❛ PAPER CROWN ❜ - 𝖼𝗆𝖻 ✓

062; panic attack

( TW!! panic attack )

third person.

the next evening around 7pm, everyone that was meant to be at the butcher household for their meal together was there, and corbyn had already been more than helpful by helping julie set the table, while astrid watching them from a distance before she made her way over to where max was.

mollie was sat beside eugene on the couch, who had his head on the girls shoulder while his eyes were closed shut, and the group were unsure of it he had fallen asleep or not but not wanting to ruin his mood by accidentally waking him up.

"max," astrid said, keeping her voice low while she stood beside the boy in the kitchen before she made sure no one else could hear her, "does um, does your sister like me?"

"yeah, why?"

"because she's very passive aggressive with me," she mentioned, tucking her hair behind her ear, "and i don't know if that's because i did something or if it's just who she is, i don't want to apologise if she's going to get violent."

"violent?" he paused, turning to face her, "you think she's a feral animal or something?"

"no, no." astrid laughed slightly, "but i do want to apologise to her."

"i'm sure you can after dinner," max nodded, giving her a small smile before carrying a couple plates over to the table they'd sit at for their meal.

once both him and julie had bought all of the plates to the table and julie had managed to somewhat wake up eugene, the six of them sat down before picking up their silverware.

it had taken mollie a little longer than the rest of them to have to courage to pick the cutlery up, but after some reassurance from her boyfriend she did it and all that was left for her to do was take the first bite, the hardest of them all.

"so," astrid spoke up, "julie i heard you've taken up a new hobby? max told me."

"oh yes," she nodded, "i started a little bit of gardening but i much prefer my knitting, eugene likes to garden though."

"i grow nice potatoes," he nodded, "we could've had them for tonight's meal julie."

"well yes but we forget to bring them."

"ahh," eugene said, looking back down at his plate.

"oh julie that blanket you knitted for me," corbyn spoke up, looking over at the lady, "i love it, so comfy."

"did you like the colours dear?"

"loved the colours," he nodded and smiled as astrid looked at the boy, "you do know your colour combinations."

"yes well," julie shrugged, "i had a little help from mollie when i was choosing."

the girl glanced up at the two of them, forcing a smile on her face before looking down at her plate of food, still not having touched a single piece of it before her hand went to her forehead.

"you're a good cook julie," astrid told the lady while max looked at her, "i really like what you've done with the food."

and whilst that end of the table were mid-conversation about the meal, mollie placed down her fork before her breathing began to pick up and become heavy, her hand soon subtly going to her chest.

quickly finding it extremely difficult to breathe as she soon started to shake, the girl suddenly got up from the table and pushed past corbyn's chair, leaving the room while the attention turned to her.

"what happened?" eugene asked as they looked over at max.

"panic attack," max quickly said, getting up from the table and following after mollie.

"i'll come with to see if she's alright," astrid suggested, standing up as max turned to look at her.

"astrid do not go near her," he pointed at the girl, a stern tone in his voice as astrid sat back down, watching him leave the room.

"should i..?" corbyn looked at julie, receiving a shake of her head.

as max followed in the girl's footsteps once he left the room they had all sat in for their meal, he eventually found her crouched against one of the walls at the back of the house located in the office, still hyperventilating and visibly shaking.

"hey," max softly spoke up, crouching down beside her and bringing her head to his chest, "it's okay, i'm right here."

"don't dig your nails into your arm," max continued, grabbing her hand and moving it towards his arm instead where her nails instantly dug into his skin.

while the minutes went by and max stayed in that uncomfortable position so that his sister could try and calm down, julie and corbyn had already cleared the table while eugene took himself off to sleep again.

corbyn had tried to look through the glass doors to the office multiple times, letting out often sighs as each time he was unable to see either of them before he'd get back to helping julie again.

when max had finally left the office, he closed the door behind him before taking a deep breath, running his fingers through his hair as he looked at corbyn, "you can go see her, she's just painting the wall to calm her nerves."

"okay," corbyn nodded, placing down the cloth he had in his hand and heading towards the office.

"astrid can i speak to you outside?" max asked, receiving a nod from the girl before the two of them walked out of the front door, closing it behind them before max took a seat on the wall.

"what happened to your arm?" she furrowed her eyebrows as she folded her arms, "that's going to bruise."

"it's fine it's just what she does," he shrugged, "um, i don't think this is gonna work."

"..why not?"

"i don't want to make my sisters anxiety worse," max replied, "you need to go, it's not worth the risk."

"oh." she paused, "her over-"

"her over you any day of the week, yes." max interrupted her as he nodded, "i love you but i don't want our house to be an anxious place for her, it's not going to work."

"i said i was going to apologise to her," astrid argued, "i was going to get on good terms, it could totally work."

"astrid, please." he looked at her, "no."

"max, i mean this in the nicest way possible." she began, "you gotta put yourself first for once, you need to start doing what you want to do."

"this is what i want to do," he shrugged.

"no, i mean like things that'll make you happy." she sighed, "putting your sisters needs over your own is only going to hurt you in the long run, you've never put yourself first."

"i mean, you basically raised that girl." astrid told him as he stood himself up, "you had no choice and you've done all you can, so don't you think you should put yourself first..?"

"i'll come drop off your stuff tomorrow morning," max said, avoiding the conversation she was trying to have as he opened the front door again, "have you got a way of getting home?"

"yeah my car is just over there," she said, gesturing towards her car as max gave her a nod, closing the door behind her.

♡

a/n

ok ok a lot happened this chapter so hopefully it doesn't seem too all over the place

alsoooo, any guesses or like assumptions on what the cause of it was? i did add like a subtle hint ig butttt ya know