Michael Clifford Imagines/Preferences

You Can't Sleep

It was 2:01 in the morning and you'd been having a hard time sleeping since you'd watched all of those scary movies. You knew it wasn't real, but were still paranoid whenever you heard something. You'd been up for hours binge watching Friends to try and calm down, but it wasn't helping. You knew it was late but decided to text Michael, he was usually still awake playing video games or listening to music. Right after you texted him, he called, "hey babe, why can't you sleep?" You could hear his video games in the background and figured he probably had you on speaker phone and was going to be up for a while, so you told him everything.

 When you finished talking you heard the noise in the background stop and he picked up the phone, "y/n, answer me honestly, are you scared?" 

You sighed and looked around your room, as much as you hated to admit it, you were terrified, "yes, Mikey, I'm scared, I thought I could handle it, and I can't. I haven't slept well in days and it's getting worse." 

You could hear shuffling and movement, and then you heard keys jangle, "I'll be there in a few minutes okay? Just keep talking to me while I drive, I'll hook my phone up to the car." You kept talking about the episode you were watching, and hearing Michael talk was really comforting.

10 minutes later Michael pulled up to the front of the house and you ran up and hugged him as he came in. "Hey, you okay babe?" You shook your head no and buried your face in his chest.

 He walked with you over the couch and sat down, "so, do you want to try going to sleep? Do you want to just watch tv until you're ready for bed?" 

You snuggled up to him and held on tightly, "I don't know, I can't sleep without getting nightmares and I'm too scared to shut all of the lights off." 

He kissed the top of your head and stroked your hair, "it's okay, we don't have to shut them all off okay? We can just dim them a bit, save some energy." You slowly let go as he got up and walked over to the light switch. When he sat back down he pulled you close and put his beanie on you, "I'm here, okay? I'll hold you all night if you need me to. I'm here for you." 

After about 2 more episodes, you fell asleep in his arms. He gently laid you down across the couch and went to go grab some pillows and blankets from you room. When he came back he put the blanket over you and tucked you in, he then made himself a bed out of pillows and slept on the floor next to you. He didn't want to fall asleep too soon, in case you had a nightmare, so he started watching another episode. 

 He was only a few minutes in when he noticed your breathing was starting to pick up, and you kept tossing and turning. "y/n? Baby? Are you okay?"

 You didn't respond and started whispering, "stop, stop, stop, no!" 

As you progressively got louder Michael lightly touched your arm, "y/n, sweetheart, wake up, you're having a nightmare!" 

You woke up sweating and looked like you were about to cry. "Mikey, I- I don't, he was- it was-" 

Michael sat down next to you and hugged you tightly, "hey, everything is all right, it was a bad dream. It wasn't real, you're fine." You couldn't speak and Michael didn't mind, he sat there comforting you for a while.

 "Come on, that must have been scary, let's get you some tea to calm down." He held your hand as he walked over to the kitchen and made you both some relaxing tea your mom had got you a few weeks ago. When the two of you sat back down he tried to get you to talk about the dream, "you don't have to, I just think it might make you feel better." You explained to him what happened and he looked worried the entire time. "Michael, I'm glad you're here, but it just freaks me out still. In my dream you got hurt and I was by myself again." He looked down and then pulled out his phone and typed something, you thought it was just a memo to himself or something.

The two of you sat there talking for ten minutes, but you still didn't feel any better. Then, someone knocked on the door lightly, and Michael got up to go answer it. Mysterious guest at 4 o'clock in the morning, this has horror movie written all over it. But then you saw the guest, or should I say guests, enter with sleeping bags. "Hi y/n! Michael told us you were having some trouble sleeping by yourself, so we're here to keep you company!" Calum hugged you and then went to set up his sleeping bag next to where Michael had set up his bed. 

Luke sat down next to you and handed you a stuffed penguin, "helps me sometimes. Try it." 

You giggled and looked at Ashton setting up his pillows, "you guys didn't have to do this, I can't depend on you sleeping here every time I have a nightmare." 

He walked up and held your hand, "no, but there are times when a friend is having a hard time and needs you. This is one of those times, and we're happy to be here."

 After Luke went to go set up his spot, Michael sat next to you and held your hand, "So, if anything happens to me, you still have three other people who are willing to fight any monster to protect you."

 You smiled and hugged him, "thank you, but I feel like you're babying me."

 Calum tossed a blanket over the two of you and laughed, "we all have gotten scared before, and we know how it feels to be alone. We don't mind being here."

Everyone settled into their beds and you watched another episode before you finally fell asleep. When you woke up from another bad dream, you saw the four of them turn towards you, ready to help. Ashton and Calum both went to get you some tissues and juice. Luke sat on one side of you and tried to calm you down, "squeeze the penguin, it helps." You squeezed as hard as your could and he was right, it did help. Michael sat on your other side, and rubbed your back, "shhh, just take some deep breaths." After you had finally calmed down and everyone was settled, you went to sleep for the third time that night. 

When you woke up, it was 5 in the afternoon. The guys were sitting around the coffee table eating dinner and playing video games with the sound off. Michael sat next to you, "hey sleepy head, feeling better?" You nodded and tried to comprehend how you had slept for 12 hours. Ashton handed you a glass of water, "you said you hadn't slept for more than two hours in days, so we figured we would let you sleep."

 You took a sip and looked at them, "thanks for staying guys. But you really didn't have to stay all day for me."

 Calum smiled, "well we didn't want you to wake up panicking again and not be here if you needed us. Besides, we just played games all day, it was fun." 

Admittedly, you were still tired, even after sleeping all day. So after staying up a couple hours, the guys went home. You were dreading going to sleep; you knew the nightmares were going to come back now that you felt alone again. It was going to take a few days for things to go back to normal. As you were about to turn on an episode of Friends, someone knocked at the door. When you opened it, you saw the four guys standing there with backpacks and sleeping bags. Michael kissed you as he walked in, "we needed a change of clothes for tonight, you didn't think you were getting rid of that quickly, did you?"