Something to Cool Could Happen: A Tom Holland Love Story

17: Teamwork Makes the Dream Work

Tom awoke to the sun seeping through the window and the gentle sound of Penelope's breathing. He kissed her head tenderly, and slowly closed his eyes again, smiling to himself. After laying there a while, he realized with the butterflies in his stomach there was no way he was going back to sleep. He craned his neck to see the clock on the nightstand. 7:58. It was close enough to their normal time, although he was more eager to hear her voice than he was to do splits stretches. He stroked her cheek lightly, but it wasn't enough. She was deep in slumberland, and who was he to pull her out of it? He carefully got up out of bed, put on some sweats, and headed towards the kitchen. He popped a piece of toast in the toaster for himself and then smiled as his lightbulb went off. He started making a large pancake, watching it like a hawk, for he had a history of burning things. Once it was golden brown he poked it with a fork, making sure it was done because he also had a history of not burning things enough. Lucky for him this was his finest work to date. He slid the massive thing onto a plate, his tongue poking out between his lips in total concentration. It was a challenge getting it centered. Its wide edges hung off the plate until he messed with it a bit, but the transfer proved successful. Now, for the fun part: he whipped out a can of Reddi-Wip and went to town. He gave it a big smiley face, adding strawberries to the eyes and a blueberry for the nose. He debated on adding hair, and then decided to try to do the little squiggle at the top. It wasn't quite picture perfect, but he figured the more whip cream the better, adding more here and there trying to cover his foul attempt. He lined the smile with some more blueberries because it definitely needed more color. He stood back and examined his work.

"It's the thought that counts." He said, laughing to himself. He poured her a glass of milk, squirting the last bit of chocolate syrup they had into it. She loved chocolate milk, hence the near empty bottle. It wasn't quite enough, so he unscrewed the top, tapping vigorously on the back. A large glob came out, catching him off guard. He nearly missed the glass, but he made it. As he began to stir, the darkness of the milk increased quite a lot, worrying him a bit. He sipped it, and he got a large rush. Well, this chocolate milk is on crack, he thought, trying to shake off how strong it was. Suddenly, he reached in to the cabinet for another glass, feeling like a genius. He spilt the milk he already made between them, adding more milk to each, the color lightening up a bit as he poured. He stirred each of them, and brought one to his lips to taste. Perfect. He might as well have cured cancer because that's how smart he felt. He drank about half of the glass and then remembered he was making himself toast. He went over to the toaster and sighed as he retrieved what was once bread. It was bound to happen to something, he thought, chunking it in the trash. He finished his milk before gathering up the breakfast he made and went back to the bedroom. Penelope was still asleep, but he didn't feel bad about waking her. He set the food on the nightstand and rubbed her bare shoulder, her skin warming his hand.

She opened her eyes slowly, a blank, dead expression on her face. "Hey." She yawned a bit.

"Hey, love. I made something for you."

She smiled sleepily. "What is it?" She sat up, and immediately gushed when she saw.

"Ta da!" He beamed, handing it to her.

"Aw, Tom...it's so adorable!!"

"And I brought the syrup bottle! But I didn't put it on because I didn't want to mess up the face." He grinned, holding up the syrup. She set the plate aside and kissed him sweetly.

"Thank you."

"It was nothing." He brushed it off, glad she didn't actually see him struggle to make it. "Besides it's a special day, today. We're going to help you film your self tape."

"Really?" Her heart melted. He was so supportive, and she was relieved she wouldn't be on her own. She hadn't had much practice self-taping and technical things weren't her strong suit. "Is that cheating?"