━━━ ⸝⸝ ━ ⟡ ━ ⸝⸝ ━━━

” 𖦹¡`-´¡𖦹 “

extra info:

• inspired by yearning for a touch (@sourle — tumblr)

• go check their au out for more info

• it’s 3 am and my brain power is gone

━━━ ⸝⸝ ━ ⟡ ━ ⸝⸝ ━━━

A lie.

Was it really?

No—it wasn’t. That was the problem.

It was real.

A stupid simple mistake, really.

A mistake that was enough to him against you—like everyone else had.

━ ⋆ ━

Taph was limping, each step a staggered breath from collapse. His health scraped the bottom of the barrel.

One hit, and he was done.

He fumbled into his pouch with trembling hands, pulling out a subspace and snapping it to life.

With a practiced throw, he launched it forward, the subspace bounced upon hitting the ground before stilling.

He stumbled through it, jaw clenched, ears twitching at the sound of footsteps thundering behind him.

Then— A growl. Raw, furious, too familiar.

The subspace detonated behind him in a burst of warping energy, and their scream cut through the air like a blade.

“DON’T LEAVE ME AGAIN!”

The pain in their voice didn’t just stop him. It shattered him.

Taph froze.

His foot hovered mid-step, then slowly touched down. He turned—slowly—like he was afraid of what he’d see.

There they were.

The sound of their sobbing barely audible to his ears.

The sound clawed into his chest.

He stood there, shaking. Every inch of him ached, but not like this. Not like the guilt that hollowed out his ribs and made his heart feel too heavy to beat.

He wanted to move. To run to them. To drop to his knees and wrap his arms around them and sign—

No. He couldn’t say anything. He never could.

But he wanted to.

Because this? This wasn’t just a mistake.

This was him, turning away when they needed him most. Letting the world chew them up while he stood back, arms crossed, pretending he couldn’t see.

And now here they were, broken and in pain, and it was his fault, wasn’t it?

He had believed the lie.

He let the simple mistake turn him against them.

He left them.

He didn’t reach out.

And now, all he had left was the crushing weight of shame and the wreckage of what he could’ve saved.