Chapter Text
June 11th, 2025 was a great day for the Peria family. Izaya’s brother Micah planned on proposing to his girlfriend, Katie that evening, and he invited them to come over to Katie’s house and celebrate such a momentous occasion with her family. Izaya, Sonya, Chris, Emma, and Grace Chasity left their house around late afternoon so they could grab dinner from a Raisin Canes on the way there. Canes was Izaya’s favorite fast food restaurant, but rarely had it since there wasn’t one in Marion, so he was excited about eating there. Grace had only had Canes once when their Life-group stopped there for dinner before going to play laser tag for a group event about a month ago, but she loved it when she tried it. After eating dinner, they made their way to Katie’s family's house. While waiting for Micah and Katie to come back to the house, Chris, Sonya and Emma decided to fish in the pond near Katie’s house while talking with some of her relatives. Izaya and Grace didn’t really care much for fishing, so they did walks around the pond and relaxed in the fold up chairs they brought with them. They made small talks with some of Katie’s relatives and listened to old Sabrina Carpenter songs on Izaya’s iPhone.
Izaya was trying to take it easy that evening, cause he still wasn’t feeling well. He had been sick for about a week already, but was starting to feel a bit better. He was pretty tired and stuffy, but he was trying to be present. He really wanted to be there for such a special occasion. It’s not everyday someone gets engaged for the first time. Grace was keeping a close eye on him to make sure he was actually doing okay and didn’t over do it. He kept telling her that he was feeling alright, to which she just gave an unconvincing nod towards him.
After about 3 hours of being there, Micah and Katie finally came back to her house and were congratulated by the Peria’s and various members of Katie’s family. Izaya and Grace were surprised with how many of her relatives were here for this. As it got later in the evening, Izaya’s eyes got itchy from the outside allergies, combined with being stuffy, but he took an allergy pill and continued celebrating with everyone. It was around 10:30 when they left and headed back home. Everyone had a great time there and were very happy for Micah and Katie. Sonya and Emma especially. It was almost midnight when they finally got home and everyone decided to call it a night. Izaya took a NyQuil to help with his symptoms while he slept. He had been taking it for the last few days, and figured it wouldn’t hurt to take another one. Everyone was pretty tired, so they all figured they would sleep well.
And they did… for a while.
Izaya woke up at 3am feeling all dazed and fuzzy. His head felt all wonky, and he felt almost separated from reality. He felt like he was going in and out of consciousness. He started to get really worried and felt his heart start to race. He tried to calm down using breathing techniques, but it was no use. He was having a panic attack, but he wasn’t really sure why he was having one. He got up from bed and walked out of his room into the living room and started pacing back and forth, trying to calm himself down, but nothing was working. After about 15 minutes, he decided to wake up his parents. He rushed into their room and shook his mom awake.
“What’s wrong?” She asked groggily, yet worried.
“I’m having a panic attack!” He told her.
Sonya was immediately awake and got up from bed, which immediately woke up Chris next to her. He looked over to see his wife and son up.
“Are you okay buddy?” He asked.
“I-I don’t know!” Izaya answered scared.
“Okay, okay. Let’s go out to the living room and sit on the couch.” Sonya said trying to calm him down.
“Okay.” He said as got teary eyed.
“Chris, can you go wake up Grace.” She asked her husband.
“Yep.” Is all he responded with as he picked up their dog Bailey out of bed.
They made their way into the living room. Sonya sat Izaya down on their new three person couch while Chris went down to the basement to wake up Grace. Sonya sat down on Izaya’s left side and tried to calm him down. He was trying to breathe through it, but his heart was still racing like crazy.
“M-My face feels kinda fuzzy.” He blurted out.
“Fuzzy?” She asked confused.
“That’s the only way I can describe it right now.” He said with worry in his voice.
“Okay, what else are you feeling?” She asked concerned.
“I feel like I’m gonna pass out,” He told her. “And I have bad acid reflux.”
“Well, that was probably from the Canes last night.” She explained.
“Izaya!” He heard someone call out.
He looked up to see Grace rushing towards him and sit on his right side. She took his hand and held it tight, to which he squeezed back.
“I’m right here.” She told him with a note of concern in her voice.
He closed his eyes and nodded as tears began to fall.
“I feel like… I’m not in reality right now.” He tried to explain. “Like I can’t focus, li-like I’m in a dream almost.”
Grace looked at Sonya to see if she had an answer for that, but she just shook her head in confusion. Grace turned back to face Izaya.
“Look at me.” She started. “I’m actually here, sitting right next to you, holding your hand. Okay?”
He looked at her just nodded as he cried. He took a deep, audible breath as he tried to keep his eyes opened.
“I wonder if it’s from all the caffeine last night as well.” Sonya surmised.
“Maybe.” He responded with a shaky voice.
“Did you take a NyQuil last night?” Chris said as he entered the room.
Izaya just nodded as he continued to take slow, deep breathes.
“That could also be it. NyQuil makes me feel like that sometimes when I wake up in the middle of the night.” Chris explained.
“He also took an allergy pill last night.” Grace added.
Sonya and Chris looked at each other with understanding.
“So maybe it was taking the NyQuil on top of the allergy pill.” Chris concluded.
“Well, maybe you just can’t do NyQuil anymore.” Sonya told Izaya.
He started to panic as he felt another wave of feeling like he was gonna pass out. Grace put her other hand on his hand and held it tightly with both of her hands.
“You’re okay.” She said trying to calm him down. “You’re okay.”
He just continued to nod at her.
They were up with Izaya for another 30 minutes. It seemed like he was calming down a little, until his left leg started to shake uncontrollably. He started to panic again.
“I-I don’t know why my leg is shaking!” He exclaimed.
Chris, Sonya, and Grace looked at each other concerned.
“Is that normal for a panic attack?!” Grace asked.
“I don’t know.” Sonya answered.
“I have a pain in my chest as well.” He said with a worried tone.
“Do you think you need to go to ER?” Chris asked.
Izaya took a sharp breath in. “I don’t know!”
Grace just squeezed his hand harder, getting teared up a little.
Another 10 minutes passed, and Izaya’s leg still wouldn’t stop shaking. It was to the point where he couldn’t stand up straight or even walk. He kept saying he felt like he was going to pass out and how his face felt ‘fuzzy’, that his chest was hurting, and that he had bad acid reflux.
“We need to take him to the ER!” Grace yelled worriedly.
Sonya looked at Izaya, who looked really scared. “Do you think you need to go the ER?” She asked him.
He nodded aggressively at her. “Yes, I think I should!”
Sonya got up to grab her stuff. “We’ll take your car Izaya. Chris, get him some clothes. Grace, can you help him to the car?”
Both of them nodded at her. Grace stood up as Chris went to Izaya’s room. She waited for Izaya to stand up before doing anything else. He took his time trying to stand up. He almost collapsed to the floor due to his shaky leg, but Grace caught him and supported his right arm on her shoulders.
“I got you.” She said.
Chris came in with some clothes for Izaya to put on. He took his time putting them on as Grace continued to hold him steady and help him into his shorts.
“Grace, here are the spare keys to Izaya’s car.” Sonya told her as she handed them to her.
“Okay.” Grace said to her as she took the keys and slowly helped Izaya out the front door. “Come on, I’ve got you.”
As the two of them walked out, Sonya grabbed her purse and turned back to Chris. “We’ll be back in the morning probably.”
“Okay, love you.” He responded back.
They leaned into a brief kiss on the lips. “Love you too.” She returned.
She walked out the door and made her way to the drivers seat of Izaya’s car. Grace helped Izaya into the front seat before getting in the back. Sonya started the car and pulled out of the driveway. Izaya reached his hand back to find Grace’s, which she quickly gave him to hold onto. He had moved his seat back a little and was leaning into the seat, taking deep, shaky breaths, while holding on to Grace’s hand for dear life.
“I’ll try to get there as fast as I can.” Sonya said to him as she started to drive forward.
Grace squeezed Izaya’s hand back. “Hang in there Izaya. Please just… hang in there.”
~~~~~~~~~~
They made it to the ER about 10 minutes ago. They managed to get in pretty quickly. Sonya and Grace sat Izaya down in a wheelchair as one of the nurses sat down to ask them several questions.
“Are you feeling okay?” Sonya asked him
“No, not really…” He trailed off.
The nurse started asking them question about his condition and if he had been sick recently. He had a hard time answering the questions because his mind was so foggy and had a hard time focusing, so Sonya answered them for him the best she could. Grace was starting to become jittery and frustrated as she saw Izaya trying to stay awake and start to become nauseous.
“How soon can you get him in?” Sonya asked the nurse.
“As soon as we can.” The nurse told her. “We just need to get the proper informatio-”
“Can’t you just get the ‘proper information’ once he’s in a room?!” Grace interrupted her. “He clearly doesn’t look well!”
Izaya groaned out in anguish and started to get really sweaty. “I-I think I’m gonna…”
The nurse quickly got up and grabbed a vomit bag for him to use. He quickly took it from her and held it to his mouth.
“Alright, we’re gonna wheel him into a room.” The nurse said calmly.
“Oh, now you’re gonna wheel him in-”
“Grace, stop it!” Sonya reprimanded her. “Come on.”
They both followed the nurse as she pushed Izaya in the wheelchair to a hospital room. Before they even got there though, he had started throwing up in the vomit bag and made a terrible retching noise. Grace’s heart ached for him as he spilled the contents of his stomach. When they finally got to the room, there were several nurses there ready to help him up into the hospital bed. Izaya refused to move though, still throwing up and feeling sick. After waiting a few minutes and making sure he wasn’t going to vomit again, he nodded to the nurses, and they helped him onto the bed. Grace immediately went to the left side and held onto Izaya’s hand again as the nurses were putting electrode pads on his chest and hooked him up to an EKG machine.
“Grace?” He called out.
“I’m right here.” She responded. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Just try and get some rest honey.” Sonya told him.
He nodded and laid his head back against the pillow. He closed his eyes and held Grace’s hand tight, trying to stay grounded to reality.
~~~~~~~~~~
About two hours had passed since they got into a room. Nurses came in and out to check on Izaya’s condition and to hook him up to an IV. They were waiting to get results back on his heart. They were worried it was some kind of heart condition. Izaya was letting the first X-Men movie play on his phone to give him some noise to try and sleep. Sonya was sitting in a chair next to the wall, watching a show on her phone. Grace sat in the chair right next to Izaya the whole time, never leaving his side, and never letting go of his hand. She watched the movie on his phone as she quietly prayed.
“Lord, please let this be nothing serious. Help Izaya to get better soon.” She kept repeating.
As she was praying, a doctor walked into the room. Izaya opened his eyes to look at him.
“Hey there! How are you feeling right now?” The doctor asked.
“Hmm… I’m feeling a bit better.” He started. “I’m not shaking anymore, my chest isn’t hurting, my face isn’t tingly, and I feel like I can focus again.”
“We were wondering if this was all because of the fast food he ate or the NyQuil he took on top of the allergy pill.” Sonya said.
“Well… it could’ve been a combination of all of those things.” The doctor surmised. “Plus, he’s still getting over bronchitis.”
“Ohhh!” Sonya understood. “That might explain it as well.”
Grace looked at them both concerned. “What? What is that?”
“It’s the inflammation of the bronchial tubes.” The doctor explained. “Don’t worry, it’s a common infection.”
She was relieved upon hearing that and relaxed a little.
“He also still has fluid on his ears, so that could’ve been the cause of all this too.” The doctor said to them.
Sonya started to think. It was suddenly making more sense.
“It should only take a few weeks for all this to clear up. You should take an antibiotic and do nasal spray for the next few weeks.” The doctor told Izaya.
“Okay, sounds good.” He said as he yawned.
“Thank you doctor.” Sonya said to the doctor.
“No problem! I’ll inform the nurse and we’ll get you out of here as quick as possible.” He said.
As the doctor walked out, Grace put Izaya’s hand to her face and cried.
“Thank you God that it was nothing serious.” She prayed.
“Izaya, how did your head feel?” Sonya suddenly asked.
“Uh, it felt… really wonky, and I felt like I was moving almost.” He tried to explain.
“I don’t think you were gonna pass out,” She started to explain. “I think you had a vertigo spell. That’s how my vertigo was like years ago.”
This relieved Izaya quite a bit. It made so much more sense. That’s why he couldn’t focus, he was having dizzy spells. He relaxed knowing it wasn’t anything super serious. He turned over to look at Grace to see her crying. Izaya’s heart broke seeing her so worried for him.
“Hey, look at me.” He said to her.
She looked up at him with tears falling down her face. She sniffed to stop herself from losing it further.
“I’m gonna be okay.” He told her.
“Mhmm.” She said as she nodded.
Izaya let go of her hand and patted the bed. Grace laid her head down on the edge of the hospital bed and continued to cry. He proceeded to rub her head and run through her hair to soothe her.
“There, there.” He said in a comforting, yet tired tone. “Get some rest Grace.”
It didn’t take long for Grace to fall asleep after that.
~~~~~~~~~~
They didn’t get home until 7:30am, and by that time, it was already turning daylight. But everyone was really tired and felt it was best to try and get a little sleep. As they walked in the door, they all gave a sigh of relief and exhaustion. Grace went to the kitchen to get a cup of water, while Izaya and Sonya stood in the living room.
“Are you feeling okay right now?” She asked him.
“Yeah, I’m feeling alright.” He answered.
“Okay.” She said as she gave him a hug. “Try to get a few hours of sleep.”
“Okay, I’ll try.” He told her.
They let go and Izaya went straight to his room. He quietly closed the door behind him, and got into bed. He covered up with his blankets and closed his eyes. He was really tired, and yet despite that, he had a hard time going to sleep. That was the worst part of waking up early in the morning for him, once he saw daylight, his brain was awake. But he needed to try and sleep a little so he didn’t feel worse later.
He heard his door slowly creak open and looked up to see Grace peeking her head in.
“Hey, you good?” He asked.
“Yeah, um…” She started to say. “Is it okay if I lay next to you?”
Izaya gave a weary smile. “Yeah, come on over.”
Grace fully came into the room and closed the door behind her. She slowly and carefully climbed onto the bed and laid down on the left side near the wall. She got under the covers and laid her head on the pillow. Izaya turned onto his left side to look at her. Her eyes were still red and puffy from crying.
“I love you Grace.” He said as he smiled at her.
She returned the smile. “I love you too Izaya.”
He held out his hand for her to hold. She almost immediately grabbed it. Izaya closed his eyes to try and sleep, while Grace started to cry again, but this time out of happiness and relief. She squeezed his hand tight as he drifted off.
“I’m right here.” She said quietly to him.
“I’m right by your side.”