Thunderstorms

By Mr_Toast

Hey guys, Mr_Toast here with a one shot between Simba and Nala. This is just a simple little thing that I thought of during the day and decided to develop it into a short story. There's not much else to say here so with that said… Enjoy!

Nala was laying down inside pride rock, shaking with fear. There was a huge thunderstorm going on right now, and all see could hear was the sounds of thunder and lightning.

Normally Sarafina, Nala's mother, would be there to help comfort her, But she was currently training some of the other lionesses to be better hunters in another part of the pride lands, which left Nala alone in a corner of the cave.

She looked around for any source of comfort, and her eyes locked on the young prince… Simba. She had always had a crush on him and was always too scared to admit it. Sure they were friends, but trying to sleep with him because she was scared of a storm was wrong.

After being unable to sleep for another two hours, Nala got up and walked over to Simba. Her heart was pounding on the inside of her chest, and felt like it could burst out at any second.

Nala caustioninly nuged Simba in his sleep. She felt herself start to shake at little do to how nervous she was. She was trying to wake him up, but at the same time she didn't want to.

Simba just stirred in his sleep and muttered something under his breath. Nala felt a little relieved that he didn't wake up, until she realized that she was trying to wake him up.

She tried again, and this time a little harder. The moment she made contact, a huge boom of thunder erupted in the sky causing her to slam her paw into him. Nala immediately saw what had happened and started back, and want to run away and pretend she was sleeping, but Simba had already woken up.

Simba shot up wondering what it was. It was dark and his eyes hadn't focused yet. After a few moments, he could see a figure standing in front of him. He could tell that the lion was a little smaller that he was, and had to be one of his friends. "Nala?" Simba whispered.

"Yea" Nala whispered back, then the thought hit her, what would she even say. She honestly didn't even think she would need to wake him up so she didn't rehearse anything. She hoped that he wouldn't jump right to the point so she could have some time to formulate a good reason for why she woke him up.

"What do you need? It's the middle of the night" He said rubbing his eyes and yawning. Nala had never woken him up before at night so this was a bit of a surprise to Simba. He always thought that she wa a race and fearless. He had never once seen or heard of her having a nightmare or being scared of someone.

"I um-" Nala said but was cut off by a huge eruption of thunder. She jumped forward and almost landed on top of Simba. She hated herself for being so scared of thunder. She was the only cub that had this problem and tried her best to conceal it so she wasn't made fun of.

Simba then realized that she was scared of thunderstorms, and since her mother wasn't here tonight, she was seeking help from her best friend. Simba knew the situation she was in and felt sympathy for her.

"Are you scared of thunder?" Simba asked. Nala felt defeated and just shook her head and slumped over. She was embarrassed that she had to reveal she was scared of a storm to her crush.

"Hey, it's ok. I was scared of them at one point to, but I got over my fear" Simba said in an attempt to comfort her. Nala looked up to see that Simba was now up and smiling at her.

This was the reason she had a crush on him. He was always so nice and supportive of her and she wouldn't be who she was right now if it wasn't for him. He could turn her worst day in to her best day, and was always there for her when she needed him the most, like now.

"So how will I do this" Nala asked. She just wanted to be able to conquer her fear of thunderstorms. Her second biggest fear was the thought of everyone finding out and laughing at her for being so weak and pathetic.-

"Well first of all, why are you scared of thunderstorms. Like did something happened during one that scared you, or like you don't like the sound of lighting strikes?" Simba asked. He was trying to do the same thing that his mother did to help him overcome his fear of storms.

"Well… I don't know why I'm scared of them, I just am. Maybe the thunder… or… I don't know" Nala said in defeat. This was the real reason she was ashamed. She didn't even have a real reason to be scared of them, she just was.

"Umm… well… I'm not sure either. When I was young, really young, I was coming back to the den during a thunderstorm and a tree got struck by lighting and caught on fire, that's why I was afraid. I overcame my fear when my mother told me that no storm could ever hurt me as long as she was around" Simba said.

It amazed Nala to how open and honest Simba was. "Well, I don't have anyone that will protect me from them" Nala said in a sad tone. Sarafina had tried, but she was never fully able to help her, as if something was missing.

"I can" Simba said with a smile. Nala just smiled back and went up to hug him. After a few moments of hugging, another boom of thunder erupted, starting to shake the den slightly, and for the first time in her life, Nala didn't jump or scramble in fear.

Right now she felt so safe and comfortable being this close to Simba. She wanted to stay the night with him but she knew that he wouldn't want to sleep with her, she was only a friend to him.

"Are you going to be ok tonight?" Simba asked. He knew that she was ok right now, be he didn't know how she would act when he left her and went back to sleep.

"I don't know…" Nala said, but it was muffled because of the fact that her muzzle was buried into his chest.

"If you want, you can stay with me tonight" Simba said. Nala hearts rate skyrocketed at hearing this. She started to shake a little because she was so nervous thinking that she would mess something up and they would never be friends again.

"S-sure" Nala managed to say. Simba could see that she was nervous, but didn't understand why. Then it hit him, she also had a crush on him. Simba was doing backflips in his mind he was so happy.

Simba lied down, and motioned for Nala to come over. When she did, Simba rolled onto his side so she could press up into him.

Nala snuggled up into him, chest to chest, and put her face and muzzle into the crook of his next. Once she was settled, Simba put his right leg over her torso to completely seal her in.

"I love you" Simba told Nala. Nalas heart froze upon hearing this. Simba, her best friend and crush had just told her that he loves her. She felt so happy and safe and just snuggled deeper, if it was even possible.

"I love you too" Nala said smiling. The two could stay like this, forever, never having to pull back or leave each other's arms. The only thing that the two cared about was each other, and nothing else mattered to them right now.

After a minute of being like this, another thing of thunder erupted, but like the last time, Nala didn't even move. Simba looked down to see if she was ok. When he did, he saw that she was fast asleep in his grasp.

Simba smiled to himself knowing that his plan to help her overcome her fear of thunder had worked. Simba started to feel that grasp of sleep take himself too, and he also drifted off to sleep.

(TLKTLKTLKTLKTLK)

Sarafina was currently running as fast as she could through the pride lands. She didn't know of the storm coming, and didn't think to much of it until her thoughts drifted off to Nala.

Sarafina was worried about her cub, she had to be horrified being in that den, without her there to help her sleep. Nala had never been able to sleep through a thunderstorm before, and the only reason she got any sleep at all, is because she got so tired that her body forced her to sleep.

Sarafina was starting to make out what looked like to be pride rock through all the rain. The torrent downpour made it almost impossible to clearly make out objects. Sarafina was still determined to make it to pride rock as fast as she could to check on her cub.

Upon entering pride rock, Sarafina was both relieved and shocked to see that Nala was ok, and sleeping with Simba. Sarafina didn't mind her doing this with Simba with them betrothed and all, but was surprised to see that she was soundly sleeping, with a smile on her face, and every time thunder erupted, she didn't even move or flinch.

Sarafina realized that what Nala needed to overcome storms wasn't her, but Simba. Sarafina stood there with a smile on her face, soaking wet from running through the storm, happy to see that her little Nala was safe and sound.

She walked over to her normal spot, and lied down herself, watching the two young cubs sleeping peacefully before she to overcame to sleep.

Hey guys, thanks for reading. Just let me know if you want to have me do anything else like this again. Like I said, this was just meant to be a short little one shot that I developed in my head throughout the day. With that said, hope to see you all again! Mr_Toast out!