Tobi's P.O.V.
I'm pretty sure Vikk noticed it first despite me seeing Harry more often, but I preoccupied with other things, projects and the like, to realise that Harry wasn't quite himself. His upload schedule had always been atrocious so there was no change there but at Sidemen Sunday recordings where everyone was around, he was quiet. And that was strange. Harry was never quiet and Vikk noticed it because his eyes were always on his younger friend, both while recording and just while hanging out.
He chose to approach me about it first, apparently because I was the person he trusted the most to take his thoughts seriously, especially when it came to Harry. At first I wasn't sure if I believed him and told him that I would think about it, make sure what he was telling me was based on truth, and then I would get back to him. We were filming a Sidemen Sunday the next day, so that wouldn't be long.
I went through a whole bunch of film that night from the last few weeks and although I hadn't noticed it at the time, looking over it with some hindsight really made me notice what Vikk had. Harry was unusually quiet, only speaking if someone talked to him, he didn't laugh or joke and half the time he seemed like he was trying to hide, wandering off camera or standing behind someone else. When nothing much was happening he looked sullen, eyes to the ground and hands in his pockets. Something was definitely up.
The next day Vikk approached me almost before I even had the opportunity to get out of the car, but I told him to wait a bit. I wanted to see what was going on when the camera was off- the stuff we didn't put in videos or when we weren't filming. When he didn't have to be loud and boisterous, but he normally chose to anyway. However, he wasn't acting normally. He stood to the side, he barely spoke, he looked exhausted. This time it was me who went up to Vikk, at the end of the recording session, rather than the other way around, because I had to talk to him. Like, urgently.
"Did you notice?" He said quietly, glancing over at Harry across the room. He stood to the side, silent.
"Of course. I'm really worried about him, something's up. I think something's happened cause he definitely wasn't acting like this about... a month ago. There was this sudden switch in videos that I saw, like he was acting normally and then all of a sudden something was off." Vikk nodded.
"I saw that too, I went back and looked at the MoreSidemen videos." He drew his knees up to his chest and rested his chin on them, staring at the floor while thinking deeply. "I think the only way to go about it is to talk to him. You down for that?"
"Yes. Now?"
"Now."
Harry had just turned to leave when Vikk got up, weaving between the other Sidemen and those helping out with the filming to grab at his arm, tugging him back. He looked confused, and then I caught up with them.
"Can you stay please Harry? Maybe come round to mine?" Vikk's place was right around the corner. "We just wanna hang out for a bit." He furrowed his brow and for a moment I thought he was going to say no but then Vikk gave him his best puppy eyes- Harry wasn't about to say no to Vikk's puppy eyes. He sighed.
"Alright, I'll come. Who else is coming?"
"Just me." I said, grabbing his bag and handing it to him. "The other boys are all going home to record something. Or sleep. JJ said he wanted a nap."
"I'm driving!" Vikk crowed, dancing out the door ahead of us. That elicited a tiny smile from Harry but that quickly faded and he got that blank look on his face again. His face was pinched.
I slid into the backseat beside him and Vikk got us back to his apartment pretty quickly, reassuring the both of us that he had popcorn and chips and stuff for snacking and maybe we could watch a movie. I couldn't help but watch Harry, his barely-there nods in response to Vikk's chattering, the way his shoulders curled forwards, his slow blinking. Something was very wrong.
Back at his apartment, it took an entire movie for Vikk and I to finally talk to Harry. We kept glancing at each other over his shoulders throughout the movie, and I knew he hadn't been paying attention to the film on screen because he was playing with his fingers. I made the first move.
"Harry... we noticed something's been happening. You haven't been yourself lately and we just wanted to make sure that you're okay and you're... I don't know how to put it really. Just that you're okay." Harry looked at me, then at Vikk, and then his lip started to tremble. Vikk managed to get his arms around Harry before the younger boy burst into tears, sobbing brokenly for a moment before I hugged him too.
We stayed like that for a little while, Harry sobbing between Vikk and I while we tried to comfort him. It took almost half an hour for him to sob himself out, eventually falling limp between us with tears still dripping down his cheeks and hiccups making him jolt every couple of minutes. I squeezed his hand while Vikk refused to let him go, arms tight around our younger friend.
"Are you okay?" I quietly asked him, whispering in his ear. He managed to nod, drawing in a shaking breath. "Can you tell us what's going on?" He sniffled, finally raising his head. Vikk looked up as well but still kept his arms around Harry.
"About a month ago-" He hiccupped. "- I came out to my family. They- they-" He was so choked up he honestly couldn't say it for a couple of minutes but I think both Vikk and I knew what had happened. "-They disowned me."
He started crying again and Vikk and I looked between each other, Vikk's eyes wide. He knew this feeling, he knew exactly what Harry was going through, because, not even a year earlier, he had gone through the exact same thing. He had come to me not long after, the only person he felt he could trust, and it had blossomed into something perhaps more than friendship. I wrapped my arms back around Harry and hugged him tight.
We stayed like that for quite a while until Harry went limp again, eyes flickering. Vikk buried himself in Harry's chest and although it drew a flash of a smile, he quickly fell back to his sullen state. I whispered in his ear-
"It's gonna be okay Harry, I promise. Vikk and I'll be there for every step of the way, whenever you need us." He blinked up at me, owlish and silent.
"Are you sure?" I glanced down at Vikk and then back at him.
"I'm sure." I pressed a kiss to his forehead. "And I promise. I swear."
