Work Text:
Pico walks through the large school doors, followed by his social worker. She decided to join him for his first day, wanting to make sure he would be alright on his own before leaving him in a strange new location. She does work for the school anyways, so it works out well for the both of them. Pico holds onto his headphones tightly, trying to block out the noise of the hundreds of school kids that were entering the building and rushing to greet old friends. He didn't know anybody, nor did he want to, so he keeps his head down and his hand clutched firmly to the social worker's dress.
She looks down at him with a gentle smile as she walks him to his class. The bright florescent lights hurt Pico's eyes as he walks past them. As they pass the cafeteria, she taps him on the shoulder and motions for him to take off his headphones before leaning down to be eye level with him.
"Pico, would you like breakfast? You can eat it in the office with me if you'd like." She asked sweetly.
Pico shook his head, although the offer was tempting. He was incredibly scared of heading to class, so sitting in the nice, quiet office sounded perfect. However, just the mention of food in this loud, chaotic environment made his stomach turn. He placed his headphones back over his ears and looked down at the floor, trying to stay away from the eyes of the other children. He can't really blame them for staring. He used to do the same thing when he saw a kid in trouble, although Pico wasn't in any at the moment.
The pair walked to Pico's classroom, waving at the teacher as he steps outside. He's a tall, skinny man with a button up shirt and thin brown hair. He looks nice enough.
"Good morning! What's your name?" He asks Pico.
Pico stepped behind his social worker, trying to hide from the teacher. She lightly took his arm and guided him to be at her side instead of behind her, being gentle so he wouldn't mistake the contact for being reprimanded.
"This is Pico, and I'm Ms. Smith. He's a bit shy, but he should open up as he gets more comfortable." She said with a calm, kind look.
The teacher nodded and reached out to shake her hand.
"I'm Mr. Davis. I'll be Pico's homeroom teacher this year. I hope this isn't too personal, but didn't he just transfer from..." he asked, seeming hesitant to say the name.
Ms. Smith nodded sadly and looked down at Pico. He was holding his arms tightly, attempting to keep himself calm. The adults talked for a while longer, making sure that they had all the information they needed. The social worker informed Mr. Davis of Pico's current mental situation, about his schizophrenia and intense anxiety, along with his fear of being touched. Mr. Davis nodded, informing her that as long as he did his work, Pico could wear his headphones when allowed, and if he needs to step out or take a moment to calm his mind, he can always ask.
Pico didn't hear much of this, most of it was blocked out by his headphones. A while later he was led into the classroom, already feeling stressed by the kids. They were chatting loudly among themselves, and a few look up to stare at Pico as he walks in. Pico chose a seat in the back of the class, making sure he was far from the other students. Mr. Smith spoke to him one last time before leaving the room, speaking calmly and making sure Pico's okay.
"Pico, I have to go now. I'll see you at lunch time, and I'll be here at the end of the day. If you need anything, just ask Mr. Davis if you can go to the office and see me. Have a wonderful day, sunshine."
With that she left the room, turning once at the door to smile at Pico before leaving. Pico felt like he wanted to cry. How is he supposed to do this alone?
The day goes fairly well... for the most part. He has a panic attack early in the morning when he's made to sit on the carpet with the other children during learning time, and he gets nauseous when asked to answer a question. Mr. Davis quickly decides to give him more time to adjust, trying not to call on him as much, even though Pico was good at answering correctly. By the time lunch rolls around, he's mentally exhausted wanting nothing more than to get out of the building. Home isn't great, but it's better than this.
When he's told to get in a line for lunch, and stays at the back of the line and lags behind, not wanting to get anywhere near the kid in front of him. Outside the classroom, he spots Ms. Smith waiting for him with a calm smile. He runs to her, bouncing in place as he smiles back, trying to cover his tooth gap as he does. Ms. Smith walks him to the lunch room, asking how his day has been going as he grabs her dress again. He stutters out a quiet answer, telling her about how stressful school is.
She nods understandingly, leading him to a table with her as they sit down for lunch. Pico has his own lunchbox, one that his grandmother bought for him as a good luck gift. It's dinosaur printed, and he absolutely adores it, able to name every dinosaur on the cloth box. He opens it and takes out a juice box and some carrot sticks, taking a small bite of one and placing his headphones on the table. He's not supposed to wear them while he eats, so he places them next to his juice. Pico and the social worker chat as they eat, not paying any attention to the other people in the room.
Lunch lasts about twenty minutes, and after lunch is recess. They head outside together, looking at the big playground. Pico is excited to see a big plastic slide, his favorite playground structure. He starts to walk over before running back ad dome kids nearly trample him trying to get to the swings. When he turns around, Ms. Smith is no longer outside, and he sees her walking into the building. He chases after her only to find that the door locked behind her. Pico could feel his breathing pick up as he began to panic. The playground didn't have a single quiet space, and kids ran wildly in every direction. Pico held his chest as he freaked out, feeling himself shut down as shadows crept into his vision.
He makes a break for the slide, quickly spotting a dark hold underneath it. It seems like some sort of small dark crawlspace under the stairs of the slide, so he ducks inside and places his headphones back over his ears, holding them almost painfully on his head. He loses track of time, spacing out ad he does his best to ignore the voices that mocked him. Pico sobbed quietly, wishing he could sink into the floor and disappear. He feels the ground shuffle next to him, and he jumps when he turns to find another boy. He has bright blue hair and chocolate brown eyes, and he looks pretty stressed out as he taps his knees with his hands. The boy looks over and seems surprised to see Pico. He doesn't look mean.
"W-who are you?" The boy asks.
Pico removes his headphones hesitantly, staring at him with wide eyes and shaking with fear.
"Uhm... sorry. I didn't think anybody else knew about this place... I used to sit here a lot last year." He says, twiddling his thumbs.
Pico stared at him. Somehow, the boy made all of his voices quiet down, the shadows retreating to the farthest corners of his vision. The boy looks at him and smiles.
"I-i have headphones like that too... I need them sometimes when I get overwhelmed. Sometimes loud noises bother me. Are you allowed to wear them in class?"
Pico nods hesitantly.
"Aww, lucky! I wish I could wear mine... oh, by the way, my name is Keith. What's your name?"
Keith smiles at him kindly, waiting for Pico to answer. Pico raises his shoulders nervously as he tries to speak.
"P-P-Pico...." he responds.
Keith nods.
"That's cool, I've never heard that name before. Wanna be friends, Pico?" He asked excitedly.
Pico jumped at the sudden question, giving a small smile and nod in response. They chat quietly for the rest of recess (mostly Keith, although Pico does give some small answers). When they go back inside Mr. Smith still hasn't come back yet, so Pico walks with Keith instead. He still lags behind everyone else in an attempt to stay away from them, and Keith seems happy to do the same. Apparently Keith is in the same class as him, so they ask if Keith can move to the empty seat next to Pico. Mr. Davis smiles and nods, happy that they have already found a friend. As the day goes on, Pico finds Keith taking small glances at him, blushing lightly as he does. It confuses Pico, but he smiles when they make eye contact.
At the end of the day Pico stays in the room, having permission to stay and wait for his social worker so he doesn't have to be in the crowded hallway. He says goodbye to Keith and watches him leave before slipping his headphones back on with a small grin. Mr. Smith eventually enters the room, immediately apologizing for leaving Pico alone at recess and for taking so long to get back. She had a small work emergency, so she had to leave the building for a while. As they walk outside to her car, she notices Pico's happy mood. Once they get buckled in the car and on the road, she turns to him.
"So, did you have a good day?" She asks.
Pico thinks for a bit before smiling shyly and looking at his lap, thinking about his blue haired friend.
"Y-yeah... I did..."