#pineapple nerd

The air in Bowser's castle was thick with dark smoke. Crimson and orange flames ate away at the castle walls. Panic spread throughout as Bowser, Kamek, and the kids evacuated.

Normally, the Koopa Crystals atop Mount Hades and Mount Lucifer completely nullify the effects of heat and smoke, but since this fire wasn't biological or geological in nature, the fire was able to harm adult Dragon Koopas and kill juveniles, and the smoke was able to kill even Bowser.

The king did a headcount as he got outside and found that Iggy, Lemmy, and Morton were missing. He heard footsteps and looked over. To his horror, the three had ran back inside.

Iggy was on a mission. He knew that Chompy was scared of loud noises and hid in inaccessable spots when the smoke detector activated. His brothers tried to get him to turn around, but he didn't listen. He found Chompy in a hard-to-reach gap and tried to grab her.

"Chompy, I'm here, girl. Iggy's here."

Chompy didn't move.

"C'mere, girl!" Iggy called out.

She still didn't move.

Iggy reached out and grabbed her glowing red chain. It was so hot he didn't register that it was more malleable than usual. He flinched and yelped in pain, then sucked in some air between his teeth, completely forgetting about the smoke.

"Ow, fuck, why did I do that?" he choked out between his sharp coughs.

Unfortunately, Chompy didn't react to the fact that Iggy was visibly and audibly in pain. She had always snuggled up by him when he was hurt, so why wasn't she comforting him now?

"She's... she's... no... no!"

"Iggy." a squeaky voice said. It was Lemmy, who had sat next to Iggy on the sofa.

Chompy would be dead. It would be my fault.

"Iggy."

Chompy'd be dead. She'd be gone. She'd be melted. And it'd be my fault for not supervising her.

"Iggy."

I'm safe. This is all a hypothetical. But what if it does happen?

"Iggy!" Lemmy snapped. He felt bad for snapping at Iggy whilst he was panicking, but he didn't know what else to do. Iggy was in his own world.

Iggy gasped and looked over towards his older brother. His throat hurt from breathing heavily and nearly crying. Lemmy looked at him concernedly and petted Chompy, who was on the sofa, sitting between them.

Iggy laughed relievedly and hugged Chompy, who barked happily and licked his face.

"Ack! Not my mouth!" he yelped.

Lemmy giggled as Iggy sputtered and coughed in disgust. He was glad he wasn't panicking anymore, even if he was the unfortunate victim of a Chain Chomp French kiss.

"You okay? Both for the panic attack and the Chomp lick?"

"Blegh... yeah..." Iggy groaned as he stuck his tongue out. "I'mma go rinse my mouth."

Iggy went to the bathroom to rinse his mouth. He was used to it; Chomps are basically huge metal dogs.

He walked back, checking each electric outlet on the way for malfunctions. This one's warmer than usual (which is normal when something's plugged in), it will spontaneously combust. This one had a spark (which is normal when things get plugged in), it'll burn the castle down in my sleep.

His heartrate began to speed up and his eyes began to dart to various areas to check for fire hazards. Cut it out, stupid, there's no fire. I know, but they can start so fast! That looks like smoke! You're being delusional. I know, but it's hard to control my worrying thoughts. It smells like smoke, why does it smell like smoke? You live in the Darklands, idiot. But the Koopa Crystal turns naturally-produced smoke into water vapor, so it can't be that!

"Iggy!!!" Lemmy shouted excitedly, trying to distract him. "Wanna play Mario Kart?"

"Sure, but first, I should check the outlets again, I think it smells smoky."

"It's just dinner cooking. C'mon, you gotta resist your urges! Let's play Mario Kart!"

Iggy decided to be vulnerable and went back to the living room to play Mario Kart with Lemmy. He won a few races, and he lost a few races, but he had fun.

The panic kept coming back, and Iggy assumed it was just his anxiety disorder finding something to hyperfocus on, now that he was much more confident in himself, and his appearance wasn't able to be majorly stressed about. The vivid what-if thoughts were a frequent occurance. He tried to act normal around everyone, save for Lemmy, and denied that something was obviously wrong.