(Y'ALL REMEMBER THE TOM AND RUPERT BONDING THAT I TOLD YOU WAS GONNA HAPPEN THROUGH THE STORY? WE GOT IT BOYSSS

Also there's some innuendos sorry lol)

"Really dude, I think you're just freaking out about nothing." Josh said as he lifted a box out of the back. Tom merely frowned and crossed his arms over his chest, stepping out of the way so that Josh could set the box of camping supplies where it needed to go. Wiping his forehead with his shirt, Josh used one of his hands to shield his eyes, squinting up at the sun. "about what time would you say it is?" Tom glanced upwards and answered.

'Two, three o'clock?" Tom bit his lip as Josh got back to unloading their cart. He waited a few moments, before speaking again. "Really though I'm- "Josh cut him off with a sigh.

"Dude. Seriously. It'll be fine." Josh huffed as he saw Tom's expression remain the same. "Look, you don't see Tony worrying about anything, yeah? Be like Tony." Tom glanced over to the man that Josh was talking about. The other Modestep brother, Tony, was busy making sure that Rupert was securely tied to a tree. Tom had tried to persuade him to at least let him sleep on the floor of the cart, but Tony had merely pushed him off, talking about 'Ianitee scum' and how he should 'be treated like the dog he is'. He had been shocked at Tony's treatment of Rupert. Tony hadn't ever seemed like the type to discriminate. It really just made Tom uncomfortable, and Tom could see Rupert trying to push himself as far away from Tony as possible. That was fair. "Look, Tom. They won't find your weird diary that talks about what kind of dreams you had, or whatever fantasy you jerk it- "

"Okay, that's enough." Tom cut him off, his face flushing at the thought of Katherine or Jordan finding something like that. "It's not that kind of book Josh. I use it to talk to Dianite when we're apart." Josh merely snorted, raising an eyebrow at Tom's flushed face.

"It'll be fine, man. Calm down dude." Patting him on the shoulder, Josh continued to unload the cart. Tom sighed. That was not the answer he had been looking for Knowing the Modesteps, and Tony's current attitude, if Tom were to say anything more they'd probably tie him to a tree as well. Gag him too, to make him shut up. Tom silently helped the brothers unpack, and they had a roaring fire and dinner as the sun was going down. Tom glanced around their small camp. The brothers had their bedrolls beside each other, and Tom was across from them, sitting cross-legged on his own bedroll. Not too far away on his right, about six or seven meters away from him, Rupert sat up against a tree, his arms tied behind the tree and a few strands of rope wrapping around his chest. His ankles were also still tied together, and Tom felt a pang of remorse that he couldn't do anything about Rupert's situation. At least he was asleep, his head lolling to the side, resting on his shoulder.

"Hey, Tony?" Tom asked over the crackling of the fire. Tony's head jerked up from his lap, and he looked at Tom confusedly. "Who's taking first watch? Cause I don't know if I'm gonna be able to get to sleep that easily, so I can." He offered, watching as Tony bit his lip, thinking for a moment.

"I guess you can." Tom nodded, fiddling with his hands in his lap. He was seriously dreading falling asleep, especially since his nightmares had been coming back. At least if he drove himself to exhaustion he wouldn't have any dreams whatsoever. After a couple of hours, Josh called it quits, fall asleep a few minutes after he had gotten bundled up in his bedroll. Tony followed not long after, and was also quick to fall asleep. Tom smiled wishfully as he watched the two of them sleep. Gods, he wanted to be able to do that.

He sat in silence, minus the spitting fire and the sound of wind brushing through the trees. Distantly, he could hear an owl calling, but that was about it. A few hours passed before anything remotely interesting happened. Tom had been staring up at the sky, naming stars, when there was the sounds of groaning and shuffling coming from his right. He immediately glanced over, finding a slowly blinking Rupert trying to be more comfortable.

"You alright mate?" Tom asked hesitantly, watching as Rupert's head jerked towards him, his eyes wide. Rupert let out a couple of muffled noises, before Tom sighed. Sitting up, he came to squat beside Rupert, pulling the gag free from his mouth. Letting out a large gasp, Rupert opened and closed his mouth a few times, wanting to relive the slight pain in his jaw.

"Why'd you do that?" Rupert asked, voice slightly hoarse. Tom shrugged and sat on the ground, ignoring the small pebbles and sticks.

"Cause I don't like seeing people suffer?" Tom titled his head, squinting his eyes at Rupert. "You're not one of those people who try to say that all Dianitee's are sadists, are you?" Rupert shook his head, eyes nervously darting around the camp. When he saw that both Tony and Josh were sound asleep, he let out a sigh of relief and relaxed.

"No... I just... Well, I wasn't expecting it from someone who I had helped to kidnap before." Rupert stated bluntly.

"That makes sense. I guess Katherine wasn't expecting it either." Tom replied, not missing the alarmed look Rupert shot at him. "What? Your sister told me her name willingly. I didn't force her to do it or anything." Tom frowned as Rupert gaped at him. Did he really not expect all of those meetings from Katherine and Jordan to not have resulted in anything happening?

"You... You're joking." Rupert stammered, his face a strange ashy colour. Tom shook his head slowly, watching as Rupert only got more distressed. Internally, Rupert was freaking out. His beloved younger sister had willingly told Tom, however nice he may be, their enemy, her name. Her real name. Did she know what that could do? Dianite could track her down with that. Everyone only knew of Captain Capsize; few knew about Katherine Delany.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. Just like I won't tell anyone that Jordan is Ianite's champion." Tom replied, giving Rupert his most confident smile. Rupert swallowed and nodded shakily. He would just have to trust Tom's word on this one. Glancing at the ground, tom bit his lip, debating inside of his head. Should he really do it? Tell Rupert about what had transpired with himself and Katherine? Risk Rupert being angry at him? Well, there was only one way to find out. Tom took a deep breath in, trying to calm his racing heart. "I... Actually, I have something to tell you about Katherine... and myself." He nearly whispered the last part, too ashamed to look up at Rupert.

"W-What do you mean?" Rupert asked, concerned. Tom had started acing funny, and he couldn't help but feel like Tom was going to tell him something earth-shattering, something that would shake up his whole world. "Well? What is it?" Tom looked back up at him, carefully avoiding his eyes.

"Look, normally I'm not the best with feelings but..." Tom cleared his throat, trying his best not to panic. "I have feelings for your sister and... well, she definitely had the for me." Or at least, I hope she still does, he added in his head. Rupert blinked, not knowing exactly what to think of this scenario. On one hand, he was a little upset that Katherine had chosen Tom of all people (though he really knew that she couldn't control who she had feelings for). On the other, he was surprised. Katherine and Jordan had broken up? But they had seemed so happy together.

"Katherine and Jordan broke up?" He asked softly, watching as Tom shook his head slowly.

"I... no. Definitely not. I uh..." Tom swallowed, trying to hide the flush that was crawling up his cheeks. "I was also uhm... Intimate with... Jordan" Tom coughed, letting Rupert interpret that as he wished. Raising an eye brow, Rupert watched Tom awkwardly looking at anywhere but him. After a few minutes of the two sitting in silence, Tom glanced back up ay Rupert. "Aren't you going to say anything? Yell at me? Nothing?" Biting his lip, Tom watched Rupert as he replied.

"No I... I actually don't care who my sister bangs," Tom sputtered, his face going bright red, "because it's none of my business." Rupert continued, a small smile making its way onto his face as Tom protested that no, he and Katherine hadn't done anything because he didn't want to rush into anything and make her uncomfortable. "I... think we got off to a bad start, Tom."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I... To get a little personal, my home was attacked by Dianitee soldiers when I was fifteen. Both of my parents died, and I was just barely able to save Katherine and myself from falling to the same fate." Rupert closed his eyes for a moment, trying not to let his emotions bubble over. Tom watched him, feeling somewhat nauseous. His god had attacked another Ianitee village not that long ago? Gods, Dianite might actually be sadistic. Rupert cleared his throat and continued. "The man who killed my parents, the one made of flames and ash, I... I thought you would be like him. But you're not, so..." Rupert shrugged to the best of his ability. Tom felt his heart drop as he heard Rupert's description, knowing only one person, one thing that Rupert could have been describing. Furia. Furia had killed Katherine and Rupert's parents, maybe even some of their town. Gods, that left a bad taste in his mouth.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry." Tom said sincerely. He felt like throwing up, or maybe just crying a little. One of the things that Dianite had tried to do was to train him to become more... emotionless. Someone who would turn a blind eye to other's suffering. Someone who wouldn't hesitate to kill on Dianite's behalf. It hadn't worked, as Tom's compassion was too large to be overridden, but still. He hated that Dianite had just attacked because he felt like it.

"Thanks." Rupert replied quietly. The two of them sat in silence for almost a full thirty minutes, Tom feeling bad about Dianite's actions and Rupert trying to figure out what he wanted to say. Eventually, Rupert broke the long silence. "Tom, I think... I think that we should put our rough start behind us. I want Katherine to be happy, and I sure hope that you do too. Kathy... She wouldn't like t if we fought all the time." Rupert chuckled slightly, watching as a small smile appeared on Tom's face as well. "So... can we try to be civil? Maybe even become friends if you're feeling luck." Tom hesitantly nodded, reaching over to clap Rupert on the shoulder.

"Yeah. I'll try... Rupert." Tom replied, giving the other mans shoulder a gentle squeeze.

"So will I... Tom."