Ok! Now that Spooky Week is over it's back to cute imagines instead of dark ones!
ALSO THAT PICTURE IS THE REASON IM ALIVE IT IS EVERYTHING

He raises his hand.

You recognize the action immediately and tighten your body, bracing yourself for what's going to happen next.

But it doesn't come.

"It's all your fault," he spats. "You deserve this."

Then he hits you.

And then you wake up.

You sit bolt upright, a small scream escaping your lips. You're breathing heavily, and your heart is racing. Beads of sweat drip down your forehead. Your entire body seems frozen in fear. You can't move.

It takes your eyes a few moments to adjust to the darkness, and your mind a few moments to adjust to your surroundings.

You're in your bed. A blanket is wrapped loosely around your legs. Everything is dark.

With your chest heaving, you force yourself to move. You swing your legs over the side of the bed and stand up. Your entire body seems to shake, from head to toe.

You lick your chapped and faded lips and decide immediately a drink of water will calm you down. It always does when you have nightmares. Every other night you wake up screaming. You've almost made it a routine: nightmare, wake up in a cold sweat, go downstairs, get a drink, sit in darkness for a while, go back to bed.

So that's what you do.

You will your legs to move, one foot in front of the other, and try to shake those terrible scenes from flashing through your mind.

But you can't seem to forget. You never will be able to.

You slowly creep out of your bedroom and down the hall. When you walk past your older brother's room, the floor creaks underneath you. You wince. The last thing you need is him to worry about you any more.

You tiptoe down the stairs, your hand tightly gripping the railing as not to fall. The entire house is pitch black.

You keep your hand trailing along the wall as you make your way through the first floor of your flat. The wall is cold underneath your palm.

Your feet falter. Your heart skips a beat, and your breath catches in your throat.

The kitchen light is on.

You take a step back, only out of pure shock that someone in your house would be up this late. Every single time you came down in the past, everyone was asleep.

Your mind quickly races trying to think of an excuse. You were thirsty. That's all. No nightmares. No flashbacks.

Squinting to be able to see through the brightness, you manage to make out a figure standing over the kitchen sink. As your eyes adjust, you notice it's not your mother, not your father, not even your older brother.

It's your older brother's best friend.

Your older brother's best friend that you've had a crush on for as long as you can remember.

The way his black hair sweeps across his forehead. The way his eyes are a perfect mix of blue and yellow and green. The way he's quiet and thoughtful, but also funny and creative and optimistic and...

You try not to sigh right then and there.

...perfect.

"P-Phil?" You stutter. Your voice comes out as a squeak.

The figure turns around and his eyes widen in surprise.

"(Y/N)?" Phil asks. His voice is low and husky from sleep. Just the sound of it makes your heart beat faster.

"What..." he clears his throat. "What are you doing here?"

"I live here," you state simply.

"Oh." Phil looks down and shakes his head once, his messy fringe falling out of his eyes.

"What are you doing here?" You ask to break the awkward silence.

"Dan said I could stay the night." He shrugs. "I couldn't sleep."

"Me neither."

"(Y/N)," Phil whispers. It sends a shiver down your spine. "Why are you crying?"

You didn't even notice until he pointed it out, but he's right. Salty tears roll out of your puffy eyes and down your blushing cheeks.

You're at a loss for words.

For a split second, the idea of telling his about your nightmares crosses your mind.

"I-It...I..t-t-the...I ha-a-d..." You brain doesn't seem to want to cooperate with your mouth, so you stand there, awkwardly stuttering out sounds instead of words.

"Bad dream?" Phil guesses, raising his eyebrows.

You swallow and nod. "Y-Ye..."

"Must've been a pretty bad dream for you to cry." He half-laughs, but there's no humor in his voice.

"Mmm," you nod again.

"Wanna...talk about it?" Immediately after he finishes his question, he winces. "You don't have to. I just...thought talking about it would help." He shrugs. "That's what they all say, anyways."

"I-I guess." You shudder at the thought of retelling your nightmare, but maybe he's right. Talking about it could help. You've never told anyone besides your older brother before. And he didn't exactly handle it very well.

"Do you want to...I dunno, sit down somewhere?" Phil's voice is still a whisper. Something about his quiet, gentle voice makes you feel calm and anxious at the same time. "This is your flat, not mine."

"Y-You've been here so many times before; you must know your way around by now," you whisper in reply.

"This is kind of my second home, isn't it?" He asks, the corner of his lips tugging up into a smile. He nods towards the doorway. "Living room?"

You nod, and the two of you walk down the hallway and into the lounge.

"So," Phil says as you sit on the couch. You on the end, Phil in the middle next to you. "Tell me about this bad dream."

You frown cross your arms. "Much worse than a bad dream," you murmur. "More like a nightmare."

Phil shifts uncomfortably next to you.

"It was my boyfriend," you sigh.

"B-Boyfriend?" Phil squeaks, his voice cracking a little.

You shake your head. "Ex, rather."

"Ye—I mean...oh."

You glance at Phil suspiciously, but you can't really see him well in the dark.

"He was..." You curl your toes, cringing at the thought. "Abusive when we were together. Really..." you look down. "Really abusive."

"(Y/N)," Phil interjects. "You don't—"

"It's okay," you say. "I just..." Tears start rolling out out of your eyes again. "D-Dreamt about...h-h-him...hitting me...a-and..." your voice trails off.

"(Y/N)," Phil says, putting his hand lightly on your arm. "I'm sorry."

"No." You shake your head and wipe away your tears. "N-No, it's okay. It's over. Thank you. F-For listening."

The corner of Phil's lips turns into a small smile.

The two of you look through the darkness at each other for a few silent moments, but it's not an awkward silence. It's a good silence.

But something must be done about that silence.

You close your eyes just as Phil leans in and closes the gap between you. His soft lips meet yours for a just few seconds, but it feels like it lasts forever.

You pull away and take a small, short breath before kissing him again. He puts his hand on your cheek and leans into you, deepening the kiss.

Just as his hand goes to the small of your back and your hand goes to his hair, you pull away slightly.

"We...we can't do this."

"W-Why?" Phil whispers against your skin. "I-I...I like you, (Y/N)."

"And I like you too, but—"

"But what?"

You chew on the inside of your check and advert your eyes from his. "It's Dan."

"Dan?" Phil asks, shaking his head. "What about Dan?"

"He would never let me date anyone!" You rush out. "After what happened, he's been so overprotective of me he'll murder any guy that even looks at me!"

"That's ridiculous. I'm his best friend!" He laughs incredulously. "Don't you think he would trust me?"

You shake your head. "You don't understand—"

"No, you don't understand," Phil interrupts. "I fancy you, (Y/N)." He looks down and licks his lips nervously. "A lot. I love you."

He laughs a little; even in the dark you can see his smile.

"Ever since I first saw you when you were five and I was eight."

You smile and look down, a light blush dusting your cheeks. "Phil—"

He leans closer to you, and your blush grows.

"Remember when I kissed you after school that one day?"

You nod and smile.

You remember that day so vividly. It was after school, after a pep rally. On his way out Phil stopped by your locker, tapped your shoulder, and kissed you right on the lips as soon as you turned around.

"Remember when I was your date to homecoming because your actual date was a jerk and stood you up?"

You sigh, but smile a bit to yourself anyways.

"Dan kept glaring at me the entire night."

You look at him, even though you can't see him very well in the dark. "He did?"

"He did." Phil bites his lip and nods.

You half-laugh. "Why?"

"He saw me with you."

Your smile falters. "I told you he was over protective."

"And now he's even more protective because of..." Phil's voice trails off.

Your ex.

You stay silent for a long while, simply listening to the sounds that you only seem to hear in the middle night. Birds chirping (way too soon, in your opinion), the occasional car speeding past, raindrops hitting the windows softly. It's all calming, but you feel anything but calm.

"I like you, (Y/N)," Phil says suddenly, breaking the silence.

"I like you too," you yawn and lean your head on Phil's shoulder. "We've already established this."

"Let's just..." Phil sighs and rests his head on top of yours. "Not tell Dan, yeah?"

The corner of your lips tugs up into smirk.

"Yeah."

♡To be continued...♡