xxPUDDxx - i only have 1 rule when fic writing, never kill off one of the boys, thats the one thing i can assure you of that now! :) but torturing someone to insanity is allowed xD
130 Dougies POV
The next day, we went into Toms house to find a very tired, very scared Tom in a very bare house. "hey, where is everything? What happened?" I asked gently, noticing that Toms whole body was shaking. "m-monsters, g-ghosts, they'll get me!" Tom whimpered, pale skin making him look like a ghost. "what monsters and ghosts? Tom, there's nothing in the house." Harry put a hand on Toms back, gently rubbing it. "Tom, monsters and ghosts don't exist, you know that. You've never had this problem before, whats happened?" I decided it was better to find out what happened first, then find out why the house was bare.
"toys went, no protectors, monsters will get me!" Tom shivered, clutching at the green monster that usually stayed under his pillow. "aw Tom, no they won't! Monsters won't get you, I promise! Where did the toys go anyway? Where did you put them, huh? We'll go get them back so your protected, yeah?" Harry looked around, taking in the actual bare room. It had been stripped of toys, and anything child or Tom like. The 'toy sofa' had been emptied, so now it was just a sofa, and the bed sheets had been changed from Star Wars to plain white covers. Every room we had been in so far had been like it, it scared me to see it. What was Tom doing? I hoped he was decorating or something innocent like that, I couldn't take it if he was going something stupid.
"don't want them back, can't have them back. I'll be fine." Tom shook his head, his hair swishing almost wildly with him, just like it used to. "well alright then, if you don't want them back, we'll leave it. Now come on, downstairs. You'll feel better down there." Harry sighed, keeping a hand gently around Toms waist as we went downstairs.
After about 20 minutes downstairs, Tom calmed down, staring at the TV screen, watching the brightly coloured characters of Jimmy Neutron. It was then that Danny decided to turn up, he noticed instantly the bare house, running in and skidding over on his knees to Tom, almost demanding to know where the toys were. "they're not here, I packed them up." Tom answered, looking guiltily at the floor. "what? Why?" Danny pulled Toms face up, still not getting eye contact. "don't want them anymore." Tom whispered, fiddling with his fingers.
"what do you mean you don't want them anymore? They're your toys, you always want your toys!" Danny visibly paled, any sign of happiness he had when walking in gone. "I don't them anymore." Tom was pained to say this, I could tell, he wanted them back, he was scared without the toys he surrounded himself with. "are you sure you don't want them anymore? Its okay to still have them." Danny seemed half convinced, brushing Toms hair from his eyes with gentle fingers. "no, I don't want them anymore." Tom sighed, melting into Dannys arms when his arms went around him. "okay, no more toys, we can handle that. But we can bring them back at any time, you know. We'll bring them back whenever you want." Danny whispered, gently kissing Toms head.
131 Dannys POV
I cuddled Tom closely in my arms until he fell asleep, after staying up all night in fear. "thats it, sleep Tom, it'll be okay, I'll keep the monsters away." I whispered, kissing his hair softly, rubbing his back. I had thought that everything would be back to normal yesterday, but I guessed not, Tom still wasn't thinking clearly, or even rationally. I knew of his childhood fear of monsters hiding under the bed and in the wardrobe, and of his fear of the evil aliens that hid in the dark. It didn't bother me that he was like this, I found it cute to be honest, but what worried me was that Tom had gotten rid of his toys and spent the night scared witless because of it.
"should we go find the toys?" Dougie asked, biting his lip to shreds. "no, if Tom wants to get rid of them, he can. He's tried before, he's tried to 'grow up' but it never works. He'll ask for them back soon enough, trust me." I shook my head, carefully lying down, resting Toms skinny little frame mostly on top of my own, letting him grab fistfuls of my shirt for comfort. "but why did he get rid of all the posters too? Not even the Wizard Of Oz one in the kitchen is still up!" Harry worried, pulling Dougie onto the floor with him, holding him closely.
"I don't know. I'll ask later, let him sleep for a while now though. He's had a tough night." I sighed, playing with strands of Toms blonde hair, fixing them so they were sat perfectly on his head. "alright, but we're going to have to talk about this, because this isn't normal Tom behaviour. I thought you two getting back together would make him better, but it hasn't helped much." Harry squeezed Dougie close, trying to stop the little one from panicking. "I know, last time getting together helped him so much, this time not so much. Maybe he just needs a lot of love, its only been a day. Give it some time, it might help." The first time we got together was now 5 years ago, during the Motion In The Ocean era as we called it. It was when Tom decided he had had enough of the ridicule he got for being 'fat' and had started to lose weight. And I don't mean in the normal way by exercising. I mean Tom started to starve himself, and he literally stopped eating entirely, if I was lucky, he would eat a muffin in the afternoon. Other than that, he had nothing. It had scared me so much, and I tried talking to him about it, but he never listened to me about it. So, we ended up arguing, and I ended blurting out my feelings, Tom had stopped arguing with me, and had kissed me instead. From there, he ate, and was happy, and not constantly thinking about looks and weight and critics, because I loved him no matter what.
Flashback - April 1st 2006
"Tom! Will you listen to me? You can't avoid me forever!" I shouted, managing to corner Tom ironically in the kitchen, squashing him between the counter and my own body. "Danny get off me! Let me go!" Tom growled, weakly trying to shove me off him, but he was too weak to manage anything. "no! Listen to me right now. What your doing isn't at all healthy, you have to eat, you'll die if you don't!" I argued, pushing him harder so he stayed put. "Danny, I don't care, it doesn't matter." Tom looked away, leaning far away from me. He tried to lift himself onto the counter, but I grabbed hold of his hip, holding back a shudder at how easy it was to feel his bone.
"it does Tommy, it does. I think you have an eating disorder or something, and it scaring the hell out of me, okay? You can't carry on like this, your skin and bone already." Okay that was a slight exaggeration, but I was willing to try any tactic to get Tom to believe me. "I do not have an eating disorder! I'm fine, okay? I'm just losing a bit of weight, why is that such a problem, aren't I allowed to try and do something so I feel good about myself?!" Tom countered, getting angrier at me. It hurt to see him so defensive about this, he shouldn't be like this, ever. Sure, Tom didn't deserve to be jeered at constantly because of his weight (to me, he looks adorable, he would never hear that though), but he shouldn't be going to these lengths. "of course you are, but you can't do this! This isn't losing weight, this is killing yourself. When was the last time you actually ate something, huh? Cause I certainly haven't seen you eat something in at least 3 months!" I honestly couldn't remember seeing Tom eat one thing for months, it was terrifying.
"I ate a muffin last night, check the bin if you don't believe me." Tom glared, and stupidly, I went to check, leaving him to run away again and into the garden, then further into the field behind that. "sh*t, Tom come back here!" I bolted off after him, easily gaining on him. I tackled him the minute I could, pinning him face first into the grass, his wrists caught in my grasp. "Danny! Get the f*ck off me!" Tom cried out, writhing about, only for me to clamp down harder on him. "no, this is the only way I can get you to listen to me, and I'm not letting you go until you have heard me out. This is dangerous, you are scaring everyone. You just need to stop right now!" I whimpered, hating that I was having to do this to my best friend, the one I secretly loved so much, I would die for this man.
"of course its dangerous, I can't f*cking breathe!" Tom ignored me again, making me want to slap him, hard. "Thomas Michael Fletcher you stubborn, annoying, little...god, you annoy me sometimes! Will you just listen to me, so I can save your s*dding life?! I f*cking love you and I don't want to let you go, and at the moment, your making me lose you! I never want to lose you, and I will lose you if you don't stop with this whole eating problem you have right now!" I swore, then realised what I had just said, paling. "what? Danny did you just say you love me?!" Tom stopped struggling, trying to look at me. "y-yeah I did." I whispered, expecting Tom to use my relaxed grip to chuck me off and never talk to me again. "did you mean it?" Tom asked nervously, biting his lip. "I, er, yeah. I kinda love you Tom, more than just a friend." I finally admitted, looking away nervously, waiting to be shouted at. But I didn't, instead, Tom managed to turn us round and pin me underneath him, kissing me so gently and perfectly I almost cried. "I like you too Danny." Tom smiled, letting me pull him down again for another kiss. "you don't know how long I've waiting to hear that. Now, will you believe me?" I tried not to ruin the moment. "I'll try, for you." Tom kissed me again, and I grinned.
Flashback end