Harry panic attack

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Crushing. That's what it felt like inside his chest. Like every morsel of air was being forced out of his body, an iron fist around his lungs, squeezing. His head was blurry, he couldn't see straight as he stumbled and fell against the wall, too unsteady and shaky to be able to remain on his feet.

One second he had been in the kitchen corner, enjoying a long day in the studio with only a handful of people mingling about the songs and the next he was struck by this – whatever it was – terrifying and baffling dark cloud that settled over his head and took hold of his mind. With no one around to call for he found himself staggering through the halls, eyes wide and searching as breathing became harder than he had ever remembered it being and the walls seemed to bleed out shadows that grappled at him with long dark tendrils.

Sliding down the wall of the studio he came to rest on the ground, hand around his throat, pulling at his skin in fear. He had no idea what was happening, the colours around him were blending into one, melting in blurred darkness, vision tunnelling as he drew in tight hissing breaths through the thin straw of space his throat had become. The trembling fingers on his free hand that wasn't gripping his throat scrabbled for purchase on the cold stone floor but were met with nothing but sharpness that caught his fingernails and scratched painfully at his fingertips. He couldn't feel the pain as the skin started to tear, numb to everything but the roaring in his ears.

"Hey Harry, you okay?" The voice came from his left, light footsteps padding across the studio floor as he wheezed and let his head loll to the side.

Someone skidded to their knees beside him, grabbing at his shoulders and gently pulling his hand away from this neck where the grip had turned bruising. Without the support he had nothing to concentrate on and his eyes flicked back and forth, terrified as his breaths became harder and harder to take.

All of a sudden his jaw was cupped by warm hands and he was faced by Louis blurry silhouette, eyes just as wild, dark and searching.

"What's happening? Harry, tell me what's wrong." Harry could only manage to shake his head in response, eyes wide and bloodshot pleading with the world to make Louis figure it out because he was nowhere near a conclusion.

Fingers pressed against his throat and Louis swore at the rabbit fast pulse beneath his touch. There was a cold sweat on Harry's brow, his skin was void of colour – almost grey - and a terrifying blue tint was bleeding into his chapped lips.

Louis wracked his brains, tempted to get up and run, find someone to help or call an ambulance but he couldn't bring himself to leave his boyfriend. He pulled up Harry's shirt roughly and checked for injury, nothing but his slightly tanned, smooth skin filled with tattoos.

Finally getting a grasp on the situation he took Harry's jaw in his hands again. "Okay Harry, love I think you're having a panic attack. You're going to be fine I promise but you need to breathe." If Harry had had enough breath in him to spare he would have laughed, did Louis really think breathing was that easy.

He closed his eyes tight and tears leaked from behind his lids with frustration, fear and wavering agony. He could barely hear what his boyfriend was saying, the words were muffled beneath mountains of cotton balls, drowning under waves of tumbling water.

Louis could have screamed as the rough, gasping wheezes continued to stream pitifully from Harry's lips and he groaned. Manhandling Harry so that he could rest his back against Louis' chest he wrapped his arms around his struggling lover.

"It's okay, I'm here. Just follow my breathing, okay love? Just do that for me." He pleaded, taking in exaggerated breaths he drew his hand up and down Harry's chest firmly in support.

"Please Harry, Please try." He begged, tears pricking at the corners of his eyes while he concentrated all his energy on calming his boyfriend. He desperately wished that Liam was here or Jeff or anyone really, he wasn't the best to be dealing with this.

He had no idea what to do, he didn't even know if Harry was listening to him, though if the lack of any change in his struggled breaths was anything to go by then he wasn't hopeful.

Harry tried, he really did, to listen to the short spurts of words that broke through the fog in his mind but he just couldn't get his body to respond. Panic attack, not something he had ever experienced before and definitely not something he wanted to do again anytime soon.

"Please please please." Louis' whispered plea cracked the wall holding Harry back inside his mind and his oxygen starved brain fought with everything it had left to swim to the surface and slip through the opening left by Louis' voice.

With a heaving gasp he came back to himself, breaths coming stronger as he surged forwards in Louis' grasp. The older man let out a cry of relief and rubbed his hand up and down Harry's spine soothingly as he coughed and choked over the feeling of being able to once again draw deep breaths. His lungs were burning, cramping with pain and he sagged back against his boyfriends chest, lightheaded and extremely exhausted. Louis wrapped tight arms around him, thumbs rubbing lightly against Harry's skin as the man's breathing completely evened out and his face gained back some colour.

He was still stroking Harry's arm soothingly while the man slept when Liams head craned around the doorway, peering at them down his glasses.

"Uh...you okay there?" The bearded man asked, frowning curiously at his bandmates lying on the floor, the oldest curled around Harry as if he were holding him together. Which wasn't far from the truth. Louis smiled tiredly, taking one hand away from Harry's arm to reach up for Liam.

"Yeah...can you help him up? I don't have the upper body strength for this lug." He laughed weakly and thanked Liam as he lifted Harry from Louis' lap, careful not to wake the sleeping man who was perfectly content to snuggle into Liams shoulder. Louis clambered to his feet shakily, using the wall for support as he ambled after Liam to their recording studio where he lowered Harry down onto the white leather of the couch and draped his jacket over the sleeping man. He glanced up, questioning, as Louis came through the doorway, eyes bloodshot and face pale. He shook his head and lowered himself to the floor.

"I'll explain later." Louis sighed, curling up against the couch and slipping his hand into Harry's as Liam handed him his own jacket to drape over his shoulders. He allowed himself to fall asleep to Harry's soft breaths and promised to get to the bottom of this when he awoke.






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