Chapter Text
In the pitch black of the room, two eyes meet her own from the bed against the wall. Jinx is silent, careful, arms wrapped tightly around her- Vi’s- stuffed rabbit, waiting for any kind of confirmation that Silco actually sees her. The first time she’d mustered up the courage to push open his bedroom door after a nightmare, he’d been sat up, eyes open and unmoving. He knows I’m here, she’d thought in the moment, creeping up to his side and anxiously poking his forearm when he hadn’t acknowledged her.
It only took that one night to cement in Jinx’s mind that Silco slept with his eyes open.
There’s a sudden, sharp inhale from him when she touches his arm, the mattress creaking and sheets still settling when she feels cold metal upon her forehead. It takes Silco half an hour after realizing what he’d done before he can stop Jinx’s bawling, hushing her, hair unkempt, frustratingly unqualified for this, hands in front of him and gun once more on the nightstand, unsure of how to calm a kid until they cried themselves out.
“I see you, child.”
Jinx gasped, pulled from the memory, and shyly inched into the room with her blanket draped over her shoulders. No matter how many times she’d come in here since that night, she remained hesitant to enter even when she knew that he knew she was inside. She could feel Silco’s eyes on her as she slowly edged herself up to his bedside, gaze downcast and fidgeting with her rabbit’s ears until she spared a glance up at him. Indeed, he stared back down at her, waiting for her to give him an explanation as to why she was in here. Given the past few months, though, he’d already made a pretty damn good assumption.
“I had another nightmare,” she murmured, voice barely audible above the constant rumbling and rattling that came from Zaun’s piping. Eyes adjusting to the dim light now, Silco could barely make out the quiver in her bottom lip as she sucked it in behind her teeth, her nose runny and red. “About- them.”
At the words, the man above exhaled, reaching out to his nightstand to turn the oil lamp on. He was acutely aware of the way her breath hitched when his hand passed over the gun there, but he had no intention of ever reaching for it again while he knew Jinx was still in the room with him. As the room brightened, the flame inside of the glass swaying hypnotically, Silco ran his hands down his face and pushed his hair back from his eyes. Jinx remained at the bedside, as pensive and reserved as she'd been every day before, but if the way she pulled her blanket closer into herself was anything to go by, she was waiting for Silco to propose a solution to her restlessness.
Although his body ached and he wanted nothing more than to ignore this and go back to sleep, he decided he would indulge her just this once. It was so late that it began to blend into early morning, and he was sure that even though the girl had made the effort to get to his room, she was just as tired as he was.
Reluctantly, almost in annoyance, he patted the space beside him on the bed, watching as Jinx did not wait for even a moment to take him up on his offer. Grunting, she clambered up onto the mattress, pulling her blanket up and seating herself about a foot away from him. She looked up at him with expectant, vibrant eyes, rabbit clutched closely as the man beside her thought of a solution. His voice was groggy with deprivation, good eye blinking blearily in the light of the lamp.
"Would you like me to tell you another story?" He proposed, and Jinx grumbled in response, her head sunk behind her knees as she brought them up to her chest. "Your stories are boring," she huffed, arm brushing across her face as she wiped away a stray tear. "They're all about strength and power or- or whatever. Stupid stuff like that."
Silco's response was a quiet grunt. Though he knew his stories of betrayal and seizing opportunities weren't really what a frightened child wanted to hear, there was a twinge of disappointment in the deepest part of Silco's chest at the words. Did she genuinely have no desire to learn more about being strong, or was he just a terrible storyteller? Whatever the reason, it left a sour taste in his mouth. While he certainly hadn't placed 'remember bedtime stories for children' high up on his to-do list, he thought his tales were at least a little interesting.
The corner of his lips tugging into a frown, Silco motioned towards the door. "I could walk you back to your room, if you'd like," he offered. "I'll stay there until you fall asleep again."
And no longer, he thought about adding. He couldn't afford to go another day with a sore back and a crick in his neck just because Jinx had begged and begged for him to remain in the room with her. The paperwork was taxing enough without the physical ailments. She seemed to weigh it for a few minutes before sighing dejectedly, shaking her head and sinking further into herself. "I don't want to," she mumbled, throwing her blanket over her eyes. "Mylo's in there. He doesn't stop staring," she sniffled, and the two of them sat there, wracking their brains for any kind of compromise that would let the two of them finally get back to sleep.
With nothing coming to mind, Silco was about to send the girl off with an awkward pat to the head and a "well, if you have another one, you can always come back?" before Jinx scooted the smallest inch closer. Damn his bad eye- had he not felt the weight on the bed shift as she moved, he would have never caught it. Slowly, he turned his head to fully view her, only to find that she had already placed her rabbit on his bed and tucked it in. His voice was cautious.
"What are you doing, girl?" He began, and Jinx made a face, sticking her tongue out at him. He hoped the twitch in his brow wasn't too indicative of his disdain for her disrespect. "It's Jinx," she snapped back, and she gave the rabbit a gentle brush with the back of her hand. "And I'm tucking in Bubbles."
Silco glanced back towards the door. She had shut it when she walked in, instead of leaving it cracked like she usually did. His good eye narrowed. "Surely you aren't planning on leaving.. Bubbles.." he felt childish for even repeating the name- "here when you go back to your room?" He asked, testing to see if she was actually going to go through with.. whatever this was. Jinx looked aghast. "I would never leave her!" She exclaimed, and by this time, Silco was already hyperaware of how she was cautiously dipping her feet under his own sheets, the pillow shifted slightly so as to accommodate her head compared to his. So, so slowly, as if she believed if she did it slow enough, he wouldn't catch on.
Silco, unamused and perhaps a little insulted at what she believed his intelligence to be, set his jaw.
"You're not sleeping here." He said with finality, and at her immediate exasperation, he quieted her with a stern look. "It's dangerous. Terrible people have tried before to kill me in my sleep-"
"I'd protect you!" She retorted instantly, pointing to Bubbles. "Bubbles, she- she would, too!" At this, she gave her toy a firm slam on the head, and Silco felt his brows furrow. The sound of metal? Bubbles' eyes, normally black beads, grew an ominous red, and Silco, despite the fact that a bomb was now active in his bed, felt.. surprised.
Of course, he thought to himself. No wonder she never leaves her rabbit unattended. It's a defense mechanism. The scarred man, tugged back and forth between sending the girl on her way and letting her remain, sighed deeply and met her gaze. Big, slate-blue eyes, wet and glassy, darted to the bed as though she were about to start crying again at the idea of being driven off like an annoying fly. He felt his lip twitch, a strand of hair falling from its usual cut.
"Please?" Jinx pleaded, hands fisted together, shaking up at him. "Please please please? Pretty please? I won't color your desk tomorrow if you let me!"
He blinked languidly at her, teal eye lidded with exhaustion, and then begrudgingly turned around to snuff the oil lamp's flame.
"Thank you!" She said quickly, chanting it, sobbing it, lanky arms thrown about his waist and clutching tightly. Silco, stiff as a board, cleared his throat and nodded, although she couldn't see it. "Yes, you're welcome," he murmured, giving Jinx the worst, most awkwardly compassionate touch he could manage to the top of her head. "You're welcome."
It did not take long for Jinx's exhaustion to reach her again, and now fully interred into Silco's blanket, she made no sound as she slept. Though her arms were no longer around him, the feeling lingered, and he spared glances towards the rabbit that she now held close against her chest. Still armed. Above the roar of Zaun's never sleeping streets, the soft ticking of whatever mechanism Bubbles had within her stuffing was deafening to Silco. It was admirable to him that she put such faith in her inventions to not explode, even as she held them- he refused to indulge in the idea that she simply didn't care if it went off or not. He does not sleep that night, gun held tightly in his lap as he remained sat up and conscious. Jinx would be mortified to know he even touched it while she was still in the room with him, but he made sure, made absolutely sure, that the barrel was faced completely opposite of her.
He would not harm her again, be it on purpose or on accident.
Gun in hand, finger on the trigger and eyes unwavering from the door across him, he would make sure no one else harmed her either.