Make Me (Remdy)

We All Find New Homes

Trigger warnings: Mentions of death, depression

Just after nine am, Andy gets up to make breakfast, leaving Remington asleep in his bed. He dresses in the dark and leaves a glass of cold water by the bed for Remington, with a note that reads, 'Proud of you, hon. Bringing you pancakes <3'

Lucas and Juliet are already awake when Andy goes down the stairs. He walks in on the child routing through the bright red stocking Juliet had helped him hang up yesterday, and the woman is sitting on the couch with a mug of coffee and bends down to collect scraps of wrapping paper into a pile.

"This looks like fun." Andy announces his presence.

Lucas looks at him, where he's stood in the doorway, and grins. "Batman!" He exclaims, and lifts his hand, in which is an action figure of the character.

"Wow, aren't you a lucky boy!" Andy says, despite being the one who bought it for him. When Juliet had suggested he contributed to the stocking fillers, he gracefully gave up the toy, though part of him wanted to keep it for himself.

"Don't let Andy see it," Juliet teases. "He'll steal it."

Lucas looks at his mother and laughs. "Andy is Batman," he tells her.

"Who wants pancakes?"

A squeal from the boy, and Juliet sends her ex-husband a genuine I'm glad we're doing this smile. "Why don't you help Andy make them," she suggests. "Then we'll do the other presents."

"Yay, presents!" Lucas gets to his feet and, with the Batman figure clutched in his right hand, follows Andy into the kitchen.

Andy lets him stir the mixture and makes a show of flipping the pancakes, unable to contain the smile that comes with his son giggling and jumping about excitedly, though does say, "Careful, it's a little slippery in here."

Immediately, Lucas looks at the ground, then up at Andy, and instead of continuing his potentially harmful actions, pulls out a chair and sits in it. "Where's Remi?" He asks after a moment.

"He's a little tired today," Andy replies, organising two pancakes on a plate. "What would you like on them? Chocolate spread?"

Lucas nods eagerly.

Andy spreads a generous amount of Nutella onto both pancakes, feeling slightly guilty because Remington had gone all the way to the shop just to buy it. "Here we are, little Batman, I'll get you a drink, too." He puts the plate before the child after having rolled the pancakes up and cut them into bite-size pieces. Once he's filled a glass with milk, given it to Lucas, and made two more Nutella-clad pancakes, he calls Juliet. He tells her to help herself to whatever and that there's more batter in the bowl, and heads for the stairs with the plate.

Remington is awake but still in bed. When Andy comes in, he looks towards him. "Your note's cute," he says, reaching for the food. "Yum, thanks."

"No problem, hon. How're you doing?"

Sitting up properly to eat, the younger shrugs. "Not the worst I've been," he answers. "Not good either. You put so much Nutella in these, I'm in heaven right now."

Andy chuckles, kisses the side of his head. "Compensation."

"Compensation?"

"I gave the rest to Lucas."

"Hey, fuck you."

"Yeah, I thought you'd say that. I'll get you some more later."

"Thanks." He looks at the man. "I will come down soon. I want to try and enjoy at least some of today. This is a good start."

"No rush, okay? D'you want some tea? I'll bring it up. Like room service."

"Can I call you 'servant'?"

Andy rolls his eyes and picks up the second pancake, takes a bite, laughs when Remington snatches it from him. "Please don't."

"Aw, why?"

"Because you know what else servants do? They wipe their masters' arses. You want me to wipe your arse?"

Remington pushes him away playfully. "Everything's about arses with you."

"When have I ever talked about arses?"

"Don't make me have this conversation or I will smear this Nutella all over your bed like shit."

"That sounds delightful." The elder gets off the bed. "I'll be back with tea. I'm really glad you're smiling today."

"Me too," Remington says, and follows the words with an exaggerated grin.

Lucas and Juliet are both still eating when Andy returns to the kitchen to make the drink. While he's waiting for the kettle to boil, Juliet says, "Is he okay?"

Andy sends her a quick smile as he retrieves a teabag from the cupboard. "Yeah, he's alright. He's just going through some stuff."

"He's lucky to have you."

"Thank you."

"I'm sorry about the whole outing you thing, by the way. I know it wasn't my news to tell."

Pouring boiling water into the mug, Andy says, "It's okay. I got over it. Everyone got over it. You actually did me a favour. It was the only thing that made me come to terms with it. So thanks."

"You're welcome?"

Andy hums, unbothered by the topic. He adds milk to the drink and picks it up. "Your pancakes good?" He asks Lucas, who nods and gives a chocolaty smile. Andy smiles back. "Good. I'll be back in a sec."

"I think being a mother has made Juliet into a better person," he says while passing the tea to Remington. "Seriously, she just apologised to me."

Remington takes the drink and sips it. "She did? What about?"

"The 'Andy's a huge homo' thing."

"Huh, good for her. It takes a lot to apologise for shit like that."

"Yeah."

"But you are a huge homo."

"Oh, shush."

"And a huge cunt."

"Love you, too."

"You're being, like, the best right now."

Andy sits on the edge of the bed. "Anything for you, little darling. You haven't been harassed by Bob the Builder since he hit you?"

"What? No. Why?"

"Just being the protective boyfriend I am, duh."

"Duh." Remington puts the tea down and hold his arms out for hug, which he of course gets. "The most protective," he mumbles. "And the bestest."

Andy holds him tight, and after around half a minute, says, "Sweetheart, are you crying?"

Nodding, Remington doesn't pull back. "Sorry."

"No, shh. Let it happen. I'm not going anywhere." He rubs Remington's back and adds, "I'm so proud of you for waking up today. You're doing so good."

Remington sniffles. "I want to hug you forever. You feel like home."

Andy knows what 'home' means to him, that his brothers were 'home' and he hasn't felt at 'home' since they died. He could cry. "You always have a home with me."

"The bestest," Remington repeats in a whisper.