Wizarding Royalty

Chapter 26: Sensory Overload

I know ADHD Sensory Overloads are different for everyone and I went to one of my friends who had ADHD for help with this. I also opened a bunch of websites stating the differences between ADHD and Autism, how a Sensory Overload can be triggered, how one might respond to a Sensory Overload, and some coping mechanisms for it.

Nico always preferred to stay in his cabin at camp. The social contact he had was usually limited to Percy, Will, Sally, Annabeth, and Hazel when she was at camp this was because Nico always seemed to get overstimulated by being around too many people at one time. On the days he was forced to be around more people than he was comfortable with he always left early or avoided as many as possible. Sticking to the shadows helped him go unnoticed in most situations but the noises still got to be too much after a while. 

Now, Nico was in a new environment filled with over a thousand students who were constantly talking or making noises. Quickly the son of Hades had gone from his usual self who sometimes acted older than his biological age to being irritable and overwhelmed. The Slytherin common room was blissfully quiet at night and in the early morning, so Nico would sit in the dark and dreary room to decompress and relax. Sometimes Thalia would join him and they would sit in comfortable silence other times he was left alone with his stray thoughts.  

Today, Nico woke up feeling like he would throw up at any second, his head was spinning, and even though his sleep had been mostly uninterrupted throughout the night his muscles were tense and fatigued. He leaned over the toilet for a few minutes but nothing decided to make itself known and he felt a sense of relief.  He recognized the signs, of course, it was not the first time this had happened to him or another demigod. It was an unfortunate side effect of his ADHD. 

'I need a withdrawal day,' Nico thought to himself. He needed somewhere quiet and safe away from the constant chatter of everyday life. He stumbled his way out of the Slytherin common room. He did not pay much attention to where he wandered just hoping for somewhere safe. Eventually, he stumbled upon a door on what he was pretty sure was his third walk-through of a corridor. It was a small and assuming door something easily overlooked if you were not paying attention. 

Nico pushed the door open. The room was dark with a shelf of soft blankets on one side and a variety of foods that Nico preferred when he was feeling like this. Everything else seemed irritating to him otherwise. 

He knew he probably should not have left without alerting either Thalia or Percy but he was not thinking clearly. Now that he was somewhere safe where his senses were starting to dial down and his brain cleared of the somewhat panicky fog that had covered it he could think clearly. Maybe he could Iris Message them in a few minutes. They should be getting up soon for class. Yeah, that sounded like a good idea. 

He waited what felt like forever but also too fast before he got up trying to find something he might be able to call them with. A whole freaking fountain that sprouted rainbows and everything appeared in the middle of the room. 

'What in the actual heck? Right, weird wizard magic stuff.' Nico thought to himself. He dug around in his pocket and managed to find the bag filled with money he was ninety percent sure he left in his room, but he also might have grabbed knowing some of the Slytherin boys could be similar to the Hermes kids and most possessions were not able to be safely left alone in their presence. It took some more digging into the bag before he actually found a drachma but he eventually did. Nico tossed it into the misty rainbow and said, "Iris Goddess of the Rainbow accept my offering and show me Thalia Grace. Slytherin girls dormitory." 

Nico reasoned that Thalia would be up as she was probably used to rising with the sun due to how often the Hunters of Artemis were on the move. When her image appeared she was indeed up while the rest of her dormmates were still asleep around her.