Priorities

Jake x Nea

FATHER CAMPBELL'S CHAPEL
Crotus Prenn Asylum

Silence. Neither a heartbeat, nor steps could be heard so far. No sign of a killer. But even without any concrete evidence, the realm itself was reason enough to expect one of the newer killers - the clown. Although the survivors had known the Crotus Prenn Asylum for a long time, they had only been sent to the chapel by the entity for a few times. Even Jake, despite his superior sense of direction, wasn't able to explore every single corner of this area, but he knew how to find his way around. Due to the fact that Nea had to be around here somewhere as well, the generators were secondary to him anyway.

His search for her didn't last too long, a few steps away he saw his girl squatting on the floor. The closer he stepped to her, the louder he heard the crackling sound of the bones of the totem she was cleansing. Typical for her. If you were looking for Nea, you just had to check all the totems to find her. Jake didn't bother at all, quite the opposite, after all, her strategy had saved the survivors life's several times. What worried him was the real reason for her strong motivation.

"Why do I do that? Because there's nothing better than breaking bones without being reported", she once said. But until today, Jake was not sure if this statement should amuse or worry him.

Nea was so engrossed in her new favorite pastime that she still had not noticed Jake, who was now sitting right behind her. He put his arm around her back, gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek and then looked over her shoulder with a slight grin.

"Priorities, huh?"

With a quick, jerking head movement, Nea briefly looked over at him and smiled, then turned back to the totem.

"Of course."

Normally, she would have hit Jake a couple times on the shoulder in such a moment, as she had preached to him hundreds of times before not to get too close to her in public. But when she dedicated herself to her totems, there was nothing to annoy her, and both, the killer and the other survivors, seemed far away anyway. She knew, of course, that Jake was aware of it too and that he was taking advantage of those moments each time. She would probably never have admitted it directly, but the truth is, that she was glad when he was with her. Not because she would somehow feel safer with someone like him, but because she knew that he was safe. Sometimes Jake even felt like she would just slow down a lot more when he was around to make him stay with her like that her a little longer, but maybe he just imagined it.

"And you? Have you already followed your priorities, too?"

Jake's grin widened and he gave a small laugh.

"Yup."

Nea gave him a skeptical look and raised an eyebrow as she continued to dismantle the totem.

"Oh, really? How many hooks did you sabotage on your way here?"

"Not a single one."

"...What? Not a single one?"

Jake squinted at her from the corner of his eyes, glanced at her confused expression and smiled. Meanwhile, Nea looked down again and mentally tried to make sense of Jake's statements.

"What did you do then?"

Jake slipped his arm closer to Nea's hip and put his chin on her shoulder.

"Searched you and found you. That's my top priority."

His whisper gave her goosebumps and his words made her cheeks blush. At the same moment, the totem finally fell apart in front of her and she turned her face in his direction again and smiled, but without meeting his eyes.

"You're such an idiot..."

Jake chuckled again. He didn't expect any other answer from her. Actually, she was usually annoyed by Jake's advocacy, especially during a trial, even though it was mostly just a facade. Nevertheless, he was surprised when Nea suddenly leaned against him and made no move to get up. She lowered her head and gently pressed her face to Jake's chest, trying to hide it. He then gave her a kiss on the temple and gently stroked over her back.

"Jerk Park, always at your service."

Nea laughed as well and tilted her head back to finally look up at him. No matter how much she teased or offended him, he always managed to make her laugh and he still looked at her with that lovely face. How could she have kept pretending to be annoyed like this?

Jake ran his other hand sideways through her hair and then put it on her cheek. For a few seconds that seemed like half an eternity to them, they looked in each other's eyes while enjoying the closeness of each other. At the same time, Jake's head moved downwards almost by itself and approached Nea's face. Both slowly lowered their eyelids and Jake let his eyes wander on Nea's lips one last time before closing them completely. But before he was able to kiss her, he suddenly felt her palm against his lips and opened his eyes again.

"Mh...?"

He looked down at her and noticed her tense expression. Then he could hear it. Heartbeat. Steps.

"Jake ... he is here."