xxPUDDxx - ah it definitely didn't, i've taken this exam 4 times now and failed 3 in a row, never getting more than a U. i still don't think i've passed! and no, Tom really isn't having any luck on the getting better front :/
282 Harrys POV
Tom managed quite well to be honest that evening, he hadn't eaten or been around food when he was with anyone in months, this had to be a bit of an improvement. At least he had tried to eat something, which was a start, and he had managed to eat something, so we were all very proud of him. Danny was especially pleased, he looked like a proud parent, praising Tom the whole way home, though I think it fell on deaf ears. Tom seemed to be quite distressed in the car on the way home, staying in a curled up little ball, tugging on the hair falling out of his beanie hat.
"Tommy, I'm so proud of you, you have no idea! I am so proud, we all are!" Danny grinned, hugging the boy, making him whimper loudly, his fingers still scrabbling for his hair to pull. "no, baby, don't pull your hair! It'll hurt." Danny pulled Toms hand away, holding them in his own, the freckles over his hands making Toms hands look even paler. "are you okay Tom?" Dougie asked, leaning over the seat, biting his lips to shreds. There was small nod from the skeletal blonde. "feel sick." Tom whispered as the car pulled up on our street.
"aw baby, want me to carry you inside then?" Danny offered, running a hand over Toms back gently. "n-no, just, leave me alone, I-I want to be alone." Tom stumbled out of the car, chewing his sleeve viciously. "alright, I'll give you an hour or two. I'll be back round around 10ish." Danny replied, steadying his boyfriend, keeping his hands on his matchstick arms. "n-no, let me be alone all night! I want to be alone all night!" Tom shook his head, looking so panicky, like he wanted to tear his hair out. "no, I'm sorry, I'm not leaving you all night. You went through something big tonight, and you feel ill, I'm not leaving you alone for too long." Danny shook his head, stroking Toms cheek, well trying, Tom wouldn't let him.
"its for the best Tom, just to have someone there, we'll all feel better if you're with someone." I could feel Dougie start to breathe heavily, I needed to calm him and Tom down now before one of them ended up passing out. "fine, whatever, just...give me a few hours, alright? Just, let me be alone a few hours!" Tom begged, he looked close to tears. He hated crying around people so I guessed he just wanted to cry for a while without us trying to make him feel better, Carrie would leave him alone too probably. I just had to make sure to do a check on his arms for cuts in the morning, just to make sure he wasn't trying to do something else. "alright, sure, I'll be back around 10." Danny gently kissed Toms forehead, before letting him run into his house, the door slamming loudly.
"he's not going to be okay, is he?" Dougie whispered, he looked deathly pale himself. "of course he will Dougs, he'll be okay, it might just take a while to get Tom used to eating with people. We'll all help him, just let him have this moment to himself, so he can pull himself together a little." I smiled half heartedly, rubbing his arm.
283 Dougies POV
Eventually, Harry convinced me and Danny to go home and leave Tom for a few hours, I trusted that Danny would run back round. He wouldn't leave Tom for that long, not ever, especially after the night he had had. "do you really think that Tom will be okay tonight?" I asked, getting into bed a few hours later. "yeah, I think he'll be alright. Carrie will make sure he doesn't do anything too bad and Danny is back round again. They're probably sleeping, perfectly fine, like you should be." Harry gave me a small smile, pulling the duvet around us, running his hand over my side calmly. "you sure?" I needed reassurance, and a lot of it. I was just worried about Tom, he had looked so scared, he hadn't been the same since we had reached the restaurant, before he had been fine, but for the rest of the night he had looked terrified. I knew he had to get over this fear he had, but I hated to leave him to get over it by himself, I wanted to help him, in any way, even though Tom didn't like any help. All I could think of was giving him the medication we had talked about a few weeks ago, but we had decided that because Tom had shown that he could be slightly better and normal on Dannys birthday, we would leave him be. But now I was thinking it was a bad decision...
"yes, we'll go round tomorrow and it'll be fine. Tom will be fine, maybe a little jittery, and maybe a little ill, but mostly he'll be fine. We just need to get him used to eating around people, we'll use smaller groups next time and not just jump into it unintentionally. It'll be okay Dougie, I know it will." Harry continued to stroke my side, his words making me feel a little better. "but what if he cuts again?" I asked, because, we never knew, he could do it again, then what would we do? "if he does, then we'll tell him that we can't really blame him after a hard night, and we'll restart again." Harry explained, pulling me into his body, letting me curl up as close as possible, almost burying myself inside him. "are you going to go to sleep now? It'll probably be better for us all if we're well rested." Harry shifted, his strong arms coming round my body, making me feel safe.
"yeah, I can sleep now." I nodded, tucking my head under his chin, seeing if I could hear his heart beat. "good, got everything?" Harry loosened his grip a little, just in case. "yep, you, Toms tshirt, and Dannys bracelet, toy lizard. I'm all sorted!" I smiled, the smells from all of my best friends surrounding me. "good, night Dougs, see you in the morning. I'll make us a fry up or something." Harry kissed my hair, still stroking my back, making me sleepy. "thanks, night Hazza." I did one final shift, pushing myself as far into Harrys arms as possible, before kissing his shoulder, falling asleep in his arms.
I slept mostly soundly for hours, only having about 4 nightmares, which wasn't too bad considering my average was about 7, before I was roughly shaken awake. "huh, what?" I mumbled, opening my eyes slowly, wincing at the light. "Dougs, we have a problem." Harry was pale, holding a newspaper in his hands. "why? Whats wrong?!" I sat up quickly, reading the headline. 'Huge McFLY Secret Revealed!' the main title read, a huge picture of us all underneath, it was a recent one too. It must have been taken during our tour, in the morning, when we were all half asleep and dead looking. To say the least, we looked horrible, which was probably not going to help the situation.
"w-what is it saying?" I whispered, not wanting to read this. "I don't know, I haven't read it yet." Harry shook his head, grabbing my hand as I started to shake. "I don't want to look." I whimpered, barely able to open to the right page. It was a 4 page spread, revealing one of the secrets we had tried to keep from being discovered. It was the major one, Tom and Dannys relationship. The public didn't know they were gay, let alone together! There was a huge picture in the middle, from a party we had had a few years ago, and it was of Tom and Danny, kissing. It was clearly not a drunken kiss either, it was a proper, normal kiss, their arms wrapped around each other, smiles clear on both their faces, hands tangled in each others hair. We were kissing too in the background, but we were 'out' already, we were just a bit obvious when we were hugging and kissing each other, wedding rings clear on our fingers. I felt so guilty for then thinking that it wasn't worse, nothing about Toms current state.
"do you think it was Fletch?" I whispered, remembering Fletchs words, he said he would try and ruin us, was this him trying? "yeah, I think it was. It must have been, no-one else who knows would let this secret go. It must have been him... we've got to tell Tom and Danny now, don't we?" Harry deflated, closing the paper, hiding the picture that I used to really like that I now sort of hated. "do we have to? I don't want to see their faces when they find out!" I whimpered, I really didn't want to see Danny freak out at the fact that everyone knew about him and Tom! It would destroy them to find out, the public were so judgemental at first about me and Harry, what more trouble would they cause Tom and Danny? They were just starting to get better, how badly would they be effected by the hate they would get from this, and if Fletch decided to reveal more about us?!