Harry's hand absently reached for Tom's hand before pausing in mid-air. Touching Tom would only cause him to tense and remain withdrawn for the rest of the day, and Harry hated that. After his childhood with the Dursleys, Harry liked touching the people he cared about in some way. It reminded him that they were there, and reassured him that none of it was a dream his mind had cooked up to escape reality.
Withdrawing his hand, Harry joined Tom on the couch, careful not to unintentionally jolt Tom. There were some days that Tom was relaxed enough that Harry could poke or nudge him without Tom being startled, but that wasn't every day and Harry didn't know if today was one of those days and he didn't want to risk it.
"Harry," Tom greeted, a small smile on his face as he looked up from the book he was reading.
Harry couldn't help but return the smile. It was a rare moment for Tom to be completely at ease, and that only happened when they were alone together. Tom could easily charm an army into following him, but being in the same place as that many people made him extremely uncomfortable. It made Harry uncomfortable too, but not for the same reasons as it did Tom. Tom didn't mind the number of people, as long as they didn't try to touch him. Harry simply didn't like crowds. Together, they just tried to stay away from it in general, but that was difficult with Tom being as good as he was.
"How was your day?" Harry asked, closing his eyes as he lay back tiredly. Harry, honestly, would be able to fall asleep right there despite how uncomfortable it would be. Chasing morons around Wizarding Britain was a nightmare, and it wasn't like they managed to escape at the end of the day either.
"Nothing spectacular. Another long day?"
"Yeah," Harry yawned. "I didn't even get a break for lunch; some idiot thought it would be a good idea to start a fire outside the trunk shop. A crowd of people gathered outside and just watched. There wasn't a single one of them that bothered to get their wands and start helping to put out the fire. Ridiculous."
To Harry's surprise, Tom tugged Harry closer to him until Harry's head lay on his shoulder. Harry wasn't complaining, though, Tom must have been in a very good mood and extremely relaxed from his day.
"They're generally like that, though, aren't they? I think I would be far more surprised if there was a day when you didn't complain about them."
Harry sighed wordlessly, snuggling into Tom a little bit more. Harry's eyes were still half-closed, and were getting heavier by the second. Tom stiffened for a moment, stilling to the point where Harry was about to pull back, thinking he had gone a bit too far. The contact itself had been rare enough. Tom relaxed after a moment.
… and Harry fell asleep.
Written for Musical Prompts Competition: Fear of physical contact