Insecurity Dreams

"You're an ugly bitch. Why the hell would I love you?"

The pain in her heart was incredible; emotional devastation of the highest level possible. Elly screamed in agony, throwing her head back and sinking to the ground on her knees.

She woke to find Hizashi leaning over her in bed, his hair falling softly over his shoulders with some of it tickling her cheeks. He had a sleepy expression of concern on his face. "You okay?"

"Urgh," she grunted, rubbing at her eyes. "Zashi? Bad dream."

He hummed softly, consolingly, and took her gently into his arms. "It must've been crazy bad. You cried out."

"Oh no. Did I wake you? I did," she mourned quietly. "M'sorry."

"Don't worry about it. I want to be awake when this happens." He stifled a yawn. "Otherwise I can't cuddle you all better."

"I like this part," she agreed, sniffling.

"So what was the dream? Wanna talk about it?" Elly shifted in his hold and he bounced her gently so she rested fully in his lap. "Y'don't hafta, babe. It's okay."

"No, I ... it's - maybe I should. I keep having these horrible nightmares where you don't love me." She choked softly and started to cry. "Th - there's ones you tell me I'm ugly, and ones you're cheating on me, and ..."

Hizashi's green-gold eyes popped wide open. He was fully awake all at once, the sleepy purr gone from his voice when he spoke. "<i>What?!</i> Oh, no, baby! You know that's not true. Oh. Oops. Hey. Hey, princess..? Babe?" She had dissolved into a shivering mess of tears and wasn't hearing anything, so he held her tight and rocked back and forth slowly, humming quietly as he knew the vibrations from his quirk calmed her.

"I kn - know it's stupid," she stammered, "s'not true! But it huh - <i>hurts</i> so bad like it really happened and it confuses me for a minute when I wake up, and -"

"So your worst fear is that you'll lose me?" He interrupted her rambling by whispering in her furry ear.

She hesitantly nodded. "Yes. I know what it means, technically, but it's a very hard fix."

"Mm hmm. Insecurity?"

Again, a nod, this time accompanied with a teary sigh.

"I totally get why you'd be dreaming like this about me." He stroked her hair and ears, rubbing lightly. "Your family. You told me about 'em. You endured that abuse for so many years of your life, an' like, how many have we been together?"

"One."

"Uh huh." He nuzzled down and kissed her cheek. "It's gonna take a lot longer than one year before you stop panicking about me turnin' into yer folks. I know that. I don't mind at all 'cause I love you. You're <i>worth it</i>."

"Thank you, Zashi," she said in a very tiny voice.

"You want me to make some warm milk? Or just more cuddling - oh! Oh, okay. Don't worry, I ain't going anywhere."

"Good."