5SOS Imagines

Alleyway Panic Attacks - Luke Hemmings

It was a warm Saturday night and you were walking around downtown alone. You had met up with your friends earlier in the night but decided to leave earlier to catch the last subway home. As you're walking past a not-so-creepy alleyway you hear the side door of a popular bar slam open and shut. You look over and see a guy crouching on the ground shaking, with his head in hands. You rush over, not thinking that it could be a dangerous situation.

"Are you okay?" You ask him. The guy looks up and you recognize him immediately as Luke Hemmings. He's having trouble breathing and you realize that he's in the middle of a panic attack.

"I'm not good enough." He repeats over and over. You crouch down to his level and gently rub him back, trying to comfort him.

"Yes, you are. You're amazing and so talented." Tears start rapidly streaming down his cheeks and you start panicking. Luke freaking Hemmings was crying in front of you and there's was nothing you could do. Before you knew it, you were wrapping your arms around him. "Please don't cry." You whisper to Luke stroking his hair as he sobs into your chest. You stay like this for a few minutes before he slowly starts to calm down.

"I'm sorry, I'm not usually like this." He says sniffling a bit. Luke retreats from your embrace and wipes his tears away. He takes a few deep breaths to help slow down his breathing, as he usually does after having a panic attack.

"You don't have to apologize. It's totally okay." You give him a soft smile and he nods. You understood what it felt like to lose control of your body because of panic attacks. Dealing with anxiety was hard but you had gotten somewhat used to handling it.

"It's just been so hard lately. Everything became too much, like weights piling up on my chest." He explains. You nod understandably and stand up, reaching your hand out for him to take. He grabs it and pulls himself up back onto his feet.

"Are you feeling a little better?" You ask looking up into his blue eyes.

"Yeah, a bit." He sighs and looks at you slightly ashamed. "I'm sorry you saw me break down like that."

"Don't apologize, seriously. It's alright to break down even if it's in front of a total stranger." You say smiling a bit. He chuckles and nods.

"It's still embarrassing. Not exactly the best first impression."

"I can pretend that I never saw anything if you'd like?"

"No, it's okay." He pauses and clears his throat. "Thank you for uh, holding me." You both blush realizing the somewhat intimate moment that was shared.

"No problem, I've had a lot of panic attacks so I know how it feels."

"They're the worst." He replies. You both stare at each other without saying anything, creating a weird but comfortable silence for a few seconds."I'm Luke by the way, which I guess you already knew?"

"Yep, I'm a huge fan of you guys so..." You trail off trying not to sound like the slightly obsessed fangirl you were. "Um, I'm Y/N by the way." You stick out your hand and he shakes it gently.

"It's lovely to meet you Y/N." He gives you a flirty smile and you blush again. "Do you want to go for a walk? We could get some food or ice cream or something?" He asks and you light up. This sort of thing didn't happen to you and yet here was Luke Hemmings asking to hang out with you. What had started as a bummer of a night was really shaping up to be something great.

"That sounds perfect."