Work Text:
*BOOM!*
Loid flinched as thunder roared overhead, accompanied by a large flash of lightning. He took a deep breath to try and calm his racing heart and focused his gaze on the TV in front of him. Anya was currently watching Spy Wars before she had to work on her homework.
Just as Spy Wars ended, there was another clap of thunder and flash of lightning, much louder and brighter than the last one. Loid gave a harder, much more obvious flinch, which caught the attention of Yor.
“Loid? Are you okay?” Yor asked with a worried expression as she placed a cup of tea on the coffee table.
They both knew each other’s experiences with the war and the effects that came with it, like Loid’s chronic insomnia. Yor also knew Loid wasn’t, or simply didn’t show, that he was afraid of things. So when Loid is having a very obvious and scared reaction towards something…
Anya walked over towards her parents after turning off the TV. “Papa’s afraid of the storm,” she said matter-of-factly. Her green eyes seemed to pierce into Loid’s soul with that intelligent gaze of hers, like she knows more about Loid than he does himself.
Loid blushed and looked away, “N-No, I’m not.” Based on Anya’s smirk, though, nobody seemed to buy his words. Damn it. C’mon Twilight, man up! It’s just a storm.
Yor looked at Loid with a worried expression. “Are you afraid because-“
“It’s fine,” Loid cut her off. He knew what she was going to say, and he did not want to hear it. His nerves were already on high-alert, buzzing with anxiety under his skin. One wrong move, one wrong word, and he would explode.
“Anya, Spy Wars is over. It’s homework time,” Loid said as he got up from the couch. His knees crackled along with the lightning outside.
Anya pouted and flopped onto the floor as she groaned, “Noooooooo, no homework!”
Loid sighed and put his hands on his hips. “Anya,” he began sternly. “You have to do your homework. You can’t afford to get another Tonitrus Bolt.”
Anya popped back up to her feet and pouted before grabbing her homework and dashing to her room. “Anya will study by herself!”
The door slammed shut. Loid sighed again and dropped back onto the couch.
Now that they were alone, Yor sat down next to Loid and put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
“Loid, are you okay?”
Loid gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “Yeah, I’m okay, Yor. I guess I just have a lot of pent-up energy. When you’re a spy running around all the time, it’s hard to sit still and do nothing sometimes.”
Yor smiled back, but her brows were still slightly creased in worry. “Well, I’m glad you’re okay, but you know it’s okay if you’re not, right? You can tell me if you’re scared. I won’t judge. We’re married, after all.”
“Yeah… right.”
Loid Forger was a liar.
But Yor accepted that answer. She smiled brightly at him and moved to look through the fridge to see what they could make for dinner.
Thunder boomed directly over their apartment, and Loid flinched once again. His mind was anxiously racing with thoughts about the storm. Loid grabbed the newspaper on the coffee table so it could act as a distraction. He also turned the TV back on, hoping that would mask the sound of the storm at least a little bit.
His eyes glazed over the words in the newspaper without digesting their meaning. His brain wouldn’t focus on anything. The rain grated against his ears like loud static. The bright flashes of light outside burned his eyes, and the accompanying loud booms made his heart leap out of his chest and body shake.
He felt like he was floating. Sweat dripped down his face and in front of his eyes, but it didn’t obscure his view of the newspaper. It didn’t obscure his view at all. That was because he wasn’t looking at the newspaper.
Instead, he was looking at crumbling buildings, streets littered with blood, debris, and dead bodies. People were screaming and running past him. Parents clutched their children close to their chests.
Everyone else was moving. He couldn’t move.
He curled into himself and positioned his arms to protect his head.
Planes… Bombs… There were bombs. Bombs were going off.
People started screaming louder, and children started crying harder.
It was hot, so hot. The ashes burned his skin and stained his clothes. Yet despite this, he felt cold.
He needed to leave.
He needed to get out of there.
His lungs strained for air. But there was no oxygen. There was only smoke.
He couldn’t breathe.
He couldn’t breathe.
He couldn’t breathe.
He couldn’t breathe.
He couldn’t breathe
He couldn’t breathe
He couldn’t breathe
He couldn’t BREATHE -
“Loid!”
A voice called out, and he was suddenly snapped back to reality. Sweat poured off of him, making him feel sticky and uncomfortable. He was hyperventilating, his body was shaking…
And he felt so incredibly scared.
He wanted Yor.
He wanted Mama.
He felt the couch cushion next to him bend under the weight of someone, Yor , sitting on it before her hesitant, warm hand rested on his back. “L-Loid, can you hear me?”
He gave a slight nod. His chest hurt. He wanted Mama to make it better.
“O-Okay, try to follow my breathing! In… out… in… out…”
Yor exaggerated her breathing and rubbed circles on Loid’s back. He followed along and soon calmed down.
Loid sat up and looked at Yor. Her expression was filled with worry, but also relief.
“Loid…”
Loid’s stone expression started to crack: his lip quivered slightly, and tears, once again, threatened to spill over.
Yor’s face quickly morphed into a sympathetic expression. “Oh, my baby…”
Loid dived into her chest, and Yor didn’t hesitate to wrap her arms around him. She pulled the other into her lap so she could bounce him on her knee.
Just then, another wave of thunder and lightning crashed against the house, cutting the power out. Loid gave a silent whimper and tightened his hold just as a high-pitched scream sounded throughout the house.
“Mamaaaaa!”
Anya burst out of her room and charged towards Yor, arms outstretched in a silent demand for comfort. Loid, not wanting to reveal his regression to his daughter, detached himself from Yor’s waist.
“Miss Anya? What’s wrong?” Yor patted the young girl’s head as said young girl clutched onto the fabric of her dress.
Anya sniffed, “The power went out… It was scary…”
Loid’s expression flattened, expressing his jealousy at not being the recipient of Yor’s comfort. He would’ve chastised himself in that moment for being jealous over something so trivial, but baby brain took over, and he scooted himself closer to Yor in silent defiance.
Yor surveyed the darkened apartment before pausing to listen to the storm. “Hmm… it doesn’t seem like the storm’s going to stop anytime soon… The power might be out all night…”
Anya and Loid froze in shock. It would be out all night?!
…
…
…
Growing uncomfortable with the silence, Yor piped up, “I-It’s nothing to worry about! W-We could…” She looked around, trying to come up with an idea before her eyes landed on a blanket piled on the floor.
“We could build a blanket fort!”
Anya stared at her mother blankly. “A… blanket fort?”
“Yeah! Yuri and I used to build blanket forts all the time! We could build a fort together and stay in it until the storm passes.”
Anya seemed to gain a bit more interest. “How do you build it?”
Yor smiled at her daughter’s words. She got up off the couch, grabbed the four chairs from the dining table, and started to spread them out. Anya, who now seemed to get the idea, smiled brightly and helped her mother by trying, and failing, to move the coffee table out of the way. Loid had to help her.
The family grabbed blankets, pillows, towels… all they could find in order to build the fort. After a while, it was complete!
“Woah…” Anya’s and Loid’s eyes sparkled at the majesticness of the blanket fort.
“Let’s go inside!” At Yor’s suggestion, the three of them burrowed into the fort. It was very comfy.
The three spent some time in their fort laughing and talking in the darkness, but Anya soon fell asleep. Loid looked close to falling asleep as well, snuggled up against Yor and surrounded with soft blankets and pillows. But something was missing.
Loid tugged on Yor’s sleeve. When her focus was on him, he asked, “…Stuffie?”
Yor smiled warmly and nodded. She swiftly maneuvered her way out of the fort, but before she left she turned to Loid and asked, “Do you want your paci too?”
After a moment of contemplation, Loid nodded.
Yor was back in a flash, and as soon as he had his teddy bear and paci, his eyes drooped.
“Love you, Mama…”
With those words, Loid Forger fell asleep, the storm all but forgotten.
For what reason should he fear it anymore? The people he loved would protect him.