First Sight ⇨ Robsten

3. Just Breathe (AU)

My lungs gave out as I faced the crowd. I think that keeping this up could be dangerous. ~ Therapy by All Time Low

She continued inhaling and exhaling, as she tried to calm herself down. She was scared of being among the crowd without her guardian angel. Right now she only wanted to be at home and cuddle with her boyfriend. Her boyfriend (who went on by the given name Robert), had work to do and our poor little heroine was at lectures at the university.

Robert was not only her boyfriend, but her best friend as well. They were inseparable, since they met in nursery school. They were only toddlers back then, but they quickly grew attached to each other. However, it wasn't until high school, when things grew serious.

Our heroine's breathings grew more and more rapid by the minute. This had never happened to her before. Hot and cold flashes flew through her small body and made her feel even worse. It was like a nightmare. Sure, she had had a lot of panic attacks before, but this one was worse. And it was happening in front of people. She was insecure of her panic attacks.

God knew what would happen if people learned she had them! They would feel sorry for her. She didn't need that! She just wanted to go home and hug tightly her boyfriend! Nothing else!

"Kristen?" , a girl sitting next to our heroine whispered, obviously noticing that something was wrong with her colleague. "Are you alright?"

Kristen looked at her and nodded softly. Then she excused herself and carefully walked to the bathroom, where she dialed Robert's number. It took only seconds for the older man to pick up:

"Krissyboo?" , he called, his voice being motherly worried. His girlfriend didn't say a word. She just sobbed.

"Rob!" , she cried. The words "It's happening again!" broke off her mouth.

A gasp was heard on the other line.

Rob ordered his girlfriend angrily to gather her things and warned her that he was going to pick her up after the lecture. Kristen did not reply. She shook her head yes.

"I love you."

"I love you too. Now get to class."

And they hung up the phone at the same time.

When Kristen walked back inside the hall, the professor shot her a death glare. It scared the young woman so much, she mentally prayed the panic attacks would not haunt her in public places anymore. She was sick of this.

No one, but Robert knew about Kristen's breathing problems. She was born with this. It was not lung cancer, thanks God, neither something even more dangerous, but it definitely made poor little Kristen feel ashamed and insecure.

Robert learned about Kristen's breathing problems when they were in high school. Even long before, he had noticed that Kristen would never play P.E. but kept his mouth shut, simply assuming she was not good at sports. Little did he know that when Kristen laughed hard or held her breath even for a few seconds, she would start to choke so hard that she needed a special oxygen mask to be put on her face so that her breathing would normalize.

In their freshman year, once Kristen had such an accident at school, but no one was there to help her. Later on somebody had found her, collapsed on the floor of the female bathroom. When they phoned Kristen's family, they all rushed to the hospital. Grandmothers, cousins, distant relatives ... and of course, Robert. Who could forget about him?

Kristen still remembered the words she first heard when she woke up in the hospital that day:

"Kristen Jaymes Stewart! You scared me to death!"

And the soft little kiss Robert planted on her lips ... Her first kiss.

John and Jules Stewart had no other choice, but to accept that they were in love.

"At least she's happy," they would say. They had let Kristen to live with Robert after high school, when they saw how much Robert cared for his girlfriend.

But let's go back to the present, shall we?

After the torturous lecture finished, Kristen gathered her stuff and went outside, where her baby greeted her with a tight hug.

The whole university knew that Kristen and Robert were dating. After all, Robert had studied there, but had graduated a year earlier due to his perfect results on the exams.

Sometimes when Robert would come to pick Kristen up, their colleagues would tease them for being together. Robsten were finding it hard to ignore it.

"But as long as you're with me, there's no place I'd rather be!" , Robert sang with the radio, making Kristen chuckle.

"What?" , he interrogated.

Kristen let a soft sigh. Robert," she began. "You know how much I love you, but..."

"But what?"

"You can't sing!"

Robert frowned. He said he couldn't be singing that bad, which made Kristen chuckle. Rob laughed along. They continued to laugh loudly, until Kristen began choking.

The man quickly parked the car and put an oxygen mask on Kristen's face. He started saying a "mantra" which would always calm Kristen down.

"Breathe, honey," he began. "In and out. Inhale. Exhale,"

Robert could see that Kristen's breathing was normalizing slowly. "Stay calm. Relax", he was soothing Kristen, who was now scooped in his muscular arms. "Just breathe."

And that was how the mantra would always go.

Kristen let go of Robert and with his help, she took the mask off. Tears brimmed her eyes. Robert's face changed to a worried one and pulled his girl closer to himself. He could hear her faint sobs.

"What's wrong?" , asked Rob. Kristen cried how she hated the fact she couldn't even laugh at something without needing an oxygen mask after that.

"I hate myself for this!"

Her boyfriend gasped. How could she say that? Didn't she know how amazing she was? Her words nearly brought him to tears. Something in his mind clicked thought. He remembered about the ring in his back pocket.

"Kristen," he whispered, letting go of his girl. "Don't say that. Ever. You're the definition of perfection."

The small girl blushed and smiled.

Robert reached into his pocket and withdrew the ring. "Will you marry me?"

Obviously, Kristen did not expect this. However, she, still grinning, agreed to marry her boyfriend.

And they two hugged and kissed sweetly in the rusty car, the song "Rather Be" by Jasmine Thompson still playing as a background music.