Tom Holland, The man behind the mask

14. My Hero

There was a stunned silence. What on earth did she mean? My mind went back to Tom. Was it something to do with acting with him?
I shook her arm. "What about the movie,(Y/F/N)? what?"
There was a long silence. (Y/F/N) stopped crying. She teetered over to the sinks and started splashing water in her face.
"I'm scared," she said. She looked at our reflections in the mirror."I'm scared that I'm not good enough, and when people see the movie they'll laugh at me."
I stared at her in the mirror. She couldn't be serious. (Y/F/N) was the most confident person i knew. And, even now, with her puffy red eyes, she still looked beautiful.
I shook my head. "But (Y/F/N), you'll be fine you play the part perfectly and you look great and-"
"I'm not as good as Tom," (Y/F/N) said. She turned round and stared at me. Eye to eye. "His brilliant, i can't act as well as he does." Her first lip trembled and she stumbled into my arms.
I held her as she wept. I patted her on the back, like my mum used to do when i was sick. I could barley believe what she had just said. (Y/F/N) scared? (Y/F/N) insecure? Ever since i met her back when we was still at school she had been super confident about everything.
"Thanks, (Y/N)" (Y/F/N) mumbled. "Could we go outside for a minute, get some air?"
"Sure." I led her out of the toilets. There was a fire door at the end of the corridor. Propped open with a cardboard box. We slipped through it, into an alleyway at the back of the bar. The air was bitingly cold. I hugged my arms around my chest. (Y/F/N) wandered over to the brick wall at the end and sat on it, tipping her head back to the star filled sky.
"It's ironic, isn't it?" She said.
"What is?"
"That falling for Spider-Man stopped you from getting the part as Liz."
I took a deep gulp of the cold air. I'd never seen it like that before. But it was true. And (Y/F/N) was right, it was ironic.

The fire door beside me lurched violently open, almost slamming back into my face. Two men - older, but not by much - staggered out into the alleyway. They were big, thickset guys.
It was too gloomy in the alleyway to make out their faces properly.
One of them spotted (Y/F/N) immediately. "Well, hello," he said in a silly deep voice. "We come out for a slash and we find a babe. You looking for company?"
(Y/F/N) shook her head and jumped off of the wall. Unfortunately, she was still pretty drunk, so she landed unevenly and stumbled sideways, right into the other guys arms.
(Y/F/N) tried to pull away the guys were having none of it, i wanted to say something, but i was frozen in shock.
He put his hand under her skirt. (Y/F/N) started struggling more violently. She backed across the pavement. My heart pounded.
Do something. Get help.
He turned around, thats when he saw me.
"Oh look, shes even brought a friend."
The other guy strode towards me. He bent low over me, his breath all beery and sour. His face was in shadow but i could still make out the sneer on his face.
"Get off us," I screamed. "GO AWAY!"
He was still holding me tightly. Then someone streaked through the alleyway, so fast i could barely make him out.
Tom. He hurled himself at Beer Breath. Shoved him hard in the chest.
"Don't touch her." He spat. Then he punched. His fist smashed into the guys nose.
Beer Breath let go of me. Staggered backwards, his hands over his face.
"You...you..." he let out a stream of swear words as blood spurted from between his fingers. "You freakin' broke my nose!"
Tom spun round, fist clenched. But the other guy was already there. I heard the smack of his fist against Tom's face. Tom reeled backwards. I ran round, blood pounding in my ears.
"Get off him," I yelled. I kicked out, my foot making contact with the guys leg.
He groaned. Then Tom was back. He swung his fist up under the guys chin. Wham. The guy stumbled sideways. He clutched at Beer Breath's arm.
"Come on ..." Beer Breath stumbled away from us, still swearing at Tom, dragging his friend into the alley.
"Pussies," Tom shouted. "Wankers."
Suddenly the alleyway was flooded with light as someone turned on a light inside the Bar. I caught a glimpse of Tom's face, contorted with rage. The two guys disappeared down the alleyway.
I turned round. (Y/F/N) was slumped on the ground beside the wall. She was bent over, sobbing. I looked at Tom.
He was panting, his eyes livid with fury. And then the fury fell away and his eyes filled will concern.
"Are you alright?"
I nodded. I could hear voices inside the Bar. People would be here any second. Tom turned his head away so I couldn't see his face. But i walked round in front of him.
His mouth was trembling, like he was about to cry. Blood was trickling from the cut on his lip. As he unclenched his fists, this look of complete vulnerability flooded across his face. He looked about three years old. And lost. Then Harrison and his girlfriend came rushing towards us, along with what felt like half of the Bar. I glanced round at where Harrison's girlfriend was pulling a sobbing (Y/F/N) gently to her feet. I looked back at Tom. The vulnerable look was already gone.
The Bar landlord emerged, full of questions about what had happened. We explained that it had been to dark to see the guys' faces. The landlord said that he had noticed them across the Bar earlier, but that they weren't regulars. Part of me was relieved. It meant that what had happened was over. No one was hurt, after all.
Except Tom.
Someone brought him some ice wrapped in a napkin for his cut lip. I held it in place for him, feeling it melt and drip down my hand. As the bustle around us died down, my whole body started shaking.
"Did you see my uppercut?" He grinned. "It was awesome. And with my left hand as well"
I shook my head. "Don't," I said.
He stroked my hair. "It's okay," he said. "It's okay."
But it wasn't okay.
I started crying and I couldn't stop.
If it wasn't for Tom everything would of turned out worst. So much worse.
Tom is my eyes was the hero. My hero not only on the big screen but in real life as well.