey led Dru up the main house and let him in through the kitchen door. After pointing him the correct direction to the downstairs bathroom, Trey look the main staircase two at a time and used the bathroom attached to his bedroom in order to freshen up.

After washing the dust from his face and chest, and after puting on a fresh shirt, he took the stairs two at a time again and waited for Dru in the kitchen. He had the keys to the truck in one hand and he was unplugging his cell phone with the other. Once Dru came out of the bathroom, Trey sheparded him to the truck. "So, where do you live?"
-----
Essence pulling into the lot in front of her apartment building and leaned her head back against the headrest of her seat. "He is so going to kill me for this. And not just kill me, He is going to maim and rend me limb from limb. He told no one to interfer but I just can't stand seeing him like that.

She turned her head to Brenna and sighed. "Your brother is the perfect person to pull my uncle out of this funk. He is the total opposite from Jonathan."

[nyoka]

Dru was more than happy to find the bathroom and clean up, especially after seeing himself in the mirror. Not only was his hair falling of the tail he pulled it back in but he was just covered in dust. Yeah, he made one pretty picture. Grabbing the nearest hand towel he ran it under the sink to wipe off the dirt. After cleaning his arm, he checked under his collar and decided he needed to wipe that off as well.

Straightening his hair with the wet cloth he heard some keys rattle, figuring Trey was ready he was clean enough for now. Draping the towel after he rung it out back on the rack he walked out and around the corner as he was tugging on his shirt over his head only to be ushered to the truck.

Dru grinned as Trey asked where he lived, he had to push bad thoughts away for a moment. "Well technically I still live on campus so if you know where that is I can guide you from there."

[Maira]

The drive back to their apartment was rather uneventful but when Essence finally pulled into the parking lot and flipped, Brenna couldn't help but smirk. Looking at her friend she answered, "From everything you've told me about Jonathan, I totally agree that Dru will be good for your uncle. Plus, I'm of the opinion that he will be good for Dru too." With a slightly evil laugh Brenna asked, "Why else do you think I let you convince him to get on Khan? Yes i love watching the beast run but watching Trey ride after him to save him was just way too cool and the perfect way for Dru to meet somebody."

*****

Hope and Bella both finished working their horses at roughly the same time and when they emerged from the barn after putting the horses away, Hope looked around quite confused. "Umm, where did Essence and my uncle go? Dion will kill me if I'm late getting home on a school night...." Bella put her arm around Hope's shoulders and laughed before saying, "I'll take you home."

[Demeter]

Trey smirked and turned the engine to the truck over. "Yeah, I know where the college is. Just tell me what building to drive to. I'm sure that I can find my way as I'm not that old." Trey grinned at the younger man sitting across the bench seat from him. "So, other then being abused by your sister and my neice, what do you do for fun?" He asked while pulling out of the driveway. Town was an hour away and the college was on the other side of town. It was either conversation, radio or an uncomfortable silence.

"I'm sorry about Essence. She's determined that I should move on and has taken to shoving people in my general direction. I could be jumping the end but I would hazard a guess that you are the latest in her attempts to see me happy. No offence but I'm really just not interested in seeing anyone at the moment."
----
Essence blinked at Brenna. "You know that my uncle is gay? I could have sworn that you had no clue about Trey being gay. How did you find out?"

[nyoka]

Dru flopped himself in the front seat of the car as he and Trey got in. "Ok, good cause its a pain in the butt to explain where to go, Just head for the Sigma dorms and that would be where I is." Dru took to admiring the trucks gadgets as Trey asked his next question, "Well to be honest, Those two are notorious for abuse, worse when they are together. So that happens quite often with me I suppose. Aside from classes I normally find myself at some car shows or playing some stupid computer games..." breaking off a thought just came to him.."Which is probably why Brenna dragged me out here today...." Dru grinned at Trey as he sank back into the seat.

"Was that their alterior motive? Well.... I can see that I guess" Dru scratched his head and bit back a chuckle "Hey no issues from me..." finally letting the laugh pop out it was followed by one of Dru's little anthems ..."Just a little bit special... So anyways Trey you said yourself that all of this was an attempt of the girls to get you out and what not So what about you?"

[Maira]

Brenna raised an eyebrow at Essence's questions about how she knew about Trey being gay. More than a little surprised at the questions, Brenna answered them with a question of her own, "You don't remember me telling me?" Then with a laugh she remembered, "Oh that's right! That was the night some guy kept buying you drinks at the club and you got a little tipsy. I guess you were more tipsy than I thought!" The laughter that came from Brenna then was caused both by the thought of how her friend had been drunk, and the fact that she couldn't remember just what she'd dished when she -was- drunk.

After a moment, Brenna got herself under control and with a soft sigh added, "You know, just because I drool over your uncle and pray to any god that'll listen that he'd look at me twice doesn't mean I don't know he's gay. A girl can hope can't she? He's just so damn hot, how could I not hope?" As she said that last, Brenna wiggled her eyebrows up and down and smirked suggestively. Yep, Trey was deffinately droolworthy....

[Demeter]

Trey smirked. "For all the efforts of my family, I would prefer to remain on my farm. It's not like I have the oppertunity to leave the farm, what with all the animals, children coming for lessons, and have two new hands working for me, I don't have much time away from the place."

Trey flicked down his turn signel and sloched in his seat. "And its not like I don't already know everyone in my community. And most of them are married." Trey turned to look at Dru. "So, you like cars? Can you fix them? Because I've got this old truck that is in need of constant attention and i've already dropped thousands of dollars on it but I'm not quite ready to get a new one yet. Sentimental reasons."
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Essence glared at Brenna and crossed her arms over her chest. "You were suppose to stop me because I ended up tipsy. Remember, that was the deal. I give you a room and you keep me from getting tipsy."

Essence smirked. "You think Trey is droolworthy? Then won't you be pleased to know that he has a brother. A straight brother. A straight brother who happens to live in Scotland." Essence waved at Brenna and flipped her purse across her shoulder while walking towards the staircase that lead to her third floor apartment.

[nyoka]

Dru made himself more comfortable in the seat curling one leg under him and resting his left arm on the back of the seat to fully look at Trey more. Biting back an evil laugh he leaned a bit closer to Trey "Well even with the girls attempts I just might have to help get you off the farm some time as well, mwhahahaha!"

Sitting back, then came the car question, scratching the back of his head he looked down at the floor. "I tinker with them... not something I normally admit to doing that often. An industrial design major that is in actuality a 'grease monkey'. But I guess it really depends on the make and model of the said truck. I prefer the older ones to the newer ones. More class in my opinion." Dru looked back at Trey again, "But yea, I'll take a look if you tell me a little bit more."

[Maira]

At Essence's words, Brenna smirked even more. "I didn't mean to let you get tipsy Essence! Its just I was dancing and you were flirting with that guy. I couldn't very well interrupt to ask how many drinks now could I? And I -did- keep you from getting totally trashed."

She was still smirking at the memory of that night a few weeks back when Essence mentioned Trey had a brother. Instantly her attention was on any more information that her friend would give her. When Essence basically left her hanging by getting out of the car, Brenna hurried after her and followed her up the stairs to the apartment.

"What do you mean he has a brother who lives in Scotland? Does he look like Trey?" she called out to her friend who was nearly to the top of the stairs already. Oooo! Leave it to Essence to leave her hanging like that! As she climbed after the other girl, Brenna suppressed the depressing thought that even if Trey's brother looked like him and was straight, with him living in Scotland she'd likely never meet the guy let alone have half a chance with him.

[Demeter]

Essence glanced back at Brenne as she unlocked the door to the apartment. "Yes, a straight brother who lives in Scotland. Who visits on a regular basis and owns a house on the property next to his brother. He should be visiting soon, something about bringing over one of Khan's babies."

Essence stepped through the open door and peered backwards at Brenna. "And yes he looks like Trey, except for the hair, the hair is flipped on Brodie. That's his name, Brodie. Want me to set you guys up or something?"

***

Trey glanced over and grinned. "Oh, that evil hulk of a beast is old. It was new in 1956. And it hates me. It may like you. I just threaten it with a wrench. Bella, one of my hands, has tried to fix it but it hates her as well and she's generally really good with mechanical things but that car is evil."

Trey pulled into the dorm's parking lot and looked over at Dru. "So, where here." He reached into the center console and pulled out a business card. "The barn's number is on there, just go ahead and call if you want to attempt to work with that evil hulk of a truck. So, I guess that I will be seeing you, later then?"

[nyoka]

Dru's eyes lit up as soon as Trey mentioned how old it was, he has never actually got to work on a truck this old before. He began to bounce in the front seat of the truck before Trey was done telling his little story about said truck being evil.

Pulling up to the dorms, Dru practically attacked Trey when he handed him the card asking to call if he wanted the job. "YES! I will work on the truck! I will I will!!!" after letting out a small evil laugh he turned to Trey again "You will certainly be hearing from me again... and no more threating it with a wrench that's why it doesn't like you."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

The week was almost over since he little trip to Trey's farm and the whole beastie thing happened. Still unable to locate the girls they had hidden somewhere, but suprisingly he didn't need to beat them into the ground because the whole pretty Trey thing more or less redeemed the whole thing.

After getting dropped off by Trey, Dru ran up to his dorm room and had been surfing the net in his free time looking at pics and reading all sorts of articles about the 1956 truck that he would very soon be playing with. Sitting there he had to have a tissue or two with him just to wipe the drool away so he could function.

Pulling out the card that Trey handed him, he quickly punched in the numbers and waited for the other end to pick up, and when it did he hardly waited to hear who he was speaking to. "Hi this is Dru and I'm calling cause you asked me to work on your truck and I really Really want to work on it and I'm free this weekend and I don't know if you are but I would really like to so maybe if you are able I can come over and work on the hunk of junk?"

[Maira]

When she could get images of a kilt-clad Trey look-a-like at least mostly supressed, if not totally out of her mind, Brenna answered immediately, "Do I want you to fix me up with him? You aren't seriously asking that are you? I know you've seen how I oggle your uncle as it is. So long as he's got a personality like Trey's and he's not a total ass, I'd love to meet him."