Phan Oneshots

When You Can't Sleep at Night

Summary: Dan has insomnia and his mum takes him for drives whenever he can't sleep. One day, she takes him to a cafe where he meets a blue-eyed man with charcoal stains on his arms who gives him a reason to keep coming back.
Word Count: 7513
A/N: This was originally made for the phanfic exchange on tumblr for user ctrlphan (: I waited a bit to upload it so I could post when I haven't in a while but I just couldn't resist and decided to post today! Enjoy!

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Insomnia (n) - The perception or complaint of inadequate or poor-quality sleep due to a number of factors, such as difficulty falling asleep, waking up frequently during the night with difficulty returning to sleep, waking up too early in the morning, or unrefreshing sleep.

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Dan was a creature of the night. A person who walks through the day like a zombie, but who can barely even close his eyes when the moon is shining above. It was the same every night - Dan would tiredly crash onto his bed, waiting for the peacefulness of sleep to overtake him, but knowing it wouldn't. His eyes would hurt, stinging to the point of tears, and his head would spin, wondering if there was even such a thing as sleep.

There were a few moments, however, when sleep would finally overtake his body. He would become lost in a mindless wander between darkness and light, before he'd awake again, and realize he had only been sleeping for a few hours. On days like those, he couldn't tell if he felt refreshed, or if he was even more tired than before.

His mum was always helpful during these nights, understanding when he would wake her up in the middle of the night to tired eyes and a begging face. She was Dan's best friend in all honesty, and he was beyond lucky that she was a stay at home mother who didn't have anywhere to be in the morning. She could take care of him with open arms and a cup of steamed milk, with a hint of vanilla essence tinging the liquid froth.

He let out a long sigh, pursing his lips and squinting in the darkness until he saw his alarm clock, the red numbers burning into his brain. He grimaced when he realized it was half four, tearing his eyes away from the burning crimson to instead focus on the small sliver of light poking out from his window shades. It was no doubt from the moon; nothing else would be able to illuminate the night sky with such soft silver.

It was then that he found himself sitting up in bed, his feet making small shuffling sounds as they took him over to the window, that this hand reached out to pull the blinds up. He was greeted with a kiss by the night sky, small pinpricks of light shattering the darkness. Dan closed his eyes and chuckled, thinking about a different world where he was a shining star in the black abyss and the moon was his mum.

"My mum looks so pretty tonight," he snickered to himself before rolling his eyes at his mere childishness. Speaking of his mother, he decided it was probably time to go get her. Even if he was eighteen, he still relied heavily on her. Dan was actually just a big baby, in all honesty.

The floorboards creaked under his socked feet, making him cringe each time. He prayed he wouldn't wake his father up, thanking the lord that his dad was a pretty heavy sleeper. With a gentle whisper of the door brushing against the carpet, Dan opened the door to his parent's room. He didn't have to say anything as he nudged his mum's shoulder. When her eyes cracked open, she gave him a light smile and immediately got out of bed, following him out of her room until they were able to talk at their normal level without the risk of waking his father up.

"Trouble sleeping again?" Dan's mother asked quietly. She shuffled around the kitchen, grabbing Dan's favourite mug (a white one with a picture of a cat on it, 'Crazy Cat Lady' scrawled on the cup in brazen black). He watched as she poured a teaspoon of vanilla in the mug before adding the milk and popping it in the microwave.