The Assistant | Scavi

More evidence

"We're arriving in 30, maybe you should wake him up so he can have a cup of tea to get ready for the rest of the day?" Kaleb asked after a while.

Scott, who had been reading through various articles on Xanax nodded. He had wanted to take a nap as well, but was too restless to sleep. "Sure..." he said, got up and went back to the bunks where Avi was still sleeping.

Over the past hours they had been watching Avi regularly, but he had just slept right through the whole ride.

Scott sat down on the edge of Avi's bunk and carefully took his headphones off. "Sweetheart" he said softly. "It's time to get up. Baby..."

Avi groaned and turned to his side in his sleep. Scott sighed softly and kicked off his shoes. He laid next to Avi. It was a tight fit and definitely not comfortable, but he was at least able to hold his boyfriend. "Avi..." he said softly and kissed his neck. "It's time to get up."

"Tired..." Avi mumbled.

"I know, Love. But we're arriving at the venue, soon and I thought you'd want to have a cup of tea before we get there?" Scott said softly.

"Mmhm... maybe I should" Avi mumbled. "But It's so comfortable with you."

Scott smiled at his boyfriend. "We can cuddle up on the sofa. The others won't mind, remember?"

"Mmhm sounds like a plan" Avi hummed.

Scott softly pecked Avi's cheek and carefully got up. "Come on..."

The blonde watched as his boyfriend got up slowly. "Are you okay?" He asked when Avi held onto the wall once he had gotten up.

"Yeah, just a little dizzy. Didn't drink enough today" Avi said. "Need some water first and then some tea. And I am hungry..."

Scott tried his very best to smile at his boyfriend, even though Avi just showed two common side effects of Xanax. "Of course, Love, come on." He held his hand to support Avi and led him over to the lounge. "Noah, can you get some water for Avi? He didn't drink enough today."

"Sure. Tea?" Noah asked and handed Scott a bottle.

"Strong tea? Need to get ready and active" Avi said and suppressed a yawn. "And maybe some cookies? And I definitely need to eat something before the show today..." He coughed softly. "Water, please?"

Scott nodded and opened the bottle. "And cookies are a good idea, maybe you need some sugar in your body to get you going."

Avi nodded as he drank half the bottle. "Sounds good. And cuddles."

Scott smiled and pulled him in. "Cuddles it is..."

Avi drank two mugs of his strongest tea and ate a lot of cookies before they arrived at the venue. He was feeling a little better by the time they had finished the soundcheck, but Scott still noticed that he was a little off. He had organised sandwiches and fries and was surprised when Avi finished two of the big sandwiches and some fries.

"Thank you..." Avi said and sighed softly. "I don't know what happened today, but I needed this..."

Scott smiled at him as he nibbled on some fries. "Good... well, sometimes you need some extra food and it's okay. Want a cup of tea?"

Avi nodded. "Yeah, but I can make it myself" he said, suddenly remembering that he didn't throw away the evening tea.

"You stay where you are, I'll make the tea, Love" Scott said softly and pressed a kiss onto his forehead.

Avi sighed. "Okay... thank you."

Scott looked through the teabox and got out the strong black tea, not really paying attention to the rest of it. He poured two mugs and handed one over to his boyfriend. "Here you are. Do you feel ready to play the concert?"

Avi took a sip of his tea and nodded slowly. "Yes. Even readier to snuggle up with you. Do you think we can fit in one bunk tonight?"

"It's a tight fit and we won't be able to move much..." Scott said. He didn't want to literally fold himself in half to fit in Avi's bunk, but then again he didn't want to leave his boyfriend alone. "Well, why don't we try it out and if it's okay for us?"

Avi smiled slightly. "Yes, thank you." He had hoped that Scott would agree. Maybe he would be able to sleep without taking sleeping pills beforehand if he only had his boyfriend close enough. He didn't want to take the pills. Neither the sleeping pills nor the anxiety ones. But getting through the show and, more important, the meeting with fans without them sounded impossible. Maybe on a day or two off, he would be able to stop taking them, especially because he didn't want to get addicted to them.

They sat on the sofa next to each other, sipping their tea in silence.

"I should get ready" Avi said suddenly and got up.

Scott watched as his boyfriend took his whole overnight bag with him to the bathrooms, something he usually didn't do. And it pained him to know that he probably did it so he could take his pills without anyone noticing.

And Scott also knew that he needed to play Avi's game for the moment. He couldn't risk an anxiety attack on Avi's side, so he simply did his chores. He tidied up, made sure that everything was ready for the show, talked to Kaleb and Noah about Avi's changed habits, but then pushed everything aside so they were able to focus on the show and nothing else.

He watched a calm and controlled Avi pray with Noah and Kaleb and then hit the stage. Scott watched them from the side of the stage, worried that there would be any sign of Avi being unwell, but he was good. Played his guitar, sang with a strong voice and just had fun.

Once Scott had made sure that his boyfriend was okay, he went back to their dressing room. He knew that it was wrong to do this, but still, Scott found himself rummaging through Avi's bag until he found a blank gum box, similar to the one he had once seen in Avi's car. He opened it and wasn't surprised to see little oval blue pills in there. He took a picture of one of them and put it back into the box. He wanted to put the box back into Avi's bag.

He entered the inscription that was on the pills to google and wasn't surprised when the results showed him that it was indeed Xanax.

He texted Mitch about his findings and then sat down on the sofa for a while, sniffling softly, when he saw that his best friend was calling him.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm not okay, Mitch. I'm worried. Scared. It's like my hands are tied and it is horrible."

"You need to talk to him, Scott. I'm not a professional, but this isn't healthy. When is your next day off?"

"Tomorrow. We'll be on the bus tonight and then in a hotel tomorrow. Do you think I should confront him?"

"Yes. He needs help. He needs help to stop taking the pills. A plan. I'll ask my therapist if she would be willing to do an emergency session with you via skype, you need to convince him that it is important, okay?"

Scott sighed. "Okay. Thank you..." He noticed that the band was already playing the last song and while he was surprised by how much time had passed, he also knew that he needed to dry his eyes and to function for his boyfriend. "I need to run, Mitch" he said, while he was drying his eyes.

"Of course" Mitch said. "Keep me updated, please."

"I will, thank you for everything."

~

Later, Scott was lying in Avi's bunk. Avi was next to him and halfway on top of him, sleeping soundly. Scott himself wasn't able to sleep. He knew that Avi had taken more pills before going out to meet the fans and the thought alone was haunting him, together with the myriad of articles he had read about the pills.

The blonde didn't even try to sleep. He was too scared. Scared of what the pills were doing to Avi, scared of what the next day would bring, scared of how Avi would react. But he also knew that the confrontation was necessary, even though it would be hard. 

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