Special thanks to reader SparkIntoAFlame for this idea!

John felt that because he was a fairly good parent, he was used to dealing with someone smaller than him having nightmares. Of course, he assumed that only applied to children. Apparently, it also applied to boyfriends.

It was a few days after Christmas, at around two in the morning. John was cuddling Alexander under the sheets, sleeping peacefully, until Alexander suddenly head butted him in the chin.

John woke up instantly, rubbing at his jaw. He looked around for the culprit, finding that Alexander was twitching wildly and clinging to John like a Puerto Rican koala. Alex's face was scrunched up and he was faintly muttering things in his sleep. John frowned and decided to wake Alex up by gently shaking him and saying his name. Alexander eventually woke up with a start, his eyes darting around and his breathing heavy.

"Alex?" John whispered. "Are you okay?"

Alexander didn't look at John for a moment. When he did, he said, "Yeah. Yeah, I...I'm okay." Alex sat up, pulling himself out of John's arms. He took a shaky breath and covered his face with his hands. John sat up, as well, and wrapped his arms around Alex's waist. He took note of how Alexander flinched.

"Did you have a nightmare?" John wondered.

Alex nodded. "Yeah. But I'm fine. It's just...it's just a stupid nightmare." Alex's voice had cracked twice.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Alexander quickly shook his head.

"Why not? You know it will come true if you don't talk about it." John knew it was a childish thing to say, but he didn't care.

"That's irrelevant. It already happened," Alex mumbled.

"Ah." John chewed on his lip for a minute. "You still don't want to talk about it, though?"

"Not really."

"Okay."

John just hugged Alexander in silence for a while.

"I want to go back to sleep," Alex said.

"Okay." They lay back down in bed. John pulled the blankets over them as Alex lay his head on John's chest. John fell asleep long before Alexander did.

Alexander woke up again a little after five. His few more hours of sleep had been restless. He managed to get out of bed without waking John, and left the room aiming to get a cup of coffee from the kitchen. However, when he got there, he saw Philip sitting at the table, wearing a large sweatshirt, with a cup on the table next to him. He was resting his head on one hand, using the other to look through his phone. He looked exhausted.

"Philip?" Alex quietly called out. "What are you doing up already?" Philip didn't even look up from his phone. It was still dark outside, so the house didn't look much different. The light from Philip's phone was the only thing to illuminate his face. "Philip?" Alexander tried again. He turned on the light, but Philip didn't even react to that. Alex sighed and turned around, looking in the cabinets for the coffee.

"I already made a pot," Philip faintly said. Alexander turned back around, but Philip was still staring at his phone. Alex glanced at the coffee pot, seeing that it did indeed have hot coffee still in it.

"Uh...thanks." Alex silently poured himself a cup of coffee. He slowly sipped at it as he awkwardly leaned against the counter. He felt the need to say something to Philip, but he didn't know what. He looked around until his eyes finally landed on Philip's sweatshirt. "University of South Carolina, huh?"

Philip finally looked up, but only for a second. "Uh...yeah. My parents went there."

"That's cool." Alexander nodded, realizing he didn't have anything else to say.

"Mom has a Ph. D. in journalism and mass communications."

"That's interest-"

"And yet she can't seem to talk to her child..."

"I...What?"

"You would think she would at least still want to see me...right?"

Alexander frowned and sat down next to Philip at the table. He finally noticed that Philip's cheeks were wet. "Philip, what's wrong?"

"Nothing. It's fine."

"You were literally just complaining about your mother."

Philip turned his head away. "No, I wasn't."

"Yes, you were."

Philip huffed. "Well, I'm not supposed to, so I wasn't."

"Saying that doesn't work in court, you know."

"This isn't court."

"Would you rather talk to your father about this?"

"No. I just...don't really want to talk about it."

"Why not?"

"Because no one thinks it's okay for me to be mad at my mom. They all expect me to hate me dad."

"But you don't hate your dad."

"No, I don't. I love him. He actually cares. Mom didn't even bother to try to care after what happened. She just left and never looked back. I don't even have a way to contact her." Philip sounded like he was going to cry again. Alex gently placed his hand on Philip's shoulder. "And...and I know she wanted a new life because she loved dad and was upset because he didn't love her back, but...but she can't just do that...she can't just..." Philip's voice cut out as he began to cry. Alexander wrapped Philip in a hug; the boy hugged Alexander back.

Alexander let Philip cry on his shoulder for a while. He felt bad for the kid, but he also felt like he understood, somewhat. It was also comforting to know that Philip trusted him.

"Let's cheer you up, huh?" Alex suggested, patting Philip's back. Philip nodded. "Your father won't wake up for hours, I'm sure. How about I make us a box of macaroni and cheese for breakfast?"

"Okay," Philip sniffled. He lifted his head off of Alex's shoulder and wiped his eyes.

"We can watch a movie, too, if you want. Get your mind off of things."

"Okay," Philip said again, his voice sounding more even. "Can...can we watch Deadpool?"

"I don't know...does your father allow you to watch it?"

"No," Philip sighed, pouting.

"Well, hurry up and put it on, then."

Philip's face lit up. He smiled faintly and got up, hurrying to the television.

As Alexander started making their pasta breakfast, he thought of something. Philip has trusted him enough to tell him this deep issue he had. Meanwhile, Alex trusted John more than anyone, but had refused to tell John about his own problems. It wasn't like he was necessarily afraid to tell people; he just didn't like them knowing. But he trusted and loved John, and he was sure John felt the same. So, as he watched a highly inappropriate movie with a fifteen year old, he built up the courage to speak.

It was a little after ten when John woke up again. The first thing he noticed was that his bed was significantly colder than it had been before. He frowned when he realized Alexander wasn't in bed with him. John heard noises coming from the living room, so he got out of bed and headed that direction.

Alex and Philip were watching cartoons, empty bowls laying on the floor next to them. Philip was wearing his mother's old sweatshirt from college, which was still a little too big for him.

"Hey, why did no one wake me up?" John asked as he stood behind the couch. He mussed up Philip's hair and kissed Alex on the head.

"We didn't want to," Philip stated.

"Aw, boo." John watched as Alexander stood up and walked into the kitchen. Alex waved John over, and John obliged.

"I...I want to tell you something," Alexander said, keeping his voice down. John furrowed his eyebrows, stepping a bit closer.

"What is it? Is something wrong?"

"I just..." Alex ran a hand through his hair. "I wanted to tell you about my nightmare."

John relaxed slightly. "Oh. You don't have to."

"No, I want to. You...you deserve to know."

"Okay."

Alexander took a deep breath. "So, um...when I was a kid..." Alex took another breath. "When I was a kid, my dad..." Alex swallowed. "My dad...he-he would, um...he physically and verbally abused me and my mom and my brother." Alexander had said that last part quickly. John felt his heart begin to beat faster. "I...I still have nightmares about it, obviously, and I figured that you should know. In case it happens again. Which it will."

"Alexander..." John stepped closer, gently touching Alex's arms. "That's horrible. I'm so-"

"Sorry," Alex finished. "You don't need to be. It's over. It has been for a long time. I'm okay, now." John still frowned at Alexander. Alex placed his hands on John's shoulders. "Seriously, John." John just sighed and hugged Alex, who rested his head on John's chest.

"I love you," John mumbled.

"I know," Alexander replied. "I love you, too." John softly kissed Alex's head. Alexander nuzzled against John, closing his eyes.

He didn't realize how tired he was until he was jolted away from sleep when John asked, "Did you make macaroni and cheese for breakfast?"