Tom Holland & Peter Parker Imagines & Preferences (book 2)

Limited Space - Tom Holland

       "Y/N."
       "Yes, Jimmy?" she dramatically flipped her head to the side causing her hair to swish which made everyone laugh a bit at her antics.
       "When you found out you weren't going to be in 'Civil War' with these guys, and Tony was going to get a new protegee in Spider-Man, what were your thoughts? Did you kinda go up to Kevin Feige and ask if he was replacing you?"
       "Funnily enough," Y/N pointed at Tom, "when we first met on the carpet for 'Civil War' that was the first thing he said. "Please don't think I'm replacing you!"" she imitated his London accent though quite badly making everyone chuckle, and Tom had to bite his lip to keep the smile at bay.
       "If I'm being genuine –" she continued, "I was just terrified I was gonna be fired. Cause after 'Age of Ultron' where it turns out the Hulk took the plane to space and ended up in Sakaar, I thought that's what would happen to me. And I was pumped," Y/N emphasized the word, "but like, Mark and I were keeping in non-stop contact while it was leading up to Phase 3 announcements, 'cause neither of us had any idea what was happening to our characters. And when it was announced Hulk would be in 'Ragnarok', yet for me, it was radio silence, and then Spidey flipped into the 'Civil War' trailer... I-" she laughed, "I kinda started sweating."
       Robert patted her knee as Y/N made a motion of 'cooling off' with her hand. "And then for like two more weeks, there was nothing. Mark knew zip, though that was a smart decision on Marvel's part."
       "Is he still not trusted by anyone?" Jimmy chuckled, and Robert rolled his eyes.
       "Listen," the legend started, "everyone loves him, and he's such a kind person. Whenever something slips past those loose lips," he looked over his tinted glasses at Tom as well, "it's never from a malicious place. Like those two are just excited and want to share that with the world, but when you stream the first fifteen minutes of the movie on your Instagram... you kinda lose the access to the secrets."
       The audience erupted into laughter as did Y/N. She had gone to the 'Ragnarok' premiere to support her friends, and the movie and clearly remembered the woman poking Mark in the back and angrily whispering for him to turn off the Instagram Live that was still going. At the afterparty, for the first twenty minutes, that's what everyone was talking about.
       "And what about you, Tom?" Jimmy brought the conversation back on track. "When you found out you'd be in Civil War but had no contact with Y/N or Juliet in this case what was your first thought?"
       "I was really scared that she'd hate me," Tom laughed rubbing his neck and looked at Y/N, who waved him off. " 'Cause Tony's and Juliet's relationship is one of the strongest in the MCU, and now that he's recruited Peter, I was genuinely terrified. Especially of her fans, like they are passionate about Juliet, which I totally get. I just hoped that she'd be nice and accepting when we did meet and got to work together."
       Y/N rolled her head to the side and looked at Tom. "And am I as scary as you thought I'd be?"
       "In the mornings, horrifying," Tom sassed, and Y/N slapped his shoulder with mock hurt on her face while Robert exclaimed a 'watch it, kid, that's my daughter! I might be dead, but I'll come back to haunt your ass.'
       "Did you kinda help him fit into the dynamic of everything?" Jimmy continued on, and Y/N looked at Tom.
       "Not really, no," she shook her head. "He just fit in so perfectly on his own, that nobody had to do anything. Sure, like helping out with the scenes and advice like that as peers, yeah. But there was no 'here's Tom. Now be friends' kind of a thing. And in the end, I was off in space, and they were kicking Cap's ass back on Earth."
       Someone in the audience hollered a 'Team Iron Man' making Robert blow a kiss in the person's direction. Given how he wasn't with them to promote Marvel anymore and was there for the re:MARS initiative, it was nice for all of them to catch up.
       "Honestly," he piped up, "I couldn't wait for Infinity War and then Endgame, to film with this one, and then see us on the big screen reunited," he affectionately ruffled Y/N's hair.
       "Me too," she smiled, "though, when we saw Spidey and Iron Man interacting with the Guardians, yet no Juliet, I started to think maybe it was just like a mock scene that wouldn't end up being used. 'Cause by that point, everyone knew she was rolling with the Space Avengers, and maybe it was just to throw everyone off. But filming it was a really amazing experience, 'cause Juliet hadn't seen her father for what now," she looked at Robert for confirmation, "three-four years? And suddenly they meet again, but he has a new protegee and stuff. It was interesting to see how the dynamic would evolve, and how she'd feel about Peter. As evident in the movie – she kinda liked him."
       "So, no rivalry between the two of you?" Jimmy motioned with his hand.
   And Tom placed his head on Y/N's shoulder making the audience aww. "None whatsoever."
       "Good answer," she patted his head. "I've trained you well."
       But as everyone laughed, Y/N was completely unaware of how Tom's heart galloped in his chest from that small touch and show of affection. Fuck, he was in deep.
***
       "Ugh," Y/N groaned putting a hand against her back and stretching, feeling the air between her vertebra pop. "I feel like I could sleep for a week."
       Robert gently patted her shoulder. "You and me, kid, but we know we can't. Chris will kill us if we miss the barbecue."
       "Which one?" Tom asked, dropping his suitcase on the floor. "Pratt? Evans? Hemsworth? Pine?"
        Robert cocked his eyebrow. "Since when did we have Pine?"
       Tom shrugged his shoulders. "Zoe is slowly collecting all of them. And honestly, I wouldn't be that surprised if they had some sort of a Chris-convention."
       "Chrisvention?" Y/N quirked her eyebrow settling on the arm of the couch.
       "Chris-con?" Tom offered.
       She snorted. "That just sounds like crisscross."
       Robert rolled his eyes removing his glasses and placing them on the mantlepiece. He had invited the two youngsters to stay with him since they both were like his kids, especially after having known Y/N for almost a decade, and now having taken the young Brit under his wing, he didn't want the two to sleep in hotels if he could offer the comfort of his own house.
       "Okay, you two, off to bed," Robert clapped his hands interrupting the weird conversation they were having and shooed them up the stairs having grabbed Y/N's suitcase much to her grumbling that she could do it herself. "Now, the other guestroom is under renovation so you'll be sharing. Two beds, one bathroom, unfortunately. Need you to be up bright and early so we could get to Renner's. And no funny business!"
       "Ok, Bobert!"
       They heard a high-pitched whine of 'stop calling me that!' as he retreated before a door closed shut, leaving the two with their eyes rolling and heads shaking.
       "I swear, he's such a diva," Y/N joked bringing her suitcase in and dropping it on top of the bed. "The Marvel fame's really gotten to his head."
       "I know!" Tom exasperated in that same 'I don't actually mean it' tone. "It's like – chill it, Rob!"
       Y/N snorted and zipped open her bag pulling out a set of pyjamas consisting of an incredibly old and stained shirt with some shorts. "Rob?"
       "I know," he wrinkled his nose. "Regretted that as soon as I said it."
       She hummed listening to how Tom unpacked a few of his things and gentle music erupted all around them when he hooked his phone to the speaker.
       "Any requests, m'lady?" he said in a very much so overly exaggerated British accent which Y/N didn't think was possible, seeing as he was, well, already British.
       "Why yes, I do actually," she spun around, her bag of toiletries pressed against her chest as if it was her palm. "Let it be 'Bowling for Soup' – 'Here's Your Fricking Song'."
       Tom bowed and typed in the name. "As the lady wishes."
       With the upbeat track of late 2000s punk-rock, Y/N skipped to the bathroom and started to get ready for the night. Without even thinking the two had engaged in a sing-along, and she even held her toothbrush as a microphone.
       "I get drunk and you get pissed!" she screamed, and Tom responded, "You start dreaming I don't exist!"
       "I say yes, and you say no!"
       Without missing a beat, he sang, "Like Katy Perry says, you're Hot and Cold!"
       "With all the shit that we've been through, this the best that I can do!" they sang in unison, Y/N almost choking on her toothpaste. "Can I still get lucky tonight?"
       Cackling she entered the bedroom and bowed in front of Tom. "The bathroom's all yours, kind sir."
       The pure happiness on Y/N's face was a sight Tom never wanted to forget. It was just the way her Y/E/C eyes lit up, that sparked his own joy and released a horde of butterflies to trash around his stomach.
       Venturing away from Y/N he released a shaky breath and looked at himself in the mirror.
       "Pull yourself together," Tom muttered to his reflection as if the counterpart could actually take charge and calm him down.
       The music still played switching from one song to another as he brushed his teeth and washed his face from all the makeup that had been caked on his skin for the show. With satisfaction, Tom watched as the beige and brown colours went down the drain with the running water, freeing him from its confines and bringing back his own face
       Sure, there were impurities. Acne spots, little pimples pushing to the surface, a scar here or there. Usually, when he was around people without them covered, Tom could feel a bit insecure, as if each and every person had a magnifying glass to their eye and were focusing in on just those things. But with the people he was comfortable with, the people he trusted and loved, there was none of that because more likely than not, he had seen them in that same kind of state.
       Or in Y/N's case, with her face covered by a white spot-treatment mask making her look like a weird version of a Dalmatian. She was sat against the bed's headboard with a book in her lap (her usual state) and sweet melodic music Tom recognized to be the soundtrack for 'Pirates of the Caribbean' wafted around her.
       "Getting in the mood?" he asked moving to rest on his own bed, acting as if his heart wasn't beating a mile a minute.
       "Kinda," Y/N muttered through pursed lips. "In the movie, the scene where Tristan and Yvaine are up in the clouds they spent so much more time with the Captain, where in here," she pointed with her chin to the pages of 'Stardust', "it's barely been two pages, and they're already off. And his name isn't even Shakespeare!"
       "What outrage!" Tom mocked and received a pillow in the face for that, phone dropping to his lap. "Rude much?" he threw it back, but Y/N easily caught it.
       "Captain Shakespeare is my favourite character!"
       "And you still have the movie to see him in," Tom's eyebrow rose. She had nothing but a groan as her response.
       Y/N read for a bit more while he distracted himself with social media, but it wasn't long when she placed a candy wrapper as her bookmark and turned off the bedside lamp.
       " 'Night, Tom," Y/N yawned and hugged a pillow closer to her chest.
       " 'Night, Y/N," he replied, watching her relaxed features for a bit, before residing to the night himself.
   Nothing but the moon and stars twinkled outside, illuminating the bedroom with a pale-ish glow, and while he waited for sleep to claim him, Tom watched Y/N rest, her body cast over with the moonlight making him think she was some sort of a princess from a fairytale under a spell, and the glimmer was showing him the way to break the curse.
   The dead silence of the night was interrupted by his soft voice uttering her name.
       "Y/N?"
       "Yeah?"
       "Are you awake?"
       She snorted and turned on her back. "Given how I just responded to you, yeah. I'd say I'm awake."
       "I dunno," Tom chuckled. "You could be sleep talking."
       "Then I must be a pretty bomb-ass coherent sleep talker," he saw her put a hand behind her head. "What's up?"
       "I can't sleep."
       "Why not?"
       " 'S just... I dunno... It's stupid..."
       "Well, it's not that stupid if you're losing sleep over it," Y/N propped herself on her elbow to get a better look at Tom. Even in the complete darkness, she could distinguish the worry in his face and what seemed to be embarrassment. "I won't judge."
       With one last huff, Tom relented. "It's just when we were in England doing press, I could go home, and sleep, and Tess always slept next to me. I dunno... I just guess I miss something warm to cuddle next to... told you it was stupid."
       "No," came Y/N's instant response. "It's not stupid at all. If you wanna hear something stupid, is that when I first got the role of Juliet, which was my first role like ever, I slept in Evans's trailer for like three weeks, 'cause he had Dodger with him, and I had forgotten Huks home. Took a while for it to arrive, so I had to improvise."
       She saw his eyebrow raise. "Huks?"
       "It's a plushie husky. Couldn't go to sleep without it... in fact, I still have worse sleep if it's not with me than when it is. So, no. I don't think missing Tessa or her cuddling with you is a stupid reason to be unable to fall asleep."
       Tom just wanted to scream out that it was the most adorable thing ever, and that Y/N had to stop before his heart did, but before he could even mutter that her reason wasn't stupid either, she managed to speak up first.
       "Do you maybe wanna sleep next to me? Not in a weird kinda way, just... you know... you said you miss something warm next to you..."
       "Are you sure? 'Cause I don't want you to d-"
       "Stop worrying and get under the covers," Y/N hissed but she was smiling as she did so, waving him to come to her bed. "Though, I do have to warn you – I'm a very violent sleeper," she said scooting to the side.
       "How does... that work?"
       "It means," she grunted pushing a bit further to the edge and settling down as Tom slipped beneath her bedding, "that I might just, unconsciously kick you, and no matter how far you sleep from me, you'll end up either on the very edge of the bed or on the floor."
       "Also," Y/N extended a hand, "this is you promising not to sue me for whatever damages my sleeping-self might cause you. A broken nose or a rib – awake me is not at fault."
       Tom clasped her hand and sighed. "And here I was getting ready to cash in."
       "Sucks to be you then, cause this deal is unbreakable," she shrugged and gave him one last smile before turning her back to the man and giving a 'goodnight'.
       "Goodnight," Tom muttered to her already softly breathing form, but he himself couldn't find rest.
       Although he thought it might actually help him to have something warm to sleep next to, it seemed like his brain was going into overdrive, and his heart was about to collapse.
       She stirred for a second and rolled over to face him, making his breath hitch. Y/N was so close to him that he wouldn't even need to stretch his hand to caress her face.
       "You're so beautiful," Tom whispered looking at Y/N's closed eyes. And unbeknownst to him, her heart almost exploded because although she looked like she was dead asleep, a twitch in her body had jolted her awake, and now she was very much so alert. "I wish I could tell you this while you're awake... or just in general, I wish I could just grow a pair and do it, but I guess this'll have to do for the time being. You're so, so beautiful," his thumb brushed over her cheekbone, and Y/N had to suppress the hitch of her breath.
       "And I don't just mean how you look 'cause fuck, darling you are a dream... marvellous... but your mind... your heart... the first time we met I thought I'd have a panic attack because you looked at me so softly, I felt my mind go numb and everything just tuned out of focus."
       "And then we got to know one another more," he released a barely-there sigh, but Y/N still heard it, "and I couldn't help myself. I started to fall for you. You had a boyfriend at the time, so I knew I had zero chances, but it didn't matter to me. I was giving my heart to you every day bit by bit, and it didn't even matter if you broke it or not, 'cause it was already yours to do as you pleased."
       Tom released a bitter chuckle, and Y/N could feel him shake his head. "But still somehow I'm too much of a coward and a twat to say how I feel despite it being almost four years, despite both of us being single." She felt his gaze roam her face and tried her hardest not to flutter her eyelashes. "I guess I'm just too afraid to lose you. In any kind of capacity. I'd rather have you as a friend than not at all... that I couldn't take..."
       That was the thought that made his heart clench the most, and tears prickled at the corners of his eyes. One of the biggest fears, when it came to relationships and friendships he had, was, if he told her how he felt, that Y/N would just shove him out of her life completely. So he surrendered himself to loving her from afar. And he let her love him her own way. It was better than nothing.
       Quickly before they to dropped to the pillow, Tom wiped the tears away and finally settled for the night, the weight pressing on him lifted if only for a moment before it would come crashing down in the morning. But Y/N had other plans.
   "Do you mean that?" her voice trembled, and Tom's eyes shot open to see her already looking up at him
   "Y-Y/N? I thought you were asleep."
   "Answer the question, Holland," she murmured sliding her hand up to the nape of his neck and pulling his face closer. "Do you mean what you said?"
   "Yes," the word was a breathless whisper as his forehead now rested on hers. "I mean every. Single. Word. I am in love with you."
   And she needed nothing more than to nudge his head away, brush her nose against his and press their lips together. The two practically sagged against one another with relief that the kiss was reciprocated. Y/N's hands had gently woven to tangle up in Tom's chocolate locks, both to feel the softness of them and to pull him closer, while one of his palms had settled on her waist and the other was cupping her cheek, his thumb gently stroking the side of her face. But something just had to ruin the mood, and it was Tom's laughing.
   "What?" Y/N pulled back annoyed and frustrated because that one kiss was just not enough after almost two years of her own pent up emotions.
   "Robert said no funny business," he giggled.
   Her eyebrow quirked up. "And?"
   "And this is funny business."
   "Oh my god," she groaned, chuckled and slipped out of the bed. "You're a literal child." Smacking a pillow over his face, which Tom easily caught Y/N bounded over to the bed he had been previously occupied and slipped under its covers.
   "Wait, no, come back!" he whined reaching over the end of the bed, flopping down on his belly with an extended hand. "Please," and he gave such an adorable pout that it almost broke Y/N, but no. She crossed her arms and put her nose up in the air.
   "Nope," she shook her head, but even in the pitch-black darkness, Tom could see the smile she tried to suppress. "You thought it was funny kissing me, so no kisses or cuddles."
   "Please?"
   "No."
   "Please?" his voice increased with each syllable.
   "No."
   And then Tom rolled onto his back and pouted, giving Y/N the best puppy-dog eyes in the world. Like if there existed a contest for that kind of a thing, he'd totally get the prize. "Please come back to bed and cuddle with me?"
   She couldn't say no anymore. She never could and never will be able to say no, and that's when a realization hit her – he had Y/N completely wrapped around his finger, but she didn't mind that.
   If the kiss and his warm arms wrapping around her waist was what greeted her when she clambered back under the sheets, and his steady heartbeat lulled her to sleep, she didn't mind being wrapped around his finger at all.
   And truthfully, with how huge the grin was that spread across Tom's face as he kissed her forehead 'goodnight' this time for real, neither was he too upset how wrapped around her finger he was.
   In the morning he had to remember to say 'thank you' to RDJ for the limited space he had in his house. And although he did wake up with a sore in his ribs where Y/N had accidentally kneed him during the night, he had never been happier about a predicament in his life. After all, it's what gave him the chance to speak his heart.