Mr. Mean ~ Tom Riddle

scared

There's a knock at the door as tom swiftly moved towards it to greet her. the first thing she notices is his informality, where he would usually be dressed in his school robes or some kind of formalwear he was now in green plaid pj bottoms and a black shirt. His hair was a mess on his head as opposed to his usual formal styling and his eyes were reddish as if he'd been crying, she decided not to mention it.
He took her hand and once the door was closed behind them he pulled her closer to him, as if he wanted to embrace her but she held her ground. His face dropped as she shuffled on her feet nervously.
His heavy breathing could be heard as she looked down at her feet, not wanting to face him in the awkwardness.
'you okay?' he asked, his voice, unusually timid, sounding like it was almost shaking
'why are you being so nice tom?' she whispered out, only now looking up at him
he kept looking at her for a few seconds before moving backwards to sit on his bed, exhaling a deep breath. Bella stayed where she was, watching him intently as his breathing visibly sped up and she could see his hands shaking. It was when he looked up at her with tears beading his eyes and a look of complete disparity on his face that she moved and knelt before him, looking up at him.
'tom?' she breathed out, he didn't say anything just stared at her, breathing heavy, brows knitted together as she took his hands in hers.
'hey, tom, i need you to breathe okay?' she said calmingly as she stroked patterns on the back of one of his hands, still looking up at him.

After a few minutes his breathing had slower and she joined him sitting on the bed.
'wanna talk about it?' she voiced out after a few minutes of silence
'i didn't mean to scare you.' he said, his voice still wavering a little 'i was called home for a few days, some kind of family celebration.' he kept taking deep breaths and pauses to keep himself calm, prompted by gentle hand squeezes from bella.
'it was all fine, nice even' he broke the eye contact, now looking down at their hands 'until it wasn't' he finished.

'i only realised how many were gone when i got home, people i hadn't talked too in so long, it hurts so much more that it should. and i guess i just realised that i am scared.' he had explained to bella
'scared of them?' she asked
'scared of losing you too.' he responded

By the time they'd finished talking it was past midnight and tom had been the first to fall asleep, bella still lay awake listening to his light breathing.
she was angry, with his family, with the school, with herself. how come everyone treats this boy like voldemort himself (okay okay i know that was bad phrasing but let's just pretend he's only schoolboy tom). he was scared, just as scared at the rest of them, maybe even more.

eventually bella managed to fall asleep, waking up, much to her dismay, in an otherwise empty bed.

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jj speaks:
hey guyssss
sorry for my slight absence lols
life has been really chaotic recently but i think i'm back and ready to keep writing!!
ty for all your adorable comments they actually make me so happy 😭💓