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English
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Published:
2025-10-26
Completed:
2025-10-26
Words:
1,960
Chapters:
2/2
Comments:
16
Kudos:
126
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Absolute Overwhelm

Summary:

Adrian is overstimulated after a chaotic day of work, but Chris is depressed and in need of a friend. The two find a happy balance to take care of each other's needs.

Notes:

I've been stuck on this one for over a week. I was originally going to have chapter 1 be Adrian's POV then chapter 2 be Chris's POV of chapter 1, then chapter 3 was going to be dual perspective, but then I didn't touch this fic for a week. So since Chris's POV was getting me stuck, I decided to whittle it down to just Adrian's.

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Chapter 1

Chapter Text

Adrian lay on the floor of his secret room, the lights off, his head buzzing with the phantom of a thousand conversations. Waves of numb tingles bombarded his nerves, repeatedly washing down his body. His bones ached, and his restless muscles weighed him down into the floor, trapping his body against the cold concrete.

His fingers itched as he contemplated moving his hand—a dissonance between his brain and body. He wanted to move, he needed to get up. He had to pee, but his muscles wouldn't move, and his screaming back was in just the right position to finally feel relief.

Adrian's phone dinged, the screen lighting up right next to the man's head. He gathered all of his strength and focus to moved his arm, grabbing his phone and checking the message—it could be Chris, after all. It was Chris.

'U up?'

A conflict stirred inside the man. He considered putting his phone down and pretending he hadn't read the message, but he had, and he couldn't leave Chris on read.

'No'. Autosuggest suggested his favorite merman, so he sent that right after.

'?'

…

The bubble disappeared, then came back.

…

Then disappeared again.

…

Finally. 'U OK?'

'No'. Chris normally got tired of Adrian's short answers and left him alone pretty quickly—he'd also get tired of Adrian's long answers too; text conversations with Chris usually didn't last very long.

'What's up?' Fuck. Chris probably needed Adrian, and Adrian was being selfish. It wasn't that he didn't want to talk to Chris. He desperately did—a burst of dopamine flooded his brain just at the thought—but his body didn't seem to get the message.

Adrian clicked on Peacemaker's profile, pressing the call button. It would be a lot less buttons to press, less orders for his body to carry out.

"Hey?" Chris's voice sounded concerned. Fuck! He must need backup!

"Hey! What do you need? Do you need backup? Are you okay?" Adrian rushed, flinching at the sound of his own uncontrollably loud volume.

"No, I'm at home. Just seeing if you were available." Chris's voice was low and quiet, it would have been soothing if the prospect of his request didn't fill Adrian with dread, that one added piece of stimuli almost too much to bare.

A quiet tear rolled down his cheek, everything in him screaming to be pushed over the edge into total collapse. He couldn't respond, couldn't even think of a response; his brain was stuck. He wanted to give his everything to Peacemaker, but he had absolutely nothing left at this point.

"Adrian?"

Fuck. He had to say something, but what could he say? "Mhm?"

"Do you wanna come over?" Adrian let out a little squeak. He wanted to go to his friend, but he couldn't even move. "What's wrong? You never hesitate to come over, especially when you wanna vent about something. What happened? Are you hurt?" Adrian wasn't sure he had ever heard this tone from Chris before. He had heard him worried, but that normally presented as aggression…aggression toward Adrian; but this sounded…protective?

"I'm just overstimulated. Work was insanely busy. They understaffed during a big event, and now everything's too loud." Adrian mumbled into the floor.

"Shit, man…I'm sorry. Do you want me to see if Ads is up, instead?"

"No!" Adrian whined. "What do you need?"

"No, man. It doesn't sound like you're feeling good, I'm gonna call Ads."

"No! Please." Adrian's voice sounded pathetic, he knew it did, but he couldn't help how completely invested he was in this man.

Chris let out a long sigh and Adrian could hear him settling into his couch. "I'm just a bit down tonight. I don't think I should be alone."

"Fuck, man! I'll come over." Adrian squeezed his closed eyes tight, trying to block everything out to focus on getting up.

"You sure? I don't need much, I just need your body in the room with me…oh and maybe your Switch… We can turn the lights off or something. We don't even have to talk. You can just sleep the whole time."

"Yeah. Sounds good. I'll get dressed and be right over." The thought of jeans against his skin sent an unpleasant shiver up his spine.

"No, man. Come as you are. Hell, you can strip naked when you get here for all I care. I'll come pick you up; doesn't sound like you should be driving." That was a relief. All Adrian had to do was stand up, pee, and grab his console—he still had Chris's progress saved in Zelda.

Chapter 2

Chapter Text

Adrian's phone buzzed on his chest. He was finally able to move his arm without much distress—after he had gotten up to pee and find his console. He had put his shoes on and immediately thrown himself onto the couch upstairs to wait for Chris.

His mother was in her room, reading a book with her thunderstorm sounds playing. It was normally relaxing for him, but the light from her cracked door, and the mild booms mixed with the whooshing of passing cars was too much tonight, giving his buzzing head a headache.

Adrian picked his phone up, Chris's voice on the other line. "Hey, I'm here."

Adrian closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as he tried to break through the barrier that kept his thoughts from turning into actions. "I'll be right out. I just have to get the energy to stand up."

"Want me to come in and pull you up?" Chris's tone was teasing, but it would actually be helpful.

"Yeah, actually. If you could?" He heard a light chuckle on the other end, but then the sound of a car door closing echoed down the street.

His door opened and Adrian met Chris with a pathetic smile. The sounds of the world immediately got louder with the open door, and Adrian's headache intensified.

Chris looked bad, his clothes were clean, but disheveled, his hair messy and unwashed. He really was having a bad night. Adrian hated when he had nights like these.

Chris grabbed Adrian by the arm and pulled him off the couch. Adrian thought that would be that, but he kept holding on, his hand gently clutching Adrian's wrist. It wasn't that Adrian minded—in concept—but the contact set his skin ablaze, providing another point of stimulus that overwhelmed his entire system. He couldn't focus until the older man let go, but he couldn't ask him to let go, not when Adrian was the one thing providing him with comfort.

Adrian walked with Chris to the car, content in his knowledge that the touching would be over soon. He never thought he would feel that way—he always wanted Chris touching him, he wanted to be fused together so they could never part—he hated overstimulation.

Chris opened the car door for him. He never did that. Why was he being such a gentleman?

Adrian climbed in and closed the door, appreciating the immediate dulling of noise. The world was so noisy, and Adrian never realized it—he always tuned it out—until days like this. There was always something making noise, vehicles, aircraft, neighbor's noisy equipment, household appliances; hell, even nature was noisy—the birds and bugs constantly talking.

Chris joined him, turning the key in the ignition, and looking over at Adrian. He smiled a sad smile. "Thanks for doing this. You're doing a lot for me tonight, I really appreciate it, man." It was the most recognition Adrian had ever received from the man. Maybe Chris should be depressed more often? No! That was a terrible thought.

Chris reached over to place his hand behind Adrian's neck—a move he often did while talking to Adrian in the car—but Adrian instinctively moved away. He hadn't meant to, but he couldn't handle another moment of touching. He curled in on himself, trying to make his body smaller. He just wanted to disappear, or for the world to disappear…or something to make his feelings go away.

Chris retracted his hand and Adrian felt a pang of guilt. "Sorry." He mumbled.

"No, I get it. You're overwhelmed. It's like a really bad trip." Chris eyed Adrian's pajamas. "I just have to acknowledge your fleece gecko pants before I shut up. But now I promise to be quiet." He smirked at Adrian, and Adrian's heart filled with amusement. He loved Chris, and Chris loved him. This was going to be an easy night.

They drove in silence. True to his word, Chris didn't speak at all, he even kept the radio off—the one constant of his vehicle. It meant a lot that he was being so considerate, especially when he was going through so much shit himself.

They both headed inside, and Adrian noticed how dark the house was. There were absolutely no lights on at all. He couldn't even see Eagly; he only knew the bird was there because he squawked when they opened the door. "I figured you'd want it dark."

"Thanks." Adrian smiled up at his friend with the dumbest in-love grin—he thanked the darkness for hiding it.

"Where do you wanna set up shop?" Chris's voice was low, almost a whisper, and Adrian's clenched headache almost immediately released in the calm space.

Adrian handed his switch—and the charging station (you can never be too careful)—over to Chris, and headed toward his bedroom. "You said I could sleep?"

"Yeah. Go for it!" Chris followed behind, practically on Adrian's heels. It was an odd role-reversal, Chris clinging to Adrian like the life-raft he usually provided Adrian. He really wasn't doing well tonight.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" Adrian asked as he crawled onto Chris's bed. He wasn't even able to get under the covers, he wasn't even facing the right direction before he collapsed onto the mattress.

"You're already doing it. Just exist for me." Chris climbed on the bed, the mattress shifting under his weight, and jostling Adrian in an uncomfortable manner. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

Adrian's eyes were already drifting shut, his body weighing into the bed like a bag of bricks. He lay flat, trying to turn himself into a pancake. "Can you lay on top of me?"

"What?" Chris didn't touch him, didn't move at all. It was nice that he was trying not to jostle Adrian until he was sure he understood.

"Like, lay on top of me. Lay down over my body."

"Like…like if we were gonna have sex? Like…vertically…not horizontally."

"Yeah!" Adrian looked back at Chris, only the silhouette of his body visible. "Exactly like that. I like the weight on me."

"Yeah…yeah, I can do that." Chris gently lowered himself on top of Adrian, sinking into him like a weighted blanket from heaven. Adrian hummed into the contact and closed his eyes again, the world drifting farther and farther away.

"You like that." It wasn't a question, it was a statement; a true statement—he really did like it.

Chris pulled out the switch, the brightness on the lowest setting. "Is it okay if I play on you?" Adrian nodded. "Do you want the sound off, or is it okay?" The music was a low volume—everything was relaxing with Chris on top of his body like this—he liked the gentle sway of the changing music. Zelda's soundtrack was literally the bomb, so it was kind of perfect.

"It's good." He hummed, his mind getting away from him. "I love you. Goodnight." He mumbled, and he could have sword he heard Chris say it back with a kiss to his head—but he could have just dreamt that.

Notes:

Hope you enjoyed! Please leave a comment if you did!
Hopefully some other neurodivergents can relate!