Work Text:
The day starts off completely normal. No weird gut feelings. No signs of something going wrong. Shuichi slips off to school. Meets up with Kaede, Kaito, and Maki along the way. They all disperse after that, head off to their talent labs, go to just do what they wish.
But then the anxiety starts to set in.
Shuichi, at first, thinks it’s because there’s supposed to be a rainstorm passing through. He isn’t a fan of loud and sudden noises, after all. And with the severity of the predicted rainstorm, there’s sure to be thunder, right?
Shaking it off best he could, Shuichi finished his little travel to his talent lab, settling in and getting to work on that case he’d been trying to finish up yesterday when Kaito found him and dragged him out of his office to go home.
Humming comfortably to himself, Shuichi turns on an ambiance video on his phone that’s about an hour long, and zones in rather quickly, smiling contentedly.
It really goes quite well. Once the video ends and the audio stops, Shuichi finishes up the little section he’s working on, saves everything, stands up, and stretches. A yawn escapes him, and a little squeaking noise follows it, making him freeze.
Oh no .
Shuichi takes a moment, pausing, and doing a mental check. He’s not anxious. Not angry. Not sad, and not sleepy. He’s kind of in a neutral mood, really, he feels calm.
And physically small.
Internally panicking as Shuichi realizes that he’s regressed, anxiety crashes over him all over again, tears pricking his eyes with his fear.
Shaking, he slowly sinks down to the ground, curling up under his desk and sobbing quietly, snuggling into the desk’s wood and scrambling to grab his phone, hiccuping softly as he skimmed through his contacts, pressing on Kaito’s.
And then he paused.
Kaito was busy, right? Probably in his lab, or helping Maki with something… right?
Tears slipping down his face, Shuichi instead fell back on someone else.
“Shuichi, I’m here.” Came the gentle voice a few minutes later, accompanied by the door opening.
The detective looked up, wiping his tears remaining away, sniffling softly and reaching for Kaede as she walked in, calmly gathering him into her arms and holding him close without a single question.
She rocked him, cooing softly in reassurance as he cried against her chest, clinging tightly. But once his cries stopped, she pulled away, going back to her backpack and pulling out a small package of tissues, handing it to Shuichi and letting him wipe his tears and snot away.
“Poor thing.” She sighed gently, stroking a hand over his head. “Are you okay?”
Shuichi nodded, looking down. He felt awful now… he was so clingy, wasn’t he? Too absorbed in his thoughts, he didn’t notice Kaede peeking outside through the window, and heading to his backpack to pull out the small plushie, his comfort item, that was in there.
He jolted lightly, startled as it was dropped into his lap. He carefully gathered it into his arms, and right on cue, thunder boomed.
The poor detective cried out in terror, gripping the stuffed animal tighter and staring at the window in horror, remaining tense as Kaede gently stroked over his head, pulling him into her side as she texted someone on her phone quickly.
“Just hang on, Shu. It’s okay. Kaito is on his way,” Kaede said, only to be bewildered as Shuichi whimpered and shook his head no. “No? Why not? He knows you don’t like storms, he’s bound to be worried about you with this storm going on…”
Shuichi sniffled. “I don’t- I don’t wanna bother him…”
Kaede was quiet a moment, so Shuichi snuck a look at her face. She looked confused and sad. Her eyebrows were furrowed, and a lightly pouting frown was on her face.
“Baby,” She said, gently. “Kaito is your boyfriend. He’s here to help you for a reason, you know.”
Shrugging, Shuichi hugged his stuffie tighter, just feeling small and miserable. He wanted to curl up with his carer and snuggle until the storm went away. Kaede just held him close to her side, stroking his hair while they waited.
The door opened.
Shuichi’s head snapped over, thumb slipping out of his mouth with the jerking motion.
Kaito walked in, holding a folded blanket over his arm and a bag of hi-chew in his hand, a small, reassuring smile on his face.
“Hey, sidekick.”
Tears filled Shuichi’s eyes again, and he adjusted his stuffie to be trapped against his chest so both his hands were free, making grabby hands for Kaito at the same time that Kaede kissed his head and left, offering Kaito a small smile as she left.
As soon as the door shut, Kaito had the blanket wrapped around Shuichi’s shoulders, the hi-chew set on his desk, and the boy in his arms. “Hey, little buddy.”
“Daddy,” Shuichi sobbed against him, clinging as tight as possible to Kaito, shaking like a leaf. “Daddy.”
“I know, bub,” Kaito murmured, slipping Shuichi off the chair and onto the floor, in his lap. “I know. Daddy’s here, daddy’s here.”
Shuichi wailed softly into Kaito’s shoulder, but quickly settled at the sound of Kaito’s voice, whimpering softly and clinging tightly, allowing Kaito to hold and rock him softly.
Once Shuichi was calm again, Kaito allowed him to pull away, and wipe his face, hiccuping softly while Kaito reached up with one hand to stroke his hair lightly.
“You okay, now, Shuichi?” Kaito whispered, and Shuichi nodded, settling back down into Kaito’s chest and clinging, mumbling sleepily, no longer bothered by the booming and crashing of thunder outside.
“Naptime?”
“Mmhm.”
Kaito chuckled, and pulled the blanket tighter around the now sleepy little, holding him. “Alright. Get your sleep, okay?.”
Shuichi smiled sleepily, and nodded again, mumbling incoherently.
“‘M love you, daddy.”
“I love you too, buddy.”