John's POV

A month had gone by with our new plan, and things were going pretty well. Though Thomas liked to provoke things at times, he seemed to believe that we were broken up. Alex and I had gotten pretty good at the whole 'acting like we hate each other' thing.

I woke up in the middle of the night one night to thunder and lightning coming from outside the window. I looked over at Alex to see him curled up in a ball on his bed, breathing heavily. It looked like he was having a panic attack.

I ran over to his bed and said, "Hey, what's wrong?" I wrapped my arms around him, trying to comfort him.

He started mumbling.

"What?" I asked, trying to find out how I could help him.

"It's just a storm it's just a storm it's just a storm it's just a storm." He muttered over and over again.

"Are you afraid of the storm?" I asked.

He looked up at me, seeming like it was the first time he noticed me.

"Hurricane." Was all he said.

"Honey, it's not a hurricane. It's just a storm." I told him, hoping it would relax him.

Then, thunder cracked and he jumped, then started to cry.

"They're all going to die." He mumbled. Whatever was going on, I knew I couldn't deal with it alone.

"I'll be right back, ok?" I wispered to Alex, then ran down the hall to Laf and Herc's room. I hoped that they would know what to do.

I opened the door and ran to wake them.

"Que se passe-t-il?" Laf muttered.

"Yeah, What the hell, John?" Herc said.

"Alex is having a panic attack and I don't know how to help him." I informed them frantically.

That seemed to get them up, because they both looked out the window and saw the storm. They jumped out of their beds and ran down to Alex and my room at lightning speed, and I followed them.

They sat down next to Alex when we got back to the room, and started consoling him in soft, hushed tones.

"Alex, no one is going to get hurt." Laf started.

"It's not a hurricane." Herc continued.

"Your safe and warm." Laf said.

"Everything is going to be ok." Herc recited.

Laf and Herc kept talking like this, and I just watched in awe as they pulled Alex out of whatever state he was in.

"John. Where's John?" He asked when he seemed well enough to talk again. I ran over to sit in front of him on the bed and grabbed his hands.

"I'm right here, Alex. I'm ok. I'm safe." I said. Then, I looked over at Laf an he nodded his head, assuring me that I said the right thing.

We all sat there silently for a while, just making sure Alex was ok. Once the sun started to rise, Laf pulled me aside to talk to me.

"You need to email the office and tell them that your both very very sick and that you won't be able to come to classes today." He started. "Just be with Alex today. Keep him distracted from the storm, and whatever you do, don't talk about his family today. It'll be too hard on him."

"But... why?" I asked. "Why is he so afraid of storms?"

"Alex experienced a bad hurricane when he was little that wiped out his whole town. He's had PTSD from it ever since." Laf explained.

"Woah, I had no idea." I said.

"Ok, Herc and I have to go get ready for school. Just keep Alex distracted, ok?" Laf confirmed.

"Yep." I said, then he went over to Alex.

"Herc and I have to leave now, ok, mon amie?" He said to Alex. "But John will be here with you all day, ok?"

"Yeah, I'm ok, go." He said with a shaky voice.

Laf and Herc walked out, and I went over to sit with Alex.

"So," I started with a happy, cheery voice. "We have the whole day to ourselves. What do you want to do?"

"I want to talk about what happened." Alex said.

"No, you don't have to." I assured him.

"But I want to." He stated. "When I was seven, a hurricane destroyed my town. It killed my mom, and that's when I was left on my own, since my dad had already left. I didn't have anything, and it was one of the darkest moments of my life. Now, any time I hear thunder or see lightning, even on a movie or something, I get a really bad panic attack. I haven't watched The Wizard of Oz since I was six because of that."

All I could think to do was just sit there, holding Alex for a while. We sat there in a comfortable silence for a few minutes.

"I have PTSD, too." I said timidly.

"From what?" Alex said, looking up.

"Whenever I hear noises in a dark room, I imagine it's my dad coming to beat me up. I've gotten so many panic attacks from stupid stuff, like someone walking around in the hallway, or something dumb like that." I explained.

"Well, then I'll try not to do that." Alex said lovingly, and I laughed.

"Ok, so we seriously need to lighten the mood a bit." I said.

"Ugh, yes please." Alex groaned.

"How about we watch something?" I suggested.

"Sounds great." Alex smiled, getting up to grab his laptop.

We ended up watching TV on Alex's laptop all day while snuggling up on the couch and talking about our fears, our dreams... it was really nice. It was a good day, despite the weather.

(A/N - So it turns out that the storm brought the boys closer. Aww. Don't forget to review!)