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Jay loved Tim. By now he was sure of it. He loved every part of Tim, every ragged edge, every abrasive comment or snarky remark.
Does that mean Jay loved the Tim that wasn't Tim? The Tim that he didn't know, the one whos face was hidden by porcelain and feminine features. The Tim whos hollow and lifeless eyes could strike the fear of God into any person.
Jay was faced with this debate when he woke up to find Tim missing from the lumpy hotel bed.
"Tim?" He called out, voice scratchy and gravelly with the remnants of sleep.
He sat up, groggily rubbing his eyes until his blurry vision began to straighten out and become clear.
Jay nearly fell out of the bed when he saw that porcelain masked man standing in the corner of his hotel room. "Jesus Christ!" Jay shouted, hands clumsily reaching around and searching the bedside table for the lamps power switch.
He clicked the switch, and a dim, yellowish light began to spread throughout the room. The figure of the man was much more clear to him now. He knew it was Tim. It was still a bit surprising to see him in the attire of a figure that terrorized Jay for so long.
His body told him to run. To get up and grab a knife and make a break for it. Even though he knew just how fast the man could be. There was no way he could make it out in time, even if he wanted to.
But Jay didn't want to. He knew the man behind the mask. Well, at least he knew his kinder counterpart. He knew Tim. But he didn't know the other side of Tim. This other person that stalked him and showed up in so many tapes, watching him sleep.
"What are you-" Jay spoke, his voice still slightly scratchy. "-were you watching me sleep?" Jay ran a hand through his own disheveled hair, moving it out from his field of vision.
No verbal response from the man in the corner. Just a simple movement which looked like a nod, but honestly, Jay couldn't tell.
"It's- it's a bit warm in here to be wearing all that, isn't it?" Jay let out a light chuckle, although there was a hint of nervousness in his tone. "You can- you don't gotta wear all that. We're not going anywhere." Jay suggested, referring to the coat that honestly looked way to heavy to be wearing in the heated hotel room, let alone standing so close to the radiator.
Jay's eyes wandered over the figure, curiously taking in every feature. It was then that he noticed the silver gleam of a blade in the man's right hand. Jay panicked, looking between the mask and the pocket knife, unsure of how to react, or if he even should react.
"You're not gonna uh- use that on me, are you?" He pointed a shaky finger to the blade. The masked figure shook his head. Jay let out a soft sigh of relief, but it was still a but concerning.
"Did you- are you watching for something?" Jay squinted, doing his best to keep his nerves under check.
There was no response from the man, not even a shake of his head. This seemed to bother Jay. He slid his legs over the edge of the bed, throwing the covers off of him and very slowly standing up, stretching his arms up with a stiff pop of his joints.
He slowly and carefully approached the masked figure. The man in the corner seemed to stiffen as Jay got closer, and he slowed his approach, stopping a few feet away from the man. Jay held out his hand, opening and closing his hand.
The man stared at Jay for a moment, tilting his head ever so slightly. He reached out a gloved hand, placing it in Jay's.
Jay let out a soft chuckle, shaking his head. "No, the knife." This seemed to strike the man, and he haltingly placed the switchblade in Jay's hand. Jay nodded, turning the knife over in his hands to examine it. Clean of blood or any signs that it had been used, which seemed to put his nerves slightly to rest.
"We're safe here. Its okay. No one's gonna break in here." Jay reassured, but the man stood stiffly in his spot. Jay looked away, before his eyes landed on the camera perched in the corner of the room. "We can look over the tapes, to see if anyone was nearby?"
The man nodded, and Jay grasped his gloved hand again, slotting their fingers as he gently led him over to where his laptop was sat, closed on the rooms desk.
He fidgeted with the cameras tapes and the laptop for a moment until it was connected, and began playing the footage. The only movement that came from the night was at some point, Tim got up from the bed, moving off camera and getting changed into his current attire, and then standing over the bed.
Jay watched in curiosity as the masked Tim reached a hand out, gently cupping Jay's face while he slept. Just watching the action seemed to fluster Jay. He looked away from the tape for a moment, and when he looked back the man was sitting, crouched in the corner. The tape continued like that, Jay fast-forwarded, all of the footage remaining stagnant until Jay stirred, waking up and leading to their current predicament.
When the tape ended, Jay looked over to the man, to find him staring right back at him. Or at least, Jay thought he was. The black mesh of the eye holes obscured seeing exactly where his eyes were looking, but it was in Jay's direction.
"See, nothing there. Can we- can you come back to bed now?" Jay hummed, closing his laptop and standing up, the masked man still following close behind, practically breathing down Jay's neck.
The man let out a quiet, almost silent noise, it sounded like the chattering some type of animal would make. Jay turned around to face the man, an eyebrow quirked in curiosity. He entangled their hands again, leading him back to the shared bed.
"You don't gotta sleep. Just... come lay down. Kinda creeps me out to have you watching me, no offense." He smiled awkwardly at the other, whom let out a few more chattering and chirping noises. He wondered if he was speaking some type of animalistic language, or simply stimming.
Jay curled back up in the covers, turning over to find the masked counterpart still standing over the bed. Jay looked up at him, nervously meeting his eye-holes. He patted the spit next to him on the queen bed, inviting the other to lay down.
The masked counterpart nodded, laying down next to Jay, not before circling the spot a bit, almost like a cat. It amused Jay, but he didn't comment on it, only letting out a simple giggle. The masked man finally flopped down on the bed, curling up against Jay, the masked face resting comfortably on Jay's chest. The only gripes the smaller man had was the porcelain mask digging into his chest.
Jay's fingers gently combed through the man's hair, which earned a satisfied sigh and the man nuzzling more into Jay's chest.
The man was constantly readjusting his head, the edge of the porcelain mask digging into his cheeks uncomfortably. Jay's fingers slowly trailed down to the straps of the mask.
"You want me to take it off?" Jay hummed the question in a soft and hushed tone.
The man looked up at Jay, wordless, before very gently nodding. He looked almost scared for Jay to take it off. Jay offered up a soft smile as he unclipped the mask, very carefully pulling it away from the man's face. The now unmasked man let out a few soft chirps of panic as he looked away from Jay. Jay gently set the man's mask on the bedside table, reaching his hand and tangling it back into Tim's hair.
The man relaxed against Jay's touch again, shoving his head against Jay's hand eagerly, almost like a cat. Jay let out another barrage of soft giggles at the behaviour.
"You're cute when you're not chasing me down in Rosswood park." Jay hummed, feeling his eyes close and relaxing into the pressure of being half-way laid on. The soft chirps that came from the man atop him began to quiet. Jay thought the noises were calming, dare he say cute.
There was a rational part of him that still feared that the man might snap and stab him, but Jay logically knew better. If the man wanted to kill Jay, he would've done so by now.
The two fell asleep like that, Tim's counterpart reaching and holding onto Jay, hands gently kneading his waist while he held him, and Jay's fingers brushing through the soft hair. It was the most calming sleep either men had gotten in a long time.
When Tim woke up, tangled in Jay's grasp and seeing his counterparts mask sitting on the table, he feared the worst. But when he looked up to see Jay donning a peaceful and rested smile, he couldn't help but grin, and layed his head back down on his chest.
What would 5 more minutes hurt?