Work Text:
Hot.
That’s all. Hot.
All Droid could think.
Water seeped through every crevice of his mind, weighing it down. It was hot in his head. More than hot, boiling. It stayed heavy in his head while the steam washed through his body and infiltrated his lungs.
The air that enters, it’s soft, light. That feeling escapes as the air travels through him. It comes out heavy, wet, and hot. Hot. It’s so goddamn hot.
He breathes. Takes a breath. Then another. Another. In, out, in, out, in, out, in, out, in, out, in, out, in, out, in, out, in, out, in, out, in, out, in, out, in, out, in, out, in, out, in, out, in, out, in, out, in, out.
He chases that feeling, that lightness in the air. Breath more. Breath faster. He needs to breathe, needs to not be so heavy, so hot.
But it's hot.
Move, get away, get out. Get it off. Get it off. The covers, blanket, he needs to get out. It’s hot, the cover is hot. He moves. Get it off. It’s off. Get it off. It’s off. Get it off. It’s hot. Shirt, shirt too. Shirt is off, shirt is hot. Hot. Still hot. Move. Move. Move.
Breathe, keep breathing.
Move. Get up. He pushes, and falls. His arms, they move but they won’t push. He needs to get up, get away. He needs to move. It won’t work, his arms are wired wrong. He tries to push but they only shake. The water has moved through his body, it’s frying his wires. His body is damaged, bad. His body is bad. Need to move, get away. Push again.
Breathe, keep breathing. In, out, in, out, in out… Out…
Out.
Out.
Breathe out.
Breathe out. He needs to breathe out. Breathe out.
Out, get it out.
It’s hot, get it out. Breathe out.
The air is hot, its steam, it's hot. Out, breathe out. He needs to breathe, keep breathing!
Out.
Out. It’s out. It's out. It’s shaky, it's hot, and it's wet, but it’s out. Now breathe in. He shakes, like theirs a jackhammer to his chest. He breathes. Waves come, they are crashing into him. It cuts off his breaths. He breathes in the water, it's hot. The water is hot. It’s hot water. It’s boiling his lungs.
It’s heavy, It’s hot. Something, something is happening. What is happening? It’s hot.
Get it out. The water, get it out. Move, get it out. He stops pushing and starts to pull. The water rises inside him, its hot water, too hot. Get it out. He pulls, tries to grab the water, yank it out. His skin acts as a barrier. Keep trying, keep pulling. Again. Try again. Get it out. Get it out. Get the water out.
Get it out. Get it out. Get it out. He flails. He turns. He grabs. He grips.
It’s gone.
The water is gone and so is he.
The water dropped out of him, leaving him empty, lifeless, still. He’s still. He’s not hot. It’s not hot anymore and the water is gone.
His body snaps back to him, he coughs a couple times at the sourness in his lungs. Breathe in, breathe out. He’s good now.
Droid starts to shuffle the blankets around from where he had thrown them off of him earlier. The lights are on. Why are the lights on? He looks around. Why is everyone looking at him? “What?”
Droid doesn’t know why Puffer looks like he just gained twenty new grey hairs. “Motherfu-”
Droid kept shifting around on the other side of the bed. Pezzy couldn’t see him due to the pillow barrier the other man had employed, though he could hear the rustling sheets. Usually Pezzy was the one in the group that got restless at night, though maybe staying in a hotel was a part of the reason Droid kept moving.
The four Clooless boys were visiting Canada, along with friends. Puffer and Grizzy shared one of the queen sized beds while Pezzy shared the other with Droid.
“Pezzy, shut uppp.” A very tired Puffer groaned as he threw a pillow in the direction of the other bed in the room. It missed. He didn’t even have the dignity to watch his pillow fall on the floor.
Droid is the one doing all the moving and making noise yet Puffer decides that, oh, of course Pezzy is the culprit. “It’s not even me! It’s Droid who keeps moving.” He whined. Puffer groaned in response. It would be easy to sleep with the rustling sheets, a grumbling Puffer on the other hand would not be easy to sleep with.
Luckily, Droid stopped moving around soon enough. All was good. Droid was quiet, Puffer would stop bitching, Grizzy was probably already asleep, and soon enough Pezzy would join him. The room was nice and quiet.
Why isn’t the room quiet? His eyes shot open to search for the culprit on the ceiling as he didn’t want to actually move his head. Someone is breathing loudly. It’s beside him, short, fast breathes. “Droid? You good man?”….
“Droid.” This man was really going to make him sit up. Pezzy was going to sit up and see nothing… well that’s not nothing.
“Um, Droid, hey.. Can you hear me?” Droid’s eyes were wide and unblinking, the rest of his body completely limp. It’s unsettling concerning. He didn’t respond, just kept staring at something past the ceiling.
“Droid? Hello?” Pezzy tried waving his hand over the empty space Droid was staring at. Nothing. He's not responding at all. He keeps staring. He keeps breathing.
“Is something wrong? Is he ok?” There was rustling behind Pezzy as Puffer asked his questions.
“I, um, I don’t know. I think he’s having a panic attack.” Pezzy heard creaking footsteps before Puffer joined him on the bed. Pezzy had to move his legs for Puffer.
“Hey Droid, can you try to match my breathing?” Puffer said in an uncharacteristically soft voice. Puffer began taking in and out, loud, exaggerated breaths.
Droid didn’t stop. Droid kept breathing. It was getting faster.
Why was he breathing faster? What happened? They’re in a quiet, dark, hotel room, so why is he panicking? Why is it getting worse? What is happening? There is a static energy that starts filling Pezzy. The static sits heavy in his chest as it branches out to his arms and it bundles up in his hands. The static rises, it grows into his head and surrounds his ears, muffling the world.
He reaches out, to soothe- to calm the static. He reaches out to comfort Droid, to help him, to ground him. He reaches out and the static stops. Puffer keeps breathing. Droid keeps breathing.
It’s hot.
The static returns, it’s bigger, louder, more. He’s hot. Droid is hot, too hot. “He’s burning up.” Pezzy tells Puffer as his face pinches. His hand moves up to Droid's forehead. Droid moved. Droid moves. He reaches up, shaky but sure, and gently removes Pezzy’s hand.
“Droid- Jaime? Hey, are you ok? Can you talk?” Puffer stays focused on getting Droid to respond but he doesn’t know, Droid is too hot. His body is burning. The static is melting in his wrist where Droid holds him.
Droid's eyes search the room frantically, yet he’s not seeing anything. “Jaime, you need to breathe.” Pezzy tries to get through to him. The only response he gets is Droid releasing his wrist.
A light snore shatters the entire atmosphere. Grizzy. How the fuck is Grizzy still asleep? With his new freedom, and the growing need to do something, Pezzy goes to wake up Grizzy. Maybe he'll know something.
“Grizzy, Grizzy wake up.” He pokes Grizzy awake.
“Whaaattt?” He groaned, still asleep.
“Droid is panicking, he won’t respond to us.” And he’s hot. He shouldn’t be that hot. The static around his ears is getting louder, harder to filter between the outside noises. There’s more rustling behind him. There’s something sharper, dragging. Pezzy turns around to see Droid clawing at the sheets.
Droid is moving. Droid’s moving but there's no direction to the movement, he’s just moving. “Droid!” Pezzy goes back to his bed, goes back to his spot beside Droid. The panicked man throws the covers off of himself. They are off. The covers are off but he keeps moving as if to get them off. Pezzy tries to still him, hold him steady but Droid throws his hands off.
What is happening? What is happening? What is happening? What is happening?
Grizzy is here, he’s on the other side of the bed. Droid is still moving. He starts grabbing at his shirt but his hands keep slipping. “Jaime, can you try to focus on my voice please? You don't need to talk but we want to help you. Will you let us help you please?” Puffer keeps talking, trying to give Droid something to ground him. Puffer tries to rub Droid's shoulder but the man rips the offending hand off his body and throws it away. “Hey Grizzy, Droid is really hot, can you grab a cold towel?” Puffer keeps his voice calm, even.
Droid pulls and pushes at his shirt until he gets it halfway off. What can he do? How can he help? What is happening? There’s too much static. Grizzy is back with a towel but Droid won’t cooperate to keep the towel on him.
He keeps trying to sit up. Droid falls. Static. Why is he falling? Why can’t he sit up? Droid almost throws himself off the bed and Pezzy moves, reaches as Droid moves further from him but Grizzy catches him first. At least Grizzy could reach Droid, he’s not hurt.
Puffer keeps talking. Static. There’s too much static. “Can you shut up! You’re obviously not getting through to him!” Pezzy snaps. The static inside of him cracks with the outburst.
“At least I’m doing something!” Puffers put together calm facade breaks.
“Bitch!”
“What is happening?!” Grizzy voices the thought that Pezzy keeps returning to. He’s gotten in the bed and wrapped himself around Droid. Grizzy has Droid’s arms pinned to the side as he keeps the man sitting.
“Sorry, just stressed.” Pezzy apologizes while he keeps his eyes locked on Droid. He’s struggling against Grizzy’s hold. His arms keep shaking as he pushes against Grizzy. The cold towel is draped around his neck.
The lights are on. When did the lights get turned on?
The static stops. Droid stops struggling….. Droid isn’t breathing.
“He stopped breathing!” Grizzy voices the obvious.
“Puffer keep talking! I was wrong!” Puffer launches into talking something related to Pokémon that Pezzy honestly couldn’t give less of a fuck about right now. He stutters over about every other word.
Grizzy let’s go of Droid as the man starts struggling again, concerned he may have been the cause of the turn of events. Droid balls a fist up and is pounding at his chest. The other hand is pushing and grabbing at his throat.
They all freeze as they hear the most horrifying noise. There’s a wet clicking.
It keeps clicking.
It’s his throat. His throat opens and closes with a click at each repetition.
Static.
Puffer launches back into Pokémon. Droid still isn’t breathing. Grizzy is frozen. Pezzy reaches, the same way he’s been all night. He reaches and finally he connects with something as Droid breathes.
His body is still too hot, but he’s breathing. He’s breathing. It’s shaky but Droid is breathing. Pezzy breathes.
But then Droid keeps going, he’s back at it again. He’s moving, grabbing at himself as if he wants to take off his skin. Doesn’t this man know how to take a break?!
Pezzy rubs his hand over Droid’s back, feeling the heat sink into his skin. Maybe it will help, maybe he can cool Droid down. He’s rewarded slightly when Droid leans back into his hand, the flailing easing slightly.
“I’m going to grab ice.” Grizzy almost trips out of the room, looking back before he leaves. There is nothing they can do, Droid panicking, something. There is something happening to Droid and they can’t help.
Puffer rants.
Droid pants.
Grizzy returns.
Pezzy is static.
Droid drops ………………..….
….
He’s still. He collapsed.
“What happened?!”
“Is he still breathing?!” Pezzy doesn’t need to be asked twice. He puts his hand over Droid’s chest and feels a steady rise and fall, nothing like the short or shaky breaths from earlier. Droid looked peaceful. Dead asleep.
Droid sits up on steady arms, none of the fear or tension from earlier present in him. He coughs a couple times before taking a deep breath. Pezzy is frozen as he watches. Droid starts shuffling the blankets around that he threw earlier. What the fuck is this man doing? Droid pauses in rearranging the blankets to look around at the frozen room all staring at him.
“What?”
“Motherfucker!”
“Are you okay?”
“The fuck just happened?”
“Woah chill.” Droid raises his arms in surrender as if he’s being interrogated. He is. The static is finally gone. Droid is responding, he’s ok. Is he ok?
“Bitch no. Answer. What happened to you.” Puffer doesn’t question, he demands. Pezzy holds his hand up to Droid’s forehead again. The idiot tries to pull away but stops when he gets a pointed glare thrown his way. He’s back to normal. He’s not hot anymore.
“It’s not a big deal, just an episode.” Droid does not explain anything.
“The fuck is ‘an episode’ supposed to mean?” Grizzy is unamused, Pezzy has to agree with this sentiment. Now is not the time for Droid to become evasive.
After hesitating a bit, Droid seemed to realize he wasn’t getting out of this. “I have a condition that fucks with my body in weird ways. It’s not always bad like this. I got diagnosed a few years back, it’s chronic and I didn’t want anyone to worry so I didn’t say anything about it. The episode I was talking about that just happened, I got too hot.”
Everyone stayed quiet for Droid to continue explaining. “My condition is called ‘Dysautonomia’ or POTS. It fucks with the part of the brain that’s supposed to control automatic functions in my body, this time it was my temperature. It also makes me really confused when I’m having an episode, I can’t recognize anything outside of what I’m feeling.” Droid had started to ramble, wanting to get everything out.
It was a lot. “Is there anything we can do? Anything that can help?” Pezzy kept his voice soft. He wanted to mimic the way Puffer was talking to Droid earlier.
“No. Can you just treat me like normal? I don’t want to suddenly become the ‘sick case’ that everyone is trying to solve.” He’s not looking at anyone, just staring at the blanket that he’s fiddling with.
Droid’s request is understandable, Pezzy went through something similar when he was diagnosed with chronic depression.
“Of course, just tell us if you need anything, yeah? And maybe warn us next time. I don’t think I’ll get any sleep after what I just saw.” Grizzy was already moving to his bed despite his remarks.
“Shut up you big baby!” Droid grabbed the pillow that puffer had attempted to throw earlier and succeeded in chucking it at Grizzy’s head.