Mech X4 : Whump Within Oneshots {Discontinued}

Nightmares (Part of the PTSD Arc)

"So you're saying what exactly?" Leo asked, gesturing with his freehand with a flamethrower in the other and oil all over his face.

It was midnight in Bay City and the Mech crew was settled in Mech X4 with Ryan asleep in the lab while the others spoke with Leo.

"We're saying," Mark said, stretching the 'saying', "That we don't know what to do. He's hardly even told us what's wrong."

Harris picked up where Mark left off, "We want to help, we just don't know how."

"Hmm... That's a tough one," Leo spoke, gesturing at them through the screen with the flamethrower, "It could be his parents."

"His parents?" Spyder asked, "That seems way off."

Leo hummed again, "You may be right, splicer-"

"-hey!-"

"I know, it's so forgettable," Mark commented.

"Not really," Harris said, eyebrows scrunched as he tilted his head.

"As I was saying~" Leo began again, cracking his neck, "You may be right, but you may be wrong."

"And by that you mean?" Harris asked, leaning forward.

"Without his parents recognition, it's easy to assume Ryan has begun to doubt his abilities," Leo stated.

"But he's had mom," Mark argued, the 'and me' being silent but heard, "And it's not like this is the first time he's doubted his abilities. Couldn't he get over it like he did those times?"

"Those were times of crisis, this is the aftermath," There was an awkward pause while the information sunk in before Leo continued, "Look, all I'm saying is that maybe, if we find Ryan's birth parents, it'll help boost his confidence to the point this whole PTSD mess is behind us."

"It's not a mess... Not really," Harris argued weakly, wanting to protect his friend's dignity.

"No, he's right," Mark said, "If we find his parents they can convince him that he didn't fail and then boom! Problem solved."

"I don't really think it'll be that easy," Spyder piped up.

It was then that the lights flickered, and a tortured scream was heard.

"Ryan," Mark realized, eyes widening as he ran out of the room.

"We've got to go!" Harris shouted to Leo as he ran after Mark.

Spyder hesitated at the ladder, "Um, bye?" Before he to left.

"Alright, bye," Leo commented, still on the screen after they had left, "I'll just..." He fumbled with the transmitter before the transmission went black.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Ryan!" Mark shouted again, racing to his brother's side.

Ryan was thrashing, electronics going haywire around him.

"What's happening to him?" Mark shouted, to panicked to think clearly.

"He's having a nightmare!" Harris assessed.

"What do we do?" Spyder asked, shouting along with the rest of them.

"Wake him up!" Harris shouted and Mark slapped Ryan across the face, starling the brunette awake.

"Ow," Ryan helped, disgruntled, "What was that for?"

"You were having a nightmare," Mark explained.

"So you decided to hit me?"'Ryan asked, disbelief clear in his voice.

"In hindsight it wasn't the best idea," Harris stated.

"But it was still an idea," Spyder supplied and the others looked at him, "What? It was better than what the rest of us were doing."

Harris jerked his head, "Well alright then."

He turned to Ryan, observing Ryan's irritated skin, "You should be fine. If it starts to bruise or anything, let me know."

"Why?" Mark asked, worried he had hurt his brother more than helped him.

"You slapped him."

Silence.

"And...?" Mark asked.

"I don't know, okay' but typically bruising is a bad sign and I figured that if it was bad enough that blood vessels ruptured or whatever that he should probably see a real doctor since you two were 'roughhousing' okay?" Harris asked, clearly irked, "Now it's late, we're all tired, so let's go to bed."

And with that, Harris stalked out of the room.

Spyder gestured to him and made a 'yeah' sound before following Harris, leaving the two brothers alone.

"Sorry," Mark apologized, "I panicked."

"Yeah, I know," Ryan replied sharply, before retorting in a sarcastically irked manner, "My head hurts."

Mark chuckled, "Yeah, I'd guess it would. I'm known to hit hard."

"I really hope you're talking about baseball," Ryan stated teasingly.

"What else would I be talking about?" Mark teased back before going quiet.

Ryan gave him a questioning look but didn't say anything.

"You should get some sleep," Mark said, and Ryan's eyes widened before Mark continued, "We'll stay at the Mech tonight."

Mark got yo to leave when Ryan called out, "Mark?"

"Yeah?"

"Could you...? Could you stay with me?" Ryan asked hesitantly.

Looking at his brother now, Mark couldn't help but remember six year old Ryan asking the same question one night when he'd had the flu and was delusional. Hearing it now... He didn't have the heart to say no.

"Scoot over, you dork, I'm coming in,"'Mark joked as he laid down on the floor beside the couch.

"Night bro," He said, lifting his fist up for a fist bump.

"Night," Ryan replied, bumping his fist against his brother's as the two settled down for some well deserved rest.

Little did they know that rest was about to become the least of their problems.

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Ack, I'm so so so so so so sorry! I worked like five days in a row, had a day off, then worked again!

Sorry it was short, sorry if it was rushed, and sorry if they were OOC. Feel free to call me out on it so I can do better.

As always, thanks for reading and live long and love PINEAPPLES!!!