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Adjusting to life in the jungle hasn’t been so easy for Danny, being away from his family and friends for three weeks is hard enough normally. Never mind the fact he’s half way across the world and has no way of contacting them.
Being in a jungle in the middle of nowhere with people he didn’t know didn’t really go well with his anxiety, he was so excited at first but after a couple of days the excitement wore off and he just wanted to go home.
Admittedly, he had a minor panic attack on the third day and was talked out of it by Oti. Danny decided he could trust her then, she seemed to really care about him.
She was definitely one of his favourite camp mates, the only one who could even compete with her was Barry. His relationship with Barry was different to his one with Oti, he honestly saw Barry as more of a father figure than anything else.
Of course he couldn’t forget Alan, he’d also been very comforting to him when he realised Danny was upset.
So it wasn’t all bad.
The one thing Danny disliked the most was the trials, it wasn’t necessarily because he was dealing with insects and getting covered in all sorts of things, it was mostly because he struggled with the pressure.
He’d get himself so worked up at the fact his camp mates were relying on him to get as many stars as possible to get a good meal and send himself into a panic.
He’d managed to control his emotions well enough so far, but he knew that he’d slip up at some point. The dreaded thought in the back of his head that he’d regress in front of the whole world was becoming more of a worry everyday.
He could control it though.. right?
“I really hope he has to do the trial tonight, his reaction will be so funny” Dougie laughs, taking his seat next to Harry on the sofa.
They’d all decided to go over to Tom’s house tonight to watch the show together, knowing Danny had a high chance of doing the trial as Dougie had tweeted encouraging their fans to vote for him.
“I think he will, our fans definitely will have listened to you” Harry says, grabbing the remote off the arm of the sofa and chucking it to Tom.
“Hopefully he just doesn’t freak out” Tom shrugs, flicking through the channels until he finds the right one.
“He’s been coping well so far hasn’t he? I’m pretty sure i’ve only seen him cry once” Gi asks them, she gets three nods in response.
“Yeah, i think he had a panic attack a few nights ago though. I could tell by the look on his face and his eyes were a little red, i think Oti helped him out with it” Tom mutters, getting three sad faces staring back at him.
“Okay now i’m worried, maybe he shouldn’t be doing a trial” Dougie looks extremely concerned now, seeing the show has just started and Danny is already looking a little fidgety.
“Maybe it’s just his ADHD and he can’t sit still..” Harry tries to lighten the mood a little, but he knows all of them are still worried.
They get about ten minutes into the show and find out that Danny will be doing a trial with Dean, thankfully he seemed to take the news well and looked relatively calm.
“I think he’ll do well but i’m not too sure about the other one” Gi speaks up, only hearing Danny’s name.
“He’s a strong lad, he’s got this” Tom says, getting three nods in agreement.
Danny does a really good job in their trial, having to do most of the work. Despite that they still get a good amount of stars and they know it should calm Danny down from worrying about his camp mates getting a decent meal.
“Honestly i don’t think i could’ve handled that any better myself, he did a good job considering he did most of the work” Harry shrugs, smiling up at the screen when he sees Danny excitedly telling the camp how many stars they got.
“Not bad, he’s not on my level yet” Dougie mutters, getting three laughs in response. He’s going to be livid when Danny wins and steals his crown, because there’s no way their fans will let him lose.
They calm down a little after the trials done, getting their food and chatting a little instead of staring at the screen in worry. They know the camp is eating their meal so they don’t pay much attention, not until Tom speaks up.
“Uhm.. lads” Dougie and Harry turn their attention to Tom who’s staring at the screen nervously, they frown and look up at the tv, wondering why he’s so-
Oh.
With one look they know what’s going on, Danny’s eyes are widening as time goes on and his thumb is getting dangerously closer to his mouth.
He’s regressing.
“This is not good, what are we gonna do? What if he starts crying for you, how can we explain that?” Dougie exclaims, gaining the attention of Gi who had just walked back into the room.
“What’s going on?” She asks worriedly, glancing at the three of them.
“Danny’s regressing..” Harry blurts out, even though Gi knows about Danny being little they rarely talk to her about it.
“Are you sure? Maybe he’s just anxious..” Gi tries to reassure them, but with one look up at the screen she knows they’re right.
She’s only ever seen Danny little twice, but she has three kids, she knows these things.
“What are we going to do? If he cries for daddy there’s no way of explaining that” Tom runs a hand through his hair anxiously.
“Even if he cries for us there’s no way of explaining bubba and dada, this is really bad. We should’ve ignored him and told somebody there, you’ve met Oti she’s lovely i’m sure she would’ve helped him” Harry is interrupted by Dougie nudging him and pointing to the screen, they all turn their attention back to the tv.
Danny is still sat nervously fidgeting, his eyes darting around in a panic. It’s clear that he’s in a pretty young headspace, thankfully they know he’s not as young as he usually is.
“The good thing is.. he looks to be about 4/5, when he’s younger he cries straight away so i know he’s not three or under” Tom mumbles to nobody in particular.
Oti appears in front of Danny and crouches down in front of him, gently placing a hand on his knee.
“Is everything okay, Danny? You look a little uncomfortable” Oti says softly, Danny looks down at her with wide fear filled eyes.
“Uhm..” Is the response she gets, and all three of them know he’s stressing because he struggles to talk when he’s regressed.
Thankfully, Oti doesn’t push for an answer and instead stands up and takes a seat next to him.
“Would you like a hug instead of speaking?” She questions, quickly getting a small nod from the singer who rests his head on her shoulder.
“Okay.. maybe she’ll help him relax and he won’t slip up” Dougie says confidently, seeing Oti rub his back gently.
“Is your brain just too overwhelmed right now? I know how hard ADHD can be, i don’t imagine it’s easy to handle in here” Oti mumbles gently, getting a quiet hum in response.
Danny seems to then mumble something which the mics don’t quite catch and Oti’s face changes a little, seemingly like she’s worked something out.
The cameras then switch to Barry slowly making his way over, a concerned look on his face. Oti gestures for Alan to come over and sit with Danny for a moment whilst she talks to him.
“You feeling a bit stressed, mate?” Alan asks sympathetically, as expected he gets a nod as his answer.
“If he stays quiet he might get away with it without people noticing” Gi tries to calm them all down a little.
“Oti seems to be helping him a lot” Dougie points out, not turning his eyes away from the screen for a second.
“Worried big brother alert” Harry tries to joke, but the three glares he gets back shuts him up.
“Is he okay? He looks very upset” Barry’s voice interrupts them and they switch their focus back to the tv.
“I think he’s just very overwhelmed right now, he doesn’t seem to want to talk which is okay, i don’t think we should push him to speak. I think he’s missing his bandmates” All three boys immediately grow more worried.
“How’d you know it’s them?”
“Well, when i was hugging him he mumbled something. I’m not 100% sure but i’m pretty sure he said Tommy? If he did then it’s his bandmate Tom he’s missing right now” Oti explains, Barry looks to grow even more concerned.
“I knew it’d be you he’s after” Dougie rolls his eyes half heartedly, but he’s still visibly worried about his band mate.
“I’m glad he remembered to say Tommy at least..” Tom mutters, anxiously watching as Barry takes a seat next to Danny and pulls him into a hug.
“He may aswell adopt him at this point, i think you’re being replaced Tom” Harry shrugs, watching as Danny tries to nuzzle into the older man without being caught.
They know that the little things that are visible to them won’t be noticed by anybody else, nobody else knows Danny well enough to realise how he’s really feeling. He’s very good at hiding it.
“No way, are they about to sing to him?” Dougie suddenly shouts, after a few seconds it’s clear he isn’t wrong. Because the whole camp starts to sing all about you.
That pulls a little grin out of Danny, they can hear him giggle a few times and it still makes their heart melt after all these years.
“Did we do a good job, kid?” Barry asks him, he gets a happy nod and everyone cheers making the little smile even more.
After a few seconds it then cuts to Oti speaking in the hut.
“Danny is one of the loveliest people i have ever met, he’s very much a people pleaser and does a great job at boosting morale in the camp. Seeing him so down is really heartbreaking for me, even though i’ve only known him for around a week now i care about him a lot. I think being away from his bandmates is what’s upsetting him the most, especially Tom. It’s clear that he has a special relationship with him and isn’t comfortable being away from him for so long, but i hope he knows that we love him here in camp and will always look out for him”
“Okay.. i love her” Harry says after a few moments of silence, they all seem to be shocked at how well she knows Danny after just a week.
“I think he’ll be alright for now, Oti will look out for him. So will Barry, i’m worried i might be getting replaced soon” Tom laughs a little, but he breathes a sigh of relief.
He’s been extremely worried for Danny, they all have, trying to figure out if there’s anybody they can call and tell them to look after him. They even debated calling Georgia during their panic but they know Danny would go crazy if they did.
But seeing his camp mates be so calm and understanding, they know they don’t need to worry. He’s going to be okay.
And if they hug him so tight to the point he’s struggling to breathe when he gets home, who cares?
Even though he hasn’t been little for years, he’ll always be their little man.
Nothing will change that.