"Will you be okay by yourself, Courtney?"

"Yes, Mom. I'll be okay." Thirteen year old Courtney sent her Mother and Father a timid grin, which they mirrored.

"Alright, Sweetie. We'll be home by eleven. Make sure you're in bed by ten." Her Father said, ruffling the brunette's hair before leaving with his wife behind him.

Once the large wooden door was firmly shut, the little girl reached up to flick the deadbolt so the door was shut tight, just like her Parent's always instructed before leaving.

Now, normally, Parent's would of hired some kind of babysitter or something to look after their child while they were out; but this certain child always insisted she was old enough to look after herself, and that she didn't mind being alone. Which was the truth, most of the time...

Courtney's Parents were going to some fancy dinner party that evening, leaving Courtney by herself in the creaky old house, with storm clouds rolling in swiftly.

Truthfully, thunderstorms terrified Courtney to the very core. Not that her Parent's were aware of that. She was too proud, to admit to her Parent's she was scared. -They already knew about her fear of green jelly, and that was annoying enough- so, during storms, she'd curl up in ball and hide under her blankets in her bed till it was over.

Yes, to her, admitting she had a weakness -which in this case, was her fear of thunderstorms- was worse then hiding under her covers and crying herself to sleep.

But, it looked like that was exactly what was going to happen tonight.

"Looks like the Callahan's are leaving their Daughter alone again, tonight." Mrs. Evan's, who lived right beside Courtney's family, wrinkled up her nose in distaste. "The poor dear."

"Why do you even care, Mom? She's not your child." Dylan, the woman's oldest son, age nineteen, muttered. Though his eyes were still fixed on the living room's TV screen, while showing the youngest son, Duncan, how to play Call Of Duty on the PlayStation three.

"Yeah, Princess is like, the most independent and tough girl I know. She'll be fine." Thirteen year old Duncan threw in, waving his hand dismissively at the boy's Mother, while the other hand mashed buttons on the controller.

Dylan raised an eyebrow, a smirk dancing on his features. "Did you just give her a compliment?"

Rolling his eyes at his brother, Duncan growled out a, "Oh, shut up."

Courtney and Duncan had been in the same class since grade one, yet ironically enough, they disliked one another immensely. But that didn't stop Duncan's brother from teasing him like crazy, about the boy having a crush on her. Which he certainly did not. And, well, most of the dislike was on Courtney's part. Duncan really didn't have much of a problem with the girl, she was very fun to tease and annoy, but it's not like he wanted to waste his precious video game playing time to watch over her, when he was positive all she was going to do was yell at him for coming over unannounced.

Putting her hands on her hips, Mrs. Evans gave the boys each a stern glare. "Duncan, why don't you and Dylan go over there?"

Dylan looked at his blond Mother with frantic teal eyes. "Uh... wow, look at the time, I'm going to bed, G'night!" And with that, the nineteen year old dashed off the couch and up the stairs, leaving a now fuming Duncan behind.

"Dude! Not cool!"

"Well, Duncan," His Mom continued to burn a hole in the boy's head with her icy stare, and the dark haired boy finally heaved a sigh.

"Fine! But I don't know why I need to go, you and Dad leave me home alone all the time." He grumbled, putting the game on a reluctant pause, and grabbing his rain jacket, since it was already beginning to pour outside.

"Yes, but only for ten minutes while I run to the store. Plus, it's already beginning to storm tonight, and poor Courtney will probably be frightened."

Duncan snorted at the absurdness of his Mother's statement. Poor Courtney? She'll be frightened? HA! Yeah, and next pigs will learn to fly.

Slipping on his shoes, he trucked outside just as a burst of thunder boomed in the sky, almost making the boy jump.

Sure, he thought thunderstorms were really neat to watch, and the thunder sounded so cool, but actually being out in a thunderstorm was more than a little nerve wracking.

Reluctantly rushing up to the girl's front door, he banged on it twice before twisting the handle. Unfortunately for him, it was locked tight.

Duncan cursed, and cast a glance up at her second story window. Now, a considerate boy would climb up there and make sure she was okay... but a smart boy would go right back home and play some more video games.

Smart or considerate?

...

Aw, what the hell.

Grabbing onto the gutter drain, he had a bit of a tough time shimmying up it with the rain making it slippery, but he was an experienced climber, and made it to her window within a few moments.

He was kinda surprised that he found the window unlocked, but slipped inside.

The teenager noticed right away that she wasn't in her room, and he always noticed three other things.

One, it was all pink. Seriously. He'd never seen so much pink in his life! It was nauseating. He really hadn't pegged Princess to be the pink loving type, but here she was, surprising him like she always did.

Two, her room was huge. For a house that seemed so small on the outside, it was very large on the inside. Her bedroom had to be bigger than his and Dylan's put together. He was kind of envious.

And three, it smelled really good.

But before he could extend the last thought, a clap of thunder brought him back down to earth, and back down to his mission.

Exiting her bedroom, he marched downstairs, yelling out a cocky, "Princess, I've come to grace you with my presence!" but he stopped one stair short upon gazing into the open living room and noticing a blanket covered blob hiding under the wooden coffee table in the center of the family room.

"Courtney?"

Head whipping upward, and skull meeting wood, the brunette let out a yelp and clutching her now sore head. After a second of silence, she turned slowly to look at Duncan, big onyx eyes tear filled.

The sight set off a strange feeling inside the raven haired boy, and he slowly approached the table; like he was sneaking toward a bunny rabbit, and didn't wanna make any sudden movements, in fear it would run.

Dropping to his knees, he crawled under the table with her, and gave her a small grin. "Sup?"

Instead of bursting into tears and jumping into his lap, like he pictured in his head, she gave him a swift kick to the side, causing him to roll out from under the table.

Finally coming to a stop upon hitting the bottom of the couch, he glared at her. "Ow! What the hell was that for?!"

"YOU BROKE INTO MY HOUSE! GET OUT!" She shouted, jumping out from under the table, the tears had vanished from her eyes. They were replaced by a strong kind of fury that he'd never seen come from her before. Why was she so angry? Was she really that mad I came into her house?

"Look, I only came here cause my Mom asked me to check up on you. " He was pissed off at her now. "But now I see I shouldn't of even bothered." He should of known this would happen. Heck, he KNEW this would happen! And yet... he came anyway. God, he was an idiot.

Courtney wasn't angry he'd showed up. Honestly. She was angry he'd seen her at her weakest. At her most vulnerable.

Just as she was about to open her mouth to let out some kind of snappish remark, a clap of thunder caused her to lunge forward into his chest, and he instinctively wrapped his arms around her.

"You... really are afraid... huh?" Duncan murmured, mostly to himself, kind of in shock. Was this really happening?

She contemplated shoving him away, she wanted nothing more than for him to just leave her alone. But it's like her brain had shut down, and she just mutely nodded, feeling the tears sting her eyes once again.

Duncan was kind of at a loss of what to do next. He was only a kid, and he'd never seen a romance movie in his life. But he was good at improvising.

"I'm sorry." He whispered, bringing up the hand that wasn't holding her, to stroke her hair.

"I don't want your sympathy." She whispered back, but held onto his tighter, even though it went against every fiber of her being.

And to her surprise, he actually laughed. "Yeah, I know you don't, Baby Doll."

After moving to the couch, laying her head in his lap, and her -almost- reluctantly letting him stroke her hair, the thunder didn't seem so scary anymore.

"...We never speak of this again, agreed?" Courtney mumbled once the rain had began letting up, and the thunder was long gone.

He gave her a nonchalant snort. "Agreed, Princess." They'd never speak of it, but he'd always remember it.

The mocha skinned girl had just began to doze off, when his lap suddenly disappeared from under her head.

"Duncan?"

He was already at the front door, turning the deadbolt, but cast her a sly grin. "What? You think I'm gonna stay here with you all night? And miss out on playing Call of Duty? I don't think so."

Eyes narrowed into slits, she flung a throw pillow from the couch to the boy's head, but he ducked just before it made contact, then chuckled. He left out the door, calling out as it closed,"Next time there's a storm, leave the door unlocked, would ya?"

AN: Well, there it is. Total randomness. I actually got this idea from the Ouran High School Host Club. I just finished watching the series for the second time, cause I bought the box set, :D and thinking of Haruhi's fear of thunderstorms brought this on. And on a side note; I love the Hitachiin Twins!! I'm a big fan of HikaruXHaruhi, too. :)