Work Text:
Today was so busy. And so loud. And bright. And crowded..
It always was. But to Matt, today seemed so much worse than usual. He could feel his clothes touching his skin, his hair on the back of his neck. He could hear everything all at once. All of the lights seemed so much brighter.
It was too much.
He tried his best to hold himself together like always, but it was so hard for some reason. He was just so tired. He wanted to go home
He wanted to go home and lay down in bed. To just rest where there wasn’t any overwhelming noises or lights or feelings.
He felt like a child on his first day of school. Overwhelmed, tired, so many unfamiliar people passing by. He wanted to go home and hug one of his big stuffed animals, like a child. He wanted to cry.
And he hated it. He hated feeling like a little kid, he was a grown man for fucks sake. Why was he like this?
These feelings and thoughts just continued to worsen all day, he felt like he was going to snap at some point and that terrified him. He loved his job, but sometimes everything was just too much.
Finally. Closing time. He was free at last, he held himself together!
Or at least he thought.
Yeah, that was a lie. He just barely got to closing time. No one else was around but he still couldn’t handle it anymore. He was on the gross ass bathroom floor, silently (or at least attempting to be) sobbing.
He hugged his legs, burying his face into his knees. He made it, right? How is he still stressed? It was quiet?.. why did everything still hurt?
He felt like a big baby. Sobbing on the floor. Just wanting to go home
Matt wanted to go home. But he didn’t even know where home was anymore. He had no idea what it even meant. Even when he was home, when he got stressed, the only thing he could think of, “I want to go home”
Steven had walked in, and Matt didn’t even notice.
“Matt?.. are you okay?? What happened?”
Matt looked up, attempting to wipe the tears off his face the best he could
“I-I just-“
Steven came over, helping him up and rushing to grab some paper towels
“Don’t wipe your face on your sleeves, here, let me help out”
Matt tried to calm himself down, but everything still felt awful. Why was Steven helping him? He was acting so childish, why would anyone want to help someone who acted so immature?
Steven handed Matt some of the cheap paper towels, letting Matt wipe his face off and giving him a moment to calm down more
“So, what’s wrong?”
“..why do you wanna know? I don’t get why you’re even helping me in the first place..”
“Ive never seen you so upset, I-I was just worried. Are you okay?”
Matt stayed silent for a moment before trying not to bawl again
“I don’t know.. I don’t even know why I’m acting like this, I thought I was holding myself together just fine-“
“Holding yourself together?…”
The two paused, looking at each other in silence for a moment before Steven hesitantly asked
“..Do you do this every day?”
“N-no.. it’s just sometimes. like, sometimes everything seems so much.. louder. The lights look brighter, it’s like I can feel everything touching my skin, my head starts hurting really bad, and I feel super claustrophobic all the sudden…”
Steven nodded, although he hasn’t felt the exact same before, he could still understand what he was feeling
“Yeah, I get it. Sometimes stuff just gets really overwhelming..”
There was silence again. It stayed like that for a few moments before Steven sort of opened his arms, offering a hug. Matt sniffled and ran up, accepting the hug and nearly knocking Steven down in the process. Then Matt just started bawling again. He was just happy someone understood.
He didn’t hear the constant thought of wanting to go home anymore.
He felt just fine around Steven.
He felt like he was home.