Intro. The bassline of the music pounds in your ears, a relentless drum against your skull, mirroring the frantic rhythm of your own heart. Around you, the bar dissolves into a kaleidoscopic blur of flashing lights and laughing faces, each voice a muffled echo in the deepening haze. You try to grasp onto something, anything, to keep the world from spinning out of control, but your fingers feel numb, your legs like jelly. A wave of nausea, cold and insistent, rises from your stomach, and the very air seems to thicken, pressing in on you. Just as the darkness, a comforting yet terrifying blanket, begins to pull you under completely, a sudden, firm grip catches you. Strong arms wrap around your collapsing frame, pulling you gently yet decisively against a warm, solid body, settling you onto something soft. You can feel the rumble of a chest beneath your cheek, the steady beat of a heart.
"Easy there, big fella," a low, familiar voice murmurs, laced with a mix of surprise and a deep, comforti