Some Unholy War // Tom Holland

two

The next afternoon, Tom went for a run near the gym, trying to rid his mind of what happened at the diner yesterday. He wasn't sure what came over him when he wrote her that note, but he was sure that she'd never call him.

After running for over an hour, Tom started to get hungry, he hadn't had breakfast yet. Looking around him, his heart pounding, his breathing heavy, he spotted a familiar place, it looked different in the light. He thought that he wouldn't see her there so what was the harm, he needed something to eat and it was cheap. He walked inside once he caught his breath, only to lose control of it when he saw the woman in the same short, wrinkled, blue and white dress.

"You're here early." She smiled at him. Tom didn't know it was possible for her to be more beautiful, but there she was, standing in the diner, two coffee pots in her hands with the natural sunlight hitting her face in a way that complimented everything Tom liked about her. Her soft eyes and lips looked irresistible in the sunlight.

"I could say the same to you." He smiled back at her, sitting in the same exact stool he'd sat in the past two nights.

"The usual?" She asked, walking behind the counter, placing a mug in front of him.

"Actually could I get a steak and eggs?" Tom asked, taking a sip of the coffee she poured for him.

"No toast, just fruit." She said rather than asked, which made Tom smiled at her. "Hungry today?"

"Well, it's breakfast, not a snack. My diet's pretty strict." Tom shrugged a little.

"Breakfast? It's 3 o'clock in the afternoon, Tom." She said, laughing, even though she too had only just woken up an hour ago.

"I run an unorthodox schedule." He paused, realizing that she was also here seemingly all day. "What about you, huh? Do you live here and never sleep or what?"

"I work from 3 till 9." She said simply, wiping down the right side of the counter.

"Then do you break and come back at night or?"

"No. 3pm until 9am the next day." She shrugged at him.

"Do you really love your job that much?" Tom cocked an eyebrow at her which made her roll her eyes a little.

"Quite the opposite actually, but I'm saving up to go back to school. I'm trying to work as much as I can, and taking the morning, evening, and graveyard shifts doesn't tire me out as much as something like retail. Not many people come in so, it's alright, I just don't get enough tips sometimes." She paused when she met Tom's eyes and her face felt hot. "Speaking of which, I can't take this." She said, handing the sixty dollars Tom had left her the last two nights. Tom shook his head at her, pushing the crumpled bills back at her.

"You have to, I tipped you because of your exceptional service and hard-working attitude. You deserve it, love."

"I'm serious, I can't take it. Obviously you can't just be throwing around money like this, nobody can. Please just take it back."

"Fine, I'll take it back," Tom paused as Y/N sighed in relief. "on one condition." She tilted her head at him, giving him an evil glare and cocked an eyebrow.

"And that is?"

"You quit this job, and come work for me." Tom said as Y/N let out a low chuckle and shook her head.

"I'm not going to do that, Tom, I don't need any help from you, I'm fine working here." She said, leaving him to go give other customers more coffee.

"Come on, Y/N, please?" Tom shouted after her as she poured coffee for the other patrons.

"No, Tom, I can't stand fighting, how can I work for you if that's what you do?" She asked him, a pleading look in Tom's eyes.

"Listen, just come to one of my fights, I have one tomorrow night. If you show up and you hate it, I won't bother you about working for me, but if you come and see that working with me wouldn't be that bad, then you've got the job. Deal?" Tom was relentless, he was stubborn and Y/N knew that from the past two days of talking to him.

"I'll think about it, but I can't make any promises, I work a lot, remember?" Y/N said, smiling a little at him, knowing full well that she'd be there, just to see him. Tom had some kind of alluring quality to him that Y/N couldn't resist, as much as she wanted to. She wasn't sure whether it was his kind eyes or the way he said her name with such softness and compassion.

"Well I hope you'll come." He smiled back at her, his face feeling a little warm as she bit her lip slightly.

This wasn't the fight Tom had been training for for months, it was merely a fight Tom had to take part in to keep money coming in. His manager Harrison always made sure he had a fight at least once a week to keep his reputation afloat. Tom had been having bad luck in the octagon lately, ever since his brother, Harry- the only member of his family that still spoke to him- told him what had happened to his grandmother, he'd been emotional, and emotion with this kind of fighting don't work well together. The news had come to him three weeks prior to the fight happening that night, Tom had lost three fights in a row and people were starting to think that he had hit his peak. He had been working for months for the ultimate fighting championship, he was a shoe in for the win, until Harry told him about his grandmother.

Now, Tom had to train even harder everyday to win his next few fights, if he didn't he'd be out of the championship, no question. He wasn't sure why he'd invited Y/N to the fight that night, if she was there he knew that he'd have too much emotion once again, maybe he wanted to show off, maybe he just wanted to keep her from the diner, who knows? All Tom knew was that he was more than excited to see her that night.