TREVOR
That’s not to say he’s not good at it, and luckily, his small legal team already understands the ways he likes to operate, so that makes things easier. But he prefers to spend his time focusing on helping people make music.
Right after he has finished initialing one contract and he’s about to open another, there’s a single knock that makes him look up. Noah is standing in his office doorway with a strange, concerning look on his face.
Noah shifts his weight, leaning against the doorframe. “Uh, I was just wondering if you and Sky had plans for dinner.”
“Not really, I don’t think. I mean, nothing special, at least. Skyler’s probably cooking.”
“I figured I should have asked earlier,” Noah says, reaching up to adjust his tie. “But I was busy and... Anyway, would you mind checking with him? If he’s already started, then I don’t want to bother you guys. But I was hoping you might want to come by my place for dinner? I’ll cook.”
Trevor furrows his brow. “Why? You hate cooking.”
A look crosses Noah’s face like he might turn around and flee, but then he says, “True, yeah. It’s just that I wanted to talk to you about something. Something kind of important.”
And now Trevor almost wishes he was only here to report a computer emergency.
Because what other kind of thing could be important enough that Noah needs to talk to him about it over dinner?
They talk every day here in the offices.
A great deal of their conversations are about work, but they’re still friends.
They talk about their personal stuff too.
Or Trevor does, at least. Noah hasn’t really had anything too personal to share in a long time.
Which has only increased Trevor’s worries that Noah’s overworking himself and not allowing himself to have a life outside of this business.
He’s been afraid Noah will burn himself out, and maybe that’s what this is about.
Maybe he’s gotten tired of putting so much of his time and effort into Trevor’s dream.
“If you can’t do it tonight, don’t worry about it,” Noah says when Trevor fails to give him a response. “Like I said, I should’ve asked you earlier. We can do it another night.”
Trevor shakes his head. “No, no, it’s fine. Um. Lemme just call Sky. But how about you come to our place instead? I’m sure he’s already preparing something, but he won’t mind cooking for one more.”
“Are you sure?” Noah asks. The hopeful tone in his voice is hard to miss.
“Yeah, no worries. I’ll call him, and I’ll let you know what time he wants you to come.”
Noah nods. “Thanks. I’ll at least bring over a bottle of wine. Ask him if he has any preferences.”
“Okay, will do,” Trevor tells him. Then with one more nod, Noah turns and walks off, presumably to his own office. Trevor gets up and shuts his door before he dials Skyler.
Skyler answers the phone and immediately starts recounting for him a conversation he just had with Layla about a guy she’s dating. As if he’s the one who called Trevor.
Trevor listens to the story of how the guy had been trying to hide his roommate from Layla for a totally unclear reason, but then Layla learned the truth in a way that involved nudity. The roommate’s, not hers.
Once Skyler’s done laughing about it, Trevor tells him, “Hey, so Noah asked if he could come over for dinner tonight.”
“He invited himself for dinner?”
“Well, actually,”—Trevor leans back in his chair, crossing one leg on top of the other—“he invited us over to his place for dinner. But I know he can’t cook to save his life, so I wisely volunteered your culinary skills.
I did it for you, really, so you wouldn’t be subjected to a plate of burnt meatloaf or something. ”
Skyler laughs. “Aw, thanks, dear. You’re so sweet.”
“I know.”
“Is there a reason he wants to have dinner with us, though?”
Yeah, apparently there is. And that’s what’s worrying Trevor.
“He said he wanted to talk to us about something important. No idea what.” Trevor grabs a pen off his desk for something to fidget with. “Honestly, I’m a little worried he wants to quit the label. He’s been acting strange all year. I know I’ve told you how much he’s thrown himself into the job.”
“True,” Skyler says. “But it seems like he wants to spend his time working. It’s not like you asked him to help you out to make the label happen. He came to you about it.”
“Yeah, and I’m so glad he did,” Trevor admits.
“I planned to do this whole thing by myself, but having him with me on it has been a lifesaver. I would’ve lost my mind trying to handle all this work on my own.
And now that I officially made him VP, I can’t imagine losing him.
But I’m telling you, he’s seemed extra off lately. Unhappy, even.”
“Okay, why don’t we wait and see what he wants to talk to us about before you start worrying too much. It’s probably something else entirely. Because if it’s just about work, then why would he want to talk to me too?”
Oh, yeah. That’s a good point. But Trevor can’t imagine what else it could be. He knows Noah’s parents are still off traveling the world, and it seems like Noah barely talks to them anymore. Maybe he misses them and wants to go meet up with them for a while?
Skyler’s right, though. There’s no use in speculating about what’s going on when they’ll find out in a few hours.
“You don’t mind cooking dinner for three?” he double-checks.
“Not at all.”
With the plans set, Trevor hangs up and tries to get back to focusing on contracts. But they’re even harder to get through now.
There’s music playing when Trevor gets home. That’s probably how he makes it all the way into the kitchen undetected, where he catches Skyler bopping along to the beat as he stands at the stove.
“Smells good in here, baby,” Trevor says, wrapping his arms around Skyler’s middle.
Skyler jumps at the contact, but Trevor’s hold on him keeps him in place. He cranes his neck back for a kiss, which Trevor gladly leans in to give him. “Thanks. It’s just a shrimp stir fry. I figured we didn’t need anything fancy, since we wanna focus on whatever it is that Noah needs to tell us.”
Skyler’s hair is up in a very messy bun, so Trevor twirls one of the hanging pieces around his finger before massaging Skyler’s nape. Skyler moans softly and leans into the touch.
Trevor presses a kiss to the back of Skyler’s neck that makes his husband shiver. “I appreciate you doing this on short notice.”
“It’s totally not a big deal,” Skyler assures him. “I would’ve already had a dinner started when you called, but I lost track of time working on a song.”
“Oh yeah?” Trevor asks, always interested to hear when Skyler’s writing new stuff. “For your next album?”
Shrugging, Skyler says, “I guess. I dunno, really. For some reason, that’s still not quite coming together. Like thematically.”
“Do you think it has something to do with the way you’ve been feeling this year? With so many things being open-ended for you?”
The look Skyler gives him when he turns around in Trevor’s arms tells Trevor how much he appreciates being understood.
“I think that’s exactly the problem. And believe me, I’m grateful I have so many different opportunities and choices I could make for my life right now.
But yeah. It’s made me a little all over the place with the songs I’m coming up with. ”
“You’ll figure out what you want to do, baby. You always do.”
“Because I’ve got you on my side.”
“Damn straight you do. Forever.”
Skyler grins. “Forever sounds really good.”
They share a long kiss, Trevor trying to lick the taste of coconut off Skyler’s lips until Skyler giggles and pushes him away. Then Trevor runs upstairs to change into more casual clothes, and by the time he gets back downstairs, Noah has texted that he’s on his way.
When Trevor opens the door for him, Noah holds up an expensive-looking bottle of wine, the smile he tries for not quite reaching his eyes. Trevor accepts the wine and tells him, “Come on in. Sky said dinner will be ready in a minute.”
“Great.” Noah sounds like he’s being led to his death, rather than the dinner table.
They make their way through the house and into the kitchen, where Noah says hi to Skyler and Trevor grabs three glasses to pour the wine.
Skyler lets them know he’s about to plate up the meal, and he tells them to go chill in the dining room to wait.
He insists he can carry all three plates himself, so Trevor and Noah do as instructed.
But Trevor cowardly wishes Skyler needed help, just so he wouldn’t have to sit alone in this awkwardness with Noah.
This is dumb. Noah is one of his closest friends. Why are they being like this with each other?
The awkwardness is mostly coming from Noah, but Trevor isn’t doing anything to help the situation. Luckily, Skyler brings out their food quickly, before it becomes more painfully obvious that Trevor has no idea what to say to Noah right now.
They start eating, and Trevor waits for Noah to start the conversation, but he doesn’t seem inclined to bring up whatever it is he wanted to talk about. Trevor and Skyler shoot each other concerned looks as they watch him just sitting there, picking listlessly at his food.
Finally, Skyler jumps in and says, “All right, so what’s going on? Because you’re kinda freaking us out here. Are you okay?”
Noah visibly cringes before he makes eye contact with Skyler and then Trevor. “I’m sorry. I’m being weird. It’s just... I have something really big I need to ask of you guys.”
Trevor braces himself. “What is it? We’re friends, man. You don’t have to be so nervous about asking for a favor.”
“It’s a really big favor,” Noah reiterates.
Skyler takes a large gulp of his wine, then sets it down a little clumsily, the red liquid almost sloshing out. “Come on. You know we’re family. Whatever you need, we’ve got you.”