tratie one shots, vol. i

[ anxiety ]

i'm pretty sure this was requested by someone, but i don't remember who! sorry about that. if you're reading this, know that this one's for you :D

i didn't know whether to put the "tw" in the title, but slight trigger warning for anxiety. 

words: 1548

. . . 

Travis took a shaky breath as he set up his prank.

His heart pummeled relentlessly into his ribs, and perspiration stung his eyes. He cursed the gods for giving him a muddled head with the thing he knew he was good at. As he tied a loose end of the rope that led to the Demeter cabin's door, he grew keenly aware of the crowd gathering. 

He was the camp's top prankster! Why was he stressing over this?

He couldn't disappoint. They'd hate him if he did. He was supposed to be a son of Hermes, for Hades' sake! He couldn't let them down.

He had to succeed.

He had approximately 43 seconds before Katie would come out of her door for breakfast. That was just enough time for him to loop the knot around a post and find a relaxed position to stand in before she came out. 

What's a relaxed position?

"Travis," Connor whisper-yelled across the way, his eyes darting from the door to his brother. "She's coming out!"

Heart beating way too fast to be safe, he readied his hands to yank the rope. If he'd tied it correctly, he'd trigger the pulley to dump the bucket of iced water over Katie's head. It was November, and even inside the environment bubble, she'd be chilled to the bone. 

If he could do it right.

What if Katie went back to hating his guts after he did this? He'd pulled relentless practical jokes on her in the past, but as they'd grown up, they both mellowed and grew out of the whole "chasing each other through camp" phase. He hadn't drastically pranked her in months, maybe a year.

So why was he going through with this?

The handle of the Demeter cabin's door twisted, and Travis froze. He couldn't do it. Even if he wanted to, he didn't think he could physically make his arms move. 

He couldn't move. 

"Travis, now!" 

Connor's voice echoed in his ears like he'd shouted into an empty chamber. Somewhere in the vacant hallways of his mind, his inner voice yelled at him to get going. Any millisecond, Katie's head would pass the bucket, untouched. 

Fortunately - or unfortunately - for Travis, time moved at a snail's pace in the moment. 

He felt his fingers tugging at the rope without his consent, and he saw the bucket dump over the doorway in slow motion. The water splashed onto the wooden planks, dripping through the cracks. But... she wasn't there. 

By the time the bucket spilled its contents onto the porch's floorboards, Katie was already standing next to Travis with her hands on her hips. 

It took Travis a moment to process that he'd just blanked out for a few seconds, and that he missed Katie walking out of the cabin completely. His temples thumped with an oncoming headache, but he managed a shaky grin. 

"Uh, hey, Katie-kat."

"Travis, what was that?" 

He didn't know. Normally, he at least got through the prank before getting too nervous. Today, however, it struck him differently. He had no idea why.