#Stage Fright | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

chameleon66 · 8 months

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Whispers of Panic

WARNING! Contains:, Raine angst, Odalia being Odalia, bullying, anxiety, anxiety attack(s), tickling, teasing, Hurt/Comfort,

Ships: Raine x Eda and a little Darius x Alador

Word count: 6215 (Long I know)

It had been a few months since Raine had transferred to Hexide and they couldn’t have been happier, they were the best in the Bard track, their anxiety had been down and they were best friends with the coolest witch in the whole school, Edalyn Clawthrone. Who they had to admit was very talented, funny, smart, strong and beautiful with her golden eyes, fiery and fluffy orange hair and winning smile that could make anyone weak at the knees, at least it hopefully wasn’t just them.

Things couldn’t have been better for Raine Whispers, but this wouldn’t be a story if everything was just fine and dandy now would it.

Monday

It had been just like any other Monday morning, Raine walked with Eda and her sister Lillith to school before heading off to their class.

That was when Raine felt a hand on their shoulder stopping them midway to their class.

Raine turned as was met with the face of Principal Faust and vice principal Bump following close behind him, Faust looked angry about something or maybe that's just how his face looked and Bump looked to just be on edge, nothing out of the ordinary.

“Raine Whispers?” Faust asked in a calmish voice.

Raine swallowed a lump in their throat before responding, “Yes, That’s me.” Am I in trouble? Raine thought.

Faust breathed in, then asked “Are you aware?”

“Aware of what?”

“I’ll take that as a no.” Principal Faust acknowledged, “ You Raine Whispers have been selected.”

“Selected for what?” Raine inquired, hopefully it wasn’t to feed Grom, they would either be giving Grom food or being the food.

“You have been chosen to represent the Bard track at the Hexide end of year showcase this Friday.” Principal Faust replied with an unusual amount to vigor in his voice.

“The end of year showcase.” Raine muttered to no one in imparticular, they had learned about what the end of year showcase was from Eda. It was when students from the nine tracks would perform in front of the students that were going to attend hexide that next year. Wait a minute…

THEY HAD TO PERFORM IN FRONT OF AN AUDIENCE!!

“I have been chosen to perform, i-i-in front of ev-e-everyone.” Raine’s voice shook as the words came out past their lips.

“Yes.” Principal Faust reiterated, “You are by far the most talented Bard in the school, and you have a long history of performing at your previous school, so you are the perfect fit for the position.”

Yes, Raine had performed in front of people before,weak knees, shaking voice, horrible anxiety and they even had anxiety attacks on some occasions, the full stage fright buffet.

“The show is this Friday at 6pm sharp, I have every faith in you Mr. Whispers.” Principal Faust then walked away in the direction that Raine was pretty sure was his office.

Raine felt so uneasy and anxious they didn’t even notice Principal Faust had misgendered them. They had to perform in front of the whole school, teachers, parents and then some new students, there was no chance they could do this with messing up. What if they forgot their song and made a fool of themself? What if they tripped on stage in front of everyone, what if they fainted on stage? What if -

A concerned voice jolted them from their spiraling downfall of ‘what if’s’. “Raine, are you ok?” Asked Vice Principal Bump putting a warm comforting hand on their shoulder.

“Oh um- Yes, never better.” Raine spoke almost as if they hadn’t gotten the scare of a lifetime a few seconds prior, then they stepped back from Bump arms pinned to their sides tightly.

“Just so you know it is completely ok if you don’t want to do the showcase, I myself don’t do well with talking in front of a lot of people.”

Bump’s word’s felt comforting in a way Raine desperately wanted to accept, but they didn’t need the words. It was just a dumb irrational fear that they just couldn’t seem to control, honestly it was pathetic, The top bard in school had stage fright.

“It’s okay Vice Principal Bump, Like he said I’m the best bard in this school, so I should not have a problem performing in front of an audience.” Raine had poorly faked confidence in their voice that did not manage to cover up the trembling in their knees. “I can do this, I can do this, I can do this.”

“Are you telling me or convincing yourself?”

“A bit of both.” Raine breathed with an anxious laugh. “Hopefully, you’re buying it, cause I’m not.” Raine added.

With that Raine walked past Bump to get to their class, the anxiety dripping off their forehead in the form of sweat and knees barely holding themself up as they walked unreasonably slow to their teacher's classroom.

Class had gone by way too fast for Raine’s liking, all they could do is fidget with their pencil lost in their anxieties and worries like a labyrinth, and it most certainly didn’t help that their teacher had announced to the whole class that Raine had been selected to perform at the showcase which just made Raine feel even worse, they couldn’t disappoint everyone but they also couldn’t make a fool of themself in front of everyone.

Lunch had arrived and after waiting in the line to receive a tray of food, they began to walk silently across the cafeteria.

“Hey Rainstorm.” a familiar voice called out to them, Raine looked up from their tray to see Eda sitting at a table with Darius, Alador and Odalia who all looked at Raine with dull looks.

Raine walked over to the table all of them were sitting at and took a seat next to Eda and across from Alador who had his nose buried in a book, probably about Abominations or something.

“Hey what’s going on? I called you when you came in and you didn’t answer.” Eda asked, turning her head to face Raine.

“I-I didn’t hear you.” Raine responded, the stutter in their voice becoming more noticeable.

“Well obviously.” Eda chuckled while rolling her eyes playfully at them which made a faint blush appear on Raine’s cheeks.

“Ugh, how come no one asks about me for titans sake!” Odalia groaned while staring daggers at Alador who was not paying attention in the slightest, “Don’t any of you know that I’m representing the Oracle track at the Hexide showcase!” Odalia boasted her voice dripped with ego.

“You do know that, I’m representing the abomination Track, Raine’s representing the Bard track and Eda and her sister Lily are assisting with the showcase, correct?” Darius Nagged with brows pulled down in a judgemental frown.

“Yes but I’m representing the Oracle track and it’s the best track, you know why?”

“Don’t tell me.” Darius turned and took a bite from his sandwich the scowl still frim on his face.

“Hang on, back up, Raine, you never told me you’re in the Showcase.” Eda said turning to Raine fully giving them her full attention which startled Raine.

“Oh yeah, I-I am, -b–but I-I didn’t even find out until t-th-this morning.” Raine somehow managed to get out somewhat conheriantly.

Eda flung her arms around Raine in a side hug which made Raine’s face go as red as their blood rushed into their face, it took Eda a second to realize what she was doing before she awkwardly maneuvered away.

“Well it’s just-it’s a huge honor to represent your track in the end of year showcase; they only let the best of the best perform in it.” Eda explained the excited energy radiation off her, But then she noticed the table was shaking a bit so much that all of their lunch trays bounced up and down ever so slightly. Eda looked down to see Raine’s foot bouncing anxiously and when she looked up to see Raine’s face, they were biting their bottom lip with their eyes fixated on the ground.

“You ok Rainstorm?” Eda questioned her cru-friend. Her best friend. Her very best friend, who she did not at all like in that way.

Raine’s eyes shot back up and foot stopped bouncing but the anxiety still lingered on their face. “ O-of course I am.” Raine lied to not only their best friend but to the whole table.

“Hey, it’s ok to be nervous, I mean if you're nervous that just means it’s really important to you.” Darius smiled with a tone of voice that felt soothing.

“I-I’m not n-nerv-nervous.” Raine felt their ears and face go redder, this was ridiculous, they shouldn’t be nervous. They had performed in front of so many more people and were still terrified back then, Surely they’d all make fun of them if they knew.

“You are an awful liar, Raine.” Odalia scoffed her eyes looking Raine up and down with her icy blue eyes.

Raine felt fear grip their heart as if Odalia was going to pounce on them and claw their guts out through their pointy tipped ears if they so much as blinked in an irritating manner.

“I-I-I um-gotta go.” raine excused themself from the table and speed walked out of the cafeteria with shaky knees, Eda watched sadly as they left. They must be really nervous about performing, Eda said in her head, she had never seen Raine act so anxious before.

“Sad to watch your boyfriend go, Edalyn?” Odalia smirked at her with her arms folded against her chest.

“Ok number one, respect THEIR pronouns and two we are just friends.” Eda insisted, because they were, there were no romantic feelings between the two of them. Zero.

Darius swallowed the rest of their sandwich before responding. “Eda it hurts me immensely to say this but Odalia has a good point, I’ve seen the way Raine looks at you, and they only look at two things that way.” Darius raised his left hand and gestured to Edalyn. “You and their viola.” Darius retracted his hand back waiting for a response.

Eda had to force the stupid lovestruck grin off her face and gave Darius the strongest grimace she could muster. “Oh be quiet Darius, you have no right to judge my type considering yours.” with that Eda walked off with her empty tray in hand leaving the three alone.

Darius spared a glance at Alador who was still reading with a curious twinkle in his sparkling eyes, Dang, Darius could swim in those eyes for as long as he may live.

Odalia’s face moved to obscure his view of Alador and Darius immediately turned away from the two in embarrassment, why couldn’t he just move on? There was no chance he and Alador would ever be together, not in a million years.

Tuesday

Eda and Raine made their way to Eda’s locker as she needed to get one of her potions books, Raine had been near silent all day letting Eda do all the talking. Eda had definitely noticed this.

“Raine, are you sure that you’re ok? You’ve been awfully quiet since yesterday?”

Eda's eyes shifted to the bard, they looked stressed with their eyes glued to the floor, their legs shaking as they walked, and their hands were gripped onto their viola’s case’s handle with a white knuckle grip.

Raine looked up, adjusting the glasses on their face before forcing a smile a bit too wide on their face. “Yep, I just didn’t sleep well last night.” Raine told them the fake smile falling from their face as they spoke.

“If this is about the showcase, I’m sorry if I made it sound like a lot of pressure.” Eda made a mental note of the way Raine’s muscles had tensed at the mention of the showcase. “Because it’s actually a lot of fun, I should know I’m helping with the show.”

Raine tried to force the tenseness out of their shoulders and a clamish look on their face to appear, “What? I’m not scared, I have performed in my life more times than I can remember.”

Raine leaned onto the surface of the locker trying to appear cool and collected when the locker suddenly opened its mouth and Rain fell in.

Eda jumped into action grabbing Raine’s wrists and pulling with all her strength to get them out, that’s when the locker suddenly loosened its grip on the bard and almost made both of the witches fall over luckily Eda catching herself and Raine before they fell to the floor.

“Easy there Rainstorm, it would be a really bad way to die.” Eda giggled, setting Raine back on their still wobbly legs.

Raine let an anxious laugh flow through them and looked at their friend with a small smile.

“Thanks for the save.” Raine thanked Eda with a tint of red appearing on their cheeks.

“Don’t mention it.” Eda winked at them. A scream rang through the hall causing Raine to jump a bit, but luckily it was just the bell telling the students to get to class. Eda and Raine looked at eachother Raine with nervous energy and Eda with confusion.

“I better head to class.’ Raine gulped before picking up their viola and darting down the hall leaving Eda by herself with a concerned twinkle in her eyes.

“Bye?” She waved slowly, not that they noticed.

Wednesday

“I just don’t know what to do.” Raine admitted “The showcase is day after tomorrow and I still can’t get myself to stand up and perform in front of people, I know I should have just told Principal Faust I didn’t want to do the Showcase but I think he’s really counting on me and so is the rest of my class.” Raine sighed through their nose and buried their head in their arms.

“But I also can’t tell people I have severe stage fright. I mean think about the teasing, ‘The best bard in school has stage fright.’ Eda will probably not want to be my best friend, anyone which is just as bad, do you have any advice for me?”

Raine looked over to Alador who was reading and hadn’t even looked up from his stupid book. Raine tapped his shoulder to which Alador's eyes shifted to Raine.

“Oh hey Raine, when did you get here?”

Raine groaned before rubbing their temples. Maybe this is why Odalia was always annoyed with Alador Raine thought to themself.

“By the way, I wanted to tell you congratulations on getting selected to be in the showcase,that’s like a super big deal, So many people from all over the isles come to see it and last year the emperor's coven even came to see it. They only select the best witches to be in the showcase, the ones they know won’t mess it all up, a few years ago one kid got expelled by principal faust because the plant that she grew was four inches too high, but hey no pressure.” Alador finished with a smile that only the most oblivious person could have at that moment.

Raine felt their heart practically stop as Alador spoke, Now their place at hexide was now on the line, just like at their previous school, Raine felt their hands tremble and stomach tie itself tightly into a knot of anxiety. They were doomed. “Yep, no pressure.”

With that being said Raine went to the school to practice. Raine tried to relax as they began to whistle the melody of their favorite tune from when they were a child, simpler times.

Alador almost managed to return reading to his book but then he felt a strong force knock them down the steps and when Alador looked back they saw Raine covering their mouth with their eyes wide when they glanced over at him they immediately ran inside.

Alador steadied himself on the railing before his mind was suddenly connecting the dots. Remember the times when he got so frustrated with Odalia not letting him hang out with Darius and whatever Abomination slime nearby turned into huge monstrosities. he knew other witches could experience that too, was something bothering Raine?

“Was it something I said?”

Thursday

Raine was up to their ears in anxiety now, they practiced their songs on their viola all week even missing an hour or two of sleep practicing. But those stupid irrational fearful thoughts just kept coming back and kicking them.

Why couldn’t they just get over this?

Ok, Raine needed to calm down. Luckily a solution came to them soon enough, they could go hang out with Eda. After all, they hadn’t been hanging out with her as often because of how much they had been practicing.

Raine quickly put their viola in its case and made their way outside to the school’s Grudgby field where Eda was probably practicing with Lily.

But once Raine got there, they saw Eda playing by herself on the field with Odalia gazing into a crystal ball with Alador on the bleachers, Wow had Eda been by herself while they were practicing for the showcase Raine noted. Wow they had been pushing away their best friend just because of a stupid showcase.

“Hey Eda.” Raine hollered from across the field.

Eda’s ears perked up and when she saw Raine her smile lit up brighter than a light spell as she rushed over to Raine and they did their signature handshake perfectly in sync.

“Oh geez it feels good to see you.” Eda said hugging Raine tightly, Raine felt their heart flutter but accepted the hug, maybe some good old comfort was just what they needed.

The hug broke before Raine started speaking, “Yeah I guess I have been busy a lot lately.” Raine admitted arms wrapped around themself.

“Oh come on don’t feel too bad about it.” Eda said placing her hands on their shoulders “Everybody around this time of year gets busy like pre-paring for coven tryouts, finals, and not too mention the end of year showcase-”

Eda paused herself as she noticed Raine’s knees shaking and shoulders tensed at the mention of the end of year showcase, “Are you sure that you're not scared about it?” Eda asked, hands moving from Raine’s tense shoulders.

Raine forced their breathing to slow down and shoulders ease a bit. “Are we still talking about that?” Raine looked at Eda, trying too hard to appear calm. “I have performed dozens of times and it makes no sense for all the best Bard to have stage fright.” Raine locked their eyes down on the ground and tried to look like they were joking but all they got was a concerned look from Eda.

Eda knew Raine was nervous but did they actually have stage fright? Because that would explain a whole lot about how they had been acting the last few days. But Eda didn’t want to confront them here in front of the Drama queen herself (*cough* Odalia *cough*).

“Alright then, how about we go and grab some apple blood from the cafeteria?” Eda suggested hoping Raine would fall for her trap to them alone with her so she could talk to them.

“I think that the cafeteria is closed after school, Eda.” Raine pointed out. “But I could turn some water into apple blood if you want.”

Well that hadn’t quite gone according to plan Eda thought but Raine was so polite to offer her and she also couldn’t blow her cover so she nodded her head and went to fetch her some water and paper cups, leaving Raine waiting for her on the field.

Eda returned with two cups with water in them and held them out for Raine, Raine took in a breath then whistled but the magic didn’t flow out in a steady stream to change the chemistry of the liquid but instead in an uncontrolled burst that knocked both Eda and Raine off their feet, the water spilling out of the cups.

Eda looked at Raine slowly sitting up, Eda knew emotions had a strong effect on magic and that it was not Raine’s intention to do that, Raine must be in a much worse state of mind if their magic got that out of control.

Both witches got back on their feet, both unsure of what to say.

So Eda started, “Raine, are yo-.”

“YOU INSOLENT TRASH!”

Both of them looked up to Odalia on her feet holding up her crystal ball which had a small piece chipped off it. “YOU BROKE MY CRYSTAL BALL!” Odalia screamed like a banshee fighting poor, already shaken Raine.

Raine felt their throat and chest tighten with their knees getting weaker. “I-I-I’m s-sor-sorry.” Raine managed to push out.

“Oh you better be you stupid bard.” Odalia quickly jumped off the bleacher and got within a threatenly short distance from Raine. “What were you trying to do, kill me?”

“I-I didn’t-”

“Oh my titian just shut up.” Odalia was now red in the face with rage with both Eda and Alador just sitting there like statues. “Why were you selected to be in the showcase out of all people, because you know what?” Raine wanted to speak but couldn’t find any words to say.

“You are nothing but a poor, weak, cowardly excuse for a bard!” Odalia's eyes glowed with powerful rage.

Hot tears stung in Raine’s eyes like acid as sobs made their way to their throat, they just burst into tears as they ran off the field.

“Wait Rainstorm!” Eda shouted after them but they did not spare even a glance at her. She turned with fury to Odalia. “Do you know how upset you just made them!”

“Oh I’m well aware.” Odalia examined her painted purple nails “But seriously that was seriously pathetic.” Odalia crossed her arms across her chest narrowing her eyes at Eda.

“They already are stressed out enough without you screaming at them.” Eda was not only angry but also just felt sorry for her cru-friend, best friend.

Odalia smirked at Eda “Say what you want Edalyn. Just don’t act surprised when they screw up the showcase tomorrow.”

Odalia walked away with Alador looking back at Eda before following her. Eda just stood there alone on the grudgby field.

Friday (The night of the showcase)

Raine paced back and forth in the bard classroom which was being used as the waiting area for kids who were in the showcase, one kid from each track was there but none of them looked as nervous as Raine did.

Raine had been eating an apple given to them by Odalia while pacing trying to get themselves calm they couldn’t perform if they were this stressed. Their magic had been out of whack enough already lately from them being stressed out.

“Knock, knock.” Eda chanted while opening the door and Lillith stepped inside the room holding a clipboard.

Lilith looked up from her clipboard and began to speak “Alright folks, the show is starting in ten minutes and there are a lot of people here.” Raine took another bite out of their apple before chewing anxiously. “The order you are performing in is posted on the wall . Please familiarize yourself with it.”

As if on cue everyone started to crowd the paper on the wall, everyone except Raine who was waiting until everyone was gone, though they continued to chomp on the apple until a voice began to speak again.

“Raine, are you stress eating?” Eda asked with Lillith now walking towards her sister and Raine.

“What no, what makes you think that?” Raine swallowed what they were chewing.

Lilith stared at the apple they were eating before looking up at Raine.

“Because that apple you're eating is made out of foam.” Lilith pointed out. Raine looked down at the apple to see foam instead of fresh apple meat.

Odalia snickered behind her hand staring Raine dead in the eyes. Raine groaned before sitting down on a desk chair when Eda walked up to them and put a hand on their shoulder.

“Don’t worry Rainstorm, ignore what Miss ‘I’m so much better than everyone’ has to say, you’ll be awesome out there.” Eda smiled a toothy grin at them which made Raine’s heart melt.

“Come along Edalyn we got to get backstage.” Lilith whispered shouted at her younger sister before speed walking out the door, Eda got up to her feet but before she could follow her sister she leaned over and whispered to Raine. “Just so you know, you’ll be going last.”

That should have comforted Raine but it really didn’t , it just meant more time for them to be nervous and scared out of their mind.

Time ticked by fast, soon the kid from the beast keeping track was on and Raine was to be going next. Raine was still sitting down feeling nauseous, that was either nerves or the foam apple they had eaten. Maybe they could just fake that they were sick or sneak out the bathroom window.

“Raine!” a feminine voice shouted causing Raine to jump only to turn and see Lillith standing there, “Raine, you’re on in two minutes.” Raine had enough time to grab their Viola and bow and swallow nervously before following her to behind the curtains where they could see a kid on stage with a giant worm trying to tame it.

Raine gripped their instrument harder trying to get themself to calm down with little to no success trying to do so when Principal Faust was suddenly walking on stage.

“And now for our final act of the night we have Raine whispers performing for the Bard track. Principal Faust announced as an eruption of cheers and claps prevailed.

Raine froze, this was it, there was no going back now, it was now or never, Oh how Raine wished they could choose never.

“Go!” Lilith nudged them from behind pushing Raine on to the stage in sight of the audience, Raine’s chest tightened and their knees knocked together as they tried to position their viola to play it, but when they looked up and saw the dozens and dozens of eyes staring at them.

Raine lost it

Eda was watching backstage worried upon seeing her cru-FRIEND, GOSH DARN IT. completely freeze up when they look at the people in the audience. When suddenly Raine ran off stage ignoring the people who were calling their name behind them including Eda. Eda looked to see everyone who was backstage dumbfounded except for Odalia who was grinning evilly, That sick witch. But Eda would deal with her later, right now she had something more important to do.

Eda took off in the direction Raine went trying to find them, when they came to an empty classroom and they heard heavy breathing and dry sobs, Eda slowly opened the door to see Raine with their knees pulled up to their chest, glasses crooked on their nose and arms wrapped around their knees.

Eda slowly sat down next to Raine unsure of what to say for what felt like the millionth time that week, but she had to say something. So she sighed before forcing words to come out of their mouth.

“Raine, it’s-.”

But before Eda could say more Raine looked up at her for Eda to see the terrifying sight that was their eyes, Raine’s usually vibrant green eyes that were usually full of music were now dull and red with tears brimming the edges of their eyes.

“Go away Eda, you don’t deserve to be around someone who just ruined the showcase for everyone.” Raine’s voice was weary and tight as if confined to their throat forever.

“Oh please Raine, Odalia ruined the showcase when she just talked about how amazing her future is for twenty minutes straight.” Eda said bluntly.

“At least she didn’t run off the stage and make herself look like a fool.” Raine’s voice cracked midway through their sentence.

“Raine, it’s all ok.” Eda tried to reassure them only for Raine to curl up tighter and bury their head into their arms.

“No, it’s not, I have stage fright!” Raine admitted to Eda. “Ok there I said it, I’m normally able to just suck it up and perform but for some stupid reason I couldn’t just do that like the dozens of times I’ve done it in the past. What kind of Bard has stage fright? Why can’t I just grow up and lose this stupid irrational fear? Odalia’s right, I am a poor excuse for Bard.”

Eda was stunned, she kind of already figured out Raine had stage fright but she didn’t realize it this bad. She was even more stunned to hear raine talking so harshly of themself, it almost made Eda angry to hear her best friend thought of themself that way. She couldn’t just sit there and let her friend tear themself down like that.

“Raine, can you turn towards me?” Eda asked in the most gentle voice she could. Raine slowly moved their head from their arms only for Eda to pull them into a tight hug letting them bury their face in their hair as she rubbed their back to ease them.

“Raine, you are the most talented Bard in the whole school and probably on the boiling isles, and you don’t need to be on stage and perform in front of an audience to prove that to anyone.” Eda felt Raine hiccup but did not let that discourage her. “You shouldn’t let fear control your life but you also shouldn’t force yourself to face your fears unless you are ready to because then you just hurt yourself and that is never the answer, But my point is you really shouldn’t be so hard on yourself, You’re doing great.”

Raine almost started sobbing, but they did cling onto Eda a little bit harder. It was a few minutes before Raine let go of Eda and began wiping the tears from their cheeks as they looked at Eda, eyes still wet with tears. “Thanks Eda, I needed to hear that.” Raine smiled at her.

“You're welcome.” Eda felt a sense of pride wash over her as Raine smiled at her, things would be ok. “How about we get you home?” Eda asked.

Raine looked down, almost ashamed before speaking “I don’t think I can face my parents after I ran off stage.” Raine’s knees fell from their chest as they finished and Eda understood. Disappointing the people who sacrificed a lot for you just makes you feel like a failure, and that was the last thing Raine needed right now.

“How about you stay the night at my place? Both of my parents couldn’t make it to the showcase because they had some emergency at work so they probably won’t be home until morning.” Eda knew that it would probably be a bit awkward but she was willingly to put those feelings aside for Raine’s sake.

Raine gratefully smiled at her and nodded.

“Alright then, let’s get moving.” Eda helped Raine to their feet and they snuck out the classroom window and rode Owlbert to Eda’s house with Raine texting their parents that they would be spending the night with a friend's house.

After they got to Eda’s home, they found Lily wasn’t there (Probably still dealing with the drama at the school). So they ended up going to Eda’s room and just watching Eda’s crystal ball. It was obvious Raine was still coming down from an anxiety high because they were still quite fidgety and their leg were still bouncing up and down as they sat in Eda’s desk chair.

After watching three episode of some reality witch show, it was decided they would get ready for bed, Eda went to the bathroom to brush her teeth while Raine just sat on her bed picking at the skin around their nails, when Eda came back out she felt a pang of sadness run through her, it wasn’t easy seeing someone she cared for still feel bad.

“You ok? Rainstorm” Eda asked. Raine was about to say something along the lines of ‘I’m fine, totally fine.” but then they stopped themself. Eda wasn’t going to make fun of them for not being fine. So Raine just shook their head.

Eda sat down on her bed in front of Raine, “Still feeling bad about what happened?”

Raine just nodded, they weren’t completely over what happened, not anyone probably would be at that point.

If Eda could just snap her fingers and make Raine feel better then she would, she just had to think of something. Then Eda got an idea, an awful idea, Eda got a wonderful awful idea (Dr seuss anyone?). Eda looked over at Raine who looked at her back.

“Hey Raine, I could try something that my sister used to do to me to cheer me up, if you’re ok with it.” Raine gave her an inquisitive look but what did they have to lose?

“Yeah ok.” Raine responded.

Eda slowly put her hands on Raine’s stomach which made Raine squeak and cheeks flush, Eda took in how adorable that was before she began to trace circles over their stomach. Raine felt a wobbly smile as they shook with repressed giggles, they really tried not to giggle but Eda’s fingers were maddening.

Eda saw Raine fighting down giggles and took that as a sign to start tickling. The sparky feeling in Raine’s stomach grew as Eda was tickling them, Raine couldn’t pick out if it was torture or pleasure but either way Raine began to softly giggle which had Eda taken it back. Raine’s giggles were soft and melodic in a way that made her blush like crazy, but she brushed it off because right now she had to make Raine hysterical.

Raine felt Eda’s hands shift from their stomach to sides which almost immediately made them start to giggle and when Eda started tickling their sides they started laughing. Raine began to fall back on the bed, and Eda followed them pinning them down beneath her.

“EDHAHAHAAHA NAHAHAHAT MY SIHAHAHAHAHDES!” Raine barely got the words out between their fits of laughter.

Eda took pleasure in the fact Raine was having trouble getting words out and decided to tease them.

“Aww… What’s the matter, Whispers? Can’t handle a bit of tickling?”

Raine’s face and ears got redder, admittedly they were feeling a lot better than before, and they were thankful Eda hadn’t managed to find their worst spot yet (Foreshadowing).

The two were having the time of their lives but then Eda made a discovery. When her hand got a bit lower and landed on Raine’s hip, Raine burst into hysterics. Eda had found Raine’s weakness and now she was going to exploit it.

She began to squeeze and tickle Raine’s hips which got her the cutest laughter out of Raine. Raine had jinxed themself and now they were paying the price, and it was quite a hefty price as well.

“Wow, Raine, you’ve got quite the giggle button.” Eda started slowing down her tickles as Raine started to wheeze and hiccup, and soon enough Eda’s tickles had completely stopped.

Raine took a few deep breaths before they stared up at Eda, her face mere inches from theirs. Both teens took a pause just staring into each other's eyes in some odd way.

Eda couldn’t take it anymore, She pressed her lips against Raine’s lips which caused Raine to stiffen from shock. It was impulsive but felt so right, Raine relaxed as brought a hand to Eda’s cheek with Eda’s arms around their neck. After a minute they broke apart and after a second opened their eyes.

“You’re…extremely red.” Eda chuckled.

“Shut up!” Raine turned their face away from Eda’s

“Like actually vermillion.”

“I said shut up!” Raine repeated to Eda though they giggled a bit through their sentence.

Eda looked at Raine with a smile which Raine returned without a second thought, Eda had to ask now, she had no excuse not to. “Rainstorm, would you like to go out with me sometime?”

“I would love to.” Raine beamed.

Eda hugged Raine as her adrenaline died down causing her to feel drowsy in Raine’s hold. Raine felt Eda relax and they relaxed too with a sense of calm filling the room.

Bonus

Lillith stormed inside the house, she had been at the school for two whole hours sorting out the problem and looking for Raine and Eda who had disappeared to titian knows where.

Lilith made her way upstairs grumbling, she had figured Eda went home early to avoid the chaos and given the hour was probably asleep. So She naturally went to her sister's room about to start nagging her but felt herself pause at the sight before her.

Eda and Raine were cuddled up together on Eda’s bed both fast asleep.

Lilith sighed, grabbing a spare blanket from the closet upstairs and laying it on top of the two before walking out to her own room.

She could nag them all she wanted tomorrow.

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