𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐲 𝐁𝐨𝐲 - 𝐓 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝

10

Real Life

by 3:39 Tom was ready to go.
he'd gone to the Tesco Express on the corner of his street and bought three bunches of flowers, some brown string, and brown paper, as well as some milk and bread that his mother asked for and some chocolate for his brothers, cause he's a good sibling.

when he got home, he brought the shopping into the kitchen, dropping the flowers onto counter gently and putting the milk away before he grabbed the chocolates, taking them to his siblings and slinging them at their faces.

"think fast!" 

"oi!" Harry cried out when the aero bar smacked him on the forehead.

"well i did warn you." Tom shrugged and began turning around but did a full 360° catching the pillow Harry tried to hit him with when his back was turned.

Harry stared at him blankly as he threw the pillow back onto the bed, landing it perfectly where it was before.

"fucking spidey-sense." he muttered turning back to the computer where he was editing something.

Tom chuckled as he went back into the kitchen, he grabbed the flowers and began arranging them into two bouquets, one bigger than the other. back when he was doing smaller acting jobs, Tom volunteered at a florists for a small role he had, it was hard work at first but Tom really got into the arranging so often brought his mum home handmade bouquets, but this time they weren't for his mum. 

when he'd finished he had a few of the flowers left over, so, he placed them in a small vase of water and put them in his room so he knew when he'd need to go get them new flowers.

once he'd wrapped the flowers with the brown paper and string to make them look more professional, he placed them in some water and went to go change.

meaning by 3:39 he was ready to go.
but it was way too early to drive over.

so, he did the one thing any good older sibling did.

he annoyed his brothers.

when it got to 4:08 Tom grabbed his phone, keys, wallet and the flowers and headed to his car. he arrived at 4:17 so he stayed in the car for a little while to chill out before heading into his best friend's house, where his best friend wouldn't be. he scrolled through his socials, liking a few tweets, fan photos and responding to a few DMs before he got the courage to go inside at 4:27. he put on his sunglasses, grabbed the bouquets from the backseat, locked his car and headed for the door. 

Tom had to do a bit of rearranging in order to press the doorbell. then he waited. not for long though, as, as soon as he'd pressed the button, the door flew open and Emily stood there, a small smile coating her lips.

"hi."

"hi, these are for you." Tom smiled passing over the smaller bouquet once they were in the house.

"you didn't have to!" she grinned down at them before looking up to Tom who just shrugged. "thank you, they're beautiful." 

the two stood in the hallway looking at each other for a few minutes, Tom was grateful for Emily being in an oversized black Reebok hoodie and some grey sweats because he didn't feel over or under dressed in his grey Nike hoodie and black sweats. 

"uhm." Emily sighed breaking the silence. "come through, mum's in the kitchen, everything else will be outside, i'm just going to drop these in my room."

"of course."

Tom wandered through the familiar hallway, smiling sadly at the photos of everyone in the hallway, remembering being there for some of them himself, he found a group picture of him, Emi, Haz and Dan, he sighed, grabbing his phone and took a picture of it, setting it as his home screen. 

approaching the kitchen he heard Wendy humming along to the radio.

"who was it Emily darling?" she asked facing the sink.

"no one special." Tom smiled.

Wendy dropped the dish she was scrubbing, causing the water to splash up and narrowly miss her face. she spun and saw Tom standing in the doorway with the big bouquet of flowers and her eyes welled up.

"oh Tom, hunny." she walked over to him swiftly, wrapping him up in a hug. "it's so good to see you." 

"it's good to see you too, Mum."

"what are you doing here?" 

"i brought you these." he grinned passing over the flowers. 

"oh they're wonderful, hunny."

"good, i'm glad you like them. Emi invited me over, i hope thats okay?"

"it's more than okay, you're welcome anytime hunny, you're gonna be family after all."

"i am?" Tom questioned, slightly confused.

"of course, you're going to marry my Emily aren't you? you always said to me you would growing up."

Tom chuckled at the woman he'd always classed as his second or third mum, "i mean that was little Tom's plan, yes. but i don't know how that will go down anymore, especially since she's with Dylan now." 

"i don't like that boy, he was awful to our Em growing up and now it's like he didn't torment her for years."

Tom hummed watching her place the flowers in a vase. 

"i'm not too keen either, but i've not been here long enough to see them together properly."

"Daniel didn't like him much," Wendy sighed wiping her eyes "but he liked you Tom, he loved you. he would often ask how long until you'd 'officially be his brother." 

Tom huffed out a small laugh as his throat began to close up. god, he missed Danny.

"i miss him." he confessed biting his lip harshly to hold in his tears. "i hadn't spoken to him in ages, cause of the films and... i regret it so much - not reaching out to you all. i hate myself for it."

Tom cried then, feeling suddenly overwhelmed with grief, Wendy instantly pulled him into a hug shushing him into her neck. "he'd forgive you, hunny. of course he'd forgive you." 

when he calmed down, the two joined Emily in the garden, where they reminisced and watched the sun go down, at some point Emily had curled up into Tom's side and he felt at home again.

a feeling he'd missed for years.