All I Ever Wanted Was the World

chapter 24

Tom blinked and, whether it was in shock or horror, Harry knew he would have liked to die in that moment.

"Right." Harry cleared his throat and, after noticing  what he had fallen on due to the sharp pains that prickled his back, he hastily rolled over to get away from the cursed items.

Harry clenched his eyes for a while longer and  cursed under his breath.
Of all things, it had to be Tom Riddle embarrassing him even further in front of the real Tom Riddle.
Harry truly wondered how lucky he could be if the unluckiest things happened to him.
Finally, Harry say up on the bed and distractedly ran a hand through his hair. He then decided he'd have to face Tom anyhow, and so he turned around.
Immediately he was met with the sight of a tall, pale, and muscled body.
Tom's hair was damp and hung heavy around his head. The curls of hair that were usually styled now framed his face, and the stupid curls of hair lay against his forehead. His brows were raised and his eyes blown wide, so Harry now knew that Tom was definitely shocked.
And Harry rarely got any emotion other than annoyance from the other besides what had happened not too long before.
His lips were slightly parted and he could see Tom's gears shifting in his head.

He was only dressed in pajama pants and it was as if he had been in the process of drying his hair.
Harry saw the pale, toned chest, saw the flex of muscle when Tom's fist clenched.
Great.

Harry averted his eyes, his feeling now extremely hot as he scratched the back of his neck.
"It- uh- I think..." he failed to come up with an explanation and instead simply gestured to the items on the bed, deciding to, instead, talk to Tom about the content that littered their resting place.
That didn't mean Tom would go along with it.

"What was that?"
The question hung in the air and Harry was tense, keeping his averted from the other. He feared he would see red if he looked into his eyes.

"I'm honestly not sure. I wasn't uh- I wasn't trying to snog you- well, not you, of course! That would be- um. Right." Harry sputtered, feeling his very soul shrivel as he began to further dig himself into a hole.
"I should probably just stop talking."

Tom walked over to where Harry sat, and Harry began to feel embarrassment completely fill his body. Tom could curse or hex him, could just come forward and strike Harry if he so willed.
Tom raised a hand, and Harry flinched back, his eyes shutting for a brief moment.
Nothing came.
He opened his eyes.
Tom looked down at him in curiosity, as if he didn't quite understand the it beneath him.
His fingers brushed the hair from his head and, ever so gently, he touched the scar on his forehead.
For a moment, Harry felt breathless and awake, as if a shock had run through his entire body twice.
He weakly grasped onto Tom's hand and removed it from his head, let out a sigh of relief when he no longer felt the sensation.
"Curious, curious." Tom murmured, his hands moving down Harry's face as he rubbed his thumb against the red cheeks.
"My scar?" Harry questioned, blinking dumbly.
"Yes...he gave that to you?" He asked after a moment, his baritone voice turning soft.

Harry didn't look up.
"Yes." He responded hesitantly, his chin being tilted up by Tom. His plan to avert his eyes didn't last longer than five minutes.
Green met brown.
Relief filled his body and he was no longer as tense.
"You truly are a marvel." Tom said quietly, his eyes scanning across the face of the young hero.

"Not me. I'm just some rag tag kid who gets lucky. More unlucky than anything." He said with a quirk of his lip, feeling strange at the position they were currently in.
His stomach jumped.

Tom gave a slight smile, something Harry never really saw from the other.
He felt something in him ignite.

Maybe Tom wasn't too bad.

"May I?"
The voice was breathy and quiet, the faintest sensation of air ghosted over Harry's nose.

Tom's eyes were enchanting, and Harry, captivated,  took a shaky breath before giving a slight nod of his head.
Tom leaned down and kept his hand on the dark haired boy's chin, sealing their lips in a kiss.

Harry's eyes fluttered to a close as he felt himself become relaxed and akin to jelly.
He thought of nothing and, instead, his thoughts purely focused on who was in front of him.
His hands found their way to the bare shoulders and he shyly moved them to the base of Tom's neck, interlocking his fingers just behind.
He felt Tom's smiling lips against his and let his own lips quirk into a grin as he was pushed onto the bed.
Tom was still kissing him, and it quickly went from gentle to fervent, with a mix of tongue and teeth mixing and meeting.

Harry let out a quiet, breathy noise as he kissed back, feeling his flushed face burning. He felt himself being coaxed by Tom, the teasing appendage in his mouth was greedy and took him in with such a ferocity.
He widened his jaw, pushing back against Tom with as much force as the other, letting himself go as he had never done before.
He was new to this, sure, but he was quick to battle back.
In the back of his mind, Harry knew t was strange to think that, of all people he could be making out with right now, it was a version of Voldemort.
And yet, he didn't mind it, because Tom was different.

Tom pulled away.
Harry's eyes opened and they were blown wide, his glasses were askew and he felt embarrassment deep into his bones.
Was he not a good kisser? Did he do something wrong? He probably wasn't a good kisser, he'd only ever-

Tom kissed at his lips vehemently, trailing the light presses of skin to the reddened cheeks.
Harry let out a laugh, feeling relieved that it was just Tom wanting to do his own thing. He should've known better.
He closed his eyes and let his head hit the mattress, lazily letting his fingers play with the strands of hair at the base of Tom's neck.
"You are infuriating, Harry." Tom murmured against his cheek.
"You upset me sometimes, though you don't know it. You're brash and stupidly brave, though I wish you weren't in moments. You could have died today. Why did you come after me?"

Harry felt his heart skip a beat as he tried to find an answer.
"I don't know." He said after a moment, feeling stupid and content.
"I felt a pull."
"A pull?" Tom questioned, leaving one last kiss on Harry's bitten lips before he caged the other with his body, holding himself just above Harry.
He was staring into Harry's eyes.
"It was like something was calling me, as if I knew something was going to happen." Harry found himself spilling the words without the thought, his mind barely coming to the realization at that moment in time.
"Perhaps we are more connected than I thought."

Tom removed himself and sat on the bed, seemingly lost in thought.
Harry sat up, mussing his hair to become even messier without really knowing. He leaned against the bed frame, doing his best to ignore the flustered embarrassment he was left with.
"We could be.." he said mindlessly, his eyes skimming over the artifacts on the bed before an realized just what he was looking at.
"Oh! I completely forgot to tell you about these, though I'm sure you noticed them."
Harry said excitedly, gesturing to the pouch and sword encased in a silk cloth.

Tom blinked and for a moment he looked frazzled.
He gingerly unveiled the sword of Godric Gryffindor.
His eyes were wide and his mind seemed to be working rapidly to sort out what was in front of him.
"What is it?"
Harry asked finally, peering over at the brunette who sat stunned.

"I cannot wield the sword." He said at last, and Harry began to deflate.
"This is not because of anything other than the fact that I myself am not a Gryffindor. I have long since been a Slytherin, I doubt that this sword would even let me touch it."

Harry frowned, and he ever so lightly picked up the sword, which felt weighty in his hands.
"It's got magic in it, huh?" He questioned, and it was then he fumbled his grip.
The sword came down quickly towards the bed, the and the blade turned on it side.
Harry saw his face of horror in the reflection stare back at him as the sword sliced down at the cup.

The cup shattered at the impact, and the room was filled with silence before a hearty scream pierced the air.