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English
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Published:
2025-05-13
Updated:
2025-05-18
Words:
1,517
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4/5
Comments:
24
Kudos:
164
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8
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1,076

What's the kindest way to say, the end?

Summary:

Another day, and Taph still hasn't clocked in. Nobody's seen them leave their house for this whole time. It's not like the hatred towards demolitionists was increasing. Builderman was surprisingly not that busy today, and he decided to head over to Taph’s house, just to see.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Chapter 1

Chapter Text

Taph hadn’t checked into work for the past week. This was concerning, as they always come into work, no matter what. Outcry against demolitionists was increasing, but Taph would always come in. Builderman was unsettled by this, but he didn't know why. He felt something special with the head demolitionist.

Another day, and Taph still hasn't clocked in. Nobody's seen them leave their house for this whole time. It's not like the hatred towards demolitionists was increasing. Builderman was surprisingly not that busy today, and he decided to head over to Taph’s house, just to see.

The drive over was long, detour after detour from construction and the protests. The neighborhood was abandoned and empty. He doesn’t remember when it got into this state. Taph’s was the furthest down, the black one with the smallest yard.

The windows were boarded up, as always. Builderman pulled out the spare key they gave him a long time ago. ‘Just in case,’ they signed to him. That was a while ago. The door opened, pushed open to an exact angle to not trigger the alarms. Taph was a paranoid one, but is it paranoia if they’re really out to get you? The moment he stepped inside, over and around the three different tripwires. The stench of blood hit him, a bad feeling in his gut. He avoided all the tripwires and randomly placed bear traps, and walked into the living room.

No

No no nononono

Nonono

Nononono

This wasn’t happening

Nononononononono

Nonono Nonononononononononononono

This couldn’t be happening

Nononononono

This isn’t real

Taph was lying on their living room floor. Their left leg was almost gone, clawed off by the bear trap pinching on it. Blow darts filled with a slow-acting poison stuck through their robes, torn apart. The damage was most severe around their leg, clawed and torn. Their right arm was damaged too, likely a minibomb of some kind.
Blood soaked the whole carpet, the stench overpowering. Builderman pulled his shirt over his mouth, making a shape like Taph’s bandanna. Why did everything remind him of the demolitionist?

The world was creeping up on him, and it felt dull, now that they were gone. A light in his life, shaped like a mystical robed figure. The way the wings on their head would flap when excited, their habit of fidgeting with their rings. Everything was so beautiful, even if they didn't see it.

…Denial is a powerful thing, he thought. And I’ve been living in it for years.

He took their cold hand in his.

I wish I could say this to your face, alive and well.

“I love you.”

“I loved you. And now you’re gone.”

Chapter 2: this is 100% the hurt-comfort i promised you

Summary:

The hurt-comfort part 2 you were looking for >:)

Notes:

i lied.
at least i kissed the brick before beating your skull in with it.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Taph tried to block their tears, falling down onto the wooden floor. They desperately tried to trigger the latch on the trap they got their leg stuck in. blood was everywhere, dripping. Panic was riding in their gut, that they would never leave their home ever again, that they would die here. The blood loss was finally hitting them, too dizzy to stand. The floor was cold and dusty. Shit shit shit, am I dying? They thought.

They tried to scream, but nothing. Born without a voice, never to speak. It wasn’t a family curse, just a birth defect. Defective, wrong. That was the only word ever assigned to them. When they came out as non-binary? “No, you’re a man. Get those silly fantasies out of your head, --------.” Nothing they ever did was right. No voice, no right answers. They weren’t smart, just determined. And look where that got them.

It wasn’t the time to wallow in a pity party. It was hard to move, dozens of other traps triggered by their carelessness. One of their darts was embedded into their arm, pushing poison into their veins. They once again tried to trigger the mechanism on the bear trap, slightly more light from the rising sun to aid. The contraption to pop the trap open was rusted down, the switch unable to even trigger. They must have missed it when repairing the traps.

Fuck, is this how I go out? Out of their robe pocket, they pulled out a photo. Taken the day after their promotion to Head Demolitionist, it showed every one of the branch admins, lined up. All of them, Taph sandwiched between Shedletsky and Builderman. Shedletsky had claimed that He didn’t want to stand next to Builderman that day, a stupid argument. The CEO was confused, no argument had happened that day.

“You just don’t remember! I swear, something about uh-” He rapidly looked around. “Ohithinkileftmyovenongottagobye!!!” The (former) god had always been a weirdo. Taph was lucky their hood hid their blush, standing directly next to Builderman. They had a fuzzy feeling inside whenever he was brought up, but there’s no way it could be love, or a crush! They were just full of admiration for Builderman, and all he had done.

They folded it back up, carefully placing it in one of the many hidden pockets the robe allowed, right next to a deconstructed subspace tripmine gear. They curled up on the floor, too tired to struggle any more. Maybe… I’ll meet Builderman in my next life, or eternally wait in whatever is beyond. This isn’t love, they kept telling themself. Oh, how wrong they were.

Notes:

shedletsky #1 builderman x taph shipper

Chapter 3: But first, an interlude of Builderman dying horribly.

Summary:

lol sorry hurt-comfort isn't written yet but have more angst while you wait :)

Notes:

sorry i needed a prelude of how builderman got forsaken'd

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Builderman had been very stressed recently. First, Taph had died. He was the one that found their body, having bled out on the living room floor. There was no funeral, Builderman was the only one that had any emotional connection to them. Everyone else mourned a co-worker. He mourned a friend.

Not even twenty-four hours later, 1x1x1x1 vanished from his imprisonment. Security cameras had stopped working at 20:00:00 on the dot, and resumed at exactly 23:00:00. In that time, 1x1x1x1 had completely vanished from his chains. No audio was captured, and nothing in the cell was disturbed. Shedletsky had left to find his creation two days ago, and never returned.

No wonder the incident happened. It was a normal day, dreary and overcast. He sat on the bus, his car had broken down literally the day of 1x and Shedletsky’s disappearance. People started screaming, panicked, before he felt an impact. Everything went black.

He woke up quickly, nothing seemed wrong. There was something dripping down his face but he paid no attention to it. He stumbled up, unusually dizzy. Everything was blurry, and he stumbled off. The alley he found was dark and dirty, leaning on the wall. “Hey buddy…Wait. Isn’t that Builderman? I wonder what he’s got on him…” Three thugs were behind him, all wielding weapons. Shit.

Before he could react to anything, a spiked bat hit his already battered skull. Snatching a beaten crowbar from the ground, he fought a reckless three-v-one. It was short, taking a knife to the gut. The adrenaline and delirium was fading, and now he realized that dripping liquid was, in fact, blood.

“Shit, I think you killed him, we gotta go!” He heard footsteps as he fell on the ground, gripping the ground tightly. His eyes closed, life slowly slipping away.

 

But, it wasn't the end. Not yet. Not ever.

Notes:

sorry if funky-sounding or ooc. was struggling to write this.

Chapter 4: And now, there's nothing but you here with me.

Notes:

FINE YOU CAN HAVE IT

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

It was Taph’s third round in this hell. A new game, a new killer. This one was one they had seen before, a being of hatred. His boots hit the ground; running, running. They didn’t see the person around the corner, running directly into him. Their eyes HAD to be deceiving them, Builderman COULDN’T be here!

Builderman himself had such a reaction. He should be dead, but here he was, probably alive. He felt alive, but Taph was in front of him… he had flashbacks to their bleeding corpse. Was this his punishment for what he did with 1x1x1x1? Stuck in hell, tormented with a false version of his extremely embarrassing crush? He reached out, hands touching. He felt electric sparks run though him, hiding his blush.

They noticed, wondering. Does… he? No, he can’t. It's my imagination… The two stared at each other, soulless black eyes staring into hidden drops of liquid gold. Builderman had touched divinity, the shine within his eyes a resounding symbol of that. “C0M3 0U7 C0M3 0U7 4ND P14Y!” That was 1x1x1x1. A resounding reminder of Builderman and Telemon’s failures, once a beloved son, now a feared daughter. That voice was definitely more feminine than usual.

Taph grabbed Builderman’s hand, running and dragging him away. It felt like a pinch of heaven swirled into hell itself, just for the two of them. This had to be a dream, it had to be. Taph turned to him, sliding their hand up his jawline. Their bandanna came mysteriously untied, as the two pulled closer to each other.

Their scarred lips felt perfect against his. It seemed like only a moment before they pulled off of each other, both thinking this was a dream. In that moment, 1x1x1x1’s yelling a world away, only the other existed.

The bandanna went back on, shadows once again obscuring their face. Nothing else was here, just the two of them.

Notes:

kissing scenes are so hard

 

comments get whatever i have planned in c5 out faster >:3

Notes:

....75 kudos and you get a chapter two where they meet in forsaken
or if kii posts partial paralysis chapter 1.