If there was one fact of life of which Tom was certain of is that he is certainly not a coward.
He does however know when to make a strategic retreat which is why he was currently not hiding in his office. If anyone did happen to ask then he was sorting out the accounts - nobody needed to know that they weren't due for auditing for another six months.
What lead him to end up in this current predicament involved Harry - obviously it did because everything in his life now involved Harry. Which most assuredly isn't a bad thing per say however it can lead to troublesome situations such as the one he's in now.
Harry was undoubtedly a key role in his life and lately he had been involving him more and more, not just in the business but also in his own personal business - like so personal that Tom had now asked Harry if he had wanted to move in.
Harry had obviously said yes but that now lead to certain issues that needed to be resolved - the main being that they needed to inform Severus and Lucius.
It sounded simple in theory however in reality life could never be so simple as to just say 'Hey, I'm moving in with my long-term boyfriend' and for everyone to then be happy.
So no, Tom was not looking forward to it.
However; what must be done, must be done – just not right at that very moment.
Harry knew Tom was hiding in his office, he was sure that if he had walked in and asked then Tom would have outrageously defended his view that he was not in fact hiding but doing all the very important work that was definitely on a deadline.
Despite whatever Tom believed though Harry did read the memos sent out on the calendar. He knew very well what needed to be done and more importantly when, he was not an idiot. Harry kept on top of important deadlines and the next important affair was renewing the car insurance and that wasn't for another month. Thinking on that topic note though Harry really should start to plan out when to sort through all of that, even if what they operated was slightly illegal an uninsured car would draw plenty of attention and if anything did occur then insurance was amazing at paying for anything if it did have to go to court (always pay extra for legal protection!)
But regarding the matter at hand, he would give his cowardly boyfriend the afternoon to try and regain some composure before he was reintroduced to Sev and Luc that evening as his boyfriend. See - Harry could be so nice at times.
That's not to say Harry wasn't feeling slightly nervous as to how everything would go either. Quite frankly he was terrified, they had taken him in when he was alone and needed all the help he could get and since then they had always reassured him that he was a part of their family. Plus it would be pretty hypocritical of them to judge him, but you could never really be sure of how people would react.
But Draco already knew and he was fine with it and if it did all go terribly then he had lived on his own before and he could do it again. But this time he had Tom who would definitely do anything to make him happy and they could be happy together if worst came to worst.
So Harry would allow Tom the afternoon to panic just the same as Harry was allowing himself an afternoon to panic - then tomorrow everything would be out in the open.
Severus stared at the pot on the stove just daring it to boil over.
'You do know a watched pot never boils, don't you?' Lucius glanced up from the across the table where he sat reading the newspaper to look at Severus.
'Well that's not even useful regarding this situation. And I need to keep watching it because I know the dastardly thing will boil over just as soon as I look away.'
Lucius sighed and folded up his paper to give his full attention to Severus.
'Everything will go fine this evening. You don't need to stress about it.
We already know that Harry is bringing his boyfriend – who we all know is Tom although we pretend not to so Harry can tell us when he feels he is ready to let us know. There is nothing to worry about; we will act surprised, tell Tom that he better treat Harry right and then have a lovely meal. Nothing is going to go wrong.'
Partway through his speech Lucius got up to draw Severus into his arms and envelope him in a hug. No matter how hard a front Severus always tried to portray he was always such a worrier.
'But I just worry. What happens if he decides he can't tell us, or if he thinks he has to lie about it?' Severus kept muttering objections under his breath as Lucius tried to shush him.
'We will let Harry know that we will always love and care for him just the same as we do for Draco. If he chooses not to tell us then we respect his choice and wait until he feels like he can. Okay?'
Severus nodded into Lucius shoulder and they stayed hugging.
Their lovely moment was interrupted by a splashing and a hiss as the saucepan boiled over causing Severus to rush over swearing blindly.
Later on that evening the meal went exactly as Lucius had said. Harry divulged, Severus and Lucius told Tom that he had better treat Harry right and then they all enjoyed a delightful meal even if the pasta was a tad overcooked.
Tom was just shocked that life really could be so simple as to say 'Hey, I'm moving in with my long-term boyfriend' and for everyone to then be happy. He didn't need to know that Severus and Lucius were planning on having a much more in-depth conversation with him once Harry wasn't there to protect him.
Happy new year! Even if this is 4 days late! Criticism is welcomed, did anyone else find it a bit blocky or is it just me? What does anyone else want to see next? As always favourites and comments are greatly appreciated, have a great day!