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The Swift household is pitch black on the inside from the looks of it, and Link isn't quite sure why. He had planned to hang out with Taylor tonight, but wasn't expecting anything out of the ordinary.
"Come inside," Taylor says with a mischievous lilt to his voice.
"Um, why are all the lights off?"
"It's spooky ," Taylor hands him a flashlight, and holds his hand, guiding him into the depths of the darkness.
Link chuckles a little. "Okay, but what are we doing?"
"We're exploring, obviously."
"But this is your house."
"True, true, but this is also a haunted mansion, and there are nooks and crannies unfamiliar to even me ," Taylor says, putting on this spooky narration voice that has Link cracking up again.
"Whatever you say, Taylor."
They head down to the basement, and Taylor opens a closet full of boxes.
"These boxes have been unopened since time immemorial…" he says.
"Whatever you say."
"And we are going to discover what's inside!" he shouts, picking up the first box and dropping it on the ground with a loud thump .
Taylor pulls out a switchblade and slices the tape on the top of it, and Link kneels down with him to lift up the flaps of cardboard.
"What do we have here?" Taylor asks, as they open the box to reveal a stack of dusty old novels.
"Books?"
"Ancient texts!" Taylor corrects, lifting one up and dusting it off. The cover reads Twilight . "These will be useful for our future journeys."
"Should we look through the rest of the books?" Link asks, playing into Taylor's adventure. He's so cute when he gets all roleplay-ey.
"No time! We must search through the other boxes," Taylor answers, bringing a couple more down from the closet. They all seem to be stacked haphazardly on top of each other.
Taylor passes Link his switchblade and resolves to use his sharp nails to slice the tape.
"Ah, more ancient texts!"
"Same here."
The two continue looking through the boxes and finding books neither recognize, save for some old editions of manga that Taylor keeps aside rather than putting them back in the boxes, and…
"At last! The final two."
One is bigger, and stacked atop the other. Link grabs it and starts to open it, while Taylor grabs the other one, dusting it off to do the same.
This box has a pair of shoes in it. They're big sneakers that were probably once white but now rock a slightly icky shade of yellow. There's a soccer ball next to it, also slightly yellow, and there's a little heart drawn on it in what appears to be black sharpie.
Nothing else is in the box.
"There's shoes and a soccer ball in mine, what about yours?" Link asks.
And from Taylor, there is nothing but a small gasp.
Link looks over, and he's got his flashlight pointed toward what looks like a picture frame.
Link scoots over and up close beside him to get a better view of what he's looking at, and oh .
It's a picture of Nicky, smiling and holding a baby in his arms, in a white frame with hearts drawn all over it, and at the bottom, in neat printing, it says, My Boys .
Taylor is quiet, except for increasingly shaky breaths.
"Taylor, I…"
What could Link even say?
And then it's too late, because Taylor puts the photo down on the floor and digs through the box with far too much aggression for a silly haunted mansion adventure.
There's a jersey, and some sweatshirts, and a beanie, and Link thinks he hears paper rustling, and Taylor pulls out what appears to be a letter in a tri-fold from the bottom of the box.
He unfolds it with shaky hands, and clears his throat.
Link doesn't think it a good idea, but he's not going to stop him.
And Taylor begins to read.
"Dear Cass, I'm so sorry I had to tell you this way, but I did it to keep you two safe," Taylor sucks in a breath, his voice shakier by the second, "I have to leave, I'm in trouble, and I can't let anything happen to you because they're after me. I've put money in the envelope, and I'll keep sending it for as long as I can."
Taylor stops for a second, and with what little light there is, Link can see tears start to slide down his face.
Just as Link opens his mouth, Taylor continues:
"I know Taylor won't remember me, but please give him a hug and a kiss on my behalf. I love you both, and… and…"
Taylor sucks in a shuddering breath, and breaks down in sobs.
Link is quick to envelop him in a hug, not caring that the paper crumples between them.
"Taylor, hey, hey, hey, it's okay," he soothes, carding his fingers through Taylor's hair.
Trembling violently in Link's grip, Taylor only whines and sobs harder, sucking in breath after breath as if he can't quite fill his lungs.
"It's okay, it's okay."
"It's not! " he shouts into Link's chest, shaking his head vigourously before whining again.
"Okay, maybe it's not, but I'm here okay? I'm here with you, and it's going to be okay."
" Link , I—"
Another sob rips through him, followed by the sound of Taylor nearing hyperventilation.
"Taylor, Taylor, breathe. Breathe with me okay? Deep breaths."
Taylor nods, and follows Link's lead in breathing deeply. It takes a while, and each little squeak and pained noise from Taylor struggling so much breaks Link's heart more and more, but eventually, he calms down, back to little whimpers and sniffles.
"That's better," Link hums, holding him close. "See? You're okay."
"Uh-huh…" Taylor mumbles, tear-laced and wobbly, before pulling away.
"This is my fault," he says, before putting the letter back in the box, on top of the clothes.
"Hey, no it's not."
Taylor whines again, swiping at his tears.
"Why don't we go upstairs and watch a movie?" Link asks, running his hand up and down Taylor's arm.
"Okay…" Taylor mumbles, moving to close the boxes full of books and collect the manga he found.
Link grabs the picture frame and moves to put it on top of the letter, but not before reading the last line Taylor couldn't get through:
I love you both, and maybe in another timeline, things could have been different .
- Nicky