a/n: finally decided to post this here after ten thousand years of delay

tbh it's not good bc again, this was written ten thousand years ago (at least three months, maybe). don't expect much. ok. reviews/favs will be loved.

may delete in near future.


You want to protect his smile. You want to cup his face in your palm and tell him to never, ever cry.

You hate summer, but it's these rewinding days that's brought you together, so it would be a lie if you said you did entirely. It's set up as a coincidence, but each occurrence is fate's path laid bare before the both of you— he doesn't see it, but you do. Even if he does, there's nothing he can do to defy it, and how the same applies to you.

It's the same thing, every time— you're kicking your legs back and forth, stroking the soft fur of the cat lying on your lap. When he arrives. Panting, grabbing your hand and running. Without a word.

There were words, but they faded, in time. There would be friendly conversation, but now there just isn't the time. He wants to save you. He wants to save you so badly. But he can't, he never will, and you want to laugh at him, the same way you want to laugh at yourself for continuing to try.

It hurt. It hurt every time the truck collided with you, breaking every bone in your body. It hurt every time the pillar drove down your throat. It hurt every time, with a slip of a foot, you fell headfirst down three stories. It didn't hurt as much as the sight of tears that streamed down his face, his smile shattering in a flick of a wrist.

Maybe his smile is so endearing you need to protect it at all costs. Maybe his tears are so heart-wrenching you never want to see them spill over. Maybe one day you'll finally succeed.

The day you do, at the same time, you fail.

You're screaming, this time. You're the one clutching his gradually fading body. You're the one with tears spilling over your cheeks. Yet he smiles, he smiles so sweetly, and it's that smile you've wanted to protect, all this while. It's those tears you wanted to chase away that's missing.

But you've failed. You've failed to protect him. And as much as you've wanted to protect his smile, to rid of his tears, it didn't matter if you couldn't save him.

When time turns itself back again, you vow to never make the same mistake again. Even if you only hurt him more, and more, and more.

(But we all know how that turns out, in the end.)