Work Text:
“Are you stalking Tommy again?” Alfie has been so focused looking−not stalking− his ex-boyfriend on social media, that he didn’t feel his employee −and oldest friend− coming to stand next to him.
“Fuckin’ hell, Ollie. Warn a man next time.” He locks his phone so that his friend doesn’t get a good look of what he was doing and puts it back in his pocket, “and no, I wasn’t stalking him.” Truth be told, he was looking at Ada’s −Tommy’s sister, who Alfie got along with so well that till this day they follow each other on social media− Instagram stories. Apparently, they went to a club last night and according to a sixteen seconds video Tommy danced with another fella. Not that it matters who he dances with, it’s not any of Alfie’s business what his ex does.
“Sure you weren’t, Alfie.” Obviously Ollie doesn’t believe a word his boss/friend says, they’ve known each other for over fifteen years, he knows when he’s lying. “You know, if you miss him that much you can always call him. Or text him. Or show up on his photoshoot unannounced, you loved doing that.”
“What the fuck are you talking about? Miss him? Miss the bastard that walked out of a good relationship and broke my fucking heart? You think I miss that fucker? Nah, mate, I think the fuck not.”
“Alfie, you know that’s not true. You accused him of cheating on you based on fucking rumors, you know that, Alfie. But you still can reach out to him, ask him to get-”
“Don’t. Just don’t.”
Ollie doesn’t say anything else just pats him in the shoulder as an awkward form of support before turning around and going back to work.
He can’t ask Tommy to get back together after he accused him of cheating −at the time it felt true, but looking back it just feels stupid−, plus is pretty clear that Tommy has moved on from what they once had.
Alfie lets out a heavy sigh before washing his hands and going back to the dough he had been kneading, mind set in the monotonous job and not in ocean blue eyes.
Six years ago, when Tommy was 22 years old, he started to thrive in his career as a professional model, passing from small gigs and photoshoots to haute couture fashion shows and becoming the face of certain brands.
After being booked for ten shows for London Fashion Week for the first time and closing two deals with new upcoming brands to become their face, Tommy finally has the money to leave his family home in Birmingham and buy his own house in London (three bedrooms: master one for himself, another for his sister because they’re going to be living together, and one guestroom for whenever his brothers decide to visit them).
They have been living in the city for a couple months now and everything is still new, and Ada has her mind set in going to every restaurant and café they find. She’s also trying to find a job as a waitress, just a small thing to do while balancing her college classes. So, in that set of mind, whenever he has free time his sister would drag him to whatever place she had found on internet.
That’s how, one Tuesday morning they entered a bohemian-looking shop called Shokolad Café.
“I’m telling you, Tommy, this place has extremely good reviews, you gonna love it. I hope they are hiring.” She adds as an afterthought.
“I told you, you don’t need to find a job.” They walk up to the showcase to check out all the good-looking pastries in display, the smell of coffee clouding their heads. “I’m doing find, my agent says that for the next season I might be booked to go to Paris and New York.”
“And I told you I’m happy for you but this is what I want.”
“What is it that you want, sweetheart?” A rough looking man comes out from what seems to be the kitchen, apron tied on his waist, a towel in his hands cleaning the leftover flour. Tommy looks him up and down from where he’s standing, taking stock on the width of the shoulders, how good he fills that basic white shirt, the green of his eyes and the tattoos on his hands. He seems to be older than Tommy, but Tommy’s okay with that. No harm in looking, right? “Sorry for keeping you two waiting, my staff doesn’t come in for another fifteen minutes, so is just me and other bakers.”
“It’s alright, it’s the first time we come so we were just looking.” Tommy says.
“Want me to give you another minute?”
“That would be gr-”
“Actually” Ada says, interrupting his brother, “I was wondering if I could speak with the manager? Whenever he’s here, of course.”
“Ada!”
“Want to complain or somethin’?” His entire demeanor changes, posture looking defensive now with his thick arms crossed over his chest. Not that Tommy paid too much attention.
“No, of course not. Nothing like that. I just wanted to know if you guys were hiring.”
“You have experience waitressing?”
“No, but I grew up with three older brother and one younger, so I know how to work under pressure.” She chuckles at her own response, specially when Tommy sends her a dirty glance.
“Mhmm,” says the man, a hand coming up to comb his well-kept beard, “come tomorrow at ten so we can talk about all the details, right, and then if everything is okay you can stay to start your training. How’s that sound, eh?”
“Seriously? Don’t you need to talk to the manager first?”
“I already did.”
“You’re the manager?” Tommy can’t help but blurt out.
The man sends him a cheeky grin before turning back to his sister, “Alfie Solomons, owner of Shokolad Café.” He extends his hand for Ada to shake.
“Ada Shelby, I’m a student here and we just moved in.”
“Yeah?” The man −Alfie− focuses now on Tommy, “what about you, love? Got a name?”
“Tommy Shelby, I’m his brother.” Both men share a small smile, hands tightly grasped and Tommy is fascinated with how his own hands seems to disappear under the other one. And if their handshake lasts a few seconds too long, well, only Ada will have something to say but right now that doesn’t matter.
“You a student here too? Need a job too?”
“I um- I’m not. I’m uh- I’m actually a model.”
Alfie’s grin only gets bigger at that, “of course you are, love, with a face like that would be a shame if you weren’t.” Tommy feels his face turn bright red at that and his sister’s laugh doesn’t help.
After that they give Alfie their order and they enjoy their breakfast.
Ada gets the job (with four shifts a week) and whenever Tommy can, he would go have breakfast there or lunch, or he would simply show up to pick up his sister. Whenever Alfie was around in those instances, he would make sure to spend some time with Tommy, making him blush and laugh, and he would always give him a taste of whatever was he was baking at the time.
“So.” It’s been a bit over two years since the first time him and Ada had walked into the café. “How many more times do I have to come to flirt with you, for you to invite me on a date?” That morning Tommy had walked his sister to her early shift and decided to stay when Alfie told him about the new babka recipe he has been working on.
Alfie eyes seemed to spark with life at Tommy’s forwardness, “well, how about you come back tomorrow to find out, eh?” and with a grin of his own, Tommy agreed to come back the next day.
They started going on dates −movie theater, walks in the park, lunch dates, dinners on restaurants or sometimes at Alfie’s place− and they never things never escalated from holding hands and a few heated kisses. That was, until the night of Tommy’s 25 birthday party. That day, they had sex for the first time and is what marks the day their relationship officially started.
A wonderful five years relationship.
Alfie met the Shelby clan, he was there for Ada’s graduation ceremony, he was happy to let her go from the café when she found a job somewhere else.
Alfie was supportive of Tommy’s career, even when Fashion Month came and he wasn’t able to see him for at least three weeks. When Tommy would text him where he was having a photoshoot, Alfie would show up there to support him, bringing him flowers or food.
Tommy became famous −one of the best paid male models in the world− and with fame came the rumors, the lack of privacy, the paparazzies trying to always get a picture of him, of them. It was annoying but Alfie dealt with it by mostly ignoring it because whenever they were together Tommy would make sure to show him just how much he loved him.
But sometimes it was hard to ignore the pictures taken in an after party in New York, or in Milan, or Paris or in fucking Sao Paulo. They were especially hard to ignore when you were in fucking London baking fucking desserts and your boyfriend was having drinks with a lad who earlier that day had been posing half naked with your own fucking boyfriend.
Alfie knew it was irrational to be jealous, it was Tommy’s job to be posing with and without expensive clothes on, with or without a partner. And he knew, alright, he knew Tommy loved him way too fucking much but Alfie is eight years older than Tommy, so whenever the tabloids mentioned how good Tommy would look with a younger man who is also a model Alfie loses his mind, because he knows he’s too fucking old for Tommy and that he would probably be better off with someone his own age but they love each other, alright? They do.
Every now and then Alfie would tell Tommy about this, about how he feels about the tabloids and the rumors, he would ask about why they were saying those things and what was the real context behind them. And Tommy, bless him, never once go mad about the questions and he would always answer them, explaining what was happening and always reassuring Alfie about his love for him and their relationship.
But.
One day that just wasn’t enough.
By the end of their relationship, rumors about Tommy cheating on him with a musician started to grow and grow – all because Tommy agreed to be on their new music video− and Alfie grew more annoyed and unhappy by the second, he was just so fucking angry, and Tommy was working most of the time, catching small breaks between gigs and Alfie was supportive, alright? He was. But all the rumors got to his head so when Tommy went to his house to spend a whole weekend together Alfie said enough is enough.
“Are you fucking him?” Alfie asked out of the blue halfway through dinner.
“What?”
“Are you fucking him? The musician?”
“You know I’m not.”
“Do I, mate? Because everyone else thinks you are so whenever you are away, I’m left here wondering if maybe all those rumors have some truth in them.”
“Alfie, you know I’m not. I barely know the guy, we worked together for just the week when we shot the video and have met in one or two events. That’s it.”
“One or two events he says. Mate, there are dozens of pictures of you in different events. So maybe you are attracted to him, maybe you wanna fuck him.”
“Alfie, honestly, I don’t care about reassuring you whenever you ask me to clear up the rumors and the pictures with you. Trust me, I don’t. But this? You accusing me of fucking cheating on you? That I can’t take.” Tommy moves away his food, obviously not hungry anymore. “Alfie, I’ve known you for seven years and loved you for five, I would marry you tomorrow if you asked. Hell, I would marry you right now in a heartbeat, not to prove you how much I love you but because I actually envision us growing old. But I can’t always come home to this, to all this doubts.” He stands up and leaves the kitchen to collect his things.
But obviously this is not the end of it.
Alfie also stands up and follows him, breath coming in hard pants, “this is it then? You giving up on us?”
“No, Alfie. But when your boyfriend accuses you of cheating and doubts your actions every other day, well then, that doesn’t speak so well about the relationship, now does it?.” He says, focused on packing his things back into his bag, not wanting to forget anything.
“You gonna go fuck him now?”
“What the fuck, Alfie?” Tommy turns around to look at him, bag heavy with all of his things, “I just poured my fucking heart to you and you still going with that stupid idea? What the fuck do you want me to say? You want me to make you feel better with yourself by saying ‘yes, I fucked that guy’? Would that make you feel better even if it’s a fucking lie? That what you want? For me to lie to you?” He puts his bag in his shoulder, car keys in his hand and cellphone on his pocket and moves past Alfie and towards the door.
“Maybe you were lying all this time.”
Tommy stops under the threshold to look back at the man he loves, eyes filled with contained tears, “go fuck yourself, Alfie.” And with that he walked out of a five years relationship, broken hearted and disappointed.
Ada and some colleagues from the office decided to go out for coffee at the end of the day, so they went to the place Ada swears by: Shokolad Café. Later, after they’ve all said their goodbyes and have parted ways, Ada comes back inside to approach a very sulking rough looking man.
“Thought you would be happy to see me, Alfie.”
“Nope. Thought wrong. I’m actually quite mad at you.” Alfie says, throwing the towel he was holding into the counter.
“Why you mad at me? What did I do?” She knows exactly what she did, but Alfie doesn’t need to know that.
“You knew damn well what you were doing when you posted that fucking video of Tommy in that fucking club, so don’t act like you don’t, girl.” He points a finger at her.
“How do you feel about grabbing a drink with me? Have a heart to heart?”
“Do I look like I want to do that?” Ada simply gives him a pointed look, “I’m still fucking mad at you but alright.”
Two hours later and a few drinks in, they both find themselves comfortably having a heart to heart in a corner booth at some pub downtown London.
“You know, one of the last things he told me was that had I’d asked he would’ve say yes. He wanted to marry me and I fucking accused him of fucking cheating of me.” One of his ringed hands homes up to cover half his face.
“And he meant it. I remember when he came home that night. He cried, Alfie, and I hadn’t see him cry since he first got booked for Fashion Week and those were happy tears. You broke him.”
“How did I fucked up so much?” He drops his hand to look at his friend, “I still love him, you know.”
“I know.”
“But is too late now, he has moved on.”
Ada lets out a snort at that, “no, he hasn’t.”
“But all those parties, and fucking pictures in restaurants. Tabloids say he’s with someone new every week.”
“And you should definitely believe what those fuckers say since they clearly were right about Tommy cheating on you.” Ada says with a deadpan face, Alfie at least has de decency to look ashamed. “Pictures in restaurants means he’s meeting with friends every now and then, parties are part of his job when brands are launching something or they hire someone new and they throw a party to celebrate that, or magazines parties or whatever. And going clubbing is my idea. Always. You know if it were up to Tommy, he would spend his days off in bed reading a book and watching Netflix.” Yeah, that sounds like Tommy’s idea of fun. “He still has feeling for you.”
“Has he said anything to you about that?”
“He doesn’t have too.”
“It doesn’t matter, it’s been over six months since we broke up. It’s too late now to do anything about it.”
“You know, tomorrow I’m leaving for the weekend to Birmingham so if you happen to show up at the house, well, no harm done there, right?” She shrugs, drowning half his beer in one go.
“What are the chances he won’t kick me in the balls?” Alfie asks, squinting his eyes. He’s not fond of being kicked in his crown jewels.
“I’m too drunk to talk about numbers but I’d say … not that high? I mean, if he does and then closes the door on you then at least you’ll know it’s actually over.”
“Fuck it, it’ll be worth it.” He drowns his beer too.
The next night, after much thought and cowering walking away from the doorstep at least four times, he finally presses the doorbell. A few seconds later, Tommy finally opens it, “Alfie?”
“Can we talk?” The younger man doesn’t say anything for a full thirty seconds before opening the door wider and walking away from it. Clearly, it’s meant for Alfie to let himself in, so he does just that and follows Tommy into the kitchen.
Tommy, obviously not in the mood for talking, he simply nods to a chair for Alfie to sit on while he prepares two teacups. When Alfie tries his, it’s done exactly the way he likes it and a warmth spread through his body, settling heavy on his chest. Tommy, for his part, he sits across from him, leaned back on the chair looking intently at the older man.
“Look, I know you probably have moved on and I don’t blame you, but I just had to come here and tell you just how fucking sorry I am for acting like a cunt, for treating you poorly and for accusing you of cheating on me.” Tommy once again doesn’t say anything so Alfie keeps going, “I know you’re not the cheating type, I know that, Tommy. And this is no excuse but I was so fucking sure you were going to leave me for somebody of your age, I had my mind set in that and every rumor just cemented that thought in my thick head and I got insecure and you paid the price.” Alfie is grabbing the cup with both hands, holding onto it like his life depended on it. “I’m not here to ask for your forgiveness or to beg you to come back together, just wanted some piece of mind and in turn give you some to you too. I want you to know that I never believed you were cheating on me, and I should have asked you to marry me when I had the chance because I also envisioned us growing old together, you looking perfect like you always do and me having back pains and a bad knee because I’m a fucking grandpa compared to you.” He can see that Tommy’s breath is coming out in short ragged pant, lips parted. “Well, that’s all I had to say. Thanks for the tea.” Alfie stands up and turns to go.
“You know.” Voice barely above a loud whisper.
“Yeah?” He turns around to see him, still sitting on the chair and cup of tea forgotten in front of him.
“I tried to forget you. Tried to meet new people, tried to move on. Went on a few dates, kissed a few guys but it never felt right.” Tommy stands up but doesn’t move closer to Alfie, “you know why? Because they weren’t you, you kept coming to my mind, completely uninvited just like tonight, and every time I just had to excuse myself and leave.”
“To be honest with you, your sister told me to come. So I’m not completely uninvited.” Alfie was about to add more but Tommy started walking towards him.
“I’m pretty sure you ruined me for other men, Alfie Solomons.” They are standing so close yet they aren’t touching. “Were you planning on proposing tonight?”
“Well, I don’t have a ring with me, love.” His heart skips a beat at that, hope raising within him.
“Good. I might have said no, you know.” Alfie’s shoulders visibly drop at that. “But, if you were to ask me on a date, I’d say yes.” Tommy can feel hits cheeks heating up and wants to hide his face but holds his gaze locked on the older man’s eyes.
“Tommy, I-”
“If we are going to do this again, I expect full honesty, Alfie. You know I never lied to you about anything, ever, so I expect you to always tell me when something is bothering you. We are both adults, Alfie, we should know how to fucking communicate with each other, okay?”
“You got it.”
“And I don’t want to sound needy or anything, but I do expect a proposal in a near future.”
“Sweetheart, I already have picked out the ring.” They share a smile, Alfie’s coming up to grab Tommy’s sweatpants’ cordon to coax him closer, “come ‘ere you.” Tommy happily does as told, arms coming to rest on Alfie’s shoulders, fingers playing with the hair on the back of his head, Alfie’s hands coming to encircle his waist, foreheads resting against each other, noses bumping together. “I missed you.”
“Missed you too. Will you stay tonight?”
“Of course, love.”
They stay like that for a few minutes, embracing each other. Just enjoying being together once again.
Alfie is so happy he didn’t get kicked in the balls and instead got the love of his life back.