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Rain was normally a fun thing for Kokichi. If he and his brother - or technically “brothers” now - were playing outside they could splash around in their rain boots and raincoats without a care in the world. Even though most grown-ups can think of rain as a sad thing, to a kid the feeling of having drops of water from the sky fall on your body is almost magical. Someone even told him a story of a boy who somehow turned the rain into grape juice, though try as he might Kokichi just couldn’t find a way to make it happen for himself. If something as cool as that was a lie then people really are the worst! But it was fine, playing outside in the rain long enough would usually lead to Kaito’s mom (its been nearly a month since he and Ken were adopted but he doesn’t feel right calling her “mom”, not just yet) calling the three of them inside for hot chocolate and warm blankets.
Tonight however was far from being fun for Kokichi. While the noise of the heavy downpour splashing down on the trees outside is relaxing in a way, it's the occasional loud clap of thunder that's keeping the boy up right now. While Kokichi doesn’t let most things scare him, when it comes to the sounds of real life thunder he can’t help but be frightened. Even if it's just a part of nature that doesn’t mean that he has to like it; this “natural” thing always sounds angry, like its trying to find someone to hurt.
Boom!
Kokichi jumps a bit, the sound was loud but not loud enough to scare him into a crying fit. Maybe if he just grabs his pillow a little tighter and hides himself in his blanket it will be ok, the thunder can’t hurt him if it can’t see him. He can be brave, he won’t run away from it.
Crraack!
Ok that one was a little bit louder. Didn’t someone say that the louder the thunder the closer it is? Or was that just made up? He doesn’t want to look out the window to check this because Kaito’s dad says that’s also a bad thing to do when there is thunder outside. So instead of checking outside Kokichi settles for bringing his pillow closer to his face and squeezing the stuffed Squirtle by his chest even tighter.
“I’m not scared, I’m not scared, I’m not-”
CRRAAASHH!!!
“AAAHHH!!” the loudest roar of thunder so far makes Kokichi shriek out in terror, and he hops out of bed before he can start crying. The last thing he needs is Kaito’s parents coming in offering him to stay in their bed tonight. Without thinking he runs out of his room, keeping the Squirtle plushie as close to his body as possible, and hurriedly enters the room across the hall from his own.
Shutting his eyes out of fear he scurries across the floorboards as quickly as his small legs will take him and jumps onto Ken’s bed. Climbing under the sheets Kokichi hopes he doesn’t scare his brother by showing up out of nowhere; whenever there was bad thunder at the orphanage and it was too much for Kokichi to handle, he would run into Ken’s room across the hall and share his bed with him. The older twin would always hold him close until he fell asleep or until the thunderstorm had stopped.
“Huh? Kokichi is that you?”
“Uh-oh…” that voice didn’t belong to Ken, that was Kaito’s voice. Even after being in this house for almost a month Kokichi was just so used to Ken’s room being across from his that he forget it was actually Kaito who had this room. “W-What do I do?!? I don’t want Kaito to see me like this!”
When Kokichi looks up from burying his face in Squirtle’s stomach he can barely see the worried look on Kaito’s face thanks to the faint moonlight coming through the window. If Kaito can’t see his face then he would just have to play it cool. Kokichi adjusts himself so that he sits up on the bed, the plushie sitting between his legs as he fakes a small smile. “H-Heya Kaito! Did I getcha?” he hopes Kaito believes his fake cheeriness.
“What do ya mean little bro?”
He feels a little guilty hearing Kaito call him that, but so far it sounds like the ten-year-old believes him “I was bored, so I came in here to scare you! I bet it worked too!” Kokichi flashes a wide smile, secretly wishing that the missing tooth in his grin helps to make his lie more believable.
“What ya did wasn’t scary Kokichi...but you looked kinda scared right now, are you ok?” Kaito asks, making Kokichi worry that the trick didn’t work.
“Huuh?? Well, duh I’m-”
Crraack!
Kokichi tenses up slightly when he hears the thunder ring out again, but does his best to hide this fear from the other boy on the bed.
“...I-I’m ok...Kaito…” even Kokichi knows that the shakiness in his voice says otherwise.
Kaito scoots in closer to get a better look at the smaller boy, Kokichi freezes as Kaito starts examining him up and down like a hawk. Then he looks Kokichi in the eyes, the two of them now able to see each other clearly now that their eyes have adjusted to the darkness. “Kokichi…” the boy in question can already tell what's going to be asked “are you...scared of thunder?”
Kokichi laughs nervously “Whaat? Don’t be silly Kaito, there is no way I’m scared of some dumb thu-”
CRRAAASHH!!!
Another loud crashing of thunder sends the smaller purple-haired boy diving into the arms of the bed’s other occupant, panic coursing through his entire body. Kaito instinctively wraps his arms around his little brother when he notices how much the boy is trembling. He has to do something, Kokichi is his sidekick, and it's a hero’s job to help his sidekicks when they need it most!
When he hears Kokichi begin to whimper Kaito hugs the boy closer to his chest, carefully soothing the back of his head to try and calm him down. “Hey it's ok, it’s ok” it's a little weird to hear himself be so quiet, but Kaito knows its for the best right now “you don’t have to be scared Kichi, I’ll keep ya safe from the thunder I promise!”
He hears Kokichi sniffle into his chest, but at least he’s not shaking as badly “Ki...Kichi?”
“Well yeah, Ken has his nickname so my other brother should have one too!”
Kokichi looks at him with damp purple eyes “R-Really?”
Kaito manages to sneak his hand between them and give Kokichi a thumbs-up with a wink “Yeah, really!” Kaito separates from the hug, which Kokichi tries to pretend he doesn’t miss, but turns to look at his little brother with an excited smile “Just wait here, I’m gonna get somethin’ to help ya forget the thunder!”
He sees the closet doors opening in the dark and the outline of Kaito’s figure searching blindly in the dark space. Kaito groans in frustration at the difficulty in finding whatever is it that he is looking for, but eventually he is able to feel around long enough to locate something in the closet.
Shutting the closet doors Kaito starts walking to the center of the room and Kokichi notices that he is holding something roughly-shaped like a ball in both of his hands. What sounds like a switch being flipped is heard from the object, and as Kaito lays it on the floor Kokichi sees the older boy press his finger down on top of the ball resulting in audible clicking sound.
Before Kokichi can ask any questions the object projects a large cone of light in Kaito’s room, and Kokichi can only stare in awe at the breathtaking sight.
The walls, floor, and ceiling of Kaito’s bedroom look like they’ve been swallowed up and are now replaced by the vast void of space. Stars of different brightnesses circle around the room in a slow rotation, the different planets of the Solar System and several odd-shaped galaxies pop up in different areas of the room as the projection slowly alternate rotations.
“Wow….what is this? It's so cool!” he hears Kaito chuckle as he retakes his place on the bed. The older boy scoots himself closer to Kokichi and motions for the two of them to lie back on the bed.
“It's called a ‘mini planetarium’, sometimes a little voice on it tells you about the stars and stuff but I wanted to turn it off.”
Another small crack of thunder makes Kokichi shiver in terror, but as he squeezes his plushie for protection he feels Kaito wraps his arm around his shoulder and pull him in closer. When he see Kaito smile at him Kokichi feels a small warmth in his chest - is this what being protected feels like? “Hey Kichi, you wanna see some cool space stuff?” it seems that Kaito offers this as a means to distract the small boy from the storm.
Anything was better than hearing the thunder get louder and louder. He nods his head to Kaito, who grins and throws the fluffy star-patterned blanket over himself and Kokichi to help them get more comfortable.
Kaito points up to the ceiling and Kokichi follows the finger to the small cluster of stars its targeting. “Y’know what that is little bro?”
The small pot shape in the stars did look a little familiar "The...Little Dipper?”
“Yeah! That’s right!” Kaito directs Kokichi’s attention to a group of stars across from the ones they just identified “And that one a little ways away is the Big Dipper!”
Kaito then points to one of the small planets slowly going across the wall “And that planet right there is-”
“Its...Mars, right?”
Kaito chuckles “Yeah! Good job Kichi!”
This pattern continues on for some time; Kokichi either learns something new about a constellation or space from Kaito, while Kaito would praise the boy for any information he already knew. If any thunder was heard from outside Kaito would instinctively hug Kokichi tighter so the smaller child wouldn’t worry, but after awhile it seemed like Kokichi was starting to ignore the loud ringing of the thunderstorm on his own.
But as a ten-year-old there was only so much that Kaito could show his little brother. He didn't know everything. After a while he has to make some stuff up when it comes to constellation names and how some things in space worked.
“Umm then that one over there is umm...Snake Eyes...and under it is uh...Luna and Artemis! Hey Kichi do you know long a star can live for?”
But he doesn’t get any kind of response. “Kokichi?” when he turns his head to look at his brother Kaito lets out a small chuckle. The smaller boy is already sound asleep, the faintest of snores coming from his mouth confirming this. He must have started dozing off once it became clear Kaito didn’t know what he was talking about. Even the ongoing storm outside doesn’t seem to make Kokichi stir in his sleep.
Kaito can’t help but feel a little proud of himself - he was able to be the hero that Kokchi needed, and him looking so peaceful in his sleep right now is proof of that success.
Now that he’s officially a big brother it's his job to always protect Ken and Kichi when they need his help. No matter what his mission as their hero will always be to keep them safe, they are his little sidekicks after all.
And nothing will ever change that.
Bringing the sleeping Kokichi closer to his body Kaito lightly ruffles the messy head of purple hair and wraps his arm around his brother’s back, clutching him in a hug as he feels himself growing tired. “G’night Kichi...I promise to keep ya safe...love ya little bro…”
The next morning Kokichi wakes up in Kaito’s bed with a smile on his face. He notices that Kai...that his brother isn’t in bed when he stretches his arms and legs out to try and fully wake up.
His nose picks up the smell of eggs and sausage being cooked in the kitchen. The grumbling of his stomach is enough to convince Kokichi to finally get out of Kaito’s bed and walk toward the kitchen.
Ken and Kaito are already seated at the table with a plastic cup of chocolate milk in front of each of them, Kaito visibly excited that breakfast was almost ready.
Their mother greets him with a smile as she starts scooping eggs and sausages onto three different plates for his brothers, their father must have already gone to work.
“Good morning Kokichi!” her voice was so different from the mom he and Ken grew up with, but it was still the voice of a mother who you could tell loved her children everyday “Would you like some chocolate milk with your breakfast sweetie?”
“Mhm!” he happily nods “Yes please!”
As she passes the boys their plates of food and sets one down for herself next a fresh cup of coffee, she pours Kokichi a nice cold cup of chocolate milk from the pitcher in the center the table. He swears he hears her mumble something about him being so polite.
Well, it was now or never.
He grabs his cup “Thank you...Mom…” and takes a generous sip of the milk as everyone at the table looks at him in surprise.
Letting out an exaggerated sigh of delight as he puts the glass down, Kokichi looks with false confusion at the shocked faces of the others. “Huh?” he asks as he tilts his head to the side “Did I say something weird?”
Kokichi smiles at his family.
He was expecting this kind of reaction after all.