I Can Hear The Bells
Fandom: Wizards Vs Aliens
Rating: K+
Genre: Friendship, Romance
Pairing: Light Tom/Lexi; mentions of previous Tom/Chloe; brief hints of Tom/Katie
Word count: 1653
Summary: [Based on a Tumblr Prompt] Tom needs a plus one for a wedding so that he doesn't look like he spent six months wallowing in despair after the end of a previous relationship. Lexi's a little confused as to why exactly he asked to pretend-date her, of all people. Light Tom/Lexi AU ONESHOT.
AN: My computer's being a total numpty right now and not actually loading any Internet-related programmes, so who knows when more updates/posts are coming along. But I saw this and I couldn't resist. Hope y'all enjoy.
DISCLAIMER. I do not own Wizards Vs Aliens.
Prompt: Person A and person B are both single, and A asks B to be their date for a wedding on the grounds that they RSVP'd plus one and need someone last-minute who can stand there and look pretty for a few hours. It maybe doesn't go terribly. [Bonus Material: B catches the bouquet. Because of course they do.]
"I need you to be my date today."
Lexi leant against the door frame, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "Good morning, Tom. How nice of you to drop by so early on this fine Saturday morning. Would be nice if you called in advance, for once. I would have managed to get myself dressed on time -"
"Never mind all that. I've seen you in pyjamas before." Tom tightened the knot in his tie, eyes darting about in agitation. "C'mon, what do you say? You, me, RSVP and all that?"
"No."
"Oh, come on! Please!"
"No," Lexi repeated, folding her arms across her chest. Tom threw his hands up in the air, crinkling the fabric of his suit in the process.
"C'mon, please, Lexi, it's only for a few hours!"
"I'm not going to stand there for hours pretending to be your trophy wife."
"I'm desperate here!"
The blonde girl shook her head slightly. This wasn't the first time that Tom and she had had this conversation; it had been going on all week. It was beginning to drive her insane. "I still don't see why you're making such a big deal over this. You and Chloe split up over a year ago. You haven't mentioned her in months. Why are you suddenly so keen to go to her wedding?"
Tom blinked, looking at his friend like she'd grown another head. "Why am I - Of course I'm keen to go! Do you know what will happen if I don't go?" He didn't give her a chance to reply. "All her friends there will start saying that I can't get over her, and all that rubbish. I'm required to go so that I can show Chloe exactly how over her I am, and how happy I am now that I've moved on and found someone else."
"You haven't found anyone else, though," Lexi reminded him. "You moped for six months and ate a lot of ice cream and now you just hang around us all the time."
"Yeah, but Chloe doesn't have to know about all that, does she?"
Lexi rolled her eyes. Tom was her best friend, and had been for years, but she couldn't deny that his pride was often his downfall. "Why don't you ask that other girl to go with you? The one you met through that other mate of yours. What's her name? Kate?"
"Katie?" Tom gave a nonchalant shrug. "I thought about it, but - Well, I don't really know her, y'know? Like, I want to give the impression that I've been in a relationship with someone for months, someone who I really care about, not casual flirting that's been going on for a week or so and probably won't go anywhere. So, naturally, the only other girls I really have in my life are you and Jazz, and I don't want to risk my life trying to get Jazz into a dress."
"What makes you think you'll get me into a dress?"
"I've seen you in dresses before."
"Yes. When I was about eight. Why don't you just pluck someone from that endless array of girls who follow you around like you're a priest?"
Tom snorted. "Please. I'm not in to all that. I'd rather go with someone I can at least have a laugh with. Besides, I'm going to have to know something about you if I'm pretending to date you, and I have years and years of memories stacked in my brain about you."
"What's wrong with just being single at a wedding?" Lexi had been single all her life. She had gotten by.
Tom raised an eyebrow. "People will talk."
"In case you haven't noticed, people do little else."
"Is that a quote from something? I feel like you're quoting something - You know what, never mind. Just, please, please, please come to the wedding with me?"
Lexi let out a sigh. "Alright. Fine. But you owe me. You owe me big time for this, Tom."
"Yay!" Her friend's face lit up, and he pulled her into a bone crushing hug. "You're the best, Lexi." He quickly released her, suddenly remembering that she was still in her pyjamas and dressing gown and he was crinkling his suit again. "Now, next question. Do you actually own a dress?"
"I look ridiculous, Tom."
"You look fine, Lexi - I mean, sweetheart."
Lexi jabbed him in the shins with the pointed heel of her shoe and sunk further down in her seat in one of the little church pews, trying to hide her face behind the fedora that matched the canary yellow dress that Tom had picked out of a charity shop on their way to the ceremony. It was the sort of dress her mother would have worn if she was attending this wedding, all silk and petticoats and the hem falling just below her knees. Thank goodness Varg had not managed to wrangle his way into the gathered guests and was never going to see her in this hideous piece of clothing; she'd never live it down.
"I look like I'm middle aged," she insisted in a hushed whisper, glancing at the rest of the pews that were gradually beginning to fill with relatives.
"Relax." Tom had taken her hand when they'd walked into the church themselves - to look more like a couple, he said - and now he gave her fingers a light squeeze as they rested between them on the uncomfortable knitted cushions laid out for them. "No one will be paying attention to us yet. They'll all be focused on the bride and groom." He nodded towards the young dark haired man stood nervously at the head of the aisle. "I wonder whether they'll make us sing hymns."
"Haven't you ever been to one of these before, Tom? Of course they'll make us sing hymns. It's a wedding."
"Oh." Tom looked a little put out. "Shame. I was hoping for something a little more exciting."
"You've never been to Sunday School before, have you?"
"Neither have you."
"I was in the church choir, though, remember?"
"Oh, yeah." Tom smiled at the memory of ten year old Lexi, with her pageboy hair cut, standing in the back row of the primary school Christmas choir. "I remember that. You were so proud."
"Can't think why. The church choir wasn't exactly high up the ranks."
"It was back in those days." He would have said more, but Lexi had kicked him in the shins again and hauled him up out of his seat, as the traditional chords of "Here Comes The Bride" began warbling from the church organ and Chloe Martin was led down the aisle by a brunette woman.
"Her care worker," Tom whispered, when Lexi had quietly asked him who she was. "She's basically a mother to her. No wonder she's the one giving her away."
"I don't know." Lexi raised an eyebrow. "It's hard to see her under that enormous hat." Tom snorted; several of the other guests, and Chloe herself, turned to glare at him in order to silence him. Lexi elbowed him, and he bit his lip to hide his laughter as the rest of the gathering took their seats again.
"Don't forget to sing," Lexi murmured as she handed him the book of hymns provided under their seats. "Actually, on second thoughts, I've heard your singing. Mime along instead."
"Ha. You're hilarious, love."
"Would you stop calling me stupid pet names? You haven't forgotten the fact that we're not really together, right?"
"Just trying to make it realistic." A dozen more hard stares were sent in their general direction, and Tom raised the book of hymns so that it covered most of his face, with only his eyes looking out over the top. He carried on talking, regardless, in a hushed whisper. "Every couple has pet names for each other."
"I've already got a pet name for you."
"Oh, yeah?"
"Yeah. Idiot."
"See?" Tom slung an arm around her shoulder, as they followed the line of people heading out of the church. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"
Lexi raised an eyebrow. "Considering the groom nearly tripped over you, I feel like it could have gone better...Which reminds me, I'm hoping that was an accident." She gave him a pointed look as he steered her away from Chloe and the rest of the guests and towards the rusting heap he called his car, which had nearly broken down right there and then when he'd attempted to parallel park properly.
"Of course," Tom replied, blinking innocently. "I was aiming for Chloe, of course."
"Tom!"
"What?"
"We're supposed to be wishing them well, not sabotaging their big day." She gave him her serious face, to show exactly how serious she was. "Behave."
"Oh, Lexi, Lexi, Lexi, haven't you ever been to one of these things before?" He rolled his eyes. "It's the reception now. All bets are off."
"Tom -" She was about to say more - to tell him that she would glue him to his chair if it stopped him from causing anymore chaos - when there was a shout from somewhere among the gathered guests, and something sailed through the air, hitting Lexi directly in the face before landing in her arms, causing cheers and applause to commence.
"What the -?" It took her a few moments to realise that she had caught the bouquet.
"Well. Who would have guessed?" Tom was grinning. "Looks like me and you were fated."
"Shut up, idiot." Lexi felt her cheeks heating up.
"Whatever you say, my little honey pot - Ow!" She'd jabbed him in the shins again. "Jeez, Lexi, give me some warning before you start beating me with those shoes of yours."
"Stop saying stupid things, then."
"Of course." A pause. "Babe."
He ducked to avoid the shoe that Lexi looked ready to throw at him.