Flourishing

"Move in Day"

Hot summer days are usually spent inside with air conditioning, or outside playing in the water. However the Vincewoods would be spending the hot summer day moving Bruce in. Well, the adults would be anyways. They had a lot of work ahead of them, luckily Bruce had already sold a good majority of his furniture, but decided to rent a small moving truck anyways, already on his way to pick up tom and Tord.

Tord sat on the couch, wearing a tank top and shorts. He really wasn't looking forward to helping out, unfortunately he just couldn't say no when tom asked him to. After all, tom was one of his three weaknesses. "My love! Bruce is going to be here soon, are you ready?" Tom called from the kitchen. He was packing water bottles and granola bars in preparation for the day. Tord sighed, "yes cupcake!" He calls back, getting up and stretching, then walking over to tom. "I'm glad Edd was free to babysit today, I love my babies but having them here would have been just stressful." Tord chuckles, leaning on the island. "Oh? Well, you seem pretty stressed already hun?" Tom points out, looking at Tord. "You don't have to help pack the truck if you don't want to you know?" Tord responded immediately with, "And leave you two to do the work by yourselves, come on now! What kind of.. friend would I be if I didn't help?"

It was obvious he didn't want to go, his teeth were clenched and he struggled to even imply that Bruce and him were friends. However, even though tom felt bad that his husband was obviously not too thrilled with the situation, it made him happy that he was trying. "Besides.." Tord continued, going and wrapping his arms around Tom, "I have to be there to make sure he doesn't try anything." Ah, so that's why he wanted to help. Tom sighed, looking at him and noticing that Tord had his 'Bruce glare' on his face. Tom placed a soft kiss on his cheek, calming his husband down effectively as it usually does. "easy tiger."

Tord smiled at the nickname, and just as he was about to give him a kiss they hear a knock on the door followed by a, "I'm herrrreeee!" Called out by bruce. This caused tord to sigh and grumble, but he put a smile on his face as he went to the door with tom. They open it, and upon seeing bruce, tom begins to hold back his laughter as tord just looks at him. While it wasn't a big deal, tord and bruce just so happen to be wearing the same shirt. What made the situation so funny is tom knew that both bruce and tord would be salty about it, as evidenced by their faces. Both were struggling to keep a smile on, and bruce decided to break the silence. "...nice shirt."

After the silence was broken, they headed into the moving truck, driving to Bruce's apartment. There was no radio, and an awkward silence fell over them again. It felt like it was taking forever to get to the complex so tom decided to break the silence this time by asking, "Sooo, how long do you think it will take to move everything?" "Oh- I already finished boxing up my room, and with the work divided up between us, it should only be about and hour or three." Bruce responds, pulling into the parking area and of course, parking. All three make there way out of the truck and into the apartment. As they did, tord looked around. It wasn't the biggest apartment, and definitely wasnt clean, but that was due to the moving conditions. No the thing that bothered tord and tom was the fact that it was extremely hot on the inside. "Sorry about the heat, my AC is busted." Bruce explained, picking up a couple of empty boxes. "It doesnt really matter what you put in the boxes, just make sure nothing breaks." He continued with a soft chuckle. Tom stood there for a bit, sighing. Even though he offered to help he really wasnt looking forward to spending his day off in the heat, packing and moving heavy boxes. Tord sighed as well, taking Tom's hand and heading to the kitchen with him to start, "let's get this over with..." he complained as they began the process of packing.

-

Several hours had passed and the three men were exhausted and sweaty. Tord had been quiet for most of the day which was to be expected, however bruce was the same which was unexpected. He would usually try to sneak a flirty comment or two but again, he was quiet today. As they parked in front of the house, Tord shook tom a small bit to let him know they were home as he had his eyes closed. They all came out as tom checked the time. "Its late, I should go pick up the kids, you two got it from here right?" Tom asked, looking to them as they nodded. Tord walked over, "dont worry my love, we can handle the rest." He responded, placing an affectionate kiss on his cheek. "Heh.. salty" he continued before being cut off by a playful push from tom. "Oh shh! You're sweating way more than me!" He defended himself laughing with his husband.

Tom made his way to the car, opening the door and looking at tord and bruce. "You two behave. I dont want you two fighting while I'm gone!" He demanded, before seating himself and driving off. Tord waved at the car as it left the neighborhood then sighed. By instinct, he looked at bruce and was surprised to find that he had a somber look to his face. He stood there for a moment before walking to the back of the van, opening it. "Come on, let's finish unpacking before he gets home." Bruce stood up straight, then nodded, walking to the back as well and picking up a box. "Right.."

After a bit, they had brought all the boxes inside. It was sundown and this point and tord brought out two water bottles, tossing one to bruce without saying a word. He drank as it became quiet again, awkward. "You've been quiet today." Bruce said after finishing his water. He was attempting to make conversation, but there was just something about his voice that manage to strike a nerve with tord. But he stayed calm and responded, "yeah, I could say the same for you. I'm surprised to didnt make any remarks to tom today.." while he had a calm voice, bruce could tell that tord was holding his tounge. He stayed quiet for a moment before responding, "well.. I figured I would.. stop doing that since it makes you two uncomfortable." He tried to be sincere but by the growing look of anger on tords face he could tell that it wasn't helping very much. He sighed and walked over, looking down at tord slightly as he was a bit taller.

Tord looked up at him, clenching his fist. The air felt thick with tension as tord glared at the man in front of him. It was progressively getting harder for him to hold himself back from mouthing off to him. Growing up, tord was a pretty passive boy for some personal reasons, but as he grew up he became more assertive and unafraid to stand his ground. No matter how many times he told himself to keep a smile on his face he just couldn't at the moment. Just as he was about to call bullshit, bruce stuck his hand out for him to shake. "I... never got to thank you for letting me stay here. I know you hate me, I'm surprised your even letting me stay here if I'm being honest." He breathed in and out, giving tord a smile for once. "I-" before bruce could continue, tord shook his hand firmly, then pulled away, "you're welcome..." he said, walking out the front door, shutting it. He breathed in and out, letting himself get some fresh air and leaning on the porch fence.

Tord had never had a one on one conversation with bruce before, or at least the last time he did was in highschool. It took alot out of him. He knew what bruce was going to say next and he wasnt about to sit there and listen to some fake apology, he just couldn't. He knew he told tom he would try and be friends with the guy but it was just impossible at the moment. Their history just made him too angry, and he couldn't let it go, not this soon anyways. His mind was racing as he paced back and forth on the porch. "PAPAAAAAAA!!"

Tord was startled by the sudden yell, but he looked at the driveway to see his little girl bouncing in her seat as tom unbuckled her. "Calm down sweetheart, you'll get to hug your papa right now!" Tom laughed as noah already unbuckled himself, running over to tord and giving his leg a big hug. Tom picked up evelyn and walked over, handing her to tord as she clung onto him tightly, giggling and kicking her legs happily. And just like that, all his anger, stress, his thoughts.. they all just washed away. Yeah he was aware bruce was still inside but a smile grew on his face as he looked at his family members. He scruffled Noah's hair, blew raspberries in Evelyn's cheek, and pulled tom in for a quick but sweet kiss. Tom smiled, returning the kiss, and then giving another one on his cheek. "I'm assuming no fights happened with you and-" "the tree man!!" Evelyn shouted, promptly cutting tom off.

With a smile on his face, tord nodded and laughed a bit. "Nope, I didnt fight the tree man. Now well all have to be nice to him okay?" Tord said, as his two children nodded. He took one last deep breath before walking back inside, putting evelyn down. Tom took the wheel at this point, waving at bruce to come over to meet the kids. He nodded and did so, kneeling down not to close but not to far away, smiling. "Hey there you two, I'm bruce"

-

(And that's chapter 2!! Hope you enjoyed it! I was going to do a custom chapter cover buuuut I got busy and didnt have the time, so I'll change it later! See you in chapter 3! - rev)