𝙷𝙱𝙾 𝚆𝚊𝚛 𝙸𝚖𝚊𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚜

Read To Me | Joe Toye

happy joe toye day, everyone! bit of a short ficlet to celebrate.

~~~

Joe didn't always love reading. He never really understood the point of those literature analyses he always had to do in English class. Nor did he really care for it.

But when he met you, he discovered a newfound love for reading. Particularly when you read to him.

"It's relaxing to be read to, I guess." he would always say with a shrug. "Helps me forget the stresses of the day."

You only smiled and nodded. You knew how much you loved a bedtime story when you were little. You knew how safe you felt, huddled under the blankets as your parent read you a story to fend off the monsters of the night. So whenever Joe was feeling stressed or tired or down in the dumps and had trouble sleeping, you always pulled a book off the shelf, settled him down on the sofa or the bed, and began to read to him. 

Tonight was no different. You had your nose in a book while you listened to Joe pace around in the kitchen. You guessed he had had another one of those cloud-over-your-head days.

"Joe, come to bed." you called, looking up from your book.

You heard him heave a sigh, then, "I'll be there in a minute!"

You shook your head and turned back to reading. He would come to bed when he was ready. No point in arguing with him.

It was nearing 1 am when he finally came into the room, his eyes weary. He saw you sitting on the bed, still reading your book, and his tired expression brightened.

"Read to me?" he asked as he crawled into bed and laid his head on your shoulder.

You smiled at him and pressed a kiss to the top of his head. "You don't even have to ask."

"And so the Prince went off to valiantly fight..."

The words flowed and painted the story. A cunning princesses, a determined prince, cowardly knights, all danced across the pages. The princess was trapped, the prince fought armies on his way to the princess, and the knights all huddled together in fear of their big battle.

You paused when you thought you heard Joe snoring softly, but the sound disappeared as quickly as it came.

"Why'd ya stop reading?" Joe asked. He sounded as if he were fighting sleep.

"It sounded like you had fallen asleep for a moment there, Joe."

"Nah, I wasn't...was just enjoying the sound of your voice." He paused a moment. "Keep reading?"

You chuckled and went on. The cunning princess devised an escape plan, the determined prince bravely fought his foes, and the cowardly knights trembled with fear as a dragon confronted them.

"But our heroes didn't hear of the dreaded Sutton pirates that had come ashore in the East. The pirates had gone through the towns..."

Again, it sounded as if Joe were softly snoring. You paused your reading and looked over at him, chuckling about how he had fallen asleep right on your shoulder. Putting the book down on your night table, you gently, ever so gently, you helped Joe off of your shoulder and settled him down on the bed. You pulled the covers over his legs, smoothed them out, and pressed a kiss to his forehead. 

"Good night, Joe." you whispered. "Dream of pirates and knights and princes tonight."