Blackmail Material

Tom stumbled into the tour-bus, tripping over his feet. His breathing was raggedy and he looked about three seconds away from breaking down completely. The chatter in the bus ceased completely, as they watched uncertainly their almost-little-brother try to disconcertedly make his way to his bunk. "Tommy...?" Oli called.

Tom's breaths were uneven and he looked up. In the light, everyone could see blood, and torn clothes, and wide icy blue eyes that didn't quite know where they were. Oli was by Tom's side in a few short strides and he led Tom over to the space cleared on the couch.

"Tom, what's happened?" Oli asked gently, but he got no reply. Tom stared off into space for half a minute before slowly, his face crumpled as he relived the memories. He burst out into sobs, startling everyone, letting them wrack his somewhat slender frame, as the guys did nothing but give Tom and Oli some space and hang about awkwardly in the background.

Oli scooped Tom to his chest with difficulty and Jona's heart broke a little by how broken Tom was that none of them could do anything about it. They might've been able to if Tom told them what the problem was but he was crying too hard, shaking too much. Oli sighed and pulled Tom closer to his chest, not even caring much that his almost-brothers were watching him in his 'older-brother mode'. "Calm down Tom. It's okay, shh, I'm right here..." Tom buried his face in Oli's neck. He whimpered slightly, the sound getting lost in Oli's skin. Oli threaded his fingers though Tom's hair and rubbed his back softly. "Come on, Tom, shhh...Don't cry. It's okay. I’m here; nobody’s going to hurt you. I promise Tommy, shh…"

It took several minutes before Tom's breathing returned to half-way normal, only disrupted by the odd hiccup and shaky intake of breath. Rolling his eyes a little at this stage, Oli motioned for a blanket, and when Lee handed it over, Oli nodded his thanks. He then proceeded to wrap the blanket around Tom as his breathing became normal, deep breaths. The warm piece of cloth covered his torn, bloody clothes and hid all evidence of what had happened - whatever that had been.

"One of you has to help me move him to my bunk..." Oli awkwardly announced to the bus, and Jona easily stepped forward. He tried to convey a sympathetic smile to Oli as he passed, whispering a quiet 'no problem'. Tom's face contorted a little and he let out a pained moan, stirring. Jona paused, and looked around. He bit his lip, and tried to be as gentle as possible, but he received the same results.

"If he wakes and remembers whatever he got done, I don't think any of us will sleep tonight." He admitted.

Oli sighed but nodded. "We'll take the couch then," he said.

Matt and Vegan sent questioning looks around but Oli interpreted them with no trouble.

"We shared a bed until I was 12ish." he told them nonchalantly. "I think after tonight he might need it again." He started to wiggle out of his pants. "Now if you'll excuse me," he gave a cheeky, but weary smile, "I quite want to sleep.”

The lads went away, and the next morning, when they woke, they saw an unusual but quite frankly adorable sight. Oli was curled up next to Tom in a tangle of blankets, but you could see Tom's fist curled next to Oli's face, and Oli was a bit on top of Tom. It looked like he was protecting him. Lee tiptoed away to hunt down one of Tom's easier to use cameras while the rest of them snickered about what good blackmail material it would be. It was by no means the best night ever, but even so, Sykes brothers blackmail material was very hard to come by.