Chapter Text
Halfway through their patrol, Gar really runs out of steam. Jason is running circles around him, literally.
“This is so awesome! I’m never the leader in these masked partnerships. You should patrol with me more often! We need to name this duo for the news. Wait, you don’t even have a vigilante name! We need to workshop this-”, Jason blabbers, as he serpentines around the rooftop, and Gar.
He may seem curt with the Titans sometimes, but once you get him going, he really doesn’t stop. Gar zones out maybe two sentences in, as he sits down on the roof of whatever building they ended up on, leaning against the ledge. He’s only half sure they’re still in San Francisco.
“-I mean Beastboy has a really cool ring to it, but I don’t know how you feel about being called a beast. I mean, dude, you’re absolutely a beast, in the metaphorical sense, like you’re doing amazing tonight. Nothing like the beast in beauty and the beast, which I was in once in middle school.”
“Man,” Gar thinks to himself, “I should probably say something. I’m freaking exhausted, but I never see him smile like this. Who knew punching “Creepy fucking assholes” (Jason’s words) would make him so giddy.”
“I still can’t believe they cast me as one of the fangirls instead of Gaston, the other guy had no stage presence!” Jason misses the other’s fond stare and hesitant smile, over his own big gestures and pacing, as he excitedly describes his preteen thespian exploits.
Gar’s eyes start to get really heavy as he follows the other boy with his eyes.
Jay’s halfway through the harrowing tale of his Addam’s Family production, when he notices Gar’s soft snoring from the other side of the rooftop.
“Fucking douchebag..”, he mutters to himself with a small smile.
“Hey Gar….beastboy..”, Jason lightly shakes the boy, only slightly scared that his friend will accidentally transform and punch him off the roof, or something. “This fucking sucks.” He says without really meaning it, as he watches Gar shift in his sleep, trying to get comfortable on the impossibly scratchy, uncomfortable brick ledge.
“Okay, let’s get you back to the tower.” Jason expertly flips the other and positions him on his back, his cape trapped awkwardly between them. Once he secures the sleeping boy, he reaches for his grappling hook and gets a running start to jump to the next roof.
He bristles and nearly trips over the ledge when Gar nuzzles into his neck, breathing softly, barely touching his lips to the other’s skin.
“What the fuck…” His whispers, lost to the wind as he swings around a corner.
It’s as if he put a fork in a socket, he feels like his hair is sticking straight up, his blood is electric in his veins. He's kind of, clammy? He can feel his binder start to stick to his chest. If there was an ounce of drowsiness in his system, he sobers up immediately. His witty one-liners and off handed remarks fall silent for the rest of the trip. It's like his brain shuts down.
Jason sneaks through the rooftop entrance of the tower, the boy’s snores still vibrating against the other’s neck. He tiptoes past the kitchen where the clock reads 3:17 am. Confident that the titans are either asleep or at the very least, not sitting in any common areas, he makes his way down the hall to Garfield’s room.
The door clicks behind him and he drops the sleeping boy on the bed like a hot potato, wiping his hands on his pants to get some nonexistent substance off of them.
This is the longest he’s ever been in Gar’s room, he feels like he’s invading. He looks down on Gar’s sleeping form and something warm starts growing in his chest.
“God, I have to get out of here.” He whips around, and all but runs to get out of the quickly suffocating space, but he’s tackled into an even more suffocating space, underneath a 200 lb tiger.
With his face pressed into a controller forgotten on the floor, he squeezes out, with what he believes to be his last breath, “Holy shit, I’m gonna die!”
Gar, in his half-asleep tiger form, grabs the back of Jason’s Robin suit and carries him back to his bed. Curling around the tense boy protectively, he flops his head onto his stomach, with a huff. Receiving only a grunt in reply.
Jason is mortified, to say the least. Wide eyed, red faced, sweating under his mask, he lays stiff as a board under the velvety soft animal, intent on getting the hell out of there. He can't fall asleep in someone else's room, that'd be so creepy.
He never really noticed that, as a tiger, Gar is really soft. And when he's laying on top of him like this, he's like a living weighted blanket.
It's late, and Jason just got back from a whole night's patrol, he deserves to relax for just a second. Maybe rest his eyes a little, for just a minute.
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As the first rays of sunshine peer through the window, Gar, completely stark naked, finds himself lying across Jason, fully dressed in the Robin suit, and slightly drooling.
“What the heck happened last night?”