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

KIngS and QUeeNS (part 5)

Nicola Elizabeth Frost is a strong woman. She's a fierce lover, a loyal friend, and a protective mother. Nicola Frost is an artist. A passionate, creative, and incredibly talented artist. Her eye for good art has been passed down from her great-grandfather, a man of wit and intelligence, much like her father and her sons.

Nicola Frost is a determined woman. She fights for what she wants and rarely takes 'no' for an answer. So, when she shows up at her son's front door for the first time in four months, Tom is far from surprised. Has made sure he has her favorite wine in.

While Nicola Frost is cunning, kind, and strong, she's also something else. Predictable. At least, to her eldest son, who knows her better than she knows herself. She often wonders how the man she still saw as a boy could know so much. How he could see through her lies when she tried to protect him.

So, she doesn't bother plastering on a fake smile. What's the point? Instead, she greets her son with pursed lips and soft eyes, arms open and pulling him into a hug before he can utter out a 'hello'.

"Hi, mum," he mumbles, chin resting on her shoulder and he wraps his own arms around her. Nikki gives him a gentle squeeze before pulling away. Tom ushers her inside, closing the huge white door and her heels click against the marble floors.

She takes in the foyer of the castle-like mansion. Nothing much has changed since her last visit. In fact, nothing much has changed since she and Dominic were pronounced the previous owners of it just twenty-four years ago.

The building holds its original features, the spirals of the ceiling and thick white pillars throughout. No matter how many terrifying memories that rush back to her mind, the place still feels like home. It's still the building that Tom took his first steps in, the building Nikki gave birth to Paddy in.

It's still home. Just not hers.

"I'd ask what you're doing here, mum, but I'm ninety percent sure it has everything to do with Dominic," Tom clears his throat, leading her to lounge, taking a seat in an old armchair and Nikki sits on the plush, white loveseat.

Folding her leg over the other, she rests her hands on her knees, picking at the small threads of fabric from the tears in her jeans.

"Why do you hate him so much, Thomas?" she asks with a sigh, head slightly tilted to the left and Tom closes his eyes at his Mother's words, biting back the need to yell.

His mother is an absolute angel, she doesn't deserve the wrath of his anger, so he controls himself and takes a deep breath. "Why don't you?" he asks back, brows furrowed, though a soft look adores his sweet face.

Nikki purses her lips and looks down at her hands. "You forgive those you love, Thomas. He did a bad thing but people make mistakes," she argues, tries to make him see that all is forgiven, but she knows her efforts are futile.

Tom scoffs. "A mistake? So, what... ruining a twenty-five-year relationship was a fucking mistake?" Tom all near yelps, face hardening, and Nikki looks down at her hands again. "Twenty-seven years," she corrects him under her breath, and Tom swears he feels his heart shatter.

He ushers closer to her, sitting by her side and rubbing a hand over her back. "He ruined you, mum, he ruined this family. And you and I both know, it wasn't the first time, either," he speaks carefully, can feel his mum stilling beneath his hand.

She twists her head slightly and Tom lets out a sigh. "Did you really think I was as clueless as to the boys? I knew something was wrong the second you walked into my room to read me a story," he whispers, anger long forgotten and replaced by sadness.

"He makes me sick, mum. You might be able to forgive him, but I can't. Whatever trouble he's got himself into, he's on his own. I'm sorry, mum, I just won't help him."