Riding My (t.h. x female reader)

Two - Scarf (Y)

2.9k, warnings: fluff, drunken shenanigans, mentions of smut

summary: Tonight you want to forget about uni and celebrate the fact that Tom is back in town for a few days.

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Late November

The earlier rain seems to have stopped falling when you leave the pub after a long night of snacks, pints and loud laughter. School has been overwhelming this term, especially with the amount of research and quizzes and essays you've had to battle through in the last couple of weeks. After class, you worked four hours at the coffee house on campus, and back home, you fought against your loneliness until 2 or 3 am while waiting for Tom to text you back after filming. In the morning, you were left with a blurry mind and flickering eyelids for the next ten to twelve hours.

Suffer through it and repeat.

All that tension has lifted from your shoulders tonight, much thanks to Tom being back home for a long weekend break.

Sadly, he can't take the cold away from your bones, but you still need to thank him for helping you with your big coat and for wrapping your scarf around your neck once you're by the exit of the pub. "Tom?"

"Yeah?" He looks up and you see the usual beautiful spark in his honey-colored eyes despite the obvious tiredness, the red peeking in the corners and the dark shadows underneath.

Yet the words that blurt out of your mouth don't match your previous thought, and you're unable to reason with your brain before they're out.

"I'm really not mad you read my journal." As you speak, you try to stay leveled with his eyes, but as always it's an impossible task to achieve.

"That was weeks ago," Tom laughs, crossing both edges of your scarf over your chest before stuffing them under your heavy coat. "Why are you bringing it up now?"

"Dunno." You shrug and hiccup, feeling his short tug on your large lapels, hard enough to pull you forward. Stumbling into Tom's frame, you seek support on his muscular arms and massage them briefly under your palms, adding, "I suppose you can say I'm a little drunk."

"Yeah, just a little," he counters with a short laugh under his breath. The cold air mixes with the visible cloud of breath he exhaled as he spoke, your hand reaching up pretending to grab it.

Ignoring your drunken reaction, you notice the pub door opening again as Tom slides an arm around you with his eyes down on his phone, the Uber app open on the screen.

"Wait." You grab his arm with both hands, sliding them down until you can hold one of his in between them. He's warm whereas you're always cold, so you squeeze his hand to steal some of his warmth.

As you lean forward, Tom rolls his eyes in an obvious way, probably expecting you to kiss him, but you have another idea. First, you tug his beanie playfully to the side, making him smile idly, then you touch the pinkening tip of his nose with each finger of your right hand. But not with the thumb because that would require a different angle and you're about to fall into him from a sudden dizzying spell.

"What're you doing?" Tom laughs as you straighten back up, feeling his hands holding you up by both elbows. However, once you're in full control of your stance again, you laugh lightly and touch his nose again, now with the other hand.

"Just wanted to boop your nose," you say, shrugging. Tom only tilts his head to the side, but you can see his lips rubbing hard against each other, something tugging at the corner, as though he's trying to contain his laughter.