"Harry, are you happy? Staying in the same room as Gabriel and Billy," Tom asked in a hesitant tone, and Harry looked up at him.

They were both on Tom's bed, Tom sitting at the head of the bed, faced towards Harry. He had been studying him for the past half hour. Harry for his part had decided to stay there for the rest of the night, and had situated himself on the foot of the bed, finding extreme interest in his bare feet. While simultaneously just happening to be trying to pretend those dark eyes hadn't been scrutinizing him. But Harry glanced over, making eye contact with the other, causing Harry to stiffen and blush a little.

"I'm sorry, what?"

Tom smirked slightly, and gracefully crawled closer, cupping Harry's face in his hands. Harry blushed more, remembering the morning before. Briefly, he wondered why Tom had acted like that before Tom pushed the bright eyed boy's bangs away from his forehead.

Dark eyes widened at the same time Harry screamed, white hot pain suddenly cracking against his skull. While his whole head felt like fire was beating at it, the pain focused on where pale finger tips had been brushed against a lightning shaped scar that had previously been hidden by the dark strands of hair. A few seconds after the fingers drew back, the pain settled to a dull ache.

Harry slowly opened his eyes, gazing at Tom's surprised, drawn face, he realized he was breathing heavy through an open mouth from screaming in pain. After a tense, confused silence between the two, Tom looming over Harry, Harry trying to recover from the sudden onslaught, Tom leaned back, his eyes cold and narrowed. But there was a furious, almost indignant gleam in them now. Like he couldn't believe that Harry had dared to feel pain from his touch.

"What's that scar, Harry?"

"N-nothing..." Harry managed to reply through heavy breaths, his eyes sliding away, "I got it when I was a baby..."

"How?"

"I-I... I don't know."

"You must know."

"I don't..."

"Don't lie to me."

"I'm not...!"

"Yes you are. You're hiding something, I can tell." Even though Tom's voice was calm, his growing anger was showing through, rolling off of him in waves.

"I'm not! It's just..."

"Just. What?"

Harry kept silent, refusing to look at Tom even once. Dark eyes narrowed further, becoming almost completely black. After a few short seconds of silence, Tom grabbed Harry's shoulders and pushed him down. Harry yelped when the back of his head hit the wall, his legs flailing slightly over the side of the bed. His eyes squeezed closed from the pain as he let out a whimper, his hair swept away from his face again, his scar clearly visible.

"I don't like to be ignored, Harry." Tom's tone was warning, and Harry looked up in bewilderment.

"I-I wasn't ignoring you, Tom. I just..." Harry's eyes had to glance away before he continued, "I just don't like to talk about it. It's obvious that I'd have something that's... like that for me. Otherwise I wouldn't be in this orphanage...!" Harry's voice raised slightly at the end of that sentence, his head twisted away.

Tom was silent, staring at the other boy beneath him blankly. He released his grip on the shoulders of the boy's shirt, but didn't get off. Instead, he cupped Harry's cheek again, and Harry wondered if this was going to be a habit with the sporadic, beautiful boy above him.

"Still, I want you to tell me. Friends aren't supposed to have secrets."

Harry felt like something tugged at his chest, urging him to speak. Like every other feeling he had, it showed on the boy's thin face.

"I got it in my parents' accident. I don't remember how I got it, and I was never told." It had taken a great deal of courage for Harry to say just that much, and he couldn't bear to look at Tom.

After lapse of silence, another thing that looked like it would become common place, the corners of Tom's mouth turned up. Again, Harry wasn't able to discern the smile's meaning from his peripheral vision. For when as he turned his head to face Tom, the cupid bow lips were turned up further in another kind smile.

"Harry, if that was all, why did you try to hide it? Did you think I would blame you for something?"

"Err..." Harry stumbled on his words a lot before managing to speak a coherent sentence, "well, it's just one more thing that makes me different... I had planned to spend the rest of my life with no one finding out about anything." Tom's eyes flashed when Harry confessed to him about his plans. Whether it was with anger, indignation, or something completely different Harry wasn't able to figure out.

"Harry, I don't want you to hide anything from me. Since we both have these talents, I don't see any reason to have secrets."

"Tom..." Harry looked up at Tom, starting to correct him about how a person needed secrets, but the words got stuck in his throat. Tom's eyes were now showing loneliness as he continued gazing down on the raven-haired boy beneath him, his lips set in a slight frown.

"I've never had friends before, so forgive me if I'm a little too nosy, but I just don't want to loose this chance."

"Chance for what?" Harry's brow had to twitch in confusion at the cryptic statement, and Tom nearly shone with the smile he gave, it was so completely bright. However, if Harry had looked close enough, there was a taunt, fake undertone to it, a double meaning behind the words.

"A chance to have someone who I can use my abilities with. Someone who can join me, and go with me to where we're meant to."

Harry was just more confused with the answer he was given, but he wasn't sure what parts to ask about. He felt that somewhere in there, his question had been answered, but he couldn't pinpoint where.

"Um... okay." Harry sat up, and even though Tom's mouth was turned down for a split second, the shorter boy moved away to give Harry his space. "Tom, I'm not going to use whatever it is that makes me such a 'freak' ever again. Unless I need to."

Tom's eyes widened, and he slammed his hands on the mattress between them. Thankfully, the action didn't make any noise, but it still made Harry jump. With the way Tom's dark eyes lit up in anger, and the way he leaned forward, growling though his teeth, Harry was afraid he was going to get pounced on again.

"Why?!" Tom spit out, his nose scrunched slightly from his irate frustration.

Harry couldn't speak for a while, simply staring at Tom as he slowly collected himself. After Tom sat back slightly so he could regain his always perfect posture, Harry spoke cautiously, eyeing the dark eyed boy, starting to finally catch on about how fast the other child's mood swung.

"I don't want to be treated the same as when I stayed with my aunt and uncle, Tom. It wasn't much better than how I've seen you treated here." Harry had to look away halfway through talking, ashamed of himself. How could he be so self-serving? Tom aside, the fact that he was going to hide himself away and put up a front just to fit into society's norm, just felt so... dirty to him. But even as he thought that, his mouth continued to move. Little did he know that Tom had been thinking the exact same thing. "I know it's selfish, but-"

"It is selfish." Harry's eyes were drawn back to Tom by the hard, furious tone the dark eyed boy used. His face was expressionless, but the seething emotions underneath reminded Harry of what Tom had been like after being caught in Billy's prank. Harry tired to force his eyes away again, but finding he could not bring himself to do it, he managed to open his mouth to speak instead.

"I know... I know, but that... it still doesn't change my decision. Billy and Gabe are the first friends I've ever had. Even though I plan to-"

Again, Tom cut Harry off, but this time instead of with words, Harry found himself unable to move a muscle. The only thing he could move of his own volition were his eyes, and they stared frantically at the other boy, who was coming closer.

"I see. So that's the real reason." Tom's mouth turned up, but it was a cold, half-hearted smile, the dry chuckle only adding to the cruel manner Tom was sliding back into. In Harry's eyes, the other boy was reverting back to the way he and been for the first few days of meeting him, up until the morning they got locked up in the "attic" together. Then Tom suddenly smiled like normal, kind and gentle, his voice switching to light and airy, and he seemed almost carefree.

"It's because of those two, isn't it? You really are so very loyal, Harry. But I warned you before, they're not really your friends. At least not in the way you're hoping."

Harry wanted so very desperately to call out, get away, but even as he screamed at his muscles to move, they were deaf to him. Tom chuckled again, and wrapped his arms around Harry's shoulders, hugging the frozen boy's body possessively. With smirking lips right next to Harry's ear, Tom's breath ran down his neck as he spoke.

"Do you remember what I said yesterday morning? That you're just as self-serving as they are. I already knew what you were like. That's why I can forgive you this time, Harry. However, after everything is over, if you dare to act against me in the slightest, I won't be so lenient. Now, sleep."

Tom pulled away when Harry's eyelids fluttered, and lowered his thin body down on the mattress, no longer stiff but lax. As darkness crept over the young boy's sight, the last thing he saw was Tom's wide smirk. The last thing he felt was Tom's hand lightly brushing against his cheek. The last thing he heard was that cold, unfeeling laugh that was so quiet it almost couldn't be heard. The last thing he smelt was cold soil and dark spices.

All Harry could sense seemed to be Tom, and it felt like he was drowning.


Tom looked down at the boy he had put to sleep, again leaning over him. He carefully pushed the wild hair away from Harry's face, making sure not to brush against the scar in case the pain would wake him, but studying it nonetheless.

It was jagged, a lightning bolt being the first thing to come to Tom's mind. It suited the other boy in a way. He seemed to work more on instinct and luck rather than using his brain, which made him unpredictable. Harry shifted in his sleep, his expression twisted in discomfort, and Tom opted to move away and sit on the edge of the bed, his lower back brushing against Harry's side.

As he gazed down at the sleeping boy, he started thinking. Tom knew those two would be a problem, but he didn't think they would get in the way this soon, in this way. Honestly, Harry just didn't get how the world worked. Gabriel might work to keep Harry as a friend if he ever found out, as long as he got over his initial fear. But Billy would turn on the bright eyed boy so fast it would make his head spin. Tom couldn't figure out if he wanted Billy to take part in breaking Harry or not. He also couldn't decide which of the two obstacles would be the most troublesome.

Tom's head whipped up when he heard the attic door open and close, so he kept his eyes trained on the stairs until a blond head made it's way up, along with the rest of Billy's body. The two stared at each other for a long while, Billy glaring in between Tom and the sleeping Harry, Tom gazing coolly back at him, positioned in front of the curled form of the wild haired boy in a silent 'mine.'

"What are you doing with Harry, you freak?" The blond growled out, his fists clenching. Tom leaned towards the wall, his back pressing even more into Harry, his lips pulled up in a cocky smirk as he looked down at Billy.

"He came to me."

"Why...?!" Billy's blue eyes widened, and he took a step closer, intent on getting his friend back, but no child could resist answers.

"To show me something. He did, and now he's mine," Tom answered simply, but it only served to further confuse the blond, and he nearly stomped over.

"What are you going on about?! Harry," Billy reached for the sleeping seven year old, and Tom's eyes snapped down to the hand, "come on, wake-?!" Billy was cut off as he screamed in pain, his out stretched hand flinching back as if burned. But before the now crying, crouched blond could wake anyone, Tom slid off the bed and clamped his hand over Billy's mouth. He absently imagined the lips being glued shut. After hearing the muffled shout from the blond, Tom hummed in satisfaction, removing his hand and standing up straight.

"Listen to me very closely. Harry. Is. Mine. I'll let you take him back to his bed, but if you ever touch him when I don't allow it, you'll get it worse. Far worse. Now," Tom walked around Billy and sat in his desk chair, "leave."

Billy rose, his eyes dazed. He silently walked to the bed, picked Harry up, and walked out of the attic with Tom's belonging.

Tom stared at the spot Harry had lain just a few minutes before, retreating back into his own mind again.

Billy posed the most immediate threat, and Tom would especially enjoy getting rid of the blond in particular. But the dark eyed boy already knew how he would push both Gabriel and Billy out of the picture.

All he had to do was wait...


AN: I think that will be all for tonight. Review's are welcome and appreciated.