Moonspear Where everything's safe and it doesn't get worse

Something had changed when Fenn had run out on him all those months ago, not even Fig could deny it. It had created a divide between them that had never been there before. In so many ways, Fig wished that divide didn't exist. He missed the easy closeness they'd once had. Before then, he never would've dreamed of withholding anything from her.

But in so many other ways, the divide had been so good for him. He saw now how necessary it was. He and Fenn were not Phox and Towhee. Their parents may have figured out how to live their lives together without becoming toxicly codependent, but that was simply not a talent Fig possessed. He couldn't be with Fenn every day of his life and not turn her into the center of his universe. It simply wasn't in his DNA. And he knew that was not a problem Fenn had, nor was it one she would understand. It also wasn't one she could fix.

Fig took a deep breath as Fenn replied. She was visibly unhappy, but he'd known she would be. She was kind enough to leave him be, but her return request hurt his heart. "I'm biologically programmed to protect you, Fenn," Fig said with a smile, "It has nothing to do with trust. But you do have mine."


"I'm going to miss you too," he added after a few moments of hesitation. Not that he was uncertain of the feeling, but only that he'd had to fight that brief instinct to keep it from her because he'd known it might hurt her even more.