"Do you like watching the stars?"

While Adam felt comfortable in the silence, and in fact preferred it because it was easier to integrate meeting Harry in his routine, he found himself with the odd compulsion to talk.

Adam was curious. He had seen Harry in the rooftop two other times since they had met and that was pretty much all the following times Adam went up to the roof, which was every Monday and Thursday.

"Yes," Harry was sitting at the same spot the last three times Adam met him and Adam had voiced his concerns on the dangerous position twice now but Harry always 'waved him off'. "They remind me of home."

"Oh," Adam says. "Does your home look like the stars?" Because maybe they do. Adam doesn't know everything even if it was easy to retain what he read.

Harry laughed—and Adam found that he liked Harry's laughter—and turned to him, expression twisted into something Adam could only interpret closest to as…sad. It was easy to recognize, his father wore it a lot of times.

"No, not stars." Harry looked up in the sky with his eyes closed. "But you could definitely see the stars clearly. I remember the first time I laid my eyes on it, we were riding a boat on a lake led by a giant of a man. It was beautiful."

Adam didn't move, frozen in place because it almost felt like disturbing this scene was not something he wanted to do. Not for the first time in his life, Adam wanted to be able to understand what is happening because Adam knew Harry needed some sort of help that he can't give, help that Adam can't even identify. It was frustrating.

"And I guess," Harry continued, ignorant of Adam's dilemma. "My family's there too."

Frustration wasn't something Adam wanted to feel. It made him feel a lot more uncomfortable than being stared at because it felt like he was drowning in the things he wanted to do, to say, to express. It wouldn't come out right. Sometimes it wouldn't come out at all.

"Adam?"

Adam started clenching and unclenching his fists, body tensed as Harry moved to inch closer.

"Adam? Are you okay?"

Harry touched him and Adam was almost sure he would feel his skin crawl but then Harry's hold was gentle and loose, gradually tightening into something comfortable until Adam found his nose buried on Harry's neck. The steady motions of the hand running through his hair made him feel grounded and slowly relaxed Adam's tensed muscles.

"I'm sorry," Harry whispered and Adam was confused. "Was it something I said? I'm sorry Adam."

"N-no," Adam's voice was muffled but he didn't move away from the pleasant warmth and smell of aged paper. "No, I—"

He was lost. He didn't know what he should say. Harry hadn't disturbed his routine like many others would do, like Harlan usually did and sometimes his father. He wanted to tell Harry it was Adam's fault, that it was Adam who was wrong here.

He wanted Harry to know even if he barely knew the green, green eyed young man. Harry was slowly becoming something he looked forward to in seeing even if they only met three times and talked only about twice that. He liked Harry.

"I have this—" Adam finally pulled away slightly and swallowed, trying to get his words out. "This thing called Asperger's Syndrome a-and I-uh- one thing about it is not knowing what people are thinking and sometimes—sometimes it also makes it hard to express myself because—"

"Because your emotions get so tangled up?"

Adam blinked, considering what Harry said before nodding. Sometimes he doesn't understand what's in him, like seeing the tangled up threads in the sewing kit his father always used.

Now Adam stared up, waiting for Harry to leave or laugh at him or ridicule him like all those other people do, but was surprised when Harry's lips stretched to a smile and Adam was staring into green, green eyes that made Adam think of damp grass in the morning.

"Don't worry yourself about that Adam." A hand was running through his hair again and Adam leaned up to the touch. "Sometimes normal people feel like that, too. I'll just have to be a lot more direct and blunt with you, yeah?"

"I—" Harry's smile and nod shut Adam up. "Yeah, okay…"

"So…" Harry poked Adam between his eyes and Adam frowned when his eyes instinctively followed, making his eyes cross. "Would you like to be friends with me?"

"I would—" Adam doesn't quite know what the warm feeling is but it felt pleasant. "I would love to."

Then Adam realized he probably wasn't going to be a great friend—freak!—and that Harry was soon going to hate him.

But Harry was the one who asked you.

Just this once, Adam recognized what 'selfish' means.