Work Text:
Ponk turned the tap off, drying his hands. It was his turn to cook tonight. Sam would return from work soon, the kids were being brought by their granddad later, they wanted to have a play date with Michelle and Michael, and Foolish, well, he didn't know exactly where he was at the moment but didn't bother to think about it.
Ponk was cooking Chicken with mashed potatoes and rice.
(I don't know how to cook so imma try to speed past this part, I guess)
He was mashing the potatoes when a loud crack came from outside. Ponk jumped violently and froze for a few seconds.
He hesitantly went to go check outside to see what had happened.
He expected to see some kind of storm clouds but there was nothing.
The sun had started setting and the sky was turning a dark blue and was clean. Not a single cloud in sight.
He brushed it off and then back to the kitchen to work on making the food. He convinced himself it was nothing.
He had forgotten about it a minute later when he was pulling the chicken out of the oven and another crack came from outside. This one was a lot loud than the last.
He dropped the pan of cook chicken, the glass shattering on the floor. He didn't bother checking outside this time.
Petrified with feat he ran to the room he shares with his lovers and ran into the closet. He slammed the door shut and covered his ears the best he could.
He'd hide in the closet often if he knew there was a storm coming just in case it was a thunderstorm.
A few more cracks went off, it went from minutes to seconds apart. He could tell it was thunder.
He held his hands over the sides of his head so hard it hurt but he didn't care about that at the moment. He just wanted it to go away.
His breathing sped up and it felt as if his throat closed up and he couldn't breathe. Tears formed at the covers of his eyes, turning into streams. His whole body was shaking.
Ponk last track of how long he was in there. He could hear his heartbeat, it felt like it was beating out of his chest.
He felt light-headed. Like the room was spinning.
Eventually, he couldn't hear the thunder anymore. He slowly uncovered his ears, it was extremely quiet.
He couldn't remember when the last crack was but he didn't care.
His breathing had gone, mostly, back to normal and he wasn't shaking anymore. Though, he struggled to stop himself from crying.
He heard the back door opening, assuming it was one of his lovers.
He frantically tried to get rid of his tears but the more he tried to wipe them away the more they fell.
Rushed thuds came closer to the bedroom door.
Ponk heard the doorknob turn slowly and the door slide open.
"... Ponk?"
They let out, barely a whisper.
Ponk sniffled a bit and slowly creaked open the closet door.
"F- Foolish."
He said, breathless, the front of his mask almost completely soaked with his tears, eyes red and puffy.
"Ponk!" Foolish rushed over to him and sat on the floor on his knees next to him.
"Hey, hey, it's ok. You're alright." He kept his voice down and pulled the other into his lap.
Ponk wrapped his arms around the other and shoved his face into his chest.
"Hey, let's get that off your face, yeah?" The totem referred to the wet mask, reaching over and grabbing an identical mask from the closet.
He handed it to the other and look directly up at the ceiling as the smaller one exchanged the wet mask with the dry one.
Foolish put his head back down and started to rub circles on the other's back.
Ponk wrapped his arms back around the other and rested his head on the other's chest.
Foolish moved a bit to sit Indian style, with Ponk sitting in his lap. He wrapped his arms around the other, protectively.
Foolish waited until the other calmed down a bit more before saying anything.
"You ok?"
Ponk slowly nodded his head. "Yeah, I'm ok." He shifted in the other lap a bit.
"You wanna talk about what happened?" Foolish started rubbing circles on his back again.
"I- I... I was taking the chicken out of the stove when I heard a loud noise, like thunder coming from outside." Ponk explained.
"Yeah, I kinda got carried away," Foolish titled his head, confused. "But, why would that cause you to be so scared?" He asked, pulling Ponk a little closer to himself.
"I have Astraphobia," Ponk mumbled quietly.
"What?"
"I have astraphobia," he said, louder "the fear of loud noise from, like, nature and shit," He sighed "including thunder."
Foolish's eyebrow furrowed a bit. "Ponk, Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Foolish asked, concerned. Why'd he keep something like that a secret? And from his Ex-Thunder God boyfriend of all people.
"I don't know." The smaller one shrugged "it just never seemed important, I guess."
"Ponk, you need to tell us stuff like that. This whole thing could have been avoided."
"I know,"
Foolish stood up, pulling Ponk up with him. "Now come on. Sam and the kids will be home soon and we still have dinner to cook." Foolish lead the other into the kitchen.
"We?"
"Mhmm! I'll help you cook," Foolish started cleaning the shattered glass and chicken on the floor. "As an apology for the whole thunder thing."
"Ok, But there's no way I'm letting you cook the rice!"
"What, why?"
"You don't clean the rice before you cook it! Nasty!"
Foolish laughed a bit, "Yeah, ok."
°°°
Sam came home just an hour later with the kids, he had stopped by Puffy's to get them.
Later that night, after dinner. The kids were asleep and the three lovers were getting ready for bed when Sam asked why'd there was a bunch of glass and uneaten cooked chicken in the trash.
Ponk had to let him about his fear, with the help of the totem.