BNHA One-Shots and Short Stories (x Reader)

Stressed Out : Eijirou Kirishima

You grabbed your favorite childhood stuffed animal that you'd brought from home, aggressively clutching it to your chest. At least it smelled nice, and it was soft. Soft and warm, like your boyfriend, Kirishima, even though his quirk might suggest otherwise.

You sighed. You'd feel so much better if you could just talk to him. Or even be held by him, that would work too. Anything to get you out of your own head.

You pondered to yourself if you should do anything about this new potential solution. Sure there was a curfew and you really weren't supposed to be out of your room at this hour, but maybe you wouldn't get caught. You were sure Eijirou wouldn't mind if you visited.

You gnawed on the inside of your cheek, debating with yourself. Finally, you picked up your phone to check the time. It had been nearly forty-five minutes since you'd first tried to fall asleep.

That was it.

You got up out of your bed and made your way to your door through the dark. If anyone caught you, you reasoned as your hand hovered over your doorknob, you'd just say you were going to get a snack in the kitchen.

Your heart pounded in your chest as you crept out into the dark hallway. Painfully slowly, you made your way up the stairs as quietly as you could. It took you a fair amount of time to navigate the sleeping building, but eventually, you found yourself standing in front of a very familiar doorway.

Somehow, you'd made it, and now was the question of getting in.

You considered knocking, but between the threatening position of Bakugou's doorway being just a little too close for comfort combined with your knowledge of how soundly Eijirou slept, you decided against it. You carefully turned his doorknob all the way, holding your breath as you did so, grateful to find it unlocked. The door swung open quietly, and you snuck in among the shadows.

You remembered to pick up your feet so you wouldn't trip over any of the random stuff Kirishima had a habit of leaving all over his floor and made your way to his bed. Sure enough, there he was; a solid dark mass of obscurity, only detectable from the steady rise and fall of his chest.

Now that you were actually here, you felt a bit awkward. Now what? Should you wake him up or should you just go for it and climb in next to him? Deciding the latter was probably worse, you gently placed your hand on his shoulder.

"Eijirou," you whispered, shaking him. "It's me, (Y/N)."

He grumbled in his sleep (which definitely did not make your heart do a little backflip in your chest) and began to stir.

"What is it?" he asked after another moment of your jostling.

"I can't sleep."

He sighed and scooted over, patting the now larger space between him and the wall. "Come 'ere."

You climbed over him and lifted his camo-print blanket just enough so that you could slide in next to him. He pulled you into his side, adjusting your bodies so you were properly tucked under his chin.

"Sorry I woke you up," you began.

"It's fine," he murmured, already beginning to rub your back through your sleepshirt. "Is everything alright?"

You opened your mouth to answer "yes", but decided against it. "Not really," you admitted. "I'm totally stressed out."

He hummed and twirled a strand of your hair on his finger. "That sucks."

You snorted at his late-night eloquence. "Yeah."

"Anything in particular?"

You shrugged. "Stuff in general. School, icky brain. You know."

Kirishima held you to him just a little bit tighter. "Well, you've come to the right man."

"It's not as if there's any other man I'd go to," you tittered.

He pressed a kiss to your forehead. "That's what I like to hear."

You nuzzled into his chest, inhaling the scent of his t-shirt. Finally you felt like you were at the right temperature, and not only that, in the right place.

"Feel like you can sleep now?" he asked.

You thought for a moment. "Not really. I'm sorry I'm keeping you up."

Kirishima kissed the top of your head again. "It's fine."

"I do feel better now that I'm with you. It's just ... it's been a hard couple of weeks for me."

You felt him nod a little bit. "I hear you."

"I've been so stressed out," you explained, "and I feel like I can't rest and take breaks without having all this work hanging over my head, and sometimes it's just so hard to focus on stuff I have to get done... ." You trailed off.

Eijirou let your short rant sink in for a moment, and his silence stretched just long enough for you to wonder if he'd fallen back asleep.

"I know it's hard right now," he murmured, his large hand still running up and down your back soothingly. "We've all got a lot on our plates. But you're doing your best right now, I know that. I see you working so hard and I'm really proud of you. But you can't work yourself into the ground. You still have to stop and take breaks every once and a while."

You nodded as he paused to yawn, and you couldn't help but think the little sound was cute.

"I'm here for you, yeah?" he continued. "I'm going to support you through everything because I love you and I care about you a lot. And because I care about you, I don't want to see you getting overworked. You're going to make it through this, it is temporary. And ... when you do get through all this stuff ... I'll be here to celebrate with you. We'll do something special together—" he yawned again, "—and I'll give you a ton of kisses ... ."

You could hear the tiredness in his voice; how much he was struggling to stay awake. You smiled to yourself and gave him a kiss on the nearest area of him that you could reach.

"Thanks, Eiji," you whispered.

"Y're welcome. Did that help you feel better?"

"Yeah. For now."

You wiggled yourself around one last time to make sure you were comfortable, casually tracing over Eijirou's solid frame that was wrapped protectively around you.

"'Night," you whispered to him.

"G'night."

You laid together in silence for a long moment. Soon you felt Eijirou's breathing begin to slow and even out as he fell back asleep. You too finally began to feel the drowsiness that had been hanging over you for the past few days catch up to you.

You yawned and nuzzled your face into his surprisingly soft chest. It was true that even just being in Eijirou's presence brought you a comfortable sense of peace.

And it was that same peaceful feeling that stayed with you as you finally drifted off; a temporary peace that you hadn't felt in a long time.