Money Can't Buy My Love
By heeha

Chapter 8

They were the talk of the tabloids the next day.

Harry had never paid much attention to tabloids, but they were hard to ignore when his and Tom's faces were plastered over the front page of every tabloid available to the public.

In hindsight, Harry should have known that their relationship would be broadcasted to the world at some point. Tom was relatively young, handsome, and filthy rich, after all. This made him one of the world's most eligible bachelors. And people loved to gossip and pry into the lives of hot, rich bachelors like Tom.

Harry had assumed that his previous ignorance about Tom's identity was shared with the general public. He'd assumed that no one really knew who Tom was, that he was just another faceless billionaire.

Obviously, the tabloids had proven him wrong.

Tom was hardly "just another faceless billionaire." He was, in fact, one of the most desired men on the planet, if the tabloids could be believed. And Harry was his "boyfriend."

Lifted out of obscurity, almost every detail about Harry and his life was suddenly displayed before the public. From the car crash that killed his parents, to the university he currently attended, almost no detail about his life was left unpublished. One of the only tidbits they (thankfully) left out was the location of Harry's current lodgings. In the apartment, Harry was safe from the nosy inquiries of the media, at least for now.

However, Harry had no intentions of becoming a recluse just to avoid the media's prying eyes. He refused to limit his life just because people were scrutinizing him now. Harry intended to carry on with his life, doing whatever he wanted to do, media be damned.

Harry tossed the tabloid he'd just finished reading onto the kitchen table. A photo of him and Tom holding hands had been taken at some point, displayed for all of the world to see on the front page of the tabloid. To the uninformed observer, they looked like a happy couple, which was the exact image that Tom and Harry wanted to portray to the world, and more specifically, to Albus Dumbledore. But whether or not Albus was fooled by the media's reports of their loving relationship remained to be seen. Judging from Albus's comments at Harry and Tom's dinner date, Harry believed that it would take more than media reports of himself and Tom holding hands to convince Albus that Tom had finally found true love with him and would live happily ever after.

Harry supposed he was glad that convincing Albus of his and Tom's everlasting love for each other would take much more than a snapshot of a presumably intimate moment between themselves. Harry was sure that he would need to look for another place to stay if holding hands was all it took to fool Albus that they were truly in love with each other. After all, there was no reason for Tom to continue to let Harry live in one of his lavish apartments once he obtained and made his business deal with Albus. Maybe Tom would let him live in the apartment for a few months after the deal was sealed as thanks, but after that? Harry was positive that he would eventually be evicted. Gratitude could only last for so long. Once Harry became a liability, as he was bound to eventually become from leeching off of Tom, Tom's gratitude would wane and wane until finally, Tom would give him the official boot. And then Harry would be homeless once again.

When that happened (because it was definitely when, not if), Harry would be left with no choice but to stay with Cedric. And while that wasn't an unpleasant situation in and of itself, Harry was wary of the idea because of Cedric's feelings for him. He didn't want to take advantage of those feelings and the actions that followed them. Cedric was a nice guy and didn't deserve to be used. While they were friends too, and friends help each other out in their time of need, Harry still felt like Cedric's desire to help him was driven by his romantic feelings for him. And while Cedric would never try to take advantage of Harry and his situation, Harry believed he would feel guilty himself for living with Cedric without reciprocating his feelings.

All of this led Harry to the conclusion that he needed to be self-sufficient. If Harry was self-sufficient, then he wouldn't need to rely on anybody for anything. He wouldn't need to worry about when Tom would finally kick him out of the apartment, and he wouldn't need to worry about taking advantage of Cedric and his feelings for him. Nobody would be able to hold anything over his head if he were financially independent.

His goal was clear. However, how to get there was quite a bit more muddy. While Harry had gotten into university on a scholarship, he had no idea what to major in or what to do as a career. He was one of those students who went into university without a career goal in mind, going to university just because he'd managed to attain a scholarship to the university he attended, and because it was the next natural course in his educational and professional development. Harry had assumed that things would work themselves out on their own; however, he now realized that he needed to work things out to make something of himself. He had to be an active agent in his career development in order to see any tangible, worthwhile results. This meant that Harry had to start thinking about what he wanted to do for the majority of his working life.

The task was daunting. Harry didn't know what he liked and didn't like in a career, having limited work experience himself. He knew of some occupations he probably wouldn't like to do, like a gardener or a plumber, but he didn't know of any occupation that he might actually like to do. Some people would say to just settle for a job that pays the bills and a roof over your head. And while that was practical, there were still many jobs out there to choose from. Even if he did take this advice, Harry didn't know which job to settle for. There were too many options to choose from, such that he was paralyzed with choice.

What to do, what to do... Harry drummed his fingers against the kitchen table, unable to think of an occupation he could see himself liking or doing. He wanted to be in a job where he would thrive and grow both personally and professionally, where he would be engaged in the work, and where he would make a meaningful impact on people and society as a whole. There were quite a number of jobs where he could grow personally and professionally, as well as make a meaningful impact on people and society as a whole. However, he did not know which of these jobs would be engaging and fulfilling for him. He supposed, then, that he needed to find out what type of work kept him engaged and lead him to feel a sense of fulfillment.

Probably not my current job. While he didn't mind interacting with the customers, Harry didn't like how the company pushed him to upsell to customers. The company framed its push for employees to upsell as "adding value to customers' experience" and "enhancing their order," but Harry knew better. When it came down to it, asking him to upsell to customers was really just a way for the company to try to milk as much money from the customer as possible. Harry saw through their bullshit.

On top of Harry's dislike for upselling, there was no way his current job would ever pay him enough money to support himself financially. Harry also had to be practical in choosing his career. He needed a job where he could earn enough money to survive and enjoy life. His current job did not do this for him, being a meagre, minimum wage job.

A sudden, loud knock on the door interrupted Harry's train of thought. Harry stared at the door, wondering who it could be, before walking over to the door and opening it.

Tom stood on the other side of the door, dressed casually in form-fitting blue jeans and a loose, plain white t-shirt. Harry noted that Tom still looked devastatingly handsome despite his casual state of dress.

"Hello, Harry," Tom greeted, eyes giving Harry a once-over. Harry suddenly felt self-conscious in his pyjamas. "May I come in?"

"Of course." Harry stepped aside so Tom could enter the apartment, closing the door behind him. "What brings you here?"

Tom raised an eyebrow. "Do I need a reason to visit my boyfriend?"

Harry cocked his head to the side. "Don't you usually have a reason to visit me?"

"Perhaps," said Tom. "But perhaps, this time, I simply wish to spend some quality time with you. That is what boyfriends do, after all."

"Right. And how would you like to spend this 'quality time' of ours?" asked Harry, making air quotations with his index and middle fingers.

Tom smiled deviously. "By becoming better...acquainted with you, of course." He slowly stepped towards Harry, eyes never leaving Harry's as he drew closer and closer.

Harry suddenly felt very uncomfortable. "Better...acquainted?" he echoed hesitantly.

"That's right." Tom drew nearer, leading Harry to back away slowly until his back hit one of the walls. Before he could move sideways, Tom pressed his hands against the wall beside both sides of Harry's body, caging Harry between his arms.

Harry felt his heart pounding in his chest as he stared up into Tom's crimson eyes, trapped and waiting for whatever Tom decided to do next.

"Harry," Tom breathed. He withdrew his right arm from the wall and gently cupped Harry's cheek with his right hand instead. Harry felt the warmth of Tom's hand radiate through to his cheek.

"Let's get to know each other better." And Tom descended upon Harry, capturing Harry's lips with his own in a passionate kiss.