xxPUDDxx - haha, i love putting in the subtle Pudd references :)

195 Dougies POV

Over the next few days, we had photoshoots and interviews, all turning out quite well, we managed to mostly avoid the whole 'Tom has a broken leg, how did he manage that?' question, but not the whole 'is Tom crazy?' question. Every time they asked it, in whatever way, I swear I saw a part of Tom die. He looked so upset when people mentioned it, and I couldn't help but think that he was ashamed of how he was, it wasn't his fault his mind didn't work to what was deemed 'normal'. That didn't mean people could try and crack jokes, or make him seem crazy.

"so Tom, what exactly is wrong with you then?" the latest presenter, some overly made up girl (I mean, did she want a face with that make up?!) in the latest 'hip' fashion with a ridiculous haircut, asked. We all tensed, hands instantly all tightening around Tom, who was placed in the middle of us, looking so awkward and scared it was worrying. "I, er, don't want to say." Tom whispered, picking at his shaking fingers, though his nails were already chewed off almost completely. "oh come on! Everyone wants to know, whats wrong with the great Tom Fletcher?" the presenter encouraged, waving her hands like it was a fun mystery. "we're not saying, drop it." Harry sent the warning glare, his arms protectively around both me and Tom, his fingers linked with mine.

"don't hold out on us boys! Come on, spill the beans for us." Again, the presenter tried to get it out of us, we refused more and more as Tom got more and more nervous, he actually looked terrified. And I knew, right then, that tonight was going to be the night that the self harm would start again. I just hoped that Danny couldn't start too, if he started again then my nightmares could come true. If that happened then I wasn't going to cope.

"we're not saying whats wrong, cause there is nothing 'wrong' as you call it, with Tom. He is fine, you just need to stop pressuring him, because we are fine." Danny growled, his arms encasing Toms shaking body, his hands really desperately scratching at his arm from Dannys grip on his hand.

At last the presenter gave in, telling the audience that they were going to a break and afterwards we were performing. As soon as the cameras were shut off, we were out of our seats and back in the dressing room, huddled round Tom as he barely kept in tears. He was shaking almost uncontrollably in what looked like fear and pure hurt, this wasn't the first time that interviewers had said there was something 'wrong' with Tom. The first few times had been expected, but after the 10th time, it was then just being spiteful, to see if he would crack. Scratch marks were starting to come up on Toms arm, thin red angry looking lines poking out from his shirt ends. He had kept up wearing long sleeves, even as it had gotten warmer, and I was sort of glad, none of us wanted to see the marks on his arm, or the scratch marks that were coming up.

"don't listen to them Tommy, they're just trying to get a reaction from us, which isn't right. You're perfectly normal, okay baby? You're perfectly normal, just a bit depressed." Danny went straight in with comforting the shaking blonde, his arms keeping a protective hold around him before Tom even had the chance to react. Me and Harry then wrapped our arms around Tom too, all of us keeping him close as he quaked, holding in tears, clearly trying to pull himself together. "do you want to go home now baby? Cause, we can go home now, we don't have to play a song too if you don't want to." Danny asked, and I knew he didn't want to perform either, he just wanted to go home too. He had also had enough of interviews and people trying to make Tom look crazy or like a freak, he just wanted to get his boyfriend home before it was too much damage was done to poor Toms mind.

196 Harrys POV

"I wanna go home." Tom whimpered, admitting to actually wanting to do the right thing for the first time in over a year. "you can't go home just yet. You have to do the performance!" Fletch smashed that thought completely, giving us all that disapproving look. "why should we when all they're looking for is the thing thats apparently wrong with us?" I argued, I had used 'us' instead of 'Tom' to try and make it sound like it was all of us they were judging, so Tom didn't have all the pressure on himself. Pressure always effected him in the worst of ways, and right now we couldn't make it any worse.

"because I'm saying you need to perform, or people really will think somethings wrong. You can't let them see they've rattled you, just go out, play the song, and then we'll go home, its going to take about 20 minutes." Fletch explained, still looking at us like we were naughty children. "do we have to though? We can't perform like this, let us go home." Danny tried, trying to silently indicate Toms curled up, shivering form. His head was in his hands and it looked like he was crying, though I couldn't be sure. "do you really want to give them more ammunition to hit you lot with because you haven't performed? If you don't go out, they'll start making up rumours which you really don't want, so how about you go and play the song so people don't think the worst, alright?" Fletch eventually made us go and do the performance, glaring at us from the sidelines to tell us to carry on and act normal.

Luckily, we were performing All About You, so it didn't look too bad that Tom was sitting on a stool, because we were all sat down. And the actual performance went very well considering how badly both Tom and Danny were being affected by the last presenters words. Their voices shook a little, but that was about it, hell, Danny even smiled a little as he sung the second verse, looking right at Tom, eyes full of love that was clear even from my angle. The look didn't leave even as the cameras shut off, he instead gave Dougie his guitar and ran to Tom, hugging him close on his stool.

"you did so well baby, I'm proud. Time to go home now though, I'll help you up." Danny whispered, helping Tom up and back to the car. Me and Dougie carried their bags as well as our own to the minivan, getting in the back first, then letting Tom and Danny in, the both of them curling up together for once. "shh baby, you did very well. I'm so proud. Shh." Danny whispered the whole way home, pressing kisses to Toms hair. The poor boy was whimpering into Dannys chest, clawing at his shirt helplessly. "you did well Tom, don't worry. No more interviews today, or for the next 2 days. We're going home now, I promise." I leant over the seat, trying to run my hand over Toms shaking shoulder, only finding Dannys hand over his arm instead.