They believe they are strangers.
When they pass on the streets, each boy finds something strange in the other's stance and gaze. As they stare at each other, they wonder if this is how they look to the outside world.
---
They believe they are aquaintances.
"Who are you?"
They share an identical silence. Then--
"I am...an avenger," Sasuke says slowly.
"Well," Harry replies, "if you wanted, I guess you could say...so am I."
---
They believe they are friends.
"Tell you what," Harry says. "You help me, and I'll help you."
Sasuke nods once, slowly.
---
They believe they are enemies.
"So you just left them? Just like that?"
"I don't have to explain myself to you," Sasuke replies coolly.
"I don't believe it. They were your friends and you left them. Betrayed them for power. And look at you. You don't even care."
Something strange worms its way across Sasuke's face. He looks down for several seconds before finally saying, "Yeah. Couldn't care less, in fact." There is silence. He continues, so effortlessly he seems to have memorized the words, "Friends mean nothing, anyway. They only serve to make you weak. Only when you have cut off the bonds restraining you can you become strong."
Harry's fist comes up and out. "Not true."
Sasuke dodges effortlessly. "If that's so, then why did you abandon your own friends? Why are you attacking me right now?"
"I left my friends to keep them safe. And I'm attacking you because you're a bastard." He attempts to punch Sasuke again. "It's the other way around."
"Oh? How so?"
"Having people to fight for makes you strong. It's cutting off yourself from them that makes you weak."
Sasuke strikes, but Harry, having anticipated the blow, ducks. "You only say that because you're trying to deny the truth of my words," Sasuke cries out, but he can't quite convince himself, much less Harry. "You cut your own friends off, after all."
Each sees their own pain and rage reflected in the other's face.
---
They believe they are lovers.
Since their first fight, they drift around in a state of semi-permanent chaos. Neither leaves--though neither understands why. Still, they fight every night, and if not for a few well-placed memory charms, they'd both be deeply in debt.
They stand a foot apart, facing each other, gasping for air. Harry gives Sasuke a crazed look, pulls back a fist and...
Somewhere along the line, the fist crumbles away, and it is a kiss that meets Sasuke. Perhaps the punch would have been preferable--the kiss is just as harsh as it could have been (for both parties, and there is the inevitable scratching of fingernails down arms. Harry breaks away after
several seconds (it is Harry because Sasuke's head was stuck in a hole in the wall, the boy insists later).
They do not speak of this. But it happens again and again, until finally they can't ignore it.
---
It seems like it would be hard, to accept another into their hearts after everything they suffered. But it is surprisingly easy to cling to each other, to say this is all I have left, to forget the friends and, yes, family they've left behind. They are everything, and yet nothing to each other, only cracked mirrors reflecting the pain they will not see in themselves onto another.