Jason Kolchek x Clarice Stokes (The Dark Pictures Anthology: House Of Ashes)
Warnings: Spoilers for the game House Of Ashes, Mentions of Death (Near-death experiences too), Injury, Blood, Bombs and Explosions, Swearing
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Romance
Summary: She gets better, contrary to what everyone else was thinking. Everyone else but Jason who had faith and refused to leave her side. That much devotion is worth a spin, isn’t it?
Requested by Anon (dw your identity is safe with me :D ) Thank you so much for your request, dear! I honestly had a ton of fun writing your request cause this ship is super underrated (not saying Jalim doesn’t deserve the fame - it definitely does). Hope you enjoy what I’ve cooked up here for you! Love, Vy ❤
“Hey, hey, hey.“ The gentle shake on her almost startles her, momentarily forgetting where she is and who’s by her side, “What did we say about falling asleep on me?“
Clarice groans and coughs, going to move her arm and rest her hand on her forehead but the Lieutenant watching over her, who wouldn’t have been put up to such a high rank if he didn’t have fast reflexes, wraps his hand around her wrist, securing the arm in its place.
“I get not falling asleep cause I might not wake up, but what is the problem with me moving my goddamn arm?“ She complains, wiggling it to set it free but doesn’t make another attempt at lifting it.
“No problem with moving your arm, Doctor Stokes, but moving that arm is gonna cause you some problems and we don’t want that, do we?“ The Southern drawl is so familiar and welcome to have talking to her, especially in that slightly hushed tone, she almost smiles, but instead chooses to open her eyes and look at the stoner-turned-soldier in front of her. The eye contact between the two only increases the population of butterflies in her stomach, forcing her to direct her look anywhere else for her own sake.
Little does she know it had the same effect on him too.
“You’re wasting your materials on nothing, I hope you know that.“ She comments bitterly as she looks up at the IV bag hanging above the makeshift bed where she’s lying. “As a Lieutenant you should know better than to allow this waste, Hotshot.“
Jason scoffs with a smile - an inevitable reaction reserved only for the instances when she uses that nickname for him. It came up out of the blue back at the mansion and perhaps stuck around. Bottom line, he doesn’t mind it. If anything, he likes it.
“And you should know better than to let your spirits get so low.“ He replies, giving her hand a little squeeze which she returns, “You should know better than to lose hope.“
“The whole mission can’t be put on pause because someone is hurt, can it? It’s marine work, people get hurt left and right.“ She stands her ground, gritting her teeth at the guilt that’s gnawing on her from the inside. Clarice is a smart, bright and quick girl, to be bedridden in a tent in the middle of a cave, right when she’s supposed to do the most she can for the people on her team, that’s her nightmare.
“Yes, you’re right, people get hurt all the time, but…“ he trails off, letting go of her hand to caress aside the stray strands of hair on her forehead, “Not a single one of them have been as important as you.“
One thing to keep in mind about these two - one of the several things they have in common - neither of them have had the time to think of establishing a romantic relationship with anyone in the past couple years. Jason’s been too busy pulling himself and getting his shit together to live up to the US Marine standard while Clarice has been perfecting her skills in the tech field. Never did she see herself using her knowledge to help the Marines but here she is and she can’t argue that it isn’t better than a typical desk job in a noisy office with people doing the exact same thing while her skill set is a lot higher and deserves to be used for something greater.
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