Thunderstorms

Characters © Respected Owners

~o~

FLASH!!

CRASH!!

Huddled under two blankets and two pillows laid a small six year old boy, whimpering and trembling in fear as the thunderstorm raged on outside his home while he tried to resist the tears that had gathered. He was a big boy. Big boys didn't cry.

FLASH!!

CRASH!!

A slightly older boy, nine, woke with a start, the second clap of thunder waking him from his sleep. That's what he told everyone if they asked, what really woke Rude was his best friend's frightened cry of terror.

"A-Ah!!"

"Reno?! Ren, you okay?" Rude asked frantically, throwing the blankets away and sitting up, only to crawl from his spot on the top bunk in his room, then crawled over to the trembling lump under the blankets.

"Ren? Ren, it's me, Ru. Reno? Don't worry, I'm here" Rude said while figuring out where the end of the blankets were before crawling under them and huddling up to his terrified best friend.

"R-R-Ru… Ah!" Reno whimpered, flinching and clinging to Rude when another clap of thunder reverberated.

"Shh… Big bad Rude won't let anything hurt you! Don't be afraid, I'm right here now" Rude cooed softly, rubbing his face into Reno's hair as his arms returned the cling Reno was doing. Reno then clung even tighter and hid his face in Rude's chest, tangling their legs together as he got as close to the older boy as he could.

"N-N-Nn…. R-Ruuu…. I'm scared..." Reno whimpered more, Rude blinked slightly then snuggled closer, ruffling the younger's hair in a desperate attempt to soothe the other, wanting him to feel safe and secure.

"Shhh… I'm here, you don't need ta be scared anymore, Ren, just take a couple deep breaths and relax as much as you can, okay?" Rude instructed, trying to think of anyway to get Reno to calm back down. He hadn't known the younger was so frightened of thunderstorms. Else he wouldn't have slept up on the top bunk.

Reno sniffled slightly and nodded, a couple of the straggling tears fell and Rude was quick to wipe them away when he felt them, tucking Reno under his chin protectively.

Reno's little body trembled as he tried to calm himself down, fingers fisted Rude's shirt, trying to take the deep breaths that Rude had told him to try. It took quite a while, but he slowly started to calm back down, his trembling stopping to only an occasional shiver, his tears dried up and he didn't pant so badly anymore.

Rude had continued to run his hand through Reno's hair and had the other simply wound around his best friend, and he continued to whisper soothing, calming things to Reno.

He didn't let up even when he was absolutely sure that Reno had fallen back asleep, arms and hands no longer clinging as he slept, just holding onto Rude. Rude didn't let himself fall back asleep for a long time after Reno had fallen asleep, wanting to make sure his best friend wouldn't wake back up and find him asleep.

"Night, Ren. See? Big, bad Rude didn't let anything happen…"

~o~