Heaven ── TOM HOLLAND

13. Family Matters

      It was beyond hypocritical, but he wanted to pity the girl. He wanted to tell her how sorry he was for her, and tell her nobody deserved to grow up that way, and that included her. But coming from someone who actively voiced their distaste for pity, he couldn't do so, instead resorting to a deep frown and sad eyes.

      He was brought out of his daze as Orion gave him a tug, pulling him into a shop that was very dimly lit. He had failed to notice how they'd ventured into a completely different sector, too lost in his thoughts to take in his surroundings as she led them to their destination.

      "Well if it isn't OLo?" A man sat on a desk, coffee cup in hand and glasses on the bridge of his nose. Orion rolled her eyes at the nickname, making the unnamed man grin. He looked to Tom, clearly pleased with himself, "Get it, like JLo? Please tell me you were alive long enough to get the joke."

      Tom nodded, "I get it."

      "Everybody gets it, it's just not funny Ross." 'Ross' shrugged, taking a sip from his coffee cup with his eyebrows raised. "Look, I wanna cash in my favor."

      Ross lowered his coffee cup, setting it on the desk he was perched upon. "Seriously? Must be serious if the Orion is asking me for a favor." Ross suddenly trailed his eyes down, a smirk tugging on his lips at the sight of the interlocked hands. "Oooo, breaking the rules, are we now? I knew eventually you'd give in to one of the hundreds of guys chasing you. Which number is he? Two hundred? Four? He got a name? How'd you–"

      "Has anyone ever told you that your voice gives them a headache? If not, let me be the first. Your voice gives me a headache." Orion dropped Tom's hands, crossing her arms over her chest. "His name is Tom, and no, we aren't together. I don't break rules, you know that. Just let me cash in my favor so we can go back to not speaking."

      Tom didn't even have time to process that Orion was cashing in a favor for his benefit, his mind still stuck on hundreds of guys chasing her. Hundreds. Not one or two, hundreds. Typically, he wouldn't believe the number could be so high, but somehow, he just knew the man in front of them wasn't exaggerating the number. He knew she was well known, she was the "top angel" in all of whatever this place was, but it only seemed to dawn on him now. She was the popular girl at school, and he... well, he was just that random lab partner she got assigned for one project. There was a time where he thought she needed to be taken down a notch, but how do you bring someone down a notch when they're at the highest point?

      "Tom, c'mon." He snapped out of his thoughts, trailing behind Orion who was following Ross to the back of the building. Now he could see the numerous other desks in the building, the set up very similar to the office, leading him to connect the dots that this was the office for this sector.

      Ross paused in front of a door, narrowing his eyes at the two. "Tell anyone I let you in here, and I'll come after you."

       Tom's eyebrows knitted together in confusion, while Orion let out a groan. "Just let us in already, I won't snitch on you."

      Ross sighed, unlocking the door and pushing it open. "Use it wisely, and quickly, workers are coming in soon, and I can only bribe so many people to stay quiet."

      Tom trailed behind Orion into the dark room, Ross shutting the door behind them. Orion continued into the room, eventually stopping in front of a big ball set on a table, a hand indented into the side of it. She turned to Tom with a grin, one he's never seen on her before, and was now hoping to see more often.