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The sound of thunder crackled and tore across the sky. You immediately froze, dropping the tome you had reached up to reshelve. The loud thud it made against the library’s floor made you jump. You gasped, hands now shaking as your heart threatened to beat out of your chest.
Stephen’s gaze lifted from the tome in his hands towards the sound.
“Y/N? Are you alright?” His voice echoed around the library.
Another thunderous boom could be heard throughout the Sanctum. You recoiled into yourself, covering your ears. Shit. You knew you still had a childish fear of thunderstorms, and usually had time to mentally prepare if you were expecting one. However, today’s weather report showed no signs of even rain today. But sure enough, with a quick glance out the window, you saw a hard downpour. The sudden flash of lightning nearly made you scream as well, but you held it in. It was taking all your willpower to not sprint to your room. “It’s okay,” you desperately whispered to yourself.
Another rumble. This one spooked you into hurling yourself backwards, though into something softer than the bookshelf behind you. Scarred hands gripped your arms softly as Stephen held your back to his chest. “Are you alright?” He repeated, brow furrowed, his voice full of concern.
You turned your head to look up at him, tears threatening to stream down your face. Fantastic, just what you wanted. To put on quite the embarrassing display for the sorcerer. You almost wished you could just blip out of existence right then and there.
Another series of crackles immediately made you turn your body around, burying your face into Stephen’s chest. He was a bit taken aback, but he made no move to push you away. Slowly, it all became clear to him.
You wish you could say you felt one of Stephen’s hands trace soothing circles into your back, but your mind was racing with fear and embarrassment. All you felt was your body trembling. You just wanted to hide. You wanted to get lost in the fabric before you.
“Easy, it’s alright.” the sorcerer’s voice was deep and soothing. His free hand made a circling motion, which was followed by silence. Odd, complete silence.
At the edges of your mind, all you could hear was your labored breathing. Everything else stopped. The tapping of the rain on the windows, the crash of the thunder, what little ambiance the library held.
Stephen’s words finally reached you, as the fear slowly twisted into confusion. “It’s alright,” He repeated. “You’re safe.”
“What..?” Your question fell short, your voice only allowing you a single word. It was then that your mind cleared enough to realize the situation you were in. Your hands were gripping Stephen’s tunic tightly. His hands were placed on your back, holding you close, while the Cloak had wrapped itself around the both of you.
If your face wasn’t already red, you could be sure it definitely was now.
You finally looked up to find Stephen’s soft blue eyes staring back at you. “Bubble of silence,” He commented with a light smile, his gaze looking up. Yours followed his, seeing the transparent orange bubble that encircled the both of you.
“Oh.” Your voice somehow sounded even smaller. The sorcerer’s gaze fell back to you. One of his hands found it’s way to your cheek, wiping away an errant tear.
You swallowed hard and felt yourself pressing more into Stephen’s touch. This was going to be stupidly embarrassing to explain to him, but just for the moment, all you could do was melt into his safe arms.
—
The next thing you knew, the two of you were standing in the middle of your room within the Sanctum. The curtains had been firmly closed, wonderfully blocking out any sort of light save for the small lantern on your desk.
Stephen moved to lead you to the bed, the bubble moving with you. You both sat down, untangling yourselves from each other. The Cloak still insisted on acting as a comforting blanket, firmly draped around you.
'You wanna tell me what that was about?' Was the question that bounced around in your head in Stephen’s voice. Your paranoia really started to hit you again.
“I-“ You started, but quickly got cut off. “How’re you feeling?”
“Huh?” You stopped in your tracks, looking towards Stephen. “I’m, um. Better now, thank you.” He nodded in response, a smile gracing his lips. “Good.”
“You’re not.. I mean,” This time you just started talking, not even sure where the sentence was going. “That was- um. Really-“ Your thoughts were interrupted once again when Stephen placed his hand on your leg. “It’s alright,” He said quietly.
You took a deep breath and relaxed at the gesture. “I, um. Yeah. I’m really bad with storms, if you couldn’t tell. I’m sorry you had to see me like that, I don’t usually freak out that badly- that was really embarrassing. I’m sorry,” you rambled, playing with your hands absentmindedly.
Stephen’s grip on your leg only grew marginally tighter. “You needn’t apologize. There’s no shame in admitting to your fears. We all have them. Though I do admit that it was rather unexpected.” You let out a nervous laugh in response. “Right? Of all things, between monsters and villains, all that we’ve seen, and the one thing I’m actually afraid of is a little thunder. How silly.” You tried to lighten the mood and laugh it off, but Stephen wasn’t about to have that. “I don’t think it’s silly. It’s a valid fear, all things considered. Everyone’s brain chemistry reacts to things differently.”
You relaxed a bit, his words were a nice reassurance. At least he wasn’t ridiculing you or something. “Thank you,” you said, putting your hand over Stephen’s and gripping a little tighter than you meant.
The texture of his skin was definitely weird with all the bumps and ridges, but you were drawn to them. Your thumb gently ran down the length of one if his scarred fingers absentmindedly. You liked them just how they were.
Stephen swallowed the lump in his throat that formed at your touch, and immediately tried to distract from them. “For example,” he started, leaning closer to you, “Wong’s afraid of..” His voice trailed off into a whisper in your ear. You did everything in your power not to burst out laughing. “No way!” You exclaimed. Poor Wong.
“I’m serious,” the sorcerer said playfully with his own laugh. His smile alone was enough to lift your mood. “If you ever need help dealing with any fears you may have, I’m here for you. I’m sure Wong shares the same sentiment, if you prefer.” His tone went back to being a little more serious, but you nodded.
“Thank you.. I’d really appreciate that.” You laid your head against Stephen’s shoulder, his hand hesitantly turning in your grip to lace your fingers together.
“My pleasure.”