Hmm. This took a while :P
NEXT CHAPTER, finally...
Some people seem to be concerned about when I'm gonna move the DanXDoug situation along a bit, and I'm happy to say that it's totally coming along now, but there is still a lot of confusion from our lovely Northern boy :D

Basically, BE PATIENT, 'KAY?

Introduction of the lovely James Bourne from Busted. Yeaaah I love him, he's brilliant.

Enjoy :)

I think it's safe to say that we DEFINITELY did not get enough sleep last night. When I woke up, Tom was positively screaming at Dougie about the state of the room. Even though, as I would have pointed out if my head hadn't hurt so much, he was making as much mess last night as Doug was. Harry was still practically unconscious in amongst the feathers, and a pizza box was laying upside-down, lid open in one of the corners. This didn't escape Tom's notice.

"Just LOOK at this mess! Danny, how did you let it get like this?"

Headache or no headache, I wasn't gonna take abuse from Tom. "Mate, unless I'm very much mistaken, you made this mess as well as us. If you're that bothered about it, clean it up" I said with confidence.

Dougie had been stood in a way that made him look as small as possible, but now he straightened and smiled at me gratefully. I smiled back, with butterflies in my stomach and mouthed 'no problem'.

"Ew, ew, eww, AHH!" Tom shrieked. He had been lifting the pizza box off the floor, when a massive rat sped from underneath it into the kitchen. I hadn't noticed this at first, because I was feeling pretty proud of myself for asserting myself towards Tom. But when the aforementioned blond barrelled past me with a broom, I couldn't help but notice.

"Doug, where the hell did he find a broom?" I asked; my brain still a bit fried from the beer we had last night. (I know we're only 16, but come on.)

He simply shrugged, and kicked Harry in the stomach. A groan was heard from the drummer, and he sat up slowly, picking feathers off his face that had stuck there with drool. He didn't speak though, and he was staring off into the distance.

Tom returned to the room looking very happy with himself, but his face fell when he saw us just loitering around. "GUYS! We have to be ready like, NOW! The furniture people are coming round in about five minutes!"

"We're all dressed, in case you hadn't noticed," I said "so what needs to be done? Chill out a bit."

Tom growled, turned round and walked out of the room. He continued to talk to himself though, much to mine and Dougie's amusement. "Chill out? Chill out? I have so much to do, and he doesn't appreciate it at all…"

Doug and I exchanged a look with raised eyebrows, and fell about laughing.

"Guys, what's funny?" Were Harry's first words that morning and it just made us laugh even more.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Of course, the furniture men didn't arrive until two o'clock which was three hours late. This didn't do much to improve Tom's mood, and it also meant we had less time to arrange the whole house. But we did have fun just generally pissing about. First, we sorted out the whole of downstairs and then we sorted out our own rooms. My room looks awesome, I have to say. I've got my mixing desk next to the window, and my bed next to that. I could fit all my posters and signed stuff on the walls, so that I looked more like a Springsteen roadie than a member of my own band.

I had to help Doug with his room, because he seemed to be having a bit of trouble moving his bed. He crept into my room, barely making a sound, and whispered "Dan, could you give us a hand?"

He looked like he was terrified to be asking me for help, and his face was flushed red from the exertion of trying to move his bed himself. Or was it because..?

"I mean, you don't have to help but I'm kinda finding this a bit difficult…" he reiterated, still waiting for my reply.

"No, dude of course I'll help!" I sprung into action and we'd got the bed in place in barely two minutes.

He smiled in thanks. He didn't talk much, but that didn't bother me because what he wanted to say was always expressed in his face. He was so easy to read, but at the moment, I felt like I couldn't see what he was thinking at all. I realised at that moment that I still barely knew him.

"Do you wanna go in the street for a kick about?" I asked, hoping he would say yes.

Doug seemed surprised by the invitation, we still had loads to do and Tom would get more pissed off if he knew we were skiving from the job. But to my amazement, he grinned widely and replied "hell yeah. But you have to know now; I can't play football for my life."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Dougie was sprawled on the tarmac, panting for breath and sweaty-faced. I was hovering above him, laughing whilst I caught my own breath. "You weren't lying mate, were you?" I said, and offered him my hand so he could get up.

He grabbed my arm gratefully, and I lifted him up as he said "dude, where did you learn to play like that?"

I shrugged truthfully. "I dunno really, if I wasn't gonna be a musician, I wanted to be a footballer so I've always been on a team."

"Did you learn from your dad?" Dougie asked innocently, brushing the gravel from his t-shirt and looking at me expectantly for an answer.

He wasn't to know, he just asked. But I could feel my whole aura darken as I relived the memories I'd wanted to block out forever. They were still residing in my brain, ready to leap out when I was my happiest and infect my emotional scars that ran deeper than I thought. I felt my face flush red, and tears start to well up in my eyes. I was pretty sure Doug could see this, and I bit my lip to stop my chin from trembling. I turned away. "I don't have a father." I said and began to walk, leaving the football to roll down the street.

Before I had taken two steps, Dougie grabbed onto my wrist and I saw that he had tears in his eyes too. "My dad left too."

Then I was hugging him. And before long, I was crying like a baby. He remained quiet, but rubbed my back with the heel of his hand in a comforting way. I'd never told this to anyone except for Tom, and I hadn't planned to tell anyone else. Dougie just knew. He knew what it was like to have a father that didn't care about him, just about booze. He knew what it was like to be rejected by the one person you're supposed to look up to the most in life.

Dougie stepped back, and pulled a hankie out of his pocket. He held it to me, and I gave it a look before he said "dude, I haven't used it" and grinned.

I gave him a watery smile and took it; I noticed he held on a bit too long. "I'm sorry I cried, I don't generally make a habit of it." I said, feeling a bit stupid that I'd poured my heart out to this near-stranger.

He smiled this genuine smile that I hadn't seen before, and it made me warm up inside. "Danny, you don't worry about it. But if we carry on like this we'll end up on some badly-acted daytime TV show, and then you really will be sorry."

I laughed. It was a strange sound, like I hadn't laughed in a long time. Well, I hadn't until I'd met the guys. Just then, Tom bounced out of the house.

"I HAVE IT! I HAVE A… guys, what the hell?" Tom finished, looking at my tear-soaked face.

"What Tom? You have a penis? Goodness, how did you find that?" Dougie asked, one eyebrow raised and the sarcasm positively dripping from his mouth.

I giggled, and then felt ashamed of myself. Seriously, I'm not a ten year old fan girl. I need to stop that.

"I mean, what's been going on out here? You two look like you've had a domestic already."

"Don't worry Tom. It's sorted" Doug replied, sending me that smile again. I very nearly melted, so hid myself behind the hankie and pretended to wipe my eyes.

Tom still looked suspicious "…yeeeah okay then. Anyway, I've thought of a name for the band!"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

We all gathered in the living room, as Tom decided to make this a formal event. James (Bourne) had decided to 'pop round' and check out our house, and all he had succeeded in doing so far was making a right mess. I swear he's on drugs.

"THIS PLACE IS WICKED!" He shrieked and threw himself on the sofa, making the cushions go flying.

You could actually see the vein on Tom's temple throbbing as he tried to ignore our older friend. "Now, I've actually only just thought of this name so tell me what you think. I think we could be called 'McFly'."

Harry and I looked at each other in disbelief, and Doug and James made 'cuckoo' signs with their fingers next to their heads.

"…you don't like it?"

"Eh..." I answered, not sure what to say next, "It's, um, original I guess."

James jumped up from the sofa he'd obliterated and gave Tom a noogie (rubbed head with knuckles), which he didn't seem too happy about. While Tom flapped his arms at the older boy, he talked over the top. "I actually think that's a cool name. Who else would think of it? It's one word, and it's punchy. I can see it up in lights…" he finished, making a sweeping motion with his hand as he said 'lights'.

I was still sceptical, but James carried on. "Think about it Dan," he said directly to me, "it'd be so catchy as a chant: 'McFLY! McFLY! McFLY!' I can hear your audience screaming now…"

I had to admit, it was becoming a better idea by the second. I could hear people screaming it, and we didn't have any better ideas for a potential name. I grinned at Harry. "What do you think mate?" I asked him.

He half-smiled at me and then asked Tom "where on Earth did you come up with that name?"

I was quite curious myself, actually. I knew I'd heard it somewhere before, but I couldn't place it out of context. Tom looked rather embarrassed at that moment, and he was just about to answer when Dougie's eyes widened in realisation. "I KNOW! I KNOW!" He shouted, and pointed a finger accusingly at the blond. "It's Back to the Future, isn't it? Marty McFly?"

Tom looked resigned. "Yeah, but I like it because it has a nice ring to it, you know? I can really see this working."

I nodded in agreement, and I looked over to see Dougie nodding just as enthusiastically. Harry still didn't look as convinced though. I saw a wicked smirk play across James' features, before he shouted "PILE ON HARRY!" and absolutely leapt onto the unfortunate drummer.

Tom jumped next, and I followed soon after that. There were many groans coming from Harry as he tried to shift under the weight. Dougie clambered onto the sofa, jumped off and flew onto the pile. I swore I felt at least one rib crack, or that might have been Tom's. We were all laughing due to the lack of oxygen, and I felt a bit dizzy with Dougie on top of me. Wait, what? In that moment, I forgot where I was until I heard from the bottom of the pile a squeak from Harry.

James wiggled around a bit, squashing Harry more and said "what was that dude? You like the name?"

"YES… NOW GET… OFF ME!" wheezed Harry, with a very red face.

We fell off like dominoes, but I managed to roll on top of Dougie. I know, how's my luck? Our faces ended up inches away from each other, and my hair (which I've just started to grow) was lightly brushing his face. He looked as embarrassed as I felt, but still didn't move. He swallowed, and I inched slightly closer.

He still didn't move, but smiled ever so slightly at my gesture. I was surprised when he lifted his head until our lips were barely touching, but I could feel it all the same.

"SHIT!" someone shouted from the other side of the room. I thought we'd been caught, but apparently we still had some rats in the house.

I flung myself from Dougie, just in time for James to come bounding past with the same broom Tom had earlier, shouting "GANGWAY!"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Sitting on the sofa later, I touched my lips gently. I'd been trying to recreate the feeling I'd had when mine and Dougie's lips had brushed, but I couldn't.

Looking across to the other sofa, I noticed that Doug had one finger on his bottom lip and he was staring into space. Maybe we shouldn't have done that. Maybe I've just put the whole of our musical career into jeopardy, the whole of McFly's musical career.

I have a headache.

WHADDYA THINK?

You know the drill...