Carter couldn't think of anything worse than going to work the next morning. Alexis had finally gotten to sleep, barely two hours before his alarm went off. He sighed. Pulling his phone off his bedside table and glancing at Artemis, who was sleeping peacefully. He called his office, explaining that he had an emergency at home and wouldn't be in.
Hanging up, he chucked his phone to the side and kissed Alexis' head. "I'm here, Alex. I'm not going to let anything hurt you."
Artemis' alarm went off a while later, causing him to groan. "Fucks sake."
He had barely stood up when Carter caught his wrist. He felt bad asking, but he needed his support. "Artie stay home."
"What's wrong?" Artemis was fully awake instantly.
"Alex hurt himself in his sleep." Carter couldn't lie. "I need you."
Artemis nodded and sat back down on Carter's bed, wrapping his arms around the older man. "You're lucky I don't have any patients today."
"Would you have cancelled anyway?" Carter asked, knowing full well Artemis would do nearly anything for him.
"You two would have had to come to my office for the day." He replied, kissing Carter's forehead. "How's he doing?"
"Only got him to sleep a few hours ago, he had a dream about his parents and what they did."
"Okay." Artemis went worryingly quiet for a few moments.
"Artie?"
"Healing isn't a linear task, we knew this might happen, all we can do is help him through it, let him know it'll be okay." In that moment Carter fell in love with him all over again. Artemis was so steady, so strong and without him he didn't know how he would gather the strength to carry on. "Do you need me to do anything?"
"Check on the others, maybe let them know what's going on."
Artemis nodded, he looked at Alexis, so small in Carter's arms and gently caressed his cheek with the back of his hand. "I wish he knew how perfect he is."
^^^
Although early, only half seven in the morning, a lot of the boys were early risers and taking on Carter's daily pilgrimage around the house felt almost wrong to Artemis, but he did so anyway.
He went to Noah's room first, the boy already awake stood at the window collecting up his crystals that had been charging in the nights moon light. "Hey."
"Hi." Noah always seemed so glad to see him. "Not working today?"
"No, Carter asked me to stay home." Artemis sat down on end of Noahs bed.
"What's going on?"
"Alex had a nightmare last night, he hurt himself in his sleep." Artemis replied. Saying it outloud made him feel so dejected. Noah nodded, putting a crystal in a small capsule on a necklace chain and took a small box from his desk. He sat down on the bed making Artemis turn to look at him.
"He'll be okay." Noah replied, taking a tarot deck from the box and shuffling them. Artemis nodded.
"I know." He didn't really believe in the powers of tarot, but he knew Noah did, and if he wanted to do a reading on how Alexis was faring then he wasn't about to stop him.
Noah took out three cards and studied the pictures carefully. "He'll be okay, but I'm worried they might come back."
"What will?"
"His parents." Noah replied.
"What makes you say that?" Noah was perceptive, more than a lot of people realised.
"Its been months since he thought about them, why now?" He had a point. Artemis nodded.
"You're right, I'll ask him when he wakes up." He sighed. Could they never have any peace. "I'm going to check on the others, do you want to come?"
Noah shook his head. "No, I'll go up in a bit though."
"Alright, I'll see you in a bit." Artemis stood up to go, but Noah caught his hand, wrapping his arms tightly around his middle.
"It'll be okay Artie, we're all a bit fucked in the head of course we'll have bad days." Noah said. Artemis hugged him back, kissing the top of his head.
"I know I just..."
"I hate seeing any of us hurt as well." Noah added. He had taken the news extraordinarily well, he'd gotten back into meeting with his therapist over the past few weeks which were helping with his meltdowns.
"You're right, we'll be okay."
"Of course we will." Noah let go of him and took his hand, giving it a comforting squeeze. "I'm going to make some tea, do you want one?"
"I'm okay." Artemis nodded.
"Go and check on the others, I think I heard Tye and Kit go downstairs earlier."
Artemis left Noah and headed into Travis' room, which was empty. Riley's room was also empty but he could hear the sounds of the shower.
He was about to knock on Tye's door when he heard laughter and singing coming from the garden. Travis, Tye and Kit were sat on the steps leading into the garden from the back door, Tye singing and playing his ukulele.
"I'm not angry anymore, well sometimes I am." Artemis had never heard Tye sing before, nor had he thought him a Paramore fan. His voice was silky and he would sit and listen to him sing forever if he could.
He stood in the doorway until Tye finished the song, earning a smile from all three of them.
"Hi Artie." The smiles Tye gave him when he saw him always warmed his heart.
"What are you three doing out here?" He came to sit with them.
"Singing in the sunrise." Tye giggled. "Well it was sunrise when we got here."
"I've never heard you sing before." Artemis commented. Tye looked down at his ukulele.
"I get self conscious." He explained. "I wasn't sure if any of you would want to listen."
"Which he was wrong about." Kit chimed in.
"Yeah." Tye shrugged. "Its silly really."
"It is silly, especially because you know how amazing we think you are." Artemis told him pointedly.
"I used to sneak into your room when you'd lock yourself in your bathroom to sing." Travis shrugged. Tye stared at him open-mouthed.
"Trav!"
"Artie what time is it? Don't you have work?" Kit frowned as he looked at his phone.
"Im not going in today." Artie explained. They all stared at him. He swallowed. "Alex had a nightmare last night, he ended up... hurting himself in his sleep. We need to support him."
Tye had gone pale. "Where is he now?"
"Asleep, with Carter." Artemis replied, Travis pulled him into a hug. "We all have bad days, but we'll get through it. He'll get through it."
"Poor Alex." Kit mused. "I wonder what triggered him to dream about that?"
"I'm hoping it's just resurfacing memories and nothing more serious." Artemis said. "We're just going to take it slow today."
"Of course." Travis nodded. "Anything he needs."
Tye nodded his agreement. "He'll be okay, won't he?"
"Of course." Artemis nodded, he wasn't actually sure but he just had to hope.
^^^
Alex was awake when Carter woke up again, he hadn't even realised he'd fallen asleep. "How do you feel Love?"
"A lot better." Alex nodded, he'd moved from Carter's lap to sitting beside him and was sipping a cup of tea. "Noah made you a coffee."
Carter glanced to his right to see a steaming mug of coffee waiting for him. He took a sip, by god he felt like he needed it. "Are you in any pain?"
Alexis shook his head. "No, I'm... shook, I think."
"That's understandable. It seemed like a horrific dream." Carter nodded gently. "We're all here to talk if you need. We're always here for anything you need."
"I know, I'm so lucky to have you." Alexis smiled weakly. "Did I worry the others?"
"Only because they care." Carter replied. "They love you so much, Alex, we all do."
Alexis nodded. "I know I'm not I'm danger and I don't have anything to worry about, but it just felt so real."
"There's been so much going on, it's been a struggle for all of us, but I will never stop fighting for all of you. I will never allow you to be hurt." Carter loved all his partners so much, and with all of his soul he would make sure they knew it.
"I love you so much."