Alhaitham had never been a workaholic, he had lived his whole life in "energy saving" mode, because he knew what danger overworking could bring to his psyche. After all, he had known about his autism for a long time and tried to adapt to living in a neurotypical world with his peculiarities.

But lately he had accumulated too much external stress. Alhaitham interacted with other people too often, left his comfort zone, his plans fell apart and this each time knocked him off track more and more.

Now you are sitting in the conference hall for expeditions to the desert with the goal of studying ancient languages ​​next to him. You and Alhaitham were not exactly friends, but... you were one of the few he could tolerate.

Gradually, the hum of people's voices communicating before the start of the conference filled the entire space around. You see Alhaitham nervously fingering his keychain out of the corner of your eye, and notice that he's not wearing his noise-canceling headphones today.

The general stress of the last few days, the noise, the overstimulation, it's all sent Alhaitham into sensory overload.

His jaw was tense, his breathing ragged. He was trying to maintain control, but it felt like he was about to explode in a meltdown.