Rises the Moon (solangelo)

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When Will woke up next, it was barely light outside, and Nico was nowhere to be found. 

Shit. Shit, shit, shit. He spent the night somewhere else without asking permission, he... He never apologized for his attitude that morning. 

His dad would kill him. 

He felt his lungs getting tighter, his hands shaking, he curled up on the bed and waited for the storm to pass like always, and then- 

"Will?" Asked a gentle voice. "Will, hey..." 

He shook his head. Too much was going on, he had to figure out what he was gonna tell his dad- 

"Will... How many letters are in your name?" The voice asked. 

Will shook his head again. "Wh... What?" He croaked. 

"Your name, how many letters?" 

Will did his best to focus on the question, it sounded urgent. He counted on his fingers. W, I, L, L, I, A, M... That's seven. "Seven?" He answered, though he wasn't sure. It was hard to be sure about anything. 

"Ok, your last name?" 

"Um..." He counted on his fingers again. "Six." 

"Good. Any middle names?" 

Will nodded. "A-Andrew." 

"You're doing so great." If he focused, he could tell whoever it was was smiling. "How many letters are in that?" 

Will took some more time to think. "... Six again." 

"Ok, how many is that all together?" 

He tried to count on his fingers again, but it was over ten. He had to think about it. "... Six and six make twelve, twelve plus seven... Take the two out of the twelve and add it to the seven, that makes nine... So nineteen." 

"What's the nineteenth letter of the alphabet?" 

Will swallowed his spit and recited the alphabet mentally. "... S." 

"Ok... How many S's are in your name?" 

Will paused to think about it. Any in his first name? No. Middle? No. Last... Yes. There it was. "Just one. First letter of the last name." 

"Ok, finally, how many questions did I ask you?" 

Will looked up at Nico and stared at him for a while. He looked worried, but confident, like he knew exactly what was going on and how to fix it. 

"... Will?" 

He chewed his lip. "... I don't know. A lot. Maybe... Six? Or... Was it closer to ten?" 

Nico sighed, smiling a little like he was relieved. "It was eight. Now, take a deep breath in through your nose, ok?" 

Will did as Nico suggested, and let the air finally fill his lungs. Before, he hadn't been able to get enough oxygen, but now, the cool, clean air slipped through his throat, and he held it in his chest for a moment. 

"Good, now just let it go again. Through your mouth this time." 

He opened his mouth and let all the used up air out of his parted lips, letting his eyes open. "... Thanks. I don't know what's wrong with me." 

"Nothing's wrong with you, ok? You just had a panic attack, it happens sometimes." 

Panic attack...? Will hadn't heard of those before. 

Nico seemed to pick up on his confusion. "This whole thing where you get so scared you can't breathe, y'know?" 

"I... I didn't know there was a word for that. I thought I was just a crybaby."