Chapter Text
His legs ached as the stamina was rapidly depleting, quickly running out as Elliot struggled to locate the injured person he sensed just mere moments ago. He wheezed as he finally reached the castle in the corner of the map, first threading through the lower part, then ascending the path up to it's top, searching behind and around every piece of wall there was.
Yet he found nothing, and that only served to scare him. He checked the health status of his teammates, from what he could see, he was searching for Taph. The killer had been lead away a couple of minutes ago by Guest, who was brought along with Elliot to their ally's rescue. That had been the first part of the plan, the second was to locate Taph, so they could move to the third and final step— giving them a pizza slice to heal them up. But it seems like it'd be harder than Elliot thought as the demolitionist was nowhere to be found.
Elliot was partly glad, it meant that Taph wouldn't be easily found by the killer, but he was mostly worried since he couldn't find them to heal them either. His eyes slowly scanned the area a few times, looking for any sign of Taph being there at all. Then, he saw it.
Taph's cloak, on the ground all but ripped to shreds as black and gold pieces littered the grass a few steps away from the corner κατηφόρα. Elliot's breath hitched as he thought of the worst, but he calmed down once he noticed Taph's health staying steady. Orange, but steady.
He slowly descended the "castle", carefully approaching the discarded piece of clothing when he noticed the heavy breathing coming from somewhere behind him. Whoever it was they were struggling, so Elliot turned right on his heels and went to the only place around there he hadn't checked yet: the small corner behind the concrete structure.
It was fairly easier to spot Taph now, hearing their labored breathing as they laid on the floor clutching at their side. Elliot didn't pay attention to anything other than the injury once he spotted it, blood was dangerously oozing out of it and he had to stop it now. It'd be easier if he had a medkit, unfortunately for Taph he hadn't. Elliot beelined for Taph, then promptly stopped when he saw Taph curl in on themself even more once they noticed him.
'Why did- oh.' Elliot remembered the torn clothing on the ground, most likely the source of Taph's discomfort. But unfortunately, he didn't have time for that, they needed to be healed. But... He can't exactly trample over their boundaries like that, clearly they felt uncomfortable without their cloak. What could he do...
"Taph I uh, I know you don't like being seen without your cloak, man, but," he looked away from Taph, concerned that he wouldn't be able to see the other trying to communicate, but he didn't know what else he could do. He slowly started walking towards Taph, sideways, with the grace of a crab. "You're hurt and I brought you a pizza slice. Here, can you grab it? I'm looking away..."
He felt the weight on his hand shift as Taph took the pizza slice from his extended hand, sighing in relief as he heard the sound of Taph eating it soon after. He thought for a little while before an idea came to him.
"Hey, Taph? Would you like to have my visor? Here." Elliot takes off his red visor and offers it to Taph, still looking away out of respect. "I know it's not a lot, but uh... Better than nothing?" He chuckles awkwardly.
Silence... Not that he was expecting Taph to magically gain the ability to talk, but still. He waited, nonetheless.
He heard shifting on the ground, then felt the visor slip out of his hands as Taph accepted the offer, immediately wearing it. 'Better than nothing.' they thought.
Taph noted how Elliot still hadn't turned to look, they appreciated that a lot, however he still had to thank him somehow which was hard to do when you need the other person looking at you signing. Which Elliot clearly wasn't. Now it was Taph's turn to come up with a solution, and they had to be quick, the round was almost over and they'd have to rush back to their cabin for their spare cloak once the round ended.
He resorted to taking Elliot's hand in his own and giving it a firm, appreciative squeeze. Elliot squeezed back and gave him a smile, even though he was looking away, Taph could tell by the way his hair shifted slightly and his posture relaxed.
"I'll get going now, round's almost over so you'll get a new cloak soon!" He squeezed Taph's hand once more before letting go and turning away fully, his back facing Taph. "And uh, you can bring the visor back to me whenever, I have a few spares anyway, no rush."
With that, Elliot ran away, searching for any other injured teammates, leaving Taph behind as they thought. They curiously took off the visor, turning it in their hands and inspecting it. There was nothing special about the visor, just a regular red worn one, though it was special to Taph in meaning. It was proof of Elliot's clear respect towards their boundaries and feelings, of his desire and genuine willingness to help his allies even if their issue may seem small and unimportant. Taph appreciated that, a lot.
The round was almost over by now, just the last few seconds ticking down, the sound somehow getting louder by the second. Taph briefly wondered if Elliot would mind not having his visor returned, or of he'd even notice in the first place, that pizza man always had something on his mind. And true to their theory, once they had been transported back, Elliot rushed off to take care of something. Taph didn't have the chance to look as they themselves hurried to exit the main cabin and avoid as many gazes landing on them as possible, red visor doing a weak job at protecting their privacy, but the thought is what mattered.
After Taph had been clothes once more, comfortable in their usual outfit, they placed the visor onto their desk. 'I'll return it some other time, he's probably busy at the moment.' they excused their random desire to keep hold of it. And wouldn't you know it? Elliot happened to be busy so Taph didn't really get the chance to return the item... In truth, they liked seeing it in his room, it brought them a strange warmth of comfort.
And Elliot really didn't mind.