100 moods Challenge
Title: Stay Awake
Fandom: Jumper
Characters: Griffin/David
Prompt: #8. Awake
Word Count: 1085
Rating: G
Warnings/Spoilers: Hints at events happened in Griffin's Story
Summary: Griffin has nightmares. Apparently, so does David.
Griffin didn't sleep as much as a regular person. David slept eight hours. Sometimes even nine or ten, maybe eleven if he felt particularly lazy. Griffin stared at David, who dozed on his couch. He moaned a little and shifted in his sleep. Griffin couldn't do that. At most he slept five, maybe six if he was lucky enough not to be plagued by nightmares.
He shuddered at the thought alone. The nightmares were the reason he hated going to bed. He despised them, despised them with a vengence. Mostly because he knew they were real. The images of his loved ones bloodied, dead, accusing him... He woke up trembling, covered in a sheen of sweat. David seemed not to know. And Griffin was keen on keeping it that way.
Griffin hugged his knees. His parents standing all bloodied and broken chastising him about lying. Consuelo calling him devil-child and throwing holy water at him while Sam wore a disappointed look on his face. Alejandra cursing him for ruining her family and her life. EV… Griffin choked back a sob. EV wailing at her dead father’s body. Then her mother’s. And her brother’s. EV’s lifeless body.
Now it was Griffin who was crying.
He knew EV was still alive. The last time he saw her she walked away from him, but that didn’t matter at night. In his nightmares she was dead. Dead by his fault. All of them were dead. He buried his face in his knees.
He never woke up screaming thankfully. Instead he woke covered in sweat, his heart racing and images of death haunting him for hours after. Whenever he woke like that, he sat in a chair near the bed and watched David. The American, who used to be a source of frustration, was now Griffin’s support.
Merely watching him relaxed him. Most of the time. On some nights, the presence of David made things worse. It made Griffin realise he still had so much to lose. On those nights, it was hard to even look at David.
Griffin burrowed his face deeper in his knees and a scream filled his ears. He looked up. That wasn’t him.
He looked at the couch where David sat up straight, his chest heaving and tears streaming down his face.
“David?” Griffin stood up from his seat and moved to sit on the couch. “What’s wrong?”
“Sorry.” David wiped a hand across his eyes. “Just a nightmare. I’m sorry I woke you.”
Griffin’s heart ached at that. “No. Don’t be sorry, you didn’t wake me.” Griffin moved closer and pulled him into a hug. “Never apologise because of nightmares.” He stroked David’s hair. The taller brunette sniffed as he curled into a ball, his head on Griffin’s chest. “I have nightmares, too,” Griffin admitted quietly.
He felt David lift his head to look at him.
“You?”
“Yeah.”
“But you're not afraid of anything.”
Griffin couldn’t help but let out a laugh. “I’m flattered that you have such a high opinion of me, but it's wrong. I'm not fearless.”
“What are your nightmares about?” David asked, before he flinched. “Sorry, I’m being nosy again. You don’t have to answer that.”
He looked down. He could ignore the question. He let out a sigh as he ran a hand through his unruly hair. “My family.” He could feel David look up at him. He didn’t look back, instead he stared straight ahead. “Friends.” His eyes darted to the couch. “People I loved.”
David’s hand found his.
“It isn’t fair, is it?” he murmured softly. “This life. Our lives. Any of it.”
If he’d heard those words any other time, Griffin would have rolled his eyes and told him, plainly, that life wasn’t fair. Now, though…
“No. It isn’t.”
They sat there in silence for a few minutes. David’s eyes stayed closer longer the more they sat there. Eventually he sat up. Griffin looked at him curiously.
“You should leave.”
To say Griffin was hurt was putting it lightly. “Yeah. Yeah, sure.” He got up stiffly.
“Yeah, wouldn’t want to trap you under me.”
Griffin stopped in his tracks. He turned back to the brunette. “What?”
“I feel myself falling back asleep. I wanted to give you a chance to escape,” he said with a rue smile.
The tension left Griffin instantly. “You dork.” It was cute how affronted David got. Like a bird with his feathers all ruffled. “Come on. Get up.” Griffin started walking to his bedroom. “Maybe a real bed will help against the nightmares.”
He heard the couch creak and David’s padded footsteps following him. He glanced over his shoulder, and snorted. David was still wrapped up in his blanket. Part of it trailed over the ground, following him like a lost puppy. Griffin couldn’t help the smile that graced his lips.
Griffin waited in the doorway for David to enter. David did so cautiously, walking in with hesitant steps. He looked around as if something would jump out and attack him. Considering it was Griffin’s room, it wasn’t even all that implausible. However, since Griffin knew nothing would happen, he grew impatient.
“Come on, already. Hurry up. Before you fall asleep standing up.”
“I’m not that tired.” Still, he got moving and climbed into the bed. Immediately he curled up into a ball and closed his eyes.
“Sure you’re not.”
David made a noise in protest, and curled up even more. He let out a long, contended sigh.
A sad smile snuck onto Griffin’s lips as he watched David relax in his bed. How at ease he looked there. He was so lost in thought that he didn’t notice that David opened one eye at first. Until he spoke up.
“Hey. You coming or what?”
Griffin startled. “Wha?”
David nodded to the space next to him. “You gonna join me already?”
“You…” Griffin had trouble thinking. “You want me to… join you?”
David sat back up, his own blanket slipping off one shoulder. “Come on.” It was almost a whine. The look David shot him was very tempting.
“Okay,” he heard his own voice say. It shook Griffin out of his daze and he climbed into bed next to David.
David wrapped a piece of blanket around Griffin and murmured, “Dream of something nice.”
It hit Griffin with a force of emotion that he couldn’t fathom. He heard David’s breathing slow. He knew he was already asleep when he whispered, “You, too.”
Griffin closed his own eyes with a smile.
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