The Art Teacher

Chapter 14: Everything Will be Alright

Tom buttoned his double breasted coat and wrapped his fingers in Harrison's.

"Thank you for coming with me, I don't know what I'd do without you" he said and Haz smiled.

"There's not a lot I wouldn't do for you." Harrison replied.

Tom smiled and the two walked out the door. The sun was up and England seemed to be getting it's 2 days of summer, now. If it wasn't for the fact that Tom had to meet up with his ex girlfriend, this would've been a nice Saturday morning. Harrison held onto his hand tighter, knowing his boyfriend was over thinking.

They turned the corner and Tom took a deep breath, the cafe was just up ahead. Harrison stopped him before the door, and Tom gave a surprised look, but he stopped too.

"You ok?" Tom asked and Harrison, instead of replying, pulled Tom in for a kiss. Tom melted into it, and as Harrison kissed him, he realised nothing would matter, as long as they were together for this. Harrison deepened the kiss and Tom kissed him back, his eyes closed. Harrison's eye lashes were so long Tom could feel them tickling his cheek.

"Feel better?" Haz asked, and Tom nodded, managing a laugh, he leaned back into Harrison.

"We better get going" Tom whispered, as they broke away and Harrison nodded.

Tom opened the door and let Harrison walk through first. He spotted Lily immediately and strode over to her, Harrison beside him. Tom unbuttoned his coat and Harrison pulled it off his shoulders for him and put it behind his chair, before taking a seat.

"Well, long time no seen" Tom said dryly.

Lily didn't even reply she just jumped right in.

Lily was never a particularly nice person, she judged everyone and always thought she was better than everyone. Dating spiderMan, only fuelled her large ego. Now that Tom thought about it, he didn't even know how they'd gotten together, but before alcohol, she was a different person, she was kind and caring but it all went wrong, especially when Tom's success took off.

"I want to see my daughter" Lily said.

"Lily, she's not legally your daughter" Tom replied, and he took the coffee he'd ordered, and said thank you to the waitress.

"I have full custody over her, you made that decision yourself 5 years ago when you left her, so I don't know why you want to see her now, I mean she told me she wouldn't mind meeting you, which is all good with me but I just don't see why you want to meet her all of a sudden" Tom asked and Lily rolled her eyes.

"Ok, I get that you're angry I left you and you're probably jealous, as well, because you don't have your shit sorted out and I do, but she's my daughter. She's just as much mine as she is yours, and I assume you've done a frightful job bringing her up, it's about time someone genuine takes over." Lily sneered back.

"Oh so that's how you're going to talk? And you think I don't have my shit sorted out?" Tom asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, clearly you don't, I mean now you have a pathetic boyfriend, last I knew you were straight, or rather, you were gay and you couldn't figure it out, while you were with me. Or maybe you just can't admit these things to yourself. And I bet you she's going to need changing especially if she's lived with you the past 5 years." Lily snapped.

"I think you should keep me out of this, I'm here for support, not for you to insult me, this is between you and Tom" Harrison defended.

"And Lily, if that's how you want to talk to me, I guess we'll go. She's a lovely girl and if your going to say those things about her, well I don't want to be here." Tom said, standing.

"No No NO!" She shouted. Earning looks from other customers.

Tom sat back down. Harrison leant over and whispered in his ear.

"Darling, I think we've done enough "being nice" let's just get to the point, she's awful"

Tom nodded, and took Harrison's hand under the table.

"I don't want your horrible influence under my daughter, by the way you've acted towards me and Harrison, I don't think I want you with my daughter at all. But.... that's not my decision is it. It's Hazel's decision and she said she wants to meet you, and I will respect her decision. She's old enough to make those choices for herself. Whether or not I like it. My job is to give her opportunities, not take them away from her. If she wants to meet you, I understand that, but Lily I will not tolerate that behaviour from you, I put up with it for 3 years and I won't stand another second of it." Tom said, and with that he and Haz left.

"Oh my god" Tom said as soon as he'd left, he breathed a sigh of relief. Harrison pulled him into his arms.

"I think you handled it perfectly." Harrison reassured, and Tom smiled.

They stood there for a moment, Harrison just holding Tom, as he breathed.

"Come on, there's so many better things we can do then worry over this on a Saturday" Harrison noted and Tom laughed.

"What're you suggesting?" Tom asked, raising an eye brow, and smirking.

Haz blushed, "I mean Hazel is with Harry, but......." Haz trailed off.

"But?" Tom continued.

"But, only if you're comfortable" Harrison said, and Tom laughed, entwining their hands.

"Let's just go home. Now!" Tom exclaimed, pulling Haz along.

As soon as Tom had closed the door, he was slammed against the wall, enveloped his Harrison's soft, warm lips. The kisses were gentle to start with, since this was the first time they'd done anything like this. Sure, they'd made out and all, but this was something they had not done before. As soon as Haz knew Tom wanted to do it, he picked up the pace. His kisses getting harder, as he fought for dominance. Tom didn't even resist, he just let Haz in. Harrison picked Tom up, taking things to their room and one thing led to another.

___________

Harrison lay down gasping for breath.

"We should go and get Hazel after we clean up" Tom said, curling up next to Harrison.

"In a sec" Harrison replied.

"Well, I said we'd get her in the evening so I guess we could wait, it's only 11:30am" Tom replied.

So, the two cleaned up and snuggled together, back in bed.

"I've never done that before" Tom confessed.

Harrison sat up, and looked down and Tom confused.

"I mean, like done that...with a guy" Tom replied, hiding his face.

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with that" Harrison comforted, taking Tom's hands away from his face.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're adorable?" Haz asked.

"Just now" Tom offered and Harrison laughed.

"I love you" Harrison whispered, "I really truly do, I've never felt this way about a person before, the feeling of never wanting to leave your side, and the feeling of knowing my whole world would be ripped in two if you ever left me, knowing that I'm a better person around you, all those feelings, have shown me how much I really love you" Harrison said, and at that moment time stopped. The whole world stopped. Everything stopped. The birds stopped flying and chirping, the wind stopped blowing, the waves stopped moving, everything just stopped.

Tom took a moment to take it all in. Tears filled his eyes, and no matter how hard he tried to keep them in, he knew they'd fall eventually. He leaned forward and kissed Harrison and time started again. Everything moved again, the wind continued blowing and the waves continued crashing. Their kiss was soft and sweet. If you thought of the moment where you felt unstoppable, where you felt you could conquer the world, and multiplied it by a thousand that would explain how they were feeling.

"I love you too" Tom whispered back as he leaned his forehead against his lovers.

And that specific moment, that lasted for all of half a minute was enough to make up for everything that had happened earlier in the morning.