Waffle-Ninja
Ariyaquila
hapyhappiness
Mumbo_Banano
hxrmits
Word count: 2750

Zedaph stared out the window. However it wasn't by choice; he was sickly nervous. Acid crawled the inside of his stomach. Oh, how he hated needles.

Doc had told him to relax, saying 'it would make it hurt less', but that only furthered the nauseous feeling in his gut as he realised how tense and ridged he was.

When Doc had left to retrieve the needle, and to prepare for the injection, he wasn't sure how long he would have to wait. He had only been gone a few minutes when Zed came to the conclusion that it didn't matter how long he would take, the anticipation going to kill him. His gut did another flip at his expense as he held in the urge to gag. All he knew for sure was that if Doc didn't return soon, there would puke splattered all over the floor.

Earlier, he told himself that he wouldn't make a fuss. That he wouldn't be so petty about a small metal tube that supposed to help you. Well, it didn't work. No matter the situation; he always got so worried right before the shot. His heart always beat so hard, it was a wonder nobody else could hear it.

Zed was getting dizzy. He was shaking. The only thing he could hear was his heartbeat in his ears and he didn't even notice the door open again. His head was spinning, it was like the whole room was closing in on him, spinning... spinning... spinning...

He was suffocating, the room was getting smaller and smaller and tears welled up in his eyes. The twisting of his stomach got worse, shredding at his insides like a hungry beast.

Zed didn't even notice the hands on his arms, shaking him lightly.

He tried to get into a ball and make himself smaller, he shut his eyes tight and hugged himself. Doc stopped shaking him and watched anxiously. His friend was panicking this bad, so he decided to call one person that could calm Zed down. He heard the other person pick up, "Doc?"

"Hey Impulse, Zed is kinda freaking out right now. I think he's having an attack of some sort. I know you have experience with panic attacks and stuff so could you come by calm him down?" Doc said into the phone. He knew Impulse was in some kind of meeting right now because of the messages sent in chat earlier, but right now Doc didn't care, he just wanted to help Zedaph.

"Oh! Of course, I'll be right there!" Impulse said before hanging up. Doc took a weary glance over at Zed. This'll be fun...

It didn't take Impulse too long to get there. Once and when he did, he rushed into the room. Doc was about to speak before Impulse held up a hand and pulled Zed into a hug, patting his back and whispering things to calm him down. Doc had many questions but decided it would be best to wait.

Zed felt the shadows closing in on him. Wrapping around him, smothering him. But, a light appeared among the darkness, encasing him in a warm light.

Grabbing onto Impulse's shirt, Zed buried his face in his shoulder. He felt safe, like nothing could hurt him with Impulse there. He cried softly: out of relief or fear, he couldn't tell. All he knew was that he was safe.

Doc had turned away in respect but still felt awkwardness burning in his stomach. Once Impulse pulled away from the hug and looked to Doc, seeing the questioning look, he murmured to Zed that he would be a second and walked Doc to a different side of the room. "Needle?"

"I was going to give him a shot but he started freaking out, did I do something wrong?" Doc whispered back, watching Zed try to stop his crying.

"I knew Zed was afraid of needles, I mean who isn't? But, I didn't know it was this bad." Impulse mumbled, "You're fine, you did nothing wrong. You didn't know about his fear. You were just trying to help him."

Doc let out a small breath he didn't know he was holding, but he still remained tense, "So what are we going to do about this vaccine that Zed needs to get?"

"Can he get it in some other form than a shot?" Impulse asked.

"I think so. Lemme go look." Doc left, heading back to his lab. Impulse turned to look into the room at Zed who was staring at the floor and playing with his sleeves.

"It seems we have a new member."

Zed looked at Impulse with his head tilted in confusion but before he could ask, Doc came back from the lab with a bottle that had rubbery cone on it. "Would a nasal work instead of the needle?"

"Nasal?" Zed asked, looking at the bottle Doc held.

"I basically put this in your nose and squeeze the bottle." Doc said bluntly, giving Zed the bottle to look at.

"I guess this'll work..." Zed mumbled as he handed the nasal spray back to Doc. Doc stuck the nozzle in his nose.

"Ok, I need you to breath a big breath for me." Doc said. Whilst Zed took a deep breath, Doc squeezed the bottle. Zed let out a light cough and Doc pulled the nasal spray out, "You're all done."

Doc capped the bottle and threw it away in the bin, cheering to himself when it landed straight in, before leaving to go do Doc things. Impulse went over to Zed and sat down beside him.
Impulse grabbed Zed's hand before speaking, "Let's go to my meeting."

"What meeting?"

"The phobia support group, of course."

Later! (Or after.... maybe just a timeskip. Brought to you by JoeHills, of course)

"Phobia support group?" Zed asked, following Impulse to wherever they were going.

"We started it on the server to help people who have strong and painful fears get better." Impulse stated, "You might want to join."

"Is it because of the needles thing?"

"Kinda..." Impulse mumbled sheepishly.

"But I'm fine!" Zed insisted, looking slightly offended.

"Zed, you had a panic attack. There wasn't even a needle in the room." Impulse said, crossing his arms slightly. Zed looked away, seeming to pipe down at his remark.

"We're here." Impulse said, walking into the building. There were about 9 people other than Impulse and Zed in the room.

Zed saw there were chairs in the back and grabbed some for him and Impulse.

"Hello!" One of the people said as they pushed back their glasses. He seemed pretty peppy and excited, "Welcome to our phobia support group! I'm Joe, I organize the meetings and all. I have arachnophobia and Scar has lepidopterophobia, gosh that's hard to say, so please leave any pet spiders or butterflies you have outside of this room until the session is over."

At Joe's remark, the group let out a small chuckle. "I'm Xisuma. I have thanatophobia, which is the fear of death. It's the idea of dying that petrifies me," a man in a helmet introduced himself. You could tell he had a smile on his face from the sound of his voice. He was definitely British - Zed couldn't exactly locate where though.

"I'm Wels," a blond person in a knight suit said, "I have allegrophobia, fear of being late."
He seemed somewhat embarrassed by it but the person next to him just pat his shoulder.

"Hi, I'm Python. I have agoraphobia, the fear of crowds and stuff..." a guy with red hair mumbled. Zed saw he was wearing a suit with a red tie.

A guy with a raven-coloured moustache shifted in his seat nervously. The person next to him whispered something in his ear, patting his hand comfortingly. "I'm Mumbo. I have atychiphobia, which is the, um, fear of failing..." he breathed out, giving the person who comforted him a grateful smile. He wore a similar attire to Python.

"I'm Cub, I have aquaphobia. I'm sure you can guess what that is." An almost bald man with a grey beard said, waving to Zed and leaning back farther in his chair. He didn't to be as nervous as the others, but he could just be got at keeping it inside.

"Hello! I'm Biffa, and I have monophobia, the fear of being left alone." Another guy, wearing a bright pink and yellow sweater, introduced himself.

"Hi!" A shorter man with brown hair and scratches on his face exclaimed in excitement. He fiddled with a cowboy hat in his lap. "I'm Scar and I have the fear of butterflies and moths, as well as spiders." He was sat next to Cub and seemed almost as relaxed as him. He smiled kindly at Zed and Zed smiled back, feeling more welcome.

"I'm EX." A person in red said, putting one of his legs over the other and leaning back in his chair. He looked similar to, well almost exactly like, Xisuma, were they siblings? "I have nyctophobia. Fear of the dark, the childish phobia."

"Nothing is childish here, EX. You're valid," Joe piped up, a soft smile on his face.

"Well you know me, I have sonophobia, the fear of loud sounds." Impulse said to Zed, who was surprised. Impulse always seemed happy, upbeat and invincible.

Zed looked around and saw it was his turn to introduce himself.

Zed gulped, struggling to make eye contact with everyone else in the room. He finally did it, not feeling as intimidated as he thought. "Um, I'm Zedaph, but you can call me Zed. I guess I have trypanophobia. That's the fear of needles, I think," He stammered, his nerves getting to him as he stumbled over his words. The replies from most of the group were warm smiles and understanding nods, letting Zed relax a little.

"Do you want to say what happened to you Zed?" Joe asked, "Not to put you on the spot or anything."

"Uh, sure," Zed twiddled his thumbs, "There wasn't even a needle in the room with me and I felt like the walls were closing in on me, I was shaking and my stomach hurt like something was stabbing me. I didn't feel anything or see anything. It's really stupid..." Zed trailed off, staring at the table.

"Nothing is stupid here! We take everything seriously, except Mumbo's mustache!" Joe joked, smiling brightly. Mumbo flashed a quick offended expression before huffing and pouting. "Just kidding, Mumbo."

The group chuckled again at Joe's words. "So, have any of y'all tried any exercises recently to help you cope?" The leader asked, once everyone had settled and greeted Zed. Xisuma nodded, along with EX, Cub and Biffa. A few shook their heads and a couple didn't reply, shifting anxiously in their seats. "That's great!"

Joe was proud they had done the coping strategies, "Why don't we share some that we did and tell which one worked best?"

"Well, um.. I got Cub to show me some pictures of spiders. He also took me to a butterfly house, which was super stressful, but it might be working, I'm not too sure." Scar piped up, a smile playing on his face as he shared a look with Cub.

"That's good! Anyone else?" Joe prompted.

"Me... X sat with me in the dark the other day. I-it was really hard," EX mumbled, looking down at his lap. "But we're gonna keep trying daily. I want to get over this stupid phobia." Joe nodded in understanding.

"I decided to try and take a break from being with people for thirty minutes, I didn't panic until 20 minutes in so I'm doing something right." Biffa said happily, "I had a friend outside of the group help me with this, since we he's over most of the time."

Zed noticed Impulse look away beside him. Was Impulse hiding something? Zed decided to not say anything, but he grabbed Impy's hand in a comforting way. Impulse looked at him for a second and Zed smiled at him.

"That's great, you two." Joe smiled, looking around and noticing Impulse's reaction. "Impulse?" he asked, "what did you do?"

Impulse squeezed Zed's hand. How was he going to get his way out of this one? Zed gave his hand a squeeze back and motioned for him to speak.

"I- I..." Impulse started, Zed squeezed his hand for encouragement, "I didn't really do anything, but because my roommate is away for a while and they have a problem with slamming doors, the amount of panic attacks I have a week has gone down a small bit..."

"It's okay to take baby steps, Impulse." Joe smiled, "it's a good start."

Everyone nodded in agreement, making Impulse feel a little better. Joe clapped his hands lightly, "Is that it?"

Nobody else spoke up so Joe adjourned the meeting.

Later...

"Hey Impulse? Why didn't you tell me about your sonophobia?" Zed asked his boyfriend as they walked down the street.

"Well- I- See- I... don't know..." Impulse stared at the ground as they walked along the somewhat busy path.

"You know you can tell me this stuff, right?" Zed asked, bumping his shoulder to Impulse's.

"Yeah, I just.." Impulse rubbed the back of his head nervously, whispering the last part; "I was a little embarrassed I guess.."

"Impulse, you have nothing to be embarrassed about."

"I know. It's just whe-" Impulse started, but was cut off when a loud clatter sounded from across the street as a waitress tripped and fell into the table. It was like a chain reaction as many cups were shattered, a few plates broke, and the table collapsed as one.

Zed's attention was caught on the scene before he remembered Impulse.

Impulse had crouched down, still holding Zeds hand. "Impulse, can you look at me?"

Impulse didn't react to Zeds voice, so Zed pulled Impulses hands away from his face, looking at the man and trying to pull him out of his state, "Impy, look at me, you're going to be fine, you can do this."

Impulse was shaking, flashes of memories that only brought back fear and pain spiraling around his head. He saw colors, but couldn't tell what they made up. Everything was blurry as the littlest movement brought a dizzy spell with it. His chest felt constricted, as if a boulder was sitting on him. Someone tried to hug him, but that didn't help as he felt trapped.

Impulse shut his eyes tight, pushing away the person who hugged him. He tried to speak and tell them to back up but nothing was coming out. His everything hurt.

Zed thought of what he could do, a lightbulb went off. He wasn't strong enough to do what he thought of, so he decided to do the second best option.

Zed kissed Impulse.

It was a light quick kiss, but it was enough to snap Impulse out of it. Impulse was very surprised when Zed calmed him down. He was used to suffering through his panic attacks alone.

Impulse was still shocked even after they arrived home.

"Impy? How are you doing?" Zed asked, handing his boyfriend a cup of hot chocolate, which Impulse took appreciatively.

"Fine. How about you?"

"I'm... fine too. Just thinking about the session earlier..." Zed responded, sipping his own drink. He seemed distracted and Impulse was wondering whether he was thinking negatively about it.

"So... what do you think about it?" Impulse asked, sipping lightly at his hot chocolate.

"It was fine..." Zed trailed off, staring at the marshmallows that floated ontop of his hot chocolate.

"But?"

"But.. I don't wanna push my phobias onto other people, you know? I don't want to seem like a burden," Zed sighed, leaning into Impulse and nursing his cup.

"Hey, don't say that. You will never be a burden. I'm proud of you for today and that's exactly what the group is for: to help support you through your journey of getting over your fear," Impulse comforted Zed, wrapping his arm around him and trailing his fingers up and down his boyfriend's arm.

"Thanks..." Zed mumbled, sleepily sipping from the hot chocolate again.

"Are you going to stay the night?" Impulse asked, taking the cup from Zed.

"Yeah..." Zed mumbled before he drifted off to sleep. Impulse smiled, pulling the blanket off the back of the couch and draping it over the two of them.

The end.