Big Book of Writing

Loud as Thunder (Yukiroha, SDRA2)

Prompt: https://otpprompts.tumblr.com/post/174170694982/imagine-this-the-whole-person-a-is-afraid-of/amp

"Imagine this; the whole "Person A is afraid of thunderstorms and goes to Person B for comfort in the middle of the night" cliché, but B sleeps like a fucking rock and snores obnoxiously and A is having trouble waking them up."

This was my part of an art trade with KofukuMizu on twitter! Go check them out!

Warning: mentioned childhood trauma/child abuse, PTSD/panic attack!

***

Iroha hated getting up in the middle of the night for a good number of reasons. She wasn't a huge fan of the dark, as small and easily frightened as she was, and the way the hallways seemed to be more empty and ominous than usual chilled her poor heart.

She lived in a small house with her husband Yuki, and when the sunlight shone through the building and illuminated the rooms, it had a homely atmosphere that made Iroha want to try and do something domestic, even if she didn't succeed at it half the time. But at night, the darkness seeped through the corridors and frightened the girl.

But even though she didn't want to go through the spooky hallways now, it really couldn't be helped for the painter. She had woken up because her throat became uncomfortably dry, and when she had reached over to her bedside table to grab her cup of water, she had found it to be empty. She forgot that she had drank all the water before bed.

Reluctantly climbing out of her bed and away from her husband's warmth, she took her cup and left the safety of her bedroom. The hallway was awash in a dim golden glow thanks to a recently-purchased nightlight, so the painter was comforted a little. She had taken some steps into the hall when she heard a low rumbling sound. She shivered and held her cup closer to her, moving closer to the walls as she continued walking.

Iroha was almost at the door to the bathroom to refill her cup when a loud clap of lightning shocked the hell out of her. She scrambled backwards, backing up as she dropped the cup. Outside their house, a large thunderstorm was brewing and would soon pass over in the next ten minutes, but what the painter heard was more than just the lightning.

A door slammed open, hitting the wall as her mother stormed in. A young Iroha yelped in fright as she looked up from shading a trio of 3D shapes. The small girl had a black eye and a bloody nose from trying to run away from her house the night before, having not received any first aid for the injuries her father gave her. The security in the dark room where she had to draw and draw had been increased.

Her mother stormed into the room with a dissatisfied expression and took the paper from under Iroha's pencil, observing her youngest daughter's work. She looked in the corner of the paper and saw two small cartoon characters encouraging the observer, Iroha in this case, to not give up. The woman growled and ripped up the paper for both the doodles and the line of the pencil from the pencil still being on the paper when it was taken, which Iroha was not at fault for.

The young girl watched in despair as the page was ripped up and thrown into the fire. She remembered when her mother had burned all of her manga in front of her, but the fact that she was close to getting the hang of drawing the lines straight but having her work destroyed drove the girl to the brink of tears. Her mother then grabbed her hair and told her that she was only alive because she hadn't earned the right to die yet until she became worthy of the Nijiue name, then stomped out of the room as one of the bodyguards handed Iroha another blank paper.

Iroha choked on a sob and raced back to her and Yuki's bedroom, dropping her cup in her mad dash to get back to safety. She slammed the bedroom door behind her and jumped up on the bed, frantically shaking her ginger husband to wake him up. "Y-Yuki! Yuki, please get up! I-I- Please help me! I can't breathe, please make it better!" She begged, her tears falling down her face.

Unfortunately for her, she had forgotten in her panic that Yuki slept like a rock at night. She continued shaking the Former Ultimate Lucky Student, frantically pleading for him to wake up as she sobbed. Finally, Iroha gave up and lowered her head against his chest, sobbing her little heart out in fear and despair.

After a couple minutes, Yuki finally woke up, feeling something small constantly shaking against his chest. After a brief moment of confusion, he finally identified the trembling thing on him as his wife and slowly put his arms around her, stretching them a little to wake them up.

"It's...it's alright, Iroha. Everything's gonna be okay. I'm here." He murmured, occasionally pausing to yawn from just waking up. He slowly began to rub Iroha's back and pressed her closer to him, whispering comforting words to soothe her mind. After managing to locate where his and the painter's limbs were, he managed to get the covers over them again as the storm continued to echo outside.

Even after the storm passed, it was a while before Yuki could get Iroha to start talking again. "Y-Yukiiii..." She sniffed, letting her small body fall limp on top of his.

"That seemed like a bad panic attack tonight. If it's okay, can we talk about what set you off?" The ginger cautiously inquired.

"Can we...do that tomorrow?" Iroha whimpered.

Yuki pulled the blankets further over them. "Of course. What's important is that you get some sleep, and then we'll talk about it tomorrow. Do you want me to make some hot chocolate for after we discuss that? He offered.

"I'd...I'd like that." Iroha yawned, already tired out from her panic attack. "Thank you..."

As Iroha began to fall asleep, her dry throat forgotten, Yuki gently kissed her on the top of the head. He knew that she had been through a lot of horrible things, but as they continued to talk things out and seek help for the painter, he knew that she would be okay one day.

***

Art credit: KofukuMizu on twitter