Work Text:
You were standing at a party, just chatting with a few friends, when you felt a slight pain in your chest. You assumed it was nothing, so you continued your conversation. Then you felt it, that feeling of being completely overwhelmed. You could feel a lump in your throat when you tried to speak, and you could feel the tears coming. You did your best to hold it in, sometimes you could control them if you really really tried. Then you felt your heart start racing, it felt like you were falling, and everything seemed so distant. It was like you weren’t in control of your body, and people were noticing. Your friend went to grab Calum, and when he came over, he stood a small distance away from you and spoke calmly, “Y/n? Can I touch you?” You nodded, still trying to control your emotions.
Calum took you gently by the hand led you back to the car to sit down. He sat you down in the passenger seat and sat in the driver seat. As soon as he shut the door, you felt yourself break. You cried and started hyperventilating, your hands shook, and you started to scratch at your own skin, feeling as though you were a prisoner in your own body. Calum immediately tried to stop you, and had you turn to him, “Y/n, you’re okay, breathe with me.” He took a large breath with you, “Hold it....hold it....okay let it go.” He had gotten you to calm down a bit, but you were still shaking and looked terrified. He held his hand out for you to hold, and as soon as you grabbed it, he gently squeezed it. He grinned, “Hey, you are okay, you’ve got this. I know it feels like you’re not gonna make it, but you are. You’ve done this before. 100% survival rate, you can do it again.”
You felt a small relief, and Calum sat there for the next few minutes while you calmed down. Luckily, this was one of your shorter panic attacks.
You turned to Calum and smiled weakly, “Sorry.”
He turned to you confused, “For what? Y/n, it’s not your fault, these things happen.”
You shrugged, “I know, but I just wanted to go through tonight without freaking out, and you had to leave your friends to come help me, and I just - I’m sorry.”
“Babe, I don’t mind helping you, I want you to feel better.”
“But I know it’s been happening more often lately, and you keep having to be the one who calms me down and that’s not fair to you. You didn’t sign up for this.”
Calum held out his hand again for you to hold, “Y/n I love you with all of my heart, and this is part of who you are. I don’t care if this happens everyday and I have to be with you, because I know you’re trying to get help. I will always be here to help you through this.”
You realized this was one of those things, where Calum wasn’t going to back down. He smiled, “You wanna go back in? Or do you want to go back home?” You sighed, “Can we go home?” He smiled, nodded, and started to drive away from the house.
You whispered, “sorry.”
He whispered back, “Love you.”