Work Text:
“Nigel?”
“Mhm….” he was typing away at his laptop.
“Nigeeeeel” Thom said in a sing-songy voice.
“Yeah, yeah I’m listening…”
“NO you’re NOT”
“Okay, what is it Thom?” He said, finally turning to face Thom.
Thom was sitting on one of those spinny office chairs next to him. He spun 'round while he spoke.
“Aren’t you sick of just sitting inside and working?”
“Uhhhhhh,”
“You know what you need?”
“What do I need, Thom?” he asked sarcastically
“You need to go take a break, y’know go outside get some fresh air. Hey, we should go on a walk, me and you.”
A smile appeared on his face, “Alright fine, maybe you’re right” he agreed.
They both got up and walked towards the door.
“Hey, we’re going on a walk, okay?” Thom called.
Jonny, Colin, Ed and Phil were also just sitting around in the studio without much to do.
“Okay, have fun” Colin responded, not looking at them from over his book.
Nigel picked up Thom’s coat from the coat hanger and helped him put it on. It was a little too big for him, but it was cute, he thought. He buttoned it up for him.
Thom noticed Nigel was wearing just a hoodie.
“You’re going to freeze to death like that.”
“No, I’ll be fine”
“Hmm… Here wear this scarf” Thom picked up a random scarf he found on the hanger and placed it onto his shoulders.
“HEY, that’s mine!” Jonny protested.
“Well, you’re not wearing it are you?” Thom said.
“Still, don’t care, you’re not taking my favourite scarf.” Jonny said.
“Sheesh, okay.”
“Yeah, really I’m fine,” Nigel insisted.
Thom placed the scarf back where it originally was. “If you say so.”
“Oh, and we should take an umbrella in case” Nigel remembered.
Thom put on his bag – it was a satchel – while Nigel got the umbrella.
“Alright, let’s go.”
Nigel opened the door and they stepped out. It was cold out but there wasn’t much wind. They could hardly see that far past the road as it faded into fog.
Thom grabbed Nigel’s hand, their arms linked, and they began walking along the road.
“So, we just walk aimlessly..” Nigel questioned.
“Er, we could find somewhere nice to sit.” Thom suggested.
They continued walking silently for a bit. The road started to narrow and there were more trees around. Although it was almost winter, the trees still had quite a few leaves.
“Maybe around here.” Nigel said.
They stepped off of the road and onto the grass instead and began searching for a place to sit.
“Nigel, look..” Thom pointed at a short white brick wall or fence.
They walked over to it. Nigel placed the umbrella onto it. He stepped onto a large rock, climbed onto the wall and sat there. He then held out his arms for Thom to grab and helped him up. They sat next to each other. Thom closed his eyes and sighed. Nigel put one arm around Thom and rubbed his shoulder affectionately. Thom leaned onto Nigel’s shoulder. There was no one else around for miles here besides the rest of the band still in the studio. They could sit here peacefully.
“Nigel?” Thom said.
“Yes?”
They spoke softly as if not to ruin the quiet.
“I just wanted to say... you know, thanks for putting up with me for so long”
“You’ve said that at least a million times, Thom”
“Yeah, sorry, but I know it’s not easy to deal with me” Thom said “I don’t know how you do it”
“Well, even though a lot of people always describe you as this grumpy moody dude who hates everything, that’s not true,” he paused to think “Actually you can definitely be like that sometimes. But I would know you can be really sweet and affectionate and funny too. You just take a while to open up I guess.”
“Thanks.” he smiled.
“See, you’re being sweet right now. So it’s worth dealing with your bad days sometimes so we can have days like this.”
“I love you…”
“I love you too” he says, kissing Thom’s head then nuzzling his hair.
They were soon interrupted by the noise of Thom’s phone ringing. Thom grumbles and takes it out of his pocket. It’s Ed.
“What?!” he said, irritated.
“Hey Thom, I just thought I’d tell you me and the others are leaving since there isn’t really much going on.”
“Uhm okay then.”
“Sorry, did I interrupt your romantic stroll” Ed asked smugly.
“Uh YEAH that’s kind of exactly what you just did”
"Then I won’t bother you any longer, byee.”
Thom hung up.
“I guess we’d better get going too?” Nigel asked.
“Sure.”
They climbed back down – Thom stumbling a little – and then they made their way back, once again holding hands.