Tomarry One Shots

| Can't stop confessing

Summary: Tom has trouble saying the words 'l love you' to Harry, though they both know he does feel that way. Harry comes up with a solution in the form of tapping three times instead of saying the words themselves. Tom has been doing so ever since.

Ship: HarryPotterxTomRiddle

All credit goes to Squibnation10

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Harry sighed, feeling a palm stealthily sliding down his shoulder. It briefly stopped on his upper arm, tapping three times, then continued the slide until it finally rested on his forearm and tapped again before relaxing and just staying there. He fondly looked at Tom, who was busy working on some legislation proposals by his side, elegantly lounging on the settee he casually transformed with a flick of his wrist to be closer to his partner.

Being in a relationship with Tom was a weird thing since no one on Earth would describe his partner as normal, but Harry knew he wasn't a god's gift to humanity either, so he tried to accept Tom just as he was: an incredible genius, hungry socialite, shameless actor and quite a commanding arsehole.

Harry was genuinely shocked at how this weird, emotionally constipated creature managed to fool all those people constantly orbiting him into believing he was as human as they were.

Well, Harry was fooled too in the beginning, Tom being all charming, smiley and accommodating, but with Harry's horrible personality - a mix of inquisitiveness, adventure-seeking tendencies, idle hands and utter fearlessness - that normal human facade didn't last long, and both partners were rather happy about it.

Tom, with his mask off, revealed a commanding, non-negotiating, stern presence that had muted emotions and also an inability to properly express those.

It seemed, Harry had his work cut out for him for the rest of his days. But no matter how frustrated he got sometimes, he wouldn't trade it for the world.

No matter the frigidity and sternness, he could see that Tom cared about his well-being and comfort in his own overbearing way. It took some pondering and consideration on Harry's side to realize that the charming snake didn't stop caring about him when his blinding smiles and excessive flirting dwindled over time.

He learned that Tom worked in a different way altogether, and Harry felt accomplished knowing how far along he had come in uncovering the real personality of his lover. No one else would ever come close.

Real Tom didn't display most of his emotions on his face, leaving his charming expressive persona at work and social functions.

This blankness unnerved Harry at first. Gone were the smiles, the subtle eye-creasing, quirking lips, and brow movements. It was a smooth, sculpted canvas, revealing nothing going inside, only adorned with the same intelligent, gleaming eyes. Harry had to summon all of his courage to talk about his discomfort. Eventually, they worked it out.

Tom confessed that some part of his mind had to run the normal emotional display for the sake of fitting in with society and that it grew tiring to keep it up around the clock. It was the reason why despite having a plethora of lovers in the past, Tom never bothered moving in with any of them. He knew that people were uncomfortable with his lack of expression and keeping the game up at home sounded too exhausting.

Harry didn't feel all that comfortable in the beginning either, but being an emotionally and touch-starved piece of work sometimes helps one to recognize subtler things.

For example, Tom grew more tactile with Harry, the more comfortable he felt in his presence. He slowly unfurled and revealed his natural behaviours and mannerisms. Sometimes, it was annoying, but Harry cared too much, and that gave him the patience to deal with it.