It’s a sudden shift, it always is, and suddenly Caden is no longer within himself.
He is spread across the crowd in beautiful colors of sadness and choking fear and breath in his lungs from a smoke that gets him dizzy with smells from the lemon next door, and he closes his eyes because it’s all too much. It’s too much for him to handle.
He takes a slow breath in and takes a step, but even the slightest movement sends shocks of electricity through his body, and he freezes, his eyes fixed on the horizon because he’s all different heights at once and it’s making him dizzy he’s going to fall-
A hand wraps around his wrist, and he focuses on that, the warmth encircling write above his palms and he’s being pulled closer, electricity running through him with every step until the hand disappears and is replaced by arms around his body.
Contained. Confined. Trapped. Encircled.
Safe.
His face is shoved into a disgusting smelling shirt and one hand is wrapped around the back of his neck and someone is whispering absolute bullshit into his ear, and suddenly Caden can breathe again.
They stand there for a moment while Caden adjusts to the difference, and when he finally pulls away Green keeps his hand around his waist while Caden grips his shirt as they walk home.