i've just remembered that i should have put a trigger warning on this story, so i'm going to put it in now: this fic contains self harm, eating disorders, and body dismorphic disorder, it could possibly be triggering. i'm sorry if it is triggering for anyone reading.

14 Harrys POV

Danny stayed in his room for the rest of the day, eventually letting us in, curling up on our laps, whimpering that he wanted Tom. We let him ramble about how much Tom meant to him, and how he missed cuddling and kissing him, making him cringe by singing in that weird way, listening to his huge monologues about Star Wars, or some crazy idea he had had in his sleep. "I miss his dimple, and the way it pokes out, or is it in? As he sleeps, and how when he can't sleep he'll come round here, and bring Mickey with him, crawling into bed with me. He'll sleep right through then, he always has, I wonder if he's had any sleep? I hope he has, and some food, because he gets grumpy and even more emotional without food." Danny rambled, fiddling with Sonic the Hedgehog, Toms second favourite toy, that he surprisingly didn't take with him.

"I'm sure he's had something to eat Danny, what else would that £20 a week be for? And I don't know for sleep, but once we get him back, he can sleep for as long as he wants." I sighed, used to his rambling, making it even more clear about how much he loved and missed Tom. The way he talked about him was amazing, he knew literally everything about Tom, some of the stuff he hadn't even told us, that Danny knew just by instinct, like how he preferred to sleep, apparently it was curled up in Dannys arms, with Marvin, or Brucie at their feet.

"but what if he isn't sleeping, or eating? We all know that he goes through fazes, where he can't eat or sleep, what if he is having one of them? Or if his mood has swung really, really low, and he wants to commit suicide? You know he has issues, what if no-one stops him?" Danny paled considerably, whimpering as the thought hit him. "Tom won't do something like that! Theres no way he is that depressed, he won't kill himself Danny, trust us. He's never tried to before, why would he now?" Dougie also paled, little hand scrambling to find mine in sheer, well hidden, panic. "he isn't with us now, is he? You've read the note, he isn't exactly thinking straight! He could just think its all too much and just, do it, he'll disappear, thinking that we don't love him. Wait, w-what if he's a-already gone?" Danny panicked, tears leaking from his eyes again. "Danny calm down right now! Don't you think you would be able to tell if Tom wasn't alive anymore? Your almost inseparable normally, I think you would be able to tell if Tom wasn't alive! Calm down, he is alive!" I almost shouted, even thinking about Tom laying somewhere dark and cold, his wrists slit, or something similar, was enough to give me nightmares for months.

"b-but, what if we've gone out of tune or something since he's been gone?!" Danny shouted back, biting his nails to shreds. "Danny, do you really think you would have gotten 'out of tune' as you put it, with Tom? No, your connected on way too many levels to even go out of tune! Look, you would have felt it if Tom had gone, trust me, you would have felt it. Plus, he texted Carrie the other morning, I'm sure he is fine." I sighed, getting worried that Danny was cracking under the pressure. He never managed to survive and cope without Tom by his side, or at least a phone call or email away. Having to spend the past 7 months without him was obviously killing him and messing up his head.

15 Dougies POV

Again, that night, me and Harry stayed over and slept in Dannys bed with him, holding the sobbing boy close. This whole Tom disappearance was hurting him so much, I was surprised he hadn't started screaming yet, or had a complete breakdown. We were luckily tonight that Danny actually cried himself out, usually he stayed up all night, crying. "Tom... Tom, come back Tom!" Danny woke me up at midnight, moaning in his sleep, "Tom, please, come back! I love you!" Danny cried, writhing in our arms. "Danny, wake up! Wake up, your dreaming!" I shook him, hating seeing him being troubled even in his sleep.

"huh? What? I, Tom was running, and, what?" Danny woke up, rubbing his eyes. "you were dreaming Danny, I'm sorry, Toms not here." I sighed, not wanting to break his heart even more. "oh, sorry, I just," Danny whimpered, and I cut him off. "miss him so much?" I finished, squeezing him tightly, he nodded. "alright, back to sleep. We'll have another search tomorrow." Harry sighed, squeezing my hand tightly. "I know, I wanna save his life soon. I feel like I've lost a friend." Danny wiped his tears, settling back into his pillow, hugging Sonic close to his chest. "you haven't lost a friend, you've...temporally misplaced a friend. We'll get him back soon Danny, I promise." I lied, I didn't know when we would get Tom back, or if we would even get him back alive. I hoped against hope to get him back alive, he wouldn't be well, but alive was at least something. I missed Tom so bad I could have cried, I missed the days where we would speak like Jedward, or Charlie The Unicorn, or Pirates, or anything that came to mind. Or how I would do a Chewbacca impression, and Tom would reply like R2D2, grinning like an idiot. But most of all, I missed being able to have Tom there, laughing and joking with us all, playing pranks and generally being Tom. I missed him so much and I wanted him back soon, at the very least alive, I would take having him in the mental health unit, in a padded cell, at least I knew he was safe, and I could talk to him at some point. Right now, I didn't know if I would ever get to see him ever again, and the thought made me want to cry.

I ran through the corridors, begging for it not to be true, it couldn't be true! Somehow, I was running faster than Harry and Danny, reaching the morgue first. Bursting through the doors, I whimpered, realising what I was here to do. Harry and Danny joined me, and we all seemed to get scared as the doctor pulled the material off the bodies face. "oh god, Tom!" Danny whimpered, realising the...dead, man on the slab was Tom, our Tom. Our Thomas Michael Fletcher was dead, found on a street, his wrists slit, the words 'I love you guys, sorry' written in the middle of it.

I woke up screaming, terrified, thinking that had been real. "Dougie, what the hell?" Harry moaned, reaching out to stroke my hair. "T-Tom, he-he was d-dead! H-he s-slit his w-wrists, h-he didn't s-survive!" I cried, scrambling over Dannys half awake body to tuck myself into Harrys strong arms. "nightmare Dougs?" Harry sighed, kissing my forehead and rubbing my back. I nodded and sobbed into his chest, feeling Dannys arms wrap around me too. "I know how it feels D-Dougs, I've had the same dream hundreds of times. H-he never survives." Danny whimpered, silently crying into my shoulder, and a few seconds later, Harry let go too, all 3 of us crying into each other, wishing for our best friend to just come home.