tom holland imagines

wednesday in a cafe

The campus' small coffee shop was one of your favorite places to be. When it wasn't busy. This, however, was not one of those times. You'd brought your entire backpack with you, hoping to get your favorite drink and study, or write your essay, but now it seemed like there would be nowhere for you to sit. Unless you were to ask a stranger if you could share a table with them.

Drink in hand, backpack slung over your shoulder, you scanned the small coffee shop. Across the shop was a decent sized table with a boy that you somewhat recognized. You knew that his name was Tom, he had been in a few of your classes, and you also knew that he had somewhat of a reputation due to his involvement in his frat and the girls that often came and went from the house. Though he'd been in your classes, you'd never talked to him, but decided to go for it anyways. Maybe he'd recognize you and be okay with you sitting next to him.

Sighing, you made your way through the people in line and stopped just a bit away from the table, "Um, excuse me?"

Tom's head shot up, a slightly irritated look on his face. He recognized you, as well, and knew your name, but that was that. He'd come to the coffee shop to get out for a bit, spend some time alone, maybe study a bit, and now you were standing in front of him, "Uh, hi?"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to bother you, I just— d-do you mind if I sit at the table with you? Just need a place to sit, and this is a pretty big table, so I figured, maybe I could sit here? I won't bother you anymore, and—" you were rambling, feeling flustered at his gaze on you as you stumbled over your words.

As much as Tom had wanted to be alone, he found the rambling slightly endearing and shook his head, speaking up to cut you off, "Yeah, that's fine. Sit." He motioned to the seat across from him, and stuck one of his earbuds back in.

You quickly sat down before he could change his mind, and set your coffee down on the table before taking your laptop out, "Thank you, I appreciate it. I promise I won't bother you anymore."

He simply nodded, picking up his pencil and staring at the question in front of him. Though he tried not to, his gaze kept going back to you, watching you work in total concentration. He was trying to remember where he recognized you from, until it suddenly hit him; you were also in his statistics class, and that was what he was currently stuck on.

After a moment, he cleared his throat, catching your attention, "Um, you're in Stats 1102 with Dr. Nelson, right?"

Surprised that he recognized you, your eyebrows shot up, "Oh, uh, yeah, I am. I'm Y/N."

"I know. Tom, by the way," he gave you a nod and a small smile, one that barely tugged at the corners of his lips, "Have you done the homework for Monday yet?"

"Uh huh," you nodded, trying to ignore how fast your heart was beating as he stared at you intently, "Finished it this morning."

"Would you... would you be willing to help me with this one problem? I'm stuck on it, it's literally the only one I have left."

"Oh!" you were surprised (again) at Tom, specifically that he was asking for help. He didn't really seem like the type to ask for help, but then again, you knew nothing about him. You were simply making assumptions based on other frat guys you knew, and maybe that wasn't fair. "Yeah, sure! I mean, I have no idea if I did it right, but I can try to help. Which problem is it?"

Tom's smile widened slightly at the sound of your giggle, and pushed his notebook and textbook towards the middle of the table pointing out the problem he was having trouble with. You walked him through how you'd done the problem, and then got to talking. It turned out you had quite a bit more in common that you would've thought. And maybe... maybe you even liked him a bit. Enjoyed his company. Before you left and parted ways, you let him know that you were more than happy to help him with stats any time he needed.