TWs: description of violence, and minor injury detail

A.N: jeeeez this took a while to write. and it would have been longer too, but i took out a scene, which i'll explain at the end. but yeah, it's VEEEERRRYY long. so be warned lmao. it's also hella angsty, i feel so bad for what i did to my precious children uwu. but all in the name of angst, am i right? anyhow, hope you enjoy.

Concept: A whole world of trouble comes for the Sidemen when Harry accidentally gets involved with something he shouldn't.

[6110 words approx.]

//

Harry POV

Usually, I hate English lessons. I just can't seem to get my head around the subject, however easy others, like Vikk, may find it. But this particular English lesson is always good. Last period on a Wednesday. It's the day that my normal teacher has off, so we always end up with a substitute. Which means, in turn, we get nothing done. Pretty much, I just get an hour to talk to my two deskmates, Will and Stephen.

"Oh my God," Stephen complains suddenly, as he sinks down to pretty much lie across the desk space in front of him. I give him a half confused, half concerned look. "I bloody forgot that was today," he grumbles vaguely, not lifting his head up. Will and I exchange a glance.

"Forgot what was today mate?" Asks Will.

"Meeting with those guys my mate suggested to me," he says, and I cast my mind back to our prior conversations, trying to recall exactly what he's meeting them for. That's right. Stephen has been looking for a new dealer since his last one got busted. It's not that he's an avid taker, but he likes to know that there's somewhere close and reliable if he ever needs anything.

"Why's that bad?" I ask, confused. "You've been looking forward to this for nearly a month."

He sighs deeply. "Yep Harry, I have. But guess which idiot is going to miss it because he went and got an after school detention from his maths teacher."

Will pats his shoulder sympathetically. "That's unlucky mate. Can't you just explain it to them, and ask to meet up some other time?"

"They probably won't see me for another couple of months after this if I miss today. From what my mate told me, they're not fans of people declining at the last minute," says Stephen frustratedly, finally lifting his head up and running his hand through his short hair.

"Why not ask someone to go for you?" Will suggests.

Stephen scoffs. "Who would be crazy enough to do that?"

"I wouldn't mind," I offer, before even fully thinking about what I'm saying.

"What, really?" Asks Stephen, seeming disbelieving.

"I mean, why not?" I grin, while tugging gently on the rope bracelet that adorns my right wrist. Doing this always helps me install confidence into myself, for some weird reason. Maybe because it's the symbol that I'm part of something bigger. The Sidemen. Each of us have a rope bracelet, and I suppose it helps me remember that I have a group of people who will be there to catch me if I fall.

Stephen raises his eyebrows at me. "Because you're offering to go and see some potentially dangerous drug dealers who even I haven't met yet?"

"Well, I mean, yeah, but what's the worst that could happen?" I joke.

"The police finding your body in some ditch two weeks later," says Will. I honestly can't tell if he's being serious or not.

"Yeah Harry. I might have taken you up on that offer if I knew these guys were safe, but I don't want to send you in there with no idea what to expect," Stephen says, meeting my eyes seriously. I roll my eyes at him.

"You're acting like I don't have any experience with these kind of people," I huff. "I can handle myself fine."

"I know you can-" says Stephen, and is about to continue his sentence, but I cut him off.

"Then trust me, and let me go for you," I say, as firmly as I can manage. I'm not entirely sure why I want to go so badly. I know deep down that it's most likely a terrible idea, but that doesn't make me feel even a little bit nervous about it. The whole scenario seems thrilling, like I'm going to get some kind of kick out of potentially risking myself for Stephen's benefit.

"Harry, are you sure?" He asks reluctantly, after realising that he isn't going to win this debate.

"Yes mate," I grin. "It's not like I have anything better to do. Where am I going and what time?"

Stephen scratches the back of his head, seeming guilty already for accepting my help. "The usual spot, at twenty past three." I can easily get there on time. 'The usual spot' is a small clearing in the woods near our school, which is easily accessible if you walk along the abandoned railway that cuts a thin, well worn path through the trees.

"Sorted mate. You want me to make any purchases for you, or just meet them?" I question. He thinks it over carefully.

"I think we better leave buying for another day. But the next lot I get, you can have half, as payment for this," he says, and I grin widely.

"If free weed is what I get for doing favours for you, remind me to do them more often," I joke, earning a laugh from both Stephen and Will. Suddenly, the final bell rings harshly, signalling the end of the day. The whole class slowly begins to move, ignoring the substitute when she tells us to wait. The three of us quickly pack away our desk and stand up, each having somewhere different to be.

"Well, have fun in detention bro," I say, and nudge Stephen's shoulder playfully. He sighs, and gives me a grateful look.

"Thanks for this Harry. You really are a lifesaver," he smiles.

"No problem. Anytime you need someone to go and see some sketchy dealers for you, you know who to come to," I say, throwing my bag onto my back. "Plans tonight Will?"

"I'm taking my girl out on a date, but that's not 'til later. While I wait for her, homework," he replies. We all walk out of the door and into the surprisingly clear corridor. And of course, there's someone waiting for me, leaning up against the wall by the classroom door.

"Hey Cal," I beam upon seeing the taller boy. He stands up properly, and smiles at me.

"Hey Harold," he responds, and walks towards the three of us.

"If it isn't Airey," says Stephen lightheartedly. "Never thought I'd see you up here again, after the first fifty times."

"Leave him alone," says Will, elbowing Stephen lightly in the ribs. "It's nice that he waits for his boyfriend." The tips of my ears involuntarily heat up at the word. They always do. Even after nearly six months.

"If you insist," Stephen replies, only a little bit sarcastically. "Anyway Harry, Will and I are headed off, see you tomorrow!" He waves over his shoulder at me, as he walks off down the corridor.

"See you guys!" I call. "I'll let you know how it goes later Stephen."

"Okay, thanks again mate!" He shouts, and the pair disappear beyond a corner. Cal gives me a confused look.

"What's 'it'?" He asks, suspiciously, as we begin walking down the corridor.

"Oh, I offered to help out Stephen with something. Don't worry about it," I say, waving a hand dismissively.

"Harry, this is Stephen we're on about. What's he asked you to do?" Cal asks, seeming already concerned at me being involved with Stephen's business, whatever he thinks it is.

"If you must know, I'm going to meet with some guys for him. And I offered to do it," I respond, a little more defensively than intended.

"You're really gonna go?" He asks, disbelief clear on his face. "Do you even know who you're meeting? Hell, does he even know who he's sending you off to see?"

"Yeah, he does," I lie. "He's worked with them loads of times before."

Cal still doesn't look a hundred percent convinced. "Let me go with you," he says. "It would make me feel better, at least."

"Cal, I need to do this alone. It'll be fine, I promise," I say, trying to inject my words full of confidence and security.

"I don't like this, Harry," he says. "But I trust you. Just come back safe, please?" He stops to look me in the eyes. I meet his gaze as steadily as I can.

"I will," I say softly, and pull him in for a hug. He wraps his arms tightly around me, not wanting to let me go.

"I love you Harry," he murmurs into my hair.

"Love you too Cal."

//

Slowly, I walk into the clearing, looking around for any potentially hidden people. There's nobody that I can see hiding, which should be a good sign. I'm making sure to be extra careful, remembering the worried looks on the faces of the Sidemen (and Cal) when I told them where I was going. I know that if I don't come out of this okay, they're going to blame themselves for not doing more to stop me. This reason alone makes me want to take more cation than I usually would.

Three guys stand in the centre, and I approach them hesitantly. The one who I presume is the leader stands in the middle, a few centimetres taller than the other two, and definitely with a lot more muscle. He has cropped black hair, and strangely striking blue eyes.

"Stephen?" He asks, eyeing me. He's almost certainly sizing me up already, just in case things turn out badly. And unfortunately for me, it doesn't look like I could win against him, even if I tried. Especially when he has two other guys on his side too. I swallow nervously.

"No, he couldn't make it today. He asked me to come instead," I respond, careful to keep my tone neutral. "My name's Harry, good to meet you."

"Jaden." he says gruffly. His accent is local, and he doesn't sound much older than me. He extends his palm to me, and I hold out mine to shake his. But suddenly, he withdraws his hand sharply, eyes fixed on my right wrist, which is still held out to him. It's only now that I notice my sleeve has ridden up a bit, leaving my rope bracelet on display.

"You're a Sideman?" He growls, his tone making my blood turn to ice. I quickly move to pull my hand away from him, ready to run, but he grabs hold of my wrist firmly. I try to pull out of his grip, but he just holds onto me tighter. The two other guys round on me from both sides, and I feel panic begin to rise in my throat.

"Yeah, I'm a Sideman," I manage to choke out, but my throat feels dry, and sandpapery. Jaden snarls at me, clear disgust showing on his sharp features.

"Then you're going to pay," he hisses. "Any friend of Olatunji is an enemy of mine." His two guys have now each got a hold of one of my arms, fingers gripping my biceps hard enough to leave bruises. It's only now that I begin to squirm, trying to escape their holds. When they don't relent, I change tactics, and aim a kick at Jaden, who's now let go of me. It lands nowhere near him, and he sneers at my pathetic attempt to harm him.

"Don't make this any more difficult than it needs to be," he says, before stepping forward to aim a well placed punch to my stomach. The air leaves my lungs when his fist connects, and I double over in pain, my next breaths coming in wheezing gasps. I'm vaguely aware of his companions laughing, and encouraging him to hit me again. I just hang my head, and decide it's easier to take it rather than try to escape.

"Come on boys, lift his head up for me!" I hear Jaden shout. The enjoyment he seems to be getting from this makes me feel even more sick than I did before. "Pretty boy over here needs his face fixing." A hand roughly clenches in my hair, dragging my head upwards so that I am forced to look at the gloating boy in front of me. I barely have time to react before a hook hits me in the left side of my head, only just above my eye.

The blow leaves me feeling fazed. I can't focus in on any one thing, but what I can feel is him hitting me again. This time, square in the nose. With the force the punch hit me, I will be lucky if it isn't broken. Already, I can feel blood flowing from both nostrils, and dripping off my chin onto the damp, leafy floor. I close my eyes, and try to find some other place to be. Anywhere but here.

"Come on lad, I've not even got to the fun part yet," cackles Jaden, and he backhands me across the right side of my face. His hand leaves a stinging sensation on my cheek, in what I can only assume is an attempt to get me to open my eyes. Reluctantly, I comply, and meet his gaze with a cold, defiant stare.

"Watch out boys, he's got a mean glare," laughs Jaden, as he gets up in my face. "Had enough yet, do you reckon?" He asks sweetly, patting the left side of my face. I can feel my eye beginning to swell already from his right hook.

"Fuck you," I spit through gritted teeth, trying my best to feel brave.

"Finally found our words, huh," he says. "But that wasn't very nice for you to say at all, little boy. I think, as punishment, I might take out your tongue." Fear hits me like a truck at his words, and everything makes sense as I watch him reach into the band of his belt, and retrieve a knife. I begin thrashing again, more wildly this time, but the two boys keep their grip firm. Each of them hook a foot behind my knees, and push me down so that I'm kneeling on the floor.

Jaden advances, holding his knife menacingly. It's not big, but even from a distance I can tell that it's deadly sharp. I try to move away from him, but this new position allows even less movement than before. My arms are held behind my back, and my shoulders are being used to keep me firmly held down, so that I can't kick. I would scream, but it would be useless, especially now knowing he has a knife.

"Actually, I just thought of something better to cut off than his tongue," says Jaden, slyly. "Nate, give me the arm that you're holding." The guy holding my right arm, Nate apparently, brings it from behind my back, and hands it over to Jaden, all while still keeping a firm hold on my shoulder. Jaden holds my wrist, hard, and rolls up my sleeve. When he gives me a wicked grin, I realise what he's about to do.

"No," I croak. "Not that."

"Yes, that," he responds, and laughs evilly. "You're all disgusting. Sauntering around like you guys own the place. Acting all high and mighty. But look at you now. Pathetic. I bet they wouldn't even notice if I killed you, right here, right now," he purrs, and carefully slides his blade between my rope bracelet and my skin. I close my eyes tightly as his blade slices through the item on my wrist. The soft sound of it hitting the ground makes me flinch. Somehow, that hurt more than anything else he did today.

"There we go," he smiles. "That wasn't so hard, now was it?" I bite my bloody lip, trying to hold out, and stop the tears from falling. I see him move to stand behind me, and suddenly, the only things keeping me where I am is his fist balled tightly in my hair, and his blade pressed against my throat. I swallow, and feel my Adam's apple brush against the edge of his knife.

"Now listen here you little shit," he growls into my ear, breath unpleasant and hot against my skin. "You're gonna tell JJ that I'm not done with him yet. And if he doesn't come to face me sooner rather than later, I'll take out all of the Sidemen, one by one, starting with you. You got that?" I nod hastily, but that doesn't seem to cut it for him, as he presses his knife slightly into my neck. I feel my skin split on his blade, and a small amount of blood trickle down my throat.

"I got it," I whimper, and he finally releases me, pushing me down onto the ground. He gives me one last, harsh kick to the side for good measure, before stalking off towards the clearing's entrance. His two cronies follow after him, one taking the time to spit at me first.

"Don't forget to tell him," Jaden calls over his shoulder. "I'll be here, same time tomorrow." I stay perfectly still, and listen to their footsteps receding.

Once I'm certain that they're gone, I roll onto my back, and just lie there for a while, breathing heavily. In my head, I try to assess my injuries, but everything hurts so much it's just become one big blur of pain. The flow of blood from my nose seems to be slowing, but other than that, I can't distinguish anything. To be perfectly honest, I can't even remember in which places he hit me. My head is a mess. I feel so tired.

But I know that I need medical attention. Nothing seems to be severe enough to warrant going to A&E, so I try to work out which of my friends' houses is closest. It takes a couple of minutes in my slightly confused state, but I finally figure out that Vikk lives the closest. Which is good, because he's also the least likely to completely freak out about the situation, and he knows first aid. So I reach into my pocket, and pull out my phone, so that I can call Vikk and let him know I'm on my way over to his.

Much to my disappointment, I realise that somehow, during the ordeal, my screen got cracked. Thankfully though, the phone does still work. I swipe to speed dial, and tap on Vikk's number. The dial tone barely has a chance to start properly before he picks up.

"Harry? You alright?" His anxious voice comes through my phones speaker.

"Not really mate," I say, and chuckle slightly, feeling a bit delirious.

"Shit, what happened? Oh god, I knew letting you go to meet those guys was a bad idea," he rambles.

"Well Vikky, those guys beat me up pretty badly, if I'm honest. I'm going to be having words with Stephen about the kind of company he keeps," I joke. I try to sit up, wincing in pain as I do.

"Harry, now isn't the time for games," says Vikk, sounding scared. "Where are you?"

"Doesn't matter where I am," I say, stubbornly. "Can I come to yours to clean up? I'm closest to you."

"Yeah of course," he responds, seeming to be calming down, and starting to think rationally again. "How long will you be? I'll get ready for you."

"About five minutes, I think," I say, and begin trying to stand up. My stomach aches badly from the first punch he threw at me, and my side hurts too, but other than that, my body isn't too badly damaged. It's just my face.

"Okay. Be careful Harry," he warns before hanging up. I just sigh, and put my phone back in my pocket. At least I'm back on my feet now, I think, as I begin slowly trudging towards the clearing entrance and onto the railway line. I hold the sleeve of my shirt to my nose, attempting to stem the flow of blood a bit. This will probably be the longest walk to Vikk's house ever.

It actually ended up taking me ten minutes to get there, wearily dragging my beat up self to stand at his front door. I got a lot of stares from people who passed me on the street, and one concerned lady who asked if I was okay. But eventually, I make it to my destination.

I raise my hand to knock on the door, and hear someone thundering down the stairs. The door flies open to reveal Vikk, looking very worried and very out of breath. His breath hitches when he sees me.

"Oh my God," he says, raising his hand to his mouth. I smile at him half heartedly.

"Hey," I say. "Mind if I come in?" He nods quickly, and I step inside, closing his door behind me. He takes hold of my already sore wrist, and begins to lead me slowly up his stairs. By this point, I'm too tired to care what's happening to me, just wanting to go to sleep. Or maybe have a hot bath. Or both.

"Sit down," he says when we get to his bedroom, gesturing to his bed. I comply, sinking into his soft mattress. It feels like heaven after being sat on the forest floor. Vikk begins attending to me quickly, sitting next to me on his bed.

"Tell me what happened," he says softly, as he starts cleaning the dried blood from my face with a damp cloth.

I sigh gently. "It was going okay for about the first minute, but when I offered to shake his hand, he saw my bracelet, and knew I was a Sideman." Vikk nods, trying his best to understand the situation.

"Then?" He prompts, giving me an ice pack to hold against my swollen left eye.

"Then, he said something about JJ, his guys grabbed me, and he beat the shit outta me," I say, trying to remember clearly what happened. After the first blow to the head, everything is still a little fuzzy, but I can remember the basic gist of what happened.

"How many were there?" Vikk asks. He's finished cleaning my face now, leaning back to assess the damage. It's only now he notices the cut across my throat, which has not long stopped bleeding, and he begins to clean up the dried blood. "You're lucky that your nose isn't broken," he mutters quietly.

"There were three of them. The main guy was called Jaden. I can't remember what the other two were called though," I reply, wracking my brains for any important details that I've missed.

"Jaden... That name rings a bell. You said he has beef with JJ, yeah?"

"Yeah that's right. He told me to tell JJ to meet him tomorrow, after school, or he's gonna come for me again," I say, only now beginning to feel slightly worried. The whole situation is just starting to dawn on me. We have no idea how dangerous Jaden could actually be, or how many people are backing him. If this turns out to be a full scale war between him and the Sidemen, there's going to be casualties.

"He can't come for you Harry," soothes Vikk. I realise that my breathing has picked up significantly. I feel scared. Absolutely terrified of what could happen to me, or to my friends. "Harry, listen to me. You're safe here, okay?"

I force myself to let out a shaky breath, and try to relax a bit. He's right. Jaden has no idea where I live, or anything like that. The most he could know is which school I go to, which could be trouble, but he can't try anything on the premises.

"You're right Vikk," I breathe, and hang my head slightly. Normally in these situations, I would chew on my bracelet, but that's lying, broken on the floor in the clearing. So I settle for biting my already split lip instead.

"Harry, don't do that," Vikk scolds gently, and I look up to meet his brown eyed gaze. "We can talk to JJ about it tomorrow, but for now, are you hurt anywhere else?"

"He punched me a couple of times, and I'm gonna have bruises on my arms from where his guys held me, but other than that, no, I don't think so," I say. "Vikk, you can't tell JJ," I add in a whisper.

"What? Why not? You were assaulted Harry! The least we can do is talk to the guys. You're lucky I'm not making you call the police," he responds, seeming exasperated with me.

"I don't want them to think I'm weak," I murmur, and feel the tears that have been threatening me for half an hour now finally begin to fall.

"You're not weak Harry. You're a Sideman, and we will all stick by you no matter what happens," he reassures me, placing a gentle hand on my muddy knee.

"I am weak. And I can't be a Sideman any more," I choke out, my tears flowing faster.

"What makes you think that?"

"Because he took my bracelet. And we said, that if anyone lost theirs, they're no longer considered a Sideman," I sob.

"Harry, look at me," says Vikk, sternly. "We made up that rule when we were 11. We never knew that this would happen. You're always going to be a Sideman. And if it makes you feel any better, you can have my bracelet." Why is Vikk so kind? So forgiving? I don't deserve it.

I move to hug him tightly, burying my sore face in the crook of his neck. He wraps his arms around me, holding me close. He's always been one of the best people I know at giving hugs, I feel warm, and comforted. We stay like this for an immeasurable amount of time, until I finally calm down, and pull away.

"Alright. I won't tell anyone about this just yet," Vikk says looking unhappy about what he's agreeing to.

"Really?" I ask, disbelievingly.

"Really," he confirms, and holds his pinky out to me. "I promise."

"Thank you Vikk."

//

Cal POV

To say that I'm pissed off at Stephen would be the understatement of the century. I'm absolutely fuming. If I wasn't so worried about him, I'd probably be angry with Harry too.

This morning, Harry came into school looking like absolute hell. His left eye was completely black, making it seem painful for him to even blink. His bottom lip is split, and his nose looks slightly swollen. There are a number of small scratches littering his face, and bruise adorn what I could see of his wrists and forearms. The worst thing was seeing the long, thin cut that is horizontally across his throat. How dare someone do that to him.

His chipper attitude did nothing to mask how he looked on the outside. I knew instantly what had happened. Of course, we asked him about it, but he just pretended not to have any idea what we were talking about. When we pressed more firmly for answers, he just bullshitted some stuff. Saying that he hit his eye on the corner of his desk when falling out of bed, and blaming the cuts and  bruises on his own general clumsiness.

After a while, everyone else just leaves it alone, but I can't. So, I do what any rational human being would do, and hunt down Stephen. I find him at lunch, sitting alone in the canteen. As soon as he sees me, he looks guilty.

"Hey Stephen," I growl, and sit down heavily on the stool next to him. He flinches away from me slightly, seeming scared.

"Cal," he replies, not meeting my eyes.

"I'm gonna just cut to the chase. What exactly happened yesterday?" I ask, keeping the same cold, hard edge to my voice. Words just start spilling out of the anxious other boy's mouth.

"I'm so sorry, I had no idea that would happen. As soon as Harry suggested going for me, I knew it was a horrible idea, and I shouldn't have let him. Jaden text me afterwards, bragging about it, and I swear to God, I will never do business with that prick again," he babbles wildly, looking absolutely terrified. I guess I must look pretty pissed off.

"Hey, Stephen, will you calm down, I'm not that angry with you," I say, and reach out to pat his shoulder reassuringly. He gives me a wary look, so I force myself to relax even more to convince him.

"You're not?" He asks, furrowing his brows. "I was under that impression. You know, the stormy expression, tense posture, and maybe the fact that I accidentally sent your boyfriend into an ambush yesterday."

"Okay fine, I was very angry with you," I admit. "But I realised that it wasn't your fault. Harry knew the risk, and he did it anyway. And I know better than anyone how much of a stubborn dumbass he can be sometimes." Stephen smiles at me weakly.

"If that's the case, how can I help you?" He asks. "I'm assuming you didn't just come over for a friendly chat."

I scratch the back of my head. "Yeah, you're right. I just wanted to come and ask you how much you know about what happened, since Harry isn't talking about it."

"Okay sure. I don't know much, but I'll tell you what I do. Harry went out there to meet with Jaden, of course, but Jaden didn't realise that Harry was a part of the Sidemen."

"So this is about the Sidemen?" I say, some pieces of the puzzle clicking in to place.

"Yeah. Jaden hates JJ, they had a fued a little while back. And since the Sidemen are friends with Jide, he figured that they're fair game too. So he swung for Harry, got in a few punches, pulled out a knife to give Harry a bit of a scare, and then left."

"A bit of a scare?" I hiss lowly, making Stephen flinch away from me again. "Have you seen his fucking neck?"

He swallows nervously. "I have."

"Tell me what you know about this Jaden kid. I'm going down there tonight, and settle this for good," I growl.

//

As soon as school is over, I leave. I'm out of the gate in a matter of minutes after the bell goes, stopping for nobody. Waiting for nobody. If this kid thinks he can mess up my boyfriend and get away unscathed, he's in for a reality check. Nobody can do those things to Harry, and expect me to sit by and let it happen.

I'm walking quickly towards the railway, itching to get my hands dirty. Normally these kind of thoughts would scare me, but today, they fuel me. Jaden deserves all of my rage.

Just as I'm about to reach the start of the railway line, my phone goes off. I sigh, and stop briefly to check it. There's a couple of messages on my lock screen. From Harry.

Harry 🧡: Cal, I know where you're going, Stephen just told me.
Harry 🧡: Please don't do it. You can't win against this guy. He's got a knife, he'll try to kill you.
Harry 🧡: I love you, don't do anything stupid.
Harry 🧡: I don't want to lose you Cal...

I tap out a quick reply before turning my phone off, shoving it in my pocket, and carrying on.

You: I love you too, Harry.

He's definitely going to come after me, so I need to make this quick. Hopefully, Jaden will already be there when I arrive.

//

I kneel on the leafy floor of the clearing, trying to ignore the sharp pain in my left arm. I quickly press two fingers to the wound, and they come away coated in my own blood. I sigh deeply, and relax a little. I allow myself a small smile. I won. Harry, and the rest of the Sidemen are safe now. And they owe me big time.

Suddenly, I'm alerted of another person's presence, by footsteps racing loudly towards the clearing.

"Cal!" I hear Harry's scared voice shouting, sounding out of breath. He appears at the top of the ridge, rushing down clumsily. "Oh my God!" He shouts, and is on his knees infront of me in a matter of seconds. He throws his arms around my neck, hugging me tightly, as if he's afraid to let go. Like if he doesn't hold onto me tight enough, I'll slip through his fingers.

Carefully, I wrap my arms around his body, and pull him onto my lap. Deep, wracking sobs shake his small form, and I feel his tears on my neck. I raise a hand to the back of his head, and stroke his hair gently, hoping to soothe him slightly as he cries into my shoulder.

"Don't do that to me ever again, you dick," he sobs. "I thought you were gonna get yourself killed."

"I'm here Harry," I reassure him, and he curls more tightly into my body. "And you're free. I won."

"It doesn't matter if I'm free or not. I'm just so glad I didn't lose you," he sniffs, seeming to be calming down a little bit. But he still doesn't loosen his grip on me. I just continue stroking his hair, my fingers sliding easily through his silky locks.

After a while, he lifts up his head, and leans back so that he can take in my face. He gently dabs at my nose with the white cuff of his school shirt, as it is still slowly leaking blood. I smile at him wearily, fatigue from the fight beginning to hit me. I feel a little lightheaded, but push that aside as I look into Harry's eyes.

"I love you," he whispers, and leans in to press a chaste kiss to my lips. After, he pulls away, and just carries on scanning over my body for injuries. "Are you hurt?" He asks, concern filling his expression.

"I took a punch to the nose, and I nearly got stabbed in the arm, but the knife just grazed me. It's bleeding quite badly though," I say, and watch as he climbs out of my lap, to assess the damage. He rolls my sleeve up to my shoulder, and looks over the incision, which is still bleeding profusely. No wonder I feel a bit lightheaded.

"Jesus," he says, and quickly untucks his shirt from his trousers. He rips a long, wide strip off the bottom of his shirt, and hastily begins wrapping it around my arm. "It won't be clean like that, but it'll stop the bleeding for now," he says, and finishes up his makeshift bandage by tying the two ends in a tight knot.

"Thanks," I say tiredly. He nods gruffly in acknowledgment, before climbing back into my lap, and settling down again. I lean forwards, and gently rest my forehead on his shoulder, breathing out exhaustedly. We sit in silence for a while, wrapped in each other's embrace, each of us simply listening to the others breathing.

"I'm still mad at you," Harry murmurs after a bit, and I crack a smallish grin, not looking up.

"I know. But it's your fault I had to take him on in the first place. If you didn't try to be so helpful, and do favours for everyone, we wouldn't be in this mess," I tease, and hear him scoff quietly.

"We wouldn't be here if you didn't decide you needed to get revenge on the guy who minorly beat me up," he retorts, and holds me tighter.

"I don't think it was a minor job, Harry," I say, half seriously.

"Agree to disagree," he huffs.

"Sure. But if anyone comes near you again, there will be a repeat of this," I say.

"Cal."

"Yeah?" I respond.

"Shut up. You're a lot prettier when you aren't talking," he grins, earning a playful smack on the thigh from me.

"And you're still beautiful, even with that bruised eye," I flirt, feeling pleased when the tips of his ears go slightly pink.

"What did I just say about not talking," he mutters shyly.

"Okay, I'll be quiet now," I say, and breathe out a gentle sigh. I have no idea how many minutes pass when I'm here with him, like this. We're timeless together, sitting in each other's presences, on the cold, damp floor of the clearing. Basking in the glow of victory.

"Cal?" Harry says, after who knows how long, breaking the long comfortable silence.

I simply hum in response.

"Thank you, for what you did today. As much as I hated it, you did it for me. So thank you," he says, reluctantly.

"You're welcome," I whisper back, and press a kiss to his cheek. "Anything for you, Harry."

//

yeeeee so that was it. the scene i skipped out was cal's fight with jaden, which i was originally going to write. essentially what happened was, cal made a deal with him, saying that if he won, jaden would leave all of the sidemen alone. he wins, by knocking out jaden (god knows how lmao). also, i know in the scene at the end, harry may have seemed a bit dramatic, but all he knew was cal was going into a potential knife fight, and legit thought he was gonna die.