You Don't Have to Stay Forever.

Loving Anna the way Tom wanted to was tough, he imagined a future with her at least twice a day, but being full aware of his and hers busy schedule always got him a little down. With past girlfriends he’d never wanted to be with them as much as he wanted to be with Anna –he was one of those people who relished in their alone-time. There’s that saying about absence making the heart grow fonder, and it could have been because those past girlfriends had always been within a ten-mile radius and Anna was away so often, but Tom didn’t think that was the reason.

He was just crazy about her.

His mom called while Anna was arranging her clothes in the drawers, helping her moving into his home brought an overwhelming joy to his heart. Tom was on the phone with his mom, one thing led to another and she had him talking about Anna.

“I think she’s the one” his mother gasped after hearing her son’s confession “Scratch that. I know she’s the one” even if Diana wasn’t very fond of the girl her son was dating and now living with, she perfectly understood that if Tom was saying this was because it was real.

“Take one big step at a time son, you don’t want her to run away” despite his mother being over protective at times he knew that she was right this time. Maybe he could wait five months to bring up the marriage topic, but Tom had already pictured it all: the suit, the day, the church, the best man, Anna wearing a gorgeous white dress while she walked down the aisle –he wanted it so badly he would’ve asked her the moment she announced she was done and they could head to the airport.

Anna had to leave for Brazil, Tom insisted on taking her to the airport. They held hands while on the queue to check-in. The blonde model watched as a group of teenagers spotted them both, the three young girls were chattering excitedly among themselves. Nudging his boyfriend’s side as the queue moved forward, she gestured over the girls, who were still debating whether or not to mob him.

“I’m sorry to bother you” the petite brunette walked over, politely tapping Tom’s shoulder. “Could we get an autograph and a picture with you?”

“I don’t see why not.” Tom smiled at her, a light blush creeping into his prominent cheekbones. Anna chuckled, enjoying the moment that was unfolding. He looked around to make sure this wouldn’t be a scene.

The brunette’s friend joined her eagerly at Tom’s side, he signed something for each of them, and Anna offered to take the picture. The tallest girl was a red head and she showed the model how to use her camera, the other two brunettes seemed to take some interest on her now.

“So you’re Anna Asher, right?” the chubby brunette asked stepping closer, scrutinizing everything about the gorgeous model before her.

“Yes” she answered with a warm grin. Anna had her own fans and she was used to them, but this was the first time she was addressed by one of Tom’s fans, so it was relatively new. Tom glanced at his girlfriend from the corner of his eye, weakly attempting to fight back a smile.

“You’ve got great brows”

And she thought she was probably going to be hated by her boyfriend’s fans.

“Thank you so much, you’re a sweetheart” Anna looked back at Tom, who was clearly enjoying this, and the blonde model begged him with her eyes to hurry up giving them their bloody autographs.

“Are you guys going to get married?” asked the red head. Tom froze. Was he wearing a big advert with neon colours announcing the world that he wanted to marry Anna that he didn’t know about?

The handsome actor cleared his throat while his girlfriend laughed at the naïve girl “I don’t know if she’ll stick around that long” he flashed them a joking grin but his clear blue eyes were telling a different story. And it sent a thrill down to Anna’s spine.

By now, she was able to read Tom like a book. She was able to tell in what kind of mood he was in by the way he stretched out in the bed, what he was thinking by the way he licked or bit his thin lips or bounced his legs when sitting. And now she could tell from his eyes, the way they pierced through hers, that he wasn’t really telling his adoring fans the truth.

Anna shivered, clearing her own throat after that slight stop in earth’s rotation. Stepping back she told the girls and Tom to smile for the camera. When she was finished, and the brunette checked it out to make sure she didn’t have a double chin or anything, Tom and she continued their wait on queue.

“You’d think super models would get Fast Passes or something like that” said Tom cheekily after ten minutes of silence. Anna chuckled and agreed that the queue was indeed long, she also encouraged him to go home because it would probably take a while “I want to spend as much time as we can” his words were kind but they made her heart ache. All she could do was smile up at him “I will miss you so much”

Anna sighed and caressed his face “I will miss you even more, but we’ll meet in time for the London premiere” she said eagerly as if the premiere was two days away instead of fifteen. However Tom did appreciate her effort to cheer him up, it wouldn’t be good for him to go to Australia in a few hours feeling down. The next one to check-in was Anna so she threw her arms around her boyfriend’s neck to kiss him deeply. In the past Tom didn’t feel comfortable with being too affectionate in public places, but everything was so different with this girl, that it didn’t matter if the people behind them were scoffing, the couple wanted this moment to last forever “I’ll give you a ring once I get there” Tom nodded before kissing her temple.

The blonde model gave him a tight hug before checking-in and walking away from where her boyfriend stood with a longing look on his face.

People find it hard to understand how Tom fell in love in such little time, he wasn’t that kind of guy and he also wanted to focus on his career, which was the main reason of why he broke up with Susannah Fielding. He was taking things a bit too fast and his mother was truly worried that due to this, the love would fade much more quickly.

Some others were truly happy for him; it was nice to see that fire in his eyes whenever he spoke about his girlfriend, his face lit up at the very mention of her and his closest friends knew that he had never been like this with anyone else. They also understood why he wanted to rush into things, he was afraid of wasting time, precious time and the fact that he was indeed ready to settle down as well.

Needless to say he had enough support to endure the people against his relationship, but now sitting on the plane to Sydney he wondered if being apart would damage their relationship in any way. It was clear that Anna had strong feelings for him, but she was young and Tom feared that this would also mean that she was not as committed as he was. Maybe at this very moment she was rat-arsed and some bloke would offer himself to walk her to her bedroom and they would have a snogging fest in the hallway before going inside to bonk.

“Are you feeling ill Tom?” Luke asked concerned to his client and friend, the actor looked crikey and more pale than usual, he was sweaty as well.

“Luke I fear that Anna could be shagging a Brazilian male at this very moment” Luke patted his mate on the shoulder asking why he would think such a thing. Although the girl wasn’t on his good side, he didn’t think she was the slaggy type “well she’s in Brazil, what else is there to do?”

“Codswallop Tom, she didn’t go on holiday, she is working. Have you forgotten that she has a job as well?” Luke was right, he was being paranoid and needed to calm down otherwise nothing good could come out of that “wipe off those worries because they’re silly, I bet she is missing you just as much”

Tom had to agree on that because his girl was sending him lots of texts after a few hours she arrived to Brazil, and she was doing the countdown to the London premiere. When they finally arrived to Sydney Tom was able to occupy his mind on enjoying himself so the fans wouldn’t be disappointed. The hotel was beautiful and posh; the view from his room was probably the best view from the opera house.

Tom has always enjoyed the interviews, he was a total chatterbox and so whenever he had an interview it was a delight to him, today he was feeling a bit insecure. First of all he was promoting the film all by himself, Kevin Feige would join him on Beijing but that was on a couple of days, he missed his co-star and dear friend Chris Hemsworth, it had been a busy year for the Aussie and therefore he wasn’t able to join Tom. But Australia was Chris’s hometown; shouldn’t he be there instead of the British actor? The fans seemed to be keen on him as well but he knew that deep down they were longing for Hemsworth, and so was he.

The blonde journalist sat across from the handsome actor, she was about to thank him for the amazing and funny interview but then she remembered that some fans submitted a few question via Twitter .

“I have five questions for you from your Australian fans. We got thousands of questions but these are the most interesting ones” Tom feared that at least one of those questions was about his personal life and he was not keen on discussing that topic with anyone but his girlfriend.

Nevertheless, he smiled politely “sounds good, let’s hear those questions”

“What makes Loki so appealing to fans?” the blonde woman asked.

“I don’t know what it is” he said with a laugh “I think maybe it has something to do with the fact I like him so much. There’s a charm about him. When you meet Loki what you see is what you get. You know he’s going to betray you, you know he’s not trustworthy, you know that he’s a completely autocratic and self-serving but there is some element of mischief, some element of trickster, that I think is kind of delightful”

“Do you think Loki is the guy who we can take home to mum?” Tom laughed before thinking his response.

“I’ve spoken to older women who actually love the delicacy of his emotional palate. He’s actually vulnerable and heartbroken. They find that interesting and definitely he’s a chap your mum would give a hug to” the blonde journalist giggled.

“What is Loki’s role in this journey?”

“It feels like a very different journey. Neither the journey I went on in the first Thor film, nor the Avengers film. It was actually very emotional. Loki is forced to do a lot of soul searching. He hits rock bottom and after that is forced to reconsider his options, that are actually quite profound –inside all this amazing spectacle and fun.” By this point Tom was sure that it was not likely she would ask him something about his personal life, the questions were focused on the character and he was thankful for that.

“This one’s about your love life, it’s really good” he was about to protest but she was quick to ask “you seem to be keen on Anna Asher. Do you love her?” the actor licked his thin lips thinking of a good answer. Just a few days ago he was thinking about getting married to his girl but now he couldn’t even answer whether he loved her or not.

“Love is acceptance, caring and also growing together. We’ve only been together for three, nearly four months but I can tell you for sure that I respect her, care about her and accept her with her very few flaws. She makes me feel different and when we’re together I can do the silliest things and the best is that I know she won’t judge me! What we have together has a real meaning, and we’re happy” in so many words he had confessed that he was very in love with her, hopefully no one would notice.

“That was truly beautiful, she’s a very lucky girl” the woman said at the verge of tears, she blinked her tears away before asking the last question “What is your favourite eye colour, height, weight, hands and other feature in a woman?” Tom bit his lip smirking, he wasn’t feeling uncomfortable by talking about his personal life, probably because he could never get enough when talking about his girlfriend.

“My favourite eye colour is her eye colour: green, sometimes they look greyish or even light blue. My favourite height is her height: 5’9”. My favourite weight is her weight: 112.5 lbs. My favourite are her hands. My favourite feature is her knees.” The journalist shed a tear at the sweetness of his words, this wasn’t the first time she asked an actor about his beloved woman but he surely was the first one to look so much in love.

“Thank you so much” she said before shaking hands with him.

“Thank you” he said being polite as ever. He joined Luke and they both made their way back to the hotel, this was his last day in Sydney and the actor could use a light kip before jumping on a plane again, he was a bit let lagged and the sun was shining in the sky which made the weather too hot for his own liking.

“What you said about her making you feel different, it made me realize that you haven’t spoken about a girl since Susannah” Tom looked at his publicist, they were on their way to the hotel and the driver couldn’t hear their conversation “And even then you didn’t say much”

“Anna’s worth writing home about” the actor said with a smile that could lit up the darkest room, and then Luke saw it, the fire burning in his clear blue eyes.

“I admit we’ve been a bit unfair with her, but now I apologize for not being more supportive. It seems that you miss her” they hopped off the car and got inside of the hotel lobby, making their way to the lift.

“You have no idea” the two men got in the lift and pressed the button that led to their rooms “she’s going to the premiere at the Odeon in London” he announced beaming.

“You look like a randy teen with that bloody grin” Tom laughed loudly before telling his friend that he couldn’t help it “as long as you’re happy” Luke said before disappearing inside his room. Tom got inside his own room and kicked off his shoes before throwing himself at the bed, he was knackered and he still had two countries to visit.

He had to admit that it excited him to visit Beijing; he was looking forward to see The Great Wall in there and was also keen to explore Seoul once he went to Korea. It was a good thing he had his camera with him, he almost forgot it at home but luckily he got a text from Anna reminding him to pack it. The thought of his girlfriend who was literally on the other side of the globe brought him down, he checked on his mobile what time it was in Brazil.

“It’s still a decent time to call” he mumbled before pressing the screen to call her. After fifteen seconds –this seemed like an eternity to him. Anna’s voice filled his ears making a grin spread on his face “What are you wearing?” he asked in a husky voice which caused the blonde model to laugh.

“You randy chap!” he could picture her blushing and biting her bottom lip. He insisted on her telling him what she was wearing “I’m wearing my blue lace knickers and a very fashionable t-shirt of this comic villain” Tom’s grin got even wider and could picture her easily sitting Indian style on the bed wearing his Loki t-shirt.

“I can’t believe you stole my t-shirt” the blonde model giggled and said it never belonged to him “it is mine!”

“It doesn’t even fit you properly anymore” Tom then remembered that the t-shirt shrunk a bit after he washed it, so it fitted his girlfriend perfectly.

“That was an accident I want my t-shirt back”

“You can’t even wash your clothes, I’ll take them all” she loved his clothes because his scent was still lingering on them, she then smelled the dark fabric of the one she was wearing and closed her eyes while smiling because of its strong scent.

“I can wash clothes better than you” Tom defended himself, sure he had a few trouble sometimes but he could work it out in the end.

“So you’re a better woman than I am, that’s fine” the couple laughed wholeheartedly and forgot for a moment that they were miles away from each other. Once they stopped laughing they asked each other how things were going, Tom commented that he was asked about their relationship “did you tell them how many times a day we bonk?” the actor blushed, trying not to think about their sexual encounters.

“No, but I told them about my fascination for your knees” he admitted bashfully hearing his girlfriend let out a groan.

“I honestly don’t know why you like them” Tom said it was hard to explain “they’re very ugly” she whispered glancing at her knees; they were ugly, at least to her. But every time Tom caught a glance of her legs he would go mad.

“I like your slim sharp knees, and those legs!” his voice was husky and seductive, if Anna was on the same room she would’ve jumped on him to kiss him.

“I have chicken legs!” the girl wanted to sound menacing and angry but he was just too much fun and charming. Tom was precious and Anna couldn’t believe her luck, he knew lots of gorgeous women, Kat Dennings for example with those gigantic breasts she was a good example of a sexy woman, he also knew Jessica Chastain and Rachel Weisz. Yet this amazing man was on the phone with her, laughing at her lame jokes and doing a bit of dirty talk that would definitely leave her wanting him badly.

“I am serious, after the Coriolanus project is over I am taking you to Venice” he was now lying on the ground, grinning from ear to ear, they have been talking for about three hours and although his right ear was pounding and begging for him to hold his phone to his left ear, he didn’t care.

“I am not arguing on a nice holiday. Are we going to wear stripped jerseys?” she asked picturing herself and Tom walking down the beautiful streets wearing the famous jerseys, having dinner in one of the most romantic cities in the world.

“Of course and we’re also doing the gondola ride” he heard his girlfriend sigh dreamily.

“Are we going to kiss under the Bridge of Sighs while drifting below on a gondola at sunset?” she said as if it was a silly thought but Tom knew better, he knew that deep down that tomboy she claimed to be, was a girly side of her that no one got to see. He felt proud to be the one to get out those girly and cheesy thoughts out of her, she seemed to be happier when she could act girly and silly at times.

“Of course we are” Anna’s breathe got caught as her eyes filled with tears, she was then grateful for him being so thoughtful and understanding, she didn’t have to put into words her wished for him to make them come true. She wondered if life could get any better and smiled happily, since Tom was hers, everything just got better.