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It was supposed to be a fun family day out with Josh, that was all. Gordon and the rest of the Science Team would arrive at the pumpkin patch with Josh and let him run loose, with all five of them there, there would always be eyes on him. Josh was old enough now to not need constant attendance, being 12 (Almost 13, he always insisted), but Gordon was still just a bit paranoid, and wanted him to be safe.
It was also harder and harder, now, to find time all of them could spend together. The Boomers (and G-Man, because apparently they were dating him, which weirded Gordon out a bit, but it wasn’t really his business as long as they were happy) had their own in-home lab they spent most of their time in, Coomer specifically had a YouTube channel that was something along the lines of “NileRed if it was run by a cheerful chaotic old grandpa” that was doing pretty well, as independent YouTube channels go. Benrey was a twitch streamer, also surprisingly popular, that did some freelance video editing work. (Gordon was fairly sure that Benrey edited Coomer’s videos for him.) Tommy was a schoolteacher, now, which both surprised and didn’t surprise Gordon when he was told about it.
It just made sense that Tommy would be good with kids. His first two years of teaching after he speedran a degree in education directly after getting out of Black Mesa were spent in a middle school teaching rambunctious 6th graders, but this year a retirement had him moved up to teaching A.P. Physics in high school, the students of which were reportedly much easier to work with than middle schoolers, all being 17-19 year old academic overachievers. Gordon didn’t think he could ever spend that much time around kids - he himself had gotten a job in a lab as a design physicist - but he absolutely admired everything Tommy was doing.
See, that was the problem. It was supposed to be a fun day out with his son and his friends, and his thoughts just kept returning to Tommy. He couldn’t stop looking at him, thinking about him, drifting towards him.
In Gordon's defense, he just looked so pretty today. He’d grown his hair out since Black Mesa, it brushed at his shoulders. These days, Tommy alternated between his favorite propeller cap and a patch-covered beanie that Benrey called his “Statement Piece,” and today he was wearing the beanie (Gordon had made or bought at least half of the patches on that hat, and it made him feel weak in the knees to see him wearing it so proudly.) It was a chill autumn day, so Tommy was wearing a similarly patch-covered leather jacket. Gordon had never thought Tommy would be that kind of person in Black Mesa, but apparently Tommy was pretty punk.
(Gordon had been informed since his first incredulous outburst to Tommy about not thinking of him as the type to be punk, that it wasn’t just a fashion style, it was about an attitude of community and individualism and solidarity and betterment of life for all marginalized people. Gordon understood why it appealed to Tommy after that, in fact, he had made his first patch for Tommy after hearing it, as both an apology and an offering of understanding. He was down bad, even then.)
The problem, was that Gordon was in love with Tommy, and had been for years. God, he was so fucking lucky that the Boomers were busy with Josh, currently breaking the clearly stated rule of “no running in the corn pit” to be chased by his son, who was holding one of the toy trucks supplied by the pumpkin patch to play in the Corn Pit with while Gordon held onto Josh’s favorite cowboy action figure. Tommy stood next to him, smiling in that small, mysterious way of his, with his sharp golden eyes, sharp jaw, and gorgeous laugh lines at the corners of his eyes and around his mouth. Gordon could stare all day, but he had to try not to. It would be rude, and worse, Tommy might figure out what’s going on in Gordon’s head if he caught him staring too many times.
So, looking at the objective chaos before them, it was. One of the employees was now scolding the old men and his son. Gordon sighed and shook his head with a smile.
“Thank god that’s not us trying to get them to stay in line, huh?” He joked to Tommy, who chuckled in response.
“S-someone will have to tell Bubby not to try to light this place on fire while we leave…”
“Well, it is NOT gonna be me, I’m not catching that heat from him.” Tommy chuckled, though Gordon couldn’t discern why, he just smiled up at Tommy with what had to be the stupidest expression known to Man on his face.
“Pff- was that a pun, Mr. Freeman?”
“Wh– oh, shoot, not on purpose, but that was a good one, huh?”
“It w-was! Good job!”
And god, did his heart just melt. It was so silly to be so proud of making him laugh, but it made him glow all the same. The moment drifted off into comfortable silence. It made Gordon’s chest ache. He loved Tommy so, so much.
And there kept being moments that day. At the potato sack slides, he watched Joshua beg to sit in Tommy’s lap because he was the tallest, and it would make them go down the hill the fastest, and it made his heart swell to see how well Tommy treated his child. At the petting zoo, Tommy cooed over the goats in their enclosure, talking to them just how he talked to Sunkist, complimenting their horns and telling them how sweet they looked, even if they were being nuisances to the other guests. In the corn maze, the way he commandeered the group into finding the way out without the map (eventually finding Benrey taking a nap in a dead end when Gordon assumed he had disappeared to the gift shop to ogle the tiny gourds).
And finally, on the hayride. Gordon had Josh on one side and Tommy on the other, and Josh was of course ooh-ing and ahh-ing at everything to see, the corn and the pumpkins and all of the silly painted plywood decorations lining the road to make sure the ride wasn’t too boring for the younger ones. Of course Gordon glanced this way and that, and engaged with Josh whenever he pointed something out, as any good father should, but any free moment he had was looking at Tommy.
God, he was beautiful in this light. The golden afternoon sun shone on his face and lit up his eyes, showing every crinkle of amusement on his face as he watched the scenery go by. Tommy was meant to exist in the autumn, Gordon thought, admiring the way the sun caught Tommy’s dark hair and made it shine. Though, he’d thought the same things in the spring, the summer, and the winter, so maybe it was just that Tommy was the most gorgeous, kind man he’d ever met.
Gordon fidgeted with his phone for a moment, debating. He had his moment when Tommy looked away, laughing at something Benrey said, just something inane— Gordon held his phone up and snapped a picture of Tommy’s perfect smile, quickly putting it back down to talk to Josh. He’d… look at it later. Yeah.
He enjoyed the rest of the hayride, and managed to keep his thoughts off of Tommy for the most part. (a lie, obviously. He just chose to ignore it.)
Later at the gift shop, the Boomers were offering to buy Joshua something from the store, anything he wanted. This left Gordon, Tommy, and Benrey to wander by themselves. Gordon, never one to actually verbalize anything he was thinking, was inspecting a shelf of plush dogs, looking for one to give to Tommy.
At that moment, Tommy appeared behind him, a soft “Hi, Mr. Freeman!” being his only warning. Gordon jumped what felt like five feet into the air, then wheezed with a hand on his knee and the other over his heart.
“Jeeze, Tommy, we have to get you a bell or something, you have to stop sneaking up on me.”
“S-sorry, Mr. Freeman, I didn’t mean to. Are you looking for a plush toy?” Gordon nodded, catching his breath.
“Yeah, man, I am, I couldn't really decide, though.”
“Oh, w-well I have a golden retriever of this brand, they’re very high quality!”
“Oh, shit, you do? Huh. Hey, what’s this one? Is it uhh… Saint Bernard?” Gordon held up a dog that was black, had a white belly, and small brown accents. Tommy started laughing, he even put up his hand to try to cover his mouth, and shook his head. “What, what is it? Come on, man, you don’t have to laugh at me!”
Tommy wheezed another small laugh behind his hand, obviously trying to stop. “N-no, I’m sorry, that’s a Burmese Mountain Dog, Mr. Freeman! Y-you, uh, got the B’s right, though!”
Oh, jeeze, he was making himself look like an idiot. Misidentifying breeds, in front of the guy with a special interest in dog breeds and the American Kennel Club. He would never live this down. “Aw, come on, man, I was so sure of that one…” He internally begged himself to shut up, but his brain and his mouth always seemed to disconnect whenever Tommy laughed. He was rewarded with a renewed round of giggles. “Man, I’m gonna have to get this for you to thank you for your, uh, divine dog knowledge.”
“Th-that– you don’t need to do that, Mr. Freeman,” Tommy said through his laughter, but Gordon caught the way his eyes sparkled looking at the plush.
“No, come on, dude, we both have decent jobs, I can get you a gift from time to time! You deserve it for this, I'm really grateful for you coming out to help watch my kid today.”
“It’s nothing, Mr. Freeman, I would do any— I’m always willing to help you out with Josh!”
“Still, I know you have to deal with kids all day at work, you don’t have to.”
“I want to, it’s really alright! I like spending time with you!” The works strike Gordon’s heart like Cupid’s arrow, Cupid really has to stop wasting those things on him, he’s already in love.
“Hey, I’m glad you do. You wanna collect the others and see if they’re ready to cash out?”
“S-sounds good to me!”
After playing rodeo with the other members of the Science Team by rounding them up and herding them to the checkout counter, the group of them debriefed leaning against Gordon’s car. Everyone said goodbye to Joshua (Gordon was still so amazed at how much they all loved him), when Gordon realized that the plush Burmese was still in his bag. He took it out gingerly, petting its soft fur, before approaching Tommy.
“Hey, nearly forgot. Here, this is yours.” He held out the plush for Tommy, who took it happily, a sappy smile spreading across his face.
“Th-thank you, Gordon, this means a lot!”
“Hey, it’s nothing! Just wanna show you I appreciate you, you know?”
“Gordon, you haven’t given ME an appreciation plushie,” Coomer interrupted, making Gordon sigh with exasperated fondness.
“I’ll get you a plushie next time, alright, Dr. Coomer?”
Bubby folded his arms haughtily. “Gordon, you bitch, you’re not even offering me a plushie?”
“Yeah… fucked up, bro, what if we all want plushies? You givin’ Toms here special treatment?”
Gordon felt his face heat up, and he sputtered for a moment. “Look, I'll get all of you plushies the next time I see you, Okay? You happy?”
“Very Happy, Gordon! We’ll be seeing you next week for dinner!” Coomer called as he and Bubby disappeared into the sea of cars, heading for their own. Benrey threw Tommy and Gordon a peace sign before no-clipping through the floor, leaving Gordon and Tommy alone together with Josh in the car reading his book.
“Man, where am I gonna find plushies for all of them? Do you think they’ll mind if I get them all the same plushie?”
“They— they probably will.”
“Shoot.”
“Yeah.”
Gordon sighed and kicked the dirt with the toe of his boot. “Well, I’ll see you at the next one?”
“I’ll see you, Mr. Freeman!”
Tommy pulled Gordon into a hug, something he wasn’t expecting but wasn’t averse to, and he hugged Tommy back with barely a moment’s notice. He could feel the plush in Tommy’s hand pressed against his back, and he felt all kinds of warm.
When Tommy stepped back, he spent a few moments dazed.
“Alright, Mr. Freeman, buh-bye!”
“A-alright, man, bye.”
Tommy headed off towards his own car, and Gordon stared til he couldn’t see him anymore.
Gordon got into his car, buckled up, and started the engine. Before he left, though, he checked his phone, and there, staring at him, was the picture of Tommy on the hayride. It was a perfect picture, he looked so, so goddamn pretty. After a moment’s hesitation, he set the picture as his home screen.
God, he was fucked.