Traitor - A Tom Hiddleston One Shot

Traitor

Benedict was absolutely ready for this to be over. Eight months of his best friend not showering. Barely eating. Jogging obsessively. He sat at a small round table in the New York City café bouncing his leg to try and work out the nerves. If this didn't work he didn't know what would. It had to be fate that Tom and Caris were in the same city on this one night.

He spotted the curly mess appear in the doorway above all the other heads and hats, and slowly work its way through the mass of people standing by the front counter ordering coffee and treats to go. Tom made eye contact with Benedict and flashed him a weak smile. He wasn't convincing anyone that he was happy.

"Hey, Ben. Good to see you." Tom said as he pulled his chair out and took a seat across from his friend.

"Good to see you too, mate. You look awful." Ben wasn't one for false niceties.

"Thanks." Tom replied. He knew how he looked. He didn't care.

"I ordered you a tea and a scone. I ordered you two scones, actually. And a sandwich."

Tom sighed deeply and put his elbows on the table, leaning his head on his palms. "Thanks, but I'm not very hungry."

He truly did look terrible, Ben thought to himself. His beard was overgrown. Unkempt. His hair was unruly. He had stopped bothering to put in contacts, his glasses had thick frames and made his eyes look ginormous from some angles. He looked the same from the outside, but Ben was willing to bet he was losing weight.

"Whether you are hungry or not you are going to eat the food I have ordered for you." Benedict had grown impatient with Tom's sullenness. He still sympathized, and he longed for a way to make things better, but he was growing irritable in the absence of the friend he once knew. But today he had hope. He might have a way to find Tom some closure.

Thankfully the food and drinks came quickly. Benedict had brought a script he was studying for his next film and tried to focus on it while Tom picked at his food. The two men had seen each other plenty of times since Caris and Tom's split. Each time struggling more and more to carry a conversation. It had become normal for there to be a comfortable silence between them while just enjoying each other's presence.

Tom surprisingly finished all the food in front of him. Ben thought he could see an improvement in his appearance immediately. His skin just didn't look as dull as it had before nourishment. Benedict closed the script and sat it on his crossed legs. He took a deep breath and took the leap.

"I have some information that might interest you." He stated. Tom was matching his pose, crossing his legs and folding his arms across his chest.

"Is it related to the film you're reading?" Tom asked nodding towards the script.

"No. No, it's about Caris actually." Tom's expression shifted immediately. It was somewhere between excited, intrigued, and terrified. "She's in town." Benedict said.

Tom nodded. "Yes well I heard she's been working on some projects. I'm not surprised one of them would take her to New York."

Benedict nodded. "She's on the show with me tonight."

Tom's head cocked to the side. "Really?"

"Yes she's the musical guest." Ben watched Tom comprehend what he just heard.

Ben would be on SNL in less than twelve hours and Caris would be there too. Debuting songs from what Tom could only assume to be her first album. He was so proud. She always wanted to record her own music.

When they had met on the set of 'I See The Light' Caris was hired to give him vocal lessons. Every day he was stunned by how incredible her voice was. He fell in love with how she sang, and it turned to how she spoke, and then how she moved, and before he knew it he completely surrendered himself to her. He spent the most incredible year of his life with her after that. He couldn't understand what he had done to deserve such a magnificent force in his life. He felt too lucky.