Trigger warning :)

Abigail closes the door behind Remington, noticing his sad, tired movements as he steps into the room and sits on the familiar, safe couch. "Hi, Remington," she greets, still not too sure about what's been going on recently. Remington hasn't told her much. When he saw her three days ago he talked about his eating and avoided even saying Emerson's name.

The singer doesn't respond. He's sure that if he opens his mouth then he'll burst into tears and not be able to stop. Last night and this morning were rough. After shouting at Andy, Remington wouldn't talk to the man. He felt ashamed and angry and didn't know what to say to fix it. He just wants to fix everything. But he can't. And that hurts.

"How was your morning?"

Remington shrugs. Awful. I cried in the bathroom for fifteen minutes.

Abigail picks up the jug of water to pour Remington a glass. "Do you wanna tell me what's bothering you?"

The boy doesn't shake or nod his head. He doesn't know if he wants to tell her. Is it worth it? Will it help? Will anything help? He picks up the glass and sips it.

"This is a safe space," Abigail reminds him, even though she knows he already is very aware of it.

Remington puts the glass down, rubs his eyes, and looks away. "Everyone-everyone hates me," he all-but-whispers.

"Why do you think that?"

"Haven't you-haven't you seen Instagram?"

"Not for a few days, no. What's going on?"

The singer sniffles. "Everyone hates me," he says again, "so I-so I guess I should just-I don't know-go away?"

Abigail shakes her head. "Do you want to show me what's going on?"

"No, I-Andy has my phone, 'cause I kept looking at it." He twists his ring on his finger, forever anxious.

"Okay. Do you think you can tell me what's happened?"

"I don't know."

Abigail watches him pick up the glass again, legs crossed, closed off from life. "Take your time."

"Well..." he sighs, "Emerson, he-he posted an old-an old photo of me kissing a girl, and-and made everyone believe that I-they all think I cheated on Andy and I didn't. And now I'm being called a hungry whore and a-a grade A slut. And I lost more than half my followers in two days and people keep messaging Andy and telling him to leave me all the time. And we're touring in less than two months and now everyone hates me and I-Abigail, I can't fucking take it. My urges are so bad and I shouted at Andy and there's literally no point in trying to fucking live anymore." His voice is small. Remington feels small. Irrelivent. Alone even though he's not.

"How long has this been going on?"

"Dunno. A few days. I need someone to make it stop because this," he points to his head, "is about to fuckin' expolde."

"You said your urges are bad? Do you wanna talk about that?"

"I don't know. Everything just hurts. What am I supposed to do?"

"Address it. Talk about it on your account. Be truthful."

Remington puts his head in his hands. "That won't work. They'll call me a liar. I'm victim shaming, apparently. D'you know how hard it is to hear that? I can't open Instagram. I'll go crazy."

"Have you spoken to Emerson since he posted it?"

"No."

"I think you should."

"No, I can't!" The boy's tearing up. "Sorry," he whispers, "I keep shouting."

"It's okay. I think you need to talk to Emerson, Remington. Get to the bottom of why he did it."

"I know why," he says, wiping his eyes, "'cause he hates me like everyone else."

"Everyone doesn't hate you."

"Then why-why are they being so mean, Abi? I can't..." Tears keep him from finishing the sentence and Remington pushes his hands into his eyes, tired and fed up of the familiar feeling of not being able to breathe properly. "Make it-please make it stop," he begs, elbows on his knees, rocking slightly.

Abigail feels her heart break, just like it does everytime she whitnesses Remington so sad like this. "It's gonna be okay," she says, "you're a strong person and Emerson will not get away with this forever. The truth always comes out."

"I want Andy," Remington cries, hardly listening to his therapist.

Abigail calls Andy. She explains how Remington is in tears and asking for him, and Andy says he'll be there in twenty minutes. When he arrives, Remington is sitting on the couch almost emotionless, if it wasn't for the sad eyes. He crouches infront of his husband and gently strokes his cheek. "Hi, sweetheart," Andy whispers, steadying himself when Remington shoots into his arms.

"Sorry for shouting before," Remington apologises, pressing his face into Andy's shoulder.

"Shh, it's okay. Let me take you home and run you a bath, okay?"

The boy nods.

Andy helps him to his feet, sending Abigail a soft smile on their way out. She smiles back, warmed at the way Andy could comfort the singer. "I'll see you soon, Remington, have a good afternoon," she says as they're leaving.

"Bye," Remington mumbles, "thanks."

"I was thinking about what you said," Andy begins, sitting in the bath with Remington against his chest.

"What did I say?" The younger asks, mindlessly playing with Andy's fingers.

"About how I haven't done anything to try and fix what's going on."

Remington hums. "Oh, that. I wouldn't exactly describe it as what I said, more like what I shouted."

"It was more of a half-shout thing. Anyway, I was thinking about it, and you're right. I didn't do anything to help the situation and I should have. I'm sorry."

"You don't need to say sorry, Andy, it's not a big deal."

The man kisses Remington's head. "Yes, I do. Because I did you wrong and I made you feel like I didn't care and you deserve an apology for that."

"You're being too harsh on yourself," Remington says thoughtfully, calm now.

"I don't think so."

The singer shakes his head. "No, you are. I just got overwhelmed and took it out on you, which was wrong, and now you think that you've done something wrong. You haven't."

"We're going off topic."

"Yeah, but it's important. 'cause no matter how bad I'm doing, you still matter just as much. So just-like-don't think that because I'm sad doesn't mean you can't still have feelings, too, okay?"

"I have feelings."

"Let me re-phrase. Just because I'm sad doesn't mean you can't still tell me how you're feeling. I want you to. Okay? Okay."

Andy finds himself smiling. "Okay. Can I say what I was gonna say, now?"

"Sure thing."

"So, I was thinking about what you said, and I made a post. I haven't shared it yet. I wanted to make sure you were okay with it, first, but you're right and I should say something about it."

"What's it say?"

Palaye Royale, Remington LBiersack, and Sebastian Danzig all shared.

Andy Black: Regarding the current situation concerning my husband and @palayeroyale. Remington has never cheated in his life. He would never ever dream of putting anyone-ANYONE-through that. I can assure you all that he has never been unfaithful, has never disrespected me or our marriage, and is the most selfless person you could ever meet. He's been in absolute pieces since these rumours started circulating and I can't even begin to tell you how utterly heart breaking it is to see all the awful things that are being said about such a beautiful, kind soul. I promise that I would not be with him if he had cheated and I would not ever be defending someone who had been unfaithful. The real reason why Emerson was removed from Palaye Royale was because him and Remington got into a nasty fight about very personal issues, and Emerson ended up punching Remington, as well as me. Many of you will be aware of what Remington has been through with his abusive relationship and I'm sure you can all imagine how scary it was for him to be hurt by his own brother. This was not the first time Emerson made Remington scared and we all felt it was right to remove him from the band. This was not us teaming up against him! This was something that had to be done if Palaye Royale were to continue and to ensure Remington's safety. Please understand that his safety, as well as any one else's, always comes above any band. The photo Emerson posted is more than four years old. I'm ashamed that you couldn't work that out for yourselves just by looking at Remington and how he has changed. He was not in a relationship at the time it was taken and did nothing wrong. Please don't assume you know everything when you don't. I shouldn't have to be sharing any of this. It's so personal and none of you should need to know any of it, but I desperately need you all to stop attacking and slut shaming my husband for something he's not done, and just support his damn band, please.
(I've had his full permission to post this.)
Have a good day.