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Jim Gordon has always been a heavy sleeper. It was one of the few reasons he hasn’t gone insane during his time in the army and in Gotham. But tonight, he woke up and it was dark. ‘ 4:31 AM’ the alarm clock read. In his arms was his lover, Harvey Dent mumbling and gripping Jim tightly. His eyebrows were furrowed and his nails dug into Jim’s skin hard enough to make bruises.
“Hey, hey. Harvey, wake up.” He soothed, trying to wake his husband up as gently as possible. “I’m here, don’t worry. I’m right here.” Harvey woke up with a jolt, visible panic and confusion on his face which soon turned into guilt. “You had a nightmare, it’s okay.” Jim continued.
Harvey sighed in annoyance, his partially-lidded eyes staring into Jim’s eyes before falling back into his chest. “Yeah, it-uh, this has happened before. This is the longest time I’ve gone without it.”
They wrapped their arms around each other again, this time in an uncomfortable quiet. Only the rain softly tapping on the walls of Harvey’s apartment breaking the silence.
“Would you…like to talk about it?” Jim offered, being answered with a minute of silence.
“Plane.”
“Huh?”
“The nightmare. It’s always about me taking a plane to leave Gotham with someone. Minutes into getting in the air, everything just starts…shaking.” His fingers started to tremble around Jim’s arms again. “The-uh, the engine explodes and the oxygen masks drop down in front of everyone. I could hear crying, screaming, everything. It was…just so much. Then debris from the engine started to hit the fuselage on my side of the plane, causing the wall to tear off and…suck out passengers. Then there was another explosion that caught fire in the interior.”
“Harvey?”
The darker-haired man looked back up at him, tears already forming in his eyes but he was still calm —at least from what Jim could see .
“You said you were with someone. What happened to them?” He could practically feel Harvey’s hesitation and panic while he asked. “If you’re alright with telling me.”
“No, no it’s…fine. I just, it’s a lot for me.” Harvey racked his fingers through his hair, a tear finally falling from his face. “I’ve had this nightmare dozens of times. Maybe since I first came back to Gotham. Each time I have it, I’m always with someone…but I never remember who it is. One of the few parts of it that had the normal dreamlike fuzziness. But tonight, I remember; it was you . It was always you, even before we met.”
“And…do you remember what happened to me?”
That definitely didn’t sit right with Harvey. He burrowed his face back into Jim’s chest, and relaxed the muscles that were wrapped around the other man. For a moment, Jim thought he wasn’t going to answer but he replied with a “You don’t wanna know.”
“Whatever you dreamt, I’ve probably seen much worse. Plus, I bet you’ll feel better if you say it out loud.”
“You…” Harvey sighed again, continuing when Jim started to draw encouraging shapes into the small of his back. “You were one of the people that got sucked out. I-I tried to save you, I did! But I lost m-my grip, and you fell out and…” He took a moment to regain his composure. “I saw you get cut in half by the wing.” He looked up at Jim, expecting him to be scared or disgusted but he was sympathetic. Something about the look in his eye made Harvey feel a little bit better.
“Do…do you need anything? I can get you some water if you need it.”
“I-I’m fine. Just…can we stay like this for the rest of the night, please?
Jim didn’t think Harvey could hold him tighter than he already was. But he probably needs this, if Harvey needed him to stay as close to him as possible for the whole night, he was more than happy to oblige. Harvey felt a hand go through his hair as the shorter man spoke.
“Of course, hon.”