My Hero Academia- One Shots

Anxious- Tamaki Amajiki

-Author's note- I have over a thousand reads and I'm so happy I could cry! Thank you so much to everyone who's taken the time to read, request, comment, etc it all means so much to me! I have a part 2 coming up for a Todoroki one shot, I just felt like I needed to space out my Todoroki stories a bit so have some of this angel

TRIGGER WARNING- Mentions of anxiety/panic attacks. If you feel that this may cause a negative reaction, please don't read. However, this will also describe grounding and another technique for relieving anxiety, so maybe it'll actually be helpful?

Pacing through the halls, you ran your hands nervously through your hair, frantically tugging at fistfuls of h/c locks. Why was this happening? You'd felt on edge all day and could tell there was a rising sense of panic, but you couldn't distinguish the actual trigger. 

You had excused yourself from class a few minutes ago to just pace and try and distance yourself from other students, hoping it would be enough of a scenery change to calm down. It wasn't. 

Even though you logically knew nothing was wrong, you felt your lungs squeeze and your heart pound loudly in your chest, desperate to escape. "There's nothing wrong," you murmured to yourself. "It's okay, I'm okay," you repeated, clinging on to some small hope that those words alone would be enough to still the surge of fear. 

You glanced up at the clock every few seconds, hoping time would leap forward so you could go home. Sudden footfalls echoed down one end of the hallway and your eyes grew wide. There was absolutely no way you could explain what was happening if they asked. They would ask what was wrong, and you knew nothing was wrong but your body wasn't cooperating. You turned away from the approaching steps and quickly scanned for an empty classroom before slipping in and accidentally slamming the door. 

Now you were trapped. No, you reminded yourself. You're not trapped, you're just anxious. Hot tears stung the corners of your eyes and you sat on the floor with your back on the professor's desk. "I hate this, I hate this so much," you sobbed, once more grabbing at fistfuls of hair. The pressure of the desk on your back was at least slightly reassuring, but our breathing had become even more rapid as you became desperate for air.

A small noise startled you from the depths of panic, a chair scraping against the floor. Oh god, the classroom hadn't been empty. One of the older students stared wide-eyed at you on the floor, shaking slightly. He looked like he was the one feeling anxious. 

You quickly rubbed your eyes on your sleeves. "I'm s-so sorry," you stuttered. "I-I-I-I," you pursed your lips. When your anxiety got high, you couldn't help but stutter. Your heart pounded loudly in your ears and you wanted to scream and run out of the room. Were you shaking, too? It was hard to tell. 

Despite all this, the older student just stared. His cheeks were painted a bright red and pointed ears stuck out under a mass of fluffy black hair. He slowly walked towards you, and you clenched your hands into fists. "I-it's okay," he said, sitting next to you on the floor. "T-tell me f-five things you can, you can see." What? Was he nuts? Sure thing, strange student, let me just get right on that. "It'll help, I-I promise."

You took a deep breath. It was worth a try. Who knows how long you had been pacing in the hallway, obviously you needed some help getting through this. "T-the floor. The tile is uneven. A-and, there's rows of desks. There's, uhm, there's extra chairs in the back. Three of them. The curtains are up on the windows, and... and I can see the front gate."

You looked at him expectantly. The other student had been watching you and quickly turned his gaze away. "O-okay, four things you can t-touch, now. Good job."

You splayed your hands against the tile of the floor. "The tile f-feels cool. It's nice. And, uhm," you raised your hands to your uniform. "The cloth. And," you thought for a second before reaching to feel your knotted hair. "M-my hair. It's so messy, oh no, I did this, I'm-" a frantic sob stopped you from speaking. 

The other student gently grabbed your hand in his own, palms facing each other. "T-three. That's only, only three." He said.

Taking another ragged breath, you nodded. "Your hand. I feel your hand." His cheeks grew bright red and his ears twitched cutely. You sat patiently, waiting for the next command and he frantically pulled his hand away. 

"T-three things you can h-hear," he stammered, his voice softer than before. You concentrated on listening, eager to appease the other student. 

A clock ticked loudly behind you on the wall. "The clock," you said, pausing briefly. "And I can hear some birds outside, I think." You chewed your lip thoughtfully. "And you!" You said, maybe a little too loudly because the boy jumped a little. "I can hear your breathing," you corrected, a little embarrassed at frightening the person trying to help you.

"G-good. Good j-job," he said. "N-now two things you can, that you can smell."

You closed your eyes obediently and took in a deep breath. "I put on perfume this morning, and," you breathed in deeply again. "There's something else. Food, maybe?" You opened your eyes and looked at your companion, hoping that this response would be good enough.

"Y-yeah, it's my lunch today," he said, still refusing to meet your gaze. Your eyes grew wide in realization.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry! I had no idea, I mean, I thought this classroom was empty. I didn't know you had been using it, I'm really sorry!" The words tumbled out of your mouth quickly and he shrunk away in response.

"N-no, it's okay. I d-don't like eating in the lunchroom, it's t-too loud," he mumbled, briefly meeting your gaze before snapping his head in another direction. He stood up and offered you a tentative hand to help you stand. You took it and felt your face grew warm. 

As he wandered over to where he had been sitting, you could smell the soba he had brought and your mouth watered a little. 

"T-the last part is o-one thing you can t-taste," he stammered, gesturing to his meal. 

You shook your head aggressively. "No, I couldn't! You've been so much help, I couldn't just take your meal after all you've done for me." You paused and glanced at him sheepishly. "I don't even know your name."

He stiffened and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "T-Tamaki A-Amijiki." He bowed a little. "P-please, I want to share with y-you." Enchanting dark eyes finally met yours, pleading for you to agree. 

You thought for a moment. Where did your anxiety go? Your heart had returned to normal and your lungs didn't feel like they were being crushed. You hadn't even realized it, but through talking with Tamaki and focusing on his requests, you had managed to work through an anxiety attack. "Tamaki," you asked slowly, "what did you do?"

His eyes grew wide and he frantically touched his fingers in patters to his thumb. "It's c-called grounding, a-and it h-helps with anxiety." Still tapping in sequence, he focused intently on his hands. "I-I get anxious often and I-I wanted to help you."

Smiling softly, you gestured at his hands. "Is that for anxiety, too? I didn't mean to make you nervous. I'm very sorry."

"N-No! It's not your fault!" He raised his voice and his pointed ears drooped sadly. "Everything actually makes me nervous." Tamaki stared intently at a spot on the floor, feeling miserable. You placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, causing him to jump again.

"Thank you, Tamaki. Thank you for helping me. I'm Y/N L/N." You smiled at him, and when his eyes met yours his shoulders dropped a little. 

"Y/N," he said softly, testing out the way it sounded. "Will you please have lunch with me?"