Oh no, he was crying now too. I'd made it worse than it had to be, and he was just trying to protect me from getting emotionally hurt at the thought of his physical hurt.

"I'm sorry. You have nothing to be sorry for, but I am, with all of my heart! You didn't have to tell me, but I want you to know how much it means to me that you did!" I said at 100 miles an hour.

He put his arms around me and returned my hug, which meant more to me than words could possibly describe considering how much it would have hurt him to do so.

"Well I'm sorry it took me so long, but it's only now that I've said it that I've come to terms with it. Thanks for persuading me to, I can finally face it!" he replied throughout quiet sobs.

We held each other and wept for another 5 minutes, without saying a word, just taking in each others comfort and support.

I led him downstairs when he was confident enough to walk, though I was terrified for his safety, but he insisted. He put his arm around my shoulder and held onto my neck, and with his free hand, he clutched the banister for dear life. He cautiously walked down each step. When we reached the bottom of the house I helped him sit comfortably on the sofa and made some tea. I came to the conclusion then that I made tea a lot, probably to solve my minor problems or some other silly reason, but I didn't see any way in which tea could solve this one.

"Charlie?" he asked politely, removing my from my distracting thoughts.

"Yeah?"

He paused.

"Do you have any ideas on how to….you know, um, stop this?"

Oh god. I didn't.

"Eh, no, no I don't. But how about we go see Ed and the Toms? They're all extremely understanding".

"Sounds good, except Ed's staying at his girlfriend Fawn's, and Mr. Bacon is out of the city. Not entirely sure why though…" he trailed off, sounding slightly disappointed at the other two's absence.

Then I remembered why. He and blue-haired Tom had had a Twitter fight over Alex's tactics on how to get Lady Godiva into the charts, and hadn't spoken since.

"Okay then, um, how about Liam?" I asked.

He giggled. It was great to see him happy for those few seconds.

"Liam lives in Edinburgh, which is hours away. Next you'll be suggesting we go visit Michael, or John and Hank".

I laughed loudly. It was like bit by bit, the Alex everyone knew and loved so well was returning.

My phone rung. Lex's number and her face posing in what was called "the duck face" appeared on the screen. I showed Alex and I smiled as he thought the decision through. He signaled for me to pass him the phone by stretching out his hand. I gave him it.

"Hey Lex, do you mind if Charlie and me come over for a bit?"

Like the motherly figure I am, I made sure Alex wrapped up warmly to fight the cold of a London afternoon (1 silly looking t-shirt, 2 hoodies, one of which belonged to me because he's not a fan of owning clothes, and his furry coat with half of the fur missing. And a pair of skinny jeans, obviously, he didn't go outside half naked) and we set off to the bus stop. We were nearly there when it happened.

"Alex, I was wondering….who's the friend you like?"

He stopped walking, shoved his hands in his coat pockets and stared straight ahead with wide, terrified eyes, not looking at me.

"It's fine Alex! You don't have to tell me" I said, trying to re-assure him.

"It's n-not your question Charlie. It's-it's them…" he replied.

I turned around. There was a gang of men approaching, each carrying bottles of alcohol. They noticed us. They all looked very violent. I knew it was the people who had hurt Alex so much. I looked back to Alex, to make sure he was okay. The colour had completely drained from his face and he was shaking.