A/N: Prompt was for EddEddy with Eddy having a panic attack and Edd helping him. Ed I added for my own preference. Can be read as gen, EddEddy or EdEddEddy.
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Later, Eddy will joke about this; it's one of the ways he's learned to cope. He'll dig his elbow into Double Dee's side, wibble his lower lip and simper about how Double Dee lied to him- a little bit of tidying up can hurt you.
That will be later. Right now, Eddy is hurting. His breath is heavy in his chest, where he's held it too long. He feels like someone is turning a crank at the base of his spine, drawing every line of his body too tight, curling his fingers into his palms and digging his teeth into his bottom lip. There's a voice way at the back of his mind; it's his shrink, telling him how to deal with these feelings, but his brain is screaming between his ears and the noise is drowning her out.
"Eddy?" Double Dee's voice is fuzzy and far away, but at least Eddy can hear him. He drags his eyes away from the pile of mail he threw to the floor just as Double Dee rounds the corner, looking for him. "Ed and I have dinner set out, are you- is something wrong?"
The sound that Eddy makes isn't an answer as such, but he manages to look back at the mail, jerk a hand gesture toward it. Later, he'll make a joke about the credit card bill. Right now, all he can see is the postcard, garish and scrawled over with handwriting still familiar after years. Double Dee sucks in a breath and Eddy knows he's spotted it too.
Double Dee's slipper-clad feet come into Eddy's line of sight very suddenly, tromping over the mail and then outright kicking it into the corner. Eddy jerks his head up, swims through his watery vision to look into Double Dee's eyes, warm with concern. The sight makes him cough, hard, but at least he's breathing again.
"That's it, Eddy," Double Dee soothes, running his hands up and down Eddy's arms. "Breathe, just like we learned. I'll keep count, okay?"
He does, Eddy letting himself relax into the familiar cadence in that trusted voice. He doesn't know when Ed comes looking for them, but when he does, he's a solid presence at Eddy's back, a comforting murmur in his ear. They all three sink to the floor, Eddy wrapped between the people he loves most, the rest of the world held at bay.
