Work Text:
He wasn’t looking forward to the next gaming session he had.
He had planned to play with John during the afternoon, it was a game they found on Steam that had been blowing up in the gaming and streaming space lately. The problem was it was a horror game. Now, Smitty could handle most horror games, but there was a limit to how much horror he could truly handle til he got triggered to little space. There were no references on how truly scary the game was besides a few reviews which all seemed vague on the horror factor.
He did express his concern before his stream, the two sitting in the living room. Something was playing on TV but Smitty couldn’t for the life of him pay attention to it as he nuzzled into John’s side, who was against the arm rest. John could tell. A hand combed Smitty’s curls back, silver rings smiling back at him. “You’re doing it again?” Smitty sighed, slumping his head into John’s chest, already knowing what John meant.
“I know, I’m just nervous.”
“About the game?”
“Not just that, but the thought of going into little space mid-livestream.”
“Ahh, I see. Look, I believe in you. If anything goes haywire we can pretend it’s RP and I’ll come by your office to end the stream.”
Smitty rested his chin on John’s chest, looking into his soft gaze. “Okay, thank you by the way.”
John smiled, placing a small kiss on his nose. “No need to thank me.”
An hour went by after the conversation when the two went to live in their own offices, which were conveniently next door to each other. The office was dark, with no night light plugged in the back and the PC blue light shining like Smitty just arrived at the pearly gates being the only source of light. Rain had begun to pour though a quiet, steady, rumbling noise played throughout the mean, grey clouds. Smitty could barely notice though from his closed blinds and the headphones he had on.
The live was going swimmingly at first, about 20k viewers though it kept growing as the stream lasted. He had John on proxy chat in the game, which made his audio visible at a lower quality, seemingly to fit the theme of the game, which was campers trying to keep the fire alive without getting taken by some monster. At some point the two split ways to find wood faster.
Smitty eyes jump between the monitor that displayed his Twitch chat and the PC that had his game playing. A blur of chatters flashed by with different emotes, that was already stressful enough for Smitty despite having doing this for five years now. The game had him walk through the dark forest with only a singular flashlight that had limited battery power usage. Eventually the battery had died and so Smitty was left wondering alone. He had walked too far from John now as he couldn’t hear him anywhere and could hear the silent eerie music that played in the background, which left him on edge.
His eyes go to the chat screen and back to his PC before it happens. The jumpscare. A random bear, drawn to define its shadows and have sharp, horrific teeth appeared on Smitty’s screen with a loud, bass boosted roar of a bear. A flashing white and red background appeared behind the bear, blinding Smitty’s eyes at the un-expected moment. He yelled loudly, louder than he wanted to. The jumpscare wasn’t too long, just about four seconds but the damage had already been done.
Afterwards, the screen took him to spectate John who was now back at the fireplace. He chuckles lightly. “Guys that might’ve been Smitty…I know that scream from anywhere.” Smitty's heart stops for a moment, staying quiet before he finds himself breathing faster and faster. His chest becomes thigh and air suddenly seems to be deprived and non existent to his lungs now. Everything around him becomes static as he pushes his seat back. His mind was racing and in a panic. Body trembled in fear, Smitty kept shaking his hands though it wasn’t working. “Johnny?” Smitty called out, already in his little space.
John’s character tried looking around for where the voice was coming from. “Smitty, are you still there?” Smitty’s vision became a blur as unshed tears glossed his eyes. “Johnny…I-I’m scared.” John could tell from the voice that Smitty wasn’t okay, but he still went along with the plan they had. “It’s okay buddy, I’ll get the rest of the fire wood for us.” The little silently whimpered, sleeves his sweater wiping the tears from his face before being held up to his mouth. It wasn’t long til John also got jumped scared and lost the game as well. “Damn it, dude!” He laughed, being quick to make some convincing excuse to end the stream early. His chatters seemed to understand as he went offline, John quick on his feet as he rushed to Smitty’s office.
He found Smitty curled into a ball in a corner, his stream still live and on the game tab. John quickly, but quietly ended the stream. Sure it was absurd and out of nowhere for Smitty’s fans but they could make some excuse later. For now, Smitty in distress is John's number one concern. The sky flashes white as a thunder strike roared through the skies, Smitty cried at the sound, covering his ears from the sound. John searches in a few wardrobes in the room before finding Smitty’s noise cancelling headphones. The rain was now pouring hard and the wind that whistled with the leaves was harsh, it terrified Smitty even more. A knight in shining armor came to Smitty’s aid as he plopped the headphones over Smitty’s ears. “It’s okay buddy, I’m here now.”
Smitty was still stimming in distress, hands movements switching between waving them or pulling on them. Eyes looked down at them as John placed his hands in front of Smitty, seeing if Smitty would take them. The younger took them between his fingers and squeezed them in response. John squeezed back watching Smitty’s breathing slow down bit by bit. He continued to sob quietly, moving towards John chest as his body shuddered and shivered with each thunderbolt. Fingernails softly combed Smitty’s scalp, the other hand rubbed his back in a circular motion. John placed a kiss on his temple, “I’m here now, no one can hurt you.”
“N-no one?” Smitty’s tone trembles.
John swallowed thickly, trying his best not to cry with him. “No one.”
When Smitty pulled away, a pinky finger was met to his face. Smitty looked up at John, eyes hazel soft and comforting. Smitty took his pinky with his own, a pinky promise. Foreheads met as they looked deeply into each other's eyes, John watching the panic and worry dissolve from his pupils. John gave Smitty a small peck on the corners of his lips.
“Are you feeling any better?”
Smitty nodded, “Yeah.”
“Do you want your susu?”
“Yes, I want susy.”
John help Smitty up from the floor, taking him to his little space room. Flipping the switch on reveals the toy box that opens and has the unopened wooden train set John bought for the little sitting outside of it. The door closed as I sat next to the box on the floor, back against the bed. John opened one of the drawers to find his binky and gave it to Smitty. He took it instantly, humming quietly but happily. “I wanna play with the trains” Smitty reached for the box, fingers fiddling to rip the clear tape from the folds. John settled next to him with a soft smile. “Well let’s do that.”
The rain had calmed down a bit, with the wind settling softly with the wind chimes just outside the room. John had lion king playing on the TV as the two setted up the train tracks around the room. It took nearly thirty minutes for the two able to set up a whole train sister with a mini log cabin in the middle. Smitty excitedly took out the train from the box and set it up at the start of the tracks.
“Choochoo!” Smitty chanted, mimicking train noises through his binky as he moved his train around the tracks. John pretended to be a train conductor. “All aboard everybody! We’re about to take off!” It was fun to watch and play with Smitty, seeing how many story and plot lines the man could create in minutes with just one toy set and a few dolls. John liked to play along just for the random plot twist Smitty would add, even if they made no sense, John enjoyed every moment of it.
Eventually, it got to 9 PM, which was Smitty’s usual bedtime if he was in little space. “Alright, I’d love to keep playing but it’s getting close to your bed time.” Smitty whined, “Noooo, five more minutes!" John made an offering. “How about I get you some milk and I read you a bedtime story?” The younger one seemed happy with that as he nodded his head. John then left the room briefly to warm up some milk in a sippy cup and bring it back to him as Smitty changed. John returned back to Smitty–who was now wearing a cute pikachu onesie–and handed him the milk, watching as he drank about half of it. John made his bed as Smitty cleaned up the toys they had and put them in his box. When John was done, Smitty crawled into the covers as John picked out a book, deciding on ‘If You Give A Mouse A Cookie’.
He read the story while on the bed, feeling Smitty wrap his arms around his hips and rest his head on his thigh. John's voice was low and soft, licking his fingers to turn every other page. It didn’t take long for Smitty to fall asleep, chest slowly rising up and down. Setting the book on the night stand, John turned off the lamp and took out his phone, plugging his earbuds on. One hand held his phone–doom scrolling–while the other pet the younger hair.
There was a part of John that felt bad for making Smitty play the game, already knowing he wasn’t the biggest fan of the horror genre. Maybe he’ll apologize when Smitty’s back into his normal space, and enforce some boundaries for the two of them. It was definitely needed as they hadn’t really discussed the possible situations that could happen when Smitty was in little space in public and such, but mainly because it always worried Smitty and John hated that. But he knew it was necessary, especially with how vulnerable Smitty tended to get.
They’ll cross that bridge when they are ready, but for now, the two can relax with the calm shower of nature’s rain. John placed one last kiss on Smitty's cheek before he left the little peacefully sleeping in his room.