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sarahsmi13s · 7 months

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I Just Need Quiet

whumptober day 3: overstimulation

pairing: jake 'hangman' seresin x sarah grant (plus size fem!oc)

characters: jake seresin, sarah grant, sarah's family

warnings: overstimutaion, family gatherings, holidays, crying, please let me know if i missed anything

word count: ~1.5k

a/n: this is for whumptober! please please please proceed with caution and use discretion, protect your peace also if you are on the whump taglist but are not familiar with a character, you can skip it will not hurt my feelings!

this is also apart of my oc series j and s so the tag list for that is included! and this is based on my own personal experience in this situation

whumptober 2023 masterlist

summary: family can be a lot, especially around the holidays, and it's okay to take a break when it gets too much... sometimes you just need quiet, and that's okay.

“Okay, so what do I need to know about your family?” Jake asked Sarah as they got ready.

She laughed as she curled her hair, “Well, first thing is, you never bring up the Longhorns. That alone is a death sentence.” Jake chuckled and nodded as he looked through his clothes for a shirt, “Noted. Anything else?”

Sarah sighed a little, “The house is gonna get pretty cramped. So it can get hot in the house, and it won’t take long for it to get loud. I know you come from a big family too, probably bigger since both sides are big, but you usually have it in a bigger house than this. And we might have about 20-40 people in this house, so it might get crowded.”

Jake nodded, “Got it.” He came over and kissed her head, “I’m really excited to meet them. And apologize for not being at Thanksgiving.” She hummed softly and turned to peck his lips, “You had to go back to base, they’ll understand.”

He smiled and pecked her lips again and again before moving to go take a shower while Sarah got dressed.

A few hours later, Jake was pulling into Sarah’s aunt’s driveway and parking next to her sister’s truck.

“Alright, hopefully they like me,” Jake chuckled, squeezing Sarah’s hand. She smiled at him, “I don’t think you have anything to worry about, Cowboy.”

He pecked her lips before getting out and racing around the truck to get to her side before she could open her door.

“Such a gentleman,” she giggled as he helped her out of his truck. “Anything for you, Sugar,” he said with a wide smile before kissing her forehead. She kissed his cheek and they both grabbed the things they brought before heading inside.

Sarah walked in first, thanking Jake as he held open the glass door for her.

She turned and waited for him to join her before announcing their arrival.

“Oh, well look who’s here! And she brought a friend.”

Sarah laughed, “Hi Aunt San.” She gave her aunt a hug before turning to Jake, “This is Jake, he’s my boyfriend.” Her aunt’s eyes widened a little, “This is your pilot?” Sarah nodded and felt Jake come up behind her. “Jake, this is my Aunt San.” He smiled and gave her a hug, “It’s nice to finally meet you.” His eyes scanned the house, “And it seems I have plenty of people to meet.”

Aunt San nodded, “You sure do, but I’m first so that’s what’s important.”

Sarah rolled her eyes and laughed, “Oh um, Jake has the food, will you show him to the kitchen while I put the gifts up?” “Oh of course, follow me Jake.”

Jake nodded and followed Sarah’s aunt to the kitchen as she went to the living room.

As she walked into the room she smiled and greeted everyone, talking as she put the presents in the respective bins.

She glanced around, finding very little room to sit and feeling that pressure building in her chest already. Seriously Sarah, you just got here, she thought to herself as the voices started to muddle together.

Sending a smile to everyone, she left to go find Jake so she could do the rounds of hellos and introduce him to her family before they started to eat.

It didn’t take long after their arrival for dinner to start. After that they played bingo until all the gifts were gone and then they brought out other games while eating the rest of the finger foods that were left.

Jake and Sarah sat at the table, Jake playing spoons with Sarah’s uncles, her sister, Elizabeth, and a few of her cousins. Sarah was just sitting there next to him, resting against him and watching the game and drinking ice water.

At first he thought nothing of it, thinking that she was only talking when she addressed to not mess up his game and distract him. But she was unusually flushed, fanning herself a few times and pulling her hair off her neck into a bun. She was taking deep calculated breaths, he could feel her chest moving against his arm.

But when she sat up and started to shake out her hands, popping her knuckles and flexing her fingers, he knew something was off.

“Sugar… are you alright?” Jake asked her quietly as Elizabeth was shuffling the cards and setting the spoons back up. “Mhm,” she nodded, not looking up from where she was picking at her nails. “You sure?” “Yeah, I’m fine.”

She was mumbling, and if Jake knew anything it was that if Sarah mumbled… she wasn’t fine.

He went to say something else but was dealt a hand and the next game started.

This round he’s distracted. Glancing between his cards and her the whole time, picking up on her rhythmically tapping her fingers on her thumbs – index to pinky then pinky to index. She was inhaling through her nose and out through her mouth as her eyes stayed on the table.

Before he can say anything, the sounds of flat palms smacking the kitchen table and then a few loud shouts and laughs from those that managed to get a spoon.

Jake’s attention is pulled to that, realizing that he missed getting a spoon. But he didn’t really care, something was up with his girlfriend and she wasn’t telling him.

“Dang… that’s alright, I was getting tired of winning anyway,” Jake commented, toothpick moving to the side of his mouth as he chuckled and tossed his cards down. The table laughed and set up another round.

As they did this, Jake turned to Sarah to talk to her but found her getting up and walking towards the front door, attempting to discreetly wipe her eyes but Jake noticed it.

Confused, Jake turned to Elizabeth, “Hey, do you know what’s wrong? I asked but she said she was fine…” She sighed, “I think she’s just a little overwhelmed, it happens.” Jake nodded, humming to himself and he looked over to the door, thinking of how he could help.

Sarah sat down on the porch swing, trying to delicately wipe her tears so she didn’t smudge her makeup.

“Damn it…” She swore under her breath, shaking her hands out and trying to calm down.

She hated that this happened more often than she would like to admit. She loved being with her family, but sometimes it was just too much.

With everyone having to be close and everyone talking, it got hot quickly and it got loud.

Now she could handle loud, she was a coach – loud things weren’t uncommon. But it was loud conversations. Her brain was trying to listen to everyone and it all just muddled in her mind and it affected everything else.

Sometimes the lights would be too bright or the different scents of food mingling made her brain foggy, that mixed with the heat and the volume of the room – it was too much stimulation at once.

So she always just went outside, letting Arkansas’s freezing December weather bite the heat off her skin. It wasn’t loud outside either, just the muffled sounds of people talking inside and the cars on the highway in front of the house.

She sat there for a few minutes, her eyes closed and she tried to take even breaths and keep the tears in their ducts.

But then she heard the door open and looked over to see Jake come out, holding his Carhartt coat in his hand.

“Hey,” he greeted gently, coming over to her on the bench. “What’s wrong?” Sarah shook her head as she moved on the bench to give him room. “It’s nothi-”

“Sarah, I know you. What’s wrong?”

She sighed and let her head fall into her hands as Jake sat next to her. He rubbed her back, waiting patiently for her to talk.

“It’s too much. It’s really loud and really hot and there’s a lot of smells, the lights are too damn bright… I just…” She sighed, tears slipping down her face as she leaned on Jake’s shoulder as she talked.

“I just need quiet…”

Jake nodded, resting his cheek on her head, “I understand. I can go back–” “No, please stay…” He nodded again and put an arm around her back and on the arm rest. Using his other hand, he pulled Sarah’s legs into his lap.

He held up his jacket, inside facing the both of them. “Put your arm in the sleeve,” he told her, nodding to the sleeve hole closest to her. “What, w-” “Trust me, just do it,” he said with a playful grin.

Sarah sighed and slid her arm in the sleeve, looking at Jake to see him doing the same thing.

Jake then gently pushed her head into his shoulder and kissed her forehead.

“Jake… Darlin’, what are you doing?”

“You need quiet, so we’re gonna have quiet… now shhh and just snuggle.”

She couldn’t help but giggle as she inhaled the faint scent of hay, leather, bergamot, and whiskey that seemed infused with the fibers of the jacket. The scent that always seemed to calm her down.

“Thank you, Jake…”

“I love you, Sugar.”

“I love you too, Cowboy.”

whumptober taglist: @valmare @bradleybeachbabe @fanboyswhore9 @cassiemitchell @startrekfangirl2233 @nightowlalltheway @86laura11

j and s taglist: @milesdickpic @luckyladycreator2 @hotch-meeeeeuppppp @sebsxphia @mayhemmanaged @nobody7102 @djs8891 @kmc1989 @marbledaesthetics @penguin876 @hisredheadedgoddess28 @bellaireland1981 @memeorydotcom @whatislovevavy @coffeewithcal @showthemwhoyouare-6 @matisse556

hi, if you're seeing this and are currently not on the taglist and would like to be please fill out the taglist form -> whumptober taglist

i can not stress this enough, but whumptober can have some very serious and heavy topics and i want to make sure i am doing my part as an author to prepare my readers for what they are about to experience and that includes not only warnings above but my taglists as well

so if you want to be added check out the masterlist and read that carefully and fill out the form -> whumptober 2023

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