Drabbles: Claustrophobia
Titles: Claustrophobia
Word Count: 100 each
Characters: Glitch/Wyatt (first 3), Raw/Jeb (last 2)
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine, but I do make good use of them.
Challenge: tinman100 #21 - "Don't freak out."
Closing his eyes helped. Helped him forget that there was wood not two inches from the tip of his nose. That wood was pressed against his back, his arms; his feet scraped against it and he swore he could feel it with his hair.
His thoughts scattered and he gathered them with each deep, steadying breath. Always back to the same place: Don’t freak out. They’ll find you. Raw will lead them to you.
It felt like days filled with nausea and barely contained panic before his most recent prison was flooded with light.
Taking Glitch’s hand, Cain stumbled free.
~
Everyone assumed his time spent locked in a tin suit had made him claustrophobic. The truth was, people often forgot he’d had a window to the world.
Being stuck in a closet didn’t bother him nearly as much as being stuck in a room with a view. Small, dark spaces made him feel safe. Having to watch as people, animals, clouds and stars moved freely in the other side of a piece of glass? That was torture.
Cain preferred to be on the outside of windows. That was why he always had insisted on driving- at least he’d be distracted.
~
Elevators.
Even though Glitch had designed those used in the Palace and had overseen their construction, he never fully trusted them. He’d take the stairs, thank you very much.
When he and Cain were moving heavy equipment between floors and were forced to use the elevator, Glitch was not surprised when it ground to a halt and the lights went out.
Glitch hadn’t even noticed he’d begun to panic until he felt Cain’s hand on his arm and heard the smooth, calming tone of his voice nearby. “Don’t freak out,” Cain told him. “Someone will find us. Someone always does.”
~
For the first few weeks, Raw would wake up in the middle of the night to an empty feeling.
He followed his gut and it always led him outside to the garden. There, he would find Jeb wrapped in a thick blanket, exhausted but awake.
Raw would sit with Jeb silently, knowing Jeb’s time spent prisoner in a tin suit had affected the young man profoundly, making sleeping indoors uncomfortable.
Eventually, Jeb would slide sideways and end up against Raw’s side.
Tonight, he tucked himself under Raw’s arm. “Don’t freak out, but I think I’m falling in love with you.”
~
Even in the dead of winter, bedrooms freezing outside the warm cocoon of blankets, Raw struggled against the trapped feeling he got from being covered.
Jeb was incredibly understanding; Raw realized Jeb knew about how they’d found Raw stuck in a Papay snare. But Raw couldn’t help but feel ashamed of his own weakness.
One night, Jeb whispered, “Don’t freak out. I’ve an idea.” Jeb wrapped himself in a thick blanket then spooned up behind Raw, an arm and leg flung over. The warmth of Jeb’s body seeped into Raw, even free of the confines of covers. And Raw slept.
~
End
Word Count: 100 each
Characters: Glitch/Wyatt (first 3), Raw/Jeb (last 2)
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine, but I do make good use of them.
Challenge: tinman100 #21 - "Don't freak out."
Closing his eyes helped. Helped him forget that there was wood not two inches from the tip of his nose. That wood was pressed against his back, his arms; his feet scraped against it and he swore he could feel it with his hair.
His thoughts scattered and he gathered them with each deep, steadying breath. Always back to the same place: Don’t freak out. They’ll find you. Raw will lead them to you.
It felt like days filled with nausea and barely contained panic before his most recent prison was flooded with light.
Taking Glitch’s hand, Cain stumbled free.
~
Everyone assumed his time spent locked in a tin suit had made him claustrophobic. The truth was, people often forgot he’d had a window to the world.
Being stuck in a closet didn’t bother him nearly as much as being stuck in a room with a view. Small, dark spaces made him feel safe. Having to watch as people, animals, clouds and stars moved freely in the other side of a piece of glass? That was torture.
Cain preferred to be on the outside of windows. That was why he always had insisted on driving- at least he’d be distracted.
~
Elevators.
Even though Glitch had designed those used in the Palace and had overseen their construction, he never fully trusted them. He’d take the stairs, thank you very much.
When he and Cain were moving heavy equipment between floors and were forced to use the elevator, Glitch was not surprised when it ground to a halt and the lights went out.
Glitch hadn’t even noticed he’d begun to panic until he felt Cain’s hand on his arm and heard the smooth, calming tone of his voice nearby. “Don’t freak out,” Cain told him. “Someone will find us. Someone always does.”
~
For the first few weeks, Raw would wake up in the middle of the night to an empty feeling.
He followed his gut and it always led him outside to the garden. There, he would find Jeb wrapped in a thick blanket, exhausted but awake.
Raw would sit with Jeb silently, knowing Jeb’s time spent prisoner in a tin suit had affected the young man profoundly, making sleeping indoors uncomfortable.
Eventually, Jeb would slide sideways and end up against Raw’s side.
Tonight, he tucked himself under Raw’s arm. “Don’t freak out, but I think I’m falling in love with you.”
~
Even in the dead of winter, bedrooms freezing outside the warm cocoon of blankets, Raw struggled against the trapped feeling he got from being covered.
Jeb was incredibly understanding; Raw realized Jeb knew about how they’d found Raw stuck in a Papay snare. But Raw couldn’t help but feel ashamed of his own weakness.
One night, Jeb whispered, “Don’t freak out. I’ve an idea.” Jeb wrapped himself in a thick blanket then spooned up behind Raw, an arm and leg flung over. The warmth of Jeb’s body seeped into Raw, even free of the confines of covers. And Raw slept.
~
End