Work Text:
BOOM!
The sound of thunder startled Noah awake. He looked around frantically to see if something had happened. Looking out the window, he realized that it was only a storm. It must’ve blown in while he was asleep.
He then realized he was in bed alone. Milo must’ve gotten up to go to the bathroom or sleep. But then a small noise was heard. It was faint and quiet, but it was loud enough to be heard. Noah just shrugged it off, putting it as the house settling. Noah tried to fall back asleep, but about five minutes later the sound was heard again. It was clearer now, it was obviously not the house settling. It was a whimper, sounding from the closet on the far side of the room. Noah got up to investigate. The closet door was slightly ajar. Noah opened it and looked down. Beneath him was a trembling, curled up Milo. He was wrapped up in a blanket and tears were already started to well up in his eyes. Noah suddenly remembered how Milo used to be extremely scared of thunderstorms as a kid. He thought Milo had grew out of it, but he was apparently wrong.
Lightning flashed across the sky, lighting the room in a way that obscured Noah’s front features, making him look a bit like a shadow. Milo suddenly broke out into a sob, startled. Normally Milo wouldn’t be scared so easily, but this was an extreme situation for Milo. Noah quickly sat down next to his dear cousin and wrapped his arms around him protectively after remembering what he would do in these situations when they were kids. Noah reassured Milo that everything was alright, it was just a little thunder and lightning, and that he was there for him. Milo went silent for a moment, then huddled in further to his cousin’s embrace.
CRASH!
Another sound of thunder was heard, even louder than the original. Milo quickly hid his face in Noah’s chest, sobbing. Noah began petting his hair and began humming to him softly. Milo calmed down a bit, but he was still very startled and scared.
“Hey, Milo…” Noah said softly. “Remember last summer when we went to the beach? And we went out so far into the water that we couldn’t even see the land anymore?” Noah laughed. “And then that fish swam by us and we freaked out, thinking it was a shark?” Milo nodded a bit, seeing that Noah was trying to make him feel better by bringing back good memories. Noah smiled.
“My mom got really mad at us...It was kinda funny, looking back at it.” Milo nodded again. What Noah was trying to do was helping a bit and taking his mind off of the storm. It wasn't helping very much though, because Milo kept glancing over at the window and around the room nervously as Noah spoke. What could else could maybe help him calm down? Noah thought. Hmmm……
Noah suddenly stood up and walked towards where the door was. Next to the door is a light switch. Noah turned on the lights and walked back over to the closet and plopped down next to him. With the lights on, Milo couldn’t see the lightning very well anymore. Or the shadows it made against the trees. The light also naturally just made him feel a lot safer, as stupid as it may sound. The thunder still scared him a bit, but not as much as it did before. The boys smiled at each other. They spent the next few minutes talking to each other, planning what they might do the next day. They began to tire again, and everything was calm and fine. That is, until another large flash of lightning light up the sky, followed by a large boom of thunder sounded around the room. Milo freaked out a bit, but not too much until the power suddenly went out. Milo broke out into a surprised and scared sob. Noah jumped a bit and swore in surprise of it all.
“Fuck, dude, that scared the shit out of me!” Noah laughed until he heard Milo crying. He looked down at him worriedly. “O-oh...Er...Sorry, Milo.”
Milo ignored it and hid his face in Noah’s shoulder. Noah picked him up and stood up. Milo was surprisingly light. He carried Milo to the bed and layed him down.
“I’ll be right back, okay?” Milo nodded a bit and sniffled. Noah smiles and walked out of the room. He walked down to the kitchen and starts going through drawers. He eventually found a flashlight and went back to the room, where Milo was cowering under the blankets. Noah sat next to him and turned the light on. “There, see? Better.” Millo peeked out and sniffled. He smiled a bit at the bit of light there was. He learned at a young age that if it’s dark and something scared him, the light made it go away. So he could easily just shine the light on whatever scared him.
The thunder and the lightning has calmed down a bit more at this point, with only occasional flashes and very soft rumbles. Noah smiled and got under the covers with Milo. He took the flashlight and shined it on the side of the blanket. Then, he began to make some hand puppets. He made a rabbit, a dog, and a bird. Milo laughed.
“Can I try?” Milo asked happily. Noah nodded and stopped so Milo could try. He tried to copy what Noah had done. “Darn it...I’m no good at this.”
“Hey, don’t sweat it, Milo. Here, let me show you.” Noah put his hands in the correct positions. “See? You just need a lil help.” The boys smiled at each other and kept making shadow puppets for what seemed like hours. After a while, they became tired again and decided to sleep.
Noah set the flashlight to the side and then lied down. Milo laid his head on Noah’s chest and Noah put his arm around Milo. They were about to fall asleep when the lights came back on. Noah groaned.
“Oh come oooonnnn! Why nowww?” Noah sighed and got up to turn off the lights and Milo laughed. He turned them off then got back into bed. They boys snuggled up again and were able to finally fall asleep for a good, long rest, safe in each other's arms.