Finding Beauty in the Darkness *Obi x OC*(COMPLETE)

Rainy Days

 Ryanne POV

I wake up to the sound of thunder and Aeri sniffling from the doorway. I stretch and roll over to face her, briefly wondering when I'd gone to bed, and tell her to climb in. Storms are her biggest fear. Put a snake or spider in front of her, she's fine, but a little thunder and lightning makes her fall apart. I shuffle backward to make room for her and she crawls into bed and I cover her with the blankets. I run my fingers through her hair and softly sing to her. It's the same song I sang to her over the years when I'd stayed with Marnie and Tien and would watch her.

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine,

You make me happy, when skies are grey,

You'll never know Dear, how much I love you,

Please don't take my sunshine away."

I continue running my fingers through her hair for a few minutes longer until she falls asleep again and carefully scoot away from her until I'm able to get out of bed. I cringe at a tight pain in my shoulder as I sit up and pull my sleeve down to find a large dark bruise covering it. Right, I'd forgotten the intruder grabbed me. I hate that I bruise easily. I get to my feet and gather fresh clothing before slipping into the bathroom to change. I freshen up and braid my hair to fall over my shoulder then slip out of the room without waking Aeri. As long as the storm doesn't get worse, she should sleep for a while longer, giving me a little bit of peace for myself. I have two customers that are supposed to come today but with the storm they likely won't show up. I think I'll take it easy today and make some chocolate chips and keep Aeri distracted if need be.

"Just a nice and sim-" My whispered thought is cut off by a movement behind me. It could be Aeri, it could be Herron I reassure myself as I fill the kettle with water.

"Good morning."

I jump and drop the kettle in the process as I turn around. Obi catches it for me thankfully and I will my heart to calm down as he apologizes for startling me. I'd completely forgotten that he was here.

"There's my heart attack for the day..." I chuckle under my breath as he moves the kettle to the stove for me.

"I'm sorry Miss. I just thought you knew I was there."

"I'm not fully awake yet, so it's okay. Where were you?"

"You fell asleep outside last night so I brought you in and picked up our stuff and fell asleep on the couch afterward. I woke up when I heard Aeri sniffling but she went into your room."

"Yeah, she's afraid of storms. She fell asleep again so I decided to escape. I'm thinking eggs, bacon, and biscuits for breakfast this morning, would you like some?"

"Only if you let me help." I sigh in defeat but agree.

I start to gather the ingredients to make biscuits as Obi gets tea ready for us. I curse as I reach up to grab a jar of flour from the top of the cabinet but the shoulder the man bruised is sore and the jolt of pain makes me drop it. Obi appears beside me and catches it for me yet again. Either he has amazing reflexes or I'm just terrible at life... I thank him and he asks if I'm alright. I wave it off as nothing and refocus my attention on the ingredients but he gently puts his hand on my shoulder to stop me and I flinch at the pain.

"Alright, that's definitely not nothing." He chides as he removes his hand. "What happened?"

"That man yesterday grabbed my shoulder and I bruise easily. It's not bad though, really."

"Can I see?" I sigh and nod and move my hair so he can push my shirt collar back. "How did he manage to bruise you that badly by just grabbing you? It's like he open hand punched the top of your shoulder... That is so strange. Do you have anything to help you feel better?"

"Yeah, but I'm alright, I promise."

"As long as you're sure." He hums before taking over ingredient gathering for me.

A particularly loud boom of thunder shakes the cottage and I count from three before Aeri fastens herself to my side. I pat her head as I continue to add the ingredients to the bowl Obi is stirring. I ask her if she wants breakfast and she nods then jumps again as the thunder rumbles overhead. She asks if she can help and I nod and help her sit on the counter. I move over to the stove to refill our cups and get a glass of apple juice for her.

"So, you don't like storms, huh?" Obi asks as she measures and pours the ingredients.

"They're scary."

"You want to know what my mom told me when I was afraid of storms?"

"What did she say?"

"She said that the thunder and lightning is really just our ancestors celebrating the spirit holidays with fireworks."

I smile involuntarily as Aeri seems to like that story. "Do they really?"

"Oh definitely. We don't get to know what they celebrate though, so it's hard to tell, but something good must have happened, right?"

I feel the rumbles again and watch her to find that she still flinches slightly but doesn't seem to be as afraid as she was. Good job Obi.

I grab my plate and tea once breakfast is ready and head toward the table but sigh as a demonic hiss reaches my ears and I'm knocked over. Obi keeps me upright without losing any of my food or tea and I thank him again with a sigh. I give up on today because it seems to be just a series of inconveniences for me. I take my seat at the table and hiss a threat to Herron that I'd throw him into the rain if he tried it again. Obi snickers and I shoot a look at him while Aeri asks what we're doing today. Since tomorrow is her birthday we're going to skip testing but today I'm going to have her study her new materials for two hours and do her inside chores but I won't push her past that. The rain seems to have taken the energy out of all of us. It's a bit harder for me to see today anyway since the sky is so dark. All of the muted shades are trying to blend together in the haze.

As Aeri studies in her room, Obi helps me make the chocolate chips and I keep having to lightly bat his hands away since he keeps trying to steal and eat them. I may have stolen a few myself but still. If we don't stop, we won't have any at all. Once they cool, I have him help me get them all into the jar and put that away as a knock sounds at the door. Some customers really will come for their orders through anything. Obi catches my hand as I pass by and gently pulls me back to him.

"What is it?" I ask and he chuckles.

"You have chocolate on your face, Miss."

I feel him wipe it away with his thumb and my face warms. I'm glad I'm blinder than normal today so I can't see his eyes right now.

"O-Oh, thank you." I mumble as he releases me. "I-I'll be right back."