Fix Me (Alternative ending)

Chapter 111

Been meaning to finish this chapter for a while so here it is.

Trigger warnings: mentions of eating disorders but hardly.

It hurts when Andy greets the five at the airport. He smiles and offers to take some bags. Kol, their new singer, sits in the front of the car, beside Andy, who's driving. Jake, Lonny, and CC get a taxi while the others join Andy in his car.

"It's odd to meet you," Kol tells him as they're leaving the airport, "I took your spot and now you're driving me through a country I've never been in."

"You've never been to England?" Andy asks, instead of addressing the actual point of what he's saying.

Kol shrugs. "Nope."

"Well I hope you like it."

"Me too," he says, "so you're married, right?"

"Yeah."

"What's she like?"

Andy almost groans in annoyance. "Very beautiful," he says, deciding to not mention the fact he's married to a man just to fuck with him because he's pissed off with the whole situation and because the man who stole his entire teenage creation is sitting in his fancy car like he belongs there. "How about you?"

"I'm more of the no strings sorta guy, y'know?"

"Gotcha."

"What d'you think of our new album?"

Andy grimaces. "Haven't heard it," he says flatly, "I'm sure it's great."

"Are you always this boring?"

"Yep."

"Let's hope your wife is more fun."

Andy thinks it sounds like he's planning on getting off with his 'wife' and is glad his 'wife' is actually his husband and that Kol is so very very straight. That, he is sure of.

Two agonizing hours later, Andy is pulling up outside the hotel just down the street from his house and opening the boot. He waits for the men in the car to disappear, smiling at Jinxx, who smiles back and says nothing about Andy being married to a man.

In the evening, the band invites him for dinner with them. Andy agrees because that's what he's supposed to do, and leaves a note for Remington, who's at an interview today.

Gone out w/ Jake and co, be back around midnight. Box in the fridge is for you x

He knows Remington won't be very pleased to get home to a piece of paper and a tub of pasta to warm up - he doesn't like being home on his own at night - but Andy doesn't have the capacity to worry about that right now.

The meal is painful and upsetting. Andy gains an instant hatred for Kol and finds himself cringing every time the man opens his mouth and says something. He bangs on about how 'wild' it is to be famous, that he thought he'd be stuck in some small town American band forever

You didn't earn it! I did! Andy wants to shout. To see this immature, sex obsessed twenty four year old stamping all over what's his makes him feel invalidated and abandoned and pointless. What will people love him for now?

After all, everyone grew to like him because of his band. He was always 'Andy Biersack of Black Veil Brides'. Now he's just Andy. Sometime he thinks he doesn't deserve the last name anymore, that Remington shouldn't feel the need to use it. 'Remington Leith' will always be better than 'Remington Biersack.'

And of course, what will Remington love him for if not his band?

In the late evening, after the meal, Andy walks home with his confidence at his feet, tripping over it with every couple of steps. He feels better for a moment when he  finds the empty box in the sink, meaning that, if nothing else, Remington at least had dinner.

The boy is reading in bed when Andy comes in. He looks up. "Evening," Remington says, sending a smile.

Andy doesn't have it in him to send one back.

"How was your evening?"

The man sits on the bed in what Remington recognises as defeat. "If I talk I'll get a migraine," he mumbles.

Remington crawls towards his husband and wraps his arms around his shoulders from behind, leaning into him. They stay like that for a while, one of Andy's hands loose on the younger's forearm.

Andy doesn't sleep well. He thinks about Kol. Fucking Kol. With his floppy hair and his shiny boots and his irritating, nasaly voice, ruining all his lyrics and choruses and memories. He thinks about how awful In The End will sound live without his gravelly, low voice, about how Kol's screams are amateur and unhealthy and he's so overly confident that his stage presence is laughable.

In the morning, Remington finds a note on the pillow, telling him his husband has gone out for the day. He sighs, sends Andy a text, wishing him a good day. He gets no reply.

The group, Black Veil Brides plus Andy, spend most of the day wondering around town and sitting in coffee shops. Andy buys a new onesie for Remington and Kol makes a childish joke about him being a simp. Andy laughs it off.