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The ground shook. Thunder crashed in the distance. The house shook, a low rumble rolling over the town.
Punz thought it was nice. Calming, in a sense, to hear the heavy pattering of rain against the window, against the roof. Water dripped from the plates of their armor, pooling in a small puddle around their boots as they nudged the door shut with their shoulder, turning the lock.
The living room was dark. So was the kitchen, from what he could see, and the hallway– the house was dark. Quiet.
It used to feel lonely. No one came to the house. Not even Dream, the man he’d been working with since he’d first walked into the guild. The two of them always spent their time in town, or out on a job, or hanging out at Dream’s house (despite Sapnap’s insistence that it didn’t exist).
The moment he’d step inside after hanging around the blond and his group of friends, it felt final. Like the day had truly come to an end. As if every day would end with an emptiness settled over his little cabin and a biting cold seeping through the walls, rain threatening to spill through forgotten cracks in the windows if he didn’t slam them closed hard enough.
Now, though, going through the familiar motions of kicking off their boots and shrugging off their armor, there was something comforting about the silence. Maybe it was the thunder sending small tremors through the ground, adding a layer of noise to the nothingness. Maybe they’d simply had a good day.
Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the old bedroom down the hall was no longer just the guest room , where he knew if he looked hard enough, he’d be able to see a faint violet glow spilling out from under the door. Maybe it was the old bowls that had been repurposed into dog bowls in the kitchen, the mess of leashes and collars (that had all proven too small) still sitting untouched on the corner of the kitchen table. Maybe–
They’d barely taken a step towards the hall before a sharp squeak under their foot had their hand flying towards their belt, closing around the hilt of their sword–
The sword that they didn’t need. Not right now.
With a slight shake of his head, he looked down. He carefully moved his foot off of the flimsy plastic dog toy, hiding a wince at the obnoxious squeal it made. He’d learned quickly just how light of a sleeper Purpled was, jolting awake on the couch at every little shift in the light, every time Dogchamp would so much as breathe a little bit too loud–
Speaking of, Punz needed to check in with him. While they were alright with letting the storm fade to background noise, they weren’t sure how well the kid would be holding up, not with all of the other small things that seemed to get to him. Things Punz had barely noticed before would have him spiraling, and since they hadn’t been home…
After slipping his sword out of its sheath and resting it to the side of the door, Punz made his way down the hallway with quick, quiet footsteps. He stepped carefully around the especially loud floorboards, his gaze dropping down to the floor outside of Purpled’s room, stilling at the lack of light. His eyebrows knitted together.
Carefully, he reached out, fingers curling around the cool metal of the doorknob.
Did he knock and risk waking him up? Did he open the door and risk startling him?
Punz shook his head. Purpled would’ve heard his footsteps in the hall. Punz was quiet, but there wasn’t much he could do about creaky floorboards, and sometimes the kid’s awareness was startling with just how accurate it could be.
It was always the small things. Wincing at a flicker in the lights or the quiet creak of the house settling, violet eyes going wide at the sound of distant birdsong–
They drew in a deep breath, shoulders rising and falling with the action. Enough stalling.
With a quiet click, the door creaked open, just enough to peer through the crack.
He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but his heart twisted at the sight of Purpled curled up in the corner. Even with the distance he could see him trembling. His face was buried in his sleeves and an arm was pressing down on his antennas, a hand curled into his hair, shaking.
Punz’s eyebrows furrowed. “Purpled?” they called, hand slipping from the door to nudge it open with their shoulder, taking a careful step forwards. “Hey, kid,” they prompted after a moment of quiet. “You alright?”
Purpled didn’t give a response. Punz didn’t expect him to, really, the other having a tendency to shut down, but…
The room lit up with a crash of thunder, shaking the house, and Purpled flinched back so hard Punz was worried he was going to hit his head against the wall.
Do something, some little voice in the back of his mind urged. He’s your responsibility.
He’d never felt so wildly out of his depth before. Out of all the jobs he’d taken, all of the insane tasks he and Dream had agreed to, over the past few months taking care of a child had proved time and time again to be the most difficult, the most confusing. (Maybe part of it was that the child wasn’t human. Maybe part of it was that he volunteered himself to be the one to look after the kid after finding him at the crash site, knowing he would be the one to take sole responsibility. It was easy to take a life. It was harder to raise one.)
(If he didn’t do it, who would?)
Punz drew in a breath.
“Purpled,” he tried again, waiting a moment. Purpled didn’t look up. “Is it alright if I come sit with you for a bit?”
The stillness in the room dragged on so long, he was half convinced he wouldn’t get a response.
Purpled sniffled. He nodded, the action so slight they nearly missed it.
Punz exhaled.
Quietly, he made his way across the floor, turning to slide to the ground in the limited space between Purpled and the nightstand. Punz was half expecting him to flinch away, but he merely lifted his head a bit, teary violet eyes blinking over at him. It cast an eerie glow over his face, pinprick freckles casting the corner in a soft light.
“Hey,” Punz greeted quietly. Did they bring up the storm? Ask if he was okay? Ask about Dogchamp? They hadn’t spotted the wolf yet–
Purpled’s shoulders tensed, quickly ducking his head away. Punz faltered, eyebrows furrowing; Thunder crashed before they could think to get a word in, rattling the house. Purpled’s hand in his hair tightened, his knuckles turning white, and Punz knew his antennas had to have hurt by now with the amount of pressure from his arm.
“Purpled.” Punz reached out, their hand lightly resting on the other’s, carefully interlocking their fingers. “You’re going to hurt yourself. You’ve gotta let go.”
Purpled shook his head rapidly.
Punz frowned. Was it the pressure that was helping? “Kid,” they tried. “How about this? If you let go, you can squeeze my arm instead, yeah?”
Purpled lifted his head slightly, wide eyes peering out at him. Punz squeezed his hand.
Purpled sniffled. Nodded. Slowly, he unraveled his hand from his hair, and Punz pulled his hand away, offering his arm instead. Purpled lifted his arm off of his antennas, before quickly latching onto Punz’s sleeve, and Punz’s heart sank at the fact he could feel the other trembling, could see the fear painted so clearly across his face.
“See? It’s okay,” Punz murmured, pulling his arm closer to himself. Purpled leaned with it, settling against his side. “It’s just the storm. Is the noise bothering you?”
Purpled shook his head.
“Is it the lights?”
Purpled shook his head again. Punz’s eyebrows furrowed. He wrapped an arm around his shoulders, hooking his chin over the Purpled’s head, mindful of his antennas.
The windows rattled, rain pounding against the glass.
Purpled tensed, holding his breath. Punz’s eyebrows knitted together, a current of electricity running through his antennas, and-
Light flashed. Lightning struck.
Purpled choked on a cry.
“Iℸ ̣ ⍑⚍∷ℸ ̣ ᓭ,” Purpled all but sobbed, tightening his grip around his arm. “Punz, ╎ℸ ̣ ⍑⚍∷ℸ ̣ ᓭ, ╎ℸ ̣ 'ᓭ リ𝙹ℸ ̣ ⊣𝙹╎リ⊣ ᔑ∴ᔑ||–”
“You’re okay,” Punz breathed, despite the fact they couldn’t understand the other’s rattling clicks and trills, Galactian still wildly unfamiliar to them. The closest they’d ever gotten was hearing Enderian from Dream, but even then, the words they knew were few and far in between. “We’ve just got to wait for the storm to pass, okay, kid?”
Purpled’s arms tightened around them. Punz leaned back against the wall, ignoring the tightness in their chest.
Any of the tension that had started to bleed from Purpled’s frame was flooding back in an instant, his shoulders drawing together, pressing impossibly closer. A jolt of electricity went through his antennas, and-
Oh.
Oh.
They’d thought maybe it was the sound, or the lights– but the way he tensed before each strike, the way his arms pressed down on his antennas, his eyes flashing, the electric current…
The other could feel the storm.
He could feel it.
Oh, kid.
Punz rubbed his arm. “Where’s Dogchamp?” he asked for the sake of filling the silence. He didn’t know what it felt like, but he figured it couldn’t be all that different from an annoying itch or an aching wound– if you’re given something to distract you, the discomfort lessens just a bit. (Maybe that was too optimistic. Punz really wasn’t an optimist. He just wanted Purpled to be okay).
“╎ ↸𝙹リ'ℸ ̣ ꖌリ𝙹∴,” Purpled mumbled into his hoodie, voice trembling with unfamiliar words. “╎ ↸𝙹リ'ℸ ̣ ꖌリ𝙹∴. ᓭ𝙹∷∷||.”
Punz hummed, noncommittal. Purpled tensed again, and Punz’s arms tightened around him, glancing towards the window. He focused back on Purpled after a moment.
Purpled had held his breath. Purpled was still holding his breath, Punz realized, his face pale, trembling in his arms.
“Hey.” Purpled immediately ducked his head, pressing his face into their shoulder. Punz frowned. “Purpled, kid, hey. You need to breathe, alright?”
Purpled didn’t offer much of a response, his grip so tight on his arm that it was nearly cutting off circulation. Punz brushed it off, more focused on the distant crashing of thunder, one strike after another in quick succession. At least it’s getting farther, he wanted to compromise, but the frequency in strikes was starting to pick up, and he could tell Purpled was not having it.
Punz shook their head slightly, drawing their attention away from the window. They drew in a deep, exaggerated breath. Purpled didn’t follow, his shoulders shaking.
“Purp,” they tried. “Where’d you say Dogchamp was again? Do you want me to go get him?”
Purpled’s head snapped up, violet eyes going wide, snapping up to his face.
Punz’s eyebrows shot up. “Or not. That’s okay too.”
Purpled dropped his head again.
Punz slowly exhaled.
It felt like hours before the storm started to calm. Punz kept his gaze resolutely set on the window, only glancing down when Purpled would shift, his arms staying wrapped around the kid. Purpled’s grip on his arm disappeared after a bit, replaced by arms wrapping tight around his torso.
“I think it’s over,” Punz spoke up, well after the last strike– just to be safe, he didn’t want to get the other’s hope’s up– though rain still poured from the sky.
Their words hung in the air, silence settled over the room.
They glanced down.
Purpled was asleep.
Punz adjusted slightly, sinking back against the wall.
“Night, kid.”