literature

Coping Skills and Peppermints (G/t) pt. 12

Deviation Actions

hoshirozu's avatar
By
Published:
9.1K Views

Literature Text

“Hey, are you not gonna eat anything?”

About halfway through breakfast time, Dean was practically done his meal, and Flynn hadn't touched a single thing. Deep down, he was praying that nobody would notice, that'd he'd be able to get away with just sliding the greasy mess into some nearby garbage can, but he had no such luck. It's what he had always done, even in his own house. His mother, with her icy cold blue eyes and lips permanently smeared into a frown, would simply watch and roll her eyes as Flynn struggled over a dinner table, desperately trying to catch his breath as the room seemed to devour him whole.

It was like no one ever cared if he even swallowed...

 Flynn’s eyes widened when the sudden words drifted from behind him, snapping him out of the anxiety flooded trance that had suddenly began to build up in his chest.

Eggs, bacon, toast… None of them seemed particularly bad. He really didn’t mind any one of those things. But the idea of putting them in his mouth, the painfully slow chewing and swallowing process he would have to force himself to endure…

It's not that he didn't want to eat.

It's that he quite literally couldn't make himself do it. He didn't know why. The doctors didn't know why. His mother didn't know why.

Flynn’s chest began to tighten, his stomach knotting and instantly filling him with nausea.

…He just couldn't do it.

The hand lying dangerously close to Flynn flinched and he jumped, face reddening as he turned to look at Dean, who has suddenly stopped wolfing down food and now sat there with his eyebrows furrowed. His heart began to pound furiously, growing more and more flustered with every second Dean held him captive with his chocolate brown stare.

“Um…no. I'm not all that…hungry.” Flynn breathed quietly, forcing himself to ignore the anxiety continuing to build up in his ribs.

He heard a large sigh from above him, Dean’s eyes softening and running his hand through his sky blue hair, disheveling the ends. He suddenly pushed his plate away, the plastic scratching against the wood surface, and reached his hand over to Flynn.

Dean watched as the boys face paled, ignoring the thrumming he felt in his chest at Flynn’s brief, yet stinging fearful expression.

Oh well.

The human tried to crawl away, but was quickly snatched up by the incoming fingers and hoisted up to Deans face, whose deep brown eyes never left him for a second. Warm air washed over the boy struggling in between Dean’s fingers as he slowly exhaled, reaching his other hand down to his pocket and quickly fishing out a peppermint. Carefully, he bit down on the wrapper and slid the circle out of the plastic and into his mouth. Dean watched Flynn slowly stiffen in his fingers, the human's bright blue eyes widen, glued on the mint before it disappeared into his mouth. Flynn’s face reddened, pink bangs falling in front of his eyes and trying to force himself to look away.

Dean’s heart turned in his chest, a smirk rising to his face at how flustered he was making this little human just by holding him close to his lips.

He was too cute.

But Dean needed to focus.


Flynn being cute wasn't the reason Dean had plucked him back up, despite how much he enjoyed having him in his grasp. It was the fact that he was refusing to eat.

If it had been anyone else in the entire house, Dean wouldn't have cared less. Not a single thought would’ve sliced into his mind, but once again, there sat this tiny little pink haired human with his sky blue eyes and crooked smile, and Dean couldn't help but have his stomach turn at the thought of him hurting.

Dean remembered Flynn telling him about his diagnosis the previous night, and even more so, he remembered the way it stirred up his stomach and twisted his heart. He remembered his in that very moment, for the first time in his life, how he just wanted nothing more than to gather the human up into his hands and protect him from the hurt and the ache. He had only ever felt that with Dawn, and he still wasn't sure where this sudden iron grip on his brain that melted his insides arose from.

Flynn had some strange power over him. And it drove him both mad with confusion and insane with desire.

The heat simmering off from Flynn’s cheeks into the cup of his palm
Drizzling into his veins like alcohol
Soaking into his skin like golden sunlight drilling into a puddle at his feet, sliding in between his ribs.
His eyes swam in their own deep blue galaxy. He lost himself in their irises every second he held him close…


Dean’s expression suddenly turned serious, focusing on the task at hand. He wasn’t used to trying to be of comfort to someone…

He cupped Flynn tighter, ignoring his sudden squirms and forcing him to lock their eyes. As Deans deep brown eyes met Flynn’s sparkling, shocked blue ones, his struggles slowly ceased again.

Dean cleared his throat.

“You need to eat something.”

The human’s eyes widened, taken back at Dean’s stern comment. Dean watched painfully as sheer panic began to flow onto Flynn’s features, his eyes flashing with unreadable emotions and body beginning to tremble in the cup of his palm.

“I-I…can't…”

Flynn looked up at Dean, his pulse quickening at their close proximity, at how gentle and calm Dean was being towards him. Dean had only known him for a day…so why did he suddenly care so much whether he ate or not? His mother had known him for 16 years, and not once did she look at him the same way Dean’s dark eyes were, twitching with need and glistening with worry...

It made Flynn feel lightheaded.

Dean pulled him in closer, a thumb brushing over Flynn’s side and finding his face. Quietly, Dean ran the finger over the human’s cheek and up to his hair, the hairs on the end of Flynn’s neck raising with goosebumps at the softness of the skin on the pad of his thumb Why was Dean…acting this way so suddenly?

His stomach knotted.

“You can. You have to eat something, or they'll never let you out of here.”

Flynn winced and squirmed a little under Dean’s persistent touch, the warm peppermint air washing over him, flooding every once of his senses. The panic wouldn't stop pulsing in his temples, and the heat never drained from his cheeks.

Dean spoke up again, softly so that no one else in the kitchen could hear.

“Here, Flynn. Eat just one piece of toast. You'll be okay.”

Dean smiled gently at Flynn and slowly pulled him away from his face, resisting the urge to keep him captive in his hands. He could do that later.
Carefully, he placed his palm back onto the table, tilting it so that the human could slide off of surface. He did with shaky arms, holding onto the edges on Dean’s plans for support as his bare feet found the table.

Dean’s hand immediately felt colder without Flynn.

The crevices of his plan tingled from the ghosts of his touch.

Flynn slowly walked back over to his abandoned plate of food, every footstep seeming to send waves of pain up through his legs and into his skull.

Could he really…try?

Maybe he could get out of it-

“If you don't eat anything, they won't let you off level one. It is a safely level, after all.”

He heard Dean’s words rumble in his ears, settling into his gut with a sick twist. He looked to the toast at his feet, clenching his fists, and looked back to Dean. His eyes were still fiercely trained on him, shifting the peppermint over in his mouth.

There was something gut-wrenching about the way Dean spoke to him, his soft words falling like petals through his lips, the warmth of his skin sinking deep into Flynn’s bones. Nobody had ever spoken to him like that. Nobody had ever looked at him in the way that Dean did, as if he held the entire world within his own irises. It was completely and utterly addictive and terrifying.

And maybe, just maybe, he felt his entire body giving into it.


With trembling legs, Flynn sat back down, picking up his plastic plate with shaky fingers. He felt Dean’s hand fall back behind him, laying comfortably only mere inches away. The pine scent drifted over him, filling his brain with warmth and adrenaline.

Ever so slowly, he picked up the toast from his plate. The edges of the crust crumbled in his fingertips.  

If Dean was this serious about something…which he hardly ever seemed to be…

Heart pounding, the human raised the bread to his lips, forcing the corner in between his teeth. He looked back to Dean in the corners of his vision, watching with wide eyes as a grin erupted onto Dean’s face, his dark eyes sparkling with contentment.

Flynn bit down on the toast.

…Then that meant he had at least one person really wanted him to live.


~


“So, I heard you managed to eat something today.”

A couple of hours later, Flynn’s therapist had arrived at the Crazy Castle, interrupting the morning group therapy session so that she could finally meet her newest client. Fun.

Flynn had been back on the sofa they were the night before, still trapped with Dean. But this time, he didn't get the leisure to just sit on the arm of the sofa. No, this time, Dean decided he wanted the human cupped in his palms the entire time, running his thumb once again over Flynn’s hair and cheek. Flynn had tried to get away initially when they had sat down, but of course, Dean was relentless, quickly scooping him up off the arm of the sofa Flynn had managed to crawl onto and bringing him up to his chest. The giant didn't even look at the group therapist once during the entire session, keeping his eyes locked on the human squirming helplessly in his fingers, smirking devilishly at his cute attempts to escape his touch.

“D-Dean…” Flynn squeaked, curling away from Dean’s touch.

Dean’s eyes darkened, pressing a finger up to his lips with a coy smile.

“Shh, don’t interrupt group therapy.”

Flynn blinked.

He sighed.

Dean really did love playing with him… Flynn had thought to himself, slumping over and giving into Dean’s pets.


So when a staff had nudged Dean on the shoulder halfway through the session, interrupting Dean’s shenanigans and asking for him to hand Flynn over so that he could see his therapist, Flynn couldn't help but feel a slight ounce of relief.

He ignored Dean’s stubborn expression, the giant setting his jaw and he reluctantly handing the boy over to the skinny brunette staff, who carefully gathered him in his palm. But he couldn't help but feel the way the cold air swept over him the second his left Dean’s palm, and more dangerously, the way he kind of missed the warmth.

Just minutes later Flynn was sitting curled up on the purple sofa in a human sized office that lay as an attachment to the house, staring across the room at a new stranger. His therapist.

She had long, light brown hair and big brown eyes, a friendly smile coating her face and a warm twinkle in her eye. Flynn liked her immediately. And that was a first when it came to him and therapists.

Or maybe it was the fact that this was the first human interaction he had had in what seemed like forever.

The second they had sat down, she launched right into conversation, wrapping up her words in a pretty smiling bow.

“Uh…yeah.” Flynn had responded to her immediate comment with a nervous smile, looking down to his jean clad lap and itching the back of his neck.

He took an anxious glance over to her desk that was a few feet away, reading the name engraved onto its side.

Melissa.

His therapist followed his eyes, narrowing in on her desk before gasping, quickly brushing her hair from her face with an apologetic smile. The gasp caught Flynn’s attention, finding her eyes once again.

“My apologies! I never even introduced myself. My names Melissa. An you're Flynn. Flynn Brooks, right?”

She eagerly darted her hand towards him and he took it slowly, shaking her hand with an anxious nod before letting it fall back to his lap. She never once stopped smiling.
“And from what I've read in your files, you're here for an eating disorder, correct? EDNOS?”

Flynn nodded again, this time much more mechanically. He was bitterly used to this kind of therapeutic small talk.

Melissa cleared her throat, leaning in closer to Flynn from the sofa across from him and giving him a reassuring smile. Flynn felt his pulse begin to quicken.

“Well, I want you to first of all know that that doesn't make you any less of a person. You aren't you're diagnosis. You're you, no matter what, and you're here to learn what makes you unable to eat. We’re here to attack the cause, not the behavior. Do you understand?”

With every soft, new word that swam into Flynn’s ears, he felt his chest growing lighter and lighter, a strange feeling suddenly washing over him. Without even noticing it, his eyes began to water.

No therapist had ever spoken to him the way she had. Spoken to him like she was talking truly to him as a human being, not as a name on a file or a statistic on a graph. It had barely even been 5 minutes with her, and part of him was already beginning to feel renewed.

His heart suddenly slammed to his stomach.

She made him feel safe. She saw him for him.

Just like Dean had this morning.


A tear slid down Flynn’s cheek and he looked up to Melissa, a thick lump lodged in his throat. Her eyes widened when she saw his own filled with tears, but quickly softened, handing him a tissue from behind her. The box had cartoon puppies on it.

Flynn took a tissue with a shaky hand, wiping his eyes and bringing himself to meet Melissa's face again.

“Thank you.” He breathed quietly, crumpling up his tissue in his fist and laying it in his lap.

She smiled once again, sitting staring up and digging a clipboard out of a purse at her feet.


“Of course. Now…”


She twirled a purple pen between her fingers, looking to the boy curled up on her sofa with a careful smile.


“Let's talk about your family.”
ITS HEREEEEEEEE

Took me long enough lmaoo//

Ahhhh I missed these two SO MUCH you dont even know how nice it felt to get back to writing them omgg

In this chap we see a little more how Flynn's eating situation really is, and Dean's (awkward) but helpful attempts to help him out~
Flynn is SO not used to people actually like caring for him and putting him in the spotlight so for him this is like two people??? who actually care about him and want him to heal??? Insane.

#protectflynn

Hope you all enjoy!! Tell me what you think~<3

Love you all~ +LEE MIN HO - Kiss (Emoticon #O1 ) 
© 2017 - 2024 hoshirozu
Comments38
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
Kitten1456's avatar
Poor Flynn. Crying Tenkei animation (Undertale OC emoticon)  Does he have Cibophobia? (the fear of food) Honestly, that would kind of make sense. I mean, I get he has EDNOS, but honestly, if you really think about it, it would really explain why he could never bring himself to eat food. (You had one job, doctors, and I did it better than you, the professionals. Wow. XD)