Rob's P.O.V.
I opened my eyes, squinting as a patch of sunlight hit my eyes from a gap in the curtain. I groaned and attempted to roll over but I was stopped when I realised that Lachlan was still fast asleep on my chest, curled up like a child.
I smiled to myself, carding my hand through his hair gently. He hadn't had a great day yesterday, not with the whole bull crap surrounding him being cut out of rewind and the embarrassment it had caused him, so I didn't doubt that he'd still be in a bad mood.
When he started to stir I pulled him close, letting him wake close to me in a calm environment. He whined when the small spot of sunlight hit his eyes and I laughed a little, moving him so his eyes were in the dark and kissed his forehead.
"Hey Lachy, you awake?" He mumbled something unintelligible and pushed his head back into my side. "Non-verbal day huh?"
He didn't reply, confirming it. There were times when he just didn't talk but also didn't want anyone else to talk either because he physically couldn't cope with listening to any sounds at all. I dealt with it, knowing that he couldn't help it.
I kissed the top of his head and reached over the side of the bed, feeling around on the ground for the pair of noise cancelling headphones we always had for days like this. I placed them over his head. The headphones allowed me to act normally, not having to be extremely quiet, because he couldn't cope with any noise at all on the bad days.
It took him a few minutes to wake up properly, sitting up while rubbing his eyes like a toddler, adjusting the headphones so they completely covered his ears. He looked exhausted and he just clung to me, telling me that it wasn't going to be a great day.
On bad days he was sensitive to certain things, sounds obviously being the big one, but he was also sensitive to light, certain smells and especially tastes. He couldn't eat most things on bad days, anything with even slightly strong tastes. We both stuck with plain food.
I had to go and record with Preston, our daily advent calendar, so I left Lachlan lying on the couch downstairs, a weighted blanket over his shoulders, his head buried in the cushions and the headphones over his ears. I kissed his cheek.
I was really worried about him. The episodes came and went like bad weather and he couldn't help them, but they dragged him down so far into the water that it took days for him to pull himself out of it. I knew I couldn't do anything to stop it, because he couldn't stop it either.
It tore him down from the inside out, because he couldn't tell anyone. He couldn't risk telling his viewers, not when he already suffered so much because of the episodes and any hate he could get because of it might be too much.
Preston could tell I was distracted when we were recording but didn't ask until we were done what was wrong.
"What's up Rob? You're distracted." I sighed, burying my head in my arms.
"Lachlan's having a really bad episode and..." I sighed again. "I'm not sure how much he can cope with anymore. He's really struggling and I'm worried about him, there's only so much he can go through before it gets bad."
"Are the episodes getting worse?" He questioned.
"No really but the bad ones occur more often now, especially in the last few months. They aren't any more frequent over all but the bad ones are more frequent." I rubbed my eyes and he nodded.
"He's never been to see a doctor about it has he?" I shook my head.
"He's never wanted to, but is suppose... I suppose we have to now, especially cause it's gotten this bad." He nodded again.
"You probably should have done that a long while ago." I sighed, knowing that he was right, again.
"I know but it was his choice, not mine, and I don't want to make him do something he doesn't want to do."
"Rob! It's getting worse! You can't just let him do what he wants anymore, it's just gonna get worse and worse and you know that!" I buried my head in my hands and closed my eyes.
"I know Preston." I groaned. "I'll try, okay, I'll try."
--------------------------------------------------
"Lachlan?" He looked up, his eyes lidded. He was exhausted. "Hey baby."
The episode was over and he was back to coping, just, with sounds, smells and light but he was still exhausted and was barely able to pull himself out of bed in the morning. He mumbled something vaguely in reply.
I gently stroked his hair.
"This isn't good Lachy, you know that." He hummed, his head now resting on my lap. "I think we need to go to the doctors, talk to them about this. It isn't healthy, it isn't good for you and I think we need to work out a way to control it."
He sighed and closed his eyes.
"I know." He mumbled, purposely looking away from me.
"I know you really don't want to Lachy but we can't keep it up, especially if it keeps affecting you like this."
"I know." He said, again.
"You can't keep avoiding it." Another I know. "Do you think we should?"
Slowly he nodded and leaned heavily against me, scrubbing his eyes fiercely to stop himself from crying.
"I'm scared Rob." He whispered, burying his head in my shoulder.
"I know." I whispered back, squeezing his shoulder. "I know you're scared, I'm scared too but we have to do something now to help you get through it. I'll be with you every step of the way, okay?"
"Okay." He smiled a little, wringing his hands.
"It's gonna be okay."
