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Sweat pouring down the side of his face in steady streams, Tonny continues to drive the last post deeper and deeper. Panting next to him, Adam is holding the otherside of the post pounder, working just as hard. Both men are exhausted, but cutting it out on their own is better. Far better than dealing with the judgemental stares and whispered comments that are offered in their home town is the toiling work of making their own way. Offering the land their blood, sweat, and tears willingly rather than piecing eachother back together in their shared bedroom after another store refused them service. Laying exhausted on their still uncovered wooden front porch, looking up at the stars and holding each other's hand after a hard day's work was so much better than anything else they've experienced so far.
Though their new life came with a price they wished they didn't have to pay. The land that worked them harder than any boss they've had before... the stars that greeted them every night... it was all paid for with the life insurance Adam got from his dad. The last gift Adam's dad gave the odd pair was a new start. A new start out west without anyone who knew them. A new start for Adam and Tonny to make a way for themselves without any of the worries that came from their home town on the east coast. A new start where no one knew anything about them but what they told. Sometimes they felt guilty about how happy they were, considering the soul that could only be carried in their hearts now.
Yet it was like he was still there, a reassuring presence when they doubted themselves. The force that urges them to reconcile arguments before they go to sleep. An extra push on their back when the weight they're carrying feels too heavy. A calming balm on their nerves when they get frustrated at something they can't quite get right. The cool breeze over the land when the sun is laying spots to be worried over later in life on their backs. The meteors racing across the sky that make Adam gaze in wondrous awe as Tonny commits what his face looks like in that moment to memory. The soul that was carried so near and dear out west breathed life into the gift he gave knowing he'd never see what came if it.
Very much felt in this moment, as the final post is sunk deep enough and the men sit down in place. Grins plastered across their faces as they look into one another's eyes for a moment before looking back to their final fence post. Their land was now marked entirely, and it was now properly sectioned off for livestock. Sure, they had fence to run now, but they'd think about that tomorrow.
Right now they only had to think about celebrating their major task being done... and their trek back up to the house. Which definitely put a damper on how excited they were for fence posts being done early enough in the day to relax half a day. But after catching their breath, they stood and began walking. Leaning on one another, with Adam leaning his head up against Tonny's shoulder more the closer they get to the house.
Adam makes it as far as the front deck before laying down and staring up at the dimming sky over head, some star already making an appearance. Tonny forces himself into the house where sweet tea they left to steep should be absolutely perfect by now. With arms shaking from exhaustion, he pours them each a glass and walks back to the front porch on equally shaking legs.
"Thank you," Adam smiles as he takes the glass. He's sitting up now with his back pressed against one of the railing supports.
Tonny just nods with a small smile before sitting across from Adam with back against the other support, feet on the stairs leading up. In silence, they sip their tea and look over the pasture where the goats were still munching away in the dwindling light. The cattle and sheep were already in, relaxing in their barn safely. Once the stars were fully in view, Tonny and Adam were sitting side by side and pleasantly chilled from the cool wind further drying their, only now, mostly dried clothes.
"Tell me about stars and more tea?" Tonny asks as he stays pressed against Adam, waiting for a reply.
"Sure," Adam smiles, knowing it's his turn to get the tea. He walks in and grabs the jug and comes back out. Sitting down, he refills Tonny's glass before picking up his own and filling it, the jug then set out of harm's way. "Start off from where we were yesterday?"
"Please," Tonny nods before taking a small sip out of his glass. While Adam was gone he had lit his pipe and was still enjoying it as Adam cuddled back up against him.
The world became centered around the peaceful lull of Adam's voice as he walked Tonny through stories of the stars. Stories that Tonny loved to lose himself in for the sound of Adam's voice and the very physical reminder that they had made it. They were there. Together. No one to ever pull them apart again.
Adam didn't comment when Tonny gripped him a little too tightly. When he felt new wetness falling into his hair in little drops, he just ran a hand up and down Tonny's back. An attempt to soothe the mental pain already healed scars that littered Tonny's back gave Tonny so often. A silent thank you and acknowledgement of just how much Tonny protected them when they still lived near New York. A physical sign of just how present their shared past was in both of their minds, how they both mourned being shunned by their community for falling in love with the wrong in their eyes person.
The past would always be there, but they both hoped that it would fester less with time. That the future would one day hold a society that didn't treat people like them this way. That one day they could go on cute little dates and bask in one another's company in public. That the future might just be more kind, and maybe, just maybe, when their time on this earth was done, they'd get to come back in a time that let them love as fiercely as they could openly.
"Adam!" Tonny yelled as he stood in the doorway of the dilipated 1800's farmhouse. "Are you sure this is it?"
Standing with his hand on the railing of the front porch that somehow was still standing strong, Adam couldn't explain the electrified, vibrating feeling extending from the railing to his hand. "Yes." Adam nods and looks back to Tonny before looking him at him in the eyes for a moment before looking away. "This..."
"Feels like home?" Tonny offers, unsure of why he feels the same.
"Yes," Adam nods again and looks him in the eyes once more, holding eye contact.
"Iced tea under the stars sounds really nice," Tonny smiles and walks up to wrap his arms around Adam from behind. "Maybe some chickens?"
"And ducks," Adam grins and looks up at Tonny, claiming his mouth in a kiss as the real estate agent approaches them again. She looks a bit frazzled, as if she can't believe that these two have picked the last house she could've ever expected them to pick.
"This one?" She asks, bewildered.
"This one," Tonny smiles back at her, holding Adam closer. Adam just nods, looking over where wooden posts have been replaced by metal posts that are due for replacing themselves. The old barn's roof is beginning to sag, but he's sure someone out there could fix it. Even the house is somehow not beyond saving at all. New roof, fix the original windows, some fixing on the fireplace... nothing beyond what their money could fix.
It felt as if the house had waited a long time for them to show up. Holding fast against storms, getting passed over by the occasional errant tornado, and never catching fire. The posts out front even had the perfect wear spots to lean against. Everything was just waiting for them to return, in a more kind future.