𝐀 𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲.

ɴɪɢʜᴛᴍᴀʀᴇ xʟ

"Gar!" Jason whispered, gently shaking his friends shoulder. "Bro, wake up."

Garfield bolted upright, his breath coming in shallow gasps as his eyes wildly searched the room. "Hey, shhh, it's okay," Jason tried soothing, his hand still gently gripping Gar's shoulder.

His other hand reached up, brushing Garfield's hair away from his face. "It was just a bad dream."

Gar's breath steadied itself as his eyes focused on Jason, who offered him a comforting smile.

"I-uh," Garfield blinked, attempting to clear his head,"Did I wake you?"

Jason shook his head. "No, I couldn't sleep. I heard you when I was about to leave the room."

"Sorry.." Gar murmured, his voice distant.

"Hey," Jason spoke, turning Gar's face to look at him, "you okay?"

Garfield nodded but Jason could see the fear and pain still etched across his face, "It was just a nightmare," Gar shrugged, pulling his head from Jason's hand to stare at the wall. "It's no big deal.."

From the way Gar's voice subtly shook Jason knew that he was either calming down or pretending he was calming down. Either way, it was evident that this was a big deal.

"Why are you starting to get nightmares?" Jason asked, a worried look on his face.

"I don't know.." Gar shook his head, feeling Jason's eyes on him it wasn't because of the other dream he had this time it was about his past. "It's just...I don't know.."

Jason wanted to know but he wasn't going to push it, he needs to help him some other way. "Do you need anything? I can go get you some milk if you want," Jason turned to leave.

"No!" Gar's hand flew out, grabbing onto Jason's arm. His cheeks reddened as Jason turned to look at him in confusion. "I mean, uh, don't leave me. Please. I don't want to be alone.."

"Okay, well do you want me to read you a story?" Jason chuckles at his own joke but stopped immediately when Garfield nodded.

"My mom used to read to me when I had nightmares.." Gar frowns at the only memory of his mother.

Jason quickly felt bad guess he has no choice but to just read one story, "Scoot over."

Garfield did with no hesitation, giving Jason the space he needed he went for one of the books Dick had given him the other day, it wasn't childish but it wasn't for adults either it was just right.

Jason sat beside Gar hesitantly, he then started to read.

At first, Garfield was bored, only listening to be polite. Then, he got into the story. He found himself craning his neck to look at the pages.

Gar was now pressed against Jason, his head hovering above his shoulder. His eyes scanned the pages as Jason read, rereading interesting parts or jumping ahead to the pinnacle of each action.

When his head began to feel heavy he rested on Jason's shoulder, his eyes still able to explore the pages.

Gar could feel his eyes growing tired as he struggled to keep them open. They fluttered shut and he was left only with Jason's voice. That was enough though.

Jason pronounced everything correctly. Who would've thought he'd be so good at reading, Gar sighed contently as Jason's voice lulled him to sleep.

Although it had felt like only a few minutes, when Garfield's eyes fluttered open he awoke to silence. Or almost silence, the only sound being Jason's steady breathing. He was slouched against the headboard.

Then soon he drifted off to sleep, with no bad dream or any dream at all, he was left with a peaceful darkness..