Forget-Me-Not (A Tom Hiddleston Fanfiction)

(47) It's A Small World, After All

Annie turned around, her eyes turning as round as saucers as she took in the sight of the other two thirds of 'the three musketeers'. "It's a small world! Jesus..."

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm Tom." Tom cracked a smile which was quite literally knocked off his face as Annie near enough leaped at the pair, enveloping Nina and Tom in more of a crush than a hug.

"Sit down! Sit down!" Annie insisted multiple times after releasing the two new arrivals from her firm grip. "How are you guys?"

"I'm great, tha-" Nina began to speak but Annie interrupted excitedly.

"No, no, no. I mean you guys. Both of you. As a thing." She clasped her hands together earnestly, clearly waiting for some big news or at least a tiny piece of information on how the two had been getting along, but Nina just blushed and Tom cleared his throat awkwardly.

"We're not a thing, Annie, but thanks for your interest?" Tom ruffled his hair almost nervously, and instantly Annie had gone from overly enthusiastic to scarily apologetic.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry, I thought you were-well, I mean I wanted you to be, but you're not and everyone else wants you to be, and-"

"Hold up a second." Nina frowned. "Everyone else? Who does that include?"

"Everyone on social media!" Annie pulled out her phone, and talked as she typed. "Let's see... Twitter seem to have named you Fiddleston, Tumblr have started with the fan art..."

Tom let out a short laugh. "Well, I haven't been on Twitter for a little while, but I suppose it'll be interesting to do so. Although I would have thought Luke would try to contact me if photos had gotten out." He pulled out his wallet. "Drinks?"

Nina wasn't paying any attention at all. Her hands were tightly clasped in her lap as she sat still, her face paled. Quite frankly, she was terrified. How much did the internet know about her? Did everyone like her? Did everyone hate her? And was she going to tell Tom her reason for being slightly terrified of fame anytime soon?

"Earth to Nina!" Nina heard Molly speak - or rather, yell - the first words she'd heard her say since arriving. "Your 'tall British hunk' wants to know what you'd like?"

"My tall British hunk?" Nina replied, her worried demeanour quickly fading, although to Tom it hadn't gone unnoticed. She noticed Annie sniggering at something on her phone, and she leaned across the table in an attempt to see what was so amusing, but Annie snatched her phone away in an attempt to finish what she was reading.

"Will the Fiddleston ship sail or sink? Let us know what you think below and-"

Nina finally managed to grab the phone off of Annie. "-and we'll update with more pictures soon?! How many pictures are there?"

She scrolled up to see the album of photo's that had been put together by the gossip site. Some of them were taken so out of context, and some of them were just a little...weird. There was only one that Nina liked. At the end of the gallery there was a candid shot of Tom, and he was staring at something intently in the distance. Nina wasn't sure why she liked it - perhaps it was the way his eyes sparkled, or the angle of his stubbly jaw, or his damned adorable smile - but it was one of the nicest shots she'd seen of Tom.

Nina sank into a state of embarrassment quickly, burying her face in her hands, her elbows on the table. She attempted to come out with some sort of clever remark about Fiddleston, but whatever she said just came out muffled by her hands as "bleurgh bleurgh bleurgh".

"Yes, I totally agree with you there. Thank you for sharing your deep and insightful opinion." Annie laughed, reaching to sip at her drink and then remembering that Tom hadn't been to order yet.

"Just get me some black coffee." Nina grumbled into her hands. Tom nodded, and went off to order, but not before glancing fleetingly at Nina. The minute Molly and Annie deemed him out of earshot, they began talking excitedly at a million miles an hour.

"Did you see how he looked at you?"

"Has he kissed you yet?"

"Have you gone on a date yet?"

"When's the wedding, Nina?!" Nina added herself, rolling her eyes as she sat up. Annie and Molly both had the same look of doubt cross their faces at the same time which was kind of creepy, and they both leant forward simultaneously, which caused Nina to involuntarily edge back a little.

"Nina, listen to me. Tom. Likes. You."

"Yes, and I like him. That's why I moved in with him."

"No, no, no, let me try again." Molly sighed. "Tom. Likes. You."

"Stop being such a Fiddlestoner." Nina frowned for a moment, and then seemed to relent slightly. "You said there was fan art..."

Annie yanked out her phone again, pulling up the Tumblr app. "I'm warning you, it's creepy..."

Nina shrugged, taking the phone off of Annie and flicking through the images. Some were detailed, others were downright wacky. Suddenly she could feel warm breath on her skin and a low voice spoke quietly into her ear.

"You should really try dressing up as Sigyn, you know."

"Jesus!!"

"I refer you to my original statement." He sat down with the tray of drinks, grinning across at Nina. "One black coffee, one tea, one latte and one hot chocolate..."

Nina took a huge gulp of her coffee, and it burnt her throat on the way down but she barely had time to notice. Anyways, her face was red enough from Tom's surprise comment.

"So are you into roleplaying, Tom?" Molly wiggled her eyebrows and Tom coughed subtly on his tea.

"I'm an actor, Molly, it's what I do." He coughed once more, regained his composure and lifted an eyebrow at Nina. "Are you okay, there, love?"

Nina was staring into her coffee, daydreaming about something that Tom had yet to hear about. She started so violently that her knees banged against the underneath of the table, and all the mugs rattled. "Nothing." She blurted out, looking around at all the confused faces sitting at her table.

"I asked if you were okay, darling." Tom looked at her with a mixture of amusement and worry, and he didn't realise that Annie and Molly were busy trying not to 'aww' out loud.

"I'm fantastic, thanks." She smiled, holding her mug with both hands and bringing it carefully up to her lips. Tom wasn't convinced however, and he drifted into amiable conversation with Molly and Annie. Meanwhile, Nina fell into thoughts about Christmas presents. What was it that Tom wanted most in the world?

Well, within reason?

Maybe the gossip sites would know, Nina smiled more to herself as she sipped at her black coffee, pulling a slightly disgusted face. She didn't even like black coffee that much. Why on earth did she order black coffee? It was the first thing that came to her mind.

Tom likes black coffee. If she hadn't have been in public, she would have slapped herself. Now she was thinking about Tom. Why on earth was she thinking about Tom?

He always came to mind.

[A/N] one thing i can assure you of is that i am also wondering why on earth fiddleston isn't a thing yet (and another thing i can assure you of is that the chapter title is totally cool, even if it's nothing like all the other chapter titles...). drop a vote for tom, our lord and saviour?
yours truly :) x