#claustrophobia

[bew444r]

edgeLORD megatron

[merciless-maggot]

Whiteboard claustrophobia dog

[whump-bunny]

Put your whumpee in a glass box at some kind of showcase or gala. Let them be observed. Let them bang on the glass, tears running down their face. Let no one care.

[retquits]

monroe sketches i may never finish

[chemical-bunz]

The void in my heart just keeps growing.

[missingabuttonortwo]

Push

@jeggyverses-jegulus-microfic word count: 998

Lily really was well intentioned. Well intentioned and, if she could just say, incredibly clever. 

She saw the way James and Regulus looked at each other, and heard how they talked to each other, about each other. Their eyes softened, their words too. James let himself relax around Regulus in a way she wasn’t used to. He was sweet, and sincere, and quiet if you can believe it. There was none of the usual gravitas he layered on when he had a crush: the public confessions and bold flirting and dramatic gifts; because this wasn't just a crush. And Regulus; quiet, snippy, “I’d rather die than tell you about myself” Regulus talked to James. He became more animated than Lily had ever seen him; hands flying, eyes shining, he even smiled at him.

They were so in love, and so obvious, and yet so, so oblivious.

She let it go on for a while before she intervened, really! She hoped maybe they could figure it out themselves. But they hadn’t. She didn’t want to meddle (this is a lie, she did), she just wanted them to be happy, because they were her friends and they deserved it. So, she did what any sensible witch would have done.

She locked them in a closet together.

“What the fuck Lily?”  Lily grimaced at the anger in James's muffled, but she knew he’d get over it. 

“It’s for your own good!” She called back. There were a few moments of silence through the door, the low sound of James’ voice with words she could quite make out, before he pounded his fist once, loudly, above the lock. 

“Lily, I’m serious, let us out. Now!” He did sound serious, and for a moment Lily questioned her plan, but however mad James was at her right now she knew he would be twice as grateful if this went the way she knew it would. Silently she backed away from the door, giving the two some space to work this out and ignoring James’ continued shouts. 

Maybe twenty minutes later she came across Remus and Sirius in the common room and her plan started to fall apart.

“Hey, have you seen Regulus?” Sirius asked, “Moony’s supposed to help him with some transfiguration essay but he didn’t show up.” Lily smiled mischievously.

“Well that might be my fault, I locked him in a closet with James.” She said casually. 

All the color drained from Sirius’ face. 

“You what?” His voice was tight but Lily smirked a little.

“I know he’s your brother but, come on Sirius, you must have seen the way they look at each other! They just needed a little push.” She threw a wink to Remus who looked uncomfortable. “Some forced proximity might do them good. I thought you liked pranks, mr. ‘marauders’?” She teased.

Sirius looked like he was going to throw up.

“What closet?” He asked, voice tense. Remus put a hand on his shoulder but he didn’t relax at all. 

“Why? I don’t want you meddling in my plans, Black.” She teased half heartedly, but Sirius, not in a teasing mood apparently, grabbed her wrist tightly.

“What fucking closet Evans? Where’s my brother?” Clearly there was something going on here that she wasn’t getting; she relented, eyes wide at Sirius’ sincerity.

“The one by the kitchens, big blue door.” and Sirius was gone, racing out of the common room and, she assumed, to let her experiment out of the lab. “Merlin, is he really so against the idea of James and Regulus going out?” She asked Remus, who still looked a bit grey in the face. 

“It’s not that,” Remus says gravely, “Regulus is claustrophobic. Their mother used to… well, lock them in closets.” Dread filled Lily, she felt so stupid, why hadn’t she thought of that? She had talked a little with both brothers about the cruelty of their childhood, but she had never learned specifics, certainly not that specific detail. 

“Oh, shit,” She breathed out, grabbing Remus by the wrist and pulling him after Sirius.

When they reached the closet Sirius had already gotten it open, and he looked on the verge of a panic attack himself, hands on his knees breathing hard. Remus immediately went to him, one hand on his shoulder another on his chest, and Lily could hear him reminding Sirius how to breathe. Shutting the door on the now empty closet, Lily found James and Regulus behind it. James, sitting on the floor with his back against the wall comforting Regulus, face tear stained and breathing raggedly. She crouched beside them feeling tears well in her own eyes at her friends’ pain and the guilt of triggering it.

“I am so, so sorry Regulus. I didn’t know, I promise, I was just-” She hesitated, then looked again at their position. James wasn’t just comforting Regulus he was- he was holding him. Regulus was in his lap, James’ hands wound tightly around his back, rubbing smoothing circles up and down his ribs. Regulus lifted his head from James' shoulder and gave her an exhausted glare.

“Just what, Evans?” He asked, voice croaky, and she winced. If she was ‘Evans’ again it would take a while to make this up to him.

“I was just trying to get you and James to admit your feelings.” She said quietly, embarrassed at how trivial that sounds compared to what she had actually done. Surprisingly, Regulus gave a small snort. He turned back to James and moved his hands from his chest to his cheeks, pulling him into a short kiss, then turned back to Lily whose eyes were wide with surprise. 

“We’ve been dating for months, if that helps.” He said dryly, setting his head back down on his boyfriend(!)’s shoulder. Lily stood up and observed the scene before her; two panic stricken black brothers and their woefully devoted partners trying to calm them, and decided she would never, ever, meddle in their love lives again. 

[cree-churr]

let them out :(

[natalievoncatte]

“Are you ready?”

Kara was at her desk, which was frankly rather unusual. She was plugging away at something, deep in concentration on whatever she was writing. Lena stopped to watch her for a while from the doorway, leaning against the frame. She found herself doing so more and more often now, largely for one reason: Kara Danvers was the prettiest girl Lena had ever seen.

If you asked Lena her type, she wouldn’t have described Kara Danvers, who was more athletic than svelte, built with strong shoulders and a swimmer’s silhouette. For all of Kara’s efforts to hide beneath soft cardigans and corduroy, it was obvious how jacked she was.

There was more than that, though. It wasn’t just her eyes, a peculiar shade of blue that Lena was sure she’d never seen before; it was the intelligence behind them, the curiosity and wit and shy, stammering confidence. Kara had a kind of nervous courage, for lack of a better way of putting it.

And she was gorgeous, of course. Honeyed curls, soft skin and pillowed lips and those gorgeous eyes, radiant eyes even behind a chunky frame.

Lena would never confess that she was a little in love with Kara. Even after the flower thing, and the buying the company thing, and…

Yeah.

“How about lunch?”

Kara looked up sharply. “What? Oh! Lena hi, I’m just-“

“Don’t give me that,” said Lena. “I’m treating you to lunch.”

“As my boss or my friend?” Kara asked, cautious.

“As me. No shop talk.”

Kara brightened; Lena had… put her in her place, not to put too fine a point on it, a few weeks ago when Kara snapped at her over a perfectly normal request to actually put in some time in her office.

It was necessary.

It also hurt like hell.

Kara made some noises about her work but acquiesced, grabbing her messenger bag and walking with Lena to the elevator. They rode in an moderately aggressive awkward silence; Kara seemed to be one of those people who chronically distrusts elevators despite-

The power went out.

The lights went with it. The elevator car dropped a foot in half a second and Lena felt herself crashing into a solid wall of Kara just before the emergency lights slammed on.

Lena took a moment. Kara had gently caught her and pulled her into a loose hug, for which Lena was grateful as it kept her from slamming her knees into the floor of the elevator.

“Lena? You okay?”

“I’m fine, you?”

Kara gently released her. “I’m… yeah. Fine. Are we stuck?”

“Power’s out. We might be here a while.”

Kara’s eyes went comically wide. “Nothing!”

Lena quirked a brow. “Okay.”

“Really, I’m fine. I was looking forward to lunch! You know me, always hungry. I wish I’d brought some snacks! I like snacks. Do you like snacks?”

Lena stared at her.

“Kara?”

“Of course you like snacks, that was so dumb. I’m sorry, I,” she looked frantically around the small space they found themselves in, “I don’t know why I’m… I’ll shut up.”

Lean shrugged and sat down, leaning against the back wall. Kara did not, choosing instead to pace, which was a tad annoying given the space they were in, but she was more worried about Kara than anything else.

She seemed… frantic.

“Are they going to come get us?”

“Eventually, if the power doesn’t kick back on first.”

“Do you think we’re stuck in between floors? I think we’re in between floors.”

“Probably.”

Kara flipped the panel down beneath the buttons and pulled out the phone inside, the plastic creaking in her grip. She pushed at the HELP button, but nothing happened.

“They know we’re in here right? Someone knows. They won’t leave us.”

Lena blinked.

Oh. Jesus.

“Kara,” said Lena. “Why don’t you sit down? We can just wait for help.”

She gave a short, sharp shake of her head in reply, like some frightened creature. She was now hugging herself and trembling.

“It’ll be soon, right? I can get out soon. I have to get out.”

“Kara,” said Lena.

Kara stared at her, and Lena knew.

“You’re claustrophobic.”

It wasn’t a question.

“Y-yes,” said Kara.

“Sit down with me, okay?”

Finally, she sat, shoulder to shoulder with Lena. Lena took her hand and squeezed it softly. Kara’s hand reminded her of an exotic bird quivering in her palm. Her pulse had to be racing.

“It’s going to be okay. They’re working on getting us out right now.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

Kara swallowed.

“I won’t let anything hurt you,” said Lena.

Kara looked at her with big, wide eyes.

“At least it’s not dark,” she said, lamely.

The lights immediately went out. Kara yelped and Lena felt her jump, hugging herself as her head thumped against the all.

“Oh Rao please no,” Kara whimpered, “please not again I can’t do it again.”

Rao? What the hell was a Rao?

“Lena, it’s dark.”

“I’m right here.”

Lena wrapped her arm around Kara’s shoulders, and found she was shaking like a leaf. A strained, choking sob ripped the air and Lena felt Kara plunge her face in her hands.

She was hot, almost feverish, and her coiled muscles felt like steel cables, even as they trembled. Lena could feel Kara’s heart pounding, incredibly fast.

“Get me out, please get me out.”

Her cell had no bars. Lena tried anyway; nothing.

Kara, very softly, began to cry. When something creaked, she almost screamed, jolting Lena.

“They can’t get in, they can’t get in, they can’t get in.”

“They?”

“The phantoms,” Kara choked out. “The other things. They want to get in, they want to get me.”

“Kara, we’re in an elevator. There’s nothing outside but concrete and steel cables.”

“Are you real?”

“Of course,” said Lena.

“It felt like I’d sleep for years, then I’d wake up and something huge would be crushing my pod or the phantoms would be scraping their claws on the canopy and looking at me. They just stared. All they had to do was wait.”

“Your pod?”

Kara froze, going totally still.

“I… uhhh… I mean my… my bed? No, the car, from the accident, my parents died in the accident, I hit my heed.”

“You told me your parents passed in a house fire.”

Kara swallowed hard. “Did I?”

Her voice was thin and hysterical.

“Please, Lena, I’m scared.”

Lena gently guided Kara’s head to her shoulder and rocked her there, lightly carding her fingers through her hair.

“It’s alright, Kara. It’ll be alright.”

“Lena,”

“It’s okay,” said Lena. “Everyone gets scared. Everyone has a fear. Even you.”

Kara sucked in a breath.

“Pod,” said Lena. “Phantoms.”

“Lena I…”

“Shhh,” said Lena. “Hush now. You’ve already saved me at least three times, I owe you one.”

Kara gently wrapped her arms around Lena and sobbed into her shoulder. Lena suspected that Kara couldn’t break them out, so she didn’t press it. She just let Kara hold her and gently stroked her hair and softly sang an old lullaby she half remembered, stumbling back over the same verses.

There was a last a loud bang and Kara jerked, then let out a slow breath as the elevator doors at last spread open, forced apart by workmen.

Lena made sure Kara got out first. Then, Kara reached down and lifted her by the waist, setting Lena gently beside herself.

“Thank you,” Kara murmured.

Lena felt the eyes of the two workers behind her but she didn’t care. She smiled softly.

“I’m not mad. Actually, this explains a lot.”

Kara swallowed, hard.

“I think we missed lunch.”

“Mmm,” Lena gave her a coquettish smile. “Why don’t we get dinner, then? Just us, at my place.”

Kara smiled, wiping away her tears.

“I’d like that.”