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It was a nice night, the birds were quiet and the neighbors were out. Everything was perfect.
Well, almost perfect...
Garfield made his way up the stairs, looking for Jon. Jon needed to put his lasagna in the oven twenty minutes ago. Now, Garfield had become more reasonable over the years, he could handle dinner being five minutes late, but twenty? Garfield wasn't having it.
He eventually got up the stairs and started looking. Where was Jon? He wasn't anywhere downstairs and he hadn't gone out. Jon didn't respond when he called him, so it was possible that he had fallen asleep. He would have a bone to pick with him if he did, sleeping was his job. But Jon wasn't in his room, this puzzled Garfield. Was he working? He doubted it, Jon had already turned in his comic strip for the week, and Jon wasn't one to prepare before-hand.
Garfield's thoughts were cut off by a quiet noise. He strained his ears to hear it, it sounded like crying. Was Jon crying? It sounded like him. Garfield paused, why was Jon crying? He hadn't heard Jon cry in ages, concern flooded through him. The crying was coming from the bathroom, Garfield walked over to investigate.
The faded white door was slightly ajar and the harsh fluorescent light shone through. Garfield poked his head through and he was met with a sight he didn't expect to see. Jon was sat on the edge of the bathtub, he was crying, he was holding something shiny and metal in his hand. Garfield raised an eyebrow but then he saw Jon's arm. Jon's wrist and forearm were littered with deep red cuts that were dripping with blood. Garfield watched as Jon pressed the metal object, that he now identified as a blade, to his arm, near the elbow, and drew blood. Time seemed to pause as Garfield watched Jon cut himself. Tears fell from Jon's eyes as his shaky hands retracted the blade. He stared at the blood and cuts on his arm before lifting the blade up to cut another line.
Garfield snapped out of his trance. No, no, no, no! These thought and more were running through his head at lightspeed. He slammed the door open with all his might.
"NO, NO, NO! JON STOP!" He screamed and ran over to Jon.
Jon looked up in fear, the razor pressed to his skin. "...Garfield?..." He whispered quietly.
"Jon, what the fuck are you doing!?" Garfield shouted, partially out of anger, partially out of concern. He swiped the blade from Jon's right hand. He noticed that there were also cuts on his right arm, although there weren't as many. He felt his stomach churn, he wanted to throw up.
Jon stared at Garfield and tried to say something but no sounds came out. He just stared at Garfield and then looked down at his arms.
Garfield disposed of the razor in the bin then turned back to Jon. "Jon? Speak to me, please."
Jon couldn't, he was in shock. He just looked over to the bathroom door. Hadn't he locked it? How could he be so careless? He ran his hands over his arms, feeling the blood on his fingers.
"Jon..." Garfield grabbed Jon's face and made him face him, "W-why?" It was all he could think of. Why? Why was he cutting himself? Why hadn't Garfield noticed Jon's mental state? Why did Jon want to hurt himself? Even more questions flooded his head. How long had Jon been doing this? Garfield became overwhelmed with all of the questions in his head. He really cared for Jon, he didn't want to see him hurt. He wanted to make everything better-
"I'm sorry..." Jon choked out.
"...What?"
"I-I'm so sorry."
"Jon... Why are you apologizing?"
Jon took a shaky breath, "I-I made you mad. You-" A few tears fell from his eyes-" you didn't need to know about this, I'm sorry."
Garfield grabbed Jon's hands and looked him in the eye. "Jon I'm not mad at all, I promise. I'm glad I found out now before... before..." He wiped his tearful eyes, "I-I just wish you told me."
Jon sighed and wiped his eyes, "I-I'm sorry I-" He choked out a sob, "I just-I didn't want to bother anyone..." Jon looked away from Garfield.
"You aren't a bother Jon, please don't think that." Garfield tried to meet Jon's eyes but couldn't. He sighed and squeezed Jon's hands, he wasn't good at the whole 'emotions' stuff, "Please tell me what's wrong."
Jon fiddled with his hands and, after some time, met Garfield's eyes. "Well... okay, if you say so. I've struggled with depression and suicidal thought for a long time, from even before I met you. I just pushed through for years but that really wasn't a smart way of dealing with it. It got worse and worse until one day I wanted to kill myself, I didn't though, I just resorted to... well, you know, cutting myself."
Garfield ran his thumbs over the back of Jon's hands, ignoring the drops of blood that stained the pads of his thumbs. "How long ago was that?"
"Three years ago."
Garfield looked at Jon hopelessly. How had he not noticed? Jon had been hiding the cuts on his arms for three years, how had he not realised something was wrong? He felt defeated, how could he claim to care for Jon when he couldn't even notice something so important?
"Garfield are you okay? Did I say something wrong?" Jon looked worried.
"No, no you didn't. You can continue."
"Okay." Jon didn't sound convinced, "I've been cutting myself for three years. I wanted to get help but I've always told myself that everything's okay, today is the first time that I've said that I was depressed and suicidal. I know I should get help, but what if I'm over exaggerating? I don't want to waste anyone's time."
"Jon, listen." Garfield let go of Jon's hands. He jumped up on his lap and put his paws on Jon's face. "You aren't over exaggerating and you wont be wasting anyone's time by getting help. You need help Jon, please get help. Can you promise me something?"
Jon nodded.
"Will you promise me that you will stop cutting yourself and get help?"
Jon paused and bit his lip before nodding. "Okay, okay. I promise I'll get help."
Garfield beamed up at Jon and pulled him into a hug. Jon hugged back and laughed, he hadn't felt so happy in a while.
"Garfield?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you." Jon pulled away from the hug. "Thank you for caring about me, I thought that no one cared anymore." He laughed as tears of happiness fell from his eyes.
"Oh Jon," Garfield smiled and kissed Jon's cheek, "I could never stop caring about you, even if I don't really show that I do."
Jon blushed and then smiled. He leaned forward and kissed Garfield on his forehead, "Thank you again."
"You're welcome Jon. Now," He clapped his paws together, "We need to get you cleaned up, your cuts might get infected."
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that." He rubbed his arms, feeling the blood that had since dried on them. "The first aid kit id in the kitchen, if I remember correctly."
Garfield hopped off Jon's lap and made his way over to the door, "Well what are you waiting for? Come on."
Jon got up and followed Garfield out the door. "Hey, Garfield?"
"Yeah?"
"I love you."
Garfield smiled and laughed, "I love you too Jon."