Schreckhaftes Girl
Chapter 1
Hey everyone. As I said to those who asked me for more Steins;Gate stories after I published my previous one-shot, I'd write more of Okabe and Kurisu if I came up with an idea that I thought would be good enough. Well, I came up with this idea and I hope that it's a good one.
Disclaimer: I don't own Steins;Gate or any other copyrighted things that I happen to mention in this story.
Summary: Kurisu wondered why she'd agreed to this. It was a terrible idea and there was no way that she could back out now. She should never have let Okabe talk her into doing something like this. Okabe x Kurisu
Kurisu tightened her hold on Okabe as the couple shuffled a little nearer. The lights in the lab were turned off with the only source emitting from the old CRT TV bought from Mister Tennouji. Rain pelted against the window as it was swirled around by thunderstorm winds. Despite the howling of the storm, the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs could still be heard.
Okabe pulled her closer on the lab's sofa, using the arm that he'd slid around her back at some point during all of this. Kurisu was too focused on the moment at hand to realise when it had happened or when she had done the same thing to him. Her heart was racing and threatening to leap out of her chest, which wasn't her boyfriend's fault for once.
She gulped loudly as a squeak from a wooden step echoed through the room, evoking various things in her mind. Déjà vu of memories that were from different timelines filled her mind, making Kurisu tense up more as she thought about what had happened during those alternative possibilities. They were things that had happened in this lab to Okabe and he'd lived through them to save both Mayuri and her.
The flash of lightning and rumble of thunder forced a gasp from Kurisu, something she suddenly regretted as she gulped again. Despite the stuffy, hot and humid air in the lab, she wrapped her right arm around Rintaro, linking it with her left one, and moved her legs up to her chest. Her boyfriend encircled her with both of his arms, pulling her onto his lap and holding her tightly.
Kurisu buried her face into his shoulder before slowly looking back, using the edge of her vision to make sure that she still could see what was going on. Okabe tightened his hold of her as she clung on to him, feeling herself beginning to shake a little. The auburn-haired woman could hear her heart pounding even quicker as her breathing deepened.
Another flash and rumble echoed through the skies, making Kurisu jump and bury her face into her boyfriend's shoulder again. Once more, she slowly looked back over to where the sound of the footsteps was coming from as the TV flickered. Those déjà vu memories from the other timeline wouldn't stop racing through her mind and nor would those of her own father coming after her with a knife. Okabe had saved her from her dad, risking his own life and getting hurt in the process. He'd saved Mayuri too, so Kurisu knew that she'd be safe in his arms.
The footsteps were the loudest they'd been as the man reached the door and stepped through. His shadow told Kurisu that he was pulling out a knife, making her heart almost leap out of her mouth. She brought her knees even closer to her chest, curling up into a ball as she held onto Rintaro for dear life. He held her back, holding her against his chest.
"AHHH!" Kurisu screamed as the knife glinted in the darkness just before the killer ripped back the curtain and lunged at his unsuspecting victim. She heard Okabe screaming too as the couple held each other as tightly as they could. Kurisu buried her face into her boyfriend's chest, unable to watch the rest of the scene.
She took several deep breaths, not wanting to look back at the horror movie that was playing on the TV. Rintaro was taking just as deep breaths as she was as she listened to the woman screaming and fighting her attacker in the slasher flick. How had she let Okabe talk her into this? Kurisu couldn't help but wonder what part of her brain thought that this was ever a good idea.
Staying in and watching a movie sounded like a nice date, but things could never be that simple with Okabe. He'd somehow talked her into watching this with the lights off during the middle of a thunderstorm. Kurisu couldn't help but be annoyed with herself too for falling for his goading once again and going along with this stupid game. The thought of him teasing her and calling her a chicken when he'd dared her to watch a horror movie with him had made her try to one up him. Why did she have to dare him to watch it with her with the lights off?
Kurisu wasn't normally afraid of horror movies and nor was she afraid of thunderstorms. She used to enjoy watching them as a kid and marvelling at the science behind those giant bolts of lightning. However, this was different because of the slasher flick, being in the lab and the events when Rintaro had protected her from her father.
She theorised that it was those memories that had made her the most scared. Kurisu had been in a similar position to the woman in the movie and the only reason she came out of it alive was because of the man holding her at that moment. Rintaro's embrace felt safe and she didn't want him to let her go.
However, his grip did begin to loosen and Okabe's familiar chortle reached her ears. "Someone's a scaredy-cat."
"I …" Kurisu pulled back, her cheeks heating up as she stared at his face, noticing the smirk spreading across his lips. She furrowed her eyebrows and glared at him. "You screamed too."
"I screamed because you suddenly screamed." His response was smug and she knew that he was clearly lying. "I wasn't expecting you to be afraid of horror movies."
"Moron," she huffed before pouting at him. Kurisu pried his arms open and shuffled out of them and back to end of the sofa. She grabbed the Upa plushie, giving it a squeeze before pointed straight in his face. "You were the one who pulled me closer and was holding me tightly."
"Imagine what the scientific community would think if they knew about this," Okabe chortled again. "The girl genius, Kurisu Makise, will have a new meaning to the zombie name bestowed upon her."
She took a deep breath before gritting her teeth. "Shut up, Hououin Chicken Kyouma!"
Okabe was teasing her like this to hide his own fear and she knew it. He always did this kind of thing and Kurisu wondered why she put up with it. She also didn't understand how he could act this way after what happened. It was an awful attempt at hiding how scared he was because, after all, he'd screamed when she did. Could his mocking just be a terrible attempt to take her mind of it, or maybe his own?
Kurisu gave the Upa another squeeze as she brought her legs up to it and turned to face the TV again. The heroine was being helped by the main character now as they tried to fight off the psychotic knife-wielding madman. A flash of lightning lit up the street outside the window as the clap of thunder rumbled closely overhead.
"This was a stupid idea and I can't believe I let you talk me into this stupid game of yours," she sighed, shaking her head and noting that her face was still hot from the blush covering it. "Stupid. Stupid. Stupid!"
Okabe laughed. "Tsundere."
"Shut up." Kurisu pouted as she glared at him once more. "I'm not a tsundere, idiot."
He laughed again. "That's just what a tsundere would say."
She groaned as she saw the smirk on his face grow and it frustrated her to no end. Kurisu realised that she'd just played straight into his hands and delivered the most tsundere line that she could there. It wasn't even worth trying to hide it as she squeezed the Upa while Okabe laughed some more.
The thought crossed her mind that Okabe could have been teasing her like that just to help her get over her fears and not just to help him deal with his own. It wouldn't have been the first time that he'd acted that way and engaged into some banter with her to make her feel better. Kurisu hated the thought that there might actually be a lot of truth to that and that he was doing it to take both of their minds of the real-life parallels that they'd been through. Okabe was always looking out for her and the other lab members after all.
Silence fell over the couple and the only noise was that coming from the TV and storm. They watched the final fight play out, not bothering to turn the lights back on as they remained sitting at opposite ends of the sofa. As Kurisu expected, the good guys won and the hero receiving a few stab wounds as he and his girlfriend managed to kill off the psychopath who had been hunting them.
It ended with some romance that led into implied sex but Kurisu huffed as it annoyed her. "We'll that's not realistic."
"Huh?" Okabe glanced over at her with a smirk, probably thinking that she was implying something perverted. "In what way?"
She sighed. "The guy was stabbed a few times and he needs to go to hospital. Yet, there they are, going at it in the back of the car to end the movie."
"Yeah." Her boyfriend nodded before he turned off the film. "They're definitely taking too much artist licence with that. They could have ended it with some scene where the guy was leaving the hospital after recovering and he meets up with the girl."
Kurisu nodded as she got to her feet and walked over to turn the lights back on. "Definitely. That would have been a much better ending. They could have even gotten it on after that once they'd met up after he'd left the hospital, but not beforehand because it would probably make the guy's injuries worse."
"They only just got together too," Okabe added as both he and his girlfriend started cleaning the pizza box, snack food and empty Dr. Pepper bottles from the table. "Most women wouldn't just jump on the guy like that even if he did save her life."
They set about tidying up the lab, making sure that it was clean for when the others arrived in the morning. It didn't take long because neither of them was particularly messy and it wasn't anything like when they had all of the lab members around. Once that was done, Kurisu knew that it was time that she should head back to her hotel room for the night.
She stood there, looking outside of the lab window at the rain pelting down as the wind swirled around the street. Another flash of lightning lit up Akihabara, which was quickly followed by a rattling boom of thunder overhead. This weather was going to drench her if she had to walk back in it.
Kurisu sighed, not really wanting to go and definitely not wanting to face the storm that awaited her. It was late and dark, which wasn't the best conditions for her to be heading back to her hotel in after watching a horror movie. She knew that it was stupid of her to be scared but she was beginning to worry about whether some strange person with a knife could actually be lurking around a corner waiting for her. It was unlikely but definitely a possibility.
"I'll walk you back to your hotel." Okabe pulled her from her thoughts, seemingly knowing what they were as he stood by her side. "It's rather late."
Kurisu shook her head. "No, it's fine. I'll head back myself. There wouldn't be enough room under the umbrella for both of us. You'd get soaked and probably end up with a cold or fever from it."
"You'll be drenched too even with an umbrella." Her boyfriend gestured at the puddles covering the road. "The wind's so strong that it would make an umbrella pointless and probably damage it."
"What else can I do?" She pursed her lips as the rain continued to batter the glass.
"You should stay here." Okabe's voice was laced with uncertainty. "One of us can take the spare blanket and the sofa whilst the other can have the futon."
"But …" Kurisu trailed off, feeling her face heat up at the suggestion. It would be just the two of them alone in the lab spending the night together. Was that ok? They were a couple after all, so that made it fine, right? Couples did things like this all of the time.
"You'll end up sick and catch a cold if you walk back in this." Her boyfriend turned her earlier argument against her as he took on the Hououin Kyouma bravado once again. "As the leader of the Future Gadgets Laboratory, I cannot allow my lab members to go off and do something so reckless. The safety and well-being of the members is a top priority."
There was a blush forming on Okabe's face as he continued. "Also, there could be members of the organisation out there waiting to kidnap you. They could be lurking in the shadows, using the cover of darkness and waiting to take you. I won't let them take one of this lab's members from us. You're staying here tonight."
Kurisu felt her cheeks heat up even more and she was sure that her face was bright red now. However, she really didn't feel like arguing because he was right. Staying at the lab and sleeping here was better than the alternative of heading back to her hotel. Kurisu knew that she'd get drenched and cold even if it was a hot night, and she didn't want to get sick. The memories from another timeline suggested that Okabe was right about the possibility of some agents out there too, waiting to steal her knowledge about time machines.
She hated to admit that Okabe was right, but he was. Kurisu also hated to admit, but also loved it at the same time, that he did genuinely care about her. Despite all of their arguments and banter, her boyfriend did deeply care for her and she knew it. He'd risked his life to save her after all.
"Fine, I'll stay tonight and help you try to take over the world or whatever it was you were thinking of doing." Kurisu sighed before pointing at him. "J-j-just don't try anything f-funny or p-p-perverted, a-alright? No Hououin pervert Kyouma."
"I won't do anything." Okabe's face flushed a deep red as he held up his hands. He coughed before smirking and pointing back at her. "I'm the one who should be worried about what the perverted girl genius might do staying here tonight."
She pouted as she stared at him. "For that, I'm taking the sofa and you can have the floor."
This seems like a good place to end this chapter. I hope you've enjoyed reading it and that I've managed to get the banter right between Okabe and Kurisu.
This is something that I could see happening between them where Kurisu and Okabe goad each other into a situation like this and they both end up regretting it. This chapter was a lot of fun to write, so hopefully it was as fun to read.
Please can you let me know what you think about this chapter and whether you enjoyed it by posting a review? :D
