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If there was something Tom Marvolo Riddle and Harry James Potter could agree on, it would be that they absolutely loathed each other. They had done so rather relentlessly for as long as they could remember, the both of them just continuously insulting one another almost obsessively. It just seemed to be a routine they had fallen into rather easily as well.
There was absolutely nothing about the Slytherin Head Boy that Harry Potter could possibly like. He hated how Tom wore his hair in that old fashioned way, hated how Tom talked like he was a book, hated how Tom even wore his Hogwarts school uniform in his spare time - Seriously who the hell did that anyway? Didn't he have any other clothes?-, hated how everyone else seemed to love Tom… But most of all?
'Ladies first,' Tom said as he kept the door to their Potions classroom open. Harry snarled at him and stomped on his foot.
'Bastards last,' he snapped, striding past Tom.
He fucking hated the way Tom Riddle treated him. Harry couldn't remember if they ever had a fight in the past but if they had, it must've been pretty bad because Tom literally jumpedat every opportunity he got to make an idiot out of Harry.
Tom smirked as he walked past Harry.
'You seem tense darling,' Tom said, sitting down at the desk Harry was sitting at. Harry flipped him off and turned his head to Severus Snape, who was already glaring at him for insulting his favorite student.
This shouldn't be too big of a problem if it would be easy to avoid Tom. But it just wasn't. He went to the same school Harry went to, they had all of their classes together, all the girls of the Slyherin House were constantly swooning over Tom, Harry's best friend Draco Malfoy saw Riddle as competition,Tom was sorted in the same House Harry was in and they even slept in the same dormitory... No matter where Harry went, Tom would already be there, waiting for him with that ridiculous smirk on his face and a stupid, offensive comment ready to spill over those lips of his.
Tom's hand brushed over the back of Harry's when no one was looking and he slapped it off, sneering at him. Pansy shot him a dirty look for that, and Hermione Granger - some Gryffindor girl, Harry didn't really like her very much - frowned at him in a way that predicted no good. Everyone always picked Tom's side.
It was just so unfair.
What bothered most Harry was that teachers just never believed him when he said Tom started it. Tom was, in their eyes, this innocent student who was just trying to get through life. You see, Tom didn't have any parents or any other family at all. And this should make Tom seem depressed, right? But no – not Tom. If anything, it just gave Tom reason to hate the rest of the world more.
Harry didn't know the specifics of the deaths of Tom's parents and to be honest, he could care less. He just knew that Tom was this arrogant kid who thought he was just going to get whatever the hell he wanted if he'd just manipulate his way through life, and that he lived in an orphanage. Tom was taking advantage of that, as well.
It just wasn't working on Harry.
It was like Tom just genuinely seemed to enjoy annoying Harry – making Harry look like the bad guy out of the two of them.
He was staring at Harry like he usually was, but Harry tried to ignore him. Last time he had snapped at Tom in class he had gotten detention for it and he didn't think it'd be worth it again. Harry very much enjoyed spending his spare time at Hogwarts either lounging around in the Common Room or playing Quidditch outside, thank you very much.
Harry scowled at Tom before getting his book from his bag and started gathering the ingredients he needed to make the potion Snape just told them to make, cursing his bad luck when he realized he was paired up with Tom again. The bastard was good at potions, fair enough, better than Harry actually. Harry could live with that too if it wasn't for Tom teasing him constantly about it. It wasn't much of a surprise to find Tom staring at Harry with a smug look in his eyes.
This was going to be a long day.
When it was time for lunch Harry was sitting by himself in the Great Hall at the Slytherin table and was munching on a sandwich. There were some girls sitting to his right discussing whether or not love potions would work on a certain Cedric Diggory (Harry had no clue who it was, maybe some stupid singer or something) and Harry was waiting for Draco to show up already so Harry wouldn't look like a complete friendless idiot, but the blonde was nowhere to be seen. He could certainly use a friendly face after seeing Riddle's first thing in the morning...
He glanced up and instantly scowled.
Speaking of the devil.
'Oh, are you eating today?' Tom asked casually as he walked past Harry, referring to Harry's thin frame.
'Oh, have you actually left your tomb today, Count Chocula?' Harry snapped right back at him, 'With the way you're avoiding the sun and resort to stalking me I'd almost start thinking you're a gay vampire.'
Tom sneered at him and stopped walking.
'You'd like that, wouldn't you?' Tom hissed at him and Harry pushed himself up so he could look Tom in the eye. Or, well – he had hoped he could have accomplished that but even if he had had a growth spurt this past summer, so had Tom. Harry barely reached his shoulder anymore and he resented that. He shoved Tom in the chest, finding pleasure in the surprise in Tom's eyes. The students sitting at the Slytherin table just continued eating, by now already used to Tom and Harry's bickering.
'What the hell is your problem?' Harry snapped, already fed up with Tom's behaviour.
'Look, princess,' Tom said in a low, dangerous tone, 'stay out of my way or you will get hurt. Got that?'
Harry opened and closed his mouth, too shocked and angry to come up with anything to say in reply. Was that an actual threat? Tom huffed and walked away, just when Draco walked up to Harry.
'Riddle really has it out for you doesn't he? Are you alright?' Harry looked up from where he had been glaring at Tom's back, into Draco's grey eyes. The blonde looked more amused than worried and Harry wasn't sure if he should feel offended by that. His best friend was a Slytherin as well, after all, it was practically their nature to just laugh at someone else's expense before checking if they were okay.
'Peachy,' Harry said with a bitter tone in his voice. He sat down and ran a hand through his hair. 'Just fine.'
His day would've been just that, if it hadn't been for his last class. His school year just couldn't possibly have started worse.
'What do you mean I am paired up with him?' Harry exclaimed, not at all capable of suppressing his displeasure. He shot up from his seat and noticed belatedly that everyone was staring at him now.
'Please sit down, Harry dearest, you're making a fool of yourself,' Tom drawled. Harry's face flushed while his classmates started laughing, and his Transfiguration teacher Mrs. McGonagall scowled at him.
'You'd be wise to follow your partner's advice mister Potter, before I give you detention.'
'But -'
'You will be working with your assigned partner for the rest of the year. Sit down now!' Harry gaped at her, before slowly nodding. He sunk back down and struggled to ignore the pleased look on Tom's face, or the way Tom's foot tapped against the back of his chair. It was annoying and getting on Harry's nerves already, and he couldn't help but feel sorry for himself.
Once class was over and they were heading back to the Slytherin House, Draco shot him a smug look - that fucking bastard, he was so lucky he was Harry's best friend or else Harry would've kicked his ass for his teasing behaviour - and set up to make a schedule with Pansy. Tom was already leaning against his bedpost when Harry went to dump his books into his trunk, though it wasn't much of a surprise.
'Aren't you just a little ray of sunshine?' Tom asked. Harry shoved him and released an aggravated noise when Tom didn't move out of the way at all. Stupid tall idiot.
'Move,' he said, already knowing that he wouldn't survive working with the asshole. He'd either wind up killing himself out of frustration or Tom would hex him into next week. Tom's eyebrow cocked up.
'Magic word?'
'Now.' Tom laughed, but he moved to the side anyway. Harry shot him a dirty look before opening his trunk and shoving his books inside, jumping when Tom suddenly stood so near him he could see the tiny flecks of darker blue in his eyes.
'I'm looking forward to working with you, darling,' Tom said. Harry's eyes narrowed.
'Fuck off,' Harry snidely replied. Tom chuckled.
'You wound me, dearest.'
'You sicken me,' Harry said in return.
'I'll be expecting you in the library around 6,' Tom said casually, like they hadn't just insulted each other. Harry was seething by the time he turned around again, and he struggled not to chuck one of his books at the bastard's head. Knowing Tom, he'd probably pick it right up from off the floor and never give it back again.
It was 6.15, and Tom was still not there. Harry was impatiently staring at the clock with an irritated scowl on his face, his books and their assignment sheets already spread out over the small desk standing in the corner of the library. Technically speaking, he should just get started given their first assignment was due next week, but he couldn't bring himself to do so. He was just so angry.
It was so unfair. Why did Tom have to treat him like this? He couldn't remember ever acting like an asshole toward him unless provoked, so why did Tom have to when he acted nice to everyone else?
Because maybe he's done pretending.
Could be. But why should he stop pretending to be a nice guy around Harry?
Because he is a narcissistic, idiotic, horrible bastard. That's why.
He huffed and rested his head in his hands. He closed his eyes and scowled to himself, his fingers impatiently tapping on his temples. It was just so uncool that everyone blamed him when Tom – stupid, stupid Tom who just couldn't keep his hands to himself or keep himself from saying those stupid things and - Harry felt someone's breath fan over his neck and his eyes widened while he shot up, gasping in surprise at seeing Tom standing right behind him with a smug look on his face.
'What- what the hell, Tom!' he exclaimed, face flushing. How long had he been standing there?
'Hello to you too,' he said with a shrug. He dropped himself in the chair next to Harry's and crossed his arms over his chest, cocking his eyebrow up as if asking Harry what the hell he was doing. Harry stared at him with a flustered look on his face, suddenly noticing how he had never been alone with Tom in one room before, let alone sitting this close to him. It felt too personal, somehow, and the fact that Tom wasn't teasing him or making fun of him was making him feel uncomfortable. He shifted awkwardly, waited a couple of seconds for Tom to say something, but when he didn't Harry just did it himself.
'You're late,' Harry snapped, sinking down into his chair again. Tom shrugged as though it wasn't important, giving Harry all the more reason to resent him.
'I said around six, not that I'd be here six o'clock sharp. Are we going to work on our project or will you continue insisting on acting like a petulant child?' There. That was better. With Tom talking to him like that, it was far more easy to ignore how his mouth moved when he talked. Harry huffed but didn't reply to that comment and instead just got their assignment sheets and a couple of scrolls of parchment, ignoring how Tom leaned back in his chair and how the weakening sunlight streaming from the window right next to them made his skin look like it was glowing.
Stupid, stupid Tom and his stupid pale skin.
'Did you bring your quills?' Harry asked, figuring he should at least try. Tom seemed to consider that, before nodding. He didn't reach for his bag though. Harry's eyebrow twitched. 'Are you actually going to grab one or -'
'How about you write and I answer the questions we have?' Tom drawled boredly, his eyes slipping shut. There was no doubt in Harry's mind that Tom would be capable of doing just that, either - that he wouldn't even need to crack open a single book in order to finish their assignment. Harry was unsure whether to be impressed or irritated at that.
Harry huffed and murmured a curt 'Fine,' for a while the slight scratching noise of his quill going over the parchment and the soft lull of Tom's voice the only things audible. Harry couldn't help but notice that Tom had a nice voice, though he fought those kinds of thoughts down immediately. They were stupid anyway.
They had managed to work together in peace for exactly 2 days before they started fighting again. Harry had thought that that had been an achievement on its own, and he was unsure of how it had happened, but now they were standing across each other in the middle of the Common Room, voices hushed and low hisses. Everyone else had gone to bed already and night had fallen a long time ago. The last thing Harry wanted was for his fellow Slytherins to wake up to hearing him yelling obscenities at their beloved Head Boy, though he wasn't sure why. He told himself it was because he didn't want any more people to hate him despite his outstanding Seeker abilities.
'You're such a stupid, ridiculous, airheaded -'
'What was that? I can't hear you from where your head is all the way up there.' Harry's fists shook at his sides, his green eyes narrowed and dangerous.
'Maybe you should get yours out of your ass then,' Tom snapped and he stepped closer, a smirk suddenly playing at his lips as he undoubtedly came up with something he found to be incredibly witty, 'Even if we all know how much you love taking it up your-'
'If you finish that sentence, daddy long legs, and we'll just see how much you like taking my fist up your ass.' Harry narrowed his eyes and folded his arms over his chest in a defensive manner, but he didn't move away. Tom laughed.
Harry was gay, and openly so. It wasn't like he was a slut or something like that, actually the complete opposite, and he wasn't feminine either. He just didn't hide the fact that he preferred guys over girls. But to have Tom openly offending him for something he couldn't help? No, that just wouldn't do. It pissed him off far more than it should because it made him feel vulnerable. He was fine with the loose comments about his hair ('Seriously Potter, have you ever heard of combs or do they just break in half when you try using them to tame that bird's nest you call hair?') or his grades ('I'm honestly surprised we aren't losing House points over your pathetic grades just yet') but this was just too personal, somehow. This was the only part of his life that Tom had nothing to do with and he wanted to keep it that way.
'The only reason someone would want your hands anywhere near their privates would be because your midget hands would make their cock look bigger -'
Harry's face flushed and he abruptly turned around, walking to the arm chair he had dropped his bag next to, flustered and angry. This was just so unfair.
'Where are you going?' Tom asked, sounding bemused at Harry's sudden reaction.
Harry grabbed his backpack and stuffed his quill back into it, followed by his book. 'Bed. I've had it with you.'
He ran a hand through his hair and released a long sigh. They weren't going anywhere with this. Why couldn't they just get along? In these past few days he had been noticing a lot of things about Tom; like how his eyebrows knitted together when he was lost in thought, how his long fingers tended to play with the quill stuck in between them… They had made Tom a person, rather than an asshole.
Harry realized he just didn't want to fight with Tom. Because Tom could be funny too, when he wasn't so hellbent on insulting Harry. He was smart and –
What exactly what Harry trying to say?
'I'll see you later,' he said, because he still needed Tom, for as much as he dreaded to admit such thing. Tom nodded, and Harry left.
But the following day went exactly the same, only this time it was Tom who was about to storm out. He wore a scowl on his handsome face and he was putting his books back into his leather book bag, his shoulders tense as if he was trying to keep himself from doing something. Harry stared at him with his arms crossed over his chest.
'Don't hit your head to the doorpost on your way out, fucking beanstalk,' Harry said. Tom sneered at him from over his shoulder and then he was suddenly in front of Harry, standing so close Harry actually had to take a step backwards in order to properly look the asshole in the eye.
'Don't let your mouth get you into anything your ass can't handle, midget,' Tom retorted and he gripped Harry's chin. Harry slapped his hand off, teeth bared in a snarl. Again with Harry's sexuality. What the hell was Tom's deal?
'Oh please, like you'd even know how to turn anyone on,' Harry snapped at him. Tom smirked.
'Truly? Then do pray tell why you can't keep your eyes off me all the time, Harry?' Somehow even his name sounded like an insult when Tom spat it like that, like it was worthless. Either way, Harry laughed and basked in how Tom's face fell. There was no way Tom could've known that Harry recently had been staring a lot at him because Harry always made sure Tom was busy before he did that and their eyes rarely met when Tom randomly decided to look up.
'Are you honestly resorting to that? Where's that wit you prided yourself in, Riddle?' Harry snorted.
'It's still here,' Tom said, 'with someone as simple minded as you I'm not even bothering. Excuse me for attempting to speak your language.'
'My language? And what's that?'
'Stupidity.'
'More like awesome,' Harry said. He didn't step backwards when Tom stepped closer this time. He wanted to say something else, but Tom was suddenly standing so close to him that he felt Tom's breath fan over his forehead and it fucking pissed him off. Technically speaking, Tom was close enough to kiss him. Harry tried not to think too much about it, but how could he not? When Tom's nose almost brushed against his own and when he realized Tom's breath smelt of those stupid sweets he insisted on eating all the time? When Tom's body had to lean down so far in order to do so?
'Just go,' Harry said, and he had meant it to sound cruel, or maybe just snappy but it just came out as a breathy sigh. Tom's eyes lingered on his face – was he actually looking at Harry's mouth? – and when Harry licked his lips, Tom groaned. But he nodded anyway and his hand dropped from where it had apparently been at the back of Harry's neck.
Harry hadn't noticed until now.
Tom turned around, grabbed his bag and walked to the door. By the time his hand had curled around the door handle he looked at Harry for a final time before leaving.
Harry's stomach felt funny when he did.
However, the next day, Tom didn't show up. They were nowhere near finished with their project and Tom had surprisingly been avoiding him.
Harry's thoughts were driving him insane.
It wasn't like they had kissed – not even close. They had argued, Tom had been a complete asshole, but… There just had been something tender in the way he had held the back of Harry's neck. He couldn't explain other than that it had felt intimate, to look someone from up close in the eye like that. Tom walked past him in the hallway, but there was no snarky comment, no sarcastic remarks about his sexuality or his thin frame. Absolutely nothing. Harry stopped and watched him walk for a while, biting his bottom lip. He heard the bell ring and he cursed – he was late for Defense Against The Dark Arts.
When it was time for dinner Tom still hadn't said a word and it left Harry with no other choice than starting up a conversation himself. It took him a moment before he had calmed himself down enough to be capable of walking up to where the tall teen was seated, and Tom was reading a book and absentmindedly taking bites off an apple. Harry watched his jaw move for a moment until he realized he had been staring.
'You weren't at the library or the Common Room yesterday,' Harry said and Tom glanced up slowly, seemingly having some difficulty with tearing his eyes off his book.
'Well observed,' Tom simply replied. He leaned back in his chair and licked the juice off his lips, and Harry's mouth felt dry at the mere sight. He couldn't help but stare and think that he had almost kissed those lips, and -
Wait, what?
Harry frowned and tightened his grip on his bag, trying to clear his mind. 'Well are you going to be there today or not?' It was hard to keep from snapping insults at Tom like he so desperately wanted to, but he thought that so far he had been doing a great job at restraining himself.
'Let me check my schedule,' Tom said, pulling out a little black book from his leather book bag. He put up a great show of flipping through the pages and gasping theatrically, sarcastically. Harry crossed his arms over his chest in irritation. 'Ah, pity. I'm afraid I wont have any time today.'
Harry was positively seething by now. 'And why's that? Too busy being an asshole?'
Tom laughed and returned to his book again. There was no amusement in his eyes. 'No, I'm afraid I'll be too busy not giving a damn the entire day. Maybe the entire week, now that I think of it.'
Oh, now he was just really being unreasonable. Harry actually had to dig his nails into his own skin in order to keep from whipping out his wand and cursing this boy into next week. When he spoke, his voice was just a low hiss. 'Tom, our assignment is due tomorrow.'
'Then you'd better finish it soon, right?' Tom drawled disinterestedly and that just did it. Harry snatched the book from his hands and Tom was so quick to react that he gasped and stumbled, eyes wide behind his glasses when Tom fisted the collar of his shirt and pulled him so close their noses were touching again. All Harry could see were the blue depths of Tom's eyes, so expressive and angry and oh my God.
Harry realized that above his irritation, he wanted to kiss Tom so bad his own lips trembled.
Harry released a shaky breath and his hand rested on Tom's wrist and Tom let go of him as if burnt, his eyes suddenly wearing a surprised look in them, his handsome head turning to see everyone was staring at them. The entire Slytherin table had fallen silent.
It wasn't normal for Tom to show this much emotion. Usually he just boredly drawled answers in class and kept to himself, and everyone left him alone. Tom had never used his physical height to overpower or hurt someone. Harry should've felt validated in that moment, and felt like Tom was finally outed as the bastard he truly was. But all he felt was confusion and want. His heart was racing in his chest. This couldn't be happening to him. He couldn't possibly be falling for Tom Riddle.
This was some sort of sick joke, right?
'I – I guess I should,' Harry stammered. Tom looked like he didn't know what Harry was talking about but Harry walked away before he could question it, cheeks still burning as he walked out. This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all.
Shit.
Harry was sulking in the library, his head resting against his desk and his hands loosely resting at each side of it after that. The sun seemed to be setting - he had been staring out of the window ever since he had gotten here, incapable of doing anything else but repeating a mantra of fuck fuck fuck fuck shit this is bad this is so bad no fuck this shouldn't be happening to me this is so unfair no no no in his mind. It didn't help making him feel better, surprisingly. Harry heard footsteps somewhere near him but he didn't respond to it at all, thinking the person would just go away, and he huffed out a short breath of irritation when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
'What is it?' he asked, not quite raising his head. Probably Draco, asking him if he was coming back to the dormitory already. He couldn't keep avoiding Tom like this for long, after all.
Harry felt sick. He didn't want to like Tom. But it suddenly all made sense – the way he got so flustered around him, the irritation he felt whenever people asked Tom out, that funny feeling in his stomach when the idiot looked at him… It was so fucked up. At first Harry had thought something had been wrong with him for wanting to annoy Tom whenever he could but now he realized he had just wanted Tom to look at him.
A hand splayed on his chest and pulled him backward, but when he turned his head it wasn't his best friend behind him.
It was Tom. And he was close enough to kiss him.
Again.
'Tom,' he murmured softly, surprisingly. The teen looked a bit uncomfortable as he took in Harry's features and Harry rubbed the place where his forehead had been pressed against the desk, undoubtedly having a ridiculous imprint on his skin because of it. Harry suddenly felt very self-conscious, and he shifted awkwardly before practically smacking himself in the forehead in frustration. It was just Tom, why was he acting like some stupid blushing school girl? Stupid, unfunny, witty, handsome Tom…
'You needed help with our assignment?' Tom said, running a hand through his hair. He looked so young, suddenly. Harry wondered at that but he didn't say a thing and instead slowly nodded. He watched as Tom grabbed the assignment sheets and started working right next to him and stared at him for a while. He decided right then and there that it was entirely unfair to look the way Tom looked. He was vile most of the time, his words often cutting and cruel, but that didn't mean it affected his good looks. Didn't change how good Tom looked when he was angry, or how gorgeous he looked when he smiled.
Tom's skin was pale and spotless, his lips soft-looking and his eyes piercing and intelligent. He had high cheekbones and his cheeks were slightly sunken in, but it was a good look on him - he looked beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous.
This was frustrating.
Harry was reaching out before he knew it and only when he had Tom's chin clamped firmly in his fingers and had Tom's half lidded blue eyes boring into him did he realize what he was doing. What surprised Harry most was that neither of them was moving away or reaching for their wands.
'Is there a reason why you're in my personal space, Harry?' Tom's voice was a low rumble, not threatening or teasing at all. If anything, it only coaxed Harry to lean in closer.
'I could ask you the same thing,' Harry murmured, referring to how Tom had still come to the library even though he had said he wouldn't. They stared at each other for a short moment before Tom's hand was suddenly at the back of his head, finally pulling him closer for the kiss Harry had anticipated these past days.
Harry's eyes closed and he instantly relaxed into the kiss he had anticipated for days with a soft moan because it strangely felt so right to do just that. He heard Tom groan softly against his mouth as well and could feel Tom's hands on his back – feel Tom pulling him close, until he was practically sitting on his lap. Tom chuckled into his mouth and Harry grunted and then their lips were upon each other again, tongues battling and teeth nipping. There was a rush going through Harry at that too, white hot heat spreading through him and making him suppress the need to spread his legs and just rock himself against Tom.
By the time Tom pulled away, Harry was biting his lip and staring up at him with a flush on his face. He wanted to say something – anything, but then when he looked Tom in the eye he realized he had just been kissing Tom Riddle.
And the worst was that when Tom pulled him in for another kiss, he didn't resist at all.
In fact, all he did was kiss him eagerly back.
They had spent exactly one hour making out until they got kicked out of the library by a flustered Madam Pince, who had been mumbling against her books and stroking their spines and treated them as though they had been violated by the two teens. Tom hadn't really said anything to Harry after they had broken apart, he had just taken their assignment sheets with him, went to bed and handed their assignment in the following day. Harry had immense difficulty looking him in the eye after that too and did his best to avoid Tom.
Tom was quick to find him in the Great Hall during their lunch break, though.
'Is this seat taken?' Tom asked, his voice low and sounding surprisingly calm. Draco had left Harry off to fend by his own (probably to make out in the janitor's closet, he had seen that weird look in Draco's eyes when Pansy had dragged him off after Potions) so no, technically speaking, the seat wasn't taken.
'It's free, and so is mine if you sit down,' Harry murmured and Tom rolled his eyes and sat down anyway. His mere presence reminded Harry of yesterday; of the way their lips had crushed together in a need Harry hadn't experienced in his life before, of Tom's hands in his hair and how pleasant Tom was when he wasn't speaking… Feeling himself grow flustered, Harry pushed himself up.
Tom grabbed his wrist.
'Sit the fuck down, we need to talk,' he said.
'Or what, you'll kiss me again?' It was out before Harry had realized it, and his eyes widened. Tom stood up and was faster than him – keeping him from running away like Harry suddenly so desperately wanted.
'Harry, I can completely understand that your sarcasm is a natural reflex of that peanut sized brain of yours or that you feel like the world is already ending, but let me be very clear – I am being nice right now. If you think that I can't get worse, you lack the sufficient imagination.' Harry laughed, but it was nervous, and he felt tense. He had had his first kiss with Tom – and Tom wanted to talk about it, with him. He had never had a decent conversation with Tom and he wasn't sure if he would be capable of that right now when he felt that stupid heat spreading through his body again at having him so close.
'What, so you're being nice to me now because you like me?' It was a stupid joke. It shouldn't have made Tom sneer and sink down into his seat again, looking irritated. And that look on Tom's face? It shouldn't have pulled at Harry's heartstrings like that. He felt himself sinking back into his chair again as well.
'Even if I do like you, it's really none of your business,' Tom said distractedly. Harry blinked at him, unsure if he just heard that right. God, what the hell was up with Tom?
'Do you even hear what you're saying? If you'd start making any less sense I'd almost think you were Luna Lovegood's long lost brother!' Harry was referring to Luna Lovegood, one of their classmates. She was a kind girl, really, but she sprouted all kinds of nonsense about nonexistent magical creatures.
Tom's blue eyes found his and the teen huffed out a breath, folding his arms over his flat chest. 'My apathy is just about as great as your lack of knowledge.'
Harry instantly started walking away and he didn't have to look to know Tom was following him. Good. He didn't want to make a scene like last time. The moment they were in an empty corridor Harry spun around and shoved Tom in the chest, putting some distance between the two of them. Tom scowled angrily at him.
'Your life must suck so bad,' Harry hissed, seething. He was angry at himself for being so confused, he was angry at Tom for his stupid sarcastic comments and he was frustratedbecause ever since kissing Tom it was all he could think of and it was driving him fucking insane. Tom's blue eyes glared into his green orbs.
'Excuse you?' Tom said.
'I may be an asshole sometimes, but you just… you're just really hiding behind those words, aren't you? I don't even know whether to laugh at you or feel sorry for you! I just feel so stupid for even thinking you could be nice-'
'-that's an understatement-'
'- and you're just such a prick and I never want to speak with you again! I don't understand why you have to be like this!' Harry panted after his outburst and Tom pushed away from the wall he had been leaning against, stepping right into Harry's personal space. Just like last time.
And again, all Harry could think of was that they were close enough to kiss.
'Given your IQ is about the same number as your shoe size, I'm not too surprised.' There was something icy in his tone, and Harry swallowed but didn't back down. There was no more hate in Tom's voice when he said those things though. He seemed angry.
Confused like me, Harry realized. Tom was actually confused for once in his life.
'What's bothering you?' Harry finally asked. He found that he hated fighting with Tom – he used to think he hated Tom but now that they had actually kissed he had been noticing all these stupid little things like the way Tom would sometimes smile to himself when he was reading a book or how his fingers would sometimes lovingly stroke the spine of it or the way he smelt (of soap and some sort of herb) and it was just driving Harry insane. He hated it so much.
And he hated seeing Tom bothered. Especially when they could spend their time making out instead now that he knew how awesome it was to have someone to do that with.
'Nothing,' Tom finally said, and that was all he said. That simple word felt like a defeat to Harry somehow – like him not having managed to lure out a snappy remark out of Tom was a personal failure. And he hated that the most.
'Tom,' he said, running a hand through his hair. Tom kept staring at him and Harry realized this was the first time they had had an actual conversation. 'Look – you're annoying, a dick, arrogant, you talk like you're a grammar book but… you're actually okay, besides that.'
'Are you attempting to cheer me up?' Tom asked. Harry shrugged. Three weeks ago he would've pointed and laughed whenever Tom would've been going through something.
'Only if it's working and if it doesn't make me look stupid,' Harry said. He smiled when Tom smirked at him.
'You always look stupid and you did a terrible job,' he said, but he stepped closer nonetheless. His hands curled around the back of Harry's neck and Harry tilted his head upwards. His lips already parted.
'Shut the hell up and kiss me already,' he demanded with confidence he hadn't known he possessed up until now. There was just something about Tom that lured him in, almost forced him to be strong. Was it stupid that they were doing this? Undoubtedly. But with the way their personalities just constantly clashed and now that they had figured out they were both attracted to one another... What harm could it do, really? Harry honestly would much rather spend his time making out with Tom instead of fighting with him.
'You better not be doing this with anyone else, Potter,' Tom murmured and he leaned down to kiss Harry. Their lips barely brushed when Harry grinned cockily, his eyes already shut. He was standing on the tips of his toes and his arms were wrapped around Tom's neck, but he couldn't recall doing any of that stuff. His body seemed to be taking over his mind.
'Don't worry,' he said, 'I've been told I have this thing for pale bastards.'
'I never knew you were narcissistic,' Tom retorted and Harry's reply was muffled when Tom kissed him properly this time.
Yup. He definitely hated Tom Riddle.
Still didn't change the fact that he was a great kisser, though.