“Don’t cry,” angst Till/Paul ✨ whoever is upset is up to you 👀
I took some liberty with this one hahaha I’ve wanted to write Sonne AU for a long time!! (thank you for requesting my 2nd OTP, I’ve missed writing TillPaul tbh)
AO3 link | Words: 3598 | Pairing: Till/Paul | Era: Mutter (Sonne AU)
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It feels like the caves are closing in on them. The dust and dirt is thick in the air, building in their throats and sinuses until it’s as if they’re just breathing through particles. The darkness, the lack of the sun—it can be too much. Himself and Schneider have always been the toughest of the group. Shouldering the weight of it all; both literally and metaphorically. Till’s shoulders are bruised, his arms fatigued. Schneider has that perpetually stern expression on his face, shadowed by the caked on dirt and dust.
Paul and Richard can only swing a pick-axe for so long before Richard collapses, whining about his wrists, while Paul will keep going and going until he can’t do it anymore. To the point of it becoming a concern; Schneider often has to snatch the pick-axe out of his hand and tell him to sit down and have some water. Paul will, as always, argue that he has to keep going for her. Schneider never puts up with it. Every time they have this argument, Schneider would yell at him that she’s not here, is she? How could she possibly know that he’s resting for ten minutes? And Paul would start shaking. He would grab his mining helmet, chuck it elsewhere angrily, and begin running his filthy hands through his short hair, mumbling to himself that she always knows.
Standing to the side, idly brushing away built up, obliterated rock from the wall he’s mining into, Till watches this, for the hundredth time. And now, Flake stands there with a weak grip on his shovel, watching Paul forlornly, while Ollie has gone back to swinging the pick-axe. Richard shuffles over to Paul to sit next to him, bringing an arm around him—but Paul violently shoves it off and returns his head to his hands. Richard doesn’t leave. He just sits next to Paul, trying to ease a jug of water into his hands, but his efforts are always in vain. Paul doesn’t even look at him.
Continued on AO3
