Work Text:
Ashlyn was dealing with a lot of stress.
Everyone in the group kept looking to her for guidance even though, truthfully, she was just about as lost as the rest of them. It was hard, being the leader to a group of people who she'd only recently gotten to know and in a situation she had no ground in.
Making it worse was the fact that she, like the rest of them, had been losing a lot of sleep, making her even more unable to handle stressors.
It all came to a head one day during math class.
The teacher called on her to answer a problem in a moment where her attention drifted. She, of course, didn't know the answer, causing the teacher to start reprimanding her, and this was the final straw.
Her vision went blurry and she was no longer hearing whatever the teacher was saying, far more focused on the growing tightness in her chest and how it was getting harder for her to breathe.
Before she could even process what she was doing, she grabbed her bag and walked out of the class, her feet taking her to the end of a hallway that barely anyone ever went down. She slid down the wall and curled into a ball on the ground.
Shakily, she reached around for her headphones and brought them over her ears to block out the world while she desperately tried to breathe.
At some point, a figure had come over and knelt down in front of her, but she couldn't be bothered in her panic to figure out or care who it was. Not when it felt like she was dying.
But, then, the figure started talking.
Her brain recognized it to be Aiden and, once she focused more on who the figure was, she could confirm that it was, in fact, Aiden.
"Hey, Ash" he said gently, careful not to touch her. As bad as he was with registering boundaries, even he knew that this was decidedly a no-touching sort of situation. "Can you try and take a deep breath? I'll guide you" he offered. She managed a shaky nod. "Okay, in... And out... In... And out..."
After a few minutes, she actually began to calm down, and found herself very embarrassed.
"You weren't supposed to see that" she said. He shrugged. "...How did you know how to help with that?"
"Ben"
"Right..."
"Wanna go for a walk before the bell rings for next period?" Aiden offered, standing up. He reached out his hand and helped her to her feet as well. She kept her headphones on, but was otherwise feeling a lot better than she had been a few moments prior. "It might help to stretch your limbs a bit after that"
"...Yeah, okay"
"Score!"