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Freak storms weren't very common in Midi City, but they usually happened when it was nearing the end of winter and heading into spring. Now thunder and lightning storms in that time weren't unknown to happen. It wasn't often that they did occur, but today was one of those days. And it was a bad one.
Crow was sitting on the windowsill in his and Aion’s bedroom in their apartment watching the lightning streak across the sky. While a lot of people were scared of them or didn't care about them either way, Crow was one of the ones who found them soothing.
The sound of the rain beating against the windows and sidewalks, the sound of the thunder rumbling off in the distance and the crack and flash of lightning. It was all soothing to Crow.
He was so caught up in watching the storm outside of the window that he was completely unaware of the fact that his boyfriend was cowering in the living room, terrified. Aion had never liked thunderstorms as a child. He hated them even more now as an adult.
It had all started to get worse when he was on his way to Midi City after being kicked out of his house by his father. He hadn't been able to find a place to stay for the night. So he had done what he could and found an empty alleyway and a relatively clean cardboard box to sit on behind a dumpster to hide himself from view.
He had been pampered all his life, so having to sleep outside in an alley like this was less than acceptable for Aion. However, he knew he had no choice in the matter so he sucked it up.
Aion had known it wasn't meant to be his day the moment he saw the dark clouds rolling in. There was a lot of humidity in the air and with how hot it had been that day, he knew what was coming.
The sound of the wind howling through the alley, the pounding of the rain on the dumpsters and the sound of the thunder and lightning screaming in his ears had him shaking like a leaf. His ears were flattened against his head with his hands over them as an extra barrier, but it was no use. The terror coursing through him was reaching new highs unlike any other time.
Ever since that day, any time a storm rolled in, Aion found the safest place he could and would cover his ears best he could with either his hands or headphones to blast music loud enough to drown the sound out.
Unfortunately for Aion, this time his phone was dead so he was unable to use music as a barrier. He'd looked for Crow's phone to use instead but came up empty handed. In the end Aion had chosen to hide under their kotatsu in his myumon form. He was far too tall to be able to hide under it in his human form, so he made do.
Crow had finally left their bedroom in search of Aion to see if he wanted to just order take out for dinner instead of cooking. Their apartment was small. Consisting of the kitchen and living area in one, the bathroom and their bedroom. When he walked out of the bedroom and didn't immediately see his boyfriend he started to worry despite himself.
The bathroom door was wide open and when he went to check behind the counter in the kitchen to see if he'd just bent down to pick something up and didn't see him, he started to worry even more. Had he left the house without telling him? Had he told him he was going out and he just forgot?
Crow wasn't the type to really worry, but ever since the incident with Aion saying he was quitting the band, Crow worried about Aion a little faster. He still worried he would wake up one day and Aion would tell him he had had enough and would leave him.
Having put himself into a slight panic now, Crow pulled out his phone and dialed Aion’s number with shaking hands.
“The number you are trying to reach is currently out of service.” Crow paled. Out of service? What was going on?
“Fuck Aion where are you?” Crow said as he turned to leave the kitchen to start pacing.
Before he could even think about what he was doing he was dialing Yaiba’s number knowing he and Rom would be together anyways.
“What is it?” the irritation in the fox’s tone said he had interrupted something.
“Have either of you heard from Aion?” he knew he sounded desperate and panicked, but he didn't care. He needed to find Aion.
“No, hence why?” Yaiba asked, the annoyance seeping away when he heard the tone of the hedgehog's voice. “What's wrong?”
“I came out of the bedroom to see if he wanted to order take out and he's gone. I tried calling him but his phones off.”
Crow could hear Yaiba saying something to Rom beside him when a whimper caught his attention after a particularly loud crack of lightning. His head whipped around to the living room.
There in the middle of the room under their kotatsu was a terrified and shaking Aion. He muttered a quick “I'll call you later.” and hung up his phone and ran to the table.
He dropped down onto the floor and reached a hand out to try and pull the lion out, only to have him pull back and hide under the table again. Confused, Crow tried to get him to come out again. He had never seen the lion act like this before. What was going on?
“Aion?” Crow said gently, laying flat on his stomach and lifting the material to see under. “What's going on?”
Somehow, through his crippling fear Aion managed to get out, “Storm. Don't like.”
The singer looked out the window in the living room and back at his boyfriend. Was he scared of the storm outside? That's when it hit him, any time it was raining outside, Aion was on edge and more irritable than he usually was. And when there was thunder and lightning he would make up some excuse to miss band practice that day.
His heart broke seeing Aion like this. He felt pretty useless. He'd never known anyone that was this scared of storms.
“Hey,” he reached a hand out to gently stroke his boyfriends cheek to catch his attention. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
Aion shook his head stuttering out a soft and trembling no. The tears started not too long after that. He was ashamed of himself right now. What self respecting Dark Sun God was scared to tears of a freak storm? Crow would definitely laugh at him now. Likely make fun of him as well.
Seeing the flush on the lion's cheeks, Crow came to a decision. He moved around to the back of the table and shifted to his myumon form to crawl under the table with the scared lion.
“Come here.” it was rare that Crow was on this side of their relationship. It was usually Aion comforting him over something.
Looking over at the hedgehog, Aion sniffled wiping at his face and shifted over and into his embrace. Wrapping his arms around his boyfriend, Crow pulled him close and kissed the side of his head. He was at a loss on what to do for him. He didn't really do well with people crying. Now that it was Aion who was crying, his nerves were on edge.
“So-sorry I'm a pathetic mess.” Aion whispered against Crow’s chest, just barely audible.
“You're not pathetic for being afraid of something.” Crow said as he rubbed the lions back. “I wish you had told me you were scared of them though. I would have come to you a lot sooner.”
Aion said nothing to that, simply cuddled into the hedgehog even more. He closed his eyes tight, clinging onto him with his ears still flat against his head. He didn't even notice that when Crow had started rubbing his hand along his back, that his trembling started to slow down.
Holding Aion as close to him to as possible, Crow started humming softly. At first it was nothing in particular, but eventually it turned into a song his mom used to sing to him whenever he woke up scared from a nightmare.
Eventually the song came to an end and looking down at the blonde, Crow saw that he had fallen asleep in his arms. Crow debated over what to do now. Should he move him to their bed and hold him there? Should he leave him there and keep holding him right where they are and risk horrible back pains in the morning from sleeping on the floor?
With a soft sigh in his sleep, Aion made up his mind for him and wrapped around him even more, effectively trapping Crow right where he was.
He gave a soft chuckle and nuzzled into Aion’s neck pressing a light kiss there. He whispered a quiet, “I love you,” and closed his eyes with a smile.