Help Me (sequel to Save Me)

Chapter 133

Trigger warning.

With less than a month until tour, the boys are rehearsing everyday, and getting home later every night, and Andy starts getting concerned for how little sleep Remington is getting, since he is returning past midnight, sometimes past 2 am. He knows they want everything to be perfect for the shows, but he also knows how bad it is for Remington to be so tired.

Despite Abigail trying to persuade him to tell his brothers, Remington doesn't mention how he is dreading tour, even though every day he feels worse about the upcoming months. He's so scared of what's going to happen to his mental health.

One night, just two weeks away from tour, Andy waits until half past three in the morning for Remington, who practically crawls into the bedroom, yawning. "That bed looks so comfy," he mumbles through a yawn, "Andy," he whines, pulling his shirt off. "Help, I'm too tired."

The man slides out of bed and helps his lover out of his jeans. "You gotta get a lie in, sweetheart, you're exhausted." He pulls the boy into bed, and Remington yawns again. "I know you want everything to be perfect, but you're tiring yourself out and you need to be rested before tour starts. Call off rehearsal tomorrow and have a good sleep, yeah?"

"No, can't ruin it for them," Remington murmurs, "'m fine."

Andy rubs his back. "Sweetheart, you're exhausted. If you won't call it off, I will. But sleep now."

If he wasn't so sleepy, Remington would argue against it, but he just cuddles up to Andy and sighs, and soon falls asleep.

In the morning, Andy isn't exactly happy when he wakes up and Remington is gone. He knows that the reason his husband is working himself so hard is because he's so anxious about the upcoming tour, but he can see how the tiredness is making him even more anxious. Andy wonders what time Remington left this morning, and knows he won't have had any breakfast. He makes a coffee and calls the boy, but it rings through to voicemail. He doesn't want to be that controlling husband, but he really thinks that Remington rehearsing so much like this is not good for him, specially when he's getting less than six hours of sleep most nights.

Andy drinks the coffee and has a slice of toast, and tries calling Remington again, and when it goes to voicemail, he leaves the house and walks to Sebastian's. No one answers when he knocks on the door, and after waiting for a few minutes, Andy steps into the house and closes the door behind him. He goes down into the basement and finds Remington, Sebastian, Emerson, Johnny, and Andrew all arguing over something he doesn't bother working out.

"Hey!" Andy shouts, shutting them all up.

Remington immediately looks the other way.

"Wha-Andy?" Sebastian leans his guitar against the wall.

"What time did you guys start this morning?" The rock star asks.

They all look at one another, none of them wanting to answer. "I don't know, four hours ago, or something," Emerson says reluctantly.

Andy's eyes widen. "You've been here since six?"

"Yeah, I guess..."

"Alright, listen, I know you want the shows to be perfect, but you are working yourselves into exhaustion. I've been there, okay, I know what it's like to want to practice to death, but you need to take a break. Tour starts in two weeks and if you aren't well rested for it, you're gonna crash after the first few shows." He looks at Remington. "Look, whatever you guys wanna do, go for it, but I'm not letting this destroy Remington's mental health. He was so tired last night, he could barely even stand up. Whether you are carrying on or not, Remington is coming home with me and he's going to sleep, because he's fucking exhausted."

As much as the young singer wants to argue against Andy, the thought of going home and sleeping is way too enticing, and he knows how right Andy is.

"No, Andy, we need to rehearse," Sebastian insists.

The man shakes his head. "I don't care. What I care about is that my husband, your brother, is so fucking tired he's struggling to keep his eyes open, and I am not okay with that." As he's talking, Remington yawns and rubs his eyes. "And I know you love your band. I know what it's like to be willing to give up everything for your band, but this; no. You cannot let your own brother work himself into a mental breakdown because of your band. I'm not gonna let you do that. So whatever you wanna do, right now, you're doing it without Remington."

"Sebby, he's right," the singer mumbles, "I'm fucking exhausted and my anxiety is so bad and I need to fucking sleep." He sends Andy a grateful half-smile, and picks up his jacket from the back of a chair. "See you tomorrow." Sebastian isn't happy about cutting rehearsal short, but lets Remington go. The boy follows Andy up the stairs and out of the house, and only once they're outside does he say anything. "I didn't think they'd wanna stay for so long," he explains, "and I thought I'd wake up more."

Andy takes his hand. "It's okay. I understand that you want the shows to be perfect, but they won't go well if you're tired like this."

Remington yawns. "I thought-I thought that I could just pretend like I wasn't tired and everything would be fine."

"You know you can't do that, sweetheart. It's not good for you at all. You need to say if you need a break."

"I'm sorry," the younger murmurs, and sniffles.

"Hey, no, it's okay. No tears. Did you have anything to eat?"

Remington shakes his head. "Do you hate me?" He asks, vulnerable and scared because of the lack of sleep.

"No, kitten, I love you." He kisses Remington's hand as they're walking. "You just need to remember that no matter how it feels, you are always more important that your band, and if you need a break and some looking after, you have to say."

The tired singer rubs his eyes with his free hand. "I don't feel important."

"That doesn't mean you aren't. You are so important, to me and to so many others. Don't you forget it."

At home, Andy gets Remington a bowl of cereal, and after the boy has eaten it, he crawls back into bed and is soon fast asleep.

While his husband is sleeping, Andy talks to Jake on the phone about a single they're part way through recording, and texts Sebastian, who is obviously feeling guilty about earlier.

I didn't mean to keep him from sleeping. I know he's anxious about tour and I thought rehearsing a lot would help calm him down. Is he okay?

He's alright. Fragile, but alright.

Thanks for taking care of him.

Of course.

After two hours, he goes up to check on Remington, and sits on the bed next to him with a book for a while, until he wakes up. "Feeling a bit better?" Andy asks, playing with Remington's hair.

"You were right," Remington says, "I needed sleep."

"I know."

Remington rolls his eyes playfully and crawls onto Andy with a dramatic sigh. "Thanks for rescuing me from rehearsal. I was about to break and scream at them." He straddles Andy, and gives him a cute smile.

Running his hands over Remington's back, Andy hums. "Well, I wasn't going to let you have a breakdown when it could be prevented. That'd be a shitty thing for me to." He kisses his forehead. "How's your bruise? It looks better."

"It doesn't really hurt anymore. Why is your lap so comfortable?"

Andy chuckles.