FLOYNTERxxx - not at all! i just wasn't sure what to reply, and when i'm not sure what to reply i reply with a face! i'm sorry for the confusion, but you didn't insult me at all!

331 Dannys POV

I don't think Tom had meant for his last answer to end up going down this route, judging by the way he cringed into me, gulping visibly. "I-It just, does." Tom whimpered, looking down at his knees like he was ashamed, though I don't think the audience or the presenter could see his face, which was lucky I guess. "its not that bad, Tom just needs a bit of space to get ready." I backed Tom up, trying so hard to not pull him onto my lap or take him away from here. Running from this would only make things worse, we were the only ones who could set this straight, and we were just going to have to endure things like this. "but why? If everything is fine between the four of you, why does Tom need to have a different dressing room? Are these 'problems' really that bad?" the presenter finally looked to me, making more air quotations, but what could I say? We hadn't been told what to say if this came up, we couldn't actually say 'yeah, Tom has an eating disorder, and he can't cope with normal things like eye contact. Things are a little bit tense between the two of us but we are working on it' but we couldn't lie either now, it was obvious now that there was something wrong with Tom, but we couldn't ever say what was wrong, mostly because we didn't even know ourselves. Tom was just, Tom, quiet and self conscious Tom, just a little more extreme with his emotions and silence.

"he just does, okay? There's nothing wrong with that at all." Harry defended, practically growling. No-one got to imply that we were lying, or do anything to upset any of us without the others going into attack mode. So far, this presenter had made Tom look like he wanted to cry, and poor Dougie looked so scared, and doing so much as stopping Dougies smile was enough for Harry going into attack mode. "okay...well, I think its time for a break. We'll be back in a few minutes." The presenter called a break, we relaxed. Finally, we could get out of here.

As soon as the cameras stopped rolling, we were practically running through the corridors back to our minivan, being taken off to wherever we were going next. Only then I actually pulled Tom into my arms, wrapping him up like it would protect him from the world. "I'm sorry." Tom whispered straight away, not letting me hold his hand, just about letting me hug him. "you don't have to be sorry baby. Its not your fault." I shook my head, kissing his own, rubbing his back. "it is, I'm sorry." Tom disagreed, clearly getting uncomfortable and agitated now. "no need to be sorry Tom, we all still love you no matter what. That presenter was a d*ck, just like last time. Just ignore him again, ignore all of the presenters actually, they all talk complete cr*p." Dougie joined in, leaning over his seat, encouraging smile on his face. "yeah, he's just a d*ck, ignore him." Harry leant over the seat too, his hand staying on Dougies back, always being there, never letting go.

"exactly, just another presenter trying to get us to say something bad so everyone can blow up about it." I agreed, stroking Toms hair, hoping it would calm him down a little. He looked so guilty, it broke my heart to pieces, it was like he believed that everything was his fault, like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. "I guess." Tom shrugged, not looking convinced, more like he was agreeing just to get out of this conversation.

332 Harrys POV

The next couple of interviews over the next few days were just as depressing and incriminating as the first, by the end of the week, Tom was barely holding himself together, obviously trying not to cry at the things the presenters were saying. It was like the word of our first interview had spread across the whole media industry, and now everyone was asking again about Toms mental state, barely believing that something was wrong. I couldn't tell if it was a good that people didn't believe it or not. It was good in a way because then the public hopefully just thought he was normal, but then again they could have thought he had changed into something terrible when he really hadn't. Either way, it was really putting Tom down now, he was a mess by the last interview, luckily it was for a magazine, so there wasn't any cameras around to film him look so ashamed of himself.

"Tom, are you okay?" I asked on the way to the car, noticing how he was shaking while he walked. "y-yeah, I'm fine." Tom nodded, hurrying to put his earphones into his ears, but his shaking fingers couldn't quite manage it. "alright, but do you want to go out tonight or not? Cause we don't have to." Danny took away his earphones, reminding me that we were going to a film premiere tonight. It was the latest Pirates of the Caribbean, and Dougie was beyond excited, had been ever since we had found out, because, as everyone knew, Dougie loved pirates. He wasn't called Captain Dougwash for nothing! "I still want to go out yeah." Tom nodded, inwardly wincing again, he did that a lot recently.

"okay, but if you change your mind..." Danny trailed off, like it was pointless to say that, it wasn't like Tom would say anything even if he did change his mind. He would never say anything to ruin anything for us, even if we told him we didn't mind. "yeah, I'll tell you. But I won't, don't worry." Tom forced a smile, taking back his earphones and jamming them in his ears, wandering over to the car, where Dougie had already skipped to. He was practically bouncing on the spot, despite the past few interviews, just the thought of pirates sent Dougie into a complete state of childish (too adorable for words) glee. "at least one of us is happy." I whispered in Dannys ear as he sighed, trudging towards the car. "yeah, at least one of us is." Danny agreed half heartedly, clambering into the car after his boyfriend.

Dougie bounced into the car after him, luckily, sort of used to the worrying quiet between Tom and Danny. Tom had his music on loud, the beat was easy to hear from here, Danny on the other hand was looking at Toms curled up form, reaching out and holding onto Toms hand. Luckily, the blonde let him. "oh my god, I can't wait for tonight! Its going to be so b*tching!" Dougie bounced, repeatedly slapping my arm in excitement. "Doug, calm down, its only a film!" I grabbed his hands, stopping him from hitting me even more. "but its got pirates again Harry! Pirates! You know I love pirates!" Dougies eyes were disappearing because of his smile, it was good to see him smile again, and be just so excited.

"I know you do Dougs, but just, calm down." I whispered, not really wanting to spoil his fun, but needing him to calm down, just a little bit. Tom and Danny needed some quiet time at the moment, before we went back into being in front of a whole load of cameras again. "alright. But still, pirates Harry!" Dougie deflated, then inflated again, bouncing a little. "yeah, and pirates are the coolest people ever, I know." I had to laugh, Dougie just go so excited about pirates and the things he loved. I found it so cute, it was one of the things I loved about him, how he got so excited over everything.