Chelsea - thanks! :)
486 Dougies POV
A few hours later, I was sat on the front room floor, eating my own dinner. Tom always ate before us, because he fell asleep around the time we ate. Right now, he was curled up on the sofa downstairs, softly snoring into a snoring Dannys leg. He looked calm again, but, I couldn't help but focus on what Tom had said earlier, while we had been trying to get him to eat. He had said 'don't want a cage' what the hell had he meant by that? He had actually said that, but, why? What had he meant by that? Was that what Tom had meant to say, or had he meant something else?
"do I need a search party to find you or are you alright?" Harry made me jump, sitting down on the sofa behind me, pulling my head to lean against his knee. "huh?" I asked, looking up at him. "you were so lost then I thought I might need a search party to find you." Harry smiled, running his hand through my hair affectionately. "oh, right, I'm fine, just thinking." I smiled a little, trying not to worry Harry. "about what Dougs?" He slid down the sofa, falling behind me, his knees flanking my sides. "about Tom. About what he said earlier, while we were feeding him." I glanced at the blonde now, he was still sleeping, holding onto his lovers leg that he was using as a pillow.
"about the cage thing?" Harry guessed, sometimes, I was glad he could guess what I was thinking, it saved me a lot of time explaining things. "yeah. What did he mean by that? What if he meant something else and is getting his words confused?" I explained, hoping Harry had a sensible answer, or at least an idea. "I don't know Dougs, I really don't know. I think he was just getting his words mixed up. Tom doesn't know a lot of words anymore, he probably just got confused." Harry smiled reassuringly, gently kissing my temple. "but why a cage? Why cages? Why not something else? I don't think its a slip of words." I really did think it was something to that Tom was thinking, but what was he thinking about cages? I was so confused!
"I think it is Dougs. I think Tom meant to say 'don't want food' but he said cage, because you were talking about your lizards tanks and that mesh cage thing you have that they climb in. He must have picked up the word from there and then said it instead of food when he got scared." Harry explained, that sounded pretty reasonable, but still, I really thought that Tom meant something by a cage. "thats a good idea, and it sounds pretty reasonable. But the way Tom looked, it looked like he actually knew what he was on about, like he actually meant a cage. I don't know why, but it didn't sit right with me, I was sure that Tom meant something by it." I sighed, I know it sounded silly, and that I was worrying too much, but I swear that Tom meant it.
"aw Dougs, you worry far too much! It doesn't mean anything, trust me. Now calm down, and eat your dinner, alright?" Harry wrapped his arms around me, squashing me close to his chest. "alright, but if you're sure that Tom didn't mean it." I gave in, I was being silly, Tom hadn't meant anything by it. "Toms fine, he didn't mean it, he got his words mixed up, thats all. And now he's sleeping, so its all fine in his head. And its fine in Dannys too, cause he's sleeping too." Harry reassured, rubbing my arm as the joint snoring of the troubled couple echoed around us.
487 Dannys POV
I woke up early the next morning, my stomach rumbling loud enough to wake the whole street up. Tom grumbled and shuffled around on my leg, but remained asleep. "sorry Tommy, I'll only be a minute." I whispered, carefully moving off the sofa, lowering his perfect head to the cushion. Before I left for some food, I kissed his head gently, wanting to show some love to him. Then, I ran as fast as I could to the kitchen, grabbing a box of cereal, running back again and going back to our previous positions. I didn't want to leave Tom for a second, I was terrified he would wander off or scare himself somehow, even when he was sleeping.
My worry got worse, like usual, as Tom woke up, turning over and whimpering quietly, rubbing his eyes. "morning baby, nice sleep?" I asked, running my fingers through his hair. Tom mumbled something and his hand fell on my leg, squeezing it a little. "alright sleepy, lets get you up." I smiled, picking up my boyfriend and taking him upstairs. I was planning on giving Tom a bath or a shower today, because he hadn't showered since the hospital, because I had been a little too scared to make him wash. What scared me was Tom seeing his body and freaking out, because he was so skeletal, so scarred. He hadn't been bad with it before, because he was more aware of his surroundings, but now, I wasn't so sure.
"Tommy, I'm going to have a bath, wanna have one too?" I started, sitting him on the floor, starting the bath running. Tom looked idly around the room instead of answering, but didn't show any signs tensing up anymore, so I hoped he had heard me and was fine with this. I stopped the taps running, making sure it was at a nice temperature, one that wasn't too hot, or too cold, and the bath wasn't too deep, just deep enough to cover Tom up to his waist. "right, lets get these clothes off, shall we? Are you taking them off or am I?" I asked, Tom seemed to zone in a little then, turning to look at me. "its alright, its just a bath, nothing more. Its warm in there." I smiled, slowly reaching out, undoing the buttons on Toms shirt, taking it off him, revealing his pale scarred arms.
I winced at them, but carried on, pulling Toms tshirt off him too, he didn't even whimper, so I guessed it was okay to carry on. Though, it scared me how tiny Tom was, still skin and bone, pale white, like the bath he was leaning against. But, he was gaining weight, I knew it, I had seen it on the scales, it had barely been a quarter of a stone, but it was something. I reached down to his trousers, but now Tom pulled his knees up to his chest, looking worried now. "its okay, I'm not going to do anything. You'll feel better after the bath, we'll go and hunt out some jammies and cuddle up on the sofa afterwards, alright?" I whispered, tracing patterns over his bony knee. "jabby fingers." Tom mumbled, obviously talking about the hospital. "they're not here Tommy, its just me. I'm not going to do anything." I promised, getting hold of Toms hand. "out there, poking out there." Tom shook his head, glancing at the door. "they're not, no-ones out there. Want me to close the door for you, so no-one can get in?" I suggested, I got a nod.
I jumped up and opened the door. "look, no-ones out here, you can check yourself too if you want." I held out my hand to him. Tom shook his head again, looking less worried, though he stayed tense, just like always. "alright, closing the door, no-one will get in here. It'll just be us." I closed the door, going back to the little boy, sitting next to him, relaxing when his legs fell to the side, letting me undo them and take them off for him. I guessed that Tom wasn't good with doing things with his hands, I knew he wouldn't be able to handle buttons. Tom looked so cold sitting there in his boxers, so I jumped to get him properly undressed and into the warm water, revealing the scars on his legs. Oh my god, I knew he had scarred legs, but not like this, not this many. Not all of these, not making it look like Tom had gone through a war zone. I shook myself out of it, refusing to think about it, Tom was cold, he would catch a cold if I didn't hurry up.
At least Tom looked warm again in the water, and even warmer as I started to wash him, wiping the sponge over his body, getting rid of any dirt on him, until his skin was shining, feeling as soft as ever. Washing his hair was a bit of problem, but I soon found a way to do that too, making sure that the water didn't run over his face too much. Then, I got him out and wrapped a towel around him, getting another to rub off the water off his chest, not wanting him to get a cold.
What I hadn't counted on, was Tom trying to cuddle the towel, smiling about how soft it was, giggling as I ran it over his torso. "aw, like this don't you?" I laughed, bringing him close, wrapping him into my arms, keeping the towel around him. The idea of having proper skin on skin contact on a part of him that the doctors touched worrying me a little, in case he got scared. Tom made a noise of contentment, leaning on my shoulder, finally feeling relaxed. For once, he was actually relaxed, for the first time in days, he was relaxed fully in my arms, safe and warm. My boyfriend all over again.