Welcome to the Statehouse (Headcanons and Oneshots)

High Tide ✨🌀

Take some more weather related angst >:) In this one the lower east coast is flooding badly, forcing the other states to help them.

Thanks to @blakesartpools for the prompt!

Warnings: Flooding, Drowning (sorta), Injury (of course)

"Florida? Can you call South Carolina?" Gov didn't even look up as he talked, rummaging through the stack of papers in front of him. But when silence met the question, he glanced around to see only California, New York, and Texas. "Where's Florida?"

"Haven't seen him in a couple days," California replied, looking just as confused as Gov felt.

"Okay, well, someone call him. I get nervous if I can't actually see him."

"Um, how do we do that?" California looked at Gov, who looked at Texas.

"You called him that once. Can you do it again?" Texas shook his head.

"That only works when he's away for wrestling matches. And 'cause it's been more than a day or two since we seen him, I'm guessing it's not that."

"Just talk about gators or something," Cali said, already losing interest.

"Okay. Um, look at this huge gator!" Gov called, expecting to hear a teleportation chime but instead being met with more uneasy silence. "Great. Glad that worked so well."

No matter what they tried, Florida didn't show up. Gov had been confident about some of the calls, but to no avail.

"Wait, why don't we try Louisiana?" Cali winced. "That sounded weird."

"How, though?" Texas looked at Gov, who thought for a moment before saying loudly,

"Hmmm, what do I do with all of these daiquiris?"

A pop echoed through the room, causing all three states to look around at a very disheveled Loui.

"What happened to you?" Gov stood, motioning for Loui to sit. He remained standing, though, looking more stressed than Gov had ever seen him.

"I gotta get back to Flo'da soon. He's flooding," Loui said in response to their questioning stares. "All of the east coast is."

"What?!" Gov jumped back up, having just sat down again. "Wait, we need to help! Why have I not heard about this?"

"Maybe because you don't pay attention," Loui said, grimacing. "It's not like they been hidin' it."

"We've got to see who's affected." Cali stood too, followed by Texas. "I'll go check with the Carolinas, and Texas can go see Georgia." Texas nodded just as they both teleported way.

"Can I see Florida?"

"I dunno if that's such a good idea, sha," Loui said cautiously. "He's in pretty bad shape. Trowin' up water and the like."

"Just another reason I need to see him!"

"Alright, if you insist."

-----

Florida was drowning. He knew it by the way water, salty and warm, kept filling his mouth, causing him to run to the sink over.

And over.

And over.

So he was glad for the distraction that Loui brought, even as he struggled with the water filling his lungs and throat.

He wasn't, however, expecting Gov to show up with him.

-----

Gov's first impression when he saw Florida was "drowning on land." His face was slightly blue, and it looked as though he had jumped in a pool fully dressed. He was sprawled out on the floor, looking more defeated and exhausted than Gov had seen him in a long, long time.

"Hey Loui, can you- oh. Hey, Gov." He sounded as tired as he looked, his voice barely a whisper. He coughed, then winced.

"Florida, how did this happen? When did this happen?" Gov sat on the floor next to him, not knowing exactly what to do.

"You're asking me to explain how oceans work?" Water leaked from his mouth as he spoke, increasing in amount as he continued to speak. It was unsettling, but what disturbed Gov the most was that he had stopped coughing. That couldn't bear well for him, not at all.

"No, I'm just asking to see- to see if there was anything we could have done to mitigate this."

"I dont think there was. What would I do, bar the entire coastline?" Florida's face was turning bluer by the second. Gov hoped it was just a trick of the light.

He was pretty sure it wasn't.

At this point, Florida looked ready to pass out. What made it worse was that he seemed to have stopped trying- he had closed his mouth again, keeping the water in. Gov had had enough of trying to dance around the issue.

"Florida, are you trying to drown right now?" Florida shook his head, then stood shakily and walked to the restroom, probably to throw up.

"No, I just don't want to be a cause of concern."

"First of all, it's infinitely more concerning when it looks like you've stopped trying. Second, you're always a cause for concern." This brought forth an impish (albeit exhausted) grin from Florida.

"Just what I like to hear. Gotta keep y'all on your toes somehow." He laid back down on the floor. At this point, Louisiana said,

"You doin' aight, sha?"

"It's easing up," Florida said. "Nowhere near as bad as yesterday. In fact, I think I could try and sleep."

"Well, I'll leave you two to it," Gov said, stepping towards the door. "Don't drown."

"Never have, never will!" Florida called after him.