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Afraid

Kise sleepily shifted his position in bed, only to sit bolt upright when he didn't feel the bundle that was supposed to be next to him. Thunder rumbled outside, indicating that heavy rain was pouring outside in this late hour.

"Tetsuya-cchi?" Kise called but received no response from the cyan-haired toddler. Of course, Kise thought. Tetsuya-cchi can't talk.

Kise could almost hear Aomine calling him stupid names when he tossed his blanket aside and got out of the bed to look for Tetsuya. He flipped his light switch on but was confused that no lights sprung to life. The power must've been cut because of the heavy rain.

Lightning flashed and illuminated the darkroom for a second, but it was enough for Kise to see that his door had been opened. Tetsuya must've wandered off and gone to Akashi's room like what Aomine told him earlier before he put Tetsuya to bed.

Kise took out a flashlight from his bedside table and tried to look for Tetsuya in the dark mansion. "Tetsuya-cchi," Kise whisper-called, trying his best to keep his voice down as to not wake up his friends.

Kise found Tetsuya a few minutes later, huddled up under the dining table with his tiny hands covering his ears and trembled whenever lightning strikes followed by a loud rumble of thunder. "Tetsuya-cchi," Kise said, bending over to see Tetsuya. "What are you doing there?"

But the toddler didn't answer him nor did he moved from his position-- head bowed down to his bent knees, hands covering his ears and his big baby blue eyes were filled with tears.

"Ne, Tetsuya-cchi, you have to get back to bed," Kise said then reached gently for the toddler who whimpered and cowered back.

"It's alright, I won't hurt you," Kise tried to sound as gentle as possible, keeping in mind that Tetsuya is spooked whenever he tries to get close to the toddler.

Lightning stroke once more followed by a clap of rather loud thunder, making the toddler yelp and cry as he ran to Kise, grasping Kise's clothes tightly.

"Oh no, don't cry," Kise said as he secured the trembling toddler in his arms and carried him effortlessly. "It's okay, no need to be afraid," he cooed.

But the toddler was so scared of the lightning and thunder that Kise was sure his crying would wake the others up so he decided to bring Tetsuya back to his room to muffle his cries.

"Ne, ne, Tetsuya-cchi," Kise said gently as soon as he arrived inside his room and put the flashlight on his bedside table to provide some light for the room. "It's okay, you're safe. No need to be afraid,"

But the toddler was still to shooked that he still wouldn't stop gripping Kise's clothes.

"It's okay," Kise whispered to Tetsuya's ear as he embraced the toddler closer to him and started to rock him. "You're safe,"

Kise smiled to himself as he remembered his younger self being as afraid as Tetsuya whenever thunder is present, thus having Kise resent rain and storm. He remembered how he would run to his mother and father's room whenever thunder would rumble at night and his mother would rock him like what he was doing to Tetsuya right now.

"Ne, Tetsuya-cchi," Kise said when another lightning flashed and made Tetsuya flinch in Kise's arms. "You don't have to be afraid of the lightning and the thunder,"

Tetsuya shook his head and buried it to Kise's chest, wetting Kise's shirt with tears. "You know, I was also afraid of lightning and thunder one," he said as he continued to rock Tetsuya. "But... my mom told me that the reason why lightning and thunder are present when the rain comes at night is that an angel was looking for his little brother,"

Tetsuya looked up at Kise curiously, his lashes damped with tears. Kise smiled and wiped the tears that trickled down the toddler's face. "The angel, uh..." he tried to think of a name but only thought of Akashi's, "S-Sei-cchi, lost his little brother, Tei-cchi, when they came down from the sky to play one day. They were only allowed to come down and play at night when it rains because Tei-cchi loved the rain so much and always wanted to play and splash along the puddles rain makes. Sei-cchi told his little brother to not wander off as Tei-cchi won't be able to return to the skies without his nii-chan, but Tei-cchi was a curious little angel and ran off somewhere Sei-cchi couldn't find him,"

Tetsuya seemed to start to relax and was not attentively listening to Kise's made-up story, so Kise had no other choice but to continue.

"Sei-cchi was upset when it was time for him to come back to the skies because his little brother wasn't with him," Kise said, "So at nights like this, the rain would pour down and create tiny puddles-- the ones Tei-cchi loves to play with-- while Sei-cchi would fly around the skies looking for his brother, he would flash a light-- like those," Kise pointed out the window where lightning continued to strike from afar, "So he would see Tei-cchi through the night. The thunder is actually Sei-cchi calling out for his little brother. He makes it loud for Tei-cchi to hear him and find him,"

Tetsuya looked out the window and blinked. Lightning strikes followed by a clap of thunder but unlike before, Tetsuya watched in awe and somehow in sadness. He then looked at Kise questionably.

Kise smiled. "Sadly, Sei-cchi is still looking for his little brother," he said, following Tetsuya's gaze out his window and enjoyed the dance of the lights from outside. "But he will find Tei-cchi... someday,"

Tetsuya eventually calmed down that night and was able to sleep soundly in Kise's arm, but by the time Kise was sure that Tetsuya won't be awake by morning, the sun was already rising and Kise had lost almost four hours of sleep.

Aomine and Midorima, upon hearing this, scolded him and told him that he should've woke them up if he had a hard time sleeping, but Kise smiled at them rather sleepily and told them that it was all worth it. "He won't be afraid now," he muttered, making Aomine and Midorima glance a confused gaze at each other.