Tom Holland/Peter Parker Imagines

betrayed [t.h.]

Summary: An unforgivable mistake, made by your boyfriend Tom.
Word Count: 2.2k+
Pairing: Tom Holland x Female!Reader
Warnings: maybe a couple of swear words, i feel like this is angsty but idk (just know that this is a debby downer)
A/N: i'm going through a rut for writing so i said fuck it and here i am writing about tom cheating on you lmao good luck
Disclaimer: I am in no way glamorizing/romanticizing cheating on your significant other.

•••

What she didn't know wouldn't hurt her. Tom constantly told himself these words, not realizing until it was too late that he only sought the sentence for comforting himself and no one else. He knew what he did was wrong. He knew. He knew. But he still did it.

You noticed he'd been acting differently ever since he came back from filming for almost year. You didn't understand why, considering he would constantly fly you over to the set when simple FaceTiming and messaging wasn't enough. You and Tom had been together for years, already having your entire future together planned.

Was he losing feelings? Did he not love you anymore?

The days with him back and living in your shared apartment were odd, to say the least. You imagined he wouldn't want to spend a minute without you, and you the same. You were like that towards him for the first day before realizing something was off about Tom, so you gave him space and trusted he would tell you whatever was troubling him.

He did his best to act normal, to be there for you, but he couldn't hide it. It happened near the end of filming, and Tom didn't think much of it until now, when he had to face the person he betrayed every damn day. He had to wake up to your expecting smile, feel the love he didn't deserve radiate off you. He had to go out in public with you and hold your hand or wrap an arm around your waist, though now it only felt like touching you was poisonous, but poisonous to whom he wasn't sure. He deserved none of you because every day he didn't tell you the truth is a day Tom betrayed you.

He loved you, he truly did. With all his heart. All his life. No doubt. So why did he do it?

He asked himself this every day and night, almost as much as he repeated the phrase, What she didn't know wouldn't hurt her.

It hurt Tom to see you smile. It hurt him to watch you live blissfully in ignorance, dancing with him in the kitchen as if he deserved it. As if he deserved you.

As much as you were consumed with knowing something was just wrong with your long-term boyfriend, you pretended things were right. You willfully blinded yourself, deciding you would live in a happy trance of love until he decided to come out with whatever it was that so obviously controlled his mind.

You realized how your happiness hurt him, but you never knew why. You noticed how he wouldn't hug you close to his body anymore, he wouldn't intertwine your fingers together as you held hands, he wouldn't wrap his arms around your body as you slept in the same bed. You noticed how constantly his face fell whenever you said I love you, how he always avoided talking about himself and his filming, how he became a bit oddly restrictive on what clothes of his you could wear. You noticed how he picked at the food you cooked for him, how he sat silent in the car instead of singing along to songs with you, how he no longer kept his gaze on you when he thought you weren't looking.

Oh, you thought one night, when it all became too much. He fell out of love.

You knew it happened to the best of people, but you never thought it would for either of you. The thought broke you, your chest slowly being cut open with a dull knife just to make the thoughts more painful than they already were. You weren't sure whether to rip the band-aid off or to allow yourself to live foolishly until he decided enough was enough. Would it hurt more if you let him go, or if you pretended not to notice and just convinced yourself he's as happily in love as you?