Okay, so this is set when Dougie is 15 and Harry is 18. Dougie is still in school at this point but none of the rest of the band are. Little Dougs is getting bullied and he tries to hide it from the boys however when he comes home one day following a rather harsh beating up, Harry comforts to him and lets him know how much he cares about their band's youngest member. NO SMUT WHATSOEVER... DOUGIE AND HARRY ARE JUST GOOD FRIENDS IN THIS FIC AND I PERSONALLY THINK ITS ADORABLE WHEN THEY'RE NOT SMOTHERING EACHOTHER! (and I can't write smut...). So if you like it (which you probably won't), please review! And if you don't like it, please review and give me creative criticism! :) Enjoy x

Dougie was sprinting home from school with tears streaming down his face. He was tired but he didn't want to stop, in case they got him. He'd been the target of bullying for months now and had been beat up several times for no reason at all. He'd become almost a professional at protecting his face so none of his teachers or band mates would find out. Thankfully his school allowed own clothes during gym so his legs and arms could be easily covered with jogging bottoms and a hoodie and as for at home, he lived with his band mates so they tended to respect his privacy and not go into his room unless they were invited. He was glad of this as his secret couldn't be found out and his beatings wouldn't be nearly as bad. Today, however, that would change.

Dougie's POV:

I ran as fast as my scrawny legs could carry me. I could hear the screams coming from behind me. I was tired but I couldn't bring myself to stop as I knew what was coming. Eventually I must have slowed down as I felt a strong hand grab my shoulder and before I knew what was happening, I was on the floor. I felt pain run throughout my body as every kick hit my stomach and every punch flew into my arms. After what I guess was around 10 minutes, they eventually stopped. Well, they'd almost stopped. I went to try and stand but soon enough another hand was pinning me down. Within a second, I was being forced against the floor by at least 6 others and I could see one boy standing directly above me. I felt him put one hand on my upper left arm and one on my lower arm. I didn't even have time to think before I heard it, the sickening crack. All of a sudden pain erupted through the whole left side of my body and I was crying and shaking uncontrollably. My arm had just been snapped in half and I didn't want to move as every time I did, another rush of pain shot through my body. After about 5 minutes I managed to stand up, the gang had left me there straight after they'd broken my arm and so I was able to just walk home. I got in through the door, still crying and shaking, and ran straight up to my room. I didn't matter how bad the beatings got, I didn't want to tell any of my band mates. I just lay on my bed crying, not wanting to thing about how I was going to explain my arm injury to the boys.

Harry's POV:

I was just in the lounge watching cricket when I heard the door burst open and then slam shut almost immediately. I knew that it must have been Dougie as Tom and Danny were both out in the garden playing football. I was wondering why he had just run straight upstairs and not bothered saying hello. Then I heard it, I was unsure what I was hearing at first but then I realised, it was Dougie, crying his little eyes out. I wondered whether I should leave it and let him tell me about it later, but then I remembered how much he liked to just hide his problems away rather than sharing them with any of us and so I headed upstairs to see if he was okay. I cautiously knocked on his door and awaited a reply.

'Who is it?' was the blunt reply I got back.

'It's Harry. Are you okay mate?'

'I'm fine. Just go away!'

'Butty, if something's the matter, you know you can tell me. I won't tell anybody that you don't want me to tell. I promise.' I said back to him in the most soothing way possible.

'I said I'm fine. Nothing's up.'

'Dougs, I could hear you crying from downstairs, I know that you're upset so just open the door and talk to me about it, yeah?'

'Do you promise you won't tell anybody. And that you won't be angry that I didn't tell you?' he asked me worriedly.

'I swear. I won't tell a soul and I could never be angry at you Dougie.'

I heard a small whimper and then slow footsteps getting closer to me. Slowly the door opened and I was greeted by a shaking Dougie. He had red, puffy eyes and still had tears running down his cheeks. I pulled him into a hug but he shrieked in pain and pulled away. It was then that I noticed his arm, it was bent at a nasty angle and had blood running down it. I then looked down at the rest of his body and noticed that his arms were covered in bruises and his whole shirt was covered in dirt and blood.

'Oh my gosh, Dougs! What the heck happened to you?'

My question was answered with loud, heart-breaking sobs. I hurried Dougie into his room and onto his bed. I put my arm around his shoulder, careful not to hurt him further, and kissed the top of his head in an attempt to calm him down and comfort him. We sat like that for about 20 minutes as he just cried into his hands.

'H-harry, I-i-i'm scared' he whimpered a little while later.

'Oh Pugsley, what happened? Who's scared you?'

'The g-gang from y-year 11 in my s-school. T-they c-ch-chased me home f-from school a-and b-beat me u-up and I d-don't k-know wh-why. Th-then today t-they to-took it a b-bit f-far and o-one of the oldest b-boys h-has b-broken my arm'. Dougie's frightened voice broke on the last couple of words and he erupted into tears again.

'It's okay Dougie. It's okay. You're home now, I'm here and I'm never going to let anybody hurt you ever again. You're safe.'

I went back to just stroking his sandy blonde hair and whispering soothing things into his ear. Eventually, he calmed down again.

'M-my a-arm hu-hurts.'

'Come on, lets get you downstairs in clean up your arm.' I said as I took hold of his hand and went to take him downstairs. He whimpered slightly but followed me all the same. We got downstairs and went into the kitchen. Tears were still rolling down Dougie's cheeks but he had calmed down a lot. As I reached for the first aid kit we kept, I glanced out the window and saw Tom and Danny playing football in the garden. Danny spotted me and waved, I signalled for him to come inside and he got Tom's attention before they both started heading inside. By the time they got inside I had just began carefully dabbing the blood off Dougie's arm.

Danny's POV:

I saw Harry at the kitchen window reaching to get something. He was watching me and Tom and he had a worried expression on his face. I raised my hand and waved at me and he just signed to me to go inside.

'Tom mate?'

'Yeah man?' he replied while still kicking the football.

'Harry's just told us to go in and I think that he's trying to get the first aid kit.'

'Come on then. We'd better go in, something might have happened.'

We made our way up the garden and through the door. When we got in we could see Harry knelt in front of Dougie, who was sat on the table, crying. As we got closer we could see that Dougie was covered in blood and his left arm was bent in completely the wrong direction. Harry was dabbing some of the blood from his arm and he was wincing at the pain. I hurried towards the table, closely followed by Tom, and grabbed hold of one of Dougie's little hands.

'Dougie! Are you okay? What happened? Who did this to you?' I asked, the panic obvious in my voice. I got no reply off Dougie except small sobs and so I turned to Harry questioningly.

'A gang of kids from year 11 beat him up on the way home. The oldest guy's snapped his arm clean in half! It's taken ages to get him this calm.' Harry said, worry lacing his voice.

'Oh my gosh! Should we take him to hospital?'

'We'll have to but first we'd better just get rid of all the blood and check what other injuries he's got so we can tell the doctors properly.'

'Okay. Should I bring him down some fresh clothes or is he going to shower before he goes?'

'Well the pressure of a shower could make any cuts he has worse. We'll just have to get as much blood off him as we can without hurting him more and then we'll find something to support his arm and we'll set off.' Harry then continued to fix up Dougie's arm while I just kept hold of his hand and Tom went to get him a glass of water. We heard Dougie mumble something but none of us could understand what he was saying.

'What was that Dougs?' Harry asked softly.

'I- I think I'm going to be sick.'

'Okay. Okay. Come over here.' Harry said while motioning the younger boy over to beside the bin.

'H-Harry...' was all Dougie could say before he started retching over the bin.

'It's okay Dougs. You'll feel better once it's over. I promise. It's okay.' Harry whispered soothingly whilst rubbing circles on the vomiting boy's back. It was surprising how much Harry knew about how to keep Dougie calm. I'd seen him calming Dougie down when he had small panic attacks before big concerts and things like that but I had never noticed just how close the pair had gotten. When Dougie had stopped being sick, we decided we had better go to the hospital and so Harry took Dougie upstairs and changed him into new clothes. We got into the car, Tom driving, me in the passenger seat and Harry and Dougie in the back, Dougie with a bucket on his knee just in case.

Tom's POV:

Thankfully, we managed to get to the hospital without Dougie throwing up again, despite him looking a deathly pale. We could all tell that he was shaken up and we knew that going to the hospital wouldn't help. Dougie had a phobia of hospitals and always did anything he could, not to enter into one. We were hoping that maybe he'd just accept that he needed to go in. We had hoped wrong. The moment we pulled up Dougie began to panic, his breathing sped up and we could see him shaking. Harry leant over to try and calm him down a bit but nothing was working. When they eventually got him out of the car the bucket quickly came into use as Dougie's fears got worse. We never really understood what it was about hospitals that made Dougie freak out so much, we just knew that he didn't want to enter this one any time soon.

'Come on Dougs. We'll get them to see you really quickly and then we'll only be in their for a little while. Yeah?'

'N-no. I-I don't want t-to To-Tom' he whimpered through tears of panic. 'I-I don't like it i-in th-there'

'I know Dougie but they'll fix your arm and then it won't hurt anymore and you'll be able to come straight home.'

'D-do you p-promise that t-they w-won't hurt me o-or c-cut me open or s-something l-like that?'

'I pinky swear Pugs' I said while linking my finger with his shaking, tiny one. 'Come on, lets get this over and done with Butty.'

Dougie's POV:

I really hate hospitals. I couldn't believe that the boys made me go into one. I knew that it was for my own good its just that I've had a massive phobia of them ever since I got appendicitis and they had to give me an operation. It really hurt for days afterwards and then a few of the stitches came out and blood went everywhere. I hated blood and so for some reason, the idea of having it all over me and my pyjamas and my bed and floor, made me terrified of hospitals ever since. We got into the room with the doctor and my worst fear came back to haunt me. The doctor said I needed and operation to fix my arm.

'Oh god. Oh god. No. No. I- I can't do that. You can't do an operation on me. Please No. Please. Please. I'm begging you, Please don't.' I could feel my chest tightening up with every word I said and within a minute I was having a full on panic attack. I couldn't breathe and my sight was going funny. I was shaking and trying desperately to think about anything else but I just couldn't. Being in a hospital, everything around me just reminded me of everything that had happened with the stitches when I was little and I couldn't block out the images.

'Dougie. Dougie! Calm Down. You've got to calm down and try to get your mind off it. Listen to me. Dougie?' I could hear Harry saying things behind me but I wasn't listening. I was trying to get my mind off it, I really was, I just couldn't. Soon enough I was wearing an oxygen mask and lying down on a bed.

Harry's POV:

When Dougie had calmed down, we decided just to get the operation over and done with. The poor kid was petrified and we all felt for him. When he got out a few hours later we asked if we could leave the hospital straight away. The doctors agreed but warned us that if we didn't make Dougs stay in bed for at least a week, we'd risk injuring his arm further and so he'd have to go back to the hospital more than is already necessary. Dougie fell asleep snuggled into my chest on the way home. When we stopped, I carefully moved away, making sure that I didn't wake him up and then I lifted him in my arms and carried him into the house and up to his room. He didn't stir at all until I lay him in bed. When I put him down he snuggled into his blankets and looked up and me with tired eyes, smiling.

'Can you sleep in here with me tonight Harry? I know that nothing bad will happen if you're in here with me.' he said sleepily. I couldn't help but smile.

'Of course I'll stay in here tonight Dougs. I'm just going to tell Danny and Tom where I'm going and then I'll get into my pyjamas and come back. Okay?'. Dougie nodded and lay his head down on the pillow as I left the room. When I got back he was lay in bed waiting for me. I hopped in beside him and pulled him into a tight hug.

'You know Dougs, whenever something's wrong, you can always talk to me about it. No matter what the problem is, I'll always be here. You can trust me.'

'I know I can. I'm sorry for not telling you earlier. I love you Harry.' He said whilst burying his head in my chest.

'It's okay. I love you too Pugsley. Goodnight.'

'Goodnight Harry'. And with that, we both drifted off into a peaceful slumber.