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I say I’ll move the mountains
And I’ll move the mountains
If he wants them out of the way...
One of James’s favorite things to do, Nick had been unable to help but notice, was to play the radio on his pipboy while they were on particularly long trips. He kept it loud enough for them to both hear, but quiet enough that if either of them got the urge to say something, it would be possible to easily converse over the music. James said he enjoyed having background noise, as it was good for distracting him from aching feet or sweat-soaked clothes or a tired back.
However this time around, the thing James was trying to be distracted from was the frigidly cold wind blowing harshly into his face as he and Nick made a slow trek down an open road. His teeth were chattering, and he wasn’t entirely sure that the arms he’d crossed in front of his chest hadn’t frozen to his vault suit.
“You know, there’s being a trooper, and then there’s ignoring your own body’s warning signs for hypothermia.” Nick pointed out. The cold didn’t bother the robot as much as it did a flesh and blood human. Certainly it could be damaging, as the colder he was the harder his processors had to work to keep him warm enough to stay functioning. But the worst consequence he faced was passing out until the environment warmed back up enough for him to reboot.
If James passed out, Nick highly doubted he’d pop back up when the sun came up.
Crazy, he calls me
Sure I’m crazy
Crazy in love, I’d say…
James blew into his hands, frozen eyelashes fluttering against his face as he tried to blink and wet his icy eyes. “Gh...o-o-only a f-f-few more m-m-miles right?”
“Sure, if by a few you mean ‘ten’.”
James groaned in the back of his throat.
“I think we outta make camp for the night, pal.”
“B-b-but th-th-that s-s-settlement-”
“Not even Deathclaws are out in this weather, James. At any rate, you’re not gonna be much use showing up as a popsicle. Nevermind the cold, you need to rest . We can’t all be robots.” Nick smiled at him.
James glanced away at that comment, observing the blank countryside on his side of the road. It was true that they hadn’t seen a single wild creature since this wind had started. “...a-a-alright. But j-j-just until I w-w-warm up.”
I say I’ll go through fire
And I’ll go through fire
As he wants it, so it will be...
On principal, the two only carried one sleeping bag between them whenever they went on long trips. It reduced the weight load, and as Nick insisted time and time again, just because he could ‘sleep’ didn’t mean he needed to. He preferred to keep watch as James caught his forty winks, cleaning their weapons and having an occasional smoke.
For once though, Nick wished they’d brought two, so he could double wrap James up in order to warm him faster.
They’d found a convenient little nook in a cottage that was more frame than cottage, stacking up debris to form some pathetic walls around a small sleeping space for James. It was an easy spot to defend for Nick, but as far as warmth went, it was obviously pretty pathetic, if the continuous shivering of James was anything to go by.
“Thinkin’ of starting up your own percussion section with all that chattering in there?” Nick asked, ducking his head to peer into the tiny shelter in which James was curled up.
The vault dweller gave a little snort. “Th-th-that the w-w-wittiest c-c-comment you can m-m-make r-r-right now? M-m-m-maybe we sh-should be w-w-worried about you t-t-too. C-c-cold might be f-f-freezing up your C-C-CPU.”
Nick clicked his tongue. “Well excuse me for not being the shining beacon of dry wit when I’m a little distracted by worrying if my partner is gonna lose his trigger fingers and then some.”
James smiled at the synth as best he could when his jaw wouldn’t stop moving. “I-I s-s-survived being f-f-frozen before.”
“That was a bit of a cleaner process. Monstrous as those Vault-Tec guys were they at least knew what they were doing and were backed by a good amount of money as well. So I’m going to have to strongly discourage your amateur attempt at bargain cryotherapy.”
Crazy, he calls me
Sure I’m crazy
Crazy in love, you see...
James chuckled, cheered as always by Nick’s teasing. “I-I-I’m honestly t-t-trying here. D-d-doing everything sh-short of s-stripping naked.”
Nick cleared his throat, twisting the screwdriver against his metal wrist a little harder than he meant to and swearing under his breath when he dinged himself a bit. “Dammit…”
“N-N-Nick? You alr-r-r-right?”
“Yeah. Yeah I’m alright. Just...slipped my grip. Cold might be gettin’ to my servos a little bit.”
“You s-s-s-should g-g-get in h-here then.”
“Not exactly roomy accommodations in there, partner.”
“There’s s-s-s-sitting room.” James insisted. “J-just until y-y-you warm u-up a bit. I’ve b-b-been h-hearing y-your C-CPU going h-hard for the last s-s-several miles. Y-y-you’re going to d-d-damage it if you d-d-don’t give it a b-b-break.”
Nick squinted and looked into the shelter again. “You can hear that?”
“Y-y-yeah? Y-y-y-you c-c-can’t?”
“Of course I can but that’s inside me, and I’ve got unnaturally good hearing to boot. Might as well have told someone you could hear their heartbeat.”
James was quiet for a second. “...d-d-d-don’t av-v-void the topic.”
Nick rolled his eyes and sighed, tucking the screwdriver away inside his coat and standing up. “Alright, alright. Wiggle over a bit. Need a spot by the entrance so I can shoot anything that might get a little too curious about our make-shift Ritz here.”
James obediently wiggled out of the way as much as possible, letting Nick in and watching him take a seat by the entryway. “I-i-it’ll probably w-w-warm up out th-there soon right?”
“Uh...depends on what you call ‘soon’.”
“C-c-couplea hours?”
“Yeah, no. It’s gonna be a long night, pal. Better hunker down and get some rest while you still can.”
Like the wind that shakes the bough
He moves me with a smile
The difficult I’ll do right now
The impossible will take a little while...
James made a valiant effort to warm himself up and fall asleep, but the sleeping bag, which normally was perfectly cozy and even too warm on some nights, felt like it was made of paper. He kept curling and uncurling his toes and fingers just to make sure they weren’t falling off, and he was a little too terrified to fall asleep.
Nick was beginning to get concerned. It was only getting colder as the night got darker.
“Feelin’ any warmer at all?” He asked, brow furrowed in concern as he looked at James. The man had gone pretty quiet, compared to how chatty he’d been when they’d first settled down, and Nick couldn’t stop checking in on him.
James shook his head.
“.....” Nick looked out the entrance, which he’d blocked off as much as possible, and sighed through his teeth. “...dammit.” At least he was sure that he had a good reason for doing this, and couldn’t argue with himself later that he was using it as an excuse.
I say I’ll care forever
And I mean forever
If I have to hold up the sky...
James opened his eyes and looked curiously at Nick as the synth got up to his knees, shedding his trench coat and laying it over James’s sleeping bag. “Oh, N-Nick, you don’t g-gotta-”
“Scoot over.”
James blinked, and moved himself and the sleeping bag back a bit.
“No, move…” Nick sighed again, briefly rubbing at his forehead. “...move over in the bag. I’m getting in.”
James’s eyes widened, and he quickly turned his head away, making as much room as possible in the bag for his friend. He watched Nick remove his shoes, trying to look as casual as possible as the synth tucked himself up into the bag with the man.
Almost immediately James gasped a little. “Oh.”
“Huh? Did I jab ya?” Nick asked. He was being extra careful with his metal hand - Ellie had complained to him before that his fingers were just knives waiting to have their potential realized.
“N-n-no, y...y-you’re just...w-w-wow you’re w-warm.”
Nick exhaled and slid the rest of the way in, forced onto his side by the coziness of the bag so that he and James were awkwardly facing each other. He cleared his throat and chuckled a little. “These uh, these things weren’t really made for two huh?”
“W-well...n-not for uhm...not for n-not couples a-anyway.”
“...right. Right.”
“But that’s...p-p-p-probably what you m-meant.”
“Well-..yeah. That’s what I meant.”
“..right.”
“.......feelin’ any warmer?”
James nodded. “Y-yeah. D-d-definitely warmer.”
Crazy, he calls me
Sure I’m crazy
Crazy in love am I
“Glad this ol’ CPU is still good for somethin’.” Nick chuckled, and James swallowed when he felt that familiar and comforting noise vibrate gently against his chest.
“Mhm.” James squeezed his eyes shut, sighing in relief when his jaw finally stopped rattling.
“...probably not the coziest space heater though, huh? Sorry about that. Cons of bein’ an immortal hunka junk.”
“You’re not a h-hunka j-...” James sighed, cracking an eye open. “...we’re just, positioned weird.”
Nick couldn’t argue that. They were both facing each other with their arms either tucked up tight against their chest or lying awkwardly at their sides. “Figured it’d be a little forward if I just went straight for friendly spoonin’.”
James snorted, rubbing at his face to hopefully cover up his blush. “This is a...survival situation, you don’t need to...worry about that sort of thing.”
“...alright. So long as you’re comfortable with it.” Nick refused to let himself hesitate any further. It was a survival situation. It was just to keep his friend warm and comfortable enough to get some rest. He shifted himself and wrapped his arms around James, pulling them closer to each other and letting James tuck his head against the synth’s chest. The strain on the sleeping bag greatly lessened as well.
Before he could quietly congratulate himself on executing that very platonic maneuver very smoothly, Nick found that his internal workings began whirring much louder when after a moment, James reciprocated and wrapped his arms around Nick’s back.
“...this is...th-this is really nice you know?” James said, continuing without waiting for a reply in order to clarify the question. “I-I mean, having...having a friend that’s not embarrassed to...I don’t think I could really count on...on any of my uhm, my friends back before the bombs to...to do this for me.”
Nick hummed at that after a second of thought. “Sad to say but, yeah, I think I do know. Nick Valentine didn’t have too many friends, but can’t say I would’ve counted on any of them to uh. Do this. For me, either.” Nick scoffed, a humorless laugh coming out. “Pretty stupid huh? All those unspoken social laws that governed everybody. Every man was expected to be a solitary island, standin’ on his own, no matter what the world threw at him. Wasn’t really fair if you ask me.”
“Yeah…” James closed his eyes. “Don’t think anybody even hugged me outside of my family except...except Nora. God...everyone in this world talks to me about how good it must have been, before...how great I must have had it. But, I...honestly I just remember that time as being so lonely…”
“Clothes were clean and food came in neat little boxes but it was all just pretty packaging over a pretty ugly world.” Nick mused, already feeling perfectly comfortable in his position and no longer even actively thinking about it. “Lotta folks managed to stay ignorant about it. They must’ve worked pretty hard to achieve that, huh?”
“Yeah…the Commonwealth obviously has huge problems, but...where there’s good people, they’re all...they’re all really close. Almost no one is afraid to let their friends know how much they care about them, because...well, there’s too much of a chance of losing them tomorrow. You know? Messed up but…”
“Yeah. I know what you mean.”
Like the wind that shakes the bough
He moves me with a smile
The difficult I’ll do right now
The impossible will take a little while...
“...I’m feeling a lot better.” James murmured.
“Yeah?” Nick shifted a little. “Should I-?”
“Uh-!” James was horribly embarrassed at how quickly he grabbed onto Nick’s shirt. “P..probably not. I mean I’ll...probably just freeze right back up…”
“Right.” Nick easily settled back down. “Better safe than sorry, hm?”
“Yeah…”
I say I'll care forever
And I mean forever
If I have to hold up the sky…
“...better try and get some shut eye. Don’t know how long we’ll have the luxury of bein’ left alone once the worst of this wind stops and things start creepin’ out.”
“...yeah. Right. Of course.”
“Sleep well, pal.”
Crazy, he calls me...
“...uh, Nick?”
“Mhm?”
Sure I’m crazy...
“...thanks, again.”
“Anythin’ for you, partner.”
Crazy in love am I...