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—LIFE HAD CHANGED FOR THE BLACK FAMILY. Whether it was because of Rigel's depression or the fact that they would see their son way less than usual, nobody knew.
Rigel was basically.. ignoring everyone.
Everyone other than Tom, though, who would walk into his room as often as he could without trying to make Rigel annoyed.
Tom had, of course, seen the signs. Like Sirius, he connected the dots together and came out to the same conclusion, but stayed quiet and treated Rigel like normal, which he knew was exactly what Rigel wanted.
So, here they were..
"—don't fucking touch that, Tom Marvolo Riddle." Rigel warned him, glaring at the boy from the top of his book, who was curiously looking at his quill collection.
"How the hell do you know my middle name!?"
"Doesn't matter."
Tom rolled his eyes fondly. "Of course."
Rigel went back to his book in silence.
The older boy glanced at him, brows furrowing in concern. "Ri, I know you don't want me to ask you this, but— how are you feeling? Honestly?"
Rigel froze. "I have no idea what you're talking about—"
"You can trust me." Tom whispered, sitting down next to him.
"You don't understand— I can't." He shot back, putting his book away and standing up. "I cannot trust you! I just can't—!"
Rigel immediately stopped when Tom's face fell, but he still tried smiling, making Rigel even more confused. "Why-.. why don't you hate me like everyone else?" asked Rigel finally.
If he were to be honest, that question has been bothering him everytime Tom tried having a pleasant conversation with him.
And merlin he wanted the answer. He wanted the answer so badly.
"What's there to hate?" questioned Tom, snapping him out of his thoughts.
"Everything!.. Gosh, I'm a monster."
Tom's lips parted, looking extremely offended for some reason. "Monster?!" He repeated unbelievably. "Having problems doesn't make you a monster, Rigel! Heck, it makes you unbelievably strong and I believe in you."
Feeling his eyes tear up, Rigel looked away, trying to focus on something else, knowing he was on the verge of sobbing.
Ever since Rigel could remember, he bottled all of his feelings down. Now, however, it was all starting to come back up again.
"Rigel... you can trust me." Tom repeated. "I won't judge you for anything."
"I don't need you." snarled Rigel, immediately regretting what he said. "I'm.. sorry, I didn't mean that—"
