#interactions | thomas

[thomas-reyes]

“I don’t know what to tell you. That sounds pretty anti-freedom of press to me, that’s all I’m saying.” Yes, he had nothing to do here, and no, he was absolutely not here for the Sun, but that excuse had gotten him out of trouble in the past too many times before. “I can be here, and quite frankly, I’m a bit tired of having to justify myself everywhere. You couldn’t walk a day in my shoes.”

[thomas-reyes]

lrzadie​:  @lrzadie​ “Oh so basically the premise of one of your articles then, at least I know I have something to fall back on if the modelling ever dries up.” The smile that slipped across her lips serene, even as she glanced down at her watch to check the time, no exchange of jabs with Thomas worth missing her pilates class for because at the end of the day getting information from her might pay his bills but the other way around wasn’t so much the case. In fact she would win nothing from this apart from a less flat stomach. Eyes coming back up they skipped over his face for a second, wondering what might be going on in there only to land on something akin to the sound of a dial up modem. It was hardly going to be anything more sophisticated, he’d need that to churn out the shit contained in this articles at a later date, it’s not like there was a huge amount of brains to go around from the start. “Ooh, might be a bit big of a word for your readers, more than two syllables will have them falling to the floor and foaming at the mouth cursing the day they didn’t listen in English class.” Of course she read his articles, never missed one, assuming it was about her. It was like a sick form of self flagellation laying in bed at night the bright screen of her phone feeding her the shit he peddled about her that left her loathing herself even more than on a normal day. Zadie would never allow Thomas to know that though, not give him that power to know he caused such a deeply rooted reaction in her, that would just be stupidity.

“I’m sure she’d love that, but he’s dead, so unless your suggesting she dig him up she might have to think of another plan. And to think I thought you were a good reporter who made sure to know everything about their subjects. Oh shit no, sorry, you just make it all up. Forgot for a second.” Waving her hand in front of her face with a light laugh as if to say ‘oh how silly of me to say something so obvious’. Letting out a soft sigh as she pointedly looked past him, visibly bored in her expression.

“I do just have to check really quickly that you know in order to classify your creation as a book it’ll have to be longer than the pamphlets you find at the doctors. I know writing too many words without intercutting them with crude paparazzi photos that are the work of someone other than you is tricky, but if you want to write this so called ‘book’ you’re going to have to make a real effort.” Giving him a kind look, one hand against her chest, the other reaching to give his shoulder a soft squeeze of reassurance. “I believe in you though. You just keep trying.”

You fucking asshole.

Silently added to the end.

.

“You know, your habit of looking down onto the Sun readers speaks more about you than it speaks about them,” his jaded expression returned and he looked her face over with a bit of contempt to him. “But I suppose convincing yourself that you are better that them is how you get through the day,” which made his effort to kick her pedestal down all the more satisfying. What did she have that was so special? He asked himself the question whenever they asked of him to cover her shenanigans. Rich girl parties hard and sleeps around. Wow. A whole personality in here. Surely there must have been more to her than this shallow puddle he captured on cream coloured paper, but if this was all she chose to show, he couldn’t really be the one to blame.

“I’m suggesting she be faithful to her husband in life and in death,” he retorted. Another fun fact about him, he supposed. He’d been raised to be faithful, both to the Lord and to his wife, to his family and to his criminal friends. Thomas was loyal, and you could count on him. Always and forever. It was unconditional, which made it all simple. “But if we’re being honest, I abhor the fact that I know so damn much about you. It was all fucking pedestrian,” his complaint could have been repeated for most of the people he wrote about.

Still jaded, he sighed as she called out the length of his articles. Again, it wasn’t his fault if there was not a lot to write about people who followed patterns of self sabotage. Another champion in that category would have been Eilidh O’Dea. He wasn’t sure who was the most predictable of the two.

He withdrew his hand from her touch, clearly unimpressed with her display of haughtiness. “Keep convincing yourself you’re better than the rest of us, as long as it justifies your void of a life, you know,” an empty, sad, unstable life. “If you don’t mind, I have someone waiting for me at home,” he gave her a smile, but saying go fuck yourself might have been more crystal clear. “Have a good day.”

[thomas-reyes]

zadie @lrzadie​

“Oh please, it’s a public park, we’re hardly in the middle of Soho House don’t turn this into class snobbery.” Rolling her eyes as he sneered at her, Zadie might be rich as hell but the last thing she was, was snobby. In fact if anything she destained her family’s need to hold appearances above anything else, after all most of the worst things cost the most money. Like private school, that place was full of assholes.

“Aww, how touching. You’re such a good little husband aren’t you.” As for the bakery she wouldn’t know, unless they did above average coffee, it wasn’t really the kind of place she’d go into. Her eyes slid down to the camera, eyebrows still raised. Her silence speaking volumes with just a look - not buying his innocent act for a second. Kissing her teeth with her tongue she rolled her eyes, scoffing. Her career was built on attention to a point, not the type she gave it, but still she needed to remain relevant in order to book campaigns. It was almost as important as what she actually looked like these days. “I don’t like the kind of attention you bring to me. It’s funny, my PR team have started calling it a ‘Thomas Special’ when a journalist blows a tiny story about me out of proportion in order to gain clout for themselves. You know, as a shorthand.”

.

“Oh so Soho House would be uncharted territory for someone like me,” he pointed out. There was nothing that could ever stop him from manipulating words to his advantage, which made him a wet dream come true for the Sun. His smile didn’t falter. Maybe she’d only been born into the wrong family, but that didn’t make much a difference in his book.

“Weird world you live in. It’s normal to be kind and selfless with your wife,” a pause. A long pause, as he let that simmer. Ah, a mundane, anonymous life. He didn’t care much for the mundane, sure enough, but the shadow was were he felt comfortable for certain. “What can I say, I just love her enough to walk out on an empty stomach.” She’d come home late from work. She deserved a danish to start the day. And, if he could do something extra, something useful at the same time? Bonus points for him. “You don’t like the attention, you say but...” Well, that sounded fake. If she didn’t like it, then maybe did she ought to try to hide her bad behavior better. “That’s not what the camera or my pen says,” the smile he gave her then was one which dripped with faux-sympathy, an air of benevolence that just felt wrong. “What can I say. Grandeur has always inspired copycats, but I know I’m your favorite,” he cooed, pushing himself back, and forth from his toes to his heel again. “At least, I’m entertaining enough, aren’t I?”

[thomas-reyes]

@emilio-kovac​ This was something that had turned into some sort of habit : any time he knew his wife wouldn’t be home until very late at night, Thomas would either take advantage of that with his illegal activities, or if it was an idle night, he’d hang out with Emilio. Tonight was the latter. A bag of take out from Devran’s, Thomas had rung at the inter-phone and climbed up the stairs that led to Emilio’s with a pep in his walk, and as the tradition demanded, pressed on the doorbell continuously, with a shit eating grin smile at the ready for whenever his friend would come for the door. “Well that took you long enough.”

[thomas-reyes]

—   Location : The Hospital Break Room  —  Somewhere near midnight —   With @isabellamorales

This wasn’t his idea of a romantic move, but rather what he considered him being a decent husband. He could work anywhere, and his darling wife would eventually have a break in her shift. He’d come to the hospital after 8 hours of her having been hard at work, figuring that she’d soon have some time to stop and share the Thursday evening part of their meal prep. Yawning to the point of making his jaw pop, he gave his watch a glance, blowing a raspberry as he noticed that the felt 15 minutes had only been 3. It was probably best if he went back to working on this large brief they had in store for next month.

[thomas-reyes]

For: @liu-yu​ Setting: Thomas’ desk in the Sun open space / Yu’s ___________

This had started a couple of years ago. Thomas had not been a huge fan of it at first. He usually was the one with the code-name, the secrecy, the one in control of the narrative, and even more often, the one to torment others with his simple presence. He wouldn’t have called ph4ros a nuisance, but Thomas couldn’t precisely call them a friend either. They were on friendly terms, as long as they kept from benefiting from the other’s work.

He was sipping on “an excuse of a coffee cup”, which would be how his coworkers called his habit of surviving on a ridiculously high amount of cafe con crema with an unhealthy dose of sugar. If only he’d been one to care for criticism. Instead, he made a point of adding an extra sugar if someone was staring loudly his way in the break room (and then pour the inhuman beverage down the bog). 

He was finishing an article trashing dear old Boris Johnson (something he’d have done for free) as the notification popped up on his screen. “New message from 𝚙𝚑𝟺𝚛𝚘𝚜“

[thomas-reyes]

For @javiervidal​​

"First of all congratulations, jefe,” he wasn’t sure why he’d been summoned by the newly named crooked hand. Thomas already knew that this wouldn’t be the same relationship as the one he had with Eliza. She’d often treated him like her son. He didn’t expect this from Vidal. Shoving the last bits of his danish into his mouth, he took a look around the room, dragging his finger along the edge of one of Sonny’s shelves. “Is that a...” He’d come back for the old camera later, for now, he wanted to see what the boss had in mind.

[thomas-reyes]

For: @chaotiics​

"What do you want?” Far from him the idea of punching her again, but he’d had 2 drinks already, and while that did absolutely nothing to his (he was not about to brag about this in front of his wife) sobriety, he could justify violence through it. Why did you get into a fight? Oh, I’ve been drinking. Won’t do it again, I promise. And it wasn’t like she didn’t have it coming, sitting right next to him. “Come on Sichantha. Piss off.”