Very late one cold night, you felt a sudden stirring in your bed next to you. You sat up slightly and opened your eyes, looking over at your boyfriend.
"No, no, no! Please, please, no," he moaned, suddenly sweating and shaking. "Leave her alone, take me, leave her, please!"
"Steve," you whispered, slightly scared. "Steve, wake up."
"Just kill me, kill me!" He screamed and thrashed around wildly. "Please, please, just let her go!"
"Steve!" You cried, grabbing his shoulders. "Steve, it's a dream! I'm right here, wake up!"
Steve shot up suddenly, his breath ragged and his eyes wild. He stumbled out of bed and pushed his hands through his hair distraughtly.
"A-are you okay?" You asked quietly.
He looked over at you and opened his mouth to say something, but stopped and walked out of your room. You followed him into the kitchen where he was filling a glass with water. He slammed the faucet down and began gulping it down.
"Steve, please, just tell me what happened," you said quietly, placing your hands on his shoulders.
"No!" He yelled, and slammed the glass onto the counter.
It shattered into pieces on the floor and you jumped backwards. You put your hands over your mouth and backed away a little more. Steve turned towards you quickly and, instinctively, you flinched. He stopped suddenly and stared at you, his face crestfallen.
"Did you think I was going to hit you?"
"N-no," you stammered, pushing your hair behind your ear.
"You're lying," he whispered. "You always say you'd never lie to me, but you're lying to me."
"Steve, I'm sorry, I know you wouldn't, I-I don't know what I was thinking," you said, tears stinging your eyes. "I'm worried about you. This is the sixth time in three weeks."
"I'm falling apart," he murmured, leaning forward against the counter. "I don't know what's wrong with me. I can't sleep without the dream coming and now my own girlfriend is scared of me."
"Don't say that," you cried, rushing to him and putting your hands on his face. "Don't you ever, ever say that."
"What's the matter with me?" He muttered, looking over at you.
"Nothing's wrong with you, Steve. You've gone through a lot, alright?" You said. "You're going to get through this, and I'm going to be with you the entire time. I'm in this with you. I love you, Steve."
He turned completely and put his arms around you, burying his face in your neck. "I love you, Y/N."
"Come on, let's go back to bed. It's late."
You led him back to your room and into bed. Almost immediately, Steve fell back asleep, and from that night on, the nightmares became less intense each time they came. And eventually, they stopped completely.