A C T O R S || OS

122. Tom Holland | Not Prick

By : dlwritings | Tumblr

pairing - Tom x reader
word count - 1,877
summary - A fan gets a little aggressive with Tom at the mall, and he takes it out on the wrong person. But he's a good guy, and when he realizes his mistake, he's determined to make up for it.

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Tom was having a bad day. There was no rhyme or reason. He was just cranky and tired and wanted to be home. Instead, he was out at the mall with Harrison. Apparently his favorite store was having a sale, and Harrison wanted a new pair of shoes.

"Why don't you just order them online?" Tom had asked as Harrison all but dragged him out of his apartment.

"I gotta try them on and make sure they look good," the other argued. Tom rolled his eyes but agreed to go. Now, they were out, and Tom was regretting it.

By the time they got out of the store, they had been spotted by a bunch of fans. And Tom, being the nice guy he was, knew he had to stop and talk to them. He wasn't going to be the guy who brushes off fans and looks ungrateful. So he painted on his camera-ready smile and chatted with the people in the crowd.

It didn't take long for Tom to get a pounding headache. There were a lot of factors, he was sure. He was tired, he was cranky, and there were just way too many people around. Tom didn't usually get anxiety attacks, but when he already wasn't on his A-game, they kind of snuck up on him. Like now. He looked over at Harrison -who had fans of his own to meet- and locked eyes with him. Harrison could read the stress in his best friend's eyes and started to try to come up with a way out of the situation.

"Alright, alright," Harrison said with a light chuckle. "Tom and I have gotta head out. It was so lovely meeting you all."

A few people whined and tried to protest, but Tom and Harrison just awkwardly laughed it off.

"What a dick," Tom heard someone say. "We built his career, and he can't even have the decency to stay for a picture?" She scoffed. "I swear, some celebrities have the biggest fucking egos. Ungrateful prick."

Tom. Snapped.

He turned around and locked eyes with the girl who had spoken.

Only it wasn't the girl who had spoken.

Your eyes grew wide when Tom stared at you, anger clear in his brown eyes. "I don't have any obligation to stand here and talk to you," he said. "I'm not ungrateful. I'm tired. I'm overwhelmed. I don't always love leaving my house and getting followed by crowds of people. It's not normal. I didn't ask for this. So don't say shit like I have a big ego when you can't even begin to imagine what I go through when I step out my front door, alright?"

Tears came to your eyes immediately, and you had no idea what to say. The girl next to you -the one who had actually made the rude comments- was slowly backing away, afraid you would speak up in your defense. Instead, you just opened and closed your mouth a few times, then swallowed thickly. "I'm sorry," you choked out. Tom just scoffed and rolled his eyes, and you turned and pushed your way past the crowd and to the nearest bathroom.

Your hands were shaking as you found a single-stall bathroom and locked it behind you, sinking to the floor and leaning your back against the door. You didn't care that you were sitting on the floor of a mall bathroom. If you stood up for too much longer, you were afraid your legs would give out.

Shit, shit, not right now. Not like this. Not here. Not. Here.

You didn't handle confrontation well. In fact, it was the number one trigger of your panic attacks. The first panic attack you ever remembered having was triggered by two boys from your high school getting in a screaming match in front of you. Their raised voices and angry eyes shook you, and you started crying. On the plus side, your anxiety attack stopped the boys from fighting because everyone was suddenly focusing on getting you to calm down and catch your breath.