Work Text:
The sound of the rain plinking off the gutters overhead was almost soothing. Despite himself, James felt his eyelids drooping; unsurprising, considering how long he had been going without rest, expending all of his energy swinging planks of wood and steel pipes at creatures plucked straight out of a nightmare.
He couldn’t afford to sleep now, though. Not when he was creeping closer to the truth. To Mary.
And yet…
James glanced down at you. Your shoulders rose steadily as you slept, lips slightly parted and arms crossed loosely over your chest. On the ground at your side rested the long, metal rod you’d found in the hospital, and James’ lips curled as he recalled the grim determination on your face when you’d picked it up.
“You can’t be the only one defending us against those things,” you’d muttered, fingers curling so tightly around the base that your knuckles had creaked.
Knowing you had something to protect yourself with took some of the weight off of James’ shoulders, though it failed to quell the quiet voice urging him to keep you by his side - a voice that grew louder and more insistent the longer he spent in your presence. James had tried to ignore it, guilt souring his stomach each time he found himself distracted by you, but the more time you spent traversing the foggy streets of Silent Hill together, the more James came to realize he was fighting a losing battle.
He sighed, shoulders rolling uncomfortably against the filing cabinets at his back. The office building you’d stumbled into had been blessedly free of monsters, as good a place to rest before the next leg of your journey as any, but even though you’d nodded off quickly, exhausted from hours of running through the streets and fighting your way through labyrinthine corridors back at Brookhaven, James knew he was far too on edge to get any rest himself.
He kept vigil while you slept instead, soothed into some strange measure of tranquility by the gentle patter of rain overhead and your soft, steady breaths. It was almost cozy, somehow, even with the fog billowing outside and the utter stillness of the building around you, long abandoned by its inhabitants and heavy with the musk of stale air.
I really must be losing it, James thought wryly, closing his eyes and letting his head fall back against the filing cabinet with a muted thunk. Cozy, huh?
You mumbled something in your sleep and James turned his head to watch you, smiling faintly as you smacked your lips and snored. Maybe cozy was the wrong word, he decided, rubbing at his chest where a warmth had begun to pool. There was comfort in the sharing of a confined space, but there was more to it than that, a surety that, for the moment at least, you were safe from harm.
Peaceful, he settled on, closing his eyes. He hadn’t felt anything like it in ages. Years. And how lucky did that make him, that he was able to carve out a pocket of peace in this hellhole despite his growing uncertainty that Mary would really be waiting for him at the end of all of it?
“Mm.” Distracted by a soft groan from your direction, James blinked open tired eyes and stiffened as he caught sight of your furrowed brows and pinched expression. You were still sleeping, your eyes clenched tightly shut and your body slumped against the filing cabinets, but you no longer looked quite so tranquil about it, your head lolling uncomfortably on your neck and your fingers hooking into claws, digging harshly into the meat of your arms.
“Hey,” James coaxed softly, reaching over to gently nudge your shoulder. You flinched and jerked back against the cabinets, the clang of your skull against metal making James wince and hurry to reach out and grab you, one hand easing over the back of your head to prevent further injury and the other curling around your shoulder. “Hey, it's alright. You’re okay.”
“Ah!” Your eyes shot open, a great heaving gasp sticking in your throat and your eyes swinging wildly around the room before you realized where you were and who you were with. “Fuck, I - James?”
“You’re alright,” he returned, reaching for your trembling hands and folding them between his own. Christ, your skin was ice cold. “You were only dreaming.”
“Dreaming,” you repeated, wetting your lips. “Right.” A strangled laugh escaped your throat, reed thin. “I swear I thought I - “ You broke off, shivering, and James squeezed at your chilled fingers, coaxing you to look at him.
“You’re safe,” he promised, knowing you needed to hear it and hoping it would chase away that haunted look in your eyes.
“Safe.” It was nearly a sigh on your lips. You ducked your head and sniffled. “Keep forgetting what that feels like. Shit.”
James knew the feeling. He hadn’t felt safe from much of anything since that letter had arrived. Even now it burned a hole in his pocket, urging him forward even as the implications of its very existence frightened him to death. A town full of monsters had only added to the fear, turning a sense of safety - turning sanity - into a rare commodity, one you were forced to cling to whenever the opportunity arose if you wanted to have a chance of surviving this place. James didn’t know what had brought you to Silent Hill, what ghosts you might have been chasing, but he knew that much.
“It feels like this,” he concluded softly, steadily rubbing warmth into your frozen fingers. You glanced up at his face and sniffled again, your eyes shining in the dark.
“Yeah,” you murmured wetly, your fingers curling gently within his hold. “I guess it does, huh?”
James smiled, thumbing at the ridge of your knuckles. “You can get some more rest if you want. Rain’s still coming down pretty hard.”
“No, I - “ You sighed, shaking your head. He knew you were remembering whatever you’d dreamed about. “I think it’s better not to sleep in this place. I’m ready to go when you are.”
Despite the warmth he’d coaxed into them, your fingers were still trembling faintly within James’ grasp. You would go if he urged you to, he knew, but he quailed at the thought of your hands shaking around your metal rod, growing stiff and cold again as you followed him into the unknown.
“We’ll go,” he said, tangling his fingers through yours before you could move to stand. Your confusion swiftly melted into relief, and James tugged you a little closer, eager to share his warmth. “In a little while.”