ｒｅａｌ ｌｉｆｅ :

When Nikki Holland entered the bedroom early in the morning, she was slightly stunned by the sight of the two. Of course she expected them to sleep close to one another, they were dating after all. No, the thing that stunned her was how the two boys were sat up in the bed, Elijah's head leaning onto Tom's shoulder, who in return leaned his head on the American's, Tom's earphone loosely hanging in his lap while Elijah's was still placed in his ear.

The auburn-haired woman stepped closer, taking in the sight of the two, now slowly making out the soft guitar sounds that grew audible.

She made her way to the other side of the bed, sitting on the side of it and slowly rubbed Tom's arm, trying to wake him up.

"Honey, it's time for you to wake up. You two have a plane to catch."

A soft sigh escaped the Brit's lips, interrupting his previously rhythmic breathing, before slowly lifting his head and turning to his mother.

"What time is it?"

"Seven."

Tom's eyes widened, sitting up straight, but doing it careful enough to not disturb Elijah's sleep, "What? We're gonna be late."

Nikki quickly shushed him, a reassuring smile spreading across her features, "I'll bring you two to the airport. I heard you two talking last night and figured you could use the extra hour of sleep."

The brunet sighed, "Thanks, mum."

"Is everything alright between you two?"

Tom let out another sigh, looking to his right to check on the boy in question, who was still soundly asleep, "I told you what happened to him, right?"

The auburn-haired woman nodded, a sympathetic look overtaking her previous smile.

"He's having a tough time with it, mum. Apparently us being together is bringing back memories, but he won't talk about it."

Nikki shot the sleeping boy an observing look, pursing her lip slightly, "Honey, when things like that happen to people, it changes them. He might not want to talk about it right now. But I promise you, he will tell you when he's ready."

A half-smile appeared on Tom's face at the soothing words, "Thanks, mum."

"Don't you worry about it. Now, it's time for you two to get up, we're riding in fifteen minutes."

The brunet nodded, watching Nikki walk out of the room after taking a full laundry basket that was placed in the corner of the room with her.

The moment she closed the door behind her, Tom averted his sight to his right, eyeing the sleeping brunet.

"Hey, El." He whispered softly, running his hand through his long curls lightly.

It took a moment before a deep, but slow exhale interrupted his slow breaths and he stirred awake, lifting his head from the Brit's shoulders.

"What's going on?" He asked sleepily, rubbing his eyes slowly.

"We have to get up, we're going to your family." Tom chuckled slowly at the unawareness of the brunet, "We have around ten minutes."

"Oh, okay."

The two slipped out of bed and threw on comfortable clothing, before putting their last items in their suitcases and walking downstairs.

Not a single word was spoken between the two while they packed. There wasn't really an underlying reason for that, even if Tom suspected so. Elijah simply didn't feel like talking, mostly because of how sleep deprived he was. Nightmares seemed to have become a normal thing during the past few months. The bags under his told most of the story, even Levi had noticed it.

It hadn't taken long before the American brunet found himself in the air again. The nerves he felt during the previous flight, finding itself back into his stomach again. Only this time, he could latch himself onto Tom's arm, like he had wished to do those days prior.

The memory of that morning had made its way towards the back of Elijah's mind, the only thought that was now swimming through his mind being the fact that he was nervous and tired – a combination that didn't sit too well with him.

Hanging onto Tom's arm, it didn't take long for him to fall asleep again, letting his primary instincts get the best of them.

To both his and Tom's surprise, Elijah slept through the whole flight, and even more surprising to the American being that he slept incredibly well – even when his position wasn't that comfortable.

Tom had to practically drag him out of the plane, whining about the fact he wanted to sleep again. While walking through the airport, the Brit had made sure the American got some coffee – well, a lot of it. And of course, only minutes later, said American was talkative as ever.

"I can't wait to see Vi and Mall," he exclaimed gleefully, holding the Brit's hand while making grand gestures with the others, "Wait- I forgot the presents, where are the presents?"

Said Brit tugged on his hand a little, pulling him a little closer, while letting out a chuckle, "El, all the presents are right here in your bag, everything's fine."

"Oh, okay. Cool cool cool cool cool..." Elijah replied, dragging out the word 'cool' like Jake Peralta did on the show Brooklyn Nine-Nine, letting himself be distracted by the people that passed by.

"Alright, I'm never giving you coffee again," The Brit sighed, shaking his head lightly, "Honestly, do you deal well with any substance?"

"Nope," The brunet replied, shooting Tom a goofy grin, before averting his eyes forward again, searching for two certain blondes.

He had some time to calm down and get a grip on his energy before he finally came in contact with the pairs of blue and brown eyes, who lit up in excitement at the sight of hazel ones.

"Belly!" The two screamed in unison as the two brunets came into view, running over, completely abandoning the two adults that stood behind them.

Elijah let go of Tom's hand and made his way forwards as well, engulfing the two small blondes into a tight hug, before picking both up, hugging them close to his chest.

"Merry Christmas, you little rug rats," The brunet exclaimed, twirling around, the caffeine induced adrenaline pulsing through his veins.

The two returned the words while giggling loudly, caused by their older brother's movement. After he put them down, the two looked up to Tom, who stood behind the Beck siblings, smiling goofily.

They had gotten used to Tom being around and absolutely adored him, Elijah even suspected Levi of loving him more than his own brother – not that he could really blame the young blond, he was incredible after all.

After the family reunited, they made their way back to Elijah's childhood home. It was a pretty long car ride, but they all managed to keep each other company with telling stories about Elijah's adventures in London, and Mallory and Levi telling what they had gotten on Christmas morning.

Because of the time difference, it was only in the afternoon when the six arrived at the suburban house. It wasn't really big or anything, but it was comfortable and gave off a homey vibe, something Elijah had yearned for.

Elijah gave Tom a tour around the house before showing him his old bedroom, which was now partially filled with toys for Levi and Mallory, but still contained most of his old things – for whenever he decided to sleep at home.

A few hours later, the family and Tom were sat around the dinner table. Mallory stating their annual Christmas prayer. The Beck's weren't hugely religious, but held some traditional value to it.

Dinner was great, Elijah's step mom happened to be a great cook and prepared every dish with a lot of love, resulting in full stomachs and lots of talking.

"Vi, pass me the water please," the curly-haired brunet asked calmly as he mentioned for the bottle of water that was placed a little out of his reach.

The boy nodded and picked up the glass bottle, handing it over, only to drop it right before it reached his older brother's hand, spilling water over the table and clothing.

"Oops!" The young boy exclaimed, quickly grabbing the bottle and turning it upright again, "I'm sorry!"

Elijah chuckled, "Don't worry about it."

The brunet stood up, feeling the cold water run down his legs, before making his way over to the kitchen, gesturing for Tom to sit down again, since he had gotten up too,

"I'll be alright."

Robin cleared his throat from across the table, looking Levi in the eye, "Levi, go get some towels, will ya?"

The young boy nodded hastily before shooting up from his chair and following his brother into the kitchen.

"Is it going to stain?" He asked timidly as he made his way over to the older Beck sibling, who was trying to dry his pants with a paper towel.

The brunet chuckled, "No, of course not. It's water."

Levi let out a sigh of relieve as he walked over to the kitchen counter, taking the roll of paper towels from it.

He was about to leave the kitchen again, before the sound of a phone was heard. Though, it wasn't a mobile phone, it was the sound of the only landline that was still present in the house – it probably wasn't used in years, and just sat in the corner of the kitchen as some outdated decoration.

Elijah was about to make his way over the corner of the room, where the phone was located, but was cut off by Levi, who beat him to it,

"I got it!"

The older brunet cocked his head slightly as he watched the blond pick up the phone, starting a light conversation with the person on the other side of it.

As it seemed like nothing out of the ordinary, Elijah got back to his primary task at hands; drying himself off.

"Belly?" The young boy asked after a minute of talking on the phone, earning said brunet's attention successfully, "There's a lady on the phone and she's asking for you."

A frown grew present on Elijah's features, there was no lady he expected a call from. The only 'ladies' in his life being Carrie, who didn't even have that number and would just call on his phone, and the other two being very present in the house.

"What? Who is it?" He asked, slowly making his way over to the blond.

The boy shrugged, still holding the phone to his ear "I don't know. She says she's your mommy though?"

Those words made him stop right in his step, breath hitching. It just couldn't be.

It took him a few seconds before he could regain control over both his feet and mind, making his way over to the phone and grabbing it from Levi's hands, maybe a little harshly.

"Hello?" He asked slowly, mind clouded by a thunderstorm of emotions that all fought their way to the front.

"Hi sweetheart, it's me."

╭₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪╮

[ 27 - 7 - 19 ]

having some tough times with my mum - and the timing of that is so perfect lmao,, now i can out my frustrations (i had this planned for a long time but now i'm just laughing and crying bc how perfect the timing is)

also- IT'S MY LIL BROTHER'S BIRTHDAY