#quacksons

Tom Holland for Esquire Magazine

Tom Holland x Reader

Words: 2,535

I’M BACK! This certainly took a while. I went through a lot of shit in the time I was gone but one thing I’ve realised is that I really want to keep writing. So, here I am. Just something appropriate for the times. This is the first thing I’ve written and actually finished so, she might not be good but she is something.

Please leave a like, a comment, a reblog, if you fancy it.

I’ve missed y’all heaps and I cannot wait to reconnect with you all <3

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"For how long?" 

"Until further notice they said." 

You chewed on your thumbnail, eyes idly skimming the news article on Tom's laptop.

Stay indoors. 

Leave the house only for groceries. 

Buy only the necessities. 

Wash your hands.

Things have escalated since it first began, which was expected, of course. But what you didn’t expect was how quickly things were happening, and how many people you knew were getting sick.

"...an estimated half a million are infected all over the world, with the numbers only expected to rise in the coming weeks…" a news reporter droned from the TV in the next room

You couldn’t stop your mind from going into overdrive, anxiously flitting through bits of information, questions, contingency plans, fears...

"And here I thought you'd stopped biting your nails. Didn't you just paint them the other day?" 

You looked up to see Tom looking at you with an amused expression on his face. Hastily, you clasped your hands together and stuck your tongue out at him.

He rolled his eyes in return and settled in next to you, wrapping a reassuring arm around your shoulders. 

"Don't worry, Y/N," he said, pulling you closer to him, "Everything's going to be fine soon. You'll see."

You breathed slowly, in and out, trying your hardest to believe his words, to be optimistic. 

But that never really was your strong point, was it? 

Instead of bombarding him with the "what if's" that were dancing on the tip of your tongue, you smushed your face into his chest and let the warmth of him take you in. 

---A few days later---

"Quarantine squad." 

"Quaren-squad? Quaren-quad."

"Quaren-quad like, Farquad? From Shrek."

"That's Lord Farquad to you, sir."

This.

This is what it's come to. Watching four Holland boys feebly try to christen the family unit (plus you) with a shiny new pandemic-appropriate nickname.

From your place on the living room couch, you could see the twins and Paddy, sprawled out on the carpet, phones in hand, testing their latest attempts under their breath. Then there was Tom, his back against the couch with Tess in his lap, clearly enjoying the full house.

You had just wished that they would just get lost in their phones and forget about the little nickname contest when Harry shot up and blurted out, 

"Squa-rantine! No! Squad-rantine?"

Paddy snickered, earning a flick on the ear from his older brother. 

"Yeah, yeah. Snicker all you want, Pads, I don't hear you coming up with anything." Harry grumbled, laying down once again

"Better than coming up with shit ones." the youngest Holland muttered under his breath

"Ooooooh." Tom covered his mouth with a hand, eyes flitting between Harry and Paddy

You reached out to tug on his hair. 

"Ow! What was that for?" he turned to you, rubbing at the spot

"You're not supposed to be encouraging this." you hissed at him

"Oh come on, darling, I wanna see what'll happen." 

Honestly. You were worried that the longer Tom stayed in, the more likely the possibility that you'd be telling him off more than his brothers. 

Harry shot up once again, glaring daggers at Paddy, who was still preoccupied, playing a game on his phone. Paddy's nonchalance was just enough for Harry to go off. 

"Shit ones? Ha. Alright then, you're so full of it, let's see you come up with one then. Right now. Come on then." the challenge was clear in Harry's voice but it went straight over Paddy’s head

After a few seconds of silence, Harry stood up and snatched Paddy's phone right from his hands. 

"Oi! Give it back!" Paddy exclaimed, getting up as well

“Aaand that’s my cue to leave. Good luck, Y/N.” Sam gave you a pat on the shoulder before leaving you to this mess

Tom, on the other hand, was laughing away, loving the action which was the most action anyone had ever seen at this point. 

"I'll give it back if you come up with a name." Harry held the phone above his head, but seeing as they were all nearly the same height, he had to get on his tippy toes for a bit of leverage

"Harry, come on! Give it back!" Paddy had his arms outstretched, Harry's wrist in a death grip

"Oh, for Christ's sakes!" you took the distance between you and the sparring brothers in two strides, effortlessly managing to grab the phone from Harry's hand

And just like that, everything stopped. Harry and Paddy straightened up and looked at you expectantly, the faintest hint of fear in their eyes. They all knew better than to piss you off. 

Tom was by your side in an instant, arms crossed. 

"I told both of you to cut it out." he deadpanned

You rolled your eyes, giving Tom some side eye.

"Go stand with them."

Shoulders slumped forward and a pout on his lips, Tom trudged over to his smirking brothers. 

You looked at each of them in turn, just long enough to make them squirm. Without a word, you pocketed the phone and began to walk out of the living room. 

"But, Y/N-" Paddy began 

You spun around and chucked the phone at them with lightning speed, catching them off guard and into a mess of outstretched limbs. 

Of course, Tom caught it, with his spidey reflexes. They all looked at you with wide eyes, you could almost hear their hearts pounding.

"Good job, quaranteam." 

With that, you turned to leave. Applause and cheers followed you on your way out.

"Quaranteam! Quaranteam!" they chanted 

"That's my fucking girl!" Tom cheered, catching up with you to lift you off the ground and spin you around in his arms

---One week later---

Another day inside. 

You didn’t really know what day it was or what time it was, but judging from Harry’s poofy mess of a bedhead and Sam and Tito Dom moving around the kitchen, throwing around hollandaise puns, you’d wager it was slightly earlier than noon.

"Heads up, team-” Tito Dom began, placing the egg carton on the counter

“Quaranteam.” Tom corrected, giving you a wink

“Right. Heads up, quaranteam. We are officially out of eggs.”

You watched drearily as he dropped the empty carton in the bin. No more eggs… Normally, you didn’t give that sort of thing much thought because you knew any one of you could pop out to buy some. But now, well, things were just different now.

From where he sat across from you, Tom unconsciously let his eyes wander over your features. 

The crease in between your eyes you reserved for when he did something amazingly idiotic seemed to be ever present nowadays despite him being on his best behaviour (the bar wasn’t so high to begin with). The bags underneath your eyes were darker, he knew you’d been having trouble falling asleep, tossing and turning restlessly in bed until he had to wrap himself around you like a koala.

Everything that’s been going on was taking a toll on everyone but they hid it well. Unfortunately, you weren’t good at that.

“Breakfast!” Sam announced, setting the steaming plates down on the table

“Eggs Benedict. With hollandaise.” Tito Dom smirked, settling into his seat

A collective groan rose from the table then the usual chatter began. Tom met your eyes from time to time, always giving you a smile.

Looking at his boyishly handsome face, you promised that you would make more of an effort to stop sulking so much. The next time Tom looked at you, you smiled back. There and then he promised he’d find a way to cheer you up somehow.

After breakfast you decided to take part in your favourite pastime, lying on the living room couch and scrolling on your phone.

A few minutes later, Tom came in, the faint smell of their lemon dish soap clinging to his hoodie. He playfully dropped himself on you and locked you in a tight hug.

“Isn’t this nice.” he mumbled, nuzzling his face into the crook of your neck

“For you, I’m sure.” you replied, struggling to make your tone as dismissive as possible

He tore himself off you, making sure to give you a searing glare, “You’re mean.”

You laughed, easily and freely, feeling the weight of the previous weeks fall off your shoulders. Tom chuckled, reaching forward to grab one of your hands.

“I have to go get some eggs, darling.” he watched your face carefully

“Hurry right back then.” you tugged on his hand that was holding yours, making him fall into you

“Whoa there.” he breathed out just before you planted your lips on his

You could feel him smiling just as you were. As you pulled away, he pressed a soft kiss to your cheek. He looked at you, just for a while, almost in wonder.

He shook his head, smiling, spots of crimson beginning to spread on his cheeks. Then he stood up, squeezed your hand and kissed it.

“I’ve got errands to run, Y/N. I’d appreciate it if you don’t make me combust from the force of being madly in love with you until I’ve finished them.”

“I’ll try but, you know that’s my forte.” you winked, giving him the finger guns

Tom threw his head back and laughed. You could hear him laughing all the way to the front door.

It didn’t take long until you began to doze off, your full belly and the warmth of being at home with the people who loved you lulling you to sleep.

You wished everyone had the same luxury.

-----------

“I promise this is a good idea.” Tom reassured, but the closer they got to home the more it seemed like he was reassuring himself than Harrison, who made the trip with him

“It definitely seems like a good idea but I think you went overboard. I’m not sure if we needed that many.” 

Tom glanced in his rearview mirror at his recent purchase, wondering if Haz was right.

But there wasn’t any time for second thoughts since he was already parking in front of the family house.

“Right. Haz, you go in first. I’ll take care of this.” he unbuckled his seatbelt, nodding his head towards the backseat

“Should I just not say anything then?” Harrison asked, eyeing the backseat

“Not a word.” Tom replied, getting out of the car

Inside, you were just waking up from your nap. Upon checking your phone you were pleasantly surprised to find out that it was two hours later and you hadn’t slept through the day. But you weren’t pleasantly surprised to notice that Tom wasn’t back yet, that thought hit you like a bucket of ice cold water, making you speed walk throughout the house.

The second you set foot in the hallway, the front door opened. A rush of relief washed over you as you threw your arms around the figure entering the threshold.

“I told you to hurry the hell back.” you squeezed him as hard as you could, noticing that he kind of smelled like corn flakes?

“Uh, Y/N?”

Your eyes widened and you pulled away, keeping Harrison at arm’s length.

“Wait. Did you..” you trailed off, looking at him suspiciously

“What?” Harrison looked genuinely confused until his blue eyes widened in realisation

You immediately dropped your hands to your side and he took a couple of steps away from you.

“Shit. Okay. I’m going to go take a shower. I’ll go tell Tom too.” Harrison rushed out the door

“Throw your clothes into the wash immediately!” you called after him before running up the stairs to disinfect

A 30-minute intensive bath later, you raced downstairs, hearing shouts and hollers.

“OVER THERE! ON YOUR LEFT!” you heard Sam yell

You ran through the dining room and stopped at the open sliding doors leading to the backyard, you could not believe what you were seeing.

Chickens. Three of them to be exact, two of them amicably pecking on the grass in an area of the backyard now closed off by a fence of mesh screen. The other chicken though, was running all over the place, keeping Tom on his toes.

"Come on, love. We're gonna take good care of you, huh? Nice and easy." Tom panted, wiping the sweat from his brow

He began to take slow, deliberate steps as the lone chicken stopped to scratch at some loose soil. The rest of the family watched on with bated breath.

The whole situation was highly intense, so intense that you’d forgotten to question why on earth there were three chickens in the backyard in the first place but these were odd times, you figured you’d just go with the flow.

“Nice and easy now, nice and easy.” Tom crouched low, slowly reaching his hands out to catch the mischievous feathery biped

Just as he was just a few centimeters away from success, the chicken sensed something was amiss and took off running in your direction.

“Y/N! GO ON CATCH THE DAMN BASTARD!” Harry yelled

“GO, Y/N! SHOW HIM WHO’S BOSS!” Sam cheered

You looked around frantically before squatting down and catching the rebel chicken in your arms. It squirmed and struggled in your grasp until finally giving up, settling for pecking at the lint of Tom’s sweater that you were wearing.

Tom jogged up to you, giving you a winning smile.

“Is there anything you can’t do?” he asked, tracing his finger down the chicken’s head

“Care to explain?” you continued to cradle the chicken in your arms as Tom led you to the others

He shrugged, “When we got to the store, there weren’t any eggs left so,”

“So you bought three chickens.” you filled in for him, setting the chicken in the enclosure with his other buddies

“Hey, me and Haz hit up three more groceries after that. Tell her, Haz.”

“Oh, yeah. It’s absolutely insane. Everyone’s gone and hoarded all the eggs.”

“Well, that was quick thinking. You really are your father’s son.” Tito Dom quipped, wrapping an arm around his eldest son

Tita Nikki rolled her eyes albeit affectionately, and gestured to the chickens

“Have they got names?” she asked

Tom perked up, rubbing his hands together, “Okay, so that one there? That’s Chestnut. Then over there is Ranger. And our particularly lively guest will be called Predator.”

“Predator?” Paddy echoed, peeking at said chicken, who was now trying to peck the fence open

“Look at him go.” you watched as Predator ruthlessly pecked at the mesh

“Suppose we’ll have to get them a proper coop?” Tom wondered, absentmindedly wrapping an arm around you

You stood there in silence along with the whole family as they discussed whether it was better to build one or buy one.

It was moments just like this one, the ones that were just peppered in between your days that were the most important, moments that made you feel like everything was just fine.