Birthday tradition
Ever since I had first joined the band, me and Harry had always had a birthday tradition. Not a big tradition, just a tradition. Every year, on both of our birthdays, no matter where we were, or what we were doing, we would stay up until the early hours of the morning, eat ice cream and sweets, talk, and watch movies. Nothing too extravagant, nothing over the top, just a simple tradition, that was never broken. We had done it on my 16th birthday, and on Harry's 18th, the whispered words of 'Harry, Harry, its still my birthday, and I want ice cream!' sparking it all off and it had taken place every birthday since. And if we couldn't be together (Harry's birthday being two days before Christmas was always a bit of a problem to get round) we always had our celebration as close to our birthdays as possible.
This year though, this cause a bit of a problem, as I was spending my 24th birthday in a jungle in Australia, while Harry was spending it in a training room in cold and wet England. Not the most ideal arrangements for birthday last night cuddles, what with a twelve hour time difference between us. But, we promised to see each other the minute we could and have our birthday celebration. It was going to suck not being with Harry for three weeks, but, I was going to be surrounded by animals, one of the things I really did love.
"bye Dougs, I'm going to miss you so much." Harry whispered before I left for the airport. "me too, I'm really going to miss you." I really would, me and Harry were joined at the hip, I wasn't used to be separated like this. "I know, but, you're going to forget all about me the second you see an animal, so enjoy yourself, alright? Go out there and have fun... and try to not bring back half the jungle, you don't have room in your flat for more animals." Harry made me laugh, he knew me far too well. "I'll try not to. And you have fun too, don't over work yourself, just relax and forget anyones watching." I smiled, diving into his strong arms again for another tight hug. "I'll try to remember that. You better get moving, you'll be late for your flight if you're not careful. Be safe, don't get bitten, and don't hurt yourself. But have fun, I love you." Harry kissed my hair, giving me an almost painful squeeze before letting me go. And so, I made my way to the car, getting in and flying off to Australia, into the almost unknown, no-one that I knew to support me.
To be honest, it worked out pretty well, I made friends with everyone in camp, and we had a good laugh together, though we were starving. It was great, I got to spend every night looking at the stars, and the day finding animals to play with and look at, finding, like Harry had predicted, that I wanted to keep half of the jungle for myself. What he was wrong about was me forgetting about him. I never went an hour without thinking about him, I missed him terribly, along with Tom and Danny. But Harry I especially missed, especially when my 24th birthday came around. There were many wishes of a happy birthday from everyone around me, but I still missed my muscled posh drummer, feeling his arms around me. I missed it all, unsure what to do with myself without him.
Only days later, it was the final, and they called out my name, telling me that I was the King Of The Jungle. Then what felt like seconds later, Tom was holding onto me, screaming in delight. "you won! You won!" Tom was shouting, burying his face into my chest. "dude I missed you so much!" I squeezed him tight, finally seeing one of my best friends for the first time in a month. I hadn't ever been apart from him for this long in eight years, I had missed him so much. "I missed you so much too! I missed you so much!" Tom pushed into my chest so much, I literally did almost fall over, so happy to see him. But still, my mind still plagued me with the thought of Harry. Was he here too? Could he have somehow gotten out here? Had he left Strictly, even though he was so good he was set to win?
"how's Harry doing? Is he here?" I had to ask, desperate to know, having waited so long to know, I needed to know. "he's still in Strictly, doing so well. He's storming the leader board, so he's not here, and neithers Danny, I'm sorry Dougs. We'll see him as soon as we get back." Tom promised with a smile, keeping me close company for our remaining week of Australia, until we flew home, back to the freezing cold England. We were greeted by Danny at the airport, and had to wait another week to see Harry. It drove me insane, I wanted nothing more than to see him, especially by the time it got to the Saturday. It was the live show day, so finally we got to see him. There were so many people around, I couldn't even see anyone we knew, let alone Harry.
"Dougie? Dougie?" I heard calling, from over to the right... Harry! "Harry!" I ran in his direction, following the sound of his voice, desperate to see him. "Dougie!" Harry suddenly appeared, just a few metres away from me. "Harry!" I shouted, running at him full pelt, losing my crown from my head, jumping into his arms and knocking us to the ground. "Dougie! Oh my god Dougie! You came!" Harry grabbed at me, rolling around the floor with me, the both of us laughing madly. "of course I came! I missed you so much! I missed you so badly!" I told him, almost crying with happiness. I was in Harry's arms again, the thing I had been waiting for weeks.
"I missed you so much too, oh my god I missed you so badly!" Harry picked us both up, kissing me all over, right in public, in front of everyone, not even caring. "I missed you the most! You have no idea how much I missed you! Oh god Harry!" I was literally seconds from crying in happiness, I felt whole again now that I was in Harry's arms. I was whole and safe, my lovers arms around me, together at last. "I know Dougs, I know, its been hell without you here! I missed talking to you, and cuddling you, and kissing you, and our tradition! I mean, I the last time I saw you, you were twenty three, you're twenty four, and we didn't get to have cake or anything. We broke tradition!" Harry stroked my face, grinning at me madly. "well, we'll have to make up for it tonight, won't we, unless you want to find somewhere now." I smiled, winking a little.
"as tempting as that is, I'd get smacked by someone if I don't go back soon. We'll have to wait, but, it'll be worth it." Harry laughed, gently kissing my forehead, "I've got to go, but, we'll find somewhere for ourselves after the show, alright? And then we can carry on tradition, promise." He looked around the place, before swooping in and giving me a blinder of a kiss, running off back inside the studio again. "whoa, what the hell was that about?" Tom came up behind me, his hand on my shoulder. "that Tom, was our birthday tradition coming back." I smiled, almost unable to wait for the time we could go home, and make up for lost time.