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As Thomas stared out of the window, he couldn’t help but notice how the sunlight reflecting off the snow-covered ground seemed to make the world glisten. It was beautiful, but not enough to distract him from his thoughts, because they were about something infinitely more beautiful.
“Oh! Alison!” he exclaimed, standing from his seat and rushing over to her, as she decorated the house for the season. She turned her attention away from hanging tinsel for a moment to acknowledge Thomas. “I must ask… will you be fulfilling our Christmas wishes again this year?”
“Well, depending on what it is, I’ll see what I can do,” Alison replied, going back to work and hanging the mistletoe in the doorway to the library.
“I have a single wish -- for a kiss from the most beautiful woman gracing the halls of this house,” Thomas declared dramatically, his hands over his heart.
Alison sighed. “Thomas, we’ve talked about this, we’re not going to--”
“Y/N.”
“Pardon?”
“My wish is for a kiss from Y/N. Well, ideally more than one, but I shan’t be greedy.”
Alison might have been taken aback, but she already knew Thomas had feelings for you, though he had never been as open with them as he had previously.
“How about you, I don’t know, ask her if you can kiss her?” Alison suggested. He’d had no problem boldly declaring his love for her every five seconds before you had shown up to the house.
Thomas averted his gaze from her. “Although it is embarrassing to admit, I find myself feeling rather bashful whenever she is around, and horrifically tongue-tied whenever I even think about telling her how I feel. And unfortunately, I am still unsure as to whether she feels anything for me.”
Alison had to stifle a laugh. It seemed like everyone but Thomas had realised that you were madly in love with him ages ago. You were probably the shyest of all of the ghosts, but the way you acted around him made your feelings quite obvious. She was sure that Mike even knew how you felt, and he couldn’t even see you!
“All I ask of you is to go fetch Y/N and ask her if she can meet me here. I think perhaps if she sees that I’ve asked her to meet me under the mistletoe, she will understand that I love her, and I will be able to express my feelings more confidently,” Thomas explained, and Alison supposed that there was no harm in just doing that little favour for him.
“Well, alright. I’ll go and get her.”
“Thank you, Alison!” Thomas exclaimed, “I can only hope she says yes!”
***
It didn’t take Alison long to find you. You were sitting in your room in front of an open novel, seemingly engrossed in what you were reading. When you heard the door open then close, you looked up from your book to see her standing there.
“Hello, Alison,” you said, “Perfect timing, actually, I’ve just finished this page. Would you be able to turn it for me, please?”
“Sure.” Alison walked over and flipped the book to the next page. “Oh, but before you keep reading, I was just speaking to Thomas and he was wondering if you would come and see him.”
“Thomas?” you asked, your voice cracking a little bit. It was things like that which made Alison wonder how Thomas could be so blind to your feelings for him. “Um, of course. Where is he?”
“In the library, I think. He said he’d wait for you there.”
You stood from your chair abruptly, rushing over to the small mirror that hung on the wall, tidying your hair and smoothing out your clothes. Alison couldn’t help but smile.
“Y/N, you look fine. Just go and see him.”
You nodded, before quickly walking through the wall into the hallway, nearly tripping over your own feet as you went.
You had butterflies in your stomach as you walked from your room to the library. You loved nothing more than spending time with Thomas, though you did find yourself anxious thinking about what he might want to speak to you about. Had you done something to upset him? Was that why he hadn’t come to fetch you himself and had asked Alison to do it for him?
When you finally reached the doorway of the library, Thomas turned to look at you, a wide grin on his face. You took a sharp intake of breath, his smile truly was the most beautiful you’d ever seen. Being so close to him was making you feel a little faint.
“Ah, Y/N, how lovely to see you,” he said politely, and you managed a smile in return.
“You too, Thomas. Um, Alison said you wanted to talk to me…” You fidgeted with the fabric of your shirt, the anxiety you were feeling was overwhelming.
“Yes, I do. About something of great importance.”
Did you do something wrong? Surely if you did, Thomas wouldn’t be smiling at you like that, would he? You had no idea what was going on, why wouldn’t he just tell you what he wanted?
After a few moments of silence, Thomas pointed a finger upwards, still beaming at you. You looked up, seeing the sprig of mistletoe hanging off the doorframe. You looked back into Thomas’ eyes, unable to believe that this was really happening. You opened your mouth to speak but no sound came out.
Thomas’ expression dropped and his smile disappeared. “If you do not wish to kiss me, Y/N, then I shan’t pressure you to.”
“No!” you exclaimed, embarrassed by yet another voice crack. Your volume dropped to a whisper. “I… I do want to kiss you…” you admitted, unable to look into his soft eyes when saying such a thing.
Thomas’ entire face lit up, though you weren’t looking at him to see it. “Oh, Y/N… you’ve made me the happiest man in the world. When I find the words, I shall write for you a poem of such beauty to encapsulate the joy I feel in this very moment!”
You giggled a little at that. Thomas’ penchant for dramatics was one of the things you found so utterly adorable about him. You returned your gaze to him, seeing the fondness in his eyes. Shyly, you stepped closer to him ever so slightly, but it seemed that it was now Thomas that was freezing up.
“Thomas, are you… okay?” you asked, once he had been silent for a few seconds.
He nodded, but you could see how anxious he was. “It has just occurred to me that it has been nearly 200 years since I have kissed someone… Perhaps I have forgotten how.” He sighed. “I would not wish for our first kiss to be a disappointment for you.”
Your desire to comfort him seemed to overrule your shyness for a moment, and you took one of his hands in yours. His eyes widened when you did so, but he didn’t stop you from doing it. You give him a soft smile. “It’s okay if you’re a little bit out of practice, Thomas, because so am I. And besides…” you took a breath. “I don’t think a kiss from you could ever be close to disappointing.”
Thomas looked like he was about to cry, though he was still smiling joyfully. His free hand came up to touch your face, and he pressed his lips against yours. You reciprocated the kiss as best as you could, though any clumsiness from either party hardly seemed to matter, you were simply so happy that this was finally happening. You were so focused on each other that you barely noticed a voice that sounded like Julian’s saying “Well, it’s about bloody time.”
Eventually, the two of you pulled away from each other’s lips, though you still stayed just as close. Being too far away from Thomas at this point sounded like absolute torture. Thomas beamed at you again and kissed your forehead.
“Yes, this is all very sweet, but you cannot just stand there kissing each other all day,” The Captain said, and both of you turned to look at him, standing a few feet away from you with Fanny. “We have much to do to prepare for tomorrow, and I expect both of you to contribute.”
“Shall we, my dear?” Thomas asked, holding his arm out to you, which you took gladly. The two of you followed The Captain and Fanny to the common room to meet up with everyone else.
It was the greatest Christmas gift you could have ever asked for.