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“Rubarb. Is that you?” marshall called out as he got closer to the grass. “Well hello” Humdinger said walking out of the grass carrying a flaming torch. “What have you done?” marshall asked. “What have I done. You paw patrol always like blaming old humdinger” he said as he got closer to marshall. “None of your paw patrol buddies here to back you now huh?” He continued towering over marshall. “Its just you and me” He finished clutching the torch like it was a baseball bat.
marshall shot up in bed, cold sweat clinging to his now matted fur. “It was just a nightmare” marshall told himself. After a few minutes of attempting and failing to calm himself down enough to fall asleep again. He decided to go out onto the deck of the sea patroller to get fresh air. Hoping it’ll help. Quietly marshall walked past his sleeping friends not wanting to wake them with his nightmares. He’d never gotten nightmares this bad before. Sure he has gotten some on occasion. But never this bad or frequent. Normally if he did have a nightmare he would go to one of the pups or ryder for comfort. But when he got the first nightmare after discovering dino island he just thought it was a one time thing. But in the weeks that followed he continued to get more and more nightmares. With each progressingly getting worst. Of course he didn’t like hide it from the others not purposely anyway. He mostly pushed them to the back of his mind and hoped no one would notice. And for the most part no one did. Of course there was the occasional question about if he was ok. Given what happened he wasn’t surprised his friends were asking. But he just say “i’m fine” and continue doing what ever he was doing. One did ask more than anyone else. Ryder. He did know the pups really well. He could usually tell when something was wrong. But marshall was hoping that Ryder would chalk up his slightly odd behaviour to him processing what happened in the last few weeks. But marshall could feel the boy’s eyes on him when ever he did something that wasn’t really him. But he didn’t say anything about his concerns. He just observed.
Once marshall reached the deck he walked to the edge sitting down to watch the water splash against the sides of the sea patroller. As he stared he couldn’t stop his mind from wandering. What would have happened if Rubarb wasn’t there to chase of Humdinger? What if the rocks didn’t fall and the lava continued to flow towards everyone in the caverns? What if they couldn’t get all the dinosaurs? marshall knew he should not be asking himself these things. But he couldn’t stop. He was so lost in his thoughts he didn’t hear the door to the inside of the patroller open behind him.
“marshall?” Shoot. marshall hoped no one was awake. Then again he didn’t check if Ryder was awake. All the pups knew Ryder had a terrible sleep schedule. Also that he often stayed up late to work on their vehicles or just another project that he hadn’t had time for recently. And frankly marshall should have checked if Ryder was awake given that he was the one to notice his oddness before. “Hello? marshall?” Ryder asked, concern edged into his voice. marshall blinked remembering that there were no more ‘what ifs’ Ryder had seen or heard him and followed him to the deck. “Huh? Ya?” marshall blinked. “You ok?” Ryder asked clearly concerned. “Ya. I’m ok. Just wanted some fresh air” He said sheepishly.
Ryder knew marshall was lying. Partially at least. marshall wouldn’t have come out for fresh air in the middle of the night. He was the second deepest sleeper in the whole group. After rubble of course. But Ryder was pretty sure he knew why marshall was awake. He had been different the past few weeks. And while he wasn’t prone to them. He had gotten them before. But this was the first time he hadn’t gone to someone about it. Which usually said ‘i don’t wanna talk about it’. Which Ryder understood. He couldn’t force it out of them nor was he going to. But he would at least try to comfort him.
“Have you be getting nightmares again?” He asked quietly. marshall froze at his question. Bullseye. “So you have?” Ryder asked as he sat down next to marshall and began to stroke his fur. marshall didn’t respond, turning to look away from Ryder. “Are you willing to talk about it?” He asked as he moved his hand to scratch behind marshall’s ear. Something Ryder had always used to comfort him. This time was no different. Since marshall immediately began to relax under Ryder’s touch. marshall shook his head. “Is there anything i can do?”. “You can continue to do that” marshall mumbled clearly embarrassed by his answer. Ryder chuckled softly as he picked up the pace a bit. Watching marshall relax under his touch. After a few minutes Ryder was pretty sure that marshall was begining to fall asleep. “Do you wanna sleep with me?” Ryder asked calmly as marshall slowly lifted his head up to look at him. “C-Can I?”, Ryder smiled softly brushing his thumb against marshall’s cheek. “Of course. You can always come to me” “ok” marshall replied. Before he could say anything else Ryder scooped him up and began walking back inside. “Ryder. I can walk” he whined but was too tired to fight back. Ryder didn’t respond, instead he began scratching behind marshall’s ear. Knowing a losing battle when he sees one, marshall decided to just give in to his exhaustion and Ryder’s pets and slumped against Ryder’s shoulder.
Once they reached Ryder’s room marshall could barely keep his eyes open. In the 3 minute walk to his room he had almost dozed off 9 times. Ryder didn’t even put him down. Immediately climbing into his bed and getting himself comfortable before putting marshall who was practically asleep next to him. “marshall” Ryder started “i want you to promise me something. If you ever get nightmares again. Can you please go to one of the pups or come to me. You don’t have to tell us what it was about. I just don’t want you bottling it up. Ok?” Ryder asked. marshall nodded. “it was about Humdinger” marshall said softly. “When you got stuck in the trap?” Ryder asked. “No. Wh-. When i was looking for Rubarb i thought i saw him in the grass. But it was humdinger and then he said “None of your paw patrol buddies here to back you now huh?” “Its just you and me” He finished clutching the torch like it was a baseball bat” when marshall finished explaining what happened tears were streaming down his face. Ryder was slient next to him.
He came so close to hurting marshall. If Rubarb hadn’t found him-. Now was not the time to think about that, Ryder told himself. He could worry about Humdinger’s cruelty later now he had to make sure marshall got a decent amount of sleep. It was around 1 am. If they slept now they would get 7 hours of sleep. Which was pretty good. “marshall how long have you been getting these nightmares?” Ryder asked pulling the pup into his lap and stroking his fur. “About 2 weeks” marshall admitted sheepishly. “Why didn’t say something?” Ryder asked. He knew something was bothering marshall but he only caught it 5 days ago. “I didn’t want to bother anyone. I mean we all almost died and everyone has to comfort me cause i got nightmares. I- I thought it wasn’t fair on you guys” marshall finished looking away from Ryder. “marshall. Everyone gets nightmares. Even me. But you can’t feel guilt for going to others for comfort. Just because we all suffered doesn’t mean you should feel guilty for going to one of us for comfort” Ryder stated gently but firmly. “Remember when we first went to adventure city? And chase didn’t want to go” marshall nodded. “Do you think after we stopped humdinger he could sleep with no issues?” marshall looked up surprised. He knew chase has gotten nightmares before. But never thought he got some after they saved adventure city. “He got nightmares again?” marshall questioned. “Yup. For like the next week he slept in my room until he felt like he could sleep his bed without waking up in the middle of the night”. “So if you ever get more nightmares don’t hesitant to come to one of us for help. Ok?” “Ok”. “Good. Now sleep if we keep talking neither of us are going to get any sleep. And that isn’t good” “don’t have to tell me twice” he said sleepily, making himself comfortable in Ryder’s lap. “Night Ryder”, “night marshall”