Chapter Text
July 27th, 2077
14:00
Kraneshaftwick, Etinilia
At Gamesoft:
It's a rainy day in Etinilia, but it seems like a thunderstorm is coming soon. Lucas Aleksy Rossi Gorski and Makisig Hari Facundo are working on sounds for the video game “Sōdaina Toshi”.
“And we're done for the day.” Hari mentions.
“Great! Can we eat muffins?”
“Sure, chocolate one with orange juice?”
“Yep.”
“You have the weirdest taste in food, but I still like you.”
He kisses Lucas on the cheek and goes to look for the muffins at the cafeteria.
Lucas on the other hand goes to look out the window. He notices that it's pouring hard with a lot of wind.
“Drat, I should have brought an umbrella. I'll get drenched if I take the metro.” he thinks. “Maybe I could ask Hari if he can drive me home.” he adds in his head.
At that moment, lightning strikes loudly. Lucas shrieks and steps away from the window.
“A-Alright, this is f-fine, i-it's fine.” he says, slightly panicked as he gets himself in a corner.
He falls to the ground, looking terrified as he sweats buckets. Tears fall down from his eyes as he covers his ears. He could hear his heart pounding in his ears, beating like a panicked drum to the rhythm of his fear.
He tries to calm himself down, but is unable to do so.
Then, an even louder strike of lightning hits. More tears fall down from Lucas’ face as he gasps for air, but each breath felt shallower than the last. His mind was running at a million miles a second, but he couldn't pinpoint a single thought.
At that moment, someone seems to have entered the room.
“-ky? I brought-” a voice starts.
Whoever it is leaves the food on a table and runs to see Lucas. He notices that it's his partner Hari, trying to figure out what to do.
“Hey, Alesky, try to do what I'm doing.” Hari starts calmly. “Breathe in,” they say calmly as they breathe in. “Breathe out.” they add as they breathe out.
Lucas does the same thing as Hari, though his breath was still a little agitated. Lightning keeps striking, which makes it hard for him to fully calm down.
“Concentrate on your breathing, you can get through this.” Hari says calmly.
Lucas keeps breathing in and out slowly, his breath slowly coming back to normal. He was slowly calming down, but the fear was still present.
“You're doing great.” Hari says calmly.
Lucas’ breath slowly becomes normal again, though he's still a bit agitated. He slowly raises his head and looks at his friend, though his vision is a little blurry.
“Can you name five things that you can see?” Hari asks calmly.
“I see…” Lucas starts with a shaky breath as he turns his head and grabs his chest, keeping his left hand in his ear. “I see you.” he adds, trying to catch his breath.
“Anything else?”
Lucas looks around slowly as another lighting strikes.
“I see the window, the d-door, the table, and…” he starts. “and the s-sofa.” he adds with a shaky breath.
Hari gives a warm smile.
“Good, that's good.” he says calmly. “Can I hold your hand?” he asks calmly.
“Yeah… yeah.” Lucas accepts in a shaky voice as he extends his left hand.
Hari holds their boyfriend's hand, and the latter squeezes it hard, almost hurting his partner's hand. Lightning keeps striking, and Lucas keeps slightly flinching every time that it strikes.
They both stay in silence for a bit before Hari breaks it.
“Is there anything else you need?”
“Cold water, please.” Lucas replies in a quiet voice.
“Alright, I'll be right back.”
He grabs Lucas' water bottle that's on a table and goes to give it to him. The thunderstorm continues, but it isn't as bad as before.
“Here it is.” Hari says as they approach their boyfriend and sits down in front of him. The latter is breathing in and out, trying to calm himself down.
He grabs the water bottle and holds it with his two hands.
“Is there anything else you need?” Hari softly asks.
“No, I'm fine.” Lucas says in a breathy voice as he takes a sip of water.
“How are you feeling?”
“A little sweaty, chest hurts a bit, and light headed. My heart felt like it was gonna explode.”
“But you're okay now, right?”
“Yeah, I'm better now.”
He drinks more water and puts the glass on the nightstand.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Hari asks calmly.
“Huh?”
“About the panic attack. Do you want to talk about it?”
Lucas stays quiet before answering.
“No, at least not here,” he replies. “Maki, could you bring me home and stay with me? I need to rest.” he adds.
“Of course. Do I tell our boss that you had a panic attack or something else?”
“A migraine.”
“Alright, I'll be right back.”
They get up and leave the room. Lucas stays right where he is, with his water bottle next to him.
After what seemed like an eternity for Lucas, Hari is back.
“She said we can leave, so it's all good.” the latter says.
Lucas nods and tries to get up, but another lightning strike occurs, so he stays on the ground.
“Here, I'll help you.” Hari says as he extends his hand to help Lucas.
The latter grabs it and manages to get up. He clings onto his boyfriend, not wanting to let go.
“Do you still want your muffin?” Hari asks.
“No, I lost my appetite.”
“It's fine, we can bring it back to your apartment.”
Hari puts the bag of muffins inside their bag. They also grab Lucas’ bag and carry both with ease.
With that, both of them take the elevator to the parking lot. They both enter Hari’s car and head towards Lucas’ apartment.
…
After around fifteen minutes, they arrived at their destination. They both enter the apartment, and Hari closes the door behind him.
“I will change into my pajamas. Do you want me to give you a pair?” Lucas asks Hari.
The latter blushes a bit.
“Sure.” they end up saying.
Lucas goes to his room and gives Hari a pair of pajamas.
“You can change in the bathroom. And once you're done, please knock on my door before you enter.” the former says.
“Of course, I wouldn't dare to invade your privacy.”
A lighting strike appears, and Lucas finches a little.
“I'll try to hurry up to keep you company.” Hari says.
He kisses Lucas and goes to the bathroom to change. At the same time, his boyfriend goes to his room to change. Once he's done, he sits on the bed and texts his friends that he and Hari are at the apartment. Then, Hari knocks on the door.
“Come in.” Lucas says.
Hari enters the room and sits next to their boyfriend.
“Are you feeling any better?” the former asks.
“A little, thankfully.”
“Do you still want to talk about it?”
Lucas nods. He grabs Hari's hand for comfort.
“I…” Lucas starts. “I've always been scared of lightning because of how loud it is, but it wasn't that bad,” he adds. “My fear became worse when Flomecia was attacked.” he adds as his breath becomes more agitated.
“You don't have to keep going if you don't feel comfortable.”
“I'm fine, I can keep going.”
He takes a deep breath before he continues speaking.
“It was the day after the explosion, and some survivors were yelling in agony because the rain burned their injuries. And those loud lightning strikes made us terrified.” he says teary eyed.
Tears keep falling from his eyes, but he wipes them off. Hari holds his hand tighter in reassurance.
“I couldn't get that image out of my head, and I ended up with constant nightmares.” Lucas says. “If I were to describe it, it was like seeing Hell,” he adds.
He takes a deep breath before continuing as he wipes his tears off.
“My mom, friends and I had the chance to go to the Fraglavia Refuge for War Survivors, and we took it. We were safe there, but we were terrified.” he says as he keeps wiping tears off his eyes. “Thanks to Rosa and other therapists, we were able to get better. We all have PTSD, but it's not so bad. As for my panic attacks, I've learned how to manage them, but for some reason, this time was worse than usual.” he adds.
He lets go of Hari’s hand, and hugs him tightly. The thunderstorm isn't as bad as it was before. Nevertheless, lightning keeps striking.
“Dziękuję, Maki, thank you for helping me through it, and also listening to me.” Lucas says softly as tears keep falling from his face.
“You're my boyfriend, of course I would help you.”
They kiss their boyfriend on the nose.
“Could we play ‘Crazy Unos’? I just need a distraction.” Lucas quietly asks.
Hari nods. He gets out of bed to look for the card game, and finds it. He then sits down in front of Lucas. He distributes the cards, and they both start to play.
After around ten minutes, Lucas wins.
“You win, again. Jeez, it's almost as if you were the luckiest guy in the world.” Hari teases.
“I guess that in some cases, I am.”
He kisses Hari on the lips, catching the other one by surprise.
“That was unexpected, but I'm not complaining.” Hari says in a slightly flirtatious tone.
They then notice that the thunderstorm is over.
“Looks like it finally stopped,” he says.
“That's good, my ears were starting to hurt.”
“Ever thought of buying noise cancelling headphones?”
“Yeah, but I wouldn't use them much, so it'll be a waste of money.”
“If you say so.”
“Changing the subject, wanna play another round?” Lucas asks with a smile on his face.
Hari smiles back at him.
“Of course aking araw, anything for you.”
They kiss their boyfriend on the lips, and they both get back to playing ‘Crazy Unos’.
The End