IMAGINE !
o. TOM SEES YOU AFTER
A FEW YEARS  . . .

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Another hour passed by as you strolled through the rather large toy store with your nephew's hand latched in yours. Having nothing to do on a Saturday afternoon was both a good and bad thing. For one, you got paid for babysitting, but two, it was somewhat an indication of how lonely you were; considering you were twenty-one years old. However, you weren't complaining considering you loved y/n/n with all your heart.

Being the rather amazing aunt you considered yourself, a simple trip to the mall's toy store would take up at least two hours of your day. The place was rather dead today, you being one of the few people browsing around the store. In fact, a certain brown-haired boy caught your eye.

He looked familiar but you simply shrugged it off at the thought of the guy reminding you of someone. y/n/n tugged on your sleeve, practically dragging you around the building in search of the action figure aisle.

Even though you kept convincing yourself that the guy was nothing more than a stranger, standing only a few feet away from him was enough to make your constant glances pretty noticeable.

y/n/n quickly handed you a few boxes of action figures of superheroes, and you mentally reminded yourself to try and start a Marvel marathon with him. You took another not-so-secret look at the guy, and before he could question your laughable actions, y/n/n gasped.

"y/n! y/n! That's Spider-Man!" His voice was filled with excitement as he tugged on your sleeve again. In honesty, you thought that if he kept tugging on your shirt, your sleeve would rip off.

You didn't think anything of it, considering you that your old friend Tom Holland was the superhero. There was no possible way that, out of all the places, you'd see him in a toy store. It just wasn't logical. Plus, maybe the fact that you couldn't face him was contributing to the reason why you desperately hoped it wasn't him.

Before Tom left to pursue his acting career, your teenage self had mustered the courage to admit that you were absolutely smitten with him. However, you never got to discover if he reciprocated the feelings due to him leaving because of an amazing offer for a casting job.

"No way! y/n y/l/n?" That familiar voice rang through your ears, making you close your eyes tightly. All you hoped was that he forgot about that night.

You painted a smile on your lips, slightly turning towards him and meeting his eyes. "Tom Holland. I never thought I'd see you again." You weren't sure what to do after speaking. So, you simply stood there with y/n/n's hand in yours. Your heart sped up when Tom's body started to lean in, arms opening up for a hug.

Of course, you froze. It was simply the most awkward thing in the entire world. Although, it felt nice to finally get a hug from one of your childhood best friends after such a long time.

"Mr. Spider-Man! I'm y/n/n. You're my hero!" He squealed, grabbing onto Tom's leg. You giggled, attempting to practically pry the kid off of him.

"Y-you have a kid?" Tom's voice was filled with confusion. The expression falling on his face matched too, but you could have sworn you saw him frown in the slightest bit.

You laughed, following y/n/n as he started running through the aisles of stuffed animals with your hand in his again, Tom trailing closely behind. Shaking your head, you explained that you, in fact, didn't have a kid. "No, of course not! I'm just babysitting my nephew, considering the fact that I'm not even dating."

Tom took a deep breath, which seemed to confuse you even more than you already were. After not seeing each other for quite a long time, he expected his teenage feelings to be long gone, but there they were; appearing again and taunting him like Casper's ghost uncles. At least, that was the best comparison he had.

"Oh, you don't have a significant other? I thought an amazing girl like you would have one, for sure." Tom explained, swaying back to the generic shopping music. You stopped in your tracks, giving a confused look to the brown haired boy, as if asking if he had entered another dimension of vocabulary.

The wonder quickly passed, replaced by a blush rising to your cheeks when your brain finally processed the fact that he gave you somewhat of a compliment.

A boost of confidence rushed through your veins as you remembered that you didn't really want to be alone tonight. After all, you hardly ever got any sleep, not to mention that you were going to have y/n/n sleep in your bed. Which also meant you'd be sleeping on the fairly uncomfortable couch.

"Hey, um, do you think we could catch up sometime? I-I'm kind of alone with this little guy tonight, and it would be nice to have some company. That is if y-you want," Tom grinned, nodding his head at your proposition.

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y/n/n was comfortably asleep in your bed, snuggled up to his favourite new stuffed animal that you had purchased, among other plushies and action figures, at the mall.

That left you alone with Tom and a two glasses of wine. The television was softly playing in the background, soap operas continuously playing on a loop.

After a while of talking and bonding over the admiration y/n/n and Tom had with Spider-Man, things finally felt normal, as if things never changed from your junior year of high school.

"Wait," an eruption of laughter from the two of you filled your flat's living room atmosphere.  You attempted not to spill your red drink all over the floor as you tried to contain your everlasting laughter. "So she just found out that her father is a billionaire? After thirty years? Damn!"

Tom clutched his stomach, taking the glass from your hand and setting both of them on a nearby table before terror really struck. Through his laughter, he started to talk. "You know, I liked you so much back in high school, I would actually change my classes so I had them with you," he paused, seriousness going back into his voice.

"I wouldn't change a thing. You know, I've been kind of stalking your social media for a while, and while my teenage feelings have minimally faded away, I know that I still like you a lot. I always have."

Your playful expression appeared again, laughter slipping through your lips with the realization that you had been a little overly dramatic in the past. Tom furrowed his brows, watching you laugh until your stomach hurt.

"Sorry, I-I just, I think it's funny how I'm just finding this out now. Don't worry, though, I still like you too."

He finally smiled after the nerves swallowed him whole for a second, watching your expression change as you felt him lift you up and set you down in his lap. You quickly wrapped your arms around his neck, hazy giggles calming down as you noticed the soft gaze Tom was giving you.

"I, uh, you're really beautiful." You whispered, leaning forwards until your lips met.

Your junior year dream had came true; just not at the time you were expecting. But it was better late than never. You really liked Tom, and it seemed insane to you how you met your best friend again in a semi-crowded mall. As Tom once said, it seemed like unexpected fate.

Tom broke the kiss, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips. You gladly returned the smile, leaning your forehead against his as content flooded your minds. Pressing one last kiss to the corner of his lips, you grabbed your glass again, taking a swig of the sweet drink before returning your attention to the next cliché and dramatic show on the television.

You admired the way his hands circled around your waist, bringing you into a bubble of nonstop comfort. It brought back a whirlwind of memories of school and the horrible dances that came along with it. You were somewhat entirely thankful that you had found your way back to each other.

Not even a few seconds passed before Tom spoke up, downing the rest of his drink and expressing what he was about to say.

"Just wait until y/n/n hears that you're dating Spider-Man."

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author's note

THIS IS THE LONGEST CHAPTER I'VE WRITTEN IN A LONG TIME AND I'M SO PROUD OF IT AHHH! 1,500 WORDS WOW UM WHAT

anyways I hope you guys like it considering that the topic was fairly popular in the little idea chapter.

I love you guys ❤️