astraphobia ↳a cute/angsty scenario in which Wonwoo is severely scared of thunderstorms 1,321 words by sophie warnings: mentions of astraphobia/anxiety
The rain pounded down onto the roof of your car, and your hands tightened around the steering wheel as you struggled to see through the front windshield. No matter how fast your wipers went, it still wasn’t enough to keep the rain from blocking your vision, and you were left to rely on your memory of the neighborhood roads to guide you home.
Though you were the one driving in the middle of the storm, and you should’ve been focused on nothing else but your own safety, you couldn’t help but worry about your husband. It had been his first day off in a while, and you wished that he could have enjoyed it, but you knew that it had probably been ruined when the storm had begun just a few hours ago. If he had been working, he would’ve been too preoccupied to notice the rattling thunder outside - but since he was at home with nothing to do, you were willing to bet he had spent the last few hours huddled under a pile of covers with his hands cupped over his ears.
Your foot pushed down harder on the gas pedal, your heart swelling as you recalled the last time he had suffered from this cause of anxiety. You had traveled to Ireland for your honeymoon, a place that was known for not having very many severe thunderstorms - but of course, one had to occur in the week that you were staying there. Wonwoo had hidden in your hotel room all day and night, huddled in the corner of the bathroom, the farthest point in the room from a window. You had held him for hours as he shook uncontrollably, his eyes pooling with tears as he tried his best to cover his ears and hear as little of the storm as possible.
You hoped that he was holding himself together alright as he waited for you to arrive back home, but you knew in the back of your mind that he was probably having an awful time on his own. You sped up plenty past the speed limit, trying to quicken the last few minutes that it would take for you to get to your home.
Pulling into the driveway, you ignored anything that you had to take inside and left it all in the car, focused solely on making it into the house as quickly as possible.
Ditching your soaking wet jacket and shoes at the door, you yelled Wonwoo’s name through the silent house as you hurried through each room, searching for his trembling figure in corners and behind furniture.
Finally, your eyes landed on the shape of a body curled up under the covers of your bed, and you sighed as your crept closer, struggling to find your way there through the dark room.
“Wonwoo,” you whispered his name, and it echoed through the silent room almost as if you had yelled it. Reaching the side of the bed, you carefully pulled up the edge of the covers, climbing onto the bed and dropping the covers over you. You slid over under your body met Wonwoo’s back, and you wrapped yourself around his shivering figure, holding him as close to you as possible.
“I hope you had a good day off work,” you whispered delicately into his ear, your hand moving up to run its fingers through his hair, knowing that this action comforted him more than anything. “I’m sorry that I wasn’t home sooner, I’m sure you were okay without me, though.” your voice cracked slightly, but you tried to remain composed - you had to avoid getting upset, knowing that that would only worsen his condition. “My day was boring, I wish I could’ve just stayed home with you instead. We could’ve spent all day watching your favorite horror movies, eating popcorn and junk food until dark…” you trailed off, mumbling anything into his ear that came to mind. It didn’t really matter what you said, as long as you continued to talk and keep his mind off the thunder that was crashing just outside the window.
You couldn’t begin to imagine what was running through his head right now, or whenever he experienced a thunderstorm, especially one as awful and loud as this one. He would squeeze his eyes shut when the lightning flashed, his mind preparing itself for the crash of thunder that would come seconds later. Even with the preparation, he would jolt harshly when the thunder erupted, tears stinging his eyes as his mind experienced a brief, yet intense moment of shock. At least, this is how he had tried to describe it to you, though you imagined that it was difficult to put the exact feelings into words. You had given up trying to understand the feeling of anxiety that storms caused him, and instead focused all of your energy on trying to comfort him as much as possible.
Of course, he didn’t always get this bad. During some storms, he would be only slightly fazed, his heart only slightly jumping with every roll of thunder. He’d squeeze his eyes shut for just a few seconds, composing himself and overcoming the feeling of anxiety before carrying on with whatever he had been doing.
But other times, when the storms were worse, he would become completely trapped by his anxiety, his entire body and mind going into a state of shock for the entirety of the storm, barely able to control his own breathing as he waited for the thunder to cease.
Tonight was one of the bad nights, the nights where he couldn’t even get himself to function properly because of the amount of anxiety running through him. And all you could do was hold him, petting his hair and rubbing his back as you waited for him to stop trembling in your arms and, sooner or later, fall asleep.
Eventually, Wonwoo moved to adjust himself, rolling around onto his other side so that he was now facing you. His head remained low, his eyes covered by the dark hair hanging in front of his face. His cheeks were stained with dried tears, and you began rubbing them away with the pad of your thumb.
“Are you okay?” you asked quietly, watching as he tilted his head slightly upward to make eye contact with you. His eyes were dilated and soft, eyelids drooping just slightly more than usually.
He nodded softly, almost not at all, and he twitched his nose as his eyes began to burn with tears again. You noticed this and pulled him closer, pressing his head to your chest and resting your chin atop the crown of his head.
“This is so silly,” he said softly, shoulders shaking as he chuckled. “I’m a grown man that’s still afraid of stupid thunderstorms.”
“No, it’s not silly.” you assured him, petting his hair with the palm of your hand. “Everyone is scared of something.”
“Maybe practical stuff, like spiders and sharks and walking alone at night. What’s scary about a little bit of thunder? Why is my body so afraid of a noise?”
“It’s just how you are. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with it.” you pressed a delicate kiss to his head, sighing deeply against his hair.
Wonwoo just shrugged in response to your words, not able to find anything to say in reply.
As the rain calmed down, and the sounds of thunder lessened until they were no longer audible, you felt Wonwoo gradually relax in your arms, knowing that he was fast asleep when you heard his soft,muffled snores coming from under the covers. You finally let your heavy eyelids drop closed, knowing that you could fall asleep now that you knew that he felt safe and was no longer encompassed by anxiety.
“You’re safe, Wonwoo. It’ll be okay.” you whispered, just slightly tightening your arms around his now-still frame. “I’ll always be right here.”