David silently watches him. Max keeps his distance as he shuffles over, holding the bear out.
“Fix him,” he mumbles, burned alive by shame. He doesn’t know if he means the bear or himself.
David mouth twitches in a sad smile that fails to reach his eyes. Without a word, he stands, crosses the couch and walks upstairs. Max clutches his bear as he watches him go, his gut twisting in fear that he fucked up beyond the point of no return this time- until David returns a moment later with a basket of sowing supplies.
David sits with his legs crossed, the bear propped on his knee as he ties a knot at the end of the thread and pokes a needle through its neck.
Max stares at the floor as he works, burning crater-sized holes in the carpet.
“I don’t know why I’m like this,” he says in an unrecognizably small voice.
“That’s okay, Max,” David says.
fanart for invisible string (tying you to me) by @jesslupesgf <3