Release The Panic

A/n: Gonna be honest, I don't know what this was supposed to be originally...

I found a draft for the first paragraph or so and thought hey let's use that haha
So it became this.
The title is taken from the song Release The Panic by Red, not the most appropriate for the theme but the title works

To Ikuya, Hiyori was his rock. The brunet had been by his side for a large period of his life and he had seen everything. They had seen each other at their best and at their worst. They had seen each other on the days when they were determined to take on the world and also on the days where they felt hopeless. However, despite the fact that they had both experienced each other's flaws, Ikuya still found it hard to know how to help on Hiyori's worse days. On said days, Ikuya found himself pulling small bits of knowledge from the times Hiyori had helped him out, hoping desperately that something, anything could help to make things better.

The first time it had happened had been only a few months after they had met and although some of the details were somewhat blurry, he was ever thankful to Hiyori.

He had been in hospital at the time after a near-drowning and had woken up shaking from yet another nightmare and through the haze of fear, he could hear himself gasping for breath, could feel his hands tingling until it spread up his arms and throughout the rest of his body.

In a way, it felt so much worse than drowning, whether it be the uncertainty as to what was actually happening to him or the fact that he should be able to breathe but just couldn't seem to take in any air

He didn't even notice when the door opened quietly and Hiyori slipped into the room, clearly being cautious in case he was asleep, however, when the brunet's eyes landed on him, they widened and he froze where he stood before mentally kicking himself to do something.

Only he was none the wiser what was happening.

All he could really do was approach Ikuya carefully, slowly, as if approaching a wounded animal, calling out in the steadiest voice he could muster.

"Ikuya?"

The only acknowledgement he received was a hitch in Ikuya's desperate breathing, reaching a hand out, he placed it gently on Ikuya's clammy arm.

"Ikuya what's wrong? Do you want me to get the doctor?" Ikuya only shook his head, trying and failing to answer and instead, letting out a choked noise "I'm not sure how to help...But I'll try my best, here you need to try and breathe okay?" Hiyori took Ikuya's hand, holding it to his chest and fighting to keep his own breathing calm and collected in the hope that Ikuya would be able to sync his breaths with Hiyori's.

He took note of the way Ikuya's fist clenched tightly in his own hand and the shaking of Ikuya's entire body, wracking his brain for anything which could explain what was happening.

He came back empty and figured that for now all he could do was encourage Ikuya to breathe and help to distract him.

"Your brother said he was going to come later," He began, rambling on about anything and everything, practices, school, even the news and, much to his relief, it seemed to be helping, Ikuya's breathing slowing by the minutes as he focussed on Hiyori's words, hand still pressed against the brunet'sown chest.

The shaking took a while longer to wear off after Ikuya had eventually calmed his breaths enough to respond to Hiyori however, he could still feel the pins and needles in each of his limbs making it harder to move into a more comfortable position.

When Ikuya appeared to be over the worst of it, Hiyori breached the topic that he wasn't even sure whether Ikuya knew.

"Are you alright? What even was that?"