Chapter Text
To fall in love.
Why do people use such a sad term to describe love?
Maybe it was used because falling was an uncontrollable process; just like how crossing gazes and feeling your heart skip a beat was out of your control.
Or maybe, it was used because 'to fall' was a sudden thing. One might never expect when they might fall, but the next second, they're on the floor. It was the same for how you might never expect to one day be hugging that person, chasing after them shouting "XianSheng, XianSheng" happily.
Every time he heard that call, that man would pause his footsteps and turn around slightly with that small smile on his face.
He would leave a gap by his side, so Tartaglia could walk with him. They'd chat about the most mundane of things or the most boring of rocks. But it was a simpler, warmer time.
And because of this, he knew why it was 'to fall'.
"Because," Tartaglia whispered, thumb rubbing the smooth surface of a scale in his hands. "Things that fall, eventually break."
His empty blue eyes looked down quietly at the dark brown scale that had already lost some of its lustre, like it had been repeatedly caressed over a long period of time. His gaze slowly landed on the embroidered pillows where there used to rest two heads.
Even on that day, he had been chasing after that fleeting light in his eyes, shouting "XianSheng, XianSheng", too.