Title: Safety Net

Author: Karrissarella

Genre: Friendship/Comfort/Romance

Rating: G

Summary: Mikado is afraid of thunderstorms so he calls Masaomi over to help him cope. Slight Kida/Mikado.

Mikado had never liked thunderstorms. It may have sounded girly, and ripped him of all his masculinity for having a severe fear of the storms, but he hated them. He didn't know how some people could be fascinated by them. He did a lot of research on storms and if a lightning bolt hit close enough, he could get hit, and go blind, or something!

Which is why the said boy is curled up in his blankets, sitting on his futon as he listened to the storm roar it's head. He closed his eyes tightly once he heard thunder clap and it nearly shook his window from the vibration.

He whimpered from under his blankets. He didn't want to call anyone over to come stay with him even though he really wanted to. The only person that knew about this would make fun of him all night anyway.

He sighed as he reached down and picked up his phone, hovering over his best friend's name before pressing down on the button to dial the blonde.

–

Masaomi groaned as he heard his phone going off. He flipped to the other side of his bed, wanting to ignore it. They could leave a voicemail. He wanted to sleep. He grew annoyed once he kept hearing his phone go off, he turned over again and lazily placed his hand on his table, patting it for the slim object. He finally gripped it and flipped the phone open, pressing it to his ear.

"Mm-hello...?" He said groggily, as he rubbed his eyes, yawning slightly.

"M-Masaomi?" the quiet voice came from the other line, and this time Masaomi sat up, wondering why Mikado was calling so late. He blinked, as he heard the thunder boom and lightning flash. Oh. That was why.

"Mikado, the big bad storm is not going to get you," he replied.

"I-I know that!" Mikado tried to speak louder, as if to prove he wasn't that scared. "It's just...I don't like being alone on days like these." He admitted, eying a corner of his bedroom. He squeaked as he heard thunder again, and the wind whipped the trees next to his apartment window hard.

Masaomi yawned loudly, "Mikado, do you know what time it is? You're half-way across town." He replied, "you want some big, bad man to come and get me while I walk over there!"

Mikado frowned, "I don't think anyone would want to be out in this...not unless they want to get struck by lightning.."

Masaomi rose an eyebrow at the answer, chuckling in amusement. "I'll be over in a few minutes, okay?" He said, "but if I go blind – it's your fault!" He said, before flipping his phone shut and standing up from his bed. He looked down at his pajamas, sighing as he began to change into more appropriate clothes and filling his backpack with stuff he'd probably need for tomorrow. There was no way he was getting out of this early and going back home until the storm let up.

–

Masaomi wasn't surprised that the streets were mainly empty and buildings were brimmed with people until the storm let up. He ran up the stairwell to his friend's apartment, knocking on the door. "Hurry, Mikado, hurry! I may get blown away, or hit by lightning! Maybe the sound of the thunder will run through my veins!"

He heard shuffling feet behind the door and unlocking of the door, opening it. Masaomi invited himself in and looked at the boy who was glaring up at him through the safety of his covers wrapped around him. He snorted at the look, as he wrapped an arm around Mikado, "still deathly afraid of thunderstorms up until now, eh, Mikado~?" He teased the boy. He felt Mikado shake out from under his arm with a disapproving look.

"You're dripping wet." Mikado frowned, and Kida sighed dramatically.

"Well, you basically BEGGED me to come over!" He replied, shaking off his wet jacket and dropping his bag, as he pulled out the dry pajamas he packed.

"I didn't beg you to-"

"NOW, I am soaking wet from head to toe, just for you, Mikado!" He said, moving over to the boy and wrapping an arm around his shoulder. "JUST FOR YOU!"

Mikado frowned, "you could've just said n-"

"and listen to your incessant calling me all night?" He lifted his hands up in the air dramatically. "No thanks! At least this way, I can actually sleep without my phone annoying the crap out of me!" He said, as he peeled off his wet clothes and watched Mikado turn around to give him privacy.

"If you face that way, you're facing the storm you know~" he teased, and watched Mikado's body tense.

"I-I know!" Mikado pouted, softly glaring at the rain that pounded against his window. The weatherman had said it was supposed to be sunny today. Ugh. Were they ever right about any weather?

"Okay~ you can turn around now, you virgin!" Masaomi stated. Mikado turned around and saw his best friend in a loose t-shirt and some baggy pajama pants. "Now, let's see...the storm started a couple hours ago. Did you even make dinner for yourself or were you afraid that once you heard your stove or microwave go off that it would be the big, bad storm coming to get you?" He asked, lifting his hands up in front of him like a zombie and walking towards the raven.

Mikado frowned, pushing a hand out and pushing Masaomi's away. "Knock it off, Masaomi," he forced a weak chuckle.

"Seriously though, have you ate tonight?" Masaomi asked.

Mikado frowned slightly, lowering his head, shaking it. "N-no. I can make some for us though!" He insisted, but stopped once he saw Masaomi's hands up in the air.

"It's fine. I can make us something," the blonde retorted, but Mikado didn't give up that easily. "But...you're my guest!" Mikado urged, "I should be the one making you food!"

Masaomi sighed heavily, "you are! It's your food, Mikado. I will just be cooking it, besides, remember what happened last time you tried to cook during a storm?"

"Shut up," Mikado told his best friend as he shuffled his way over to the table, watching Masaomi pull out the pot and packets Ramen so casually from his kitchen.

"It was actually pretty funny, Mikado!" Kida replied as he turned on the stove, and moved over to fill the pot with water. "Every time the lightning flashed you thought it was going to come through your window and shock you," Kida laughed in response, before setting the pot on the stove.

He turned to his best friend who was shooting him dirty looks from the table. He grinned playfully and took a seat next to him at the table. "Careful, Mikado~ That look might kill me and then you'll have to find someone else to share your dirty little secret with! I'm sure you don't want to have to share it with Anri-chan~."

Mikado was about to say something in response before the thunder clapped loudly and he threw himself into Kida's arms. He buried his head into Kida's chest, as another sound rumbled through the rain.

Kida smiled weakly, looking down at him. "Oh~ remember when there were thunderstorms during naptime in elementary~? Every time the storm got louder, you would inch closer and closer to my napping cot and even though it was against the rules, the teachers let you do it anyway because it was the only way to get you to stop crying~" he smirked as he wrapped an arm around Mikado's body.

"Sh-shut up!" Mikado whimpered from under him.

Kida blinked as he heard the water boiling, and tried to stand up with the raven still attached to his waist. He sighed, as he slowly made his way over to the stove with Mikado trailing behind him, hands linked together. Kida used his teeth to open the packets and dumped the noodles into the water with his free hand.

Mikado had prayed that these three minutes would be storm free, and all he had to do was listen to the pitter-patter of the rain against his windows. He eyed the clock and began to count down the torturous three minutes.

One.

He heard the water boil against the noodles, and listened to the bubbling of water while he rested his head against Kida's back. It seemed like the storm had calmed down for a while, only hearing the soft pats of the rain against his apartment complex.

Two.

Mikado felt Kida shift as the other boy moved to pick up the pot, pouring most of it in the strainer in the sink, leaving a small portion of the water at the bottom. Kida hummed absentmindedly as he ripped open the seasoning open, pouring them two bowls of full ramen.

Kida didn't mind that Mikado was stuck to him like glue right now, but it honestly didn't help the situation that he had to turn around with two hot bowls full of ramen.

"Mikado..." Kida started, before sighing, hearing the thunder boom and the grip around Masaomi's waist was squeezed tighter. Kida reached over and turned the stove off, putting the dishes into the sink, before moving over to their dinner bowls.

Three.

"Mikado," he started again.

Mikado forced himself to peel his eyes open, just in time to see lightning strike in front of his window and shut them quite tightly once more.

"Mikado~" Masaomi began to sing, "our dinner is getting cold~" he said, and Mikado realized what was holding Masaomi back from finishing the cooking. He peeled himself off the blonde boy and quietly shuffled to his small table in the kitchen.

Masaomi almost felt a little sad that Mikado had detached himself after only a few minutes. It usually took the boy quite a while to move while a storm was brewing – but this had been a pretty dry summer.

He grabbed the two full bowls and sat them down on the table, taking a seat across from the table.

"Masaomi...?"

Masaomi paused in the middle of his crouching down to take his seat to look up at the raven in front of him.

"U-um." Mikado paused, gripping his fingers around the blue cloth that he was still draped around him, "Ca-can you come sit next to me?" He asked softly and he watched the ex-leader spread into a grin as he watched the boy hop up, sliding his bowl next to Mikado's and nearly bounced over to Mikado, plopping down next to him.

"Oh, Mi~ka~do~," Masaomi chuckled, "you really are such a girl when it comes to storms~" he said, "you know, I could just hold you in my arms until the storm passes or until you fall asleep~" he teased, and he watched Mikado's cheeks tinted red.

"I wouldn't mind," Mikado whispered under his breath, moving to twirl his fork in his noodles. Luckily, Masaomi was already gorging himself in his own bowl, and turned to look at his best friend. "What was that, Mikado?"

"N-nothing!" Mikado replied frantically, and his fork clanked against his bowl when another loud roar rumbled through the sky. He pressed his face against Masaomi's side, gripping onto the ends of the other boy's shirt. "I-I'm not hungry," he murmured. "I just...I just want to stay like this – with you." He said softly.

Masaomi blinked, swallowing his last chunk of ramen he had ate, before beaming down at his best friend, grinning. "Okay!" He laughed, "I shall be your prince for the night, Princess Mikado~" He smirked, "I shall protect you from this roaring dragon and keep the kingdom and it's princess safe!"

"Masaomi..." Mikado blushed at the comment.

"Does this Prince get a kiss at the end of the movie~?" Masaomi asked as he wrapped an arm around Mikado's waist, pulling him in closer.

"M-maybe," Mikado answered, "if the oh-so-charming prince stops teasing the princess."

"Who's teasing?" Masaomi asked, putting the other hand on his waist, puffing out his chest and looking around the blatantly empty apartment. "I shall strike them down, my Highness!"

Mikado smiled into Masaomi's arm, "Shut up, Masaomi."

A/N: Hope you enjoyed! Don't forget to R&R! :)