Always Been You | Tom Holland

SIX

Tom

Even when I'm supposed to be off for the summer, I still have random press interviews to do. At least this time it's via Zoom, so I can sit in my office and kind of relax. I just don't want to spoil any surprises about Spider-Man. There are so many rumors going around – granted, most of them are true – and I know I'm going to be asked about them. I obviously don't have my normal hair and makeup team with me, so I have my mum help get me prepped hair-wise for this interview with Jimmy Fallon, who I love speaking with. He's not too pushy with spoilers, which is exactly what I need right now.

"Where's your product, babe?" My mum is rummaging through my bathroom looking for my hair pomade. "Ah, found it." She walks over to me and runs it through my hair, taming the wild curls that I'm growing out for a future project.

"Thanks for helping me, mum," I scroll through my social media to attempt to distract myself from the press nerves, but it doesn't do much. At least I don't need to wear pants for the interview.

"Anytime, love," she smiles at me and continues to form my hair, just like she did when I was younger. "You know, I'm sure if you had a girlfriend, she'd be able to help you with this." I have to stop myself from rolling my eyes. I know she just wants me to find someone to make me happy because she can tell I've not been myself recently. I just needed some time off of work.

"It'll happen soon enough, mum," I laugh. She means well, but this is silly pressure I just don't need right now. "I just don't have time."

"Well, the summer is long, and you're surrounded by very wonderful women." I know she means Y/N. She loves Y/N. This has everything to do with my parents' dream of us getting together, which, after the other night, probably will never happen.

"I sure am," I stand up and wrap her in a hug. "I've gotta get set up. Thank you for helping me."

I set up my laptop and ring light and throw on a suit jacket over my turtleneck. I have a few minutes before I film with Jimmy, so I pace around my office to try and work through my anxiety. I hate doing press alone. Tessa makes her way into the room and sits in my chair, which I don't mind too much. She calms me down quite a lot. My 5-minute warning alarm goes off and I know it's time to sit in my chair and log into the zoom waiting room to await my chat with Jimmy. I adjust my jacket and sit patiently, petting Tessa as I wait for the producers to let me into the call. It's not long until I see the notification pop up that I'm being let into the main room. Here we go.

"Tom, so nice to have you here!" Jimmy's voice comes through my headphones and I see his face pop up on my laptop screen.

"Hi, mate, how are you?" Tessa's head pops up for a moment before she falls back asleep for the time being.

"Oh, I'm great, how are you? I mean, you've been busy for a while." Jimmy laughs.

"I'm great, mate. Honestly, I'm so glad to be home for a few months before things pick back up again."

"Yeah I'm sure. You know, I was going to ask, what have you been doing since you've been home?"

"I've been relaxing a lot, honestly. I'm not sure if you can see her, but Tessa is surely glad I'm home," I gesture to my loaf of a dog next to me and I hear a sea of aww's coming from the audience. "She is probably going to snore throughout this whole interview, so I'm sorry in advance about that," I laugh and rub the top of Tessa's head. "I was able to go out with my best mate the other night and celebrate his sister's graduation coming up, so I've been able to have fun, but man, I've loved being able to sleep in past 4:00 AM." Jimmy and I both laugh. The nerves are starting to subside.

"Oh, that sounds like so much fun. I think I saw some photos of that night on Instagram or something. I'm glad you've been able to relax," of course pictures made their way to Instagram. "Now, I need to just get one thing out of the way: you're steadfast in your answer that you are the only Spider-Man in this movie."

"Absolutely," I lie. I hate lying. I'm also rubbish at lying. "As much as I would have loved to share the screen with Tobey and Andrew, it just wasn't in the cards for this movie." I hope this is the only time I have to lie during this interview.

As always, my time with Jimmy is great. He is so good at making me feel welcome and calm. Although I love talking with him, I'm so glad when the interview is over. I can just chill for the rest of the day and not worry about a stupid press thing I have to do. I'm always exhausted after I do press. It's because I have to be "on" the entire time, which is absolutely tiring.

As I'm changing into pajamas, I hear my phone buzz on my bed. I pick it up to see a text from Jane, in our group chat with Ben.

Jane

Y/N broke up with Jack. It did not go well. We need to make sure she is doing okay and that Jack is not around or contacting her.

My eyes widen. I can't believe she actually broke up with him. I know he was an asshole after we left the other night, so I'm glad she saw that.

Ben

Holy shit. Tom and I will be on Jack watch at the graduation party.

Tom

I've always wanted a reason to punch that guy! :)

Jane

Thomas, best behaviour, please. We will keep an eye on her tomorrow at graduation. The party might be a bigger issue. I'll explain later. Coming over at 7.

Okay, I guess I've got plans for 7:00. I'm just glad that dickhead is, hopefully, out of the picture. One less thing for Y/N and I to fight about.

–

"Tommy, Jane and Ben are here!" My mum yells up the stairs. I run downstairs and hug them both, all of us making our way outside to have some semblance of privacy. Of course, Tess joins us, which Jane has no issues with.

"You guys want anything to drink? A beer, maybe?" I walk toward the house, slowing to wait for their responses.

"We might need a beer for this conversation," Jane chuckles. I nod and run inside, grabbing three beers from the fridge and sitting back down with my friends. "Okay, so, Jack is... not happy about the breakup, as I'm sure you both can believe." Jane sips her beer and rolls her eyes. "Thankfully, Y/N never gave him a ticket to her graduation because he had work, so he won't be showing up there." Dude wasn't even going to his girlfriend's Doctoral graduation. What a dickhead.

"Okay, what about her party, though?" Ben asks. I almost want to ask why I'm being included in this, because Y/N would not want me to be privy to her dating life, or to her in general.

"Well, he kind of said he's still showing up to see everyone," she rolls her eyes again. "So, uh, that might be an issue. She is hoping that he said that just because they were fighting, but I'm not playing around." Jane cares so much about her friends, it is so sweet. If it wasn't for Ben's clear crush on her, and the fact that she's Y/N's best friend, I'd probably have tried to date her when we were younger. Not that I would have been successful. 

"Me, either," Ben scoffs. "I hope he stays away. I don't want her night to be ruined by him again."

"Agreed," I say, watching Tess sprawl herself all over Jane's lap. "I'm just glad the dude is hopefully gone."

"Me, too," Ben pats Tessa's head and leaves his hand near Jane's lap, making me stifle laughter. He's such a dork.

After hanging out for a bit, Jane and Ben leave so Ben can walk her to her car – like I said, dork. I sit outside with Tess for a bit to take in the beautiful summer night. I know I shouldn't reach out to Y/N about the breakup, because I know she doesn't want to hear from me. I just hope Jack doesn't fuck things up for everyone at her party this weekend. I'm glad Jane told us about the issues going on so we can be on alert for the dickhead this weekend.