White Wolf Fan Fiction Presents:
~A Thousand Words~
A Tom and Jerry Story
Title: A Thousand Words
Words: 1,253
Warnings: Yaoi (Boy Love), fluff
Pairings: Tom/Jerry (Half-Bloods)
Disclaimer: Still don't own and never will.
Summary: Jerry really wants to know how to read so he can impress Tom. And, desperate, he goes to Holly to help him out. (-Sequel to Books-)
A/N: I admit I may have cheated this time with the first day of New Years, but uh, I needed to finish this anyway, because I promised FanladyGreen2012 a while back another fic of Tom and Jerry and I told her I'd write this~
Hope it's okay?
-0-
Jerry loved books, and that was all thanks to Tom, because without the cat having offered to read to the little mouse, Jerry would have been oblivious to the world of books. There was just one problem with this: he still didn't know how to read. That isn't to say he hasn't tried to learn, because he has; it was always just the fact that he got so frustrated when he tried to sound out various words.
He'd give up and do something else if he really wanted to, but there was a reason he wanted to learn how to read so bad.
He wanted to impress Tom.
It was as simple as that, really, only it wasn't because the cat knew how to read so well and he'd been reading to Jerry all these books almost every night. It was unfair to the cat for him to have to do that all the time, so Jerry wanted to be able to do something to repay the cat's kindness. And what better way than to be able to read himself?
So Jerry needed help, and while he would've asked Tom, he needed it to be a surprise.
So his only option left was Holly.
He only hoped she wouldn't laugh at him for asking.
-0-
"Have I ever told you how cute you are?" Holly cooed at him, the white mouse half-blood delighting in his little blush.
"Holly!" he whined and she laughed, pinching his ears affectionately.
"Oh shush, I think this is a great idea. It's sweet that you're trying so hard to do this for Tom. I just know he'll appreciate it all when you show him." Jerry smiled at her, shy now, but pleased nonetheless.
That apparently didn't mean that her teasing, or his blush, would go away any time soon.
-0-
The next time that Tom read one of his books out loud to the mouse, Jerry had tried to follow how Tom sounded out each word, following the cat's finger on the page as he spoke. He wanted to get this right so he could surprise Tom, because he knew he would never let himself forget it if he screwed this up.
-0-
"This is so stupid!" Jerry complained to Holly, waving the book in his hands around, not liking the material at all. "This is a baby's book… I want to try and read something like what Tom reads to me all the time. Like… like… uhm… I don't know!" he groaned in frustration, hanging his head to avoid the look of amusement that was no doubt on Holly's face.
"Are you sure you want to start at that level, Jerry? Some of the words in those books would be hard to pronounce for someone who…" she trailed off and he pouted, looking up at her, before sighing and he played with his tail as a blush dusted across his cheeks.
"I… I want to try. I want to be able to read Tom's favorite book to him, and say that I can. I want to do this so I can thank him for everything he's done for me and… and… I like him, so… I want to make him happy." he said, the blush darkening at Holly's fit of giggles.
"I was not wrong, you really are just the cutest little thing ever!"
"Holly!"
"No, I know, I'm sorry, but you are!" she laughed and shook her head before smiling and she went over to her bookshelves, grabbing, to Jerry's surprise, Tom's favorite book. "I have something to confess. A few weeks ago, when you first started coming to me to learn to read, I asked Tom to borrow a few books, including his favorites. He questioned me, of course, but let me borrow them. I've actually been waiting for you to ask to read them, so you could read them to Tom in return." she said, smiling at Jerry's wide-eyed look, walking back over to him and handing the book over to the other mouse. "Do you still want to try?"
Immediately, Jerry nodded, taking the book and he grinned, "You're the best Holly!" he said, before flipping open the book and he started sounding out the words out loud.
-0-
Tom smiled as he laid back on the chair, Jerry cuddled next to him, as small as he was, a book in his hands. He was nearly done with the story, grinning as he got to the last few pages, telling Jerry of how the characters in the story, the prince and the princess and the dragon, even, lived happily ever after after all.
Jerry giggled when Tom added in a bit of his own commentary before finally the book was closed and the cat set it down on the nightstand. "Well?" he asked, smile teasing as he turned to his companion and Jerry stuck his tongue out at the cat.
"It's just as great as the last ten times you've read it to me," he giggled before suddenly sitting up, eyes wide and he grinned, prompting a look of confusion from the cat. "Oh! I… I have something… uhm… I…" he blushed darkly then and looked around before hopping off of the chair and away from the cat, going over to his little bag thingy and he brought out the book he'd been trying to learn to read for the last month.
"Secrets of Afalle… what? Jerry, why do you have a book I let- oh. She gave it back to you, didn't she?" Tom asked and Jerry nodded his head shyly.
"Y-yeah… uhm," he walked back over to Tom and sat back beside the cat, holding the book tightly in his hands but when Tom tried to grab it from him, he jerked the book away, ducking his head at the small noise of surprise and confusion Tom made. "No… it… it's my turn…" he said, defiantly and Tom frowned, eyes narrowed.
"Jerry…?"
"Shush," Jerry huffed out, determined to do this as he opened the book and like he'd done so many times in the last few months, he began to read, though terribly as it may have been, the words on the first page, "There is a le-gend; a-a legend that has... al-most been... for-forgot-ten... by all, but a few. These few how-e-ver, are the key to why this legend is so im-impor...por-tant... the very r-reason I'm tell-ing you this story."
He kept stuttering and butchering some words and he would sometimes get distracted and have to start the sentence or paragraph over, but the look of awe and genuine affection and happiness on Tom's face never left his face. He laughed quietly to himself when Jerry sometimes dropped the book in his excitement at getting some of the words right, judging by the little nods from Tom and he'd blush and stutter worse when Tom felt obligated to help him out with larger words.
But Tom had never been happier with anything, having his favorite book be read to him by the little mouse.
Finally though, he had brought it upon himself to force the little mouse to take a break when he started yawning halfway through words and sentences and he gently took the book away, marking their place before setting it aside and he pulled the mouse to him in a tight hug, kissing his forehead. "Thank you, my silly little mouse," he purred and Jerry smiled, cuddling against the cat, making a small noise in answer.