Forget-Me-Not (A Tom Hiddleston Fanfiction)

(45) Nine In The Afternoon

A few days later, Nina was still dragging her heels on the whole Christmas shopping malarkey, and refused to touch a single piece of wrapping paper or festive chocolate until at least the 1st of December. Tom was desperate to put up a tree in their apartment, but again, Nina refused to do so until it was actually December. She was a bit odd like that.

She was lounging around on the sofa one morning - or was it afternoon? - when Tom was battling with the shower (which seemed to be depriving him of hot water) whilst flicking through channels on the television, trying to find something that wasn't a re-run of some random 90's show Christmas special, when her phone rang. It took Nina a few moments to work out where it was, then she realised it was ringing from the bathroom.

How on earth did she leave it in there?

Nina walked almost silently up to the bathroom door, and tapped on it lightly. The flow of water was brought to a halt and Tom opened the door slightly, poking his head out of the narrow gap. Only then did it hit Nina that her fairly attractive flatmate was probably naked on the other side of the door.

"My phone is in there somewhere..." Nina said, trying to block some odd thoughts out of her mind. Goddammit!

"Oh, right. Give me a second." He shut the door for a moment, and soon reappeared with a towel around his waist, another around his shoulders and Nina's phone was in his hand. "This the one?" They both looked down at the screen to see an outdated picture of Nina's mother flashing up on the screen.

"Thanks." Nina smiled, taking the phone from Tom's hand and answering it, wandering into the living room. "Hey, Mum."

"Hello, sweetheart. How are you?" Her mother sounded quite agitated and Nina wondered why.

"I'm fine, Mum, why? Has something happened?"

"No, no..." Nina was sure she heard her mother mumble something along the lines of 'not yet' before she continued talking. "So, how's Thomas?"

"Tom is great, thanks for asking..."

"Look, dear, I was wondering what you were doing in the next week or two. Or even three. Your father and I are going away on holiday with the gang and we wanted to bring your presents before Christmas. We're having Molly and her girlfriend visit right before we go away-"

"Slow down, slow down." Nina ran a hand through her hair. "Molly has a girlfriend?"

"Yes, Ann, or something like that. They're moving in together. How sweet."

"That's...great news." Nina stated lamely. "Where's James going to be staying? Surely you're not leaving him alone?"

"No, no, that has yet to be...finalised."

"Finalised? What is he, some kind of office document?" Nina retorted quickly, but soon clamping a hand over her mouth. "Oh, God, Mum, I'm so sorry-"

"No, no, sweetheart, it's fine. We all have our off days." Mrs Ferguson laughed, but the laugh sounded empty and somewhat forced. "James is...fine. He's fine. Anyway, we were thinking of popping over to see you at some point next week, dropping in your presents and what have you."

"No, no, no. Say that again, tell me James is fine, and convince me." Nina began to pace slightly, running a hand through her hair again. A bleep in her ear startled her suddenly, and as soon as she moved her hand away she realised her mother had hung up. Nina threw her phone to the sofa in frustration and collapsed down next to the small frustrating device, sprawling across the assortment of plush cushions settled across the sofa with her head draping over the back, her eyes closed,

"Nina?" A voice came from in front of her - or was it technically behind her? - and she sat up. Nope. Behind her. She turned around, balancing on her knees as she looked up at Tom. A very... shirtless Tom. "Are you okay, darling?"

"I am, but I don't know about James." Nina sighed, trying not to focus too much on...him. "I'm worried, Tom, I'm worried about him and it's stressing me out. Do I get him a present or not? When do I get my parents presents? What do I get?" She sighed quietly. "God, I do hate Christmas sometimes."

"We can put the tree up, for something to do." Tom suggested, anticipating the horrified look that soon appeared on Nina's face. "Perhaps not, then. You watch out, I've got mistletoe and I'm not afraid to use it."

"I dare you, Hiddleston."

"Oh, it's on, Ferguson." Tom stepped back, frowning for a moment. "I should probably put a shirt on."

"Please do." Nina said under her breath, not loud enough for Tom to hear as he wandered away in search of clothes. Maybe she would agree to putting the tree up. Just for something to do instead of staring - somewhat wistfully - at her flatmate.

*****

"It's still five whole days until December, Tom, I can't believe you're making me do this." Nina chuckled, dragging a box of baubles from a cupboard across the room and to the corner where the tree would be put up.

"You suggested erecting the tree now, so I agreed." He looked innocently at her, his hair still damp and messy. Dammit!

"Don't say that word, it's creepy."

"What word?"

"You know which word, Tom." Nina raised an eyebrow, picking up some tinsel and wrapping it around her shoulders. "Looks great, huh?" Tom just smiled in response, opening up the box and gathering up all the necessary artificial parts to be able to erect the tree. "Hey, now I just need baubles for earrings..."

"Or you could help me lift this up." Tom motioned to a huge metal pole that would have to be stood up before they could start arranging the fake and itch-inducing branches anywhere. It took them a fair amount of time to be able to get it right, and after three upside-down branches, two eye-pokes and and an almost-collapse of the skeleton of the tree, Tom and Nina managed to get something that looked vaguely like a fir tree.

"It's smaller than me! Nina, look, it's tiny." Tom stood next to it, a stupidly large grin on his face.

"Only a few inches between you, Tommy boy. You're not that tall." Tom left the side of the tree and stood in front of Nina, looking down at her with his eyebrows lifted. "Okay, I take that back!"

[A/N] who else would tom tower over? definitely me! drop a vote for my effort on this chapter - seriously, it took me like two and a half weeks to write...
yours truly :) x