Foreign Drugstore

445 18 4

by sofaroffbway

by sofaroffbway

TW: SH

Hamilton was currently on an OBC tour, and everyone was in their respective hotel rooms. It was late somewhere in Europe, and Pippa had just had one of the worst shows she's ever performed.

Lin had run out of the room to assess notes with some of the ensemble members, leaving Pippa completely alone her anxiety.

When Lin returned to the room, he heard Pippa's sobs and immediately dashed into the bathroom.

"Honey?" He asked sweetly, but his face immediately contorted in concern when he saw the gashes across Pippa's ribcage.

In her worry, she'd found herself burning up and had stripped down to just a bra and shorts. Her racing thoughts had gotten the best of her, and she'd fallen back into her bad habits again.

"Baby, shit. We got to get you cleaned up." Lin grabbed a hoodie off their shared hotel bed and threw it at Pippa. "Put this on. There's a CVS right down the street."

Pippa silently slid on her favorite cologne drenched hoodie and followed Lin out the door. He grabbed her gingerly by her fingertips. They both made a surprisingly smooth exit from the hotel to the foreign drugstore.

Lin was on edge. He had no idea what had gotten Pippa so worked up. She had said something about having a bad show, but he didn't think anything was bad! In his opinion, she gave a fantastic performance tonight.

Lin and Pippa quickly stocked a small basket with a plethora of first aid items. If not all used tonight, they would come in handy sometime on tour, Lin was sure of it.

As they approached the late night cashier, she looked the two up and down. Lin nor Pippa could quite tell if she recognized them from the major success of Hamilton.

Lin chose to keep his cool, staying calm and collected behind his sunglasses.

"Wow, quite the first aid kit here." The cashier snickered. "What, did one of you get mauled by a bear or something?" The cashier tried to joke but it was unknowingly insensitive.

"Um, no, actually." Lin laughs, covering for you. "It's...they're actually for um..."

The poor man barely had it in him to lie.

"It's for my self harm scars." Lin admitted to the cashier quietly, not exchanging a glance with Pippa.

The cashier's jovial customer service facade fell as she nodded curtly.

"Stay safe out there. Have a nice night." She adds as she quickly slips the items and receipts into the bag.

"You didn't have to do that." Pippa whispered when they returned to the hotel.

Lin kissed her scalp and cradled Pippa in a hug. "Don't worry about it."

"What if she recognized you? Shit!" Pippa gasped. "This could get out to the media! What's the press going to think if she says something about you...and how she thinks you--"

"Honey, if she recognized us, she'd probably say something. Besides, it's late, she's working for minimum wage, I don't think she cares that much."

"Exactly!" Pippa teared up, panicking. "She's working for minimum wage and knows she could make bank selling a story to the presses!"

As her panic spiraled, she subconsciously started digging her nails into her old, but now reopened, cuts. She didn't even realize she was even doing it.

"Princess, stop." Lin lunged forward, grabbing at her hands. "Don't!" He nearly shouted as he yanked her hands off of her own skin.

"Why do I always have to fucking ruin shit?! Why can't I just stop doing this?!" Pippa sobbed, falling into Lin's chest. She found herself suffocated by a mix of his intoxicating scent and the emotion clogged in your throat.

Lin mimicked calm breaths, hoping to get Pippa on the same path. "Baby, shh, stop. Nothing bad is going to happen, okay? That girl probably didn't even know us, yeah? And even she does say shit to the tabloids, which she won't, what the fuck do they care?"

"They're gonna...they're going to say you're psychotic or some shit. Everything they should be saying about me."

"Hey." Lin snapped. "Look at me. You stop that right now. You are not psychotic. Your brain just gets a little messy sometimes, and that's okay. You're getting so much better. This doesn't define who you are." Lin kissed her cheek. "I love you so much."