Fix Me (Alternative ending)

Chapter 36

Trigger warning: mentions of eating disorders

OHHH BOY

Emerson, Sebastian, and Andy all come to see Remington today, which is awkward for the three of them, though they promise not to let that show to Remington. Remington is picking a sandwich to pieces when they comes in, using their arrival as an excuse to not eat it. He puts the plate down and sends them all a smile. "You're late," he says, accustomed to visiting times.

"Traffic," Sebastian explains, sitting on the small couch by the wall with Emerson while Andy sits on the bed. "You know you still gotta eat that."

Remington shrugs. "Later," he insists.

"Remington," Andy warns, in that voice that Remington can't ignore.

The boy huffs and picks up the plate. "Fuck you," he mumbles, "when I get fat it's your fault."

Andy ruffles his hair. "You're not gonna get fat."

"I wanna go live. We haven't for ages." Remington pulls a piece from the sandwich and eats it, sending Andy a glare.

"Let's go live," Sebastian agrees, "it'll be fun."

After Remington has eaten his lunch, unhappy about it the whole time, they go live on Palaye Royale's Instagram.

"Good afternoon," Remington greets, throwing his arms out and hitting Andy in the face. "Oh fuck," he laughs, turning to look at the man. "Sorry."

Andy rolls his eyes. "One second in and you're already causing havoc."

"Well they think it's funny," the younger says, pointing to the screen before wrapping an arm around Andy's shoulder and kissing his cheek.

"I feel bad for the new fans," Sebastian laughs, "imagine the first livestream you see of a band is this one." He leans into the phone to read some comments. "Okay-um-most people wanna know why we're in hospital."

"Oh," Remington begins, "I'm an inpatient. It's so boring."

"He gets bored easily," Andy chimes in.

The boy just nods. "I really do. Oh, here's a fun question. Which one of us finds horror films the scariest?"

"I think we all know the answer to that," the oldest says, prodding Remington. "Didn't we watch a horror film on one of the first dates we had at mine? And you ended up hiding your face in my shoulder?"

Remington looks at the phone, unimpressed. "I forgot about that."

"And you got scared at a scene in The Vampire Diaries the other day," Sebastian recalls, "he screamed, I shit you not."

"This isn't fun anymore," Remington complains, crossing his arms. "I just don't like jump scares."

"You don't like anything," Emerson says.

Sebastian quickly finds another comment instead of engaging with Emerson's childishness. "Apparently there's a whole fanclub for you and Andy's relationship," he discovers, "and one for Harley."

"Who the fuck is Harley?" Emerson asks.

Remington sends him a playful glare. "Have you been living under a rock? Harley's my teddy. She's got more followers than Sebastian does now."

The guitarist raises an eyebrow. "Really? That's uncalled for."

"Guess we know how the least popular brother is," Remington says with a grin, and then, "oh shit, I forgot to do that thing."

"What thing?" Andy asks.

Remington leans into him to whisper what it is so the people watching the live don't hear. "Weigh in," he tells his husband, "was supposed to go ten minutes ago."

"We're just going for a sec," the man says, getting off the bed with Remington and taking his hand. "We won't be long."

"He's taking me to hell," Remington calls as Andy opens the door, telling him which way to go and complaining the whole time. When they get to the room, Remington knocks on the door and is told to come in. "Sorry I'm late," he apologises, "I got distracted."

Dr Halls smiles and closes the door behind him. "No problem, it gave me time for a cup of coffee. How are we feeling?"

Remington shrugs.

"I'm guessing this is Andy."

"Yep."

Dr Halls nods. "He goes on about you a lot," he explains to Andy, "you obviously are very important to him."

Andy smiles.

"Okay, Remington, shoes off. Are you wearing anything particularly heavy today?"

Remington lets go of his husband's hand to untie his laces. "Don't think so," he answers.

Once his shoes are off, he's asked if he wants to see the number today or not, to which he says he will, because he's determined to get over this whole thing, and that, of course, means knowing his weight without freaking out.

Remington stands on the scale and looks at Andy for a moment, his hands shaking. He glances at the screen long enough to read the number, twisting his wring on his finger until he can step off and put his shoes back on.

"That's great," Dr Halls congratulates, "we've gained three pounds. That's fantastic, Remington."

The boy gulps. "Fantastically shit," he mumbles, taking Andy's hand once he's done his laces up.

"You okay?" Andy asks quietly whicle they're walking back to the room.

"Yeah, fine."

"Baby, unfortunately, I can read your mind."

Remington stops outside his room. "I don't wanna talk about it," he tells his husband, "please don't make me."

"Okay. But if you need a hug-"

"I know, I know. If I need a hug, you're always here."

Andy smiles. "Exactly."

Remington opens the door, annoucing their return and jumping back onto the bed.

"We were just telling some great jokes," Sebastian tells his brother, "one of them is sitting next to me."

Emerson shakes his head. "I hate having siblings." He says the next thing quiet enough that the people watching don't hear, but Remington sure does. "Specially when one of them is married to the guy I'm in love with."

"Emerson, shut the fuck up," Sebastian scalds, in no more than a whispers. "Now is not the damn time for this."

"Time for what?" Remington asks. "What did he say?"

"Nothing, Remington, it's not important."

Andy glares at Emerson. "You fucking idiot. Do you have no brain?"

"It's not my fault!" Emerson shouts, "and it's certainly not my fault that your husband over there is too fucking pathetic to just stop crying about everything."

Sebastian quickly turns the live off, though knows it's too late because they already heard to enough to spread rumours around. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me? Have you tried looking at yourself?"

The guitarist goes to say something but Remington shouts over the top. "Stop it! Stop using me as something to fight about! I'm a person! I have fucking feelings!" He twists his ring around. "Not that you would care. You're too busy finding ways to invalidate all my damn feelings."

"Who? Me?" Emerson asks, shocked. "Invalidate your feelings? Remington, your feelings are fucking ridiculous! I'm sorry, but they are! You need to fucking get over yourself!"

"No, Emerson! You need to get over yourself! You really thought now was a good time to declare your love for my husband?"

Andy and Emerson look down awkwardly. "No, Remington, this isn't the first time he-"

Remington hits the bed with his hand. "You knew? You knew and you didn't tell me? My brother is in love with you and you didn't think I should know? What the hell?"

"Calm down," Emerson tries.

"You all need to go," Remington demands, pointing to the door.