tom holland: a book of blurbs

•{be my peace}•

summary: inspired by "must have been the wind" by Alec Benjamin. Tom worries about the girl across the hall. hearing yells and fights every night. until eventually he has enough and does what should've been done already.

tw: discusses domestic violence and abuse

~~

This is the fourth time today that Tom's heard yelling from the apartment across the hall. He usually kept to himself on the subject, but lately it's been difficult not to notice every little sound.

Maybe the British actor is biased. He's seen the young woman living in that apartment, and she wasn't exactly horrible to look at. The complete opposite, in fact.

But every time Tom tries thinking about her flawless beauty, he remembers how he noticed a pattern in her wardrobe. It's never changed. She's consistently covering her arms and legs. Higher cut shirts that don't show any chest.

At first he concluded that she's probably just the modest type. Which was one of the things that made her alluring to Tom. There aren't a lot of modest women in his bigger name community.

Finding a girl who's conscious of what parts of her body she's showing was a rare occurrence.

However, with the girl's consistent hermit-like behavior and the yelling and crashing he heard every night forced him to come to another conclusion.

Maybe the poor girl was stuck in a dangerous situation she couldn't get herself out of. It would make sense, all of the little mental notes he'd made since he first laid eyes on her added up to his conclusion.

So, when he'd finally mustered up the courage to speak to her, he walked across the hall and knocked on the door of her apartment. He waited in the hall, wiping sweaty palms on his jeans until the door opened.

The gorgeous girl was wrapped in an oversized hoodie with the hood halfway up. It covered her neck and she clutched the end of the sleeves in her small hands. Tom couldn't help but notice the dark bags under the girl's green eyes.

She looked exhausted. And it hurt his heart.

"Hey, I'm... Tom. I live across the hall, there," Tom gestured to his apartment behind him. The girl's eyes laid on his door, then back to his brown eyes. "I was just... a little worried. I don't mean to intrude. I've just- heard loads of yelling and crashes the past couple of days. I-I wanted to check and see if everything was okay?"

The girl seemed shocked that someone had noticed. Finally noticed. But the fear of her situation and likely painful punishment awaiting her should she give up her partner kept her from saying anything.

Instead, she forced a tight lipped smile. "Oh! Yeah, sorry. I've been babysitting little ones for a family member. They can't seem to understand that other people live around here and they shouldn't be too loud. Thank you for caring, though. It's... nice to meet you...?"