Trigger warning

As soon as Sebastian stands up and says he's going to pick up Emerson from the police station, Remington jumps up in protests, shouting that they can't leave the house because he'll know.

"Remington, calm down," Sebastian tries, picking up a pair of shoes.

The singer shakes his head and rubs his eyes. "You can't!" He argues, "Sebastian, you can't go!"

"It's gonna be fine."

"No!" He fights back desperate, terrified tears, pushing Andy away and trying to pull his brother back from the door. "You can't! You can't! You can't!" He shouts, tugging on Sebastian's arm.

Andy can see that Sebastian is losing his temper. "Remington, sweetheart, it's okay. Let him go. It's alright," he soothes, but it doesn't work.

"NO! HE'LL KNOW! HE'LL KNOW! YOU CAN'T! SEBASTIAN, YOU CAN'T GO!" He tries again to pull Sebastian back and the man turns around and shoves Remington towards Andy, giving the rock star a sympathetic look and opening the door. "NO!" Remington screams, hyperventilating. "NO!"

"Baby, hey, it's okay. You're safe. Just breathe, it's okay." Andy pulls Remington into his arms and the boy crumples into his chest as the door closes behind Sebastian.

"No, no, no," he keeps sobbing, Andy gently pushing his head against him and stroking his hair. Remington doesn't try to dustance himself from Andy anymore. The hug is so warm and gentle and safe and he doesn't have the emotional or physical strenght to tear himself away from it.

Andy guides him into the living room. "It's okay," he says again, "just get it out, it's okay." He lets go of the boy and kisses his head before lying on his back on the couch, propped against the arm rest, and says soothingly, "come snuggle, it's okay."

"I'm scared."

"I know, beautiful. You're safe here, okay? Just come cuddle."

Remington whimpers and looks down. "No talking, though," he mumbles, "just cuddle."

"Of course, sweetheart, whatever makes you feel better."

After a moment, the younger carefully crawls onto his lover, head against his shoulder. "Love you, sorry for shouting." His words are so soft now; a drastic contrast from how he was just a minute ago. Andy always manages to calm him down so quickly.

"Shh, it's alright." He rubs Remington's back and plays with his hair, doing anything he can to comfort the scared boy. "Number?"

Remington exhales. "Thirty."

Andy hums, glad it's gone down a little bit.

"Andy?"

"Yeah?"

"You know I told myself that if I ever got to thirty I'd-I'd kill myself?"

"Oh sweetheart," Andy whispers, "I didn't know that."

The boy lets himself soak up the warmth and familiarity of his husband. "I was-I was going  to, but I just-everytime I thought about it I thought about you and about how much you love me and how much I love you and I-I just can't do that to you." He wipes his eyes and a gentle smile briefly graces his face when Andy takes his hand and kisses his knuckles where the wedding ring is. "You're important to me and if me-um-me killing myself hurts you then-then I don't-I don't want to do it. I want you to be happy more than I want me to not be here anymore, so..." He kisses Andy's cheek.

The man smiles, twisting Remington's wedding ring on his thin finger. "I thought you didn't wanna do any talking. That was quite a lot of talking," he teases, making Remington whine. "But seriously, that makes me so happy to hear. All I want is for you to live a long, beautiful life with me and to be happy. And if I can make you even just a tiny bit happier then I consider my life fulfilled."

"You're such a fucking softy. I love you."

"Only for you, my darling."

The police station is fairly quiet when Sebastian enters, stopping at the desk to explain why he's here. He's told that Emerson is currently being interviewd about his attacker and to sit and wait. Sebastian does as he's told, hoping that his little brother isn't hurt too badly.

Emerson has to explain everything that happened. He tells the officers about how he was at home with his girlfriend, Shy, and how he answered the door when the man knocked. He was expecting a delivery so it made sense for someone to be at the door. The stalker took advantage of the fact that Emerson had never seen him before, introducing himself as someone else and then striking. He punched the drummer across the jaw and ran off, leaving Emerson shaken and gratefully letting his fiance hold ice to his face.

He describes the man as best as he can, the officer noting down what he says and taking photos of his jaw for evidence. Once they're done he's shown back into the waiting area and he sends his big brother a grateful smile.

Sebastian offers a hug. "Are you okay?" He asks, agitated about the younger being hurt.

"Yeah, I'm alright. Shaken up, you know, but it's not bad."

"Okay, good. They haven't found him?'

Emerson shakes his head. "No, he ran away. They're sure he's the same guy that's been attacking Remington and Andy, though."

The guitarist sighs. "Yeah, I thought so. God, I hope they find him soon. Remington is absolutely terrified." They start walkig towards the exit.

"Oh fuck, Seb, I haven't apologised to him for what I said in the studio."

"Do it now, when we get back. As long as he's calmed down. He was really freaking out earlier."

"God, I feel so bad about it."

Sebastian unlocks the car. "I know. It'll be fine. Just be gentle, Em, he's really fragile."

Emerson opens the passenger door. "He's always fragile," he says under his breath.

"How come Shy didn't come with you?"

"She was called into work last minute. Thanks for coming to get me."

The car pulls out onto the road. "Anytime. Just promise me you'll be gentle with Remington. He's been through enough."

"Fine, I promise."

"And that means actually being nice to him and suppporting him and not telling him to kill himself."

Emerson rolls his eyes. "I know, dick head."

"But do you, though? Because you keep saying shit to him and it's really fucking harmful."

"I don't need a fucking lecture"

Sebastian sighs. "I think you might."

"Oh, come on. Maybe the actual problem is that you all treat him like he's uncapable of handling any sort of bad news or anything." He looks out of the window. "All I mean is that everyone always jumps up to help him the moment anything is slightly wrong and it's a big over the top, don't you think?"

"Emerson."

"What?"

The older shakes his head. "Have you ever been abused?"

"No, but-"

"No, you haven't. Have you ever been so terrified of going home in the evening that you have to stop the car because you're having a panic attack and there's no one you can talk to about it? No. Have you ever been told you're useless by your own girlfriend? No. Have you ever felt so alone that you turn to the person who's making you feel alone for some sort of comfort? No. Have you ever been tracked down and raped? No. Have you ever been stabbed by someone who said they loved you? No, you haven't. So shut the fuck up about how he should be acting and feeling and how we should be treating him. You have no fucking clue how fucking awful all that would have felt for him. You have no fucking idea what it's like to be so scared that you can't even think about what happens tomorrow. Emerson, you can't even begin to imagine the terror of it all. You don't know what it's like to have nightmares for years after about it. You don't know what it's like to cry until you're sick. You don't know what it's like to halucinate being stabbed and raped. You don't fucking know the fucking half of it, and maybe if you actually talked to Remington about it and let him explain why he is so delicate, then maybe you would fucking understand why we treat him so carefully. Are you stupid? Can't you see that the reason he trusts Andy so much and always turns to him when he needs someone is because Andy never makes him feel bad for how he's feeling. Don't you see how close he is to breaking most of the time? How can you possibly think it's remotely okay to be saying the things you've been saying to him?"

Emerson stays quiet. He knows that Sebastian is right. He has never been abused. He has no idea what it's like.

They walk into Sebastian's living room to Andy sitting across the sofa with Remington fast asleep on him, and the first thing Sebastian thinks is thank God he finally accepted a hug.

Andy turns his head to look at them, smiling. "He only just fell asleep," he says quietly,  stroking the boy's hair. "He'a a bit overwhelmed and kept bursting into tears. I was gonna take him home but he seemed comfortable and I didn't wanna upset him." The singer curls up into Andy's lap, still fast asleep.

"Okay, good. Do you want the blanket?"

Andy nods at Sebastian, reaching for the blanket when it's handed to him and tucking it around his husband. "Everything okay?"

"We'll tell you when he's not sleeping."

Andy scrolls through social media until Remington wakes up, posting a photo of the sleeping boy to his Instagram with the caption Look at this cutie. @Remingtonleith. I definitely married the right person.