You groaned as you slipped back into consciousness, your arms grasping blindly around for the warm body that should've been on the bed next to you.
Keywords: should have.
After a moment of sightless struggling, you flicked your eyes open and groaned again when you realized that Tadashi was not, in fact, in the bed with you.
You grumbled to yourself as you shuffled out of bed, sleepily trudging into the kitchen.
"Good morning, sleeping beauty." Tadashi greeted from his place at the stove, and you mumbled something noncommittally as you wound your arms around his waist and nuzzled your cheek against his back. "You okay?" Tadashi asked, his voice gentler.
You nodded, even though he couldn't see it. "Yeah, just tired. Had a bad dream last night, that's all."
Snippets of your dream rushed back into your mind, and you shivered, your hold on Tadashi tightening. Tadashi turned around in your grasp, hooking a finger under your chin and tilting it upwards so your eyes locked with his before raising an eyebrow at you.
"What was it about?" He tried, making sure to keep his voice soft.
"Just..." You started, trailing off with a sigh. "It's stupid. Forget about it, yeah?"
Tadashi shook his head firmly. "It's not stupid. You're clearly upset about it." Tadashi's eyes softened as he took in the dark circles under your own eyes. "Tell me. Please." He pleaded.
"There was a fire at the university, you ran in to get Callaghan out, and you...you didn't come back out. The building exploded before you found him." You let out in one breath, and Tadashi frowned when he saw just how badly the dream had affected you. Your lower lip was quivering, there were tears glistening in your eyes, and your whole body was shaking uncontrollably.
"Hey, hey," Tadashi soothed, his arms winding around you and pulling you against his warm chest. "It was just a dream. I'm not going anywhere."
"Promise?" Your voice was so small and so genuinely worried that it broke Tadashi's heart.
"Promise." He responded, pressing a chaste kiss to your forehead before pulling out of the embrace. You looked at him like you were a puppy that he had just kicked, and he rushed to kiss you quickly in apology. "The pancakes are going to burn." Tadashi warned, but you shook your head, clinging onto him tightly.
"Don't wanna let you go." You murmured, hiding your face in his chest.
"__y/n__," Tadashi said, gently extracting himself from your vice-like grip. "Let me finish up the pancakes, alright? I made your favorite."
"Cinnamon and chocolate chip?" You asked hopefully, your voice still a lot softer than normal.
Tadashi nodded, guiding you to the table and helping you into a chair. "So let me finish these, we'll eat, and then how about we go back to bed? Class doesn't start until two today."
You smiled weakly. "That sounds good."
Tadashi pressed another kiss to your lips, which were still trembling slightly, before making his way back over to the stove.
It wasn't long before Tadashi was sliding a plate of (only slightly) burned pancakes in front of you and kissing the side of your head. He grabbed the syrup from a cabinet and placed it on the table, moving to fill up a glass with milk for you. He handed that to you and offered you a sweet, loving smile as he walked back over to the stove.
A few minutes later, Tadashi took the seat next to you with his own plate of peanut butter and banana pancakes.
"This is really good." You commented, taking another bite of the fluffy pancake. "Actually," You said, swallowing a mouthful of cinnamon and chocolate. "This is amazing." You smiled at him, the first real smile of the morning. "You're amazing." You murmured, leaning over your chair and giving his lips a gentle kiss. "How did I get so lucky?"
Tadashi rolled his eyes playfully. "I think I'm the one who should be asking you that."
You shrugged thoughtfully as you finished up your last pancake. "Let's just agree that we both got really lucky in finding each other, mhm?"
Tadashi grinned and pressed a syrupy kiss to your mouth. "Agreed."
———————-
"I love you." You whispered as Tadashi's arms twisted around your body and pulled you closer to his torso, snuggling further into his frame and the bed.
"I love you too." Tadashi murmured back immediately, a hand running lazily along your stomach. "You going to try to get some more sleep?" Tadashi asked after a moment of comfortable silence.
You nodded and turned over in his arms, smiling up at him before kissing him, your lips warm and firm against his own. "There'll hopefully be no nightmares this time."
"If you do have another nightmare, try to remember that it's a dream, if you can." Tadashi suggested. "I promise you that I am not going anywhere unless you ask me to."
"I know. It just...it felt so real, 'Dashi." Tadashi could tell by the tone in your voice that you were still tremendously shaken up over the dream.
Tadashi responded by pressing another soft kiss to your lips. "It's not." Tadashi said simply, tugging your body as close to his as physically possible. "I'll be here as long as you need me, __y/n__."
"I hope that you're okay with forever." You mumbled, only a little sheepishly.
"Forever with you?" Tadashi pretended to be appalled at the thought before grinning brightly at you. "I couldn't imagine a better way to spend my years."
"I love you so much." Was the only thing you could get your mouth to say, but it earned you yet another kiss from Tadashi, so you figured it was okay.
"I love you so much more." Tadashi said, because he just had to beat you at everything. Tadashi smiled gently at you, resting his forehead against yours as his eyes gazed into your own. "Get some sleep, __y/n__. I'll still be here when you wake up."
With Tadashi's comforting words in mind, you allowed yourself to drift to sleep.
That time, the only dream you had consisted of you and Tadashi feeding a little __h/c__-haired, dark eyed girl pancakes. And when you woke up, you couldn't help but hope that maybe someday that dream could become a reality.
