Chapter Text
"Hello, there."
Tom turns at the sound of the voice and is slightly surprised to find his eyes traveling upward for eye contact. The remarkably familiar face has his eyebrows knitting together in vague recognition.
"Liam, right?"
The younger Hemsworth smiles -it's an echo of his brother's- and nods. "That would be me," he replies while holding out a hand. "It's nice to finally meet you, Tom."
Tom nods and returns the smile with one of his own. He grips Liam's hand and gives it a fair amount of shakes. Tom is ready to let go but finds Liam's grip to be unrelenting. Confusion now tints the smile on his face.
"You know," continues Liam, "in another world I would've been your on-screen brother."
Tom chuckles good naturedly. "Yeah, Chris has mentioned that before. But then you wouldn't have gotten the opportunity to be in this great franchise." He moves his head around to indicate the packed room for the premiere party.
Liam seems to have not heard the second statement as Tom feels his hand momentarily squeezed harder and the Aussie's jaw clenches. "Chris would mention that." He takes a moment to wind down and is all smiles again. "We've always been very competitive. I could tell you a bunch of stories. You know, help inform your character for the sequel. Let you know what it's really like to have him as a brother."
Tom laughs a bit nervously. "It's a tempting offer, but I would probably run the risk of reacting more to Chris than Thor."
"Well let me just tell you for the sake of a good story," insists Liam. "Shoot the breeze and all that."
Before Tom responds, he feels someone coming up behind him, but the fact he's not bristling at the violation of his personal space bubble tells him who it is before a familiar deep voice starts speaking.
"Jesus, Liam. You've held on long enough. Why don't you let go before you take his hand off."
As Tom twists to look at the owner of the voice, he feels the grip on his hand tighten. He catches a glimpse of the elder Hemsworth's hard, steely glare and then feels his hand finally being released. He blinks, and the uncharacteristically dark expression is now replaced with the familiar all-consuming grin of Chris'. The transition is so quick that Tom questions if he imagined the other expression.
"I see you've acquainted youself my brother," comments Chris while clapping a hand to Tom's shoulder.
"Yes. In fact, he was apparently about to share some very blackmail worthy stories about you from childhood."
Chris laughs heartily, but Tom senses an undercurrent of something else mingled with the mirth.
"Oh, like tossing a throwing knife at someone's head?"
Tom whips back round to stare at Liam who is getting redder. Liam scratches the back of his head and works his jaw before he replies with, "It's not like it hit you blade first."
"True but the pendulum definitely swings both ways on the stories we could tell about each other."
Tom looks back at Chris who has a self-satisfied smirk on his face. There's a twinkle in his eye which seems to be daring his brother to make a move. And suddenly, Tom feels the space in front of him being occupied. Sure enough, when he turns his head forward, Liam has stepped so close that their chests are only centimeters apart. The younger Hemsworth is practically glaring at his brother.
Then Tom feels his own back being pressed against a solid mass of chest, and Tom knows Chris is returning the expression though he hopes it's less hostile. He briefly wonders what this must look like to anyone else not currently trapped between the two brothers. It's not a wholly unpleasant experience, but it is quite surreal to be caught in between what is most certainly shaping up to be an Alpha Hemsworth pissing contest. Which is funny because Tom recalls Chris talking about an older brother, so this would really be a Beta male thing but then he figures these two must do things like this when the eldest isn't around so the original analogy still stands.
"I just thought it'd be nice to share some stories with your charming castmate."
"Oh, so we're on the same wave length then?"
Tom gets to watch firsthand as Liam slightly pales. "W-what?"
"Well, I was just catching up with Josh over there-" Tom cranes his neck over Chris' shoulder and notices both an animated brunette chatting with an equally animated blond who he recognizes from various promotional materials. "And our converstaion got a bit carried away. Then Jennifer made her way over and after some general introductions, we swapped some stories. Excellent conversationalists, the pair of them. You better watch out in your next group interview."
Liam's eyes dart over to his two co-stars. Whatever they are talking about, it appears to involve a lot of arm gestures and laughter. Liam turns his attention back to his brother and gives the duo a once over with narrowing eyes. "Well I'm sure we can trade stories one day. Pleasure meeting you, Tom." He begins to stick his hand out but then thinks better of it and merely aims a curt nod at the Brit.
"Same," replies Tom with what he hopes is an even tone.
Liam's smile disappears as he looks at his brother next. "And Chris," he performs a hand gesture which one shouldn't unleash in such a public setting.
Tom leans forward as Chris does a fake-out lunge which has Liam skittering toward his co-stars. The Brit feels the chuckle rumbling through the younger actor. He turns to face him and is now finally aware of the hand around his waist. He raises an eyebrow at Chris as he comes about face. "Care to put away your tape measure now?"
Chris scratches the back of his head and somehow manages to look sheepful and resilient at the same time. "Chalk it up to age old siling rivalry?"
"I don't think things between me and my sisters ever escalated to throwing weapons at each other," points out Tom.
"I'd say it's boys being boys, but I'm not so sure after hearing some of Jennifer's stories."
Both turn their attention to the young woman who towers over Josh yet still manages to be shorter than Liam. The laugh she releases is low and loud, and she playfully punches the Aussie in the shoulder. Then she starts to mime something involving a gallop, and the display has Tom's eyebrows shooting into his head.
"What... is... she doing?"
Chris watches in amazement and laughs after Liam quickly shoots him a look of horror. Josh and Jennifer seem to take the panicked gesture as some sort of confirmation because the duo then bursts into laughter. "It seems she's really taken to the story of Liam chasing me around with a broom."
"Whatever would he do with a broom?"
Chris brings his mouth to Tom's ear -Tom briefly misses the feel of stubble- and quips, "Certainly not what I would do to you if I had one."
Tom manages to swallow his splutter and notices the return of the hand on his waist. "Marking your territory much?"
"Just telling the little brother to back off is all."
"Wait," says Tom as something occurs to him, "were you jealous?"
Chris' silence is answer enough, and Tom laughs while poking Chris playfully in the shoulder.
"Oh my goodness! You were!" Chris opens his mouth to say something, but Tom cuts him off. "Well worry not because I'm not trading you in for a younger model for the foreseeable future," teases the Brit.
Chris laughs his low laugh which sends chills through Tom and presses his forehead to Tom's. "Guess I'll just have to fuck you silly until you only see stars then."
Tom cannot fight the blush which stains his cheeks, and Chris is quickly pressing a kiss to his temple. Feeling the smile in the kiss, Tom momentarily wonders where he can get a hold of a broom.