Phoenix Drop University- Freshman Year

7: Anxiety

Aphmau breaths heavily, scrunching up into a ball, rocking on her bed. Heart pumping too fast, and too many thoughts running in her head at once, smothering her, digging a hole that traps her inside her own head.

Aaron sprints over, knowing that she is having an anxiety attack, she can't see him, for her, it's just a swirling void of pain and anguish.

He embraces her from behind and she struggles, tries to wiggle out of his grasp, he starts humming, trying to get her to relax, finally she stops struggling.

"Shhh.... Everything is okay. You're fine, just listen to my voice, everything is going to be okay." She whimpers, her own mind destroying her from the inside, tears flowing like a waterfall from her face.

He hums a gentle tune, letting her slowly relax into him. He whispers sweet nothings in her ear, his voice a low growl, and his hands gripping her's tightly.

"Hush, you're fine. I'm here, I'll always be here, nothing is going to happen." He had to keep a level head, he was ripping himself apart seeing her like this, he hates it.

He rocks them back and forth, coddling her like a newborn child, and eventually, very, painfully slowly, she stops, she's fallen asleep on him.

He sighs in relief, it had taken an hour to calm her down, it's almost midnight, and he moves a strand of raven hair from her face, it's peaceful now.

He needs to go back into work but he doesn't want to leave her, she may have another attack, and he doesn't know of Katelyn or Kawaii~Chan know what to do if that happens.

He dials Bella's number, still holding Aphmau in his arms, she picks up, giggling and making soft mewling

"Hey, something came up, I don't think I can go back to work tonight." She giggles and he can hear a breathless male voice cry out.

"That's okay! You go spend time with your girlfriend, while I have a little fun." She lets her last word drag out, Aaron feels a little uncomfortable, doubly so when he hears the male voice moan. He hangs up, his face full of heat.

"Probably gonna pay for that." He whispers aloud, the door creaks open, and Kawaii~Chan slowly comes through the door, Katelyn close behind.

"Aaron~Kun? Aphmau~Senpai?" Kawaii~Chan asks, looking at their entangled bodies, Aphmau's hand resting on his chest, Sleeping soundly in his arms, it doesn't help that Aphmau's shoulder strap had slipped of, making it look like she is topless.

"My ship!" Kawaii~Cham squeals, but Katelyn pushes her aside and glares at him, but then she sees the look in his eye, and recoils.

"Aaron, we're sorry. It was just supposed to be a prank. We didn't know she'd react the way she did." For once, Katelyn is a little scared of Aaron, something in his gaze is wild.

"You shouldn't be apologizing to me, I'm just glad I got here before she hurt herself." He stops making eye contact, his eyes turning a wild yellow, and his teeth starting to grow.

"You two should go home, I'll call you when she wakes up." He looks away, he feels his tail start to force its way out the seat of his pants, and his inky black ears start to poke from his head.

"No, we wanna stay Aaron~Kun, we feel responsible." They don't understand, in a few minutes he would be unrecognizable, he felt his brain and thoughts turn to instinct.

"Please, she needs some rest, and so do I." His voice is getting gruffer by the second, his ears are now visible through his hair, luckily they are the same color.

"Besides, I'm feeling a little ill." His stomach starts to rumble, and his hands start to grow hair, he hides them the best he can.

"Fine, take care Aaron." Katelyn glances at Aaron, not noticing the very large pair of ears now poking out of his head.

They leave, and Aaron lays Aphmau on the bed quickly, stripping off his clothes so he wouldn't ruin them.

Fur replaces where bare skin used to be, his tail curls becomes black, fluffy, his ears pat down against his head his mouth forms into a snout, his eyes a brilliant yellow.

He hunches over, it had stopped being painful years ago, but it still is uncomfortable, after it stops, he groans, and takes a sniff of the air.

Lavender and lilac fill his snout and his black fur gets everywhere. If Aphmau awoke, she would probably freak out, she had never seen him transform.

She stirs, great, should've just kept his snout shut.

"Aaron?" Her eyes land on the large, wolf-like creature on the floor, staring at her with wide, yellow eyes, and she screams, Aaron quickly shoves his paw over her mouth, he hadn't locked the door yet.

She flails, trying to get the creature off of her, Aaron, who has very limited speech as a werewolf, tries to calm her.

"Calm." His voice is barely recognizable, but Aphmau seems to catch it, and she stops and stares into the yellow eyes of his beast form.

"Aaron, is that you?" He nods, and his heart jumps when she curls her fingers into the fur on his cheeks, making him whine and stick his tongue out.

"I.... Wow." Her fingers continue to stroke his fur, he has longer fur than most werewolves, making him look a bit more like a wolf than a man.

"Why do people find you guys scary? You're so fluffy!" She grabs his paw, and pokes and prods his paw-pads, he curls them around her hands and she looks up at him.

"I'm sorry about earlier, it's just, the phone call, the room, the professors, the stress. You didn't need to see me like that." Aaron presses his furry head on her lap, and nips up at her, talking is painful, acting like a dog is not.

She smiles and scratches his ears, making his tail wag, he is huge, and the bed groans under their combined weight, he makes a cooing noise, and presses his snout into her shoulder, his nose freezing cold, and wet.

"Wow, your nose is cold." She says, and Aaron curls around her, making Aphmau lean into his chest.

"You make a good pillow this way." She cuddles against him, and he wraps his arms around, her, and all is well until she spots his clothes on the floor.

"Wait, are you...?" She looks him up and down, and glances between his legs, where there is nothing, except an unholy amount of fur, she really doesn't want to know what's under all that fur.

"Well, at least your covered in fur. You are not falling asleep here though." He whines and paws her face, slapping her gently with his soft paw.

"Was that supposed to hurt? She asks, and he does it again, and then flops on her, pinning her under his weight, he buries his snout into her back.

"Argh! Cold! Stop!" He raises his fluffy head and his long ears flop down, he's massive, but he's just a pup, at least at heart.

"Are you going to move?" Aphmau asks, and Aaron shakes his head, so Aphmau pulls the blanket over both of them, and uses his chest as a pillow.

"Goodnight, then, and if you are still here when you turn back into you. You are dead."