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Aiden's mental health was getting bad again.
Ever since he was little, he would have these periods of what he could only really describe as crushing depression. Thankfully, his parents took notice of this, so he'd gotten a Major Depressive Disorder diagnosis early on.
However, that didn't solve all his problems. They put him in therapy but, after six or seven different therapists of all kinds, it was clear that therapy didn't work for him, and he was firmly against going on medications because he didn't want to deal with the potential side effects. Plus, with his ADHD, there was no telling if he'd be able to remember to take them on time.
Things came to a peak in middle school, getting so bad that he'd fallen into a cycle of self-harm but, after that, he'd managed to stabilize himself, coping in healthier ways and overall becoming a much more functional person.
Naively, he thought he was better.
Sure, he still had episodes from time to time. The illness would never truly go away. But, things weren't as bad as they had been, so he thought he'd moved past that for good.
With all the stress of the Phantoms, though, things had begun to snowball again, building and building at a rate beyond his control. By the time he realized how bad things had gotten, he was powerless to stop it.
This is what led to him biting down on a towel to muffle his screams as he burned his arm in the bathroom while he thought the rest of the Savannah Kids, who'd been crashing at his place the past few days, were asleep.
He'd never cut himself, mainly because he was afraid of going too far and bleeding out to a dangerous extent, as well as the risk of infection if he didn't care for his wounds correctly, so his main method had always been burning. Plus, it was easier for him to hide, since there weren't any thick bandages required and burn marks were a lot easier to write off as accidents than, say, organized lines of cuts.
He hadn't, however, expected Ashlyn to use the bathroom, so he didn't have proper time to react as she opened the door and saw what he was doing.
The two stared at each other for a moment before his brain caught up to the situation and he frantically pocketed the lighter, but, by then, it was too late.
She knew.
"Aiden, what-"
"Don't tell Ben" Aiden pleaded. His eyes were wide and he was starting to realize that he was hyperventilating. Ashlyn very cautiously inched forward and brushed something wet off of his cheek, alerting him to the fact that he was crying in full force.
"I won't tell Ben" Ashlyn promised, quietly closing and locking the door. She turned back to him and moved him to sit down on the toilet lid, then sat on the edge of the bathtub next to him. "Here, hold my hand" she said in as gentle of a tone as she could manage, holding out her hand and trying not to wince as he squeezed it with his full strength. "Can you copy my breathing?"
After a few minutes of controlled breathing, Ashlyn managed to calm him down from his panic attack, leaving a tense silence in the air for a moment as neither of them really knew what to say. It was Aiden who eventually broke this silence.
"I have Major Depressive Disorder" he said timidly. Ashlyn nodded. "It, uh, got really bad in middle school. I had gotten better, though. But..."
"It's getting bad again" Ashlyn finished for him.
"Yeah" he nodded. She wasn't sure how to help him. She'd never been great at the whole comforting people thing and she knew this was beyond her level anyway, but she figured she should at least try.
"I don't think I can, like, fix you" she started. He shook his head.
"I wouldn't expect you to"
"But, is there anything I can do to support you?"
"...I mean, I know you're weird about hugs, so I understand if-"
He was cut off by a pair of awkward but gentle arms wrapping around him, and he couldn't help but lean into the touch.
He was very far from okay, but at least he wasn't alone.