Better Together • Tom Holland

116 [The Ellen Show]

"Hey guys, I've got a very special pair of guests coming next. Now, you might already know who they are from the last Captain America movie," the crowd cuts Ellen off with cheers, "if, you know, you watch that sort of thing." She smiles and looks around at the audience. "So, do I have any Marvel fans here?" The crowd cheers again. "Did anyone here see the last Captain America movie?" Again, Ellen was met with cheers and applause from the crowd. "Okay, then I'm sure you guys will know my next guests since the kind of stole the show. Please welcome Tom Holland and Claire Nicholson!" The audience cheered.

Tom and Claire walked out together, and took a seat on the white couch opposite Ellen's chair. It took a little while for the audience to calm down, and when they finally did, Ellen began the interview.

"So, this is your first time on the show, and actually, Claire, this is your first ever talk show right?"

"Yeah, it is," Claire replied a little nervously. Tom squeezed her hand reassuringly.

"I'm honored to be your first! Guys, we're popping Claire's talk show cherry!" Ellen announced to the crowd as Claire turned slightly pink.  "Well, I've been wanting you on the show for a while but you've been very busy, you two."

"Yes, it's been crazy," replied Tom.

"Ok, so there's been a lot if different rumors in the the last, I don't know, twelve months about you guys so I want you to set the record straight for everyone if you don't mind? It's getting confusing and I love the two of you so much and I just want to know!" Ellen said excitedly in her usual Ellen way.

Both Tom and Claire laughed. Claire looked over at her boyfriend and quietly told him to do the explaining.

"Oh okay, all right," Tom began, "So, Claire and I first met, what, six-ish years ago? I'd just finished my run in Billy Elliot and Claire was doing a summer program with the Royal Ballet School. One of my mates from the show, Scott, who was also a Billy, organized a little get together. He actually just graduated from the Royal Ballet School I think. Anyway, it was mainly a thing for the ballet kids but he invited me and a few other guys over since we weren't going to be see much more of each other. I met Claire and we talked about Marvel movies, funnily enough. We kind of lost contact over the years but she never left my mind. I was totally infatuated with her."

"The same goes for me. I never stopped talking about you — you can ask Anna, my best friend, I never shut up," interjected Claire, "We actually went to see The Impossible in the theater together."

"Yeah, so I'd just been cast as Spiderman and then Marvel announced that Blue Shadow was going to be played by Claire, and I was just so excited to see her again."

"So I got to set and everyone was so welcoming. They all were pretty interested in the fact that Tom and I knew each other already. I think Mackie was shipping us from the get go!" Claire laughed.

"We pretty much just hung out a lot after we shot our scenes or when we had some time off. I dunno, it just kind of happened," Tom said, turning to smile at his girlfriend.

Ellen seemed to be hanging on their every word. "So you guys started dating during Captain America Civil War?"

"Yeah. I mean it's tough since we're both working all the time and we live so far away, but we make it work," said Claire.

"Well, we all love you and your Instagram posts keep us alive. Now from what I understand, Blue Shadow is going to be in the new Spiderman Homecoming movie that's going to be coming out in just a month's time. Now, I know this is Marvel, but is there anything you can tell us about Peter Parker and Yulia?" Ellen asked, realizing that they were quickly running out of time.

"Tom, shut up," Claire laughed, aware of her boyfriend's horrible habit of accidentally spilling Marvel secrets. "Um, I know I can say that Yulia is going to be at school with Peter, and they are going to interact, but I think that's all I can say."

Ellen nodded, and then turning to the audience, said, "Spiderman Homecoming comes out July 7th, we're going to show the trailer now but first let's say goodbye to the wonderful Tom Holland and Claire Nicholson, thank you guys for coming!"