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Jimmy was having a hard time, and he knew that he really should have been staying inside, but he wasn’t.
Hands shaking, he grabbed onto the railing of the group house that they had on the server, trying to support himself. Grimacing, he stared ahead, panting. His heart was pounding in his chest, although he couldn’t really feel it? It felt more like just really bad anxiety, catching in his throat and keeping him from really doing...he didn’t know what, actually. Just something. He needed to—to sit down, to do something. He needed to be able to lay down somewhere and slow his heart rate, but he wasn’t sure he could even move.
Closing his eyes, Jimmy took a slow breath. His heart wouldn’t slow down, it wouldn’t calm. If he moved too much, then he might have an issue, and he should have known not to get out of bed that day because even just reaching up to comb his fingers through his hair and sort out some of the loose cowlicks and put his hat on had left him with his pulse thrumming in his throat. Grimacing, Jimmy took another slow breath. Okay, okay. We’re fine, we’re fine. We’re going to be fine, we are going to be just fine, Jimmy.
Hands shaking, Jimmy gritted his teeth. His shoulders were still shaking, his whole body was trembling a little bit. He shook his head again, grimacing and then glancing down at his communicator. “Show heart rate.” He forced out. The communicator flashed up a small display, and Jimmy watched it calibrate for a moment. Then, his heart rate appeared.
A hundred and sixteen. Not great. He hadn’t even been that active, he hadn’t even really left his house. He’d gotten up and walked maybe twenty feet, and then he was having this issue. Biting his lip, Jimmy closed his eyes. “Do you need me to call someone?” The communicator AI asked.
“No, thank you, Piper.” He forced out, squeezing his eyes shut. Leaning forwards, he rested his head on one of his hands. Knees shaking, he felt his legs start to buckle. No, no. I can’t do this here, I need to get inside. Forcing himself upright, feeling his heart pound, Jimmy turned. He stumbled forwards, a bit, managed to place a hand on the wall to support himself, and stared at his bed. It was—fifteen feet away? Less? He could hear movement on the stairs, but he couldn’t think about that right now. He couldn’t think if anyone was trying to reach him, or whatever. Talk to him? Something. His head wasn’t—he couldn’t think right, not right then. Come on, Jimmy. Focus. Get to the bed.
He stumbled into his room, his knees hit the bed, and he felt himself sort of...slump to the ground.
His shoulder hit the bed and he grabbed onto the covers immediately to try and hold himself up. He couldn’t breathe right. This wasn’t a panic attack. He’d had panic attacks, plenty of them. This didn’t feel like that. This felt like something different, his heart was still pounding and it was too quick. His hands were slipping from the covers.
Someone gently touched his shoulder. “Jimmy?” He heard someone say, voice gentle. After a moment, he recognized who it was. Lizzie. Slumped on his bed, Jimmy cracked his eyes open. He hadn’t even remembered closing them. He didn’t remember his breathing speeding up so much, either, he was sort of...panting, sort of? He was shaking, too.
Lizzie was sitting right beside him, a hand on his shoulder. There was some creaking on his bed, someone slid down behind him and gently touched his back. “It’s just Joel. We’re going to have to move you a little bit, okay?” Swallowing, Jimmy managed a nod. Behind Lizzie, he could just see Grian and Pearl. Grian said something to Pearl, who nodded and then disappeared elsewhere in Jimmy’s house, and then he sat on the bed beside Jimmy’s head. He removed Jimmy’s hat, started carding his fingers through his hair to try and soothe him.
“We shouldn’t move him yet. Check his heart rate?” There was some movement, and Jimmy closed his eyes. His heart felt like it was clenching, going way too quickly. His chest hurt, actually. Painfully. Like when he had been stabbed. An odd sound, sort of like a groan of pain but not quite, left his throat. He’d lost his grip on the blankets, Joel was pressed into his back and holding him against the bed. Lizzie was holding onto his arm.
Something happened, because Jimmy was lying against the couch one moment and then he felt his whole body jerk like he was falling asleep.
“Whoa, Jimmy!” Joel yelped, holding him closer. “Is he having a seizure?”
“He’s not.” Grian confirmed. “The comm would have told us if he was. Lizzie, what was his heart rate again?” She hadn’t said his heart rate. Although, maybe she did? And he just didn’t remember her saying it?
“A hundred twenty-six.” Lizzie reported. “No other injuries. It’s reporting the fast heart rate and some mild dehydration.”
“Pearl is handling that.” Grian said. “Jimmy usually handles this sort of thing with hot chocolate. Combination of sugar, protein, and fluids. I don’t know how exactly it helps, but it helps him.”
“I thought he just liked it because he’s on the immature side.” Joel admitted.
“Is it okay to move him?” Lizzie asked. Reaching up, Jimmy tried to touch her hand. He accidentally sort of...weakly punched her though. “Jimmy?”
Panting still, Jimmy opened his mouth. Tried to speak. His head felt...weird, sort of foggy and distracted by the sharp pain in his chest from his racing heart. His throat seized for a moment. “’s fine.” He forced out. Hopefully, hopefully, it made some sort of sense. Hopefully the words came out properly. He wasn’t sure they did, but he couldn’t—his shoulders jolted again, and he felt Joel hold onto him a little bit tighter. Another sound escaped him, and probably not a dignified one.
“It’s okay, Jimmy. You’re fine, we’ve got you.” Joel reassured, rubbing a hand over his shoulders. “Let’s get him lying down. It should help slow his heart rate, we’ll just—treat it like shock, I guess? Maybe?” Jimmy shakily reached up and grabbed Joel’s arm, squeezed as best as he could. “I’m taking that as a yes.”
He really couldn’t help his poor friends out in laying him down. Joel left Jimmy’s head in his lap, Grian eventually had to shoo Lizzie off and tell her to go and help Pearl out, since she was clearly stressing out. Grian picked Jimmy’s feet off the floor, settled them in his lap and mentioned something about loosening Jimmy’s collar so it wasn’t interfering with blood flow or...something like that.
Now, Jimmy wasn’t sure if he actually just passed out, if he had hyperventilated too much, or something else. But, lo and behold...
He ended up unconscious.
+++
When he woke up, his head was still in Joel’s lap, his friend’s fingers were brushing through his hair, and he had been moved into his bed.
There was a prick in his elbow, and he glanced down before immediately pulling his gaze away since he did not do well with needles. Grimacing, he turned back to the ceiling. Joel had his fingers running over Jimmy’s hair again, brushing his bangs out of his eyes. “Hey. You with us, Jimmy?” Joel asked, tone soft. There was someone holding Jimmy’s other hand, the one without the IV in it.
Swallowing, throat hoarse, he blinked and mumbled, “I’m alive. Who—” When he tipped his head to the side, he saw Lizzie sleeping there. Letting out a huff, Jimmy shifted in the bed. “Grian? Pearl?”
“Still trying to figure out your kitchen. You’ve only been out about two hours.” Groaning, Jimmy moved to try and push himself up. Joel pressed him back down. “Keep lying here, Jimmy. We’ll take care of you, alright. Do you remember what happened?”
“My heart rate was too fast. I got to the bed, wanted to get in, but couldn’t.” Swallowing, he added, “You did a good job, by the way. With getting me on the floor and lying down. That’s the right thing to do.”
“You remember that part? I thought you might just remember, like, the—the thing.” Joel gestured with one hand, looking away. “Just the part where you got to the bed. Are you sure you’re alright?”
“I’ll be fine.” Pausing after a second, Jimmy added, “I think I have enough mugs in my cabinets. Do you all want hot chocolate?”
Joel stared at him, like he didn’t really know what to do with him.
Jimmy just smiled up at him.