Who: Tom Prince and Rose Hathaway What: Discussing Tom’s slip of the tongue Where: Tom’s place When: Feb 17th, after this post Rating: lowish, fades out on sexy times. Status: Complete
Okay, yes, Rose had to admit that she had been kind of awkward since Tom let it slip that he loved her on Valentine’s Day. She wasn’t sure how to react to that and she hadn’t been expecting it at all. However, she was starting to figure out her feelings and the fact that he wasn’t running for the hills due to her recent ghost problem really meant a lot to her. She was more than happy to get together with him and let him be a distraction despite knowing that it would end up leading to a discussion about how he felt.
Hopefully he wouldn’t decide that he didn’t love her anymore. That would actually be horrible and she was beginning to worry about that when she heard the doorbell. She rushed over and opened the door to look at Tom with a smile, “Hey. I’ve missed you and I am so ready for a distraction.”
“I can definitely do that.” No flowers. No chocolates. Tom had told himself he wasn’t going to let his slip dictate the way he acted around her. He didn’t want to go over the top with wooing. He wasn’t going to let himself chase her. Not like he did in the dreams. He should be enough, right? He wanted her to love him for who he was, not because of…
Nevermind.
“You all right?” He asked, stepping forward to wrap his arms around her.
She stepped into his embrace and let her head rest gently against his chest. It felt nice to be secure and know for that brief period of time that nothing bad was going to happen to her. “Yeah, I’m okay. Just a little freaked out. I didn’t expect anything like this to happen so I’m just trying not to think about it. Just the curse of Dreaming, right?” There was absolutely no explanation for what was happening to her, and while she was happy to not be the only one with weird powers, she wished it would all just go away.
Tom ran his hands up and down her back, holding her body gently against his. He wanted to comfort her, to protect her, if only for a couple of minutes. “Just the curse of the Dreaming,” he repeated. That was the only way to describe it. He turned to press a kiss into her hair, then released her. “You ready to go?”
“Definitely,” she commented with a grin before standing up on her toes to give him a proper kiss, “Let me grab my bag.” She usually grabbed an overnight bag no matter what if she and Tom were going to be spending any time together. It was better to be prepared than to not have anything and need to stop by her apartment. She went over to the table to grab her bag and then joined him again.
Tom waited by the door, trying not to feel awkward. He was concerned about what he’d said, concerned about how she hadn’t responded. Not in the way he’d expected her to. And now it’d been some time, so… was he supposed to bring it up again? Was he supposed to wait for her to bring it up again? This was all new territory for him, so he had no idea how to proceed.
He wrapped an arm around her as they were on their way to his car. “Are you hungry?” He asked, leaning over to press a kiss into her hair.
"Only if we eat at your place. I'm not feeling very sociable right now. I would much rather hole up with you and eat bad takeout," she commented as she leaned against him while walking. She wanted to bring up the love thing, but wasn't quite sure how to do it. She was feeling like she would confess her feelings for him if it was brought up, but she needed to wait for it to happen.
“I can cook.” Tom offered. He was an excellent chef, and not just when it came to breakfast foods. Though, those were his specialty. “I’ve got some corned beef in my fridge. You want a sandwich?” He asked, clicking the button on his fob to unlock the car doors. Then he held open her door for her and helped her into the car.
“Sure, that sounds great,” she answered him before getting into her seat. She waited until he came around and got into the car before resuming the conversation, “But, you’re going to have to be shirtless while you cook. I want dinner and a show. Because you’ve really only ever cooked me breakfast and while you are amazing at that I want to enjoy you doing dinner shirtless.” Waking up to him making her breakfast was quite amazing and she did enjoy when she happened to stumble upon him without a shirt. All things that kept adding into the “falling in love” column.
Tom slipped into the driver’s seat and turned on the car, then broke into laughter. “Shirtless, huh? I hope you’re not expecting me to deep fry anything. Because doing that shirtless doesn’t sound like the brightest idea.” He pulled away from the curb and into traffic. “What do you want to eat? I’ve got some supplies, but we can stop by the store if you want something I don’t have.”
“No deep frying involved,” she promised with a playful smile on her face, “And not really sure what I want to eat. Maybe something with pasta? That’s usually safe to cook. Oh! Bacon carbonara. I can google how to make it on my phone if you want and we can see if you need to pick anything else up on the way.” She was already pulling out her phone to look up a recipe that would be easy for them to make. The idea of going grocery shopping together made her smile because it was such a normal couple thing to do, but they hadn’t done it before.
“Bacon is one of those things that I do well,” Tom said, not modestly in the slightest. “I have some in my fridge. We can figure out the rest and grab some ingredients.” He turned onto a street, then pulled into a parking lot at a small supermarket. Shopping together was very domestic. He was pretty excited about that. Making a meal together felt like the kind of thing that two people in love did.
He turned off the car and climbed out, then hopped around to open her door for her.
She thanked him as she got out of the car and adjusted her purse onto her shoulder. Her hand slipped into his after she shut the door and the two walked into the grocery store. At the doors she consulted her phone, “I don’t think we’ll need a ton. Just some pasta, eggs, and heavy cream. There’s one on here with peas if you wanted to add those in as well.” It would be a short shopping trip, but she wasn’t really worried about that since she was more interested in hanging out with Tom at his place. She put her phone into her pocket and squeezed his hand with a grin as they started to wander the store to gather their ingredients.
God, this was domestic. Settled. Amazing. His hand wrapped around hers, fingers slipping through hers gently. Her skin was warm and soft against his own. He felt pressure rise in his chest, the best kind. “We should do peas,” Tom said, breaking into a smirk. “Get some veggies in.”
He led the way into the shop and grabbed a basket with his free hand. They took a long loop of the store, collecting ingredients as they walked until they had everything they needed. He paid for their purchases and grabbed the bag of stuff, then led the way back out to the car. Somehow, maybe miraculously, he managed it all without once letting go of her hand.
“I’m excited for this. I’m ready for a relaxing night and hopefully no crazy ghosts. You’re the absolute best, Tom,” she admitted to him with a smile. She was definitely starting to think she was falling in love with him, but she was kind of afraid to admit it to him. That would probably be a discussion for another time, not in the car, and she would have to bring up what he said the other night to her. He had to know what he said, right?
“Fingers crossed no crazy ghosts. And if they do show up?” He asked, stopping her before they got into the car. He released her hand for a moment so he could wrap his arm around her. “We’ll give them a show.” He leaned in to steal a kiss. Oh, Tom. Way to spin a possibly terrible situation into something sexy?
“You’re such a perv,” She chastised as she returned the kiss to him then playfully smacked him in the arm. She certainly didn’t want to think about ghosts watching them all night long. It was just a creepy thing to think about, but such a Tom thing to say. She chuckled as she got into the car and they made their way to his place.
Hey, whether or not Rose could see them… maybe there were pervy ghosts watching them all the time. Right? Maybe God was just… no. That’s sacrilege. Tom opened the car door to let her in, then came around to his side. Soon they were on their way to his place.
Tom reached over in the car and wrapped his hand around hers. Constant support, constant connection. He wanted her to know that he was there. And he wasn’t going anywhere. There was the niggling thought in the back of his mind, but he pushed it aside. They could talk about it later.
A few minutes later and Tom was unloading groceries in his kitchen. He pointed to where pots and pans were kept under the stove, and asked Rose to get some out so they could start cooking.
The constant reminder that he was there with her and wasn’t leaving her was a good thing. It made her feel safe in this time when she felt less than. The ghosts were bothering her and she felt like her life was about to spin out of control because of that craziness. Taking solace in the normal things in life was something she was craving and Tom was, thankfully, offering that.
Back at his place she held him with the groceries and then went to where the pots and pans were to grab what he needed. She padded over to him and handed over the pot that he would need, “Grocery shopping, making dinner together, hmm… looks like we’re getting kind of serious.” She was teasing in her tone and she wiggled her eyebrows at him.
Tom chuckled. “That we are.” He started filling the pot with water, waiting while the sink was running. “Does that bother you?” He turned and caught her eyes with his own.
"No," she answered honestly as she reached out to run her fingers along the edge of the countertop. She let her eyes look away from him briefly, somewhat bashfully, before returning his gaze once more, "I'm just afraid to mention it because you might run the other direction. Does it bother you?"
“No.” Tom stopped and turned to better face her, reaching one hand for hers. “The only direction I’d run is after you.”
"You are totally Cinderella's Prince with a comment like that," she tried to be teasing but it came out more serious as she took his hand and moved closer to him, "do you know what you said to me on Valentine's Day?"
His eyes finally tore from her face in a moment of uncharacteristic bashfulness. Then Tom chuckled. “I really am Cinderella’s Prince.” He drew her in closer, his breath catching. Finally, they were going to talk about it. The phrase that slipped out and changed everything.
“I remember.” He said, his grip on her hand tightening.
"You scared me when you said it. I didn't think that was going to happen. It took me by surprise and I wasn't sure if I should mention that you said it or not," she admitted to him as she felt her face growing flushed, "it's just that you aren't the kind of guy to say that to a girl, and I really love being with you, so I didn't want to ruin this. I am sorry about that. But did you mean it?"
Tom nodded. He really wasn’t the kind of guy to say it to a girl. Even if he felt it, he’d never say it. But there was something about Rose, he just couldn’t figure it out. Whatever it was. He liked it. He loved it. He loved her. “I meant it.” He said, finally, after considering her for a long moment. “You didn’t say it back,” he added, cautiously. And she wasn’t saying it now. Did she feel the same way? Why not?
“Well, you did say it half asleep….” She pointed out to him with a tiny smirk of amusement. Yes, she hadn’t said it back to him. She had been so scared that she had tried to run out on him because of him saying that. It was easier to run from the problem than to address it which was why they were having this conversation now instead of immediately after it, “I was scared. I didn’t know what to think, to do, or to say. But, now I do. I love you.”
She couldn’t believe she was actually saying this to him. She wasn’t going to add in that she had to take a lot of time to think about it because she was so scared of the idea of love. But there were so many things that she enjoyed about him that she basically just had to face the fact that she had fallen in love with him. And while they weren’t that white picket fence cookie-cutter couple it would be a learning experience and she was more than happy to be with him for it.
Tom didn’t say anything in response. He just stepped forward, took her face in both hands, and kissed her. He’d never felt anything like this before. It was strong, and it was good, and he couldn’t remember ever wanting someone as much as he wanted her in that moment.
Her hands reached out to grab at his shirt as they kissed. This felt right and perfect. They fit together so well and she knew that she was doing something big by trusting him with her heart. She wasn’t afraid to get hurt anymore if she would be able to experience something as amazing as this.
Without moving his lips from hers, without even adjusting his head, Tom reached over and turned off the burner. Dinner could wait. He lowered his arms around her and lifted her up, wrapping her legs around his waist with quick movements of strong arms and hands. This couldn’t wait. He started walking toward the bedroom. She was his. He was hers. And he wanted to seal this deal. To prove how much he loved her, and to feel how much she loved him, too.