"Daddy I can't sleep" Dil whines as he's standing beside his parents bed. Dan grunts. "Phil can you please read him another bedtime story?" Phil stands up while sighing and turns to Dan. "You know that doesn't help, I already read him two stories tonight." Dan doesn't respond to him. Phil picks up Dil and walks away. When they are in Dil's bedroom Phil takes a seat beside his bed. Phil clears his throat and says: "Dil why do you have so much trouble sleeping? Is there something bothering you?" Dil keeps quiet and just stares at his father.
"Did you have a nightmare?" still no response. It slowly started to freak Phil out. "Dil…I'm getting a little wor-"
"I have nightmares…" Dil interrupted him. Phil just looks at him sadly. He gives him his favourite plushy and tucks him in.
The next morning Phil comes downstairs and let's himself fall into the couch. Dan walks into the living room with two cups of coffee and sits down next to him. "What's wrong Phil?" he asks. "I'm worried about Dil, he has been very quiet the last few days and looks really sad." "Don't worry about it maybe he's having some rough days he'll be all right" Phil turns to Dan and says: "He is having nightmares Dan, he won't be all right if we don't do something about this" Phil's voice cracks. Dan stands up and walks to the piano in the corner of the living room. He sits down and starts playing Phil's favourite song 'Für Elise' to calm him down. Dil walks into the room and runs immediately to Dan. "Daddy I wanna play the piano with you!" he exclaims. Dan smiles and picks Dil up to place him on his lap. Dan starts playing Twinkle twinkle little star and Dil starts singing really loudly. He really likes it when his father plays piano especially if he's playing songs he likes to sing. He hopes he gets to play as good as his dad one day.
That night Phil hears Dil in his room again. He wakes up Dan and asks him to go check on him. Dan grunts and walks sleepy towards Dil's room. He knocks and opens the door. "Dil what are you doing? Shouldn't you be sleeping?" "Daddy I had nightmares again I can't sleep because of it." Dan sits down cross-legged in front of him. "What are your nightmares about then?" "It's about this really big monster who keeps chasing me and I can't escape him, but I keep running in the dream and it doesn't stop" Dan thinks about something he can do right now. "Dil, what is your favourite book?" "I don't know.. maybe Flat Stanley?" "Well, let's read that book together and read more books until you fall asleep" Dan stands up and grabs a pile of books out of Dil's bookcase. They take a seat on his bed and Dil snuggles up to his Dad. They read until deep in the night. Dan yawns and closes the book. He looks at his son who by now fell asleep in his dads arms.
The next morning Dan is playing the piano downstairs. Dil is also awake and listens to his father on the couch. When Phil walks into the room he smiles at the sight of his husband and son who are spending their morning very peacefully. When Phil takes a seat besides Dil he notices how he is very relaxed because of Dan playing the piano. Dil yawns and falls asleep on the couch. When Phil looks at Dan he gets the perfect idea. "Dan!" he exclaims. "I have the perfect solution for making sure Dil sleeps at night!" Dan turns to Phil and looks curious at him. "What if you play the piano for Dil right before he goes to bed to relax him. Obviously it works." "Well, we can try" Dan says and smiles.
They try it that night right before Dil goes to sleep and it actually worked. Dil is happy again and doesn't seem so tired every morning. From that day on Dan keeps playing the piano for dil, and sometimes Dil even pretends to still have nightmares just to hear his dad play his favourite songs even more.