Kitten Troubles

Chapter 11

Tom's first reaction would be to say no with no exceptions and just walk away without looking back. But something inside of him told him to at least give the idea a shot for a few days and then to make up his mind when he wasn't thinking about how much he hated being cornered into things and how he didn't get to get his last revenge on the one person who he had hated so much. He reluctantly decided to sleep on it, just for one night.

One night turned into two which turned into four and that quickly led to a week later. Harry had hardly been seen and when he was, he didn't talk. He sat in front of his maps and papers all day and night trying to keep riots to a minimum and to keep the Wizarding World in one piece. It wasn't as easy as everyone assumed, even Tom had to admire him for that. But lately he'd been admiring him far too much.

He shouldn't be admiring his hair, be it short or long and he most definitely shouldn't like to look at his body whether he was short, muscular and tan or short and pale. He didn't want to admit that his eyes, no matter the color, always swirled with a hypnotic air to him and his eyelashes were always thick and full in a way a male's never should be. And he most certainly didn't need to be admiring his characteristics. It was easy to brush off the physical compliments he silently gave him since looks went away after the years passed, but characteristics and traits of that nature that made a personality didn't change much with time, if at all. And if it did, it was usually less anger and more patience, which was a good thing in his mind.

He really hated his way of thinking sometimes.

It really wasn't helping him in trying to deny the fact that he really wanted to give Harry a chance to prove that he could take care of him, and it wasn't helping him deny the fact that he might actually like being taken care of for once. He just didn't know what he wanted.

Which was why he was hiding in a broom closet now. He had been walking down the hallway for lunch when Harry had turned the corner and started walking towards him with purpose, so he hid in here as quick as he could hoping beyond hope that Harry hadn't noticed him. He knew his chances of that were slim, but a man could hope, right?

How wrong he was to hope. Only moments after he thought that he'd gone undetected the door was gently pulled open with Harry standing on the other side blocking his only way of escaping. He sighed keeping his panic to a minimum. He wasn't ready yet, and that's what he would have to tell him. Just say it and get it over with, the quicker the better-like taking a pepperup potion! Yeah, he'll just down his emotions for a minute, tell him he wasn't ready for anything like that and run off to his room!

Unfortunately for Tom, that's not exactly what happened. What did end up happening was Tom blurted out some hodge podge of nothingness that meant nothing to anyone whatsoever.

"What?" Voices could be heard down the hall so Harry came in the broom closet with Tom and shut the door before repeating himself in a much more hushed tone. "I only wanted to know if you've been thinking about what I told you." Tom took a deep breath and looked down at the floor. He only saw darkness.

"I just...I don't know how I feel about it yet but...I'm not unwilling to give it a try I suppose..." He shrugged and looked up at Harry who looked hopeful.

"So you're going to give me a shot?" Tom nodded again, despite the fact that his mind said to yell no that it was just a joke on him. It seemed his mind wasn't going to get much of what it wanted today, no matter the precautions he took. It just wasn't his day, he supposed. But if it meant he could get to see the happy smile that now graced Harry's lips, he'd gladly do whatever his mouth told them he was going to do. He really did like to see Harry smile like that, and it wasn't often that he did anymore. He used to smile more when Tom was a cute little kitten that 'didn't know any better' even though they both knew that he did know better than to do half of the things he would get away with simply because he was a cute and adorable little ball of fur. And who can really get upset over waking up to such an adorable little kitten fighting your toes in the middle of the night because you moved in your sleep?