Nightmares (Shota)

Shota Aizawa woke suddenly, his heart in the pit of his stomach and his skin cold. The lingering vestiges of whatever nightmare he had woken from remained only in a sense of pain and loss.  He lay there on his back, breathing heavily with his eyes closed, and nearly jumped when he felt his girlfriend roll over and wrap an arm around his stomach.

"That bad, huh?" Her sleepy voice was muffled in his arm. She shifted so her mouth wasn't smushed so tightly against it.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."

She scoffed and snuggled closer, fitting herself better to his side. "Pfft. I'd rather be awake to support you. You want to talk about it?"

Aizawa faced her, placing a hand on the side of her head. "Not really. I don't want to further burden you."

"Oh," Elly said sadly. She sat up and pulled him close, resting his head between her breasts. "At least let me hold you, then." He resisted for a brief moment, blushing, then relaxed all at once with a sigh. She gently stroked his hair for awhile until he spoke again.

"Sorry. I'm still not used to letting anyone comfort me." He raised his head as he spoke so he could look at her.

"It's okay. You need it, and I want to." She kissed his cheek, then the scar that ran under one eye out of habit. He lifted his chin, angling so their lips met for the next. Elly didn't press him when he remained silent, instead choosing to busy herself with massaging his shoulders and neck. She tied his hair quickly back with itself in a loose bun and got to work.

Aizawa huffed out a long, deep breath and hung his neck forward. "Unff. I always meant to ask you where you learned to do that."

"Hmm? What?" She dug her fingertips firmly into one bothersome section and worked the tension out.

"<i>That</i>," he whistled softly with pleasure. "My neck is always stiff. You know just how to get the kinks out."

"I took a class," she confessed with a light laugh. Her tail tips twitched lazily on the bed beside them as she spoke. "In fact, I took the class just for you, baby."

He turned his head to stare at her and she shooed him back to his original position. "You did? But you <i>always</i> seemed so skilled..."

"This is kind of embarrassing, but it was before we started dating. I <i>really</i> wanted to help you, and I was going to try and bring it up if you didn't ask me out."

"Huh."

"Yeah." She let his hair fall again, signifying that she was done, and he rolled back to his side of the bed.

"C'mere," he said thickly, holding his arms out. Elly purred and cuddled close, thrilled when he began petting her hair with slow, languid strokes of his calloused palm. "I read somewhere petting a cat helps relieve stress," he told her with the slightest quirk to his lips.

"I live but to serve," she yawned sleepily. "Especially for petting. I'll purr my little heart out right until the moment I go to sleep if you keep it up."

"And after, too," he smiled.

"That just shows how utterly and completely content I am." She squirmed around and kissed the stubble on his chin. "I love you, Sho."

"And I love you." He stretched and nodded. "And I believe I'll sleep much better now."

"Good. If you need me for anything, you know where I am." She kissed him pointedly and sighed, closing her eyes.

He waited until he heard the drowsy sound of her purring before closing his own eyes and dropping off to sleep.