ｒｅａｌ ｌｉｆｅ :

Elijah felt panicked, nervous, excited, terrified and everything in between. It was like all those emotions were having a mixing party in both his mind and stomach, which made the young brunet want to throw up.

What didn't help, was that the plane he was currently on, was making its way downwards. Not like it was crashing or anything, just a normal, everyday landing, but it was still enough for the young adult to tens up in his seat at every hint of turbulence that rushed past the plane's wings.

Oh, how he wished Tom would be there with him and just hold his hand, and distract him.

The Brit in question had flown to London a few days earlier, wanting to spend his break from filming with his family. Elijah had done the same. He had spent the last week at his old home, making up for the fact that he wouldn't be there on Christmas morning. That particular task wasn't as easy, since both Mallory and Levi had learned the art of guilt-tripping quite well and forced the him to go everywhere with them.

Another small wave of turbulence shook through the slender brunet's body, making him tighten the grip he had on the plastic armrest, knuckles turning white.

A soft hand was placed on his, and Elijah whipped his head to his right. An older lady was sat next to him, a kind look in her eyes, patting his clenched hand slightly. His first instinct was to pull the hand away in panic at the touch, but something inside of him told him it was fine, so he let his tense fingers relax ever so slightly under the warm touch.

"Flying is not your thing, huh?" The lady spoke sweetly, still giving him a comforting look, a look that only a grandmother could give.

The brunet shook his head hastily and shortly, making his brown curls swing from side to side.

"Well don't worry about it, honey." The grey haired lady replied, shooting Elijah a reassuring smile. Only now the brunet noticed the lady's British accent that was laced through the vowels she spoke, "May I ask where you're going?"

"I'm visiting a-"

He cut himself off for a moment in hesitation, not knowing what the lady's views were, even when she seemed nice enough, "I'm visiting a friend, meeting his family."

A chuckle escaped the lady's lips, "You can't fool me, young man. I know a love bird when I see one – you're smitten."

A slight blush overtook the brunet's features, feeling a little put on the spot, "Oh.."

"Now tell me, is he good to you?" The lady asked, another chuckle escaping her lips as she obviously knew she was right.

"Oh god, he's amazing-"

Elijah continued to talk to the lady for the duration of the flight after that, letting his stress and worries ebb away through the soothing conversations with the lady, he now knew to be Elise. Her plan was of course, to keep him talking and distracted through the landing, easing his nerves with her sweet comments, and by letting him talk about the things he was passionate about.

After the plane landed, Elijah and Elise said their goodbyes and parted ways, the nerves that had left his mind and stomach starting to act up again.

He pushed a clammy hand through his unruly hair. Do I look good? Do I smell weird – What if I smell weird? No. Stop. You're only making it worse for yourself. But what if I do?

These incredibly irrational thoughts swam through the brunet's mind as he made his way through the airport, occasionally bumping into other people because of how distracted he was.

After around fifteen minutes of wandering around the gigantic building, his phone went off, interrupting the song that was playing and being replaced by the all-too-familiar ringtone blaring through his earphones.

He took the rectangular object out of his pocket before putting it to his mouth, not really feeling like taking his earphones out.

"Hello?"

"El, turn around." The voice spoke through the screen, who Elijah immediately realised to be Tom's.

He slowly turned around and came eye-to-eye with his favourite pair of brown eyes.

A dumb grin immediately took over the brunet's features and all his nerves melted away as he made his way over to the Brit and jumped into his arms, successfully, albeit accidentally, knocking him to the ground.

The two hadn't seen each other in three weeks, and to be honest, Elijah didn't know if he could survive any longer without the British brunet.

As the two came in contact with the floor, a small gasp escaped Tom's mouth, taken back by the impact of the brunet, the fall was rather smooth however and he wasn't hurt at all.

"Sorry! Sorry!" Elijah whisper-shouted frantically, pushing himself off the brunet slightly, not wanting to suffocate him, even if he knew he didn't weigh that much.

Said brunet just looked the American dead in the eyes, shaking his head a little before bursting out in laughter, "Jesus Christ, El."

Elijah couldn't help but laugh too, and so the two found themselves laying on top of one another, laughing their heads of in the middle of an airport terminal, not even caring in the slightest about how ridiculous they looked.

After a long moment of laughter, Elijah rolled off the other brunet, standing up straight, before lending Tom a hand to stand up as well. But the moment he did so, he engulfed him in another tight hug.

"I missed you." The American whispered quietly, hiding his head in the crook of the Brit's neck.

"We've literally seen each other three weeks ago." The brit replied, letting a chuckle leave his lips, which vibrated through his chest.

"Exactly."

"You're needy."

"Exactly."

A cough was heard from behind the two embracing brunets, which was definitely directed towards them.

Elijah leaned back in an instant, the blush that found itself creeping onto his cheeks only an hour ago, returning to his previous pale features. He turned his head around, towards the direction of the cough, and came in contact with two people who had funny smiles on their faces.

Tom cleared his throat after a small moment, "Right- El, this is my mother, Nikki, and that is my little brother Paddy. Mum, Paddy, this is Elijah."

Elijah waved lightly, only to feel incredibly stupid seconds after he did so. His awkwardness was however cut short when he was pulled into a sweet embrace by Nikki, "Welcome to London, honey."

Her sweet words were however cut short by Tom, "Mum-"

The auburn-haired woman quickly retreated in realisation at the remark, leaving a slightly stunned Elijah behind.

He shot Tom a look, who shot him one back, before shaking his head slightly and speaking up, "It's really nice of you for let me stay over for Christmas. It means a lot."

A beaming smile appeared on Nikki's face, "We're glad to have you, sweets."

After a small conversation between Elijah and Nikki, the four took off to Tom's home. It was a half an hour car ride, which was filled with a lot of small talk and laughter, as Nikki started to tell some stories about Tom, which most of the time were pretty embarrassing.

When they arrived at Tom's house, Elijah dropped off his bag and met Tom's father, who just came back from walking Tessa. The introduction went fairly smoothly, besides the fact that Elijah felt he was going to pass out because of how nervous he was. Tom's father, Dominic, was an incredibly nice man however, and the American honestly had nothing to worry about. But alas, the brunet still had a bit of trouble with keeping his thoughts straight and ordered.

Not long after meeting Tom's father, Elijah was ripped away from the house, as Tom found it to be a great opportunity to go sightseeing. It was the day before Christmas and so, the two brunets had a lot of time to see the city.

Elijah had never been to London, let alone England. Hell, he never has been in Europe before, and so, every little thing he spotted, he took in with big eyes. Going to Europe had been a thing he always wanted to do, and with Tom with him, it couldn't be more perfect.

It truly couldn't be.

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okay, so i don't really have a lot to say today beside the fact that tOM AND ELIJAH ARE SO FK CUTE AH

i also wanted to say that my new story for our lord and saviour salem denvers will be up at the end of the week. i won't start it for a while though, as i'm going to the united states next tuesday (i'm so hyped wtf)