Peter Parker & Tom Holland Imagines

miss americana & the heartbreak prince pt.2

A/N: Not gonna lie, this one took me a while to write. Mostly because there's a lot of personal stuff in this one. A lot of what you see with the bullying in this series comes from my own experience—including the teachers throwing insults. I had to take some time with it, but I promise it gets happier from here! I'll section off the bullying scene so if it bothers anyone, it will be easy to skip.

Trigger warning: bullying

I sit curled up in my usual chair with what will definitely be part of my next book haul open on my lap. It's the only way to block out the anxiety driven worry over whether or not Peter and Ned will actually show up or if this really all is some elaborate trick. I mean, it wouldn't be the first time.

Don't think about that, Y/N. This time is going to be different. It's not like they even know any of the lies people say about you. They're nice and different. Just have a little faith.

"Y/N!" Kyle, the shop owner and my occasional boss, greets when he sees me. "What are you doing? Hiding from me or something?"

"No," I laugh, "just waiting for some friends."

He nods, clearly trying to hide his smile as he looks around. "Glad to hear it! Just don't forget to introduce me to them. Gotta make sure they pass the test."

I throw my head back with a groan. "How could I forget infamous test?"

"Hey, I'm just looking out for my favorite employee and customer." He tells me with a nudge. "Don't worry, I'll be nice."

"Thank you, Kyle." I reply with a soft laugh and turn back to my book as he leaves. There used to be a time when I would have taken something like that—someone looking out for me—for granted, but now, I wish I had brought all my supposed 'friends' in for Kyle's test.

The bell above the door rings, and I instinctively look up. This time, I finally see the faces I was hoping for. Peter looks around nervously, but Ned just beams and spots me immediately.

I push myself to my feet, tucking the book under my arm, and approaching them with a grin. "Hey! I'm glad you guys made it. I know this place can be hard to find if you're not sure where to look."

"Yeah!" Peter practically shouts. "Sorry, I mean, you gave pretty clear instructions on how to find it."

"So, how did you find this place?"

"Oh, my school librarian is Kyle, the owner's, mom. She told me about it one day when she caught me reading in detention. Now I come all the time, and work here over breaks."

"Your librarian?" Ned questions, and I shrug, trying not to panic at it. "Ours always yells at us for whispering."

"Yeah, she's like the one cool person there. She even lets me use my free period to work in the library and counts it as serving detention. Pretty sure that's why I don't live at school."

"You really get that much detention?" Peter asks, but a second later, his eyes go wide. "Sorry, you don't have to answer that."

"It's okay. Basically my classmates hate me, and because the teachers adore certain students so much, they hate me too. I can barely breathe without getting detention for something."

"Wow. That sucks." Peter tells me with an apologetic, understanding look, but I just shrug it off. "So, what's your favorite book?"

I grin and try not to laugh. "Depends, which kind of book are we talking about?"

"All of them." He replies, which launches me to drag the pair of them around the store, showing them all my favorites and discussing them.

"What?!" I screech in the middle of the store. Kevin offers me a joking glare. "Sorry, but he hasn't read Percy Jackson!"