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Electra stopped in his tracks. He and Greaseball were having a nice outing visiting a neighboring yard. One that was considerably bigger and busier than the one Greaseball lived at. And that was fine, except for the fact that Electra had decided to turn off his connection from the frequency. With no one else to fill his head and distract him, the yard around him became overwhelming.
It was so loud. The chatter and noises filling his head, and he couldn't tell them to stop. They just kept getting louder and louder. Stop, stop, stop.
"I have to go" was all he managed to get out before heading back the way he came, not even considering checking if Greaseball was actually following him or not.
He weaved through the crowds, looking for any calm areas he could slip away to before completely melting down. Every bump into a stranger making him more and more on edge.
Eventually he found a spot, some tiny alley between sheds, tucked away from all the commotion. He sat down on the ground, resting his back against the wall for a bit before slumping forward, head between his knees.
He closed his eyes as he grabbed the front of his crest, pushing his face against his hand, trying to focus on his breathing. He stroked the back of his neck with his other hand, a force of habit he'd learned to calm himself down.
He took deep and shaky breaths, focusing all his attention on that instead of the noise he could still faintly hear. Deep breath, hold, release , just like how Wrench had taught him.
After some time, he felt his head calm down, becoming a normal sort of quiet it usually was when it wasn't in the frequency. He opened his eyes to look at the dirt below him.
"Lexi? You ok?" Greaseball asked, and Electra had never heard him so concerned.
He looked up from the dirt, releasing his hand from his crest. A few bright strands were left behind on it. Great.
"I'm fine. " And he was , he was way more fine than he was a minute ago, that's for sure.
"What was that, why'd you run off?" Greaseball knelt beside him, but kept his distance.
"It was nothing, I just got overwhelmed, that's all" Electra felt himself grab his crest again, pulling on it a little.
"You can go have fun, I'll be fine" he continued, pulling a little harder.
"Whoa, no way, I can't just leave you like this. I can't pretend to know what you're dealin' with, but I wanna help you. Please, Lexi"
Taking a deep breath, he answered.
"Can you hold me?"
And soon he felt the diesels strong arms wrap around him, pulling him against that broad chest. It was a nice sort of pressure.
Greaseball held him like that for a few minutes until he actually felt fine and like he could stand being in a crowd for more than a second. Though he still felt like he needed to go home as soon as possible.
"Could we go home now, please?"
"'Course, about time we started heading home anyways" Greaseball stood up, holding out his hand to Electra, who took it, his legs feeling a bit weaker than before.
He let Greaseball lead him through the yard, the comfortable squeeze of his hand managing to ground him in the hectic space.