'Until Death Do Us Apart' (Tom Hiddleston Fanfiction)

Chapter 15 - SMUT

'*Silhouette - Aquilo*'

THURSDAY 14.10.2021

While Tom showered, I went back to his library in search of the book of poetry I had discovered on my first night here. That poem had impressed me in some way and I wanted to understand it fully.

It was not in the same place as last time. I found it on the chair that filled the room. Tom had probably reread it in the meantime, or he had taken it to his school. I took the thick book between my fingers and returned to the folded page. I took a deep breath and began to read the poem:

"You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?"

Phone in hand, I translated the words "beset" and "gloom" that I didn't know before reading on.

"'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise."

I slammed the book shut and discovered the cover for the first time. "Growing Up - Taylor Swan." The poem that had made such an impression on me had been written by Maya Angelou, not Taylor Swan.

I noticed a handwritten note on the first page of the book : "I hope you enjoy it Tom. I love you to the moon and back. Yours forever, Taylor." This was not a book of poems but the autobiography of Taylor Swan, who I assumed must have been one of Tom's ex-girlfriends. The book had been written in April 2021, so Taylor was his last girlfriend, the one who had left him two months ago.

"What are you reading?", Tom asked me.

"Oh, I didn't see you were here. I just wanted to reread the poem 'Still I Rise' because I didn't quite understand it," I replied, closing the book.

I stood up slowly, put the book on the chair and walked over to Tom. He opened his arms and hugged me tightly. His curly hair was still damp and smelled amazing. My red lips pressed against his pink mouth. His fingers wrapped around my hands and he pulled me into the living room.

I looked at the guitar sitting in the corner of the living room. When I was little, my mother used to play songs for me to fall asleep. When I was older, she taught me to play and I could never stop.

I slid my fingers across the table of the instrument, which was made of solid cedar. Gingerly, I took it in my hands and sat down on the couch. From the kitchen, Tom watched me intently as he poured us glasses of water.

"Can you play?" he asked me as he approached.

He set our glasses down on the living room table and joined me on the couch. Without answering him, I strummed the first few notes of the piece "Bardenklänge Opus 13 - Johann Kaspar Mertz" while watching him. It was a very technical piece that I had studied for years.

"Impressive," Tom exclaimed, shaking his head. "Do you sing too?" he asked.

I nodded and looked at every inch of that beautiful guitar. I hadn't played a single note since my mother passed away and I missed that feeling.

"Play and sing something for me!" he ordered me with a smile.

"Okay as long as you play and sing something for me afterwards," I replied as I settled in comfortably.

I gently strummed the strings of the guitar to tune it. After a few seconds, I started playing the notes of the song "July - Noah Cyrus", then sang along to the different notes.