Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Tom? Charlotte's ex? It's nine hours, Lindsey, nine hours with him in the car. Oh, you’re lucky you're the bride, I never would've agreed otherwise."

Lindsey and Harry both know he's exaggerating. He would do it even if it weren't her wedding day, because that's how nice Harry is.

"You don't know how to say no, do you?" B' says, still covered with the blanket in his small solo bed. “It's a wonder you can stand at all without a spine like that.”

She hasn't quite decided yet if his naivety and sweetness are endearing or annoying.

"So, you're stuck with Tom for the whole trip?"

"Yep," Harry frowns.

"Is this the guy who got expelled for some scandal or whatever in high school?"

"That's him."

"Breathe in, breathe out." Harry tries to calm himself. As patient as he is, he can't tolerate people being late.

"I'm going to count to ten, and if he's not here... One... Two..." Harry often talks to himself out loud. "That's how genuine Harry is" B' always says.

At ten, Harry starts the car. A voice screams from behind him, and a young man in baggy jeans and a half-open Hawaiian shirt appears at the window, knocking desperately and laughing.

"Thank god you're a slow driver," he smiles as he opens the door and jumps in without waiting for it to stop. "Wow. Be careful."

Harry hits the brakes quickly enough to dodge a cat.

"Thanks."

"When they told me I was going with Harry, I thought it was that jock from the football team. Wow am I glad to see your face instead. Hated that guy. Anyway, I don't think we’ve ever spoken before. You've probably heard of..."

"We have," Harry cuts him off. Tom doesn't seem to know how to shut up.

He gave him a questioning glance.

"We have, spoken before. You helped me get rid of that guy who was trying to sell me drugs."

"Oh yeah, I remember that, and then you disappeared and didn't even thank me."

"Thank you."

"Better late than never."

Harry smiled, trying not to take his eyes off the road to look at his passenger.

"...then I stopped the car, we crashed, and that's how she dumped me. Said her car was really expensive."

"So, you're telling me you did nothing wrong?"

"Absolutely. She was the one who followed me to the store. Creepy. Unacceptable."

"If you say so."

"You want another break up story?"

"Oh god no."

"You're a really slow driver. But I guess I'm used to it by now. My ex was a slow driver. And when I finally thought I was done with their driving, I had a rebound date two days ago, I told the guy to come pick me up and it took him twenty seven minutes to get to the fricking downtown bistro."

"The guy?"

"Yeah, my date."

"’The guy’ as in, a male? A human male?"

"Yeah, no, an alien, Harry," he says his name with such ease - Harry notes - that he blushes.

What seems to Harry to be an awkward silence sets for a moment. But Tom doesn't seem to see the awkwardness of the situation.

"What's wrong?" he laughs.

"What?" Harry says and regrets it immediately.

"I'm pan, if that's what's troubling you."

The expression on Harry's face doesn't change.

"I used to identify as bi, Tom continues, but then I heard the term pansexual and it felt more like me. Do you want me to drive?"

Harry catches his breath. "I thought you'd never ask."

The motel room is small with only one bathroom. Harry doesn't feel comfortable sharing a room with a stranger, but that's all his budget allows. "And besides, he's not that bad," he tells B' over the phone. "I feel oddly comfortable around him."

Harry takes a shower, changes in the dampness of the bathroom and gets out fully dressed.

"You going somewhere?" a shirtless Tom jokes, standing by the window.

Harry manages a polite laugh, and watches Tom walk to the shower, leaving the door slightly open.

Harry finds this whole situation strange. He looks at his reflection in the window and gives himself a small tap on the cheek before checking his hair. That's how offbeat Harry is. A considerable amount of time passes before Tom walks out of the shower, with only a towel on.

"That was a long shower." Harry remarks shyly.

"How do you think I keep my hair this shiny?"

"I assumed it was natural."

"Is yours natural?"

"Yep."

"Wow." A short silence, and Tom continues. "Why did you run away?"

"I was told you were a bully. And that you never did anything for anyone without expecting something in return."

"That's not... entirely wrong," he holds his hands up.

"So, what was it you wanted from me?"

"Attention... I guess."

"Oh please."

"No, I'm serious. I kind of liked you. And yes, I was the type of asshole who would search for damsels in distress and save their asses just to get noticed."

Harry stiffens on the edge of the bed, as Tom, still in a towel, sits down on the floor between their two beds. Harry has never even thought of Tom's attractiveness. Yes, he has seen him many times, noticed when he got a new haircut, quite admired his choice in shirts, but never thought of him as someone he would be attracted to. And right now, he notices, he is attracted to him.

"I shouldn't be telling you this, if I wanna be your friend," Tom continues. "I'm a changed man, I swear."

Harry giggles.

"Anyway, tell me, how's your life been since high school?"

"Pretty monotone," Harry answers flatly. He wishes he could give a more interesting answer, tell a funny anecdote, or make a charming remark like Tom does. But that's just how dull Harry is. And Tom doesn't fail to notice.

"That's it? That's all you have to say about the last four years. Come on, Harry, I'm sure someone like you has lived quite a bit of exciting stories."

"Well there was this one girl, who I became really good friends with. And then she fell in love with me."

"Oh my god," Tom has a talent for cutting people off to make unnecessary reactions. "Must've been super awkward, when you had to tell her."

"Yes, it was. I came out to her when she confessed her love."

"How can you not be out to someone so close?"

"I was going to."

"You would've saved her a lot of trouble."

"But besides, even if I weren't gay, I would never date a close friend."

“Well, you know what they say, you're supposed to marry your best friend.”

“I guess. But I don’t think that’s actually possible.”

“Really? You don’t think?”

“No way. Seriously, there is no way you don't end up worse off than when you started.”

Tom smiles and furrows his brow. Harry can’t decide if he’s annoyed or amused.

“I’m not sure about that.”

“Well, you remember Billy?”

“Yeah, tall guy with the weird eyebrows.”

“We started out as friends, then we started dating and I fell in love with him, but then he just woke up one day and sent me a text saying he didn’t feel things were working out. And then we never spoke again... I lost him twice, in one day. I lost my boyfriend, and I lost my best friend.”

“I’m sorry.” Tom places his hand gently on Harry’s knee. “You deserve way better than that.”

He doesn’t look away. He stares deeply into Harry’s eyes, who looks away and starts thinking of something else to say. He is quickly saved by his phone, that starts ringing.

“Hey, B’, how are you? No, we’re not there. The car broke down, and we’ll have to spend the night. Tom says it’s nothing, they’ll fix it by tomorrow morning.” He stands up and walks to the door.

“Wait.” Tom blurts out and immediately tosses him a denim jacket he lifts off his bed.

When he comes back in, Tom is asleep over the blankets, still in his towel. Harry catches himself staring at his bare shoulders, and heads immediately to the bathroom to turn off the lights and go to bed.

“We’re here.”

“We’re here.” Harry repeats.

“Listen, you…” Tom hesitates. “It was a really fun trip.”

Before Harry can find the words or the courage to answer, a tall woman in high heels and impeccable makeup runs towards the car waving her hands and smiling widely.

“Is that your ex?”

“My ex ex actually. She texted me this morning and apologized.”

Harry can only mumble an “Oh.” And Tom places a hand on his, “Thanks,” he smiles and opens the door to an overly excited girlfriend who throws herself into his arms. Watching them walk towards the building, Harry laughs at himself and chases away the thoughts in his head.

“That’s how naïve you are, Harry.” B’ tells him over the phone. “Go on and have fun now, you didn’t drive nine hours to be miserable and alone in a dumb cheesy wedding.”

“Why are you dragging me to this again?”

“Because I’ve had enough of either watching or fixing your TV and eating your terrible lime cheesecake every Saturday night. Time to try something new.” B’ removes her hand from Harry’s grasp.

“I’m not sure I’m ready to be in a relationship.”

“Harry, people don’t go to a singles only party to find true love, they go to get laid. Or just to have fun.”

Harry takes a deep breath and walks through the curtains hung in a very strange manner to the front door. They grab drinks from the bar and walk to the center of the room.

“Ok, I admit,” she declares, “this was a very stupid idea. And this is the worst party I’ve ever been to.”

“We’ve just arrived B’. We’ll find a way to have fun.” That’s how kindhearted Harry is.

“Stop being so damn sweet,” she punches his arm. “Okay, I dare you to go talk to someone… That guy.”

She points at a few boys. Each one gets dismissed with a far-fetched excuse.

B’ has almost decided to give up, when she grabs Harry by the shoulder, turns him around with a swift flick of her hand and says proudly “Overalls. Right there. If he’s not good enough for you, he’s definitely good enough for me.”

The blond standing in front of them in overall jeans and caterpillar boots turns around and locks eyes with Harry. A joyous smile lights his face and he leaves his group of friends walking towards them. Harry swears and faces back the other way.

“What’s happening? Who is he? You want me to beat him up?”

Harry shakes his head. He pretends that he can’t hear Tom calling his name a couple of times, before arriving at their side and placing his hand on Harry’s forearm.

“Too late.” B’ almost shouts. But Tom doesn’t seem to care, in fact he doesn’t notice she is there until she asks what he means by “chilling like strawberry filling” as an answer to Harry asking him how he is doing, to which he responds “Well, you know, tasty.” That is the moment she decides to leave.

To break the awkward silence - the one only he notices in there - Harry blurts outs; “So, what are you doing at a singles only party? Don’t you have a girlfriend?”

“Huh?” Tom lifts an eyebrow.

“Your girlfriend, who dumped you right before the wedding, that’s why you had to go with me, and then you ditched me when you got back together.”

“I didn’t ditch you. My girlfriend showed up.”

“And… where is she now?”

“We broke up before we even got back. You might’ve known that if you’d texted me back.”

“Sorry, I got back to school and got wrapped up in classes. I… I better go check on B’, make sure she’s not terrorizing anyone. And get another drink.”

“I could use another beer, if you’re going.”

“Right.” It takes Harry a few seconds to realize what Tom is implying.

Chapter Text

“You are not ready yet.”

“I’ll be ready in a sec.”

“Impossible.”

Tom laughs, throws his remote on the table and climbs upstairs to get dressed.

“Do you think I should introduce you as my new roommate, my new friend, or just simply my roommate?”

“All three of them are correct.”

Tom loves game nights. And he loves to drag his friends to them, even those who think games are “a waste of time and energy”. He puts on a pair of high wasted jeans as quickly as possible, leaves the shirt he already has on and tucks it under them, then runs in a failed attempt to catch up with his roommate’s fast steps while trying not to trip on his half tied shoe laces.

The bar isn’t as empty as they expected.

“Who else comes to a game night at the worst bar in town on a Wednesday night?”

As he pushes the door open, “Harry?”

“Tom!”

“You’re the last person I expected to find here in the middle of the week. Don’t you have work to do?”

“Sat for an exam this morning, came with B’ and a few colleagues to relieve the stress, as they put it.”

“Oh. That explains why you didn’t answer my texts.”

“Yep.”

B’ walks up to them “Hey Tom. Aren’t you going to introduce us?” and lifts her head up in his friend’s direction, who he immediately grabs by the forearm.

“This is my roommate, Annika. You can call her Seven.”

“Seven,” B’ repeats with a smile. “I’m looking forward to kicking your ass.”

Seven nods.

“Why did you say that?” Harry whispers as they head back to their table.

“She seems competitive, and so am I.”

That doesn’t answer Harry’s question, but he doesn’t insist. He’s gotten used to her unorthodox social behavior that somehow gets her more popularity and attention than he will ever get.

Her self-assurance, on the other hand, isn’t always well placed. They don’t kick Tom and Seven’s team’s ass.

“I’m impressed,” Harry walks over to Tom’s table to congratulate them. “Didn’t know you were this smart.”

“I’m full of surprises.” Tom smirks. “We’re having a little gathering at our apartment; you and your team are welcome to join if you want.”

Harry’s eyes widen. “I’ll… ask them.”

He goes back and asks his friends. “I have some work to do, but you and the girls go on,” B’ winks.

“I’m… No, B’.”

“Why not?”

“I think we should just be friends. I mean, he's fun... and funny, and he's pretty smart, which for some reason, I never knew, but... he's definitely not boyfriend material.”

She tilts her head to the side.

“I need someone grown up. You know what I mean? And that's not Tom.”

“Okay, if you say so. So… Tom it ain’t then.”

“Tom it ain’t.”

“You’re still going to his house though, right?”

“Yes.”

She gives him a slap on the bottom, looks at Tom’s table one last time, then takes her backpack and leaves.

This is where the long night talks start, the constant texting, the endless phone calls, the regular game nights, the almost-daily hangouts at each other’s apartments, the video game challenges with B’ and Seven, the drunken nights where Harry fails to tell a funny joke, the uncontrollable laughter when Tom tells a good one…

Sometimes, they watch Tom’s favorite cartoons and eat popcorn all night. Other times, they cook Harry’s favorite dish together, and he discovers that Tom adds a special flavor to his lime pie, “which tastes much better” B’ notes. On Fridays, Tom drags the whole gang to a musical then makes them karaoke to its songs until morning.

Most times, B’ and Seven end up falling asleep while Tom and Harry keep playing video games together, alone.

“Why are you staring at me?”

“I just lost; I have nothing else to look at.” Tom lifts a hand up to Harry’s face. “Eye… Wait, eyelash.”

“Oh, thanks. You could’ve waited for me to finish th…”

“Make a wish.”

“Tom, that’s…” a laugh escapes him. “Ok.”

He blows and Tom wonders what he wished for.

After Pride, everyone gathers at the downtown gay club. As they wait in line, Tom imitates Seven earlier in the evening while she informed them that she "won't be attending. Parades are not my thing." He straightens his back. "Besides I have an assignment due tomorrow."

"You're exaggerating." B' gives him a friendly punch that manages to get an "ouch" out of him anyway.

She runs to the bar as soon as they're in, gets herself a drink and starts cheering to a barely audible speech a drag queen is making on the stage about love and life. She finishes her drink and asks Harry to bring her another. He gulps his own beer quickly to avoid making two trips to the bar.

"Shots?" Tom suggests.

"Two," Harry replies excitedly.

They get shots and order more beers. Harry finds the bar, saying he wants something sweet.

"A cocktail? On me."

Harry doesn't decline. Then orders another beer. He gets lost in the crowd; dances and drinks some more.

"Hey, Harry. Let’s have another drink."

“I don’t think I can. But okay,” he screams in Tom’s face.

They inform B’, head to the bar and sit on the stools.

"Listen, Harry. Remember that thing you said, about not dating your friends, do you still believe that?"

"Absolutely," he lifts his hand to call the bartender.

"No exceptions?"

Harry shakes his head.

"Not even you and me?"

Harry slides gently into Tom's arms, places his mouth right over Tom's ear. "Not even you and me," he answers at a volume slightly higher than needed.

Then, without skipping a beat, he jumps out of Tom's hands, cries something about how much he loves the song that started playing and turns away without paying much attention to the fact that his grip on Tom's hand isn't strong enough to pull him with him to the dance floor.

Tom doesn't even move his head, he watches Harry walk away and dive into the crowd, before turning to the bar to order a beer.

Harry is lost. Lost in the sea of people. He is drunk, free and happy. All he can see is colors, rainbows and faces covered in glitter. He doesn't have to focus for his body to follow the rhythm. He doesn't even think about the conversation he just had with Tom. All he knows is lights and music.

This kind of happiness is meant to be shared. He searches for his friends in the people surrounding him, walks away from the dance floor, turns in every direction, then decides to go to the bathroom. Before the door, in the corner of a pathway, under a red light, he sees B's body moving over another. He steps closer. She pins her hand to the wall, holds the other up to touch Tom’s face and kisses him hard.

The conversation seems to matter much more than it did a few seconds ago. He grits his teeth and feels like he's holding back tears. All the wonderful feelings vanish and are replaced with one single sentiment: regret.

That's the thing about Harry, he only knows what he has when it's too late.

The doorbell rings. Harry doesn’t move, continues to eat his cheesecake.

A few seconds later, Tom walks into the living room and sits on the couch next to Harry.

“How did you get in?”

“Things you learn before getting expelled from school.” He smiles, but Harry can see he’s clearly uncomfortable. “Why didn’t you answer the door? I was afraid something was wrong.”

“I’m feeling lazy today. And extremely hungover.” He fakes a laugh.

“Listen, I have to tell you something.”

“Yes?”

“B’ and I kind of made out yesterday.”

“Really? Oh. Wow.” He fails again at faking his surprise.

They look at each other.

“I hope that’s okay.” Tom breaks the silence.

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

“That’s what I said. But B’ got in my head a bit, so I snuck out this morning as soon as I woke up.”

“Snuck out?” Harry sets his fork on the table. “Of where?”

“My bedroom.”

“So... she spent the night?” Before Tom can answer, “That’s great,” he blurts out.

“Yeah it is.”

“I hope things don’t get weird now that…”

“Oh no,” Tom cuts him off, as usual. “It wasn’t just a one-night stand. I mean we actually like each other.”

Harry raises his eyebrows and nods his head.

“She’s smart, and tough. And funny. She’s her own person… like you.” He regrets the last remark immediately.

Another awkward silence sets.

“How crazy would it be,” he takes a bite of Harry’s cake, “if your two best friends got together?”

“Crazy.” Harry repeats.

“I better get going.”

“Do you want a piece of cake for the road?” His sadness and confusion don’t overshadow his courtesy and kindness.

Tom stares so deeply into his eyes, it seems, for a moment, that his own have turned a darker shade of blue. “I love you man,” he says gently, with a smile, before reaching for the piece of cake.

“I love you too.”

B’ walks down the stairs from Tom’s room, to the living room where she finds Seven sitting up straight with a gamepad in hand.

“I love this game.”

“Join me.”

She sits next to her on the couch and starts playing.

“Where’s Tom?”

“I thought he was with you, in the room.”

They play in silence for a few minutes.

B’ smashes the buttons and jumps in her seat, then slaps Seven’s thigh and laughs. “Got ya.” To which she gets no response.

“Did you and Tom have fun last night?”

B’ calms down and takes a more serious tone. “As a matter of fact, we did.” She knows Seven doesn’t ask questions without a specific reason. “Why?”

“It would be a waste if it weren’t a fun time, if you’re both going to ruin your relationships with Harry”

“Harry isn’t interested in Tom that way, he said so himself.” B’ pauses the game and turns to face her. “Do you think it might cause a problem?”

Seven shrugs, looks back at the TV screen and unpauses the game.

The thing is, his friends don’t stop inviting him, but Harry keeps getting caught up in other things; he works more, plans dates – something B’ was never able to get him to do - goes out with his classmates…

He accepts an invitation from time to time, but brings two or three people along with him, only talks about work and leaves early.

B’ has given up being worried about him because he barely answers her phone calls.

And Tom, on the other hand, is simply happy he has found a way to get over Harry. That’s the thing about Tom; he’s the most kind and caring person, but if he isn’t doing anything wrong, he won’t think twice.

Chapter Text

A few months pass, and Harry has lost contact with his friends. He still sees them, but they only tell jokes, talk about work or about the local news. They last hung out about ten weeks ago.

This Monday, Harry has decided to try to put the past behind him and start a new life, he just got an internship at a firm nearby.

His first day has been a success, his colleagues seem like a good bunch and he is satisfied with the atmosphere. He stops a few meters before reaching his doorstep, pulls his keys from his pocket with a lot of focus, decides tight pants aren’t a good idea for work, then lifts his head to see B’ standing in front of his apartment door.

“Hey,” she says, and before he can greet her back; “Do you have time for a drink or a cup of coffee?”

“Sure.”

They go to the nearest café. On their way, she asks about his life, he tells her about his first day at work and he feels like their relationship never actually changed.

“I didn’t come here out of the blue,” she nods at the waiter who places Harry’s caramel milkshake on the table. “I’m getting married.”

Harry furrows his brow. “You’re joking.”

“No, I’m not,” she laughs. “I know it’s not like me, at all. But it happened. It’s quite a funny story, actually.”

“Congratulations!” Harry takes a sip of his drink and blinks his eyes a few times; B’ isn’t sure if he’s holding back tears or if he’s just surprised.

“Before I tell you the story, I want to say what I came here to tell you. I know we haven’t been very close, this last year. The thing is, Harry, I don’t like a lot of people, except for you. And I can’t imagine getting married without you there.”

“I… Sure, B’, I’d be glad to.”

She gives him her most genuine smile, a smile he’s seen before, the smile she only reveals on rare occasions, with special people.

“Are you going to tell me the story?”

“Yes, the story. So, we were walking by the lake, for some reason, and I said, ‘take my hand.’ And you know how Seven is, she took it literally and the next thing I knew she was on one knee, proposing to me at sunset on the edge of a lake. It was too adorable, even for my tough guts.”

Harry looks at her with eyes wide open for a few seconds. “Seven?”

“Yes. Seven.”

“What?”

“Didn’t we tell you?”

He shakes his head.

“Seven and I have been together for over three months now. Didn’t you notice? I mean, we saw each other since.”

“Well, I didn’t. I thought you were still with Tom the last time we went out.”

“Well, we’re probably even closer now than we were when we were actually dating. Tom is a great person. But I just realized, every time I was going over to their place, the person I was hoping would open the door was Seven.”

She squeezes Harry’s hands in her own, and he squeezes back as they both giggle.

“It’s going to be a little awkward to see Tom there.”

“Oh no. Tom won’t be at the wedding, he got a new job a little far away, he doesn’t think he’ll make it in time.”

“Oh, good.”

B’ tries to understand if his facial expression is that of disappointment or relief.

B’ runs over to Harry and hugs him.

“B’, you look beautiful.”

“That’s exactly what Seven said,” she sticks her tongue out, before lifting a hand up to wave at someone who seems to be standing behind Harry. Harry looks around and turns back to B’ with wide eyes. “I guess he made it after all.”

She smiles at Tom who smiles back and nods then walks over to Harry.

“B’ said you weren’t coming.”

“She lied,” he lifts his head up. “It’s good to see you, Harry. I missed you.”

“How come you never called, if you missed me so much?”

“I guess I figured you wouldn’t answer my calls.”

Harry stands staring into Tom’s eyes, figuring out what to say.

“I… I guess I’ll go get a drink.” He turns around and quickens his pace.

“The reason anything happened between me and B’,” Tom starts moving in Harry’s direction, “was because I was trying to get over you.”

“You…”

“The thing is,” Tom saves him the trouble of searching for words, “ever since that trip, ever since we became friends, I knew I wanted something more. But you didn’t seem so sure. And at Pride, you made it clear that nothing was ever going to happen between us.”

“You never said anything,” Harry says in a barely audible voice.

“I know. Then I ruined it. And the worst part is, you were my favorite person in the world. And I lost you twice that night…”

“I… was your favorite person?” Harry chokes back tears. “You used the past tense, does…”

“No stupid. You are.”

Tom places his hand on Harry’s neck and pulls him into a kiss.