Work Text:
Grian knew something was wrong the minute he woke up. First off, his bed did not feel this light. He was used to the small makeshift bed he had made in the attic. Second, he was not freezing. A bonus? Sure, but not knowing where you were was enough for the small borrower to jolt up. He looked all around him but it was dark. He was so grumpy at that. He hated getting woken up by surprises and he hated the dark. After a bit of shuffling, Grian had accidentally hit his face against something hard. Making a small clinking sound when he collided with it. Grian rubbed his nose as looked again to see what he had hit. His eyes slowly adjusted to the dark, only to see nothing that could have stopped him. He slowly reached out his hand and was surprised when his hand felt something. Grian was so curious of what it could be. Invisible barriers aren’t real so that’s out of the question. He slowly took both hands and rubbed them against the invisible barrier. He followed it with his hands, only to find out, to his fear, he had gone in a full circle. He was trapped. Grian had only been trapped once in his life, he had hoped to never feel that way again. He looked up and his suspicion came true. He was in a glass jar, most likely used for pens and pencils, but STILL. How did he get here? How did this happen??
His breathes were short and before he knew it, he was having a panic attack. He didn’t want to be stuck. He liked his freedom. He wanted out. He wanted to go back to the fireplace. He wanted… a voice inside him said it before he could register the thought. He wanted Doc.
It was a strange feeling. Wanting the comfort and safety of what he first thought was a beast. He wanted his friend. Friend. That’s a nice word, he thought. That thought alone was enough for him to get moving and move himself out of the darkened headspace of his panic attack.
“Doc?!” he yelled, but there was no indication that anything heard him. That made him worry. He decided to try plan B. So, he stood on the soft flooring of the jar, now seen as cotton balls, and reached for the lid of said jar. Only to come up short. Plan C was to rock the jar, but that plan would make him and said jar fall and crash. Grian did not like that plan, but he was panicking. He hated small spaces and feeling trapped. It made him feel like he was going to be there forever, like a pet inside a cage. In his panic, plan C was taking into effect. Grian pushed on the side of the jar as it rocked back and forth, until landing on its side. Grian had only a few seconds until the jar rolled off the shelf. So with sheer panic, he leaped out as the jar continued to roll. Grian took a few short breaths as he watch the jar fall and crash onto the workshop floor.
The effect of that was the sound of a light switch flicking on and Grian becoming blinded by said light that flashed in front of him. He covered his eyes with his hands as he shook in his sitting position.
“Grian?!” Doc voice came into range. “D-Doc??” Grian shook out. “Grian.” Doc voice sounded relieved. Doc must have thought Grian had gone down with the jar and plummeted to his death, but was relieved when his voice showed that he was still on the shelf. “Dude. You scared the-“ Doc sighed. “Are you okay?”
Grian wanted to shake it off. To simply nod and ignore how his body was shaking. To tell his friend that he was okay, but all that came out was a hiccup. “I’m.. f-fin-ne.” He wasn’t and Doc saw that very clearly. Doc didn’t hesitate to use his paw to lightly rub Grian’s head in comfort. The young borrower was obviously in distress and Doc didn’t know what to do. Grian rubbed his eyes as tears began to fall. The action causing Doc to reel his paw back until Grian stopped him. Grian instinctively grabbed his paw and brought it close to him. He needed comfort.
Doc was gentle as he wrapped his paw around the borrower and brought him close to his shoulder. Doc’s lab coat was silky, but not cold. Doc did his best to comfort the borrower in a hug.
Grian was thankful for it as he let a few more tears slide out.