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In a state like Alabama you very rarely expect anything even close to a normal winter to happen. Sure the temperature may drop from time to time, with even that being a rarity despite how gray the days will become, but that doesn’t guarantee a chilly day. Rather it just means that rain is probably on the way, and that’ll just lead to heat coming in out of nowhere to screw the smallest idea of winter up.
The only real indicated anyone could have was when the Walmarts and Krogers of the world started rolling out their Christmas decor. Always seeming to appear earlier and earlier, but normally at the start of November, that was the moment you'd know that the chill in the air was going to turn cold quick.
However, considering Jay hadn't had a set home for a few years now, Christmas meant little to him. Always more of a nebulous concept at this point than anything else. He knew it was happening, and maybe he'd update his viewers, but for himself celebrating wasn't any option. Not like there was anyone to celebrate with though.
Not even counting that, when you have to run on the meager budget Jay has for the past few years there is little he can do in the way of heat most times. So even if there was someone around then what was he gonna get them? A soda from the vending machine? No, he just had to deal with things as they came to him.
So no Christmas.
And none of that holiday cheer
Besides, if he was gonna freeze to death wasn't it more cruel to do so during this kind of season? Hoodies were a good enough substitute for when he was wandering around, but it would get annoying once he’d have to curl up in the car. Shivering away the night to try and save gas.
Hotel and motel rooms were nice enough, when he was lucky to get one, but those could suck up the little amount of money he had left most times. Not even counting the allowance on tapes as well.
All in all, winters in Alabama quickly began to suck for Jay once things went south with Alex’s tapes.
Maybe at the start it was tolerable enough when he still had money to spare. Now though, he didn’t have that kind of change lying around. So he’d just gotten used to suffering when the weather would take it’s sudden turns. The tornados that would get drummed up by the cold were always the worst part too.
December just was never his month it would seem.
And that cruel consumerist sheen blaring all around him wasn't helping much either
In a world were Operators and Hooded men were able to lurk around concepts like Santa Claus and flying reindeers felt a little twisted to think about.
A little too cheer and magical compared to the real eldritch shit that was actually out there.
He wasn't going to go up to a little mom and pop shop and tel them to shut all the merriment down because 'he saw real magic' or some crazy bullshit. No one is going to believe him even if he tells, the people he talked to online thought it was all fiction anyways, all he was going to get for it was a few pitied looks as they assume he lost it. He tried it on Jessica once after all, and that didn't work out.
However, things felt like they were getting better since Tim came back into the picture.
Of course there was the general feeling of guilt about the subject, though it was a feeling that Jay felt less and less as the months went by, he was still happy to have the company. There was only so much talking to the people on Twitter could do to supplement his social interact, and arguing with ToTheArk didn’t seem to count much either.
So there was Tim.
A disgruntled man forced to help Jay out because– well he clearly wasn’t the smartest in the room at the best of times.
He was just desperate is all.
He wanted all his questions answered, but at the same time he had to keep running from the horrors trailing behind him.
And he just didn’t have the funds to leave the state any time soon.
Which led him to here.
Sitting in the car, Tim driving, while watching the freezing rain roll by. The outside was gray in a sort of way that winter could only bring to the south, but at the same time it sort of highlighted the surreal beauty of the outdoors. The contrast between the remaining bright orange leaves and the grim sky, well it was normal for this time of year. Then add in all those twinkling little lights from store and houses, pieces of plastic set outside blaring to the world Christmas cheer, and there was a strange mixture of sensations running through Jay. One was an enjoyment of nature that he'd begun to miss after all the fear surrounding the woods. While the second was that odd peace you can feel when the holidays are beginning to approach. Still, Jay found joy in the little things at this point. It just happened that these were some of them.
No matter how warm the car was though, which was sitting at a nice 75 degrees at the moment, he couldn’t seem to get warm at all.
Realistically this was a late stage symptom of whatever ailment the Operator seemed to inflict him with, but combined with the weather outside it stood out all the more in Tim’s mind.
“We’ll find a place to pull over soon.”
Jay’s eyes lull over to him in mild surprise. It was getting late, it was meant to be 3 PM which meant that darkness was coming soon, but it didn’t feel like a motel was justified just yet.
“I’m fine.” He mumbles out, not trying particularly hard to dissuaded his companion from going through with it. He just felt like he still needed to protest. A merger approach to keep something close to his dignity up despite it all.
He doesn’t even see Tim glance over before he gruffly hears, “You’re clearly tired and shivering. We’re going to to find some place to stay and warm up.”
The conversation dies there.
Jay simply didn’t have the energy to keep pushing back, and Tim had clearly already made up his mind. There just wasn’t anymore pushing that could be done, by either party.
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Jay was told to stay in the car while Tim made arrangements inside.
All he could offer was a small nod as a reply, feeling his body provide more signs of life when a gust of frigid wind hit him with the opening of the car door. A good enough sign as any to show that he was, in fact, still alive despite all other signs.
He sat there waiting for Tim to return. The world glazing over around him as the sky felt as hollow as he did. Though as he sat there trying not to contemplate the meaning behind that, his door opened. Tim’s arms wrapped around him, carrying out of the car and straight to the room as though he were a precious object that needed to be protected. A display of care that, while not consistent, kept appearing time and time again on their travels.
Whenever Jay was at his worst, or they’d had a particularly harrowing encounter, Tim would show an extra layer of care that was always welcome.
Relationships didn’t exist like this, after all. So if trauma bonding was all Jay was going to get at this point, he had no choice but to take it.
Continuing to stare up at the sky his head lulled against Tim’s chest while he vaguely heard the motel door open. The room itself felt only a little bit warmer than the outside, but it was still something. Especially since Jay was able to feel that change.
Improvement.
He felt himself get placed down on the bed while Tim said, “I’ll be right back.”
Once the door was closed behind him, and the threat of cold air was gone once more, it didn’t take long for him to try and cuddle up under the thin blankets. It wasn’t doing much to combat the persistent shivers. There just wasn’t enough of them to build up the level of warmth he needed to not feel these all consuming shakes and shudders.
He just wanted to feel normal again.
No more chills, no more hollowness, no more of anything and everything that this damned Operator has given to him in his attempts to find his friend.
Even then, he wanted his friend back.
He wanted all of this to be some made up hoax that Alex had planned to sell his movie on. Something, anything to take this nightmare away.
None of that was going to happen though.
So all he could do was try and warm his frozen body, and let himself forget for a little bit what he had gotten himself into.
He focuses so much on trying to get warm that he doesn’t even notice when Tim comes back. The cold of the outside just mixes in with the already frigid inside he was fighting off. Allowing Tim to take a moment and assess what he was seeing.
Jay, curled up into a little ball, surrounded by all the blankets and still shivering. Despite the relatively warm air, despite him basically having all the blankets on top of him, and despite there being no clear presence of eldritch meddling, he still was shaking.
Letting out a disgruntled sigh, he walks over and lays down next to him. Shifting his way under the sheets, as best he can given how wrapped up Jay had made himself, he lets his hands find their way to Jay’s body.
Still in their regular clothes, the two men move closer and closer to the other. Jay even poking his head up so that he can shimmy himself as close as possible to Tim. Allowing the other man to to finally find a place for him to put his hands.
Resting on Jay’s back, they hold him close to his chest so that they can share warmth. Jay was like a chasm though, constantly needing to more and more warmth given to him to ensure that he could feel comfortable like this.
Though with enough time, and Tim enduring a lot of discomfort, they are able to find a good balance here.
Jay was the first to slip away into sleep. Leaving Tim to look down at his companion with frustration and wonder.
This man had brought horror back into his life so suddenly that he’d barely been able to keep his world intact, yet here he was making sure he was warm.
In it’s own twisted way, it felt like things had worked out.
For better or for worse they were stuck together now. Rain or shine, winter or summer, they were going to have to keep pushing forward together. Neither one of them could make it by themself, clearly, so company was going to be needed.
And at this point Tim couldn’t help but welcome it.
Leaning his head down just enough to reach Jay’s, Tim places a nervous kiss on his head.
“Sleep well, Jay.” His voice quivers out.
The December air being the biggest threat to them at the moment, but also whispering of a eventual holiday season that was already beginning to plague the gas stations and hotel lobbies they visited.
Christmas, in all it’s glitz and glam, was something that they both didn’t consider as a factor in their lives anymore.
But maybe this year, in spite of it all, there would be a present to be found.
Not a physical one, necessarily, but something more personal.
If Jay was willing to have it, of course, but with any luck he would.
And with that, Tim fell asleep trying to put together how a situation like that would happen.
An idealized moment for an otherwise cruel situation they’d found themself in. The sort of thing that they couldn’t imagine happening anymore.
The perfect present, in spite of it all.