Forget-Me-Not (A Tom Hiddleston Fanfiction)

(51) Let's Love

Nina got up, thanking her lucky stars that she was wearing her less tatty pyjamas, as she pushed herself off of the bed and made her way over to the door. Who on earth would it be at this time? Unless...

Her heart skipped a beat as she was met with piercing blue eyes that she'd seen many, many times before. "Nina! Thank god!" He gasped softly, flying forward and enveloping her in a tight hug that took her by surprise.

She wrapped her arms around him a little hesitantly. "What... How did you...?" Nina asked lamely, pulling back a little bit, noticing something outside of the door. Was that... Was that his suitcase? "Just..." She sighed in defeat. He'd won, he'd won her over once again and there was nothing that she could do about it. "Come in, I guess."

"What were you thinking?" He nudged his suitcase in and shut the door behind him as she perched on the edge of the bed, suddenly looking very awkward, not able to make eye contact with him. "I'm not scolding you, Nina, I just want to know." He shrugged off his coat, hung it up and went to sit beside her, placing a gentle arm around her shoulders.

"I just... I really did need a break, Tommy boy. I was getting..." Nina frowned, trying to think of a good word, but failed, finishing her sentence a little lamely. "...stressed."

"You could have talked to me if you really felt that awful?" Tom looked down at her, his eyes scanning over hers, then her nose, leading down to her lips and jaw... He pinched himself subtly and looked back up. Nina just shrugged, completely put on the spot. She wasn't expecting this at all, so why was she beginning to feel like it was meant to happen?

"I'm so sorry, Tom, I don't know what came over me." She said quietly, managing to make eye contact with him from underneath part of her unruly hair. But now was not the time to be thinking about haircuts. It was almost midnight.

"Oh! I almost forgot that you forgot one of your presents." Tom jumped up, going to his coat and pulling out a box from the pocket. "I want you to open it at midnight, because it's the most important present I wrapped for you." He grinned almost childishly but Nina noticed something more in his expression that she couldn't quite put her finger on.

Five. He handed her the box and she looked at it. It was a simple enough box, a plain silvery kind of colour with a simple red ribbon tied around it.

Four. Nina's fingers deftly undid the ribbon, and pulled it off carefully, putting it to the side where she'd be able to find it at a later time.

Three. She slid open the box and there were layers of tissue wrapping up something dainty and soft-feeling. How many layers were there? Was this a pass the parcel in disguise?

Two. Tom came back to sit by her on the bed, smoothly putting his arm around her shoulders again as he watched her unwrap the present, nervous excitement filling his stomach.

One. Nina pulled off all the layers of tissue to reveal a beautiful hand-crafted mistletoe. The leaves were a silky green felt and the berries were soft to the touch. "Is this a Christmas tree decoration or something?" Nina laughed quietly, knowing full well what it was.

The clock on the wall struck midnight as Nina held up the mistletoe to the light above them to admire it further. "Merry Christmas, Nina." Tom said sincerely, his voice low as she realised where she was holding the mistletoe.

Her arm dropped as he cupped her cheek gently, one arm still around her shoulders as he kissed her softly. The mistletoe wound up being dropped on the bed behind Tom and forgotten about as Nina's hands found their way to the nape of Tom's neck, both of them getting lost in the moment.

Nina pulled away first, her hands still at the back of Tom's neck, his face mere centimetres from hers. "Tom, I-"

"Say no more." He moved his warm hand away from her cheek and pressed his index finger lightly to her lips. "Let me talk, Nina, I've got something I've been meaning to get off of my chest." Nina's blissful expression fell right off of her face and Tom couldn't help but be amused and laugh, which at least made Nina look a little less worried. "No, it's not bad, I promise. It's really not a bad thing. It's just a confession I've been harbouring for a little while." Nina was speechless and the room was silent, before Tom calmly cleared his throat and took her hands between his gently. "Nina, I've found myself falling in love with you and I've given up trying to ignore it for the sake of our professional relationship. I want to date you, Nina, I want to call you my girlfriend, and..." He lifted one of his hands and ran it through his hair, laughing nervously. "God, this is awfully forward, isn't it?"

"No, it's...." Nina reached out and tentatively took one of his hands. "It's a great Christmas present, actually..." She laughed nervously too. "Actually, I kind of got you the same thing too..."

"You bought me mistletoe?" Tom was bemused; he lifted an eyebrow, the fingers on one of his hands tangled with hers.

"Guess we had the same idea..." Nina was still very nervous, still not sure if this was some kind of elaborate prank. Was she being filmed? How much had Tom been paid? She stopped her frantic thoughts and focused on the positives instead. The real positives. The feeling was mutual. What she'd felt towards Tom... He felt that same way, and with that dawning quickly on her she wanted to jump up for joy.

Tom Hiddleston was in love with her. He could have had anyone he wanted, but he'd picked her! No more Kyle, no more awkward tension that could be cut with a blunt spork... Things were looking up for once.

"Nina, are you crying?" Tom reached up a hand to his cheek which had become damp and it was only then that Nina realised that due to the fact she couldn't jump for joy, she'd involuntarily channeled her emotions in another way.

[A/N] i've been waiting for this for so long! i was beginning to get frustrated with myself for dragging this out a bit (and i've realised that i have better, unpublished works) but here we are. drop a vote if you're not frustrated with me?
yours truly :) x