Brave enough || Specialshipping ||

Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Anxiety Attacks

After that, Pika decided it was time to go home.

ChuChu couldn't get Yellow to talk to her, even asking what happened to cause her to panic so badly went ignored.

Yellow just stayed quiet. She mumbled a quiet goodnight to her Pokémon and went to bed. ChuChu frowned, she didn't like the fact that her girl was staying quiet after what just happened. She need to talk.

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Yellow thought that'd be the only time she'd react that way. She'd reassured ChuChu she'd be fine, and so ChuChu reluctantly stayed in her room trusting in what Yellow said. Trusting that Yellow would be fine.

But no, the moment she entered her classroom and saw Red, she felt her chest constrict in on itself with pain and the uncomfortable fluttering sensation filled her whole chest and hands.

Yellow quickly mumbled an excuse to Blue and rushed out of the classroom and went to a corner of the empty hallways and covered her face with her hands. She can't stay here forever, she knows that, she's already missed class so much and now this? This won't end well, she wants to go home, wants to be in the comfort of her room, of her forest, her uncle, and her neighbors—

"Yellow?"

Warm, comforting hands were placed on her shoulders, gently pushing them against the wall to make Yellow look at the person talking to her.

Yellow's heart rate quickened, and her whole body felt like it was constantly overheating and tears started forming in her eyed.

"Hey, hey, hey, it's okay. It's just me Yellow-"

'I know, that's the problem', Yellow thought, her eyes widening as more panic flushed through her.

"Yellow, I need you to breathe with me.",Red said quietly as he rubbed soothing circles on her shoulders.

Yellow opened her mouth to protest, to tell him she was fine, that she WILL be fine, she just had to-

"Yellow.",Red said sternly, her face still showing concern but his eyes and tone said he wasn't going to accept anything else she said.

Yellow tried swallowing to speak, but swallowing hurt a bit and Yellow realized her throat was dry again. She settled on trying to nod, but with her shaking it looked like she trembled while nodding rapidly.

"Here",Red said sitting against the wall and surprising Yellow when he gently pulled her onto his chest to hide her face. Yellow somehow felt better like this, not having to look at him while going through.

"Can I take your hat off?",Red asked and immediately regretted asking when he felt Yellow tense up and tremble. "It's okay, we don't have to— don't worry Yellow I won't take it off.",he says continuing to rub soothing circles on her back.

Yellow kept her face hidden and did the exercise form yesterday. She just had to breathe.

In

Out

In

Out

Yellow closed her eyes and kept her face hidden on his chest.

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There was something about being held like this.

Being held like you're the only thing that matters, and being quietly comforted.

It was almost blissful.

Almost.

There was a small part of Yellow that was happy to be this close to Red. So happy that she can finally hug him like she use to as a child.

The better part of her felt guilty. Had her body not reacted so violently to just seeing Red, Red would be in class having fun with the others. He wouldn't feel obligated to help her, to hold her while she quietly cries into his chest.

She was crossing so many friend boundaries, Misty should be the only one who should be held like this.

Yellow's eyes snapped open and widened.

Oh god, Misty-

Yellow immediately pulled away from him, almost falling backwards but she was able to find her balance by placing her hands behind herself to stop herself from falling.

"I-I'm sorry I—",Yellow says looking away from Red as she scrambled to try and get up, but Red held onto her wrist gently to stop her.

"Yellow.",He said quietly, in a voice so surprisingly small and insecure that it willed Yellow to look at him fully.

"Has this happened before?",He asked frowning.

Yellow wanted to look away, pull her hand free and deny it, but she couldn't. She felt compelled to tell him the truth. She looked down for a moment before her eyes met his again and she nodded.

"Why?",He asked.

"I—...it..use to happen a lot when I was younger. I..had a bad experience with a Pokémon and ever since then I got anxiety attacks whenever I saw a Pokémon battle...after a while I got better, but participating in meaningless battles always caused an episode...even then I was able to keep calm sometimes, which is why when I battled with you before I was fine. And I hadn't had any until...",Yellow says looking away.

"...Yesterday. When I questioned you.",Red said. It wasn't a question.

Yellow looked at him with wide eyes. "H-how did you—"

"I've had enough anxiety and panic attacks to recognize when someone is about to get one.",Red said giving her a weak smile, as if sounding ashamed of the admission.

"..what? Why...?",Yellow asked frowning in confusion.

Red stayed quiet and looked at the ceiling.

Yellow panicked and quickly added. "Y-you don't have to-"

"After school, walk with me around the training grounds."

Yellow blinked.

"What-?"

"I'd tell you now, but if you're feeling better, we should head back to class. Oak can forgive your reasoning for not being in class and can forgive me for being here with you, but won't forgive us completely ditching class.",Red said getting up and pulling Yellow up with him, faintly noticing how much smaller and lighter Yellow is to him.

Yellow slowly nodded, and the two made their way back to class, Red holding into her worst gently the whole way and only letting go once they reached the door to the classroom.