Dougie looked up questionably as Tom strode purposefully onto the TV set. It was an enclosed glass room, with see-through walls, and perfect for celebrity interviews.

“Tom? Are you okay, mate?” Danny asked from where he was sat on the sofa, chatting companionably to one of the set-hands.

Tom shook his head slowly. Something about his whole demeanour had put Dougie on edge the moment he had entered. He was clearly unsettled, as his pupils kept darting all over the place furiously. Then again, Tom hadn’t been the same since Harry had chosen Dougie over him in the climax to the McFly tug-of-love that had filled the newspapers and magazines for months.

Once the decision had been made, Tom had seemed to retract. He had lost a worrying amount of weight in a short period of time, and it had gotten to the state that Harry had had to coax him into eating. Since then, he had appeared to have gotten a little better, but they were all still on edge.

Dougie took a step towards Tom slowly, “What’s wrong?”

Tom’s fingers found the key in the door behind him, and he turned it, before sliding the key into his pocket calmly. “Don’t talk to me like we’re friends,” he hissed in a low voice. This was when Dougie found himself staring straight down the barrel of a sleek black gun in absolute terror. “We’re nothing of the sort.”

Danny jumped up from the sofa, “Whoa! Tom, calm down!”

“I have spent a year trying to calm down after this whore slept with my boyfriend! And then he manages to convince him its love as well…” Tom’s lips curled into a sneer- the kind that chills you to the bone with just how much hatred it can contain, “How long until you get bored, Dougie? Leave him? Go back to how you used to be…?”

“I don’t sleep around any more,” Dougie responded, matching Tom’s cool tone. “And the only reason I did was because I thought Harry wasn’t interested.”

“So you decided to fuck him into submission?!”

Dougie stared at the man who- only a year previously- he had considered to be one of his best friends. How had it escalated into something like this? Why was he fearing for his life as Tom held a gun aloft and pointed at him?

He saw movement behind Tom, and his heart rate increased dramatically. Oh, no. He couldn’t be here. He couldn’t see this. “Harry!” he exclaimed.

Tom turned to see Harry tugging frantically on the handle, fighting to get in. Keeping one eye, and the gun trained on Dougie, Tom reached into his pocket and took out the key, displaying it to Harry tauntingly before pocketing it again.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Harry demanded, beating his fists on the glass. However, everyone inside the glass room could only see what he was saying by reading his lips, and all of his thumps were silent.

When Harry had walked in to see Tom standing in the glass divider, brandishing a gun in Dougie’s face, his heart had frozen in place. Then he’d been running, and slamming his hands against the glass.

He could hear everything being said inside. The microphones were switched on and broadcasting it all to the entire set with crystal clarity. Even right at that moment, Harry could hear the hitch in Dougie’s breathing.

“I’m doing this for us, Harry,” Tom said softly. “He’s twisting your mind. You have to get rid of him now.”

“Tom, I don’t think you’ve thought this thr-” Danny tried.

“Shut up!” Tom screamed at him. “I’ve had plenty of time to think this through! He’s destroyed everything I ever cared about! And now I’m going to destroy him…”

“No!” Harry shouted, running round the glass until Tom could see him. He made frantic negative gestures through it, pleading gestures.

“It’s too late, Harry,” Tom said with a small laugh at his desperation. “You sealed his fate when you chose him over me…”

It broke Tom’s heart to see what Harry did next. He looked totally crushed, and then he looked around himself. He called something to someone else on his side of the glass, but all he received was a shaking of the head. He looked frustrated as he said something back. This time, Tom could read his lips as he said the last part:

“I’ll kill myself.”

“No!” Dougie screamed, running over to the glass before Tom could react, not caring if he got a bullet in the back for it. He put a hand up to the glass and stared desperately at Harry though it, “Don’t you dare! If you put your life at risk and we survive this, I will kill you anyway!”

Harry’s eyes were shining as he put a hand to Dougie’s on the other side of the glass. “I need you,” he mouthed.

A tear slid free of one of Dougie’s glassy eyes and made a steady track down his cheek. “I love you,” he mouthed back, trying not to let Tom see what he was saying.

Dougie wasn’t going to let this ruin what he had with Harry. For years, he had watched Tom and Harry together, wishing he could have the drummer as his own, even if only for one night. One night where Tom didn’t exist, and they could be together.

Then, on tour, a drunken game of Truth or Dare had led to Harry confessing his true feelings, which was then followed by the best sex Dougie had ever had. Dougie had only loved once in his life, and he wasn’t going to let it be this short lived.

“Dougie!” Harry shouted as Tom marched up behind his lover. Dougie’s eyes widened as he was pulled back away from the glass. Tom held him by the neck, cocking the gun to his head.

“You have a choice, Harry,” Tom whispered. “Him or me? Say him, and I’ll put a bullet in his head. Say me, and he lives- but you can’t see him.”

“Say me, Harry!” Dougie shouted, struggling against Tom’s grip. “I’d rather die than see you with him!”

Harry turned away from the glass momentarily. “Where the hell are the police?” he called to one of the few people who were still in the room. The others had run off the second a gun was pulled out.

“They’re on their way,” she responded, biting down on her lip. “They better be quick. Two of my best friends are in there…”

“Same,” Harry said sadly. “We have to get them out.”

“And how are we going to do that?”

Dougie watched as Harry spoke to the young woman across the set. He ached to know what his lover was thinking, feeling. Why was he taking so long to decide?

Harry turned back to the glass and closed his eyes, bracing himself. When he opened them again, it was clear to him who he had to pick. By looking through the glass, he could see who he loved enough to choose. “Tom,” he mouthed.

Dougie’s knees buckled, and he fell to the floor soundlessly. His chest ached and his head pounded like a relentless marching drum. He felt as though every fibre of his being was dissolving. How could Harry choose Tom over him? Had he not meant anything he’d said?

Tom, on the other hand, felt joyous. And as Danny rushed forward to make sure the newly released- and sobbing- Dougie was okay, he felt nothing but a swell of pure love in his heart. It was like a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Harry loved him. After everything, Harry still loved him, and they were going to be together again, just like before.

“Let them out,” Harry mouthed, pointing a finger inside the glass room. Tom nodded, moving over to the door and opening it. The set-workers ran out as fast as possible, but Tom was pounced on from behind by someone who remained.

“You fucking bastard!” Dougie screamed, slamming his clenched fists into Tom’s back heavily. “You just can’t accept rejection, can you?! You had to wreck everything!”

Harry ran into the room and pulled Dougie off. “It looks like Tom’s not the only one who can’t take rejection,” he spat, a dark look on his face. “I didn’t choose him to save you. Get out of here, Dougie. And don’t come back in.”

Dougie stared at him in shock, before running from the room with a loud sob. Danny followed after him with a look of discomfort apparent on his face.

Tom stared at Harry, unable to believe that what was in front of him was truth. “You chose me.”

The look on Harry’s face never altered as he held out his hand, “Give me the gun.” Tom moved forward and pressed the weapon into his hand. It was incredible how something so deadly could be so light. Harry removed the cartridge quickly and threw both parts of the gun across the room. Then he smiled at Tom, “You had me worried.”

Tom stepped forward and crushed his mouth to Harry’s, overwhelmed with mirth as the drummer pulled him closer, responding to the kiss.

Through the glass, Dougie watched the passionate embrace of the man of his dreams and the one who had just tried to murder him. His heart was breaking into a thousand tiny splinters, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

“I didn’t want to do that, Harry,” he heard Tom whisper. “I didn’t want to hurt anyone. But I love you so much…”

“It was always you,” Harry promised, taking the blond’s hands and gripping them tightly. “He was just a momentary distraction… He never meant anything…”

Dougie stumbled back, knocking into a table. His breathing was quick and his eyes were large as Danny grabbed hold of his arms to keep him upright. Never meant anything?! Since when?! There wasn’t a day that had passed that they hadn’t exchanged love vows. Was this just a big joke to him?

Harry leaned in to whisper in Tom’s ear: “I love you…” They locked lips again, and Harry stumbled back with the force. Tom had clearly missed him. His hands drove into Harry’s hair, savouring the taste of the drummer on his tongue.

After a while, he broke away. “Why don’t we take this out of here?” he murmured, squeezing Tom’s hands affectionately and rubbing his nose off his. “I want some privacy…”

“We can-” Tom sensed it seconds before it happened, and he jammed his mouth shut as a soaked rag was forced over it. He held his breath, refusing to let any of the fumes invade his body.

Harry had tricked him, was all he could think. The bastard had tricked him! He had lied! He didn’t love him! He was still choosing that whore over him! Thinking fast, Tom propelled himself forward; his mouth connecting with Harry’s again before the drummer had time to react.

Harry was too late to close his mouth, and the fumes hit him full on. He stumbled back, breathing heavily, and trying to get his eyes to focus, before he blacked out, collapsing to the floor.

Tom threw off the woman who was still trying to gas him, and dragged a sleeve of his jumper across his mouth to remove the excess liquid before gulping in air. He ran to retrieve his gun.

Harry wasn’t going to get away with this, Tom raged as he picked up the body of the gun. He was going to suffer! And so was his whore! He was just reaching for the cartridge when a nail came flying out of nowhere and embedded itself in the wooden floor about half a centimetre off Tom’s fingers. His head snapped up.

“Touch that thing, and I’ll hit you next time,” Dougie warned. He was standing in the doorway, holding a nail-gun calmly in his hands. He had seen the woman sneaking up behind Tom, and he had known exactly what Harry had done.

After Dougie had commanded him not to, he had put his life in danger to save his. Dougie had taken to his feet the second Tom had lurched forward, grabbing any weapon in his path to help Harry.

Tom smirked, and moved his hand an inch further along, then screamed in pain as a nail was fired into his hand. He dropped the body of the gun in shock, and it skidded along the floor. He stared at the skewered limb in numb shock. He hadn’t thought that Dougie would have the balls or the aim to actually hit him.

“You could never just let alone, could you…?” he said softly. He pushed the woman forcefully into Dougie, sending the bassist off balance long enough to give him time to rugby tackle him to the ground.

They both crashed down, Tom on top. Dougie tried to fight him off, tried to raise the nail-gun, but Tom twisted his arm so it fell away with a clatter. Tom tried to pull the nail out of his flesh, but it was lodged in firmly. Dougie squirmed as a droplet of blood landed on his cheekbone and slid down slowly. Tom noticed this, and scowled.

“Do you not like my blood on you? Blood that you made me spill?” He seized the nail-gun from where Dougie had dropped it and pointed it directly between the eyes of the smaller blond, a cruel smile twisting on his lips.

Dougie could see the flicker in his eyes- the tell-tale flicker. It was official; Tom Fletcher had finally been driven off the edge and into insanity. The final rejection from Harry had been too much for him to take. “He chose you,” he whispered. “‘Bye-‘bye, slut.”

A shot rang out. The nail-gun fell to the floor and Tom’s face registered total terror and confusion as a dark stain of blood worked its way across his front like a terrible tie-dye. Dougie found himself unable to look away, and it was only when Tom fell off him limply- eyes wide and lifeless- that he looked round and saw Danny.

He had the assembled gun in the air, still pointing it at where Tom had been. The brunette’s eyes were wide as well, but he was still breathing- however irregularly. His hands, though, were steady.

Dougie sat up slowly as the police began to pour onto the set, not trusting his body to take all of his weight at once. He crawled over to Danny, and eased the gun out of his friend’s fingers gently, before embracing him tightly.

As the police moved around them, Dougie looked at the two men lying on the floor sadly. His eyes took in Harry’s unconscious form, and Tom’s dead one. The woman was sprawled in another corner, trying to convince an officer that she hadn’t been hurt.

Never again, Dougie vowed as he was pried away from Danny and bombarded by the police, as Tom’s body was taken away in a black bag, as Danny and Harry were taken into hospital- Danny due to shock, as he himself was checked over and interviewed by what seemed like a million policemen.

Never again was Dougie Poynter ever getting involved in a love triangle.