Chapter Text
Benry knew what rain was.
He wasn’t stupid. He knew about it, because it happened in his cool and good favorite PlayStation games, even though he’s never left Black Mesa’s dorms and workplace long enough to actually see it in real life. It was an outside thing. He’s not really an outside kind of person.
Still, rain just sounded nice. It sounded nice when he was just laying in bed, incapable of sleeping, like always. It was calming, like his Sweet Voice, but without the blue taste. Sweet Voice was better, though. Sounded nicer. Not by much. Blue raspberry flavored. Rain was just water. Whoever came up with it must have been really boring.
Benry had been laying there for hours, and, at about 3 in the morning, the rain turned heavy. Still sounded nice! A little scary, since it almost sounded like it was drilling through the roof, but nice.
Of course, Gordon and Tommy were already asleep. They’d fallen asleep hours ago, and Benry had been trying his hardest to just lay still and let them sleep for once. Like the manlet he is, he was snuggled up between them, listening to them snore as the rain kept getting worse. They were still sound asleep, like it wasn’t so, so loud and so, so unnerving. They must think this is normal. Maybe it was. It shouldn’t be.
He was busy trying to fight the urge to wake them up out of boredom when a crack of thunder made the entire house shake. Like it was going to fall apart, like something was really, seriously wrong.
Benry knew what rain was. He did not know what thunder was.
There was a scream, which definitely did not come from his mouth. He didn’t scream like that. He was not a baby, and this was not terrifying, and he did not understand why the other two weren’t reacting at all.
A groan came from the Gordon side of the bed, "Benry, what the fuck." More like, uh – Gordon, what the fuck? Hello? The guy who’s worried about everything on planet Earth is just going to sleep through whatever the fuck that was?
A second crack of thunder, louder than the first, and Benry had had enough of sleeping out in the open air.
Tommy was still snoring as Benry climbed under the blankets. He didn’t even care if he was kicking them by accident, this was so fucked up. This is so fucked. There is no fucking way he’s going to feel safe unless he’s underneath the covers.
Someone’s hands were grabbing his arm, and he panicked instantly. His mind jumped to the worst conclusions – the military is here for them, they’re going to kill them – oh, Gordon. Yeah, that makes sense.
"Benry, baby, can you calm down? Please." The exhaustion in his voice is extremely apparent – Gordon doesn’t call him ‘baby’ unless he’s really mad or he’s too tired to apply a filter to what he’s saying. It’s almost the entire reason Benry still fights with him these days. The pet name calmed him down almost instantaneously, which is something he would never tell anyone.
Tommy is half-awake now, too, trying to find Benry’s hand under the blankets. "What’s wrong with Benry?"
"Dunno. Benry, what the fuck is wrong with you? Can’t you at least try to act like a normal person?" Gordon dragged him up and out from his position cowering under the blankets between them, and he looked pissed. Haha. This sucks.
They hadn’t been all sleeping in the same bed together for a long time, but every single time it was always Benry waking them up in the middle of the night for no reason, just because he thought it’d be funny or because he was bored.
It became apparent really quickly that something was wrong, for once. Gordon’s eyes adjusted to the dark, finally, and his expression softened. Benry figured that he must look terrified if it made Gordon look at him like that, like he felt sorry for him. Fuck.
Benry couldn’t even begin to stop himself from babbling out of fear, "I’m sorry, I didn’t – there’s something outside and – "
"’S just thunder, Benry," Tommy mumbled, finally grabbing Benry’s hand in his. "Happens when it rains sometimes, it’s fine."
"I didn’t – what?"
Silence fell over the room, and Gordon just sighed.
He was judging him. He was judging how dumb he was, and he wasn’t going to love him after this, because Benry was just stupid and no one wants to be around someone this stupid. Jesus Christ. Thunder? How was he supposed to know this is what thunder was like? Thunder was just, like, ambient noise in Minecraft. There’s no way its supposed to shake the whole house like they’re in a fucking earthquake.
"Thunder, Benry. Do you not know what thunder is?"
"Of course I know what thunder is, Feetman."
"Then why are you acting like you don’t? Have you never heard thunder before?"
"What?"
Finally, Tommy decided that he’d had enough, and tried his best to hug the two of them against himself. It was mostly a bid to get them to stop arguing, but damn if it didn’t make Benry feel a whole lot safer. "Oh my god, can you two shut up? ‘M sick of it. Go to bed."
Gordon laughed, almost silently, and kissed the top of Benry’s head.
"I’ll explain thunder to you in the morning."