The morning was quiet and still when George finally decided to leave his room in search of relief. He was alone in the waking world, bar for the pair stood in the kitchen.

The hushed, idle conversation ceased as George padded through the doorway. He spent a moment on taking in the two figures stood by the stove, one draped over the other and both looking back at him with sad eyes.

"Hi George." Darryl was the first to greet, voice cracking ever so slightly. Had he not spent the last few hours preparing himself for whatever he may face today - he was lucky to have remembered a group had arrived last night and figured the band had accompanied Clay to either support him or apologise as well - George was sure the noise itself would have made him break.

"Hey Darryl." George replied softly despite his exhaustion. Darryl looked as though he was holding back tears and Zak squeezed his arms around Darryl's waist tighter.

"We made pancakes... if you want some." He offered softly and George registered the plates of pancakes that lined the centre of the table. The air around them was awkward and all three knew very well why.

"We?" George asked jokingly. He should be angry, he should ignore them both like they did him.

But he missed his friends, he couldn't stand the way the atmosphere strangled his lungs. Zak and Darryl shared relieved smiles.

"Darryl made pancakes, I made a mess." Zak confirmed with a devilish grin and George smiled in return. Though it didn't move the tiredness in his eyes, it was still better than the almost permanent far away and sad look George had donned before.

"When everyone is awake.. would we be able to talk to you?" Darryl asked nervously, taking the seat opposite George. Zak plopped into the one beside him, looking between him and one stack of pancakes. "We have a lot of explaining and apologising to do."

George nodded softly, beginning to serve himself generously. He'd need all the support he could get in order to deal with the emotional turmoil he'd most certainly go through today. Zak took George serving himself as an open invitation to dig in as well.

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@OhOphelia
I hate gays so much, I honestly do. I woke them up ages ago, came in to see what was taking so long and they had both gotten changed and gone back to sleep.

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retweets likes
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@quackquack
Is that @ClarkNotKent and @JeThrowMeAway ???????
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@fleepfloop
These bitches gay! Good for them, good for them.
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@BBHisBaby
You're lucky you don't have to room with them 😔 "ClArK dOeSnT lIkE mE lIkE tHaT" 😔 I love them both but if I have to put up with any more of this, I will cry
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@OhOphelia
F's in the chat for poor Geo, may he find rest
soon
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Once again, the room was silent. Nick had been the next to awaken, Vincent trailing tiredly behind him, and he had taken the only available seat beside George protectively. The others had trickled in slowly as they each awoke, a certain tenseness following Keres, until the room was full.

Clay had been the last to enter. He had stood at the door with an odd look on his face, studying George and gnawing on his bottom lip in thought. After a few long moments of contemplation, he drifted in to take the last spot between Vincent and Jethro.

"Eat first, talk after." George stated, atmosphere one of waiting. He had finished his own a while ago but decided against leaving the table, pulling out his phone and working on cleaning his twitter and messages. He left the one from Clay until later.

It was the first time Clay had heard George talk in much too long and the sound itself had him welling up. He focused on his food instead, promising himself that he wouldn't cry. He knew full well how likely he was to break that promise.

"How do you want to do this?" Nick asked gently, voice lowered in an attempt to hide the words from anyone but George. Ophelia took it upon herself to strike up a loud conversation with the rest of the table to help him.

"I... don't know. How did you do it?" George murmured. If he was being honest, he had been thinking about it since the moment Clay had messaged him that he was here to apologise early that morning.

"I- well... we spoke in Geo, Jethro and I's place and... I kicked Clay and Keres out first." Nick admitted sheepishly and George gave him a disapproving look, to which he returned one that read 'can you really blame me?'. "Then V explained why they had all ignored us." George nodded softly.

"Then I had Clay and Keres explain.. everything else... on their own." Nick finished, deciding he didn't need to specify what he was referring to as he was sure George knew. He did.

"I think I'll do the same except.. separate Clay and Keres as well." George decided and Nick nodded, patting his shoulder as he stood and grabbed their plates.

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5/10/20

Clay <3
I'm going to fix this, please wait for me just a bit longer. I love you.
11:22pm
Seen

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Nick, Jethro, Clark, Keres, Ophelia and Clay stayed in the kitchen as George made his way to the sitting room, Darryl, Zak and Vincent following behind him.

Just as George was about to curl himself into the couch, Ophelia came jogging into the room carrying Boobies. "For emotional support." She stated with a grin, dumping the bear onto the couch, ruffling George's hair and jogging back out. George smiled softly and stared at the bear for a moment before shrugging and placing himself in its lap.

"Explain." George instructed, voice void of a fire he was sure would be there. He was much too tired to be angry anymore, he just wanted to know what he'd done wrong.

"Did Clay ever talk to you about our manager? A man called Damien?" Darryl asked softly, taking a seat beside George. George nodded.

"He mentioned him once or twice." He responded, casting his mind back.

"Did he ever tell you about how he was as a person? As our manager?" Darryl continued and George felt something in him twist with worry. He shook his head.

"No... he said that Damien wasn't happy when he disappeared to London for me but that was about it." George relayed quietly. "He always changed the subject if I asked." Darryl nodded gently.

"He probably didn't talk about Damien because Damien was very... controlling. He was the source of Clay's stress and the reason he was always so absent." Darryl explained carefully. "And he's the reason we had to stop talking to you."

"Damien had seen how often Clay spoke to you and called you and talked about you and he.. he decided that you were a distraction to him." Zak continued.

"Do you remember when Clay and I had an argument? When I was staying over with Zak and Darryl and you called us?" Vincent asked and George nodded again - he was doing an awful lot of nodding. He wouldn't be able to forget that night, no matter how hard he tried, for a multitude of reasons.

"While I was out, Damien visited. He doesn't do anything in person that can be done over the phone so it shocked us when we found out. He told Clay to stop talking to you and threatened consequences if he didn't comply." Vincent continued and George watched him with widened eyes.

"What kind of consequences?" He asked tentatively. Darryl, Zak and Vincent looked between themselves.

"We've never asked. We've always been too afraid to. The guy is..." Darryl searched for the words.

"A psycho." Vincent supplied.

"Insane." Zak suggested at the same time.

"Manipulative. And strong willed. And, most importantly, very rich." Darryl corrected. "He could get away with a lot more than normal people can."

"He called the rest of us afterwards and told us the same thing: that we couldn't talk to you or anyone you knew for the sake of the band." Zak started.

"The next day, Keres came and told us what had happened with Clay and Damien. Clay had called her as a last resort because he thought we would be too angry with him for what he said in his argument with Vinnie to come over and she listened and took care of him and when we couldn't." Darryl continued.

"We all tried so hard to find some way to get to you both but Damien knew too many people, would be able to track everything we sent out." Vincent promised.

George was silent for a moment, trying to process everything he had been told. None of them had ignored him on purpose. It hadn't been his fault. It had been because of a power hungry manager that didn't like how much he spoke to Clay. They had all tried to talk to him anyways, regardless of how afraid they were.

"That's why we kept liking your and Nick's posts, in the hopes that you might realise that we were still here. That we hadn't left you." Darryl added quietly. "To reassure ourselves that Damien hadn't done anything to you."

George wasn't quite sure how he felt as he curled tighter into Boobies' lap. The stinging betrayal he had felt at being ignored by them all was beginning to smooth and fade. It was replaced instead with the aching weight of how much he'd missed his friends.

"How come you can talk to us now?" George asked softly. He'd taken to picking at the sleeves of his gray hoodie.

"Damien.. is in the hospital at the moment. We don't know what happened but we're under temporary management with a woman named Mrs Bosko until he's better." Darryl explained carefully.

"It was the first thing Clay and I asked when she came to finalise the details of the contract; whether or not we could come and see you and Nick. Whether she was okay with homosexuality." Vincent added, feeling it was necessary to let George know he had been the first thing on Clay's mind.

George stayed silent for a suffocating pause that the other three didn't dare interrupt.

"I was so scared. You had said that you were my friends too and that you'd be there for me when I needed you. Then, Clay still didn't talk to me and I needed you and... you weren't there. I was so scared I had done something wrong." George admitted.

"Just because... just because I forgive you doesn't mean none of this happened. You have to understand what all this did to me, this doesn't mean everything is fine and perfect." He continued, looking between the three as they nodded.

"We know, George. We can only imagine what it felt like but we're here now. And we won't let this happen again. We'll do whatever it takes to help you believe that." Darryl promised. There was a moment in which the only sound heard was the sound of their breathing.

"I missed you guys. A lot." George finally whispered and Darryl reached for him before hesitating.

"We missed you too." Zak responded. George sat still for a short moment before reaching out for Darryl's still half extended arms.

He was almost instantly pulled into Darryl's chest, arms warm around him and Zak and Vincent gathered at his sides, wrapping him up entirely. George shook and he felt his throat close but the others weren't much better off.

Though the lump that had formed in his throat was tight and painful, the relief he felt at the weight beginning to lift from his lungs largely outweighed the discomfort.

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Boobies is the best emotional support there is, ion make the rules.

Feedback is welcome and appreciated!!!

Yours, Dandelion