See You Again
Fandom: Wizards Vs Aliens
Rating: K
Genre: Angst, Romance
Pairing: Tom/Lexi; mentions of Tom/Katie
Word count: 1818
Summary: [Based on a Tumblr prompt; Set after Series 3] Tom and Lexi reunite in a coffee shop to remember the past and talk about the future. Tom/Lexi and mentions of Tom/Katie ONESHOT.
AN: Title comes from the song by Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth that my friend introduced me to the other day. This is kinda sad, but this is the last thing I'm going to be posting in a while, due to my exams. I'll start publishing as soon as I finish (the evening after I finish my first exam, I shall be back on here and updating my multi-chapter Eve fic, so hooray for that!) But, until then, I'm going to be pretty inactive in terms of posting work and stuff. So, I hope you enjoy.
DISCLAIMER. I do not own Wizards Vs Aliens, or the Wiz Khalifa/Charlie Puth song.
Prompt: Person A and Person B have been separated for a while and they meet again in a coffee shop to catch up a bit and then Person A blurts out their feelings for Person B.
"Would you stop?" Jazz leaned over and gave Tom a shove. The boy had, yet again, been checking his reflection in the Starbucks window, smoothing his hair and then spiking it up repeatedly in a panic, as if he couldn't decide what to do with it.
"It won't go right!" He threw his hand up in defeat, causing the couple sitting by the window to turn and frown at him for interrupting their romantic dinner with his agitation.
"For the last time, you look stunning, Hairdo." Jazz grabbed him by the shoulders and herded him into the coffee shop before he could cause any more distractions.
"Thanks for doing this," Tom said as his newly acquired friend directed him towards one of the booths by the window.
"Nonsense," Jazz replied firmly, practically pushing him into his seat. "Why wouldn't I be here? Don't friends support each other?"
"Suppose so." Tom began to drum his fingers on the crumb-covered table. "But, you know, usually my friend Benny would be the one I would go to about this." Jazz nodded. She'd only ever spoken to this friend of Tom's in America once, and that was by accident, when she walked in when the two boys were Skyping and decided to effectively invite herself into the conversation. "I'm surprised that you would even come with me. I didn't think you would be tolerant of all my relationship problems."
"Please." Jazz rolled her eyes, perched on the edge of the table. "Meeting the one woman who has the influence to turn Tom The Great And Powerful into a dithering wreck was a chance I just couldn't miss. In fact, speaking of women..." She raised an eyebrow. "Have you told that Katie girl about this little reunion?"
"I did not dither." Tom shifted uncomfortably, the rhythm he was drumming on the tabletop picking up speed. "And, no, not exactly."
"Not exactly meaning you haven't told her anything?" Tom made no reply. Jazz snorted. "Don't you think that she would be a little, oh, I don't know...upset, if she heard about this?"
There was a long pause. "I don't know," Tom said finally.
"I thought you guys were meant to be going out and all that."
Tom looked defensive. "We are."
"Well, you might want to show a bit more interest in her feelings, then. Most girls I know wouldn't exactly be cool about their boyfriends meeting up with their old flames behind their backs."
"It's just a chat."
"Really?" Jazz fixed him with her all-knowing gaze. "Is it? Just a chat? Because as soon as you read that the note was from her, you paced up and down your kitchen for about twenty minutes muttering to yourself and then you tried to vacuum the lawn and wouldn't listen when we tried to tell you that grass and vacuum cleaners don't mix."
"I was just having an off-day. Distracted."
"Face it. She's clearly made an impression on you and you can't let go of it."
"That's ridiculous."
"Ridiculous? Yeah. Right." Jazz patted his shoulder. "You just keep on telling yourself that."
"What if she doesn't show up?"
"What?"
Tom was glancing at his watch, his other hand clenched around the tabletop. "What if she doesn't show up? What if she decides that I'm not worth her time and doesn't bother to come?"
"Stop fretting. She'll turn up."
"Yeah, but what then? Even if she does show up, what happens then? What do I say to her? What if she asks if I've met someone else?What if she's met someone else?"
"What happened to "just a chat"?"
He seemed to be talking more to himself now. "What if something's wrong? What if she can't make it because she's been hurt and she's lying in the middle of a street somewhere and there's no one else around and she's unconscious and -?"
"Keep it down, Hairdo!" Jazz hissed, glancing apologetically at the number of people who had turned to look at them due to Tom, who was getting louder with every word he spoke. "You're making us look like idiots!"
"She's not coming." Tom rose from his seat, ready to flee from the coffee shop and abandon the whole meeting altogether. "She's decided I'm a waste of time, and -"
"Tom?"
He glanced up, stumbling over his own feet and falling back into the booth. "Lexi?"
She looked different, he thought. Her hair had been harshly cut into a short bob, so that uneven strands fell in front of her eyes. She looked paler too, almost older in a way, frown lines visible across her face. She gave him a half smile, nodding, in case she needed to confirm who she was.
"So," Jazz began with a grin. "This is the infamous Lexi." She held out a hand. "Nice to meet you."
"Um, nice to meet you...too?" Lexi glanced at Tom, as if to say Who is this?. Jazz chuckled.
"Oh, I'm Jazz. I'm here for Hairdo's moral support." She stretched her legs as she lifted her weight from the table. "Just pretend I'm not here, though. You guys get on with whatever you had planned. I'll bring you some coffee, Hairdo. You look like you need it."
There was an awkward silence after she'd left. Lexi took a seat opposite him and continued to stir her coffee, watching the dark liquid spin round and round inside the paper cup. Tom had returned to drumming his fingers on the table.
"So, how -?" He began.
"Are you -?" Lexi said simultaneously, causing both of them to cough awkwardly and descend back into silence.
"How are you?" She said finally.
"I'm...fine?" It sounded more like a question than an answer. "How are you?"
"I am fine also."
"Good."
"Good." She sipped her coffee. "How's your family doing? Are they all alright?"
"Um, good. They're, er, they're all...y'know, good." He made a small gesture across the table, just to show how good everything really was. "How's Benny Junior?"
This appeared to be a safe topic; for the first time, Lexi's face broke out into a real smile. "He's well. Very well, actually. I managed to get him into a good school, and he seems very taken to it."
"And, what about you? Is there anyone you're taken to?" Tom asked without thinking, before shrinking back against his seat.
"Real smooth there, Hairdo." Jazz had returned with coffee, placing it on the table in front of her friend, who was now trying to hide the tips of his ears that were flushing pink.
"Sorry, sorry, I shouldn't have asked," he said, ignoring his friend's comment. "I know it's none of my business or anything -"
"It's fine." Lexi held up a hand to reassure him. "And, no, there isn't. What about you?"
"No." He heard Jazz snort from the booth behind them; she was clearly enjoying listening to her friend somewhat make a fool out of himself. "Well, yes. It's not...Y'know, it's not..." He searched for the right term to use. "...like that? Well, it is, but - Well, it's not, but - y'know?"
"Right," Lexi replied, trying not to showcase how little sense he had just made. "Well, whatever you determine your relationship as, congratulations on finding someone."
"I had someone, y'know. Once." His gaze focused on the tabletop as he tipped sugar into his cup. "I let them go, though."
"I am sure that you had your reasons."
"Thinking back, I've since decided they weren't good enough reasons."
"I'm sure that's not true."
"I wouldn't be so sure. I don't think I'll forgive myself for the way I treated them."
"You shouldn't do that." Lexi let out a sigh. "I understand the reasons why you did. I didn't particularly want to at first, but I do now."
"You do?" Tom still looked sullen.
"You can't repeat what's past, Tom. Not even if you're a wizard." She gave him a half smile. "We're travelling in different directions. Do you recall me telling you as much?"
"But, why must we? I missed you."
"I missed you too." Lexi squashed her empty cup in her palm. "But we're different people, Tom, to who we were before. We want different things out of life."
"Opposites attract."
"Not always."
"That's physics."
"It is not how relationships work."
"You know I love you."
"I know. I love you too. But, what good will telling each other that achieve? It'll only hurt us both." She pulled her cardigan tighter around herself.
"It doesn't have to, though."
"But, it will." She gave a shrug. "In all honesty, I only came here to say goodbye."
"Goodbye? Why are you saying goodbye? Are you going somewhere?"
"I told you. We're different people, Tom. We're at different stages in our lives. Do you really want to be bogged down and burdened with the responsibility of being a parent at your age?"
"That's not fair," Tom protested. By this point, Jazz had leaned around the corner of the booth, having given up on just eavesdropping. "You make it sound like I don't care."
"I know that you care. But, that's not the point."
"Then, what is the point?"
"The point is, how can you take care of a child, and have them depend on you, when you are no more than a child and are dependent on your family yourself?" She waited for a response for a few moments. It didn't come. "See? You can't. And that's fine. You can't look after everyone at once. I'm not blaming you for that. I never will." She rose in her seat, the crumpled cup in her hand. "I'm sorry."
"Sorry for what? You've got nothing to be sorry for."
"I'm just - I'm just sorry for everything." She leaned over and pecked his cheek softly, so quickly he could have blinked and missed it. "Goodbye, Tom." She turned away from their table and walked quickly towards the door of the shop, tossing her rubbish in a perfect arch so that it sailed into the nearby bin. Tom watched her step out into the mid-morning sunlight, the beams catching the trails of golden in her short hair as she started off down the high street at a brisk walk, as if she was forcing herself not to look back over her shoulder. Jazz, who had been watching the interaction, placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Sorry, Hairdo."
"S'alright." He sighed. "I guess I kind of knew what to expect already. I left it too late, y'know? Just like I always have done."
The last part was mumbled, but Jazz heard him. She gave his shoulder a squeeze. "C'mon. Let's get out of here. How about we get some chips off the market or something?" Tom drained the last of his coffee, before crushing the plastic cup in his hands just how Lexi had done.
"Yeah. Chips sound good."