𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐑𝐄 𝐊𝐈𝐃𝐒, 𝐭.𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐬

27. lucky

˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗

WARNINGS: mentions of a panic attack,
please read with caution. :).

˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗

the time on valerie's phone read four fifty six am, and she found herself wide awake on another sleepless night. grieving was extremely weird for her, she had no idea what to expect with every coming day. she'd tried to keep the low moments to herself, it was well known she didn't want to rely on anybody, but this night was different.

panic attacks weren't very frequent for her, so on the odd occasion she had one, she didn't know how to cope with them. starting to feel the fear build up into her body, she did the one thing she knew to do was call tommy.

situations like these were the only times that she'd allow him to help, let him in, seeing as he was the one and only person who knew how to cool her down from them. so she did, dialling his number, he answered after a few rings despite it being early hours of the morning.

"why are you awake?" tommy asked, his voice groggy.

"tom, three, three, three." valerie barely managed to muster the twos code word for 'panic attack', to which he quickly woke up, ending the phone with a 'be there in five.'

silently thanking herself for the spare house key she gave him, she tried her best to compose herself, the feeling of her chest closing in on her overwhelming her.

tommy stuck to his word, practically running to her home. he walked into the house as quiet as possible, not aware that her mum wasn't home an working a night shift, kicking his shoes off and making his way up into her bedroom.

"oh, val." he whispered, sitting in front of her on her bed.

calming her down seemed impossible, he tried to help her fix her breathing pattern before using the method they'd gotten used to over time. the 333 method. in which he'd have her list three things in the room she could see, then name three things she could here, and finally move three different parts of her body and list what she could feel – if that didn't work, they'd try another.

thankfully, their method worked, her breathing soon calming down, there was still the odd hyperventilating and her hands still shook but at a much less of a rapid pace. taking a few more deep breaths, she let her grip on his hand untighten, looking up at him.

"thank you," she smiled, "i'm sorry for making you come over at this time, i didn't really have much other choice."

"don't worry, you're just lucky i love you." he chuckled, "can i stay or i mean, i can go home."

"no, i made you come here at five am, but you can't stay. yeah, you can stay, dickhead. i'm not really planning on sleeping much, i'm probably going to put a film on because i had a nap in the day so i'm not really tired at all."

"i'm going back to sleep." he declared, making himself comfortable under valerie's white covers.