Barely Breathing//Ethis

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Chris' point of view:

I walk into Ethan's room and find him in his bathroom, getting all worked up about not being able to get his tie correct.

"I can't get it right, I can't do anything right!" He groans taking his tie off completely, giving up.

"Hey, it's okay. It's only a tie, here let me help" I offer stepping forward and taking the tie out of his hands

I put it on him correctly this time and kiss his forehead. 

"I'm just stressed, this whole day is stressing me out and it's barely even started." He sighs starting to fix his hair

"You look fine," I grab his hands and put them at his sides "and it's going to be okay, we can get through this"

He nods taking one last glance at himself in the mirror before turning around and leaving me in the bathroom.
I walk out of the bathroom and he speaks again

"I can't believe Mum is actually coming today, things are finally starting to return back to normal between her and I and this is even more reassuring. She's going to be there for me and only me, because she wants to be." He smiles, he's happier about this than he's willing to admit.

"That's great, Bub" I smile also, under these circumstances I think he's going to be glad to see her, someone a part of his family showing support.

"Don't want to keep your parents waiting any longer" he says putting his phone in his pocket and his mood immediately drops back down.

I slip my hand into his and we walk out of my room and down the stairs, my parents are waiting in the living room looking just as formal as Ethan and I do.

"Let's go then" Dad speaks first, leading the way out the house and to the car

We all pile into the car and begin the long journey to the courthouse.

•••

By the time we reach the courthouse steps it's clear to see that Ethan's nerves have climbed increasingly.

"Just breathe" I whisper to him

He takes a deep breath and tugs on his suit jacket sleeves, starting to climb the stairs up to the entrance. I quickly catch up to him and stand beside him in front of the massive doorway, he's scared to go in.

"Come on, just a few more steps and you'll be inside," I tell him stepping inside the doorway and turning back to look at him "just a few steps, it's okay to be scared Ethan."

"I-um, my, my shoelace" he says looking anywhere but at me, until he glances down seeing his untied shoelace

He ties his shoelace and stands back up, starting to fiddle with the cuffs of his jacket, stalling.

"Bear." I say, his head snaps up and he looks at me hearing this "it's a few little steps"

He meets my eyes now and takes the last few steps joining me inside the courthouse.

"Well done." I smile at him "this way"

We walk after my parents who are a little further ahead, we're early so we have to wait in the little hallway for our session to start. We all sit down on the benches and none of us speak for a while, until Jeremy comes into view.