ｒｅａｌ ｌｉｆｅ:

Elijah Quentin Beck was officially freaking out. His right leg bopped in an anxious manner as his slender fingers stroked his bony knuckles. The American brunette found himself sitting on a little bench in a big mall. It was light and open, and as the brunette looked up, he could see rays of sun find their way through the glass room that was placed above him.

The hazel eyed young adult had to refrain himself from biting his nails, as it was a nasty habit he developed ever since he was a young kid. A habit he thought he had gotten rid of, but now realised otherwise.

He averted his line of sight from a blank stare in the distance to the watch that was placed on his right wrist, in thought. 3:32 pm, the little clock read.

Thoughts of doubt and irrational questioning rand through his mind, as he, Tom and Zendaya were supposed to meet at 3:30. What if this was just a set up? What if they decided to just ditch him?

The brunette shook his head slightly in frustration. He knew that wasn't the case, but like an annoying little demon on his shoulder, a small voice in the back of his head kept shouting ridiculous and unlikely theories about the reason why the two were late.

The little demon finally shut up however, when a voice spoke up from behind the brunette, "Elijah?"

The mentioned young adult turned around quickly, still slightly in a thoughtful daze, but managed to snap out of it the moment he looked at the person who the voice belonged to.

Tom stood right in front of him, with a goofy grin plastered on his face, but another emotion was laced through it too, something Elijah couldn't really figure out.

The American shot up the moment he saw the other brunette and a timid smile appeared on his face as well, while a few strands of hair fell in front of his eyes caused by the sudden movement.

The brunette pushed his hands through his hair quickly to get rid of the curls and to regain his sight of the Brit in front of him, still with a sheepish smile on his face. He couldn't really fathom the fact that the person he had looked up to, and certainly crushed on for the last couple of years, was standing right in front of him, not even as strangers; as friends.

Elijah took a step forward, only to not realize that there was still a bench very present in front of him and he tumbled forward, heading headfirst towards the marble flooring.

Before he could make impact with the unpleasant looking ground, he came into contact with a set of muscular arms. The blood in his cheeks and ears immediately flushed red and the brunette felt the embarrassment rise in his stomach.

"Okay, I know that you said you fell for me, but I didn't think you'd take it quite that seriously." Tom spoke jokingly as he steadied the flustered brunette back on his feet, who scratched his neck hastily.

Said brunette let out a low, sarcastic laugh, "Ha. Ha. You're funny. You should be a comedian or something."

The two looked at each other for a moment and Elijah was about to add something, but was interrupted by another voice that spoke up from behind Tom, "Honestly, if I had filmed that, I could have sold it for a million dollars."

Tom turned around and rolled his eyes slightly in fake annoyance at the person that would be the owner of the feminine and calm voice.

Elijah eyed the person up and down in both awe and astonishment. Zendaya Coleman stood in front of him and to be honest, he felt incredibly small and unsure of himself at that moment.

"I've heard so much about you!" The tall actress exclaimed as she stepped forward elegantly, spreading her slender arms in the process.

She engulfed Elijah in a hug. The muscles in the hazel eyed brunette tensed up by the action, but tried to hide it as much as possible, as he didn't want to offend the woman in front of him.

What he didn't realise, was that half a metre away, Tom noticed the slight flinch that shook through the brunette's body. A small frown grew visible on his face as he took a mental note of it, seeing that being touched was apparently something he didn't really like.

"You two!" Elijah chuckled timidly as the actress leant back from the embrace.

Zendaya crossed her arms around her chest and gave both young adults that stood next to her a mischievous smirk, which overtook her whole face, "Now boys, lets catch some papz.."

For the next hour and a half, the trio scattered around the mall. Occasionally entering stores and sometimes even buying something from them. At some point, Zendaya had thought it to be a good idea for her to pick out clothes for the brunettes and then force them to wear it.

If the brunette had to be honest, he felt pretty cool in his new white blouse and black skinny jeans, which was something he would normally never wear. Zendaya certainly had a sense for fashion, as he already knew of course.

They had picked up quite a bit of attention as they strolled through the enormous building, something that equally amazed and terrified the brunette. After his long life of anonymity, something like this made him quite uncomfortable.

"Where do we want to go next?" Zendaya cheered as she made a little swing around, to face the two other brunettes that walked behind her, who were mostly carrying her bags.

Elijah shrugged as he really didn't mind, but Tom however, let out a sigh and tilted his head back slightly.

"Can we just sit down somewhere? I'm tired."

The taller brunette nodded as she too felt the exhaustion that came from walking around a mall dawning on her.

"We can sit there," She spoke, pointing at a small restaurant that was at the opposite side of the hall they found themselves in.

As they made their way over, the trio was finally spotted by a guy with a camera, who immediately made their way over to them.

"Oh god.." The American brunette sighed as a mixture of both butterflies and rocks started to kick around in his stomach.

Tom, who walked beside the slightly panicking brunette, looked up and noticed his nerves.

"It'll be alright."

Elijah averted his gaze from the paparazzo to the brunette beside him, "I know. It's just- I'm just nervous. I mean, I've never had this happen before."

The hazel eyed American had a sudden urge to take the other brunette's hand. For comfort maybe? He didn't know. What he did know, was that if he were to hold Tom's hand, he would probably reject him and he would never hear the end of it if the man with the camera photographed it. So he just kept walking, while the slightest hint of a blush formed on his cheeks.

A minute later, the group of three sat down in one of the few booths of the small restaurant, Tom and Elijah on one side and Zendaya on the other.

The two actors ordered a milkshake, while the other brunette just went a glass of water, as he felt like he was going to throw up everything else he would drink because of the nerves.

The paparazzo still followed them and proceeded to make pictures of them from outside of the restaurant. Elijah couldn't really fathom how somebody could possibly want to make this their profession. Stalking people and making them uncomfortable for a living? No thanks.

The brunette kept glancing at the man every few moments, to check if he was still there, and to his disappointment, he never moved an inch.

He tapped his fingers along the red cushions of the booth as he tried to listen to the conversation Zendaya and Tom had strung up. He couldn't really concentrate on it though, as he couldn't get the photographer off his mind.

The rhythmic tapping of his fingers was cut off however when a hand was placed on it, accompanied by a small reassuring squeeze.

The tips of the brunette's ears immediately flushed a bright red by the action and a small blush also started to form on his cheeks.

He looked down for a moment, staring at the hands, but then sheepishly looked up to meet the gaze of two brown eyes.

"It'll be alright," Tom spoke softly as he shot the brunette next to him a reassuring smile, "I promise."

And at moment Elijah truly knew; everything would be alright.

╭₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪╮

[ 24 - 6 - 19 ]

oof this was really bad- i'm sorry