Work Text:
It was New Years, and, of course, some people liked the idea of fireworks. Some people including the squad. All of them were outside of Mitsuba's house and in the backyard (since she actually had one), setting up fireworks, besides Mikaela and Kimizuki. They had found the colourful fireworks in an old tent just a few blocks away from her house and decided since it was the holiday, why not.
"I swear you guys are gonna hurt yourselves trying to set off nine-year-old fireworks..." Kimizuki sighed as he watched the puppy-like energetic teens pick out which ones to light first.
"Don't be such a party pooper, Kimizuki!" Yuu pouted before quickly get excited again when the blonde with pigtails told him to "fucking pick one."
Hearing Mika giggle beside him at the raven haired boy, he could help but smile softly too. But it was short lived as the small group of four deciding to finally set off one into the sky without warning the pair. Once it was up high, it set off a loud bang sound, startling him.
"Jesus fucking Christ, that's loud!" the pink haired teen complained as he rubbed his ear. Seeming to have the same thought, the blond beside him decided to hastily head inside. Hmm, that might not be such a bad idea, Kimizuki thought before it was interrupted by another pop from the fireworks.
"Fuck this shit," he mumbled through gritted teeth after two more went off in the sky, shortly later opening the back door to the house and closing it once he had gone in. Looking around for where Mika was, he soon found that he was sitting on the couch ahead of him by the blond curls falling behind his head.
Awkward, at least to Kimizuki, silence flowed through the room as he took quiet steps forward towards the couch. However, it was short lived as another firework loudly popped again leaving a bang sound to echo and bounce off of the walls. Mika, obviously startled by the noise, slightly jumped a bit before leaning forward, curled up with his knees to his chest. And only then did the pink haired teen realize...
Mika is shaking. Holy shit, he thought.
He froze on the spot after noticing this fact. Was Mika afraid of the fireworks? It seemed like it, and being in this situation, he felt like he had to do something. He knew the blond didn't have a good previous life and something must have caused him to be this way, to keep his fear hidden from others.
His little sister used to be that way too. Though, after he caught her being deathly afraid of thunder, she confessed that she didn't want to trouble him more than she already did due to her illness. Something about their similar fears and possibly similar reasons(Mika would do anything to keep the burden off of Yuu) didn't settle right with him.
Determined, he walking over in front of the couch and looked down the to shorter one.
"Mika..." he said softly yet strongly.
Said person snapped their head up immediately, eyes overflowing with nonstop tears, and a face struck with panic along with terror.
"K-Kimizu-zuki?!" Mika stuttered, voice shaking horribly and breaths coming out in short hastily pants and gasps as if he had problems breathing, which he probably did at the time.
The entire scene destroyed his determination and heart. Kimizuki wanted nothing more at that moment than to hush, cuddle, and tell Mika everything was going to be okay.
Another loud firework went off making the blond tense up entirely, shoulders to his ears. His face looked as if he just saw everyone close to him die and more tears violently streamed down. The pink haired teen's heart would have fucking snapped in two at that moment if it was possible.
Mika held his face in his hands when the taller of the two sat down on the couch next to him. Though, what happened next obviously caught him off guard by how he tensed up immediately again. Kimizuki gently pushed down his knees so that he wasn't balled up, wrapped his armed around the troubled teen's waist, hugging him.
It was awkward, of course since the way the blond was sitting, but he didn't know what else to do.
"W-what ar-are you doing?!" he squeaked out, trying to push away the other teen with his hands that were trapped between them, but failed because, for some reason, he was weak at the moment. Whether it was from crying, fear of the fireworks, or not actually wanting to refuse the gesture, Kimizuki still kept him in his embrace.
"I don't... I don't like seeing... you crying..." he spoke honestly about his feelings, for once in his life.
Suddenly, Mika stopped trying to fight back as if he was shocked by the words he spoke.
"What...?" the blond breathed out as more of a question to himself.
Then, one of the larger ones went off, illuminating the room as the high in volume pop! sound rung. At that same moment, the shorter one's grip immensely tightened on Kimizuki's hoodie, shaking and sobbing into his shoulder. All the pink haired teen could do at that moment was cuddle him further by getting a bit closer.
After about five more went off and much time had passed, Mika hesitantly mumbled, "I-I can still see them... d-dying in front of me..."
The taller stiffened at the word he just spoke. What is he talking about...?
"A-and... every time a firework goes off... I hear the b-bullet Yuu-chan shot..." he continued shakily as tears further stained the hoodie.
Oh. When they escaped... Well, shit. Mika has post traumatic stress disorder. Fuckfuckfuckfuck-
"D-don't tell Y-Yuu-chan about t-this..." the blond sounded as if he was trying to say in a demanding tone but it came out like a plead.
"I won't," Kimizuki replied, surprisingly calm since his brain was practically screaming.
Seemingly, following every firework, they got closer to each other. Even to the point of the shorter one being in his lap, all the way to the pink haired teen laying down while Mika was on top of him, but also clinging to him.
Slowly over time, while the other started setting off the lesser fireworks, they both fell into sleep.
----
Kimizuki started to stir in his sleep when he heard familiar giggles, faint to his ears. He groaned as he was awakened, and his eyes fluttered a bit before staying open. Only then did he realize...
"Oh ho ho! Lover boy number one is awake~!" Shinoa cooed as she over-dramatically swooned for affect.
"S-shut up! We aren't like that!" he yelled and flushed red as he pushed the vampire off of him, making him sit up on his own. Mika took a couple of seconds, just mumbled how he was still tired before noticing the small crowd of the rest of the squad.
The blond immediately had blood rushing up to his face, matching the pink haired teen, speaking out, "Nothing is g-going on between u-us!"
"Mm hm, sure, I totally believe you," Yuu joined in surprisingly.
"Yuu-chan!" he whined, feeling betrayal as he thought his childhood friend would have stuck to his side!
"When's the wedding?" Mitsuba deadpanned, obviously not caring in the slightest.
The lavender haired girl lightly bobbed her head side to side for a bit with her hand on her chin as if she was thinking hard before she announced, "A spring wedding would be perfect for them! Ah~, I can see the beautiful flowers now."
"We are not getting married!" the two embarrassed boys called out in unison.
"I didn't actually think you swung that way, Kimizuki-kun," the small brunette giggled.
"You too, Yoichi?!" the tall one of the group probably felt exactly how Mika did at that moment. Ugh, why were they such assholes?
Being entirely done with the situation, the pink haired teen got up, walked towards the front door, opening it. He quickly spoke towards Mika, saying, "Deal with this on your own," before leaving and slamming the door shut.
"Why me?" the blond groaned as the teasing continued on for a few more minutes before everyone decided it was time to go to bed.