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It was game night at Hermione's, and Harry had brought Tom with him.
Harry had brought Tom with him, full well knowing exactly what this would lead to.
This week's game was UNO. No one, not a single soul, could ever escape the horror of UNO night at Hermione's. The game was inescapable, made worse by the endless stacking of +4 and +2 cards that saw them playing late into the evening, or sometimes even into the early hours of the morning.
After one particularly raucous match, there had been a noise complaint. They had taken to playing in the basement after that.
But tonight? Harry was bringing Tom with him.
Which meant that no one would want to sit next to Tom, which meant that Harry had to sit next to Tom, which meant that whichever poor bastard was forced to sit on Tom's other side would inevitably be subjected to the mind-numbing horror of eventually picking up, at a minimum, 16 cards or more.
Tom was ruthless at all games, really, but he was the absolute devil incarnate when it came to UNO.
When Hermione opened the door to greet them, her lovely smile—white, straight, neat rows of dentist-approved teeth—faltered the slightest bit.
"Hello, Harry! And Tom! You brought Tom with you!"
Harry was not fooled by her bravado. As they were long time childhood friends, he knew when she was strained around the edges.
"Harry and I brought dessert," Tom interjected smoothly, holding out a plate of tiny little pastries that Harry had stress-baked earlier that day.
"Wonderful," Hermione said, accepting the tray with grace and whirling away from the door. "Why don't you, ah, have a seat in the living room! Not everyone is here yet, so I think you'd be more comfortable on the couch."
At first, Harry wondered if this was a tactic. Was Hermione trying to prevent them from locking in their game positions in the basement?
But no, in the living room was Luna. Harry said hello and went to sit next to her to wait, and Tom did the same.
Slowly, the rest of Harry's friends trickled into Hermione's house. Harry nibbled on carrot sticks and ranch dip, noting the way people reacted as the occupants of the couch came into view.
Harry, you brought Tom with you!
Yes, he bloody well had, and there was nothing to be done about that now! Glaring at him like it was his fault his boyfriend was a competitive maniac certainly wasn't helping. Harry just wanted a nice night of UNO where he could play to win without the game turning into a civil war.
Next to him, Tom was already sizing up the competition. Ginny had brought Alicia and Angelina, and Neville had brought his girlfriend, Hannah Abbott.
"First time for game night," Hannah said cheerfully. "I'm really excited to play!"
Ginny and Ron had exchanged a look. Then they had both glanced, with no subtlety whatsoever, at Tom.
"Yes," said Ron flatly. "Excited."
Talk soon turned to casual topics, like sports and politics and the weather. Harry was almost able to let his guard down all throughout dinner. Almost.
Part way through the meal, Tom leant over and whispered in Harry's ear:
"This will be delightful. We're going to obliterate them."
Now, Harry knew he ought to feel a little bit guilty about all this. Tom assumed they were a team, and Harry had done jackshit to dissuade or discourage this notion.
Everyone else assumed that Tom was whipped and would never dare to hit Harry with more UNO cards. Which was not quite a lie. It was not an outright lie.
Game night was all in good fun, right?
Once dinner was done, however, the tension began to settle on the shoulders of the group like a heavy mantle. Hermione rose hastily from her seat, scrunching her napkin up and tossing it onto her empty plate. There was no such thing as a slow eater when Tom Riddle came to game night.
"Save me a seat!" she said to Ron, her tone pitched higher than usual as she began to clear the table of plates and trays. “I have to load the dishwasher.”
Ron's face was solemn as he nodded at her.
Meanwhile, the rest of the table was rapidly emptying of guests as the stampede to the basement began.
Contrary to the rest, Tom took his time clearing his plate and folding his napkin into a neat square. Harry was torn between hurrying downstairs or lingering behind.
If he went there before Tom, anyone he sat next to would be safe. However, anyone sat two spaces away on his other side would be in grave danger.
Now, Harry had seen fit to use this to his advantage before. Especially on that one night where Tom had insisted on bringing Draco with him. (Draco had yet to make a second appearance at game night. This was not a coincidence.) But Harry wasn't mad at anyone today, so picking his seat could be taken as a declaration of war.
However, if Harry waited for Tom, then there would be exactly two seats left for them in the basement.
But this decision presented a different problem, because Harry would have to let Tom pick the seat. Which was better for deflecting the blame, but it also meant other people might be mad at each other, depending on where he and Tom ended up.
Harry had already mediated half a dozen UNO fights over the last month, and he was genuinely worried that with tonight's addition of Tom, it would be the final nail in the coffin. But Tom had insisted on coming, and Harry was too kind to say no.
"I'm going to the bathroom," Tom said, interrupting Harry's decision-making process. "Why don’t you pick us some seats?"
So casual, this question. Like this would not be the hardest decision Harry had to make all week.
Where to sit for the UNO game. Where. To sit. For the UNO game.
Friendships could be torn apart as a result of this decision. Tom just didn't understand the potential consequences of a tragic UNO game.
Sometimes, Harry wanted to shake him and scream:
"PEOPLE WHO PLAY UNO HAVE FEELINGS, OKAY?"
Harry had yet to do so, but the thought was there.
So Harry sulked all the way down the narrow, rickety stairs that lead to Hermione's basement. He half-hoped he might accidentally fall down the stairs and be saved from the choice he was about to make, but alas he was not so lucky.
In Hermione's basement, half of the game table was already full. Eyes widened at Harry's approach.
Ron was shaking his head and saying "No, Harry," outloud, over and over.
Harry scanned the table. This was usually the point where people started to bribe him.
"If you sit Tom next to me," Angelina said, left eye twitching, "I will break into your flat and murder you with no remorse."
Hannah looked around the table. "It's only a game," she said curiously.
Neville patted her arm, worry on his face. "That's what you think. Then you play UNO, and your life is never the same."
"Tom can sit next to Hannah!" suggested Ginny, smiling.
Bloody thirsty lot, Harry thought to himself.
Harry went and sat down next to Hannah. He wasn't about to make the poor girl's first night a bad one. That left a bunch of empty spaces to Harry's left. Whoever arrived late to the basement would be in for a bad time.
The table filled out, and Harry realized that the order set was not one they had ever played before, and not only because Harry had chosen to sit next to Hannah Abbott.
Luna and Hermione arrived last, and Luna had elected to insert herself next to Tom of her own accord.
Luna had never played UNO with Tom before. They had done charades, and Monopoly, and even Mario Kart on one memorable occasion, but they had never done UNO.
Hermione and Luna did not get along very well during game nights, mainly because Luna had a strange way of predicting the results regardless of logic, so Harry was interested to see how this would go.
The order was set, for better or for worse:
Neville, Hannah, Harry, Tom, Luna, Hermione, Ron, Angelina, Alicia, and Ginny.
A fuller table than usual. Hermione had purchased two packs of UNO cards for when they had lots of players. This was because they had quickly discovered that, if they were left to their own devices, one pack of UNO cards would not suffice.
Cards were dispersed by Hermione, who was well-practiced in the way of shuffling and dealing. As the group's newest player, Hannah was permitted to start the game and choose the direction.
Typically, people would choose to go whichever way spared the table the most damage. This rule of allowing the first person to pick the direction was a security measure that had been implemented by Hermione after July 2015's UNO Game of Disaster.
So given the current table order, Neville nudged Hannah and told her to pick him as the next player.
"Don't be silly," Hannah chided. "UNO should start clockwise! Harry can go next."
The table winced in unison, looking at Luna, but Luna seemed distinctly unbothered by the attention.
Harry played a yellow 5 and offered Luna a sympathetic smile. She, at least, was unlikely to get mad at anyone over the game.
"Draw four," Tom said, slapping his card down. His smile was not sympathetic.
"Draw eight," Luna said, voice full of serenity as she lay a +4 card down on the pile.
Hermione squawked in protest. "What? No! I'm supposed to be safe. The game's only just started!"
But there was no recourse for Hermione, who was forced to pick up eight cards.
"Don't worry, Hermione," said Luna. "You won't lose the game. You won't even be the one to pick up the most cards."
This pronouncement struck a strange chord with Harry. He could not quite knock Luna's words out of his mind as the gameplay continued around the circle. By the time it was Harry's turn again, no new +2 or +4 cards had been played, and Harry was beginning to feel wary.
Tom liked to hoard his draw cards for the best (read: worst) possible moments, and he encouraged Harry to play those cards to start chains. This was a strategy that resulted in chains of two or three draw cards in a row for some unfortunate victim.
But seeing as Luna had already foiled one such attempt by foisting the chain off on Hermione, Harry decided it would be better to wait a few more goes to make sure that Tom was prepared.
So Harry played a regular card.
Partway through the round, the circle the direction reversed. The gameplay made another circuit, and then something happened.
Ron and Hermione had been collaborating with each other during dinner, so Harry was not surprised when Ron set a +2 card down on the pile, followed by Hermione's own +2 card.
Then Luna set a green +2 card on the table, and Tom froze.
Six cards. Compared to previous games of UNO, it really was not that bad.
But for Tom, who had declared not twenty minutes ago that he planned to obliterate the entire table at UNO, this was akin to the end of the world. Or maybe it was the same level of distress as Tom's favourite style of dress shirt being discontinued at Twilfitt and Tattings.
Either way, it did not bode well for the positive future of all those seated at Hermione's game table.
Tom drew six cards, the right side of his jaw twitching with suppressed violence. Harry silently placed a green 7 on top of the pile.
The game continued, and a pattern began to develop.
Regardless of who played the draw card, Hermione or Tom, Luna always had a draw card to stack on top of it.
Unfortunately for Tom (and perhaps Harry as well), Hermione swiftly devised with a plan to capitalize on this.
Once Tom played his own draw cards in what Harry was now classifying as 'reckless attempts at UNO revenge', it left him vulnerable to attack.
So no sooner had Tom dwindled his pile of cards down to a minimal amount did Hermione begin encouraging other players to start chains of draw cards that would pass along all the way until Tom, who would then have little to no choice but to pick up more cards.
Now, Tom probably could have saved himself if he had simply decided to send draw cards in Harry's direction instead. But Tom was so fixated on forcing Hermione to draw cards that all reason appeared to have fled his mind.
So the brutality against Tom's hand of UNO cards went on for some time.
After being forced to pick up twenty cards, though, Tom finally switched tactics. Once his hand reached single digits, Tom would draw cards even if he didn't need any. This was, Harry assumed, so Tom could have a draw card on him at all times to serve as a protective measure.
This strategy worked somewhat, but it was not enough to fend off the rest of the table. Under Hermione's direction, the group was quick to mobilize draw cards in rapid succession.
Harry sympathized with Tom, who was having a rather terrible time and also running out of fingers to hold his cards, but Harry also felt this was probably an important lesson in humility that Tom would be hard pressed to learn in the real world outside of Hermione's basement.
Hannah Abbott was the first person to call UNO and the first person to finish. With that declaration, Tom's mask cracked, and Harry caught a glimpse of a pained expression.
Harry patted Tom's knee in what he hoped was a comforting manner. "It's just a game," Harry said, well aware that Tom had repeated this sentiment to many others at many previous games despite the death-inducing glares sent in his direction.
Tom shook his head, frowning as he pulled his knee away, and glanced down at his cards.
The next time the 'draw 2' wave came rolling in, Tom sighed, turned to Harry with sad, sad eyes and said, "I'm very sorry, Harry."
And then Tom set down a blue +2.
Harry started laughing.
He likely looked insane, but he just couldn't help it. This entire scenario was hysterical and entirely uncalled for, but this? This was the most ridiculous thing that had happened all evening.
Harry did think Tom was being sincere, was genuinely remorseful about saddling Harry with ten new cards, but just... the desperation. It was too much.
Harry did have a +2 card in his hand, one he'd actually saved in case Tom would need him to play it, but for once Harry couldn't be bothered.
Right now, right this moment, it was very clear to Harry that the best path forward was to draw ten cards and have Tom owe him big time for the rest of their lives.
Harry pouted at Tom, then drew ten cards.
The table around them was shaken by what had happened. The next round passed without a single draw card.
Harry and Tom had been an unstoppable UNO unit for months on end, and now that reign had been split down the middle by betrayal.
Riding on melodrama, Harry threw the rest of the game and finished third last.
Tom scraped second last, finishing before Neville, who did not seem at all disappointed by his placement.
"Another round?" Hannah asked, as if several crimes in a row had not just been committed, most of them against Tom for being a sore winner.
Harry took pity on his boyfriend and spared him from having to make an obvious excuse. "I have an early start tomorrow," he said, "so Tom and I best be on our way."
A chorus of positive reassurances greeted Harry's statement. People were much more inclined to kindness now that the evil (Tom playing UNO) had at long last been defeated.
"I'll see you to the door," Hermione said, standing up. "Did you want to take any of the leftovers with you?"
Harry felt that Tom likely wanted to go home as soon as possible to lick his wounds, but the offer of free food was tempting.
"I'll go warm up the car," Tom muttered, touching Harry's forearm once before he left for the stairs, saving Harry from having to ask.
"Great!" Hermione called after him. "Harry and I will go wrap some extras up for you both."
Harry and Hermione made quick work of the leftovers, filling two tupperware containers and dumping them into a plastic bag for Harry to carry out.
Bag clutched in his hand, Harry bid Hermione good night and stumbled out the door and into the driveway. Tom's car was parked across the street, engine running loudly.
Tom had both hands on the wheel and was staring resolutely at a fixed point in the far distance. Harry steeled himself for some emotional coddling and opened the passenger door, dumping himself into the seat.
"Ready to go?" Tom asked, as though his hand was not already on the gear shift, prepared to put the car into motion.
"Yep," Harry said, attempting to make his tone light.
Tom sighed and began to pull the car away from the pavement. The traffic was not heavy at this hour, so Harry did not fiddle with the radio as he usually did; it would not be long before they arrived home. This meant, however, that they were sat in silence while Harry waited for Tom to finish stewing.
"That was unfair," Tom said at last, once they were maybe five minutes out from their destination. His profile was sharp under the passing glow of street lamps, and his voice gave away little of the tension Harry knew was broiling beneath the surface.
"What they did," Tom repeated. "It was unfair. So I had no choice, you see, because they would continue to give me cards no matter what."
Harry wasn't sure where to begin untangling that, but he did know what he wanted to say. "I'm not mad at you about the cards," Harry said carefully. "You know that, right? I said it was just a game, and I meant it."
Tom sniffed, which meant he had not known that and was never, ever going to admit otherwise. Harry suppressed a snort of amusement and let the silence sweep back over them, settling like a warm blanket.
As they pulled up to their apartment block, Harry yawned once and stretched his arms out in front of him. Tom's eyes followed the motion for a brief second before returning to the road.
When the car was silent and still in the parking spot, Harry leant over and bumped his head against Tom's shoulder. "We alright?" he asked in a soft mumble.
"Why wouldn't we be?"
Harry smiled and sat back up. "No reason," he answered, cheerful now, and exited the car.
Tom eyed him with suspicion but said nothing as he made his way around the car. When their paths converged, Tom paused, hesitating, and so Harry tucked himself into the gap between Tom's arm and side, tugging Tom's arm around his waist so that they moved forward together like a couple of tipsy teenagers.
"I'll carry that," Tom said crisply, yanking the bag of leftovers from Harry's grasp.
Harry let it happen. For once, he was not annoyed by the unnecessary display of gallantry.
They pushed their way into their flat. Tom made a beeline for the fridge and deposited their food. Harry shed his coat, then flopped onto the couch, groping for the remote. He was going to put a terrible movie on and they were going to cuddle the blues away.
When Tom emerged from the kitchen, Harry was knee-deep in the romance section of Netflix.
"What are we watching?" Tom asked cautiously.
"Dunno yet."
"The genre does not look promising."
"Uh huh. You know what else isn't promising? Picking up ten UNO cards."
Tom grumbled and sat down on the couch. Harry scooted all the way over and swung one leg over Tom's, just to make sure Tom wasn't about to go anywhere, then squinted at the screen again.
After some serious decision making, Harry settled for something that even he would have a hard time stomaching, then plastered himself to Tom's side like a starfish.
The 'Bad Romance Movie Netflix and Chill' plan was a good ol' standby of Harry's.
Whenever Tom was in a sad mood and unwilling to admit it, Harry would put on the worst movie he could find and pretend to enjoy it.
Tom got to feel like he was making a huge sacrifice, which soothed his wounded ego in a way that Harry's words sometimes could not. And Harry? Harry got to listen to Tom's derisive commentary, but also…
The best part of this plan was that Tom's hatred of the movie meant a majority of his attention was diverted elsewhere.
Diverted towards cuddling.
Harry was unashamed to admit to himself that a majority of his motivations were cuddle-related.
When Tom got bored of the movie, he would start to do things like rub circles on Harry's arm and shoulder, or trace patterns into Harry's scalp with his fingertips while Harry slouched like a sleepy cat in his embrace.
And eventually Harry would start to doze off, or the movie would end, and then they would go to bed together. It was always a nice way to end a bad day, regardless of the hour, regardless if they were in a good spot in their relationship or not.
If Harry put something on, Tom would come over to the couch and sit down, even if he was working on something else at the time. It was an unspoken thing of theirs that Harry loved more than anything.
They lasted halfway through the awful movie before Harry let out a huge yawn. Tom's arm was wrapped around his ribcage, practically holding him up at this point, and so Harry decided it was probably time to call it a night.
"I'm going to Google some collaborative group games tomorrow," Harry said sleepily.
"Oh?" Tom asked. The wariness from before was back, though it was much milder now that they'd had a chance to unwind.
"Yep. Going to look up games involving teamwork. I've decided that one-on-one competition is no longer for me."
Tom scrunched his face up, thinking it over. Harry had thought that this suggestion might appeal to Tom's desire for the two of them to compete as a team, and he was not disappointed as Tom replied, "I won't work with Granger."
"That's not the point," Harry said fondly. It was cute how Tom was already trying to make demands. "But I'm sure we can work something out."
Tom muttered incoherently. Harry pecked him on the cheek and left to steal use of the bathroom.
If Tom could accept his UNO loss, he could do anything, up to and including playing teamwork games with Hermione Granger.
When the lights were finally off, and Harry had the covers pulled up over the both of them, Harry curled on his side and gazed at Tom's face.
"I forgive you for making me pick up ten cards in UNO," Harry said solemnly. Redundancy did not exist with Tom Riddle when it came to feelings.
"You said that already," Tom said grumpily.
"Yep," Harry said, snuggling closer, nudging his head against Tom's face. "I just really, really want to make sure you know, even if it makes me sound stupid."
Tom was silent for so long that Harry thought the discussion was over, but then Tom said, "You don't sound stupid," and pressed a kiss to his temple.
Harry smiled at that and let his eyes close. Boyfriend duties completed, he was now fully content for sleep to take him.
