Multifandom Oneshots

the road within ~ tic attack (hurt/comfort) ~ alex/vincent/marie

It had been a few years since their initial road trip- Escape- From the institution.

They all had ended up returning to that very same institution after realizing that they still needed help (or well, Marie was more forced to go back but the point was they all ended up there again), and they didn't ditch this time which Dr. Rose appreciated. She wasn't sure if she would be able to handle another escapade like that one. Vincent still hadn't really figured out how to handle his tics, Alex was still dealing with extreme periods of anxiety, and Marie was still in the bad side of her eating disorder.

Over time however, they all slowly grew better at managing their afflictions. Vincent learned what things helped and worsened his tics, so he was able to prevent attacks more often. He also learned little tricks to suppress them in public and not cause a scene. He knew he would never be fully rid of them, but they were no longer to the point where they were causing a hindrance to his every day life, so he was allowed to leave.

Alex got better at managing his compulsions. He slowly but surely grew to remind himself that those awful thoughts going through his heads were only thoughts, and with only a little reassurance he could prevent whole panic attacks over minor rituals he had missed. He'd even gotten to the point where he only wore his gloves during meals and when out in public, which was a vast improvement from wearing them 24/7. He could even go weeks at a time without obsessively deep cleaning his whole room.

Marie was the trickiest and longest one. Thankfully she didn't get hospitalized again, but getting her to eat was quite difficult. However, as time passed she grew able to eat progressively larger servings of food and went most meals without purging afterwards. She still relapsed a few times, but it eventually became manageable enough to where she was no longer posing a risk to her own life and could actually function pretty normally.

They all stayed close together while in the center. Alex and Vincent had learned to tolerate each other as roommates and Marie still visited them often. They would help each other through every little issue, whether it be tic attacks, intrusive thoughts, or body dysmorphia. Despite whatever conflicts they may have had in the past, they were inseparable by the time they were all allowed out of the facility and quickly made the decision to move in together.

----------

Alex was abruptly awoken one night by the sound of a slam in the kitchen followed by a few yelps that he quickly recognized to be Vincent's tics.

He sighed to himself, slightly annoyed that his sleep had been disrupted. He turned over to Marie and reached over, hesitating for a moment before shaking her awake. "What do you want, Alex?" she asked groggily. "I think Vincent is having one of his outbursts or something" Alex replied, visibly frustrated with the situation. This had disrupted his sleep and now he felt wrong because he was supposed to wake up at 5 AM and it was only 1:13, which wasn't even an even number or a multiple of five.

As if on cue, the pair heard a very loud "CUNT- FUCK- MICHAEL JACKSON!" in the kitchen and realized that this was probably a pretty bad one because he hadn't ticced this aggressively in a long while.

They entered the kitchen to find Vincent standing in the middle of the room, his body twitching around aimlessly without his control. Alex wasn't sure he'd ever be completely unphased seeing these uncalculated movements but he had long since moved past that, accepting that this was just a part of Vincent that they all had to live with. So, instead of reverting to his old habits and freaking out on the guy, he knocked on the counter twelve times to soothe himself and then turned his attention back to the situation at hand.

Marie had walked a bit closer to the ticcing man with her arms open as an invitation for him to hug her, something which sometimes would help soothe his tics. "Fucking fatty- Oh my god, I'm- Haha!- Sorry. I'm sorry" Vincent frantically apologized to the girl for his tics. She didn't mind though. She never did. She understood it was something he couldn't really control, and she also knew that they didn't reflect his thoughts. Did it still hurt to hear something like that? Yes. But she wasn't devastated by it or anything.

"It's alright" she replied, yawning as she tried to rub the remaining sleep through her eyes. Vincent shakily stepped forward to accept her hug, still ticcing rapidly as he did so. "Fucking CUNT!" he shouted, followed by a number of rapid head jerks and a whistle. Alex stood off to the side and just watched as Marie slowly lowered him to the floor, unbothered by the commotion happening in her arms. This wasn't the first time this had happened, nor would it be the last. It was fine.

Alex quietly sat next to the pair, fidgeting with his hands as he did so. A part of him wanted to go run to his room so he could put on the gloves, but he pushed that thought away. He didn't need them. He knew that. Marie shot him a tired but sympathetic glance as she picked up on his predicament. "F- F- Fuckin' neat freak. Mr. Clean!" Vincent ticced a few times, his body tensing in multiple ways as he did so. Alex chuckled slightly at this. He was still concerned for his boyfriend but he couldn't help but find certain tics amusing.

"This is a- Fuck you- Bad one" Vincent muttered out, punching himself a few times in the chest. Marie nodded. "I know, Vincent" she replied quietly, still not bothered by the violent movements coming from him. The only time she even made a move to stop him was when a tic was about to hurt him in some way because she knew it would benefit no one by letting that happen.

"Alex- Neat freak bitch- Sorry, can you- CUNT!- Can you play- Bitch nugget- Bach?" the curly haired man managed to ask, to which Alex just nodded, stood up, and left the room. Bach had always helped to soothe both Alex's intrusive thoughts and Vincent's tics for whatever reason, so they always brought out the old portable CD speaker whenever things got too bad. Such as a moment like this.

Alex soon returned with the speaker and clicked the play button, feeling his anxieties lesson slightly as he heard the orchestral music. Vincent was still having a lot of motor tics but the vocal ones began to die down and eventually it got to the point where he was back to normal- Only ticcing maybe twice a minute or so. Still annoying, sure. But it was leagues better than the full blown tic attack he had just endured.

He felt exhausted and even a bit sore once it all died down. The yelling had put a lot of strain on his vocal chords and the constant, sharp movements left his muscles all tense and burning. The other two felt bad for him as he groaned in pain.

"Do you want to try to go back to bed?" Marie asked him softly. Alex hesitantly placed a hand on his knee in support, though he wasn't entirely sure what to say. Vincent just gave a weak smile and nodded, so the other two (mostly Alex) helped him to his feet and led him back to the bedroom.