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Tohru shakily reached a hand up towards his face.
"Can't… bre…" he whispered.
He tucked his knees in closer again, leaning harder into the back of the couch.
Tohru started gasping a little more noisily, and he dug his fingers into the sides of his legs.
“Shh…I’ve got you…” Lilac brushed her fingers through Mori’s hair as Bean stayed quiet. “Hm?” Luka turned to face Kas. “What do you need?” he asked politely. Even in an apocalypse, he wasn’t about to get rid of all the manners his mother taught him.
Mori buried his face in Lilac's shoulder, trembling in her arms. "Is Mr. Tohru gonna die…?"
Kas stared at Luka for a few seconds before grinning weakly in an exhausted, defeated way. "I'm sss… soooo… fu…" He slurred his words a bit, his eyes falling closed as he curled up on the floor, "…sssssoooo… tired. Y'know, I've gotten like… like five hours of sleep in the past week combined, maybe, and I didn't sleep last night at all? I'm fixin' to… to straight up just goooooo, you know? Boutta… pass out here on the floor."
(Kas after he stops constantly moving for more than a minute: s l e e p)
"Breathe with me, okay?" Levi said, taking Tohru's hand gently to stop him from hurting his legs. "In," He prompted, "And out." He repeated it several times, trying to help his new friend.
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Tohru struggled a bit at first, but when Levi grabbed his hand, it took the edge off him feeling like he'd left his own body.
It took a few minutes, but after focusing on Levi and trying to follow his lead, he started feeling better. Dead tired, but better.
Once he came down off that high of panic, he buried his head in his knees, shaking his head.
"What the hell?" He murmured, still holding onto Levi's hand, "I-I feel… okay now- well, not okay, but… not dying. How…?"
“No, he’s not going to die,” Lilac tried to reassure the child as Bean tried to keep her own composure. He’s going to be fine, Bean…don’t worry, she told herself, taking deep breaths. Luka nodded, solemnly. “Yeah, I know how that feels…you should get some rest now. I’ll wake you up later,” he smiled softly.
Mori was still pretty freaked out by the time Tohru seemed to have mostly recovered, his grip on Lilac not loosening. He was genuinely afraid for the man's health.
"Shhshssshhhh…" Kas stuck his tongue out a bit and curled in on himself, his forehead lightly touching the side of Luka's leg. "G'night…" He mumbled. Within a minute or two, he seemed to be out.
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(It might be the sleep disorder talking, but me too, my dude lmao)
(Lmao)
Lilac sighed softly. “He’ll be okay…w-we all will,” she told Mori as she stumbled. Bean quickly turned to face her sister and caught her just as Lilac was going to fall. Luka laughed a little. “Goodnight…” he smiled as he laid down next to him.
Mori fell with Lilac, his breathing hitching in fear. He clung tighter to her when Bean caught them, trembling violently.
Kas huddled closer in his sleep, yawning and curling in on himself. He seemed pretty relaxed and content now that he was actually getting some rest.
"I helped you ground a bit, you were having a- well- a panic attack," Levi said, rubbing his neck. "Are you feeling better now? Do you need anything else?"
Levi had had his fair share of panic attacks, but he'd never had to help anyone having one before. He hoped he'd helped, at least some.
“You two need some rest,” Bean spoke, her tone very serious. She set them down on the opposite end of the couch, away from Tohru, and laid them down. “B-Bean…s-s..s-sleep too…” Lilac barely got out, pulling Bean down next to them. Bean nodded, smiling. “Sure thing,” she pulled the two close as Lilac started to drift off. Luka started to fall asleep as well, hugging himself a little.
Mori was still too freaked out to sleep, trembling with fear and adrenaline. He clung to Lilac and Bean, hiccuping weakly as he looked between everyone in the room. He pulled his hat over his face and curled into a ball as he cried softly.
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Tohru's voice rose in pitch slightly, hinting at his surprise.
"Oh… I- um… okay? Yeah, I'm okay, I think. Just really tired now. I could probably use some water and rest, but that's about it."
He looked down at his feet.
"I thought I was dying, honestly."
Bean pulled Mori closer. “It’s okay…you can sleep now. We’re okay…” she whispered as she tried to calm him down. Luka and Lilac continued to sleep as Bean was glad they were. She couldn’t handle anymore stress from those two.
Levi laughed lightly, "It really does feel like that sometimes. I can go grab you some water if you'd like." He looked at the kids around them, all starting to sleep. "Everyone else is resting too, I'll take watch so you all can sleep."
Mori shook his head weakly, choking on his sobs as Bean held onto him. "I c— I c-can't… what if somebody else gets hurt??" He asked weakly, looking panicked and pale. "What if the zombies come back?? I-I don't wanna die!"
(Did Lis ever come inside lmao)
“They’re not going to come back…” Bean told him, hugging him. “I won’t let them,” she muttered, glaring at the door. The minute a zombie came in, she’ll attack it and buy the others some time. She didn’t deserve to go with them. Not after failing to save Hailey.
Mori hiccuped weakly and buried his face in Bean's shoulder, not really feeling any better. His head was still hurting as well, and he was having trouble focusing on anything. All he could think about was someone else getting hurt somehow. "P-Please…"
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(Uhhhh no lol)
Tohru shook his head.
"So this is probably gonna happen again, huh?" He sighed, "But yes, some water would be nice. Thank you."
His mouth was parched at this point, and he was surprised his voice wasn't cracking.
Meanwhile, Lis stayed out on the porch, dressing the deer. Something was going on inside. Something she should probably stay out of, she figured. At least they'd have a nice meal by the time whatever it was was over, as long as everyone was okay.
Levi slipped his hand out of Tohru's and went to grab him a water bottle. "Yeah, it might. But I'll be there to help you through it." He said passing it to him. He sat on the floor with his back resting on the couch.
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Tohru gave him a soft "thanks," for the water bottle, but he gave a little pause when given that reassurance.
He felt heat rise into his numb face.
"I appreciate it. You did help me a lot," he said, "If there's anything I can do in return, of course, I'd be happy to."
Levi laughed again. "I'll have to think about it." He looked from person to person for a bit then swivelled around to look at Tohru. "We're in this together now, if anything is wrong, you can always come to me." He smiled.
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Tohru gave a halfhearted smile back. He tried to be genuine, but he was feeling awful.
"Thank you. Thank you so much," he replied, his voice sounding heavy and tired.
He ran a hand through his hair and laid his head down on the couch arm.
Leaned over, he noticed that Mori was across the room with Bean, and that he seemed pretty upset.
"Mori, hey, I'm okay. I promise," he said softly.
He hoped it was loud enough to carry over, but he was feeling weak.
Lis noticed that things had quieted down a bit and she opened the door to go inside.
"Um… hi. I brought dinner!" she said, rubbing the back of her neck, "I was hoping to shelter here with you guys, if that's alright? And I've got a deer sitting out on the porch, ready to be cooked. You all are welcome to it."
Mori looked up when Tohru called his name, turning his attention to the man as he hiccuped and sniffled. "Are you… a-are you sure…?" He asked weakly. "Y-You're not gonna die? You're okay?"
Kas huddled closer to Luka in his sleep, his subconscious seeming to like the warmth that Luka had to offer.
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"Yes. I'm sure," Tohru replied, trying to think of how to explain what happened, or if he even should.
He took a deep, slow breath.
"When you're really stressed or scared, sometimes your body does some weird things, like what just happened to me. It feels really bad, but it's not dangerous. It won't kill me."
Mori nodded tentatively, rubbing at his teary eyes a bit. "I-I just… d-don't want anybody else to get hurt or anything…" He said weakly. "We've got more people now too…"
Bean smiled and got up. “Thank you,” she walked over to Lis. Now, cooking…that was something Bean could do. “We should get started,” she nodded. Luka blushed a little before smiling. Lilac hugged Mori softly.
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