SYPNOSIS: caleb x non!mc, except x is a bit of a stretch. snippet of a much larger fic to come
âIs your wife always soâŠuptight?â You heard MC mumble.
You donât know how you found it in yourself to stay out of Calebâs business until now. Perhaps it was the blinding trust you had for this man, the strong, reliable colonel who had graciously married you, who had signed your marriage certificate with empty eyes. But deep down, you always knew.
From the day you came home from the courthouse, there has always been three in the spaces you occupied with your husband, three at the alter (you wondered if Caleb had imagined it was MC standing in your place on your wedding day), three in the bed (you could even imagine MC lying in empty space inbetween you and Caleb as you slept, and three at the table (at first before Caleb had learnt more about you, the dishes he served were all reminecent of MCâs favourites). You knew MC haunted, haunts, your marriage. But like any good wife, you looked the other way and hoped for the best.
That is, until now.
With your back pressed against the cold marble wall, you listened on to the conversation that Caleb was holding with MC in your living room, after an awkward dinner party to which Caleb had invited MC and her husband, Zayne, to attend.
âNo, sheâs justâŠâ You heard your husband began, an awkward silence stretching over the expanse of MCâs living room.
Iâm just what, Caleb?
ââŠsheâs just emotional, thatâs all.â
You heard MC snort. âEmotional? Hardly. I seem to remember that at your wedding, she was ever so meek and crittery, so nervous, so deferent, so grateful to marry the big strong colonelâŠâ She sighed, âAnd I thought that, yâknow, hey! She might do a lot of good for you. Sheâs like a squeaky mouse, just like another version of me, how I was your âpipsqueakââŠâ Her voice suddenly dropped to a whine.Â
âI thought maybe you found a better replacement.â
You heard sounds that indicated that Caleb stepped forwards to hug her.Â
âMCâŠnothing and nobody could ever replace you.â Caleb said gently, tightening his embrace.
They were silent for a long time. Tears had began to bead in your eyes.
âWellâŠon that happy noteâŠâ MC mumbled, her lips splitting into a wide smile, one hand coming to rest on her stomach, the other intertwining with Calebâs.
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Synopsis: Frat!Caleb gets turned on seeing you eat a lollipop
Frat!Caleb x Innocent!Reader
Warnings: frat!Caleb, mean!Caleb, blowjob, innocent!reader, Caleb's mind is in the gutter 24/7, manhandling, size difference, dom/sub undertones, spitting, nicknames (honey, good girl), slight aftercare, lemme know if I missed anything!
Series Masterlist
You were too engrossed in the pages of your sociology textbook to notice the purple-eyed male, who couldnât tear away his gaze from your syrup-stained lips.Â
During one of your psychology lectures, you learned that chewing gum while studying aided in recalling important information. Though you knew your jaw would grow tired from the repetitive action that came with chewing gum, you figured eating a lollipop could have a similar outcome as it was another form of oral stimulation.Â
Caleb was able to remember the day you had told him. To be honest, he had found the whole concept a bit idiotic. Who would waste their time conducting a trial on the affects of chewing gum and memory recall? But now that he sat across from you, his own textbook abandoned beside him, it made sense. His gaze stayed on you, remembering the way your small tongue looked as it poked past your lips to remove the sugary residue off the corner of your mouth.
He knew you were trying to be quiet as the library was also being used by other students, but every so often, a soft popping or a gentle slurping sound reached his ears. It was enough to catch his attention. With his chin resting in the palm of his hand while the other absentmindedly twirled his pen, his eyes flicked over to you at the sound. Enamored with the way your lips would pucker around the hard ball of candy, his mouth opened slightly as his mind wandered elsewhere.Â
By the time the two of you had made it back to his place, you only had yourself to blame as you gazed up at Caleb who was hastily unzipping his jeans as he sat on the couch. The entire time, his gaze was focused on your eyes that gazed up at him in total wonder.
On your knees and in between his spread legs, he didnât even give you the chance to speak before he was cradling the back of your head with one hand and angling his flushed cock towards your mouth with the other.
âSpit.â He ordered.
You did as you were told, the red coloring clinging to your tongue turning the glob that landed on his tip a sweet pink.
He moved your head side to side, spreading the spit along your lips, unbothered as it reached your cheeks and chin. At the same time, he made sure to cover the curved length as he knew youâd need some help to take him. Â
âNow be a good girl and open.â
You were hesitant, but you did as you were told, the sight of your soft tongue as your mouth fell open making his dick twitch.
Shoving the tip past your lips, Calebâs head fell back against the backrest as your warm mouth surrounded his length. Just like your cunt, it was warm, wet, soft, and inviting. His hips bucked once, the action driving his cock down your throat for a few seconds.
âYou were driving me crazy, honey.â A grunt slipped past his lips as he felt your throat convulse as you gagged around his tip. âHad my dick getting hard while at the library like some damn loser.â
Lifting his head from the backrest to get a good look at you, his mouth fell open and his brows furrowed as breathy moans fell from his swollen lips.
You didnât have to do much as he did most of the work, moving your head up and down with the grip he had on your hair. He refused to break eye contact. The sight of your wide eyes staring up at him with tears clinging to your lashes had him spilling a small amount of cum as his cock involuntarily jerked at the view.Â
He had to slow down every so often as you still needed to remember to breathe through your nose, but that didnât mean he wouldnât tease you.
âYou sucked off that lollipop just fineâŠâ He smiled as he heard you whine in embarrassment. You tried to pull away. He didnât allow it. ââŠwhy is my dick any different?â
Every time you gagged, a lovely blush overtook the apple of your cheeks.
âI know you have a hard time with my size, but-ah, shitâŠj-just like that, honeyâŠbut it canât be helped.â He let out a breathy moan followed by your name, his eyes fluttered shut as he felt himself reaching his limit. âYou suck cock pretty well for a sweet little thing.âÂ
Feeling his abs flex and his balls tightened, he shoved his whole length into your mouth, making sure his cum spilled down your throat. The load he spilled was far too much for you, the excess escaping past the corners of your mouth and down your chin. Once he pulled you off his cock, you took in a deep breath before coughing, your throat sore and your voice too weak to even try to say anything.
Caleb made sure to gently wipe away the cum that remained on your skin, bringing his stained fingers to his mouth. When the substance met his tongue, he could taste himself, mixed with the lollipop from before and your lip gloss. His dick, that still needed to be put away, lay on his abdomen, the red color that clung to your tongue now covering the first few inches of it.
He didnât mind. He was too occupied cleaning you up with a spare t-shirt he had hanging over the armrest to even care. Once your breathing is regulated, he runs a hand over your head, smoothing down a few stray strands.Â
Flinching slightly as his hands cupped your face, you allowed Calebâs thumbs to wipe away the tears that had fallen, their tracks disappearing from your flustered face. The corner of his mouth twitched as he snickered when you nuzzled against his palm.
âI donât mind having your cute little mouth on my cock, but if Iâm being honest, I prefer eating you out.â
Well, when I said this request would be controversial, I wasn't kidding. So, here goes.
May I request: Non-MC knows her marriage with Caleb is over when he requests (read: demands) that she let MC have his first child.
okay i actually had a lot of fun writing this one cuz i was writing fluff and smut all day and this angst just hit PERFECTLY đââïž thank you for leaving this request, it was such a breath of fresh air and got my brain all excited for it!! hopefully i didn't misunderstand your request and you'll enjoy it! âĄ
p.s. not proofread
â. â content warnings: heavy angst, no comfort, cheating, infidelity, marriage falling apart, unrequited love, self-deception, caleb loves mc & is married to non!mc/reader
The kettle was still whistling when he said it.
Youâd been pouring tea, that ridiculous oolong heâd bought you for your birthday last year, the one in the tin with the gold lettering, and your hand was steady on the handle and the steam was rising and Caleb was sitting at the kitchen island with his sleeves pushed up and his forearms resting on the marble and he said it the way someone might mention the weather.Â
So fucking casual, you almost couldnât believe your ears.
âI need you to let her carry the first.â
You poured the tea.
It was important, somehow, to finish pouring the tea. The amber liquid filled the cup. Steam curled. Your hand did not shake. Whose first, your brain offered politely, because your brain was being kind to you, was buying you time, was pretending it didnât already know.
You set the kettle down.
âWhose first what?â
Caleb didnât look at you. That was the first thing you noticed, focusing on that instead of how your stomach turned involuntarily. He looked at his hands, at the marble, at the soft fold of his rolled sleeve. Anywhere but at you. Caleb who could meet anyoneâs eye through anything, Caleb whoâd talked you down through three panic attacks and held your stare during all of them, was looking at the countertop like the answer was etched into it.
âMy first child,â he said quietly. âI need it to be hers.â
The cup was hot. You only noticed because your fingers were still wrapped around it. You were going to burn yourself if you didnât let go. So you let go. You set it down on the saucer almost too carefully, and watched your own hand do this, like your hand belonged to a stranger, like you were watching a film of someone receiving the worst news of their life and being very polite about it.
Oh, you thought.
Oh, of course.
It was strange how fast the rest of you caught up. How the body knew. Your stomach was already cold. Your ears were already ringing. There was an ache low in your chest, somewhere beneath your ribs, like something with weight had just settled there permanently.
You felt sick.
âCaleb.â Your voice was flat. You were proud of your voice. âWeâve been married for two years.â
âI know.â
âWe were going to start trying in spring.â
âI know.â
âYou saidââ and here it almost cracked, you caught it just in time, ââyou said you wanted a little girl with my eyes.â
A long silence. He still wasnât looking at you. His jaw was working in that small, controlled way that meant he was holding something back, and the worst part was that you knew he was holding back something gentle. Some softening. Some apology. He was going to try to make this kind, and you were going to have to sit there and let him, and it was going to be the most violent thing that had ever happened to you.
âIt has to be hers first,â his words hit bullseye straight into your heart, finally. âYou understand.â
You did, actually. That was the obscene part. Youâd always understood.
Youâd known the day he proposed.
Heâd done it sweetly. Heâd done it on the balcony of the apartment you used to rent together, with a ring heâd had resized twice to make sure it fit, and heâd said all the right things, I want to build a life with you, you make me steadier, I love you, I love you, I love you, and youâd cried and said yes and meant it. You meant it with your whole chest, tears ruining your makeup, but they were happy tears, because youâve wanted the same life for so, so long.
Then his phone buzzed twice in his pocket while he was on one knee, and youâd watched his eyes flicker, just for a second, just for less than a second, and youâd known.
Youâd known and youâd said yes anyway.
Because she hadnât said yes to him. Because sheâd never said yes to him. Because Caleb had been in love with her since they were children, and sheâd chosen someone else, several someone elses if the rumors were accurate, and Caleb had needed somewhere to put all of that ruined devotion, and you had been right there, kind and patient and so stupidly in love with him that youâd opened your hands and said give it to me, Iâll hold it for you.
Youâd thought, in the deluded little corner of your heart you didnât show anyone, that maybe if you held it long enough it would become yours.
It never did.
Youâd seen it. That was the thing you would have to admit to yourself now, in the unflinching light of the present nightmare staring you dead in the eye. You had seen it every time, and you had decided every time not to see it.
Youâd seen it at your engagement dinner, when his phone lit up across the table and he had glanced down for a fraction of a second too long, his thumb hovering over the screen before he turned the phone face down as if he wasnât dying to pick it up and run to her. You had not asked whose name was on it. You hadnât needed to, really.
Youâd seen it the night she came to your housewarming. Sheâd hugged Caleb hello, a polite hug, a friendly hug, exactly the kind of hug an old friend gives, and Calebâs hand had landed at the small of her back in a way it had never landed at yours. Light. Familiar. Cherished, loving, as if he waited lifetimes to hug her exactly like that.Â
You had watched it from across the room with a glass of wine in your hand and you had smiled at someoneâs joke. Whose joke, you couldnât remember.
Youâd seen it every time her name came up at dinner. The way he stopped chewing for a beat. The way his shoulders would set themselves before he answered, oh, sheâs fine, sheâs traveling, I havenât seen her in a while, careful and casual, the cadence of a man speaking around a hot coal in his mouth.
Youâd seen the gift he kept in the back of his desk drawer, wrapped in pale blue paper, never given. Youâd found it once, while looking for some tape. You had not asked who it was for. You had closed the drawer very gently and walked away and told yourself, fiercely, it could be for anyone. It could be for one of his friends. It could be for a colleague. It could be forâ
It could be for anyone but you. That was the truth. You had known that even then.
You had built a marriage on top of every one of those moments. You had laid bricks over them, paved them over, planted gardens above them. And every so often the ground would tremble and you would pretend it had not, and you would pour another glass of wine and tell yourself you were imagining things.
You had not been imagining things. But lies were much easier to swallow than the humiliating truth.
âHow long?â you heard yourself say.
He looked up at last, purple eyes finding your hollow ones. His eyes were red-rimmed. That, somehow, was the cruelest part. He was upset. He was upset on your behalf, he was sorry, he genuinely felt terrible, and that was so much worse than if heâd been cold about it. A cold man you could have hated cleanly. A man who cried while ruining your life had to be loved through it, and you didnât have the strength.
âItâs notâit isnât what you think,â he started. Oh, but you knew. Still, you let him explain, let him feed you sweet lies, hollow words, words he had served you time and time again throughout your whole marriage. You let him every single time.Â
âHow long, Caleb?â
âSix weeks ago.â he sighed in resignation, âWe didnâtâit was once. She came to me aboutâit doesnât matter. It was once.â
The word hit your body before your brain caught up. Once.
You had braced, somewhere in the back of yourself, for the slow betrayal. For the years of unspoken longing. For the leftover heart you had married. You had made peace with that, deep down in your currently breaking, fragile heart. You had told yourself, he doesnât act on it. Thatâs the thing that matters. He chose me with his life, even if he didnât choose me with his heart.
You had not braced for once.
For the literal, physical once. For his hands on her. For whatever night it had been, and your mind was already searching, already flipping through your shared calendar like a desperate librarian, and the version of him that had come home afterwards. Had he kissed your forehead good night with her still on his skin? Had he made you breakfast the next morning? Had he held you, three weeks ago, when you cried about something stupid at work, his palm steady on your back, with the memory of her warmth still in his mouth?
Your stomach folded in on itself.
You set your hand flat on the marble to steady yourself. The marble was cool. The cup was still steaming. Calebâs eyes were red and puffy across the island, and you wanted very suddenly to throw the kettle through the kitchen window just to hear something break that wasnât you.
âAnd sheâs pregnant,â you supplied the answer for him. Your voice was a thing operating without you. It was not your voice. You hated it.
âNot yet.â he swallowed. âShe wants to be. Sheâll only consider it ifââ he stopped. Coward.
âIf Iâm out of the way.â you hated your own voice, hated the hollowness of it. Hated how the words kept pouring out of you, unable to stop saying and imagining the worst.
âIf youââ he closed his eyes. âIf you give us your blessing.â
You laughed.
You didnât mean to. It came out of you like something physical and unwelcomed, like a thing dislodged, and Caleb flinched at the sound of it, which made you laugh harder, your hand finding the edge of the counter for balance because the kitchen was tilting, your whole life was tilting, and somewhere in the back of your throat the laugh was already turning into something else.
Blessing. He wanted your blessing. He wanted you to bake them a cake. He wanted you to be gracious, to be the bigger person, to perform the dignified exit of a woman who had always understood she was the placeholder.
It was the demanding of it that finally lit something in you.
Not asking for permission or pleading for forgiveness or understanding. Demanding, in that quiet, reasonable voice, like a surgeon explaining a procedure you did not have the right to refuse. He had thought it through. He had decided this was the kind path. He had cast you, in the script of this conversation, as someone gracious enough to step aside, because the version of you who lived in his head had always been someone gracious enough to step aside. The wife who understood. The wife who was grown-up about it.
Of course he thought you would say yes. You had said yes to everything. You had been saying yes to less than you deserved for two years, and he had taken it, and now he was assuming, with the easy confidence of a man who had never once been told no by you, that you would say yes to this too.
The audacity of it rose into your throat like smoke.
You thought of the morning, six months ago, when heâd brought you breakfast in bed because youâd had a fever, and heâd sat on the edge of the mattress and pushed your hair back and said, I donât know what Iâd do without you, and you had believed him.
You thought of him, two months ago, going still at the sound of her name on someoneâs phone in a restaurant, and how he had ordered another bottle of wine and pretended not to have heard.
You thought of the spare bedroom youâd been quietly redecorating in soft yellow, because he wanted a little girl with your eyes, and he had said the words out loud, and you had built a future on them.
âGet out,â your mouth moved before the feeling could catch up. Voice dull, scraped clean of anything soft.Â
âSweetheartââ
âDonât.â Your voice was very quiet. You barely recognized it. âDonât sweetheart me. Donât you dare, Caleb.â
He hesitated, like he wanted to say something else, like there was a version of this where he could thread the needle and keep some part of you, and you looked at him through it all and saw the moment he understood that there wasnât.
He went to the door, and you thought he would leave without saying more. It would have been too kind, so he paused with his hand on the frame.
âI do love you,â the confession left his lips, but it only made your heart break faster, âI want you to know that IâI do.â
âI know.âÂ
You did know. That was the thing. He did love you. He had loved you in the secondhand, leftover way that men love the women they marry when they cannot have the women they want. He had loved you sincerely and he had loved you less, and you had taken less because less was more than nothing, and you had told yourself it would be enough.
The door closed behind him.
You stood in the kitchen with the tea you would never drink and the ring you would not be wearing by morning, and you finally, finally let yourself feel it.
It rose up out of you in one long, silent wave. It wasnât a sob, you felt too hollow to accept that, you still clung to your last drop of control. But it was present nonetheless, the terrible understanding that you had spent two years of your life building a loving home for a man who had been waiting, the entire time, for someone else to come back for him.
mr brightside. ౚৠcaleb x non!mc reader teaser. (0.9k) content warning : light angst. full sypnosis.
â ACT 1: COMING OUT OF MY CAGE / AND IâVE BEEN DOING JUST FINE
âŠthatâs a bold-faced lie, really. youâve been anything but fine ever since that day. but itâs just been easier to bury it than admit the truth.
For as long as you can remember, youâve loved Caleb. The thing is, the very obvious fact is, he doesnât love you back.
He said it right to your face a few years ago, and you can still picture your wretched confession as if it were yesterday. There are several things that you vividly remember, and none of them were pretty. First of all, you recall the look on his face â you didnât know if it was pity, disgust, or some twisted and disheartening mix of both (and to this day, you still donât know). And then there was the fake smile plastered across your face as your heart bore the brunt of your unfortunate rejection. The painfully chipper âItâs okay, Caleb!â and your feigned nonchalance that starkly contrasted the tears that dampened your pillow that night after replaying his words over and over.
That was definitely the worst part. Those words that will haunt you for the rest of your life and will certainly echo once you marry someone else â someone whoâs definitely not Caleb, but would have to do their best to fill the tragically Caleb-shaped hollow pit within your heart. His words, which will hang above you the same way that the wedding arbor will on your fateful day, filled with nothing but rue and a wish that things had ended differently:
âYou donât know what you want. Donât talk about this ever again.â
The revelation was truly disheartening. The day you confessed to him, you were sixteen at the time. It had been a good day. A really good day, actually. The rays from the sun fell on Calebâs face so perfectly that it was practically enough to convince you that the light had been a paid actor. You had gotten ice cream with him, and his flavor was so enviously delicious that you had more of his cone than your own. It had just been you two that day. You and Caleb. Caleb and you. At the time, it felt so right. This was the way things should have always been, all this time.
You decided that the only way to make a good day even better was to finally confess to him, once and for all, at a park bench. Just you and Caleb, and two ice cream cones. The perfect start to a high school sweetheart romance, one thatâll have all the critics raving at the sight.
That day, you fell into your feelings the same way it felt like falling into deep waterâheadfirst, breathless, and far before you even knew how to swim. But you dived into the pit anyway, hoping that Caleb would reciprocate in the form of saving you and bringing you back to shore.
(Spoiler alert: you drowned. So much for that. Unfortunately, the promised romcom quickly turned into a tragedy, and it was not pretty. His ice cream flavor that was so delicious that day became a repulsive one that youâd now avoid at all costs.)
MC had been your first friend and partner in crime for absolutely anything, but even she had a grimace on her face as she listened to you rant and cry and sob about her older brother. That night, over the phone, you called him so many names, to the point that you made her solemnly swear that your conversation with her would never see the light of day, let alone the ears of the source himself. The source, who, unfortunately, was still your childhood best friend and was still somebody you deeply cherished because of how much he cared about his younger sister. About his friends. About you, even though his blatant rejection made you second-guess everything that you knew about Caleb.
âI â I just donât understand! Where did it all go wrong, MC?â
It was a rhetorical question, because frankly, she didnât know either. MC had gone quiet on the other end of the phone a long time ago. At some point during your seemingly endless tirade about her brotherâs stupidity, your sniffles, and the increasingly creative insults youâd hurled at Calebâs name, she had simply listened. Occasionally, sheâd make a small noise â a hum, a soft âyeah, I get itâ (even though she really doesnât; because what did you even see in her brother, anyway? It doesnât seem like anything good, especially considering all of the names youâve called him for the past hour). But for the most part, she let you spiral until eventually, your voice gave out.
The first thing to fizzle out of your body was the anger you felt. Then, the embarrassment crept in like a slow fever, and all you felt was a heavy mix of shame and sadness. You take another tissue from your third box tonight and wipe your tears, discarding it onto the seemingly neverending pile on your bed. And then, you sigh. A sigh of surrender, exhaustion, or what, you donât know. You just do it.
âYou canât tell him,â you muttered, pressing the heel of your hand into your eyes. âPromise me you wonât tell him anything I said tonight. Please.â
âI wont,â she said, almost immediately. And that was that. Despite it all, you stay faithfully true to your word, and never mention that fateful day to him ever again. He never brought it up after, so neither did you. Surely, there was no elephant, no shaken-up soda can bursting at the seams waiting to be addressed after all of it, right?
The fact was already clearly written: Caleb did not like you, and that was that. There was no need to readdress this matter.
⊠big bro caleb copping a feel â smut [cw] incest
âYouâre so gross, gege.â
You bat his hand away when you feel his fingers reach under your skirt from behind you. The mall is packed today, filled with others browsing and looking for something to buy.
âNo panties?â Caleb trails after you, hand slipping under again. His fingers trail up to your hips, feeling the waistband. âHm⊠let me guess. Your red lace ones with the bow.â
âStop touching me,â you hiss, mortified that he knows which pair youâre wearing just by touch alone. âWait âtill we get home. I havenât found the shirt I wanted yet and you said youâd let me stay as long as I wanted today.â
âI know, I know, donât throw a fit,â he hums, hand settling to rest against your hip. âWhat, I canât touch my girlfriend?â
âSister,â you correct. âWeâre in public. Stop acting weird, what if someone like Gideon sees us?â
Caleb shrugs, not bothering to answer as he follows you towards another store.
You go through the racks, humming to yourself as you browse the colourful array of clothing. Suspicious of the silence behind you, you turn to look behind you.
ââŠCaleb,â you whine. The cold case of his phone brushes your inner thigh, unshamefully keeping you still by your waist when he realizes he's been caught. As you squirm, he repositions his phone under your skirt to take another picture of the fabric pressing against your plump folds. âYou pervertâŠâ
Caleb quickly pockets his phone with a smile as he looks down at you with innocent eyes. "What? I was just adjusting your skirt. It looked crooked." He reaches out to 'fix' your non-existent wrinkles, his fingers deliberately brushing against your skin.
You feel your face heat up, embarrassed that he took a picture in such a crowded store with shoppers just feet away. "Delete it. Now." Your voice comes out breathier than intended, which only makes his smile widen.
His arms wrap around your wrist, tugging you closer to press your back against his chest. âI have a better idea.â
â
âI hate you!â The public bathroom is empty, the only sounds coming from Calebâs slick hand and spit covered cock.
He grunts as he glides his thumb against his throbbing, flushed tip. âDidnât you say you wanted that top? Iâll buy it for you, just listen to gege.â
You're holding your skirt and panties stiffly away from your body by the waistband, open for him to stare all he wants as he hunches over you. âYes butâŠâ
Caleb groans, fingers tightening around his length as he continues to jerk off. His eyes are trained on your puffy folds, imagining how it'll look after he finishes on them. "Come on, lilâ sis. You can have whatever you want... just stay still." He bites his lip, eyes flicking up to see your cutely scrunched face as you fidget, your skirt riding up.
âThis is embarrassingâŠ!â You complain, aware that it will probably turn him on further.
He ignores your protest, his breathing becoming heavier as his rhythm picks up. "You're doing so good for me, pips." His free hand reaches out to squeeze your thigh desperately. "Be a good girl for big brother and stay like this a little longer."
âHurry up,â you hiccup, cunt clenching as you watch him pleasure himself at the sight of you. His cock is leaking precum all over his fingers, trailing down the veins of his length and towards his full, heavy balls. The large amount of slick pools down to the dark patch of hair at his base, staining the zipper of his pants.
âSo impatient⊠fuck. I'm gonna cum. Let me see your tight lilâ cunny, baby. Still sore from yesterday?â Panting and bucking his hips into his hand, he carefully aims his tip towards the gap youâve been holding open to unload thick, sticky ropes, his warm cum latching onto your panties and chubby folds.
Riding out his high, Caleb head tilts back as he squeezes the tip of his engorged cock trying to rub out every last drop of cum. âFuck, lilâ sister, you look the prettiest when covered in big brotherâs cum.â
You bite back a whine, focused on the degrading aftermath of his cooling semen clinging to your skin. This is humiliating, you think to yourself, as you watch him tuck his softening cock back into his pants to zip up. He adjusts your panties and skirt for you, patting your sensitive mound through the damp fabric.
âLetâs go get that top, baby sister.â Caleb presses a kiss to your temple. âKeep those panties full for me, yeah? Maybe later we wonât need lube.â
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cw: toxicbabydaddy!caleb/fem!reader, you two have no business being together, him getting jealous, mention of getting you pregnant again, heâs lowkey manipulative, you do in fact love this man (if you squint)
a/n: havenât done a smau in a minute so if iâm rusty⊠CLOSE YOUR EYES!!!!
creds to @uzmacchiato for the white pearl/lace dividers!
synopsis. you'd do anything for the man you love. and the person he loves.
pairing. friend! caleb xia x non-mc! reader
content. fem!reader, non-mc!reader, mc, caleb and reader are friends, unrequited love (but not really), reader assumes caleb and mc love each other romantically, a ton of ANGST, hurt/no comfort, dumbass plot tbh but hehe, ever, lots of blood, self-deprication, low self-esteem, reader has the mimicry evol, hunter!reader, injured!reader, reckless!reader lowkey, love confession, TW: GUNS, TW: MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH
word count. 2.2k
a/n. can you tell how much i wanted to write a reader with a mimicry evol? VERY VERY MUCH. i am sorry in advance for causing you all pain. please let me know your thoughts! feedback and reblogs are deeply appreciated!
imagine begging caleb to let you go on that mission. imagine cupping his hands in your own, squeezing them tightly, as you assured him that nothing bad would happen to you.
that this mission could end everything between mc and ever.
that she will be free of their unceasing hunt.
that he will be free of worrying at every step if she was alive or not.
and that you, as their best friend, would not pass this chance at all, no matter how much he refused.
you were the best bet in this scenario. ever had their eyes on caleb and mc since forever, having accumulated enough data to intercept any attack from them. and, worst case scenario, if they failed, they would get them two as prisoners.
their goal would be fulfilled.
but you?
you, the unsuspecting colleague of mc at the huntersâ association that just happened to get closer to her? you, the unknown and unimportant person that also befriended caleb? you, the obvious third wheel that somehow fit together with the two of them?
ever had no clue about you. and no interest to know you.
âlisten, my mimicry evol is perfect for this.â you pointed out once more as you swayed your hands and calebâs together. trying to ease the obvious displeasure and tension he was harboring.
âand i am telling you, ever is no joke. itâs different than the wanderers you battle everyââ
âi will just go in, shapeshift, get that bastard head scientist, and get out.â you plucked one hand from your linkage, placing it briefly on top of your face to activate your evol. beneath your open palm, your very being changed, expanding and compressing, shortening and elongating.
until the person before caleb was⊠himself.
âlet me do this for you, caleb! let me do this for mc.â his own voice was now speaking back at him, bringing a shiver down his spine as he recognized your unshaking resolve.
you were the same as him â stubborn, unwavering.
fighting for the one you loved most.
â⊠fine. but if you get injured, youâre immediately out.â
âąâąâą
imagine the infiltration was clean at first. you moved like smoke through corridors, your evol mimicking a random employee youâve smacked around the head and laid unconscious in a locker.
imagine the scientist was exactly where caleb said heâd be â hunched over a terminal, thin fingers dancing across holographic displays.
you didnât give him time to scream. your elbow pressed against the back of his head, and he crumpled unconscious, body going pliant against your hold.
but imagine someone discovered you. even transformed, they recognized the lifeless body of their boss hunched over your arms. so they shot at you, bullets flying all over due to their lack of training.
they were scientists after all.
one bullet grazed the head scientist, piercing the lab coat and causing crimson red to pool at your legs. youâd never thought youâd have to shield the very person thatâs causing your friends distress but there you were, covering his unconscious body as you too shot back at the people.
imagine it was hard to aim with your pistol and have additional body weight in your arms. imagine it was even harder to dodge and thatâs how a bullet finally pierced you.
imagine all the scientists falling one after the other, stained red with their own blood.
but imagine you fell too, pistol dropping, evol retracting.
as you let out a painful groan at the visible wound in your abdomen.
you have no time to press against it, to stop the bleeding that poured out of your mouth with a strong cough. because the alarms bloomed red, siren hurling in your ears, and the facility entered lock-down mode.
ever doesnât leave its treasures unguarded.
more personnel entered the room.
you take three hits before you reached a door â one to the shoulder, one grazing your ribs, one buried deep in your thigh. you dragged the scientistâs weight through the threshold as you bled more and more, finally sealing the door behind you.
locked. safe.
at least for now.
you slid down the door and the blood came with you.
imagine it was all strange⊠how quiet dying was. you always imagined it would be loud â sirens, shouting, the thunder of your own heart, the ragged breaths of your overused lungs. but here, in this tiny lab nook, there was only the hum of machinery and the wet sound of your breathing.
each exhale shallower than the last.
the scientist slept beside you, peaceful as a child. unaware of the ruckus youâve caused outside, unaware of the spreading blood that swept the pristine floors and threatened to stain him too.
you failed.
you couldnât do it alone.
you have the man, yet you canât get him to caleb.
you failed, you failed, you failed.
.
.
.
no.
slowly turning your wrist, your eyes met the huntersâ watch â still intact, still fully operable. with one hit of your trembling fingers, you sent a signal to caleb.
you needed him here to finish the job.
to take the scientist and finally free mc.
to free himself.
âŠ
to free you.
with the blinking red dot pulsing on your watch screen, you pushed yourself away from the door. crawling slowly towards the scientist.
planning to ensure his safety over your own.
âąâąâą
the scientistâs face was still his own. you havenât changed him yet.
you should do it now, before you lose the strength. before you lose your conviction. before your evol collapses from the large amount of blood youâve lost.
itâs the only way.
you tell yourself as tears welled up in your eyes, gleaming redder under the flickering alarm lights of the enclosure.
making you look as if more blood was seeping from your battered body.
your hand hovered over his forehead, and you hesitated. because once you do this â once you give him your face and you take another â caleb will take him. heâll see the scientist wearing your expression, your blood, your stillness, and heâll think itâs you.
heâll hold him and carry him away to safety. thinking it was you.
you wonât be there to feel his protectiveness, his care. and maybe that was how it should be. you, alone, watching and contributing to the prosperity of caleb and mc. you, abandoned, knowing your place and staying far away from two people that were obviously made for each other.
you, hopeful, wishing your sacrifice will be taken as a blessing for their future.
your palm pressed down.
the scientistâs features rippled like water accepting a stone. his jaw softened. his hair spilled longer, changing colors. his clothes bled into the torn fabric of your hunter uniform, the bloodstains aligning with surgical precision.
when it was done, he was you.
a perfect copy.
a perfect lie.
and you â you dragged yourself closer to the fallen cabinet at the back of the room, hand pressed to your own face.
thinking of the man you passed by in the hallway the moment you entered.
unimportant. nondescript. forgotten.
your body warped. your face became his face. generic. unremarkable. the wounds translated across the transformation, still bleeding, still fatal â but the vessel doesnât matter. only the function.
caleb wonât look twice at you now.
you were no one.
just as you shouldâve been from the start.
and, with your remaining strength, you bashed the huntersâ watch before it morphed away from your body.
effectively erasing any recognizable trace.
âąâąâą
imagine the door exploded inwards soon after.
you didnât see him at first â just a blur of motion, a voice cracking on a name that wasnât yours anymore. caleb fell to his knees beside the copy. his hands hovering over her shoulders, her face, the pulse point at her throat.
the transformed scientist was in better shape than you, yet caleb looked so⊠desperate.
as if his entire world crumbled.
ââno, no, stay with me, stay with meââ
his voice broke on the last word, shattering like glass dropped on concrete. youâve heard caleb angry, cold, sharp-edged as a blade.
youâve never heard him fracture.
your fingers curled against the cold floor, quivering from the pain. and suddenly, you wanted to reach out. you wanted to abandon your stupid plan and be saved.
you wanted to join the two in that happy future you saw for them.
but imagine your evol was flickering. your blood was falling beneath you in a slow, dark bloom. if you redirected your power from your evol to that small call of help, the plan will cease to happen.
the disguise will collapse.
you would fail.
again.
imagine the copy â the perfect, breathing, alive copy â was already being lifted into his arms.
and without even a glance at your wounded, bloodied body, he left.
the door swung shut behind him, leaving you there.
dying.
âąâąâą
you tried to hold on, to remain conscious, to not slip into the eternal dream charming you with every heavy breath you took.
because you needed caleb to save the scientist.
âąâąâą
your evol flickered more and more, your appearance deteriorating into your true self. somewhere in the parking lot, a man who is not you and never was you began to lose his borrowed shape as well.
so you fully abandoned your disguise, concentrating on the scientist who was receiving aid from paramedics.
you hoped he wonât come back.
you hoped caleb wonât blame himself when the truth surfaces.
youâve made your choice ever since youâve heard the new intel about ever. your sacrifice was worthwhile.
âąâąâą
imagine caleb came back anyway.
not because he knew. not because some thread of fate pulled him. just because â just because he couldnât leave. couldnât walk away from the building with that in his arms and feel like heâd grabbed the right thing.
imagine he set the copy in the ambulance, told the paramedics to take care of her, and turned back before anyone could stop him.
because something felt wrong.
âąâąâą
the door opened again.
you heard it distantly, like it happened underwater. your eyes wonât focus anymore. the ceiling distorted, the red light blurring your vision, everything smearing into grey at the edges.
footsteps. slow. then faster.
then stopping.
ââno.â
his voice was strange. not the shattered sound from before. this was quiet. careful. like he was approaching a wounded animal.
like he already knew.
your fingers twitched. you wanted to shoo him away, to shield him from the possible ever employees that might attack again.
go away, go back, youâre supposed to be saving herâ
but your mouth wouldnât move.
ââthis isnâtâ youâre notââ his breathing changed. ragged. âi saw you. i had you. i hadââ
a pause.
âa copy.â
the word broke him open.
he was kneeling now. you felt his hands on your bloodied cheeks â warm, shaking, so careful â and you realized you were found out.
it was just you now. your face. your blood. your eyes, barely open, finding his.
ââno, no, no, noââ
his thumbs swept across your cheekbones. frantic. repetitive. like he could wipe away the pallor, the stillness settling into your skin.
his forehead pressed to yours with a trembling whine and you felt something wet drop onto your temple.
caleb.
you tried to say his name. nothing came out. just a breath. just a sigh.
âi told you not toâ i told youââ his grip tightened on your face, desperate, like he could hold you here through sheer force of will. âyou never listen.â
his shoulders shook with another sob.
ââand i let you go anyway.â
a loud sound teared out of him. not a word. something harsher. something thatâs been buried since he was a child losing everything for the first time.
âpleaseâŠâ
his whole body curled around yours. his hand searched for yours immediately, squeezed so hard it almost hurt. he was saying your name over and over now, trying to keep you focused on the present, to keep you conscious until another ambulance arrived.
but you were slowly slipping away.
ââi love you.â
the words suddenly tumbled out of him. raw. ruined.
âi love you, i neverâ i was supposed toâ please, donât leave me, please.â
his face was pressed into your hair now. you felt his tears soaking through as more pleas escaped his lips. you felt his chest heaving against your failing one.
your heart would have boomed with happiness at his confession, but now it was no longer capable of love.
âi was going to tell you. after this. when it was over. i was going toââ his voice splintered. âi thought we had more time.â
your fingers moved. just barely. just enough to brush against his.
he froze.
âhey. hey, iâm here.â
but you were not. not really.
your eyes found his amethyst orbs one last time. he looked disheveled. shattered. like whatever he was before this moment has been unmade.
you wish you could comfort him.
but your hand was already going slack in his.
and the last thing you see was his face â his beautiful, broken face â as he realized youâre truly gone.
âąâąâą
imagine caleb didnât move for a long time.
he just held you. his thumb still tracing slow circles on your knuckles. his breath still uneven against your hair.
as if youâre sleeping.
as if him staying still enough, quiet enough, would make you open your eyes.
tags: @yuunileb, @xyzsbaobei, @loreleis-world, @demonicangelll, @dreamydaredevil. if you see this and want to be added to the main taglist, please let me know!
a/n: reader is mentioned explicitly several times to not have a brother. sorry if you've got one. also reader is shorter than caleb by quite a bit, id say.
recently i've been consumed by the thought of an isekai'd caleb. he watched you die to a wanderer attack and couldn't live with the grief. instead of trying to heal and move on with his life, he went looking for you in the deepspace tunnel. after a year or so of searching, he found you again in another parallel universe. he packed all his important documents, a bunch of cash, and a few daily essentials, then made his trip through deepspace.
you had been out with friends that day, laughing leisurely when a man came up to you. this was not just any man, however. it was the spitting image of your favorite love interest from an otome game. you were bewildered as to why a cosplayer would suddenly come up to you. then he spoke. you'd know that voice anywhere. that was the in-game voice of caleb. when he asked to speak with you privately, you turned to your friends and let them know you'll only be a moment.
now pulled aside and out of earshot from your friends, he's candid with you.
"i finally found you."
"huh?"
"i came through the deepspace tunnel. the version of you in my timeline..." he let the sentence hang for a moment before he shook his head.
"what matters is that i'm here. i found you."
he seems so genuine. it would appear to you that a cosplayer in the depths of delusion has been stalking you. there's no other explanation.
"look, i don't know who you are, or how you even know i like love and deepspace, but this isn't funny."
"you don't know me?"
"i mean, you're caleb from the video game i play. it's a good cosplay, i'll give you that. but no, i don't know you."
"video game?" now he looks more confused than you do.
"i'm your brother."
"i don't have a brother." with that, it looks like his heart has torn in half.
"we grew up together. i know everything about you."
"try me."
the man in front of you then spells out an obscure childhood memory, one you've never relayed to a friend or posted online. the only difference he describes is that he was there to see it.
you still, mouth slightly agape at what he's proven to you. you still feel skeptical, however, but there's a few easy fixes. you know there's parts of caleb impossible to recreate in cosplay.
you grab your phone flashlight and pull him down to your level by his shirt collar, shining the light in his eyes. his eyes, purple and orange like a sunset, react. his pupil contracts with the light and the iris around it expands. he's not wearing contacts.
"catch my phone with your evol." you say very quickly before throwing your phone at his face. he freezes it midair. your jaw drops before you quickly snatch your phone again.
"what are you doing?"
"you're real." this was life changing. your favorite otome boy is real and in front of you and in love with you. he came from space to see you.
"that's what i've been trying to tell you."
you're barely listening, opening your phone to pull up the only caleb you actually know. you shove the screen in his face.
"this is my caleb. he's from a dating game."
he looks at the pixel version of himself, then at you, then back again.
"dating game? i'm from a dating game in your universe?"
"yes. you're my favorite one in the game, too."
you see him turn red. you remember that him and pixel-you never really had that conversation in the game. ah. he's not used to your direct romantic attention.
while you try to explain the plot of the game to him and relate how insane this is for you, caleb watches you and realizes a few things.
firstly, he wasn't here to take care of you before. you didn't have a big brother that was cooking dinner for you. god, were you eating properly? who was making sure you didn't stay up too late? who was sending you reminder texts to eat breakfast? he bet your room was mess. when was the last time you did laundry? were you letting your wet hair air dry after the shower since he wasn't here to blow dry it for you? god, you must get sick all the time then. how could life be so cruel to you?
secondly, he came from a dating game. he's a love interest in a game where you romance him. you said he's your favorite. this just opened so many doors for him. here, you're not bound by your forbidden love, seeing as you said you don't have a brother. he can just have you. and you want him, or at least, want this pixel version of him in your phone. he's elated. he practically walking on air. it's hard to listen to all the information you're throwing at him with how the blood is rushing into his ears at the thought of finally having you to himself romantically.
"so what now?" you ask him, after finishing your long-winded explanation.
Xia Yizhou, who prefers being called Caleb, is a young man who requires no introduction. Excellence is expected from him by his professors, his team trusts him to lead them to victory on the court and classmates wordlessly plead for him to carry group projects. He juggles sports, academics and socializing without breaking a sweat, making it look so easy to lead a balanced life.
Magnetic, they call him, with the way he draws everyone in with that effortless charm, well-placed confidence and compassion.
âXYZâ is what he's known as on the courtâhis swift and precise maneuvers ensure that he always finishes what he starts like the last three letters of the alphabet. He's the face of the basketball program if not the entire institution.
He's the guy who deserves to be popular. Ever ready to help by holding open doors, sifting through papers during office hours, spreading awareness with his influence about campaigns running in the social committee, gives back to the community. He knows many by their names, never letting them feel insignificant.
Admirers were a given. His sunset eyes, dawn brown hair that made him blend in with the late afternoons and early mornings were easy to marvel over. His smiles were generous and his boyish laughter contagious. The way his hair falls over his eyes looks like the wind stirred it but it's almost intentional with how it brings out his dark brows and those gentle, earnest, puppy dog eyes. They're deceptively sweet like a fruity popsicle on a hot day.
Deceptive because if you catch him at the right moment, you'll see the shift. A tilt of his head, a tugging grin and a flash of mischief in his gaze tells you everything you need to know. He knows the effect he has on people and uses it well. He's akin to a golden retriever with how he could stir trouble but one coy, doe-eyed look and you're forgiving him without consequence.
That kind of dangerous combination had girls and guys tripping over themselves to chase after him, hands outstretched to reach for him, confessions of their love spewing from their lips.
So when you come into the picture, he's thrown a curve ball.
Caleb who knows he fucked up by getting his childhood best friend, Emcee, to pose as his fake girlfriend to steer away girls on campus when he sets his sights on you. The attention was overwhelming at times even for a guy like him so the white lie served as repellent to them. Well, the ones who had a good set of morals to not chase after a taken man, of course.
You were one of them.
Not that you showed any interest in him.
He's used to girls getting all shy around him, batting their lashes and touching his arm or even straight up trying to get in his pants.
Wedding bells ring in his ears when he first hears your laughter across the quad, hand over your mouth as more giggles tumble out of you. He was envious of how the sun kissed your face, cheeks glowing with unabashed joy, head inclined fondly as you cast those pretty, intent eyes at your friend who spoke animatedly.
God, he wanted you to look at him like that.
You had some classes together, the ones that were for minimum credits and didn't affect your entrance for exams if you skipped the majority of them. He usually did that but knowing you'd be there had his attendance skyrocketing.
He wouldn't talk to you much, just a greeting in passing. You never attempted to make conversation either but he'd hear snippets of yours with your friends, talking about your weekend, the shows they're hooked on, celebrity they're fawning over and when your next hangout should be.
Even so, he'd fill in Gideon and his other friends about his brief encounters with you like they were stretched out for hours rather than the few seconds they actually were. He'd recount it all, your face, your voice, your gaze on him like a poet would write a sonnet.
âJust talk to her already,â was the response he'd receive time and time again from his frustrated, trusted teammates who swore they wouldn't tell anyone.
Captivating as you were, Caleb found you quite intimidating. Success wasn't based on luck for him, it was a habit. And you were the one person that made him feel like it'd be a feat to win you over.
Just like him, you were untouchable. You had the presence that had people fixing their posture and clothes to mirror yours when you walked in the room. Academically, you were at the top of your class. Students and professors alike strive for even a fraction of your discipline, focus and resilience.
As welcoming as your presence was with your kind smiles, willingness to block out time to tutor peers and giving emotionally intelligent advice, you had clear cut boundaries. Polite as you were, if something was too much for you like an administrator's unending list of extracurriculars or an overconfident suitor who wouldn't take a hint, you made them aware of your limits with grace and poise.
In class, you see Caleb as nothing but another student, not a golden boy. While others try to flirt or strike up conversation with him, hoping to climb the social hierarchy, your interactions are brief with quick smiles and unimportant chatter.
And maybe that's what unsettles the all-rounder, keeping him away from your orbit but still hovering around the edge of it. Everyone else is taken with him to some degree or another and while you see that he's a good person, not undeserving of the applause he receives, you maintain a deliberate distance.
Boy, does that drive him crazy, having him toss and turn restlessly at night, staring at the airplane figurine hanging from his ceiling like it had the answer to his problems. Or maybe it was your delicate scent that was always a head-turner. It clung to his jacket for weeks now and like a creep, he'd sniff it, taking greedy gulps of the heady aroma as he reminisced about the day it clung to his clothes.
One of your friends had been absent so the spot that usually separated him from you was empty. Someone wanted to take a seat causing him to scoot until he was shoulder to shoulder with you. He'd apologised for the lack of space but you shook your head, assuring him it was fine. His shoulder tingles at the memory of yours warming him and he wonders if you felt how his body was burning up from the contact.
Pathetic, that's what he was. If he just spoke to you like a proper human being, he could stop fantasizing and start acting.
Determined as ever, he gets Gideon to personally invite you and your friends to the party this Friday night. It wasn't a regular rager but rather a birthday bash for one of the brothers in the fraternity.
âNot my 21st rodeoâ was the theme and the dress code was cowboys.
As many clothes as he had, Caleb did not own a cowboy hat. But Gideon had him covered, even made his life easier by getting him a graphic t-shirt too. He just has to pair it with jeans and boots then he'd be good to go.
The illustration and words at the back of it had him chuckling to himself. He did love a lame pickup line.
Yet his amusement dampened a bit when you took him in that night.
Clad in a cropped button-up shirt that hugs your waist, top buttons undone to show your distracting bust and a strip of your midriff, you look him up and down. The brown belt with a chunky buckle that holds up your bootleg jeans catches the strobe lights of the lively living room, a popular song thumping through the speakers. But all Caleb sees is you and that cowboy hat that hid your pretty face when you glance down at his shoes.
Playful, he does a spin for you so you can see that the seemingly plain white tee that stretched across his defined chest was actually on theme.
âGot any cowboy in yaâ? Want some?â You read the writing in a bored voice while your friends giggle.
âGlad to see the frat is matching, I guess,â you comment as a lot of the guys here have obnoxious phrases on their t-shirts too.
Your lack of amusement has Caleb's face burning, ears red as he turns back around with a sheepish chuckle, scratching the back of his neck, his bicep bulging as he does.
How were you okay with the guy dressed as a cow hybrid but not his silly little tee?
âJust playin' m'part, Miss,â he tells you in a Southern drawl, tipping his hat.
That has your eyebrow arching, dry amusement on your face that has his heart kicking.
An hour or so later, when the party is in full swing and all your friends are dispersed to do their own things, you duck into the kitchen to find something other than cheap beer or strong shots.
âMoonshineâ as the label reads is what you find in a crystal bowl and the pink punch with slices of fruit looks enticing so you grab a cup from the stack and pick up the ladle.
âI'd stay away from that if I were you,â that smooth voice from earlier says from behind you. âIt's loaded with spirits and whatever other shit the guys tossed in earlier for their challenge.â
Curiosity killed, you dropped the ladle onto the counter with a clang. Frat boys were a funky breed so you weren't trying your luck with that. You set down your empty cup, facing him.
The kitchen lighting halos the hat on his head. His eyes look darker beneath it but they're still the epitome of boy-next-door as he gives you a slight smile.
âWhat you're lookinâ for is in there,â he informs you with a nod to the fridge.
With a nod, you walk over, hips swishing in that strut you do. His eyes are drawn to the satisfying sway of them. It was like watching a panther on the prowl and all you were missing was the curling tail in tow.
Opening the top door only to see that it's a freezer, you bend to browse the contents of the fridge at the bottom. And Caleb traitorously tracks the skin of your lower back that peeks out at him, a dip in your spine that directs his gaze lower to the curve of your rear.
Lightly slapping himself out of his stupor, he brings a hand up to make sure the saliva that gathered in his mouth didn't trickle out and sighs quietly in relief when he finds nothing.
He needs to start talking before he starts imagining unbecoming things.
âSo, haven't seen you âround these parts.â He kicks himself mentally for that lame accent.
You hum, taking your sweet time to decide like you're oblivious to his conundrum.
âNot really my idea of an ideal Friday night but I wanted to try something new.â
That gets his attention, accent falling away.
âYeah? What do you prefer to do then?â
You nod your head side to side as you think about it.
âStay at home and read or watch a movie. Maybe go out for dinner with my friends and walk around the city,â you answer.
He perks up at that, âNo way, me too!â
You find that hard to believe since he hosts a lot of these parties.
âReally?â You draw out the word lazily.
If Caleb catches your disinterest, he doesn't show it, sounding even more cheery than usual as he nods.
âMhm, I know a lot of good spots around Skyhaven so if you get stuck wondering where to go, just ask,â he tells you, glancing everywhere but your bowed form. How could you stand like that for so long?
Your expression that was mildly bored turns frosty as you stand up straight. Forgetting your search for a decent drink, you shut the fridge.
âWhy are youââ
Jenna comes bounding into the kitchen just then, grabbing you by the shoulders and ushering you into the living room, saying something about this being her favorite song and wanting you to dance with her.
The coolness on your face melts as you laugh at her excitement and join her, leaving Caleb all alone in the empty kitchen that feels much bigger without you.
No worries though. You came for your friends so naturally you're bound to spend the night with them. He'll talk to you another time.
Meanwhile, in the living room, among the partygoers, you move your body to the beat of the song playing.
Jenna gives you that wide-eyed, slightly panicked, slightly strict look she does whenever you tell her about a bad decision you made and your brows twitch in confusion.
âSteer clear of XYZ,â she tells you, lips close to your ear so you hear her over the loud music.
You pull back, checking to see if she's high. âThe alphabet?â
Throwing her head back with a groan, she brings her gaze back to you once more. âCaleb aka Xia Yizhou.â
Mouth forming an âoâ you nod in understanding. She could've just said that the first time.
Nodding with you, she hums, âYeah, him. Stay away from that one, he has a girlfriend in Linkon. They're doing long distance.â
That stumps you. The guy back there who was definitely eyeing your bent over form when you were scanning the fridge is in a relationship with someone?
If his talkativeness hadn't deterred you already, this new information certainly did. Who comes to parties and entertains the advances of single women when he's got a partner a few hours away?
Men are disgusting. They liked having their cake and eating it too.
In a way, it pleases a dark part of you to know he wasn't as perfect as everyone painted him out to be. They were really overselling it like they do with most men, probably because the decent ones were far and few between whereas women surpass them all the time.
And you definitely weren't buying into it now. Infidelity was one of the things that instantly tainted someone's clean reputation in your mind, putting them on the âdo not interactâ list in your head.
So when he approaches you again on your way to class the following week, you can hardly contain your revulsion even while he's cluelessly yapping away.
âAre you free this Friday? I was thinking maybe you and I could grab a bite to eat together or something. Take a late night drive?â The words rush out of him, pushed from his lungs by the hope that fills them.
Finally, he worked up the courage to ask you out. Something that felt harder than any match, exam or interview he's ever had. He's soaring on the pride it gives him.
Then falls right back down to the ground when your lip curls in disgust. He takes a step back like he took a blow to the chest, deflating.
âUnbelievable,â you breathe. âDon't you have a girlfriend? Cheating prick,â you spit as you shove past him, his heart jumping at your roughness, something he hadn't expected you were capable of.
Girlfriend? He thinks, befuddled as he watches your retreating figure marching away, all wound up and irritated. The fact that he's the cause makes him feel sick.
Running a hand through his hair, he paces, racking his brain to understand where the hell that came from. Sure, you never looked at him sweetly but neither did you glare as harsh as you did just now.
As he's connecting the dots like a detective on a cold case, his phone buzzes. Pulling it out and looking at the text in the pop-up, it all clicks.
It's her.
Shit, he was so caught up in all the fluffy, pink feelings inside him that tasted like cotton candy melting on his tongue that it completely slipped his mind that he had been boasting about having a âgirlfriend back homeâ to everyone who'd listen.
He's at Emcee's door hours later, begging her to stage a breakup. The word spreads on campus the very next day, carried by the big mouths of the gossips, elated by the news.
The entire female population has their eyes on him now, ready to play the role of his caregiver to comfort him through these hard times. Faking heartbreak is easier than Caleb thought, especially because he was nursing your stinging rejection.
His ametrine eyes framed by those mahogany lashes and thick brows make him look like a sulking puppy, as Emcee and Zayne always pointed out. Girls would coo and melt at the sight of them.
You're immune to them, it seems.
âGood for her,â you'd cruelly told him when he informed you of his breakup firsthand.
âExcuse me?â His eyes squinted like he couldn't quite comprehend your lack of sympathy.
Shrugging, you took the straw of your drink into your mouth, sucking the breath from Caleb's lungs as you pulled.
âNo girl wants a guy who can't keep his eyes from wandering. If that were me, I would've gouged them out.â
With a flick of your hair, you whirled around and left him standing there, speechless and honestly a bit hard.
A girl told you that while she was at the club, she saw him there and decided to shoot her shot at him. Nervous, she had rambled and he'd nodded attentively, a light smile on his face. It was only when she asked him her last question when he blinked and ducked to listen to what she said. She realised with embarrassment that he had just been bobbing his head to the beat of the song playing, not a thought behind his vacant eyes.
If only he'd responded to girls that way when he was dating, you thought with an eyeroll.
âDon't you think it's too much of a coincidence that she broke up with him right after you rejected him?â Simone asks, legs kicking behind her as she lays on Jenna's bed while the three of you lounge in her dorm.
Scoffing in disagreement, you flip through a magazine, âNo, she must've finally caught wind of what a player he is.â
Your friends hum, unconvinced but say nothing more about the man or his ex-girlfriend, knowing you'll just deny it all. And you genuinely believe that there was no correlation of those two events.
For a bit.
Then the courting commenced and you saw how the two of them hid their smiles and pressed their lips together to stop the I-told-you-so's from being voiced.
Caleb doesn't need grand gestures. His presence was loud enough.
It starts small. Bringing you coffee during the morning class you shared, knowing your order better than you did. The grateful look he shot Simone told you she was the culprit who gave it to him. She avoided your gaze.
Your scowls, glares and bored looks did nothing to keep him away. He'd just raise a brow, smile and even chuckle, completely and utterly undeterred.
He'd walk you to class even if you took the longer routes to avoid him. He'd sit across from you in the library, help you with questions you were struggling with when he caught the telltale sign of your pen tapping your lips. Your favorite snacks would be on the desk you often sat at in the private study room and the flavors of the candies you didn't like would be missing.
And gosh, did he try to talk to you. Some days you'd offer a few, noncommitted hums and curt words and others, when you weren't in the mood, you'd say nothing at all. He didn't seem to mind, filling in the awkward silence for you.
Jenna and Simone were of no help. You often wondered if they were really your friends with how they'd side with him, feed into his antics by delivering information about you like top secret agents meeting in an alley to exchange an envelope.
âCome on, it's cute! Not many can say they had a guy like Caleb chasing after them during their college days,â Jenna reasons.
You're currently staring at the official Bratz merch that was sent to your apartment. All the pretty dolls, early 2000s tees and cute keychains were dulled when you remember who got them for you.
All because Simone opened her mouth and told him that you collected these figurines.
âNot many want a cheater after them either,â you counter with a grumble.
Still, you couldn't possibly turn down these gifts. They were your weakness and man, did they get his hopes up when he saw the chibi doll dressed in a onesie dangling from the zipper of your book bag.
That egged him on even more.
Caleb began showing up like your very own cheerleader. It's quiet at firstâdefending you in rooms you weren't in, remembering the little things and making you feel seen on your gloomy days.
And then, you question why he's a basketball player when he should be on the cheer squad. The man is writing you little motivational quotes and self-care reminders on sticky notes during test week, messages you songs that he thinks you'd like (he got your number during a group discussion), and offering to be your chauffeur to conferences when your car is in the shop.
The pompoms and t-shirt with your face and name plastered on it are all that's missing when he attends the debates and presentations you participate in, clapping louder than everyone else like he's someone proud who's known you your entire life when you win and even when you don't.
Does it get on your nerves? Absolutely. But you find it hard to tell him no. He doesn't push or look at you expectantly like you owe him for all of his efforts and just takes what you give.
Which is honestly kind of sad.
If only he'd shown you he was a good boyfriend, you might have given him a chance.
For now, you'd string him along like a dog on a leash. It was the least you could do after he was disloyal to his ex.
As for Caleb, he adjusted the collar to make sure it wouldn't come loose, tail wagging. If you took it off, he wouldn't run away for freedom like others would and instead sit and look at you with his head cocked in confusion.
Don't let him find out what you find physically attractive in a man's appearance because he is crazy enough to change his.
Then again, perhaps you're being egotistical and delusional from how he's spoiled you but you had to say that it was pretty odd that he grew his hair out and got a mullet along with a couple of piercings after you mentioned that you liked them.
âMy ex back in high school had a few,â you had said when Gideon brought up body modifications at a kickback. âI'd treat it like a fidget toy for my mouth. Used to tug at his lip ring all the time when we made out. He was sick of me,â you chuckled.
âI doubt it,â Caleb chimed in, eyes meeting yours across the room. And of course, you rolled yours because you know he wouldn't mind.
Simone and Jenna had a nasty habit of leaving you alone with him, giggling to themselves and smiling all too wide. Gideon and his teammates were none the better, nudging him when you were passing by and calling you âCaleb's special friend.â
It was hard not to tease you both, especially him, when his attempts to impress you were so endearing to onlookers.
But he was beyond distracted.
Thrown completely off when he spots you on the bleachers during practice, chatting with Gideon who was benched and Jenna, your legs crossed.
An ugly feeling snatches his gut, bile rising in his throat when a guy he doesn't know but you clearly do comes up to you. You're more than willing to give him a hug too, arms wrapping around his neckâas opposed to around his waist like you do with othersârising to your tip toes as he engulfs you, hands dangerously close to the patch of skin revealed when the hem of your top lifts.
He can't think straight even after the guy leaves.
Easy shots are missed, his reactions are delayed, reflexes and training failing him like he never had them in the first place. It's like his limbs are jelly with how free throws miss him. Hell, he gets benched for the first time in ages after snapping at a newbie who tries to show off for you by stealing all his passes.
Not that he was any better but he digresses.
A part of him grows impatient, wanting to prove himself to you.
That's why he calls out to you, smiling when your head turns to find him like you'd kept track of him the entire time.
âIf I get this ball in, how about one date?â He announces, holding up his index figure for emphasis.
Everyone's watching now, looking at you to see your reaction.
Your eyes narrow ever so slightly at him for putting you on the spot like this but you shrug.
âSure.â
Oooh's and aaah's sound from his teammates and the students present.
A smarmy look takes over his face as he holds your gaze, back toward the basketball net. You arch a brow, watching to see how he does this.
Spinning the ball on his index finger, he stops and cups it in his palm. Then, eyes locked on yours, he launches the ball over his shoulder. He doesn't bother to look at it as it sails through the air, creating an arc.
There's a collision and then Gideon is sliding off the bench, clutching his stomach in uncontrollable, boisterous laughter.
Caleb turns then and sees everyone's cringing, sympathetic expressions. He knows what they mean. He'd missed the damn basket and hit the frame instead.
When he looks back at the bleachers, you're not there, already walking away after gathering your things, shaking your head.
His stomach churns. He doesn't need to see your face to know you're disappointed and probably experiencing secondhand embarrassment.
The supposed star athlete's aim isn't off when he hits Gideon in the stomach with the ball. His friend groans, rolling onto his side as his body shakes with his poorly suppressed laughter.
Weeks later, he's cutting you off on your way to the parking lot. âCan I have a do-over?â
Confusion creases your face. âWhat do you mean?â
He grimaces. âThe whole âif I win, I can take you on a dateâ thing.â
Scoffing, you cross your arms. He's noticed how you're always so closed off with him, body facing away when he's in front of you, ensuring yours never grazes him like he's got a contagious disease or something.
Honestly, with how weird his behaviour gets around you, he thinks he does have a sickness. It's just that you're the cause and cure.
Inclining your head, your hair cascades to the side like silk. âDo you really want a repeat of the other day?â
Shaking his head vigorously, his expression is serious.
âThat won't happen again,â at least not with how hard he's been practicing lately after that disaster.
With a sigh, you mull over the bet. âWhat do I get if you lose?â
He exhales, âWhatever you want.â
Your gaze turns cold. âAlright then. If you lose, you're going to leave me alone for good.â
That strikes him in the chest, a sharp pain disrupting his heartbeat. âYou're serious.â
A nod is the only response he gets before you're rounding him and walking away.
The ultimatum tasted bitter in your mouth but you were tired of his constant advances. You didn't like watching him lose, it felt like when you'd get an unsatisfactory score on a test. Like it was a personal failing. That very realisation shocked you to your core. You were starting to care for him and if you weren't careful, you'd fall flat on your face.
So this game would make or break whatever you were toeing the line of. Whether you'd give him a proper chance or wash him off your hands.
In some twisted way, Caleb thinks this drastic condition was just the motivation he needed to give it his all. He already planned to, of course but now he had a prize he could not let go of.
Tummy turning, you feel like you're the one about to compete in a college basketball game. It didn't help that you felt overdressed in your dress with the matching shorts underneath which you thought was a clever idea to wear with your platform heels. You'd dressed it down with your oversized university sweater though and put your hair in a half up-do, a ribbon to accessorize it.
A low roar spills into your ears as you step into the arena, the scent of warm pretzels and freshly made popcorn wafting into your nose. Parents and students alike take up the blue seats on either side of the court, donning the colours of the team they're supporting.
Ticket in hand, you shuffle down the steps after spotting Jenna and Simone, going to join them in the middle row as they said that was the best view of the game. You apologise as you brush past people, legs touching theirs even as you try to avoid it. The chair squeaks under your weight as you greet your friends.
The bright lights allow you to take a good look of the empty court and score board, names of the teams playing already on them as a clock ticks away above the basket. Just then, the lights dim, crowd standing to welcome the teams as the announcers introduce them.
Bursting out of the tunnel first in the opposing team, acknowledging the crowd with nods and waves, faces tight with focus. Their supporters cheer and you clap along with them.
Next, your school's team comes out and the audience grows louder, noises swelling. They get deafening when Caleb steps out, handsome as ever in his team jersey. It's mostly feminine screams so you're not that surprised.
He smiles, taking it all in, eyes searching the arena until they land on you and brighten. You feel like you got caught so you quickly move your gaze to Gideon beside him.
âGet âem, Gideon!â You shout in encouragement.
One man's chest puffs out in pride while the other's smile wavers just a bit.
You can probably tell which is which.
He doesnât pout. No sulking. Takes your rebuff in stride. But if he had dog ears, you think they'd lower and draw back.
There's no time to feel bad about how you reacted as the ball is raised, air thrumming with anticipation before the buzzer cuts through and the game starts. The squeaking of sneakers against the polished maple floorboards are a bit annoying.
Confidence you had in winning the bet wanes as the match continues. Caleb's performance is a far cry from the clumsy, bumbling mess it was that day you watched his practice.
Now, he's commanding the court with clean, confident and calculating moves. Your stomach sinks each time he dunks the ball in the basket, shot after shot like he's the only one playing. Contracts, his reputation and future in the sport are mentioned by the commentators as scouts discuss his play.
You've never paid much attention to sports but the incomprehensible shots he scores within the last seconds, fast breaks and clutch assistsâor whatever they're calledâhave you on the edge of your seat. The team moves as an unstoppable unit with Caleb as their leader, each pass so smooth, you can only imagine how much hard work they put in to make it look like child's play.
Gideon is a little shit. He toys with his opponents, faking passes and bucking them only to catch them off guard at the last moment by passing the ball to the star player.
The XYZ alias suits him well. What with how he dominates the final quarter like it was always going to be his, closing the nail-bitting game with a shot that feels inevitable.
Exploding with cheers, the crowd claps and hoots for them, sharp whistles and yells from the commentators giving you an ear ache. Simone shakes you by the shoulders in excitement and you laugh with her and Jenna. Caleb's eyes are on you once more, sweaty and breathless, when yours finds him, teammates bombarding him with hugs and pats on the back.
The nod of approval from you feels like he won the big leagues.
When the cheers die down and the teams retreat to the locker rooms to shower and change, you're faced with the reality that you have to let Caleb take you out. You don't get the chance to chicken out when Gideon and a few other guys come to talk to you and your friends.
You congratulate them with hugs and handshakes while Jenna interrogates one of the guys about the maneuvers he did that she'd like to learn.
Gideon smiles at you, basking in the afterglow of the victory he played a major part in. âWanna come to the after party?â
Lighting up at that, your bounce on your heels and are about to agree when a hand lands on your shoulder. Mood dampening slightly, you already know who it belongs to as he slots himself into the space between Gideon and you.
âUh, oh, you're not backing out of our deal, are you?â Caleb's voice is almost a sing-song, triumphant and self-satisfied.
His spider bite and labret piercings glint in the lights outside the arena, cool breeze dancing with his damp hair. You can't decide if his toothy grin or twinkling eyes are brighter. Either way, you look away, not that happy to see how proud he is.
âI'm not a sore loser,â that feels like a lie with how you face is unsmiling, âThe after party sounds fun.â
Gideon nods in agreement. âYeah, you're coming aren't you, Cap?â he asks the man who's still staring at you as he shakes his head.
âSorry, boys, but I've got a date,â he boasts and the guys hum teasingly. Your friends join in on the taunting too, like you're two kids in school. They're moments away from starting to sing about you two sitting in a tree and kissing.
âWe don't have to do that tonight,â you assure Caleb. âI'm sure everyone will be bummed if the man of the hour isn't there.â
He scrunches up one side of his face, eye closing as he shakes his head, the earrings lining his ear swaying with his unwillingness to take the bait.
âParties happen all the time, they won't miss me much,â he reassures you both, the implication that a date with you is a once-off affair left unsaid but you catch on.
Like he anticipated that he'd win or maybe he prepared to manifest his success, Caleb's sporting a denim fit, jeans and jacket the same shade of blue with a black crew neck underneath, his dog tag popping against the dark fabric, white sneakers completing the ensemble.
You hate how it complements your outfit.
âAw, man. We'll toast and celebrate in your honor. Enjoy your date!â Jenna says, not sounding upset in the slightest as they group waves and depart so you're alone with him.
Caleb rocks on the balls of his feet, hands in his pocket.
âDon't look so down, that dress of yours is too pretty to be wasted at a stuffy rager.â
âYou don't even know what it looks like,â you point out because your sweater is still on.
He smiles, gentle and sincere. âIf it's on you, it's always good looking.â
Blush warms your face at that even as you frown at him. He chuckles at your disapproval and nods towards his car.
âYou like this don't you?â he asks as you make your way to his ride.
âYou're gonna have to be more specific.â
âThat smart mouth,â he mutters to himself. âMe chasing you, you keeping me on a leash, leading me on.â
âA little.â
He grins at that. âOnly a little? Why are you smiling then?â
âHappy our school won.â You shrug.
âI bet. Now, does the star player get a congratulatory kiss from his pretty little date?â
âThat depends.â
âOn what?â His eyes are round like he's willing to get on his knees and bark for you.
âHis good behavior.â
Groaning, he playfully pouts, âI've been so good, baby.â
âHave you?â
âYou're always rolling those gorgeous eyes at me but you never chase me away, do you? Like the attention or something?â
âThis isn't about me,â you remind him that you are discussing him.
âEverything is about you,â he corrects, not in an accusing way as if you're self-centered but rather that his world revolves around you.
âThat won't last long once you get what you want.â
âWhat do I want?â he challenges, backing you up against the side of his car but not touching you.
âYour fill of me then you'll forget me and move on or worse, keep me around and entertain others.â
âThat what you think?â he questions as he opens the car door for you.
âIt's what I've heard.â
âFrom me?â
âAround.â
âAll these months of me courting you and you can't see I'm not that person?â There's a flicker of hurt in his eyes.
âGuys tend to be on their best behaviour until they're comfortable enough to shed their pretenses,â you say despite the twinge in your chest.
Shutting the door once you get in, he nods, âGuess you'll just have to stick around and find out if I'm one of them.â
Unfortunately for you, the date goes well. The conversation flows easily, he gets a few laughs from you with his corny jokes. Your attempts to dissuade him fall flat as he has a counter for every made up excuse or flaw you throw his way.
Can't cook? He's great at it! Suck at chores? He's a clean freak. Don't like being told what to do? He'll handle it! Want to be a stay-at-home girlfriend? He's got you covered!
The glass of wine you drank sloshes in your belly as he drives you home, the ghost of a smile on his face displaying his contentment. Perhaps it's the liquor or another effort to ward him off but the truthful words spill from you before you can think them over.
âI'm also hard to please in bed. Overly dominant men piss me off.â
Caleb slides you a glance for a beat then returns his focus to the road.
âHard to please, hmm?â
âYeah, especially if you're like the sorry excuse of a man I slept with last and aren't open to advice.â
He nods slowly. âWhat did he do?â
âNot make me come, that's for sure,â you scoff bitterly at the memory.
While you didn't like thinking about it, it was at the forefront of your thoughts and the reason you'd felt so easily warm between your thighs tonight. You'd been put off by that encounter for a while.
âThe idiot had me on my back, humping away between my legs all excitedly while I counted the ceiling lights,â you grumble, cursing the guy mentally.
Caleb stifles a chuckle. âSounds horrible. Was it his skill or size?â
You tilt your head as you give it thought. âSkill for sure. He was like six inches which is what I usually prefer. At least I can feel it and not worry about being split in half.â
Shoulders slumping, you practically see Caleb deflate. âThat's your preference?â
âYeah.â You cast him a wary, sideways glance. âWhy?â
Tittering nervously, his face is crinkled in what you're assuming is shame.
âI'm a bit bigger than that.â
And those, ladies and gentlemen, were the six words that didn't let you make it home that night. Not after he admitted it like he was embarrassed and that itched the right part of your brain.
Calling it a bit bigger when he had several inches on the guy was either him trying to be humble or purposely piquing your curiosity.
You're palming the bulge in his boxers, precum dampening and darkening the material as you kiss him, tugging at his lip ring with your teeth after bruisingly making out with him from his front door all the way to his bedroom. When he can't take the teasing anymore, he pushes you down and crawls between your thighs, clothes thrown to the floor.
Shit, he can't believe this is real and not one of his lucid dreams.
Holding you open for him by the back of your knees, Caleb shudders as he sinks his cock into your dizzingly warm cunt, eliciting a panting exhale from him and a long, drawn-out moan from you. He was so thick that the fit was snug and paralyzing. His necklace dangles between you like a pendulum, cool metal gently tapping your overheated face and it'd be annoying if you weren't occupied.
âFuck, baby, you're so soft,â his voice cracks, the sound high-pitched and breathless like he's already taken you rather than just eased in. It's difficult to differentiate the pounding of your pussy from the throbbing of his cock.
Glassy eyes like the dusky sky peer into yours, reverent and ardent. They're hypnotic as they capture your stare and your heartbeat picks up. Stomach twisting, you avert your gaze to the rest of his body, amused to find that his lightly tanned skin is inked with a few tattoos here and there, muscles chiseled and neatly trimmed hair below his bellybutton trailing down to his cock.
His nipples are pierced too and you roll them between your thumb and index finger instinctively, the smooth metal bead twisting slightly with your ministrations. A noise you doubt he thought he was capable of rips from his throat, broken and whiny as he keels involuntarily, weight crushing you.
âShit, are you okay?â you ask worriedly, letting go to cup his face, raising it to see if he fainted out of nowhere.
Shaking with a breath you barely call a laugh, he looks up at you, eyes drinking you in and committing you to memory, taking note of the little spots and beauty marks he couldn't see before. He's never been so lucky to be this close to you.
âYeah, uhâŠno one's ever pinched them before. Caught me off guard,â he chuckles as he braces his palms on the mattress once more, slipping out of you a bit from the distance and you almost complain about it.
Brows raising, your eyes widen a little. âReally? Did you not like it?â
Fiddling with his lip ring, he dips his head bashfully then meets your eyes again. âOn the contrary, I think I enjoyed it too much.â He swears he would have come then and there if you pressed any harder and tugged more.
His bedroom is quiet for a moment, your breaths, the muted sounds of the city and the tick of his alarm clock the only noise in the room. You hardly hear any of it when he's looking at you like he can't fathom how and where you've hidden from him all his life.
Your eyes wander his room, wanting to find other things to stare at like the airplane figurine suspended from his ceiling, the models on his shelf, the band posters on his wall. But they land on the girly blind boxes and cute Lego flower bouquet that's half-assembled on his desk which you know are for you with how you enjoy collecting those.
It's way too sweet and intimate for you coming from a guy you're trying to pity-fuck in hopes that he'll finally leave you the fuck alone when this is over. So you push at his chest, confusing him as he sits back on his calves.
âWhat's wrong? Did I do something to upset you?â He ducks his head to follow your eyes that are actively trying not to clash with his.
Swallowing, you nod, expression growing stubborn defensively, nose in the air as you sit up, sheets rustling beneath you.
âYes, actually. Be a good boy and take me from behind. Your face is putting me off,â you half-lied. If you had to look into those perpetually sad eyes again, you were going to be riddled with guilt for wanting to hit and quit him.
Twisting around so you didn't have to face him barely blocked out the slight hurt in his voice, âOh, okay. I'm good with whatever you want.â
His obedience pulls at your heartstrings, chest slightly aching but it's gone the moment his warmth touches your back, shadow over you as he slides in once more, breath fanning your neck, dog tag tickling the dip in your spine.
Something soft slips beneath your belly and you glance down to see he's cushioned you with a pillow to raise your hips as you kneel on the bed, hugging the other pillow doused in his scent underneath your head.
His hips roll, sigh tickling the hair at your nape as he pumps into you slowly and deep, numbing your mind with the delicious drag of his cock. You're stuffed to the brim, the curve of him caressing all the squishy spots inside you, tip dotting sticky pecks on your cervix.
Patient as he is, even Caleb is weak in the face of his desires so when you clench around him every time he thrusts in and push him back when he draws out, there's only so much he can bear, stuttery hips and breathy pants morphing into low groans and gravely grunts as his resolve splinters.
Then you're scrambling for something to hold onto to ground you, face buried in his pillow with a muffled cry as he snaps his hips against yours with feral intent, hitting the end of you over and over again. bedframe rattling as the hinges creak in protest, overpowered by the headboard knocking the wall rhythmically. Your body shakes with the force of his thrusts and he's drunk off the feeling of you clamping down on him, squelching around him with filthy, sloshing arousal, creamy, frothy ring at his base.
âHah, I knew you were perfect. All that beauty and brains, pussy had to be pretty too. Taking me so well,â Caleb slurs, lost in the plumpness of your cunt nestling him like he's being hugged affectionately.
God, he's rambling even when he's fucking. It'd be amusing if the praise didn't do funny things to your insides that felt a lot like butterflies. You had to remind yourself that it was the lust talking, sputtering sweet nothings so you hum in response.
That's not enough for him it seems because he's bending over, slick chest flushed to your back as he grinds into you at a sluggish pace, nipple piercings cold against your shoulder blades as his big body crowds you, heaviness pressing you into the mattress, the bulge of his cock deep in your belly distinct as it makes your squirm.
Sprinkling kisses to your damp neck all the way up to your ear, his lips brush the shell of it. âDo you know how good you feel?â
His heart thuds against your back and he hopes his thorough strokes convey every emotion he experiences with you, the ones that make him feel like there's cotton in his ears and something fuzzy in his chest.
âCaleb,â you suck in a gasp as he grounds into that spot that has you seeing stars at the back of your eyelids. He was infuriatingly skilled at pleasuring a woman and you wanted to show him that you could return the favor.
Wriggling so he wasn't crushing you into the bed anymore, you turned at the waist to meet his gaze.
The muscles of his abdomen bunch as he rocks into your lazily, he cocked to the side as his fringe falls over his dark eyes that are zeroed in on you, devouring your figure like he's afraid he'll forget a detail if he doesn't keep his gaze on you the entire time.
Emboldened by his appreciation, you lift yourself up, bracing your forearms on the bedding, and drop back down on his cock. An unbidden grunt rumbles in his throat, head dropping forward as his mouth gapes on a harsh breath.
Half-lidded gaze elated and salacious, your smile at him over your shoulder, purring, âDo you know how good you feel?â
There's no response from him, it's like he can't muster up the words and vocalize them into anything intelligible as he watches you lift up then drop down again, the slap of your ass against his thighs scattering his thoughts. Every slide is sloppy and incredibly soft, suckling his cock until it was pulsating, precum dribbling inside you. His whimpers and hitches in his breath only encouraged your movements.
Orgasms from each other may ruin you both for anyone else with how they lock your body up and leave you in a puddle of bliss on his sheets. Only for a few dreamy minutes before the bubble of ecstasy pops and you want another hit to chase that drugging high again. Always a good sport, Caleb nods eagerly despite his flushed body and frantic heartbeat.
Hovering over his lap, back facing him once more, you cup the base of his cock and ease it inside you once more, a relieved sigh passing your lips at the delicious fullness of it. Too eager, you sit on it instantly, a choked sob stuck in your throat when he splits you open mercilessly
Large, warm hands rub at your hips, kneading them soothingly. âSlow down,â he tries to keep his voice leveled, thrown off by how much deeper he is in this position, âDon't hurt yourself, baby.â
âI'm fine,â you grit out. âJust sit back and enjoy, yeah?â you tell him, using the last word like he always does. He smiles as he notices, stomach fluttering at the idea of you picking up habits from him.
Air is knocked out of his lungs before he can respond. It hurt you, this new angle, but he felt so good within you, each bounce on his shaft only satiated by the next one. Gradually, the pain fades until pleasure seeps into you, glides disgustingly slippery as you work yourself up and down with fervor.
Nails digging into his thighs, you feel them flex and yield beneath your touch. Throaty, high-pitched noises he could barely contain punctuate every bounce. You're relentless, hardly giving him a chance to catch his breath with how fast and deep you were going.
His hooded eyes did not know where to look. Your glistening body was a sight to behold and he hates that he's so fucked out, eyes nearly crossing and rolling back as he watches your hair spring and ass ripple like waves, that he can't concentrate properly.
âC-Could you slow down? I'm not gonna last much longer if you're gonna act like a little b-bunny,â he stammers out, giving himself a mental pat on the back for getting that out between his garbled moans.
Glancing over your shoulder, your cunt clenches at the view that greets you.
His brows are furrowing, nose wrinkling, animalistic grunt exhaling from it as he nibbles on his already reddened and raw moist bottom lip, canine hooking on his lip ring as his gaze is glued to where your sopping cunt is swallowing his cock with audible shlucks. Feeling your stare, his slitting, glossy amerite eyes cut to yours and you almost come undone then and there.
The bedside lamp sheds light upon one side of his face in a warm glimmer while other is darkened by the shadows.
A dopey smile pulls at his lips as he tips his head, fondness exuding from him. âHi, baby.â
Stomach doing somersaults, you turn away again, ending the moment as the familiar goopy puddle in your lower belly rises, your movements picking up. It builds and builds until it breaks, spreading out in ticklish tingles that has you gasping out a cry.
Static branches out all along Caleb's spine, crackling within the length of his cock as he releases a loud groan, twitching hips thrusting up into your as he spills his seed, coating your walls as your spasming pussy milks him dry once more. Your movements grew sluggish with the aftershocks so he grabs your waist and guides you to ride his orgasm out, soft whines sounding in your throat.
Mind muddled, he leans forward and licks the sweat off your spine, the hot swipe of his tongue causing you to shiver as he sucks a hickey into your skin, lips pulling off with a wet pop when he is done.
Somewhere between him burying his face between your legs, eating you out like a man starved and him cleaning you both up in the shower, you grew incredibly sleepy.
Waking up in his bedroom, clad in one of his shirts, pussy swollen and tender, muscles sore when you move was a given.
The guy and girl standing frozen and wide-eyed in his doorway were not.
Squealing, you shot up, clutching the covers and pulling them up to your clothed chest stupidly, wide awake now. Your startled reaction rips Caleb out of his sleep too, eyes wide as he looks around frantically.
âWhat happened? Is it the Cilantro Zombie?!â He calls out and now your surprise is replaced by confusion.
âThe fuck is a Cilantro Zombie?â
âZayne? Emcee? What are you two doing here?â Caleb asks once he sees them, his hair sticking out in all directions, eyes droopy as he tries to rub the sleep from them.
The man named Zayne covers Emcee's eyes but she tries to peek anyway, giggling to herself and wiggling her brows at Caleb.
It registers later, when you've gotten acquainted with them that afternoon, that she's Caleb's ex.
Well, fake ex-girlfriend, apparently.
Sprawled next to you on the couch, Emcee munches popcorn as she explains the whole situation.
âHe was trying to keep the girls at bay,â she says between chews. Then she checks to see if the guys are still gone before listening in, whispering, âThough between you and me, I don't know what they see in his clingy ass.â
You laugh at that, finding her funny and easy to get along with. Zayne too, even though he was a bit more reserved, was a friendly person.
âAh, well the plan worked well. I called him a cheater and believed it for a while,â you admit though he could have told you about this earlier to save you all the moral dilemmas.
Emcee shakes her head. âHe's stupid like that. I told him it'd be a bad idea but he thinks he knows better because he's like two years older than me.â
She slides you a mischievous look. âBut I was right in the end, it totally backfired.â
You chuckle in agreement.
âI suppose it wasn't all that bad. Now he has you,â she says, reminding you that he asked to be your boyfriend earlier in the shower.
The steps were in the wrong order but you didn't mind. You told him you'd give him your answer after you thought about it.
But when the front door swings open, laughter flutters in as Caleb reacts to one of Zayne's dry jokes like he does to yours as they carried in takeout, you realise that you'd made up your mind about him long before you accepted it.
FEATURING: caleb/xia yizhou x non!mc female reader
where you get injured during a paired hunterâs association mission with mc. when you realize sheâs hurt too, you keep quiet about your own condition and turn all your strength towards getting her to safety, because caleb needs her alive. because she has always been calebâs first priority. because calebâs entire life has been tailored around keeping her safe.
because, maybe, in another life, caleb would have chosen you. but in this one, you already know better.
CONTENT: 5.1k words, ANGST (i am warning you), ALLLL hurt VERY LITTLE comfort (this is your second warning), toxic dependency and kind of a savior complex on readerâs end, slight gore and body horror, profanity, blood, injuries, arguments, childhood!bestfriend caleb and non!mc character study, literary themes, mc is your partner in the association
NOTE: this is based on jeff buckleyâs heart-wrenching song: lover, you should have come over (go listen as you read đ) . ALSO if youâve read a tale of two cities by charles dickens, i was highly inspired by sydney carton and lucie manette when writing reader and calebâs relationship â so NOTE that reader is the ultimate yearnmaxxer. she has a savior complex and depends on caleb like sydney is towards lucie so their relationship is NOT MEANT TO BE HEALTHY!!!!! plz heed that warning before reading!!!!
masterlist
ITâS NEVER OVER / ALL MY BLOOD FOR THE SWEETNESS OF HER LAUGHTER / ITâS NEVER OVER / SHE IS THE TEAR THAT HANGS INSIDE MY SOUL, FOREVER.
The poet writing out your life taught you very early on that you were never first when it comes to Caleb.Â
You can picture the way the elegist holds the pen, etching away and gradually crafting your star-crossed narrative: theyâve scrawled all the words with bloodied ink. Ripped the edges with laughter, left the paper to yellow with age. A Romanticistâs dark fantasy â a traditional ending that belonged in one of Shakespeareâs tragedies, a cruel fate subjected to you, a side character left to eventually rot away beneath the blinking moonlight.Â
Unfortunately, you love Caleb. Fortunately, you love Caleb. You love him because heâs Caleb. You hate him because heâs Caleb. You love him the way Sydney Carton loved Lucie Manette, when he clawed out his own pulsating heart from his dying ribs and willingly served it to her on a silver platter. All without asking for a single thing in return, because she saved him from a life of disgrace. He was already withering, and she rekindled him from ashes into a blazing heap of fire, and that salvation was more than enough to grant her his beautiful devotion.
You think that if Caleb asked for your heart, youâd plate it within seconds â savoring whatever he chose to grow in its place. Youâd let him plant asiatic apples â his favorite â inside your ribcage, and let him caramelize them and feed them to you without a second thought. If you struggled to breathe and cough up the bloodied seeds, you think thatâs even better. Because itâs Caleb, and you hate him, but worst of all, you love him. And they go hand in hand, your love and hatred, so much so that it hurts.Â
MC is a real sweetheart. A pretty thing who brought a noble reason for becoming a UNICORNS Hunter to the Association. You tried so hard to loathe her, you really did, but all your efforts came back futile. Because in reality, why would you hate MC? Because of Caleb? Itâs not like she forces him to do anything â he willingly dotes on her. Sometimes she even gets upset because he gets a little too overbearing. Everything Caleb does for her is of his own accord. You are never the first person to be called when things go wrong. Never the first to be worried for. Not the first to be protected the second everything goes awry.
That place has always belonged to her, but Caleb granted her that place of his own free will. MC had never meant any malice towards you, because it was hardly her fault that Caleb chose her. Any hint of animosity was all but a carefully constructed illusion in your own head, because there was none. She had been nothing but kind to you. A real sweetheart.
The necklace around Calebâs throat is proof of her place; a thin chain, dull silver, worn over by years of being grasped at without a second thought. The crystallized red apple and those dog tags that glint under the sunlight: a constant, unintentional reminder of her ownership and everything that youâre not. Youâve watched him reach for it whenever heâs anxious, fingers curled around it when orders from the Fleet are too heavy, and when his fear slips through the cracks of his carefully crafted composure.
Maybe thatâs something you can hate her for, because that necklace serves as a painful admonition and a physical manifestation of all your hurt. You were there before that necklace. That damned necklace. Before any ranks. Before MC became your partner in the Association, another mocking reminder of where you stood within your twisted narrative. Before all your obligations grew teeth and knew how to bite, and sooner or later would swallow you whole.
You remember it now. The memory comes to you, unbidden and sharp and warm all at once, a wilted daffodil resting within the depths of your thoughts that refuses to leave.
It was summer that day, late summer. You remember the season because the apples were in full bloom and Caleb had been counting the days down until he could harvest the fruits that one of Josephineâs trees bore. He promised you that heâd make apple pie just like how she makes it, and you just giggled and told him not to set the fire alarm off again. He said that he never recalled doing such a thing.
The sky was blue, and the apples were a perfect shade of red, and you wished they would respectively stay blue and red forever. For those colors to never darken or fade, and hoping that one day, they would merge and settle under Calebâs eyes. An almost impossible shade of ultraviolet that you constantly yearned for.Â
MC wasnât there. You donât remember why, and frankly, you donât care. All that mattered, for once, was that day belonged entirely to you. Out of all the afternoons that you spent as a trio, it had only been the two of you that day. Yes, this was a summer memory that was only yours and his to keep, for you to fondly keep in a locket deep within your ribcage for all eternity.Â
That day, you were younger â too young to know how things would end â and sitting cross-legged on the dewy grass of his backyard, the blades damp against your palms. Caleb sits across from you, knees pulled up, and sleeves rolled to his elbows, eagerly waiting. The air smelled like sun-warmed leaves and fruits, like Caleb, and the poets were feeling creative, basking in the cooling wind the summer brought.
You had brought him a gift, you said, and he watched you with an expectant shade of curiosity as you reached into your pocket and pulled out two thin lengths of braided cord, a perfect mix of ivory and crimson. The bracelets were uneven, dyed by your shaky hands, and lightly fraying at the ends. Youâd made them the night before, fingers clumsy and hands shaking as you followed the step-by-step tutorial playing on your phone. âOh? What do you have for me here?â
âTheyâre matching bracelets. One for you, and one for me,â you mutter sheepishly, like explaining mightâve lessened the embarrassment tinting your cheeks. âI know theyâre kind of stupid, butââ
Caleb leans forward at that. âHey, theyâre not stupid.â
You look up at him, surprised. âYou promise?â
âPinky promise,â he grins, and your throat tightens, his words like music to your ears, crescendoing into a harmonious choir the moment that Caleb willingly holds out his wrist for you. The way your heart thumped as your fingers brushed against his skin made you fear that he could hear its erratic beating, and the blood rushing in your eardrums. Maybe he didnât. Or maybe he did, and chose not to say anything. Heâs always been able to read you like an open book.
âThere, done.â The bracelet rested just beneath the bone of his right wrist, the color vivid against his skin. When you finished, you leaned back to admire your work, pride blooming and heart full with his words, despite yourself. âNow, when you inevitably forget me in five years when youâre suuuper popular and cool at the DAA, you wonât be able to pretend like you didnât know me.â
He laughs at that, bright and unguarded, and you wish that this day would never end. That Caleb and his bracelet and everything about him would just settle somewhere deep within your chest, finding shelter within the crevices of your ribcage. Or maybe you can find a home within his own body. You didnât mind either outcome. âI donât think thatâs possible. Besides, youâre already way cooler than me.â
Then, without another word, he reaches for your hand. âWaitââ
Too late. He fumbles with the second bracelet, your matching half, and knots it around your wrist. It sits a little too tight, and youâre certain youâll get rope burn once you begin to outgrow it, but you could hardly care less. He puts his palm against your own and intertwines your fingers against his, and your mind sings at the contact. âThere. Now weâre even.â
You look down at your hand clasped against his own and mutter, âYouâre never taking this off.âÂ
He smiles, saluting you with his free hand, and your eyes soften. Youâve marked each other with these bracelets. His hand is so, so warm, and Caleb is still so beautiful, like how everything should be. âCopy that.â
That day was an anomaly.Â
You were matching bracelets with Caleb. Not him and MC. You and Caleb. Heâd let you leave a permanent mark on him in a way that MC hadnât, even though she ended up giving him that necklace years later. The sky shouldnât have been such a beautiful shade of blue, and the apples shouldnât have been so red, but they were. Caleb shouldnât have been so boyishly pretty that day, looking over your visage so beautifully with those violet eyes, but he was. Everything was so perfectly aligned that day that you sometimes wondered if you had just imagined it all, as if he were but a mere phantasm in the breeze. A trick of the light to convince yourself that he was once yours.
Oh, but that moment was as real as it got. MCâs necklace may have come later, but those bracelets were yours first. Caleb was real, and that moment with him had been the one thing that you could call yours. Undeniably, indisputably yours.
But that was before the explosion.Â
Like everything that you once could call your own, Caleb kept true to his word and never took the bracelet off, until it had been cruelly ripped from your grasp by the laughing elegist and the hands of fate. The facts were clearly written: Caleb survived the tragedy, Josephine did not. Caleb was now the Colonel of the Farspace Fleet, and his right arm had been reinforced with a metallic prosthetic. His veins became wires tangled red, green, and blue, and the bracelet was lost with the debris.Â
His right arm was no longer yours. A part of Calebâs heart was no longer yours.
The arm you had fastened the bracelet around could no longer feel. The hand you held that summer afternoon can no longer experience your warmth, now cold with the false promise of permanence. The arm that had worn your mark so easily until it hadnât, under the blink of an eye. You never said it out loud, because acknowledging the thought felt monstrous, almost sacrilegious, but sometimes, you truly wondered if you cursed him.Â
Like the marks you leave on the things you loved most were meant to waste away with time, and eventually vanish.
The sky isnât blue anymore. Itâs a dull shade of grey today, actually. That summer day no longer smells sweet but more like something decaying. The apples are long gone and rotten right to the core, but Calebâs eyes are still that haunting shade of amethyst and still everything you love.Â
Because some things, apparently, endure.
Youâre partnered with MC on an Association mission today, but this particular mission has ties with Skyhaven. Skyhaven meant the Farspace Fleet. And of course, the Fleet meant seeing Caleb before the Association sent you to take care of the next bout of wanderers or whatever they were ready to throw at you today. It was rare for Linkon and Skyhavenâs affairs to intertwine, even though they ultimately shared similar end goals. At the end of the day, they were still interconnected pillars that wanted to get rid of wanderers. Hence why you were here.
You feel inside your pocket, making sure the box is intact. The mission briefing ran much longer than it shouldâve, and people from the Fleet filed out in pairs and clusters, none of them sparing the members of the Hunters Association a second glance. Boots echo across the floors, and you linger inside the room, looking for the familiar set of violet eyes, a ghost of a smile forming on your face once they meet yours.
Caleb.Â
âHey,â he says, and you know that if you were MC, that greeting wouldâve been followed with his endearing nickname for her, âpipsâ. Unfortunately, you werenât MC, and you werenât his pipsqueak. What exactly were you to him? You didnât know. You were just⊠you.Â
Was that enough for him?
âItâs rare seeing you in the Fleet. I wish you werenât here at all, though. It gets real crazy here sometimes,â He ruffles your hair, and you couldnât even return the action because of his big, stupid Colonel hat. âDâya need something before the mission? My good luck charm, maybe?â
âHmm, I dunno. Is your charm really all that good?â You smile up at him, his pretty eyes gazing into yours, and suddenly, the banter almost makes everything flicker with normalcy. Caleb was here again. You were here with him, and the stars are almost aligning, because the world, inexplicably, hasnât taken everything from you yet. âI have a gift for you, actually.â
âA gift? Whatâs the occasion?â He asks as you slowly reach into your pocket, fingers brushing the fabric and metal. It makes you hesitate, like you were sixteen all over again that summer day and were afraid of Calebâs reaction towards your handmade, woven bracelets. The soft beam on his face this time around made it easier on your nerves, though. âMy birthdayâs stiiill pretty far away, you know.âÂ
You exhale slowly, pulling out the box under his watchful gaze. âSomething I made,â you murmur, âAgain.â
The box opens, and your gift is finally on full display beneath the blinking fluorescent lights of the Fleet. There are two bracelets inside, woven crimson and ivory, just like before. Anyone could still tell that itâs handmade, but the handiwork is neater, and the thread is no longer fraying. You got rid of your matching half after the explosion, vowing to only wear it if Caleb had his part of the pair. The expression on his face is unreadable, and it makes your heart thump with apprehension all over again.Â
âI thoughtââ you continue, staring at the box instead of at him, âthat maybe we donât get to keep things forever, but we can try to, anyway.â
âYou made another set, after I lost mine whenâŠâ He trails off, and you nod. Itâs the closest thing youâve gotten to talking about the explosion, and Calebâs jaw tightens. You knew he was no longer sixteen, and you donât even know if heâs still entirely Caleb, the same one who held your hand that late summer afternoon, but that mark you left on him was still yours. Even as the dog tags beneath his uniform serve as a painful reminder that he will never be truly yours entirely. âPut it on me, again. Just like old times.â
He wordlessly holds out his wrist for you â the left one this time â and he doesnât miss your painful gaze towards his bionic arm. You fasten it around his left wrist, the only arm that can feel anything anymore, and the mark is seared once again, even though the sky is still gray and the apples are long spoiled.
Despite all that time, Caleb is still beautiful, and that has never changed.
Then, he reaches for you, taking your wrist and gently tying the second bracelet there. If you squint, you could probably still see the marks left behind by the previous one. His fingers brush against your skin in a way that makes your breath hitch, and his tongue is pressed lightly to his teeth, like heâs afraid of making the knot too tight like before. âDo you remember what you said that day? How you predicted that Iâd forget you in five years when Iâm âsuper popular and coolâ once I was at the DAA?â
You meekly nod as he finishes the knot. Itâs a perfect one this time. Not too tight to give you any rope burns, and not too loose that it would fall off. âWell, I think my words still stand. I most certainly never forgot you, youâre still way cooler than me, and definitely way cooler than anyone there.â
With that, his eyes softly whisper against your own. You look at each other â really look at each other this time â and his damned violet eyes catch the light, familiar and unbearable and intoxicating, all at once. You think of all those blue summer skies and Josephineâs red apples and all the ways those colors can merge into something sadder, yet far more alluring. A mixture that rests under Calebâs eyes.
Your foreheads are nearly touching, and his breath stutters as you take his mechanical hand into your own, caressing the metal that took away your mark and a part of Calebâs humanity. He pulls you closer with his free hand â the one with your newly made mark â almost like he was luring you in with his Gravity EVOL. But Caleb didnât need to utilize his EVOL to pull you in; he did it all naturally. Him and his stupid good luck charm.
âYou come back to me,â he quietly whispers, his breath hot against your own. If you listened closely enough, you could hear his erratically beating heart. You werenât Calebâs pipsqueak, but you could do all of this to him. You had this effect on him. This moment was yours, and you were going to selfishly savor it. Replay this scene until it one day swallows you whole. âYou promise.â
For a single moment, the world finally narrows to just the two of you. The Fleet and the Hunterâs Association were just background noise. His gaze flickers to your lips, then back to your eyes. You could feel the heat of your words just before you speak, just before he leans in and finally closes the gap. âIââ
âCaleb!â
MCâs voice cuts through the tension like a carefully positioned blade, and you immediately step back. Caleb withdraws his hand from the back of your neck like it stung, as if it never belonged there in the first place. The bracelet resting against your wrist feels hot to the touch. You wonder if it feels the same for Caleb, or if heâd eventually take it off sooner or later. MCâs looking at you expectantly, eyes bright and unaware of what just happened. âTheyâre calling us in. Are you ready?â
âYeah,â you declare weakly, breath still stuck in your throat, something youâre unable to swallow. âIâm coming.â
The realization dawns on you faster than anything when MC offers you a big smile. You were right â from the very beginning, you didnât hate MC. You never did. Sheâs kind, sweet, and constantly has your back during missions. No, you were angry at her presence. How it was practically impossible to hang out with just Caleb. It was always you, Caleb, and her. How the duo could never stay as a duo, no matter what. How your moments with Caleb can be so easily ripped from your grasp by MC because she was here first. Of course, it was always her first.Â
Caleb needs to keep her safe first. To protect her first. She was his priority first. This was the status quo, and you had no say in changing the rules that were already set in stone a long time ago. Still, as you catch a glimpse of Calebâs wrist before you leave, you make a silent vow to yourself, to the crimson and ivory resting on your own wrist.Â
If you cursed Caleb with your first present, you silently pray that this time around, it will curse you instead of him.
The mission turned into a shitshow faster than you had initially anticipated.
You were so outnumbered from the very beginning that you wondered what the hell the Association was thinking when sending you two on this mission. Was this a fucking death trap specifically designed for you and MC? For everyone else dispatched here? Thereâs so much blood on the floor you could hardly distinguish your own from any wanderer that you had defeated.
Another wanderer goes down, collapsing onto the debris with a sound that rattles your bones and shoots directly to your ringing eardrums. Your sword is immediately knocked away from your hands by the next target, and it falls onto the ground with a deafening clatter. You need backup, and you need it now. You think about who to call â you would have called Xavier, but your Hunterâs watch is long broken, and heâs probably just as preoccupied as you two.Â
The entire situation was so pitiful that you could have laughed if it werenât for how fucked over you both were.
You look towards MC, and your eyes widen as she stumbles, her breath staggering and legs shaking. Youâre already moving, just before she hits the ground. âMC!â
âHey, hey, stay with meââ you scream out, dropping to your knees beside her. You use all your strength and bring the two of you to a nearby tree, praying that all the shrubs and bushes cover you from the wandererâs sight. Sheâs breathing, shallow but steady, eyes unfocused as she tries her hardest to meet your gaze. You prop her against the trunk and cup her face, trying to keep her awake. âPlease, fuckââ
Sheâs injured, but sheâs alive. Good. Thatâs good. You just need to keep her alive long enough to get to a safe zone, or until help comes. Something warm spreads beneath your hunterâs uniform when you shift your weight, but you ignore the excruciating agony in your abdomen and focus on MC. A stab wound in your core. You donât even know where it came from, and the adrenaline had masked the pain until now. Still, youâve felt worse. Way worse than this. Right now, you just need to keep her alive, becauseâ
Because of Caleb. Because Caleb needs her alive.
âYou come back to me,â His words briefly echo in your ears, and it makes your eyes sting with tears. You donât know if you can. âYou promise.â
Youâve never broken any promises when it comes to Caleb, and heâs never broken any, either. But, technically, this time around, you didnât promise him anything because MC had interrupted you before you could utter any words out. So, you didnât exactly owe him anything. Your life was second to hers right now.
Sorry, Caleb.
âWe need to move,â you say, hauling her arm over your shoulder. This spot was not going to be safe for long, and you didnât have your sword. If any wanderer spots you, thatâd be the end of your narrative. And you canât have it end yet, not when MC isnât safe. âCan you stand?â
She groans, teetering between a fine line of consciousness and unconsciousness. âYouâre â youâre bleeding.â
âIâm fine,â you say automatically, even though youâre surprised that she noticed the wet blood staining the abdomen of your uniform. MC is a real sweetheart. Always thinking about other people when sheâs equally as fucked over as you. Thatâs why you never truly hated her. How could you have the heart to do so?
She blinks up at you, trying to focus. âNo, youâre not. I can see right through you.â
âWe donât have time for this,â you grit your teeth and force yourself upright despite your core screaming out in a horrid bout of pain. You bite your lip so hard that it draws blood, bringing MC up with you and ignoring her protests. You remember during the mission briefing that a safe zone was about⊠half a mile up north. Every staggering step sends a sharp reminder throughout your body, but you stubbornly donât slow. âCaleb needs you out.â
MC shakes her head weakly. âWhat about you?â
You donât answer, and she continues, a huff of air almost sounding like a laugh. âHe loves you, you know.â
Her words make you freeze, and you turn to look at her. âCares about you⊠a lot. Donât just think about me.â
Itâs hard not to, you want to say, but the words never leave your tongue. If Caleb had to choose, in a life-or-death situation, whether to save me or you, I think we all know the answer to that a little too well.
You make it to a clearing in the forest, and her grip on you suddenly tightens, enough to make you stop in your tracks, despite yourself. âStop,â she says, practically pleading, panic creeping into her voice. âYou canât keep going like this.â
âOh,â she looks down, really takes a second to see your condition, and her expression crumples, muttering out your name in concern. âYouâre hurt. Youâre really hurt.â
âI said Iâm fine,â you repeat, but your voice cracks, and your composure is breaking.Â
She tries to pull away from you. âPut me down, this isnât worth itââ
âNo,â you say sharply. âIf we waitââ
âYou could pass out,â she says, tears welling in her eyes and fingers digging into your sleeve. âYouâre not okay, please, you donât have to do thisââ
You donât say what youâre thinking, but your answer is already written all over your face. You do have to do this, actually. This was never a question. The bracelet on your wrist feels even warmer than before. MC reaches for you, fumbling with her gear with her remaining strength. Her Hunterâs watch and her gun. The watchâs screen was still lit, and her gun had a few rounds inside.
âHere, use my watch. I canât⊠hold on for much longer,â her eyes are glazing over, on the brink of passing out, and you place her gun in your holster and the watch around your wrist, trying to keep the both of you upright. âCall for help, but promise that you⊠think about yourself, too.âÂ
You swallow the lump in your throat and meekly nod, taking her watch. Donât say I promise to her, because youâre certain that youâll break it. And you donât make promises that you canât keep. âYeah. Sure.â
She smiles at that and goes limp in your arms. You suck in a breath, eyes flitting all over the screen as you thought about who to call. You try Xavierâs line and give up after a few rings. You just hope that heâs alright. Finally, your finger hovers over Calebâs line. You know damn well that heâd respond, especially since this was MCâs watch, and not yours. The speaker rings once before the line opens. âCaleb, I need evac. Now.â
âStatus.â His voice comes back sharp and controlled, and you realize that this wasnât Caleb right now, but Colonel Caleb.Â
âMCâs down, andââ I took a hit, and Iâm bleeding out too. Youâre unable to force those words out in between your labored breaths. ââshe took a hit from a wanderer, and⊠Iâm trying to take us to the nearby safe zone. Iâm five minutes out.â
The world tilts as you haul MCâs weight higher against your shoulder. Your vision blurs at the edges, but you lock your jaw and keep moving. âWhat the hell happened?â
âItâs a shitshow out here, Caleb. I donât have my sword, and she took a hit when I wasnât lookingââ
âWhen you werenât looking?â His voice cuts through the line, tone hardening. You can hear him moving, probably running to his plane. âYouâre supposed to cover for her.â
âI was,â you snap, the words tearing out of you like the flesh from your abdomen when the wanderer had stabbed you. âI was there, Caleb, I triedââ
âThen why the hell is she bleeding out?â
This was exactly what you expected. Maybe you shouldnât have called him at all. His words hit harder than any wound youâve sustained, and you stagger, barely managing to keep your footing â barely managing to keep MC upright with you. The pain is blooming, sharp and practically blinding, white-hot and so fucking unforgiving, and for a moment, you nearly cry out.
But you donât. You tighten your grip on her instead.
âDamn it. The safe zone near you â Iâm about ten minutes away from it. Can you make it there?â
You can hear it even through the static. The fear in his voice was raw, frantic, and all-consuming. The fear of losing MC eclipses everything else, swallowing whole whatever concern might have been meant for you. If MC was right â and Caleb really did love you â then his love was not enough to overcome the instinct carved into him long before you ever even entered his life.
Because she was here first. And you were not. And thatâs just the way things were.
The thought makes something hysterical bubble in your chest. You laugh, or at least try to, but it breaks apart into an ugly cough, and more crimson stains your uniform.
âYeah,â you manage out. âI think.â
You donât know how you conjured up the strength to make it to the evac zone, but you do. The world narrows after your call began with Caleb, and the lights blur together into a pale white smear. Her weight grows heavier in your arms as she stirs, like she knew something was wrong with your staggering footsteps.
âYou come back to me,â
âPromise that you⊠think about yourself, too.â
Iâm sorry. To both of you.
Everyone finally notices you and MC, and your senses finally dull as your fingers slip from MCâs sleeve, letting someone else take her. Throughout all the clamor, someone begins assisting you, but you canât feel anything. Trembling, your hand falls against your wrist, and the bracelet is still there. You think of Calebâs left wrist and how it matched your own, and how that was the greatest salvation you couldâve asked for. You think about his right arm and how he never got to wear that first bracelet again after it got destroyed in the explosion. You wonder, briefly, if heâll notice that this time, heâs going to be the one without the matching pair.
Caleb never once asks if you were alright.
His voice is still coming through MCâs watch â urgent and relieved that your location says that youâve made it to the evac zone. Even though someone took her away already, you hear him telling her to hold on, and that heâs just a few minutes away with his plane. You smile faintly at that. Of course he is. He always makes it in time for her.
The poets and elegists from every era are calling out to you as they draft the final line of your narrative, and their hymns and elegies are beautiful. Your vision finally gives in, and the sky above is still a flat, unremarkable gray, nothing like that impossibly blue summer afternoon all those years ago. You suppose thatâs fitting. Things were never meant to stay beautiful forever. The apples are no longer red. Theyâve rotted a long time ago. Maybe Calebâs eyes are no longer that same shade of ultraviolet, too. You wish you looked a little longer into his eyes, one last time, just to make sure.
The poet writing out your life taught you very early on that you were never first when it comes to Caleb. Maybe, in another life, Caleb would have chosen you over her. But this was not that life.
And even then, you think, loving him â loving him in the way you did â was still worth it.
Even now.
Especially now.
I FEEL TOO YOUNG TO HOLD ON / AND MUCH TOO OLD TO BREAK FREE AND RUN / TOO DEAF, DUMB AND BLIND TO SEE THE DAMAGE IâVE DONE / SWEET LOVER, YOU SHOULDâVE COME OVER.
end note: iâve seen a lot of caleb x non!mc reader fics that try and vilify mc or caleb and i just wanna emphasize how that was NEVER my intention with this fic! i tried my best to portray calebâs turmoil over his entire existence revolving around protecting mc and the way he tries to make room for the reader, too â even though in the end, his innate instinct to save mc was what got the reader killed. his irrational fear of losing mc after years of protecting her was the reason why he overlooked the readerâs condition, but i promiseee that he mostly didnât do it on purpose (even tho ik he was a bit of a dick in the ending its ok the readerâs ghost haunts him after she dies). his love for non!mc IS requited, but unfortunately was overshadowed by his devotion to mc, which was what ultimately doomed her in the end. so plz lmk ur thoughts on this!! đ”âđ«đ”âđ«
@kamieow 2026. reblogs are greatly appreciated â thank you so much for reading! <3
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đ summaryđ You are a thirsty succubus who moves in with the worldâs biggest, dumbest himbo golden retriever named Caleb after your feeding ground, the frathouse shuts down. You try every filthy trick in the book to drain him dry⊠but he just keeps offering you protein shakes, warm bear hugs, and calling you âpipsqueakâ while blushing like a virgin at prom. Turns out the only thing that actually works is accidentally falling stupidly in love with him. Whoops.
đ wcđ 8.2k (because I'm my biggest enemy)
đ content warningsđ explicit smut, ooc caleb, he's just a big dumb guy (with a horse dick), age-gap? (if you squint) , corruption kink, mention of killing in the past (reader's a succubus bruh), teasing-flashing-flirting, Caleb is oblivious, somno, dubcon, falling in love, monsterfucking, monster physical descriptions, caleb is scared-aroused, deepthroating, hornpulling during oral (m! receiving), sizequeen!reader, pinv, he's drunk into you, cervix fucking, belly bulge, mention of draining life force/energy, evil!reader, anal (demon tail tip in his assđ„), excessive cumming, confessions, happy ending, happy tears....idk what else . . .18+ â MINORS DNI !
đ cherryâs noteđ yes, I went overboard with this commission because personally, i really liked the idea. I put my whole cherryussy into this. Himbo Caleb my love. He's so ooc here but who caresâ live love laugh himbos! If you've read a Caleb fic with same tittle then don't worry, that's mine too, I just couldn't figure out a better name for it lol. My brain is actually so overstimulated after finishing this fic i should sleep it off.
Life used to be scrumptiously simple.
After losing your way back home to the demon realm centuries ago, you'd blended seamlessly among the humansâcharming, seducing, occasionally devouring your way through whatever corner of the mortal world caught your fancy. Living among them wasn't always the richest feeding ground; most people tasted thin, distracted, half-alive with stress and screens. But that frat house? The Sigma boys' residency? That two-story beast of peeling paint, perpetual bass, and testosterone-thick air was your personal all-you-can-eat buffet.
Hunks left and rightâtwenty-something jocks with broad shoulders, cocky grins, and even bigger egos (and dicks) who knew exactly how to hit it from the back. Lord, you were feasting.
Every weekend followed the same divine routine. You'd hide your horns and tail beneath flawless glamour, slip between the drunken, sweaty bodies in something skimpy that barely held your tempting curves together. The music pounded like a heartbeat; the lights strobed low and forgiving. You never had to wait, never walked away hungry. A few batted lashes, a dirty-innocent little smile, or a breathy "Bet you could handle me" against a hot ear was enough to drive those boys feral.
You'd change your name every nightâJess, Mia, Raven, whatever slipped off their tongues easiestâand let them think they were in control. They'd rail you on every available surface: against the kitchen counter while the party raged downstairs, bent over the pool table in the basement, sprawled across some stranger's unmade bed upstairs. You'd moan and arch your back, giving them the illusion of dominance, while you drank. Deep, greedy pulls of their life forceâhot, thick, tasting like cheap beer, adrenaline, and raw, stupid youth. Some nights one was enough. Others, when the hunger clawed harder, you'd take two at once, stuffing yourself full in both holes, sucking the life straight out of their dicks while they grunted and shuddered and collapsed like broken toys.
You'd mutter a soft "oopsie" under your breath, lick the last sweet traces from your lips, and saunter out into daylight glowing, sated, tail flicking lazily beneath your glamour. They'd wake up the next morning groggy, drained, chalking it up to "one hell of a blackout," barely remembering your face
You didn't always kill them. Only when you were truly ravenous did you drink too deep, leaving them pale and still on sweat-soaked sheets. But you couldn't bring yourself to care. They asked for it anywayâbegged, evenâwith their wandering hands and hungry mouths. You were just giving them what they wanted, and taking what you needed.
Then it all shattered.
Neighbors finally had enough of the constant noise, the half-naked girls stumbling onto the porch at dawn, the occasional thump of a body hitting the floor a little too hard. Complaints piled up. Local police showed up one Saturday night with lights flashing, warrants in hand. Doors kicked in at 3 a.m., red solo cups scattering like confetti, someone screaming in the bathroom about a bad trip. They found the bodiesâthe ones you'd gone too far onâhidden under laundry piles or in closets like forgotten secrets.
Investigation. Headlines. The house shut down for good. Evictions. Suspensions. Chaos.
Your buffet vanished overnight.
For weeks after, you starved. Really starved. The kind that made your vision tunnel and your tail throb from being coiled too tight under human skin. Sipping energy from strangers on the street was like drinking watered-down wineâthin, flavorless, barely a tease. You needed the real thing: stupid, trusting, virile boys who poured themselves out without knowing what they were giving.
So you scrolled Craigslist, stomach growling, desperation sharp in your throat.
"Looking for chill bro or bro-ette to split rent. Must be cool with loud video games and occasional shirtless cooking. No drama. Serious inquiries only. âCaleb"
You stood outside the address that Saturday, duffel bag at your feet, hunger gnawing at your ribs like a second heartbeat. The door swung open and there he wasâsix-foot-something of golden-tanned muscle, messy brown hair still damp from a shower, a grin so bright and guileless it should come with a warning label. Basketball shorts slung low on his hips, purple eyes, radiating so much pure, dumb vitality you nearly moaned out loud right there on the porch.
"Hey! You must be the new roommate! Dude, you look way cooler than your profile pic. Come in, come inâwatch the step, it's kinda fucked."
He grabbed your bag like it weighed nothing, biceps flexing without effort, and led you inside like you'd known each other for years.
Oblivious. Wholesome. Delicious.
This was going to be torture.
The best fucking kind.
The first night in the apartment, you decided to ease into it. No need to scare off the golden retriever with too much teeth right away.
You waited until Caleb was sprawled on the couch in nothing but those damn low-slung basketball shorts, controller in hand, yelling at some pixelated enemy on the TV. Shirtless, of courseâbecause why would the universe give you mercy? Sweat still clinging to the ridges of his abs from whatever âlight evening liftâ heâd done before you got home. You padded out of your room in the tiniest sleep shorts you owned and a cropped tank that rode up every time you breathed. Tail tucked, horns glamoured, but everything else screamingâcome and get it.
You dropped onto the couch beside himâclose. Thigh pressed to thigh. Arm draped casually over the backrest so your fingers could brush the warm skin of his shoulder.
âLong day?â you purred, letting your voice dip low, velvet-smooth.
Caleb didnât even look away from the screen. Just flashed that big, sunny grin. âYeah, dude! Crushed legs today. Feeling the burn. You should come to the gym with me tomorrowâspot me on squats?â
You leaned in, lips inches from his ear. âIâd love to watch you squat. Bet those thighs could crush me.â
He laughedâbright, oblivious, like youâd just told a great joke. âHaha, right? Theyâre getting huge. Thanks for the support, roomie!â Then he flexed one quad absentmindedly, the muscle jumping under golden skin, and you had to bite the inside of your cheek to keep from whimpering. âHey, you want a protein shake? I made extra. Vanilla. Tastes like dessert.â
You stared at him. Blinked. ââŠSure. Why not.â
He bounced upâactually bouncedâass flexing in those shorts as he jogged to the kitchen. You heard the blender roar to life. Thirty seconds later he was back, handing you a frosty glass with a bendy straw already in it. âHere ya go! Extra scoop for gains. You look like you could use some fuel, youâve been kinda pale since you moved in.â
You took a slow sip, eyes locked on his while you dragged your tongue deliberately around the straw. âMmm. Thick. Just how I like it.â
âAwesome! I blend mine with peanut butter too sometimes. Game changer.â He plopped back down, thighs spreading wide enough that his knee knocked yours. âYouâre so chill, by the way. Most girls get weird about me walking around half-naked. Youâre like⊠one of the bros already.â
You nearly choked on whey protein.
The next morning you upped the ante.
He was making breakfastâshirtless again, because apparently the concept of shirts existed only between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. in this houseâflipping eggs in nothing but boxer briefs that left exactly zero to the imagination. You sauntered in wearing his oversized hoodie youâd âaccidentallyâ stolen from the laundry pile, the hem barely skimming the tops of your thighs. No panties. Obviously.
You hopped up on the counter right beside the stove, legs dangling, spreading them just enough that if he looked down heâd get an eyeful.
âMorning, big guy,â you drawled, letting one foot hook lazily behind his calf. âSleep well?â
Caleb turned, spatula in hand, and beamed like the sun had personally complimented him. âYo! Yeah, killer sleep. You were tossing around a bit thoughâbad dreams? You okay?â
His eyes flicked to where your bare thigh pressed against his hip. No leer. No flush. Just genuine concern.
âI was⊠restless,â you murmured, sliding a hand up his bare arm, nails grazing the swell of his bicep. âKept thinking about you. All that muscle. How strong you are.â
He puffed up a littleâproud puppy mode activated. âThanks! Been hitting PRs on bench. Wanna feel?â Before you could answer he grabbed your hand and slapped it flat against his pec, flexing so the muscle bounced under your palm. âSolid, right? Like a brick.â
You squeezed. Hard. Dragged your nails down to the happy trail disappearing into his waistband. âSo solid. I bet you could pin me down easy.â
Caleb laughed againâthat big, dumb, happy sound. âHaha, yeah, probably! Youâre tiny compared to me. Heyâwant some eggs? I made extra. Gotta keep the calories up if weâre gonna be gym buddies.â
You stared at the ceiling while he plated food like nothing had happened.
By week two you were losing your goddamn mind.
You started walking around in lingerie âbecause itâs hotâ (the AC worked fine). You âaccidentallyâ brushed your ass against his crotch while reaching for a mug. You left your door cracked while changing, giving him full view of you bending over to pick up clothes. You sat in his lap during movie night âbecause the couch is smallâ and ground down just enough to feel him twitch beneath youâonly for him to pat your head like a golden retriever and say, âYouâre so cuddly tonight! This is awesome. Best roommate ever.â
You tried dirty talk. Straight-up filthy.
One night he came out of the shower with just a towel slung low, water still dripping down those ridiculous abs, towel clinging to the thick outline ofâ
You cornered him in the hallway, pressed your body flush against his, lips brushing his collarbone. âCaleb,â you whispered, voice wrecked with actual hunger, âI want you to wreck me so hard I forget my own name. Bend me over right here. Use me. Please.â
He froze for a secondâfinally, a reactionâthen grinned so wide his dimples popped. âWhoa, intense! You must be really stressed or something. You need a hug?â And before you could process, he wrapped those massive arms around you in the worldâs most wholesome bear hug, lifting you clean off the floor, cheek smushed against his damp chest. âThere we go. Better?â
You went limp in his arms, defeated. Starving. Soaked. And somehow still unbearably fond of this beautiful idiot.
He set you down, ruffled your hair. âProtein shake? You look hungry.â
You groaned into your hands.
This wasnât seduction anymore.
This was torture.
And the worst part wasâyou were starting to like the torture.
Days blurred into weeks, and somehowâagainst every predatory instinct youâd honed over centuriesâyou started getting used to him.
Calebâs energy wasnât just food anymore. It was background noise, warm and constant, like sunlight spilling through cracked blinds every morning. He woke up at 6 a.m. without fail, humming off-key pop songs from the â00s while he blended protein shakes that tasted like chalk and optimism. Heâd leave one on the counter for you with a sticky noteâ âExtra scoop + banana bc u said u like sweet stuff!! đȘđâ Youâd stare at it, stomach twisting with actual hunger and something softer, uglier.
You kept trying. Of course you did. You were still a succubus, still starving, still wired to take.
One evening you waited until he finished his post-gym shower, towel slung dangerously low again, droplets tracing paths down the deep V of his hips. You stepped into the bathroom doorway wearing nothing but one of his hoodiesâunzipped, sleeves swallowing your hands, hem barely covering the curve of your ass. You leaned against the frame, legs crossed, letting the fabric slip off one shoulder.
âCaleb,â you said, voice low and wrecked, âcome here. Let me take care of you for once.â
He turned, towel clutched in one hand, hair dripping into his eyes, and lit up like youâd just offered him front-row tickets to WrestleMania.
âYo! Youâre up late. You okay?â He stepped closerâclose enough you could smell soap and clean sweat and that maddening, rich undercurrent of pure life that made your fangs ache. âYou look kinda⊠intense. Hungry?â
You reached out, fingers trailing down his sternum, nails catching lightly on the trail of hair below his navel. âStarving,â you breathed. âI want to taste every inch of you.â
His grin went nuclear. âAww, dude! Thatâs so sweet. Hereââ He darted past you into the kitchen, still basically naked, and came back thirty seconds later holding a thick slice of sourdough slathered with peanut butter. âOpen up! Atta girl!â
Before you could protest, he gently but firmly shoved the bread into your mouth. âThere ya go. Peanut butterâs got protein and healthy fats. Youâve been looking extra tired lately. Eat up, roomie.â
You stood there, mouth full of bread, peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth, staring at this beautiful idiot who thought âtaste every inchâ meant âfeed me a snack.â He ruffled your hair with his free hand, beaming.
âBetter?â
You chewed slowly. Swallowed. Felt something crack inside your chest.
ââŠYeah,â you lied.
Mornings became routine torture in the sweetest way. Heâd make breakfast for both of youâeggs scrambled with spinach because âgreens are important, even if they taste like sadness,â bacon crispy the way you liked it even though youâd never told him. Heâd slide a plate in front of you, then hand you the second protein shake heâd blended âjust in case you wanted company drinking yours.â He did laundry on Sundays, folding your tiny lace things with the same careful focus he gave his gym socks, never blinking at the thongs or garters. âThese are cute! You got good taste.â
He brought home flowers one random Tuesdayâdaisies from the corner bodega because âthey looked happy, like you.â Stuck them in an old Gatorade bottle on the kitchen table. You stared at them until the petals started drooping, then quietly poured half a glass of water so theyâd last longer.
On walks to the corner store heâd stop for every dog. Every. Single. One. Crouching down in the middle of the sidewalk, massive hands gentle as he scratched behind ears, cooing in that deep, dumb-happy voiceââWhoâs a good boy? You are! Yes you aaaaarrrrereee!â Strangers smiled at him like he was personally responsible for world peace. You stood a few feet away, arms crossed, tail twitching under your glamour, hating how the sight made your chest ache.
You were genuinely starting to feel bad.
Not guiltyânever quite that. But bad. Like you were holding a knife to the throat of the only person whoâd ever treated you like you belonged somewhere.
Random men on the street still smelled wrong. Thin. Sour. Like recycled air and disappointment. You could feed off them if you had toâhad done it for weeks after the frat shut downâbut it was like drinking flat soda. No heat. No rush. No flavor that exploded on your tongue and made your wings want to unfurl.
Caleb smelled like summer. Like sun-warmed skin and clean cotton and the kind of stupid, uncomplicated joy that made you want to sink your teeth in and never let go. You wanted to drain him dry, ride him until he was boneless and smiling that same goofy smile even as his eyes fluttered shut. You wanted to take everything and leave him sleeping like the others.
But every time you got closeâevery time you pressed against him on the couch, every time you whispered filth in his ear while he played video gamesâhe just⊠grinned. Offered more food. More hugs. More of that relentless, brainless affection that was starting to feel more dangerous than any starvation.
You were in denial.
You told yourself it was just hunger talking. That once you fedâreally fedâyouâd be back to normal. Cold. Detached. The way youâd always been.
But the longer you lived in his orbit, the more the lie tasted like ash.
One night you sat on the kitchen counter while he washed dishes, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, humming again. You watched the flex of his forearms, the easy way he moved, and something ugly twisted in your gut.
You were starving.
For the first time in centuries, you werenât sure if it was for his energyâŠ
âŠor just for him.
The need was still there, clawing at your insides like a living thing, and it was pure torture.
Caleb would walk past you in the hallwayâmuscles flexing with every casual step, tank top clinging to the sweat of whatever mini-workout heâd just finishedâand youâd catch that scent again. Warm, golden, stupidly potent. Like summer rain on hot asphalt mixed with clean skin and raw vitality. Your mouth would water, fangs aching behind your glamour, tail twitching so hard it almost broke the illusion. Youâd imagine a dozen ways to corrupt him: pinning him to the wall and riding him until he begged, draining him slow while he smiled that big dumb smile, making him yours in every filthy way a succubus could dream up.
But then your chest would tighten. A stupid, unfamiliar pang right under your ribs. He brought you daisies. He folds your laundry. He pets every dog like itâs his personal mission. And the mantra would kick in, sharp and automaticââIâm an evil succubus. I take. I donât care. I feed.â
So one night, when the apartment was quiet except for the low hum of the fridge and Calebâs soft snores drifting down the hall, you gave in.
You slipped into his bedroom like smoke, door clicking shut behind you. The moonlight slanted through the blinds in silver bars across his bed, and your jaw dropped so fast it hurt.
Shirtless, of course. Always shirtless. Thick thighs spread wide even in sleep, the thin cotton of his boxer-briefs stretched tight over the obscene bulge between them. A faint sheen of sweat glistened on his chest, catching the light, tracing the deep valleys between his pecs and down the center line of his abs. Low on his hips, the waistband rode dangerously down, exposing the sharp cut of his Adonis belt and the dark trail of hair disappearing beneath fabric. He looked like a fucking statue carved by someone with a very specific fetish.
You were drooling before you even realized it.
Tail swaying behind youâglamour half-forgotten in the haze of hungerâyou crept closer. Leaned over him. Inhaled deep. Then dragged your tongue in one slow, fat stripe up the center of his chest, collecting that salty-sweet sweat. The taste exploded on your tongueâpure life, concentrated, better than anything the frat boys ever gave you. You moaned, soft and broken. âFuck⊠so good.â
Your mouth found his neck next. Lips sealing over the pulse point, sucking gently, carefullyâmarking him with faint purple blooms you knew heâd chalk up to âweird gym rashâ or âmosquito bites.â Your hand slid lower, palm cupping the heavy heat of him through the thin fabric. Fondling. Squeezing. Feeling him thicken and twitch under your touch.
He groaned in his sleepâlow, sleepy, pleasedâand you smirked against his skin. âWho can resist a succubus, hmm~â
You worked your way down. Licking. Sucking. Gentle nips along his collarbone, his pecs, the sensitive skin just under his nipple. Careful. So careful. He stayed asleep, breath hitching every time your tongue dipped into the grooves of his abs. Your fingers hooked the waistband of his shorts, tugging slow, reverent.
And thenâ
GRAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
The alarm on his bedside table screamed to life like a banshee on crack.
You yelpedâactual cat-jump yelpâheart slamming against your ribs as you dove under the bed so fast you nearly knocked your head on the frame. Dust bunnies and a stray sock greeted you. Your pulse thundered in your ears.
Above you, Caleb groaned, long and miserable. âFuuuuuck⊠five already?â
He swung those tree-trunk legs off the bed, bare feet hitting the floor with soft thuds. Yawned so wide you heard his jaw pop. Stretchedâarms over head, back arching, every muscle popping in obscene relief. Then he stood.
And froze.
âHoly shit,â he muttered, voice thick with sleep. âWhy is my dick so fucking hard right now???â
You bit your lower lip so hard you tasted blood, peering up from your hiding spot. From this angle you had the perfect viewâthe obscene tent in his shorts, the thick outline straining against cotton, the way it jumped when he gave it a confused little pat like it was a misbehaving puppy.
He sighed. âWhatever, bro.â
Thenâwithout hesitationâhe shoved the waistband down.
Your mouth fell open.
It sprang free, heavy and flushed and huge. Thick veins running the length, flushed dark red at the tip, balls hanging low and full. A fucking horse dick. The kind of cock that belonged in porn or mythology, not attached to a man who still called protein shakes âbro-tein fuel.â
You stared, thighs clenching around nothing, pussy fluttering helplessly. How the fuck is he so dumb with a dick like that? Maybe God really did put all his brain cells into his cock and left the rest for smiling and petting dogs.
Caleb adjusted himself with a series of frustrated tugsâtucking, rearranging, grumbling under his breath. âDamn, bro, go down! Itâs not the time! Youâll scare away the ladies!â
You gulped so loud you were sure heâd hear it.
Scare ladies away? Oh honey. Youâd take that monster base-to-tip like the size queen you were born to be. Youâd worship it. Youâd choke on it. Youâd ride it until your legs gave out and his stupid golden-retriever smile finally cracked into something desperate.
He pulled on fresh boxer-briefs, then basketball shorts, then a ratty tee. Secured the beast with one last resigned adjustment. Scoffed. âFucking traitor.â
Then he grabbed his earbuds, his phone, and headed outâbecause of course this overgrown puppy went jogging at 5 a.m. like it was normal.
The front door clicked shut.
Silence.
You crawled out from under the bed on shaking limbs, skin fever-hot, pussy throbbing so hard it hurt. The only image burned into your brain was that thick, flushed length bobbing free, the way it twitched when he touched it, the sheer size of him.
You pressed your thighs together, a soft, needy whimper escaping your throat.
You were hungrier than ever.
Not just for energy anymore.
For him.
All of him.
You werenât sure you could wait much longer before you stopped pretending this was just about feeding.
A few hours later, the front door swung open with the familiar jingle of keys, and Caleb barreled in hummingâloud, off-key, gloriously unselfconscious.
âI LIKE BIG BUTTS AND I CANNOT LIE! YOU OTHER BROTHERS CANâT DENYââ
He froze mid-verse when he spotted you leaning in the kitchen doorway.
Youâd chosen the outfit with surgical precisionâ one of his old band tees youâd âborrowedâ (permanently), the neckline sliced so wide it slipped off one shoulder and barely contained your cleavage. Underneath? Just black lace panties that rode high on your hips. Bare legs, bare feet, hair mussed like youâd just rolled out of bed (you hadnât). You looked like sin wrapped in domestic comfort.
Caleb blinked once. Twice. Then his face split into that blinding, brainless grin.
âYo! Morning, roomie!â
Your gaze dropped immediately to the constellation of purple bruises blooming across the side of his neckâyour handiwork from last night. Perfect little oval marks where your lips had latched on. You bit the inside of your lip so hard you tasted copper, thighs pressing together under the hem of the shirt.
âMorning, Leb,â you murmured, voice softer than you meant it to be.
His eyes lit up like Christmas lights. âLeb?! Awww, thatâs so cute! You gave me a nickname!â Without warning he scooped you upâhands under your thighs, effortless, like you weighed as much as one of his protein tubsâand spun you in a lazy circle. âYou deserve one too! Hmm⊠how about⊠pipsqueak! Yes! Suits you perfect!â
He set you down gently, ruffling your hair with enough force to make you squeak. âYouâre so smol compared to me lol. Pipsqueak!â
You watched, half-dazed, as he bounded over to the stove to flip the pancakes already sizzling there. He kept talking over his shoulder, completely unbothered by your state of undress, by the way the shirt rode up every time you shifted.
âYo, pipsqueak, donât you think weâve been having a ton of mosquitoes lately?â He sighed dramatically, gesturing at his neck with the spatula. âLook at this! They were eating me alive last night. Are you okay? Did they bite you too?â
You nearly choked on the sip of water youâd just taken. Coughed. Wiped your mouth with the back of your hand. A faint, traitorous blush crept up your cheeksâhot and unfamiliar.
You shook your head quickly. âNope. Not a single bite.â
He nodded solemnly, like this was a serious public health crisis. âGood. Gotta get some bug spray or something. Canât have my favorite roommate getting nommed on.â
Favorite roommate.
The words landed like a punch to the sternum. Soft. Warm. Stupidly sincere.
You hated how much you liked it.
Before you could spiral too far, you reached into the fridge and pulled out the protein shake youâd attempted earlierâvanilla whey, a banana youâd mushed in with a fork, a splash of almond milk because youâd seen him do it once. It looked⊠lumpy. But youâd tried.
You held it out. âI made it. Well⊠tried. For you.â
Caleb turned so fast the spatula clattered against the pan.
His purple eyesâgod, when did you start noticing they were purple?âwent wide. Lower lip wobbled for half a second, like a kicked puppy whoâd just been handed a whole steak.
âFor⊠me?â
The look on his face hurt. Not in your stomach, not in the usual hungry way. Deeper. In the chest. Your demonic brain short-circuited trying to categorize itâlust? Possession? Food?âbut your heart knew exactly what it was, and it was terrifying.
You nodded, suddenly shy. âYeah. For you. Itâs not⊠as good as yours, but⊠figured you might like it.â
He snatched the shaker bottle like it was made of gold, popped the lid, and chugged the entire thing in four long pulls. You couldnât look away from the way his throat workedâAdamâs apple bobbing, thick and prominent, veins standing out under golden skin. Sexy in a way that had nothing to do with feeding and everything to do with wanting to press your mouth there and feel it move.
He slammed the empty bottle down. âWoah! Itâs good!!! Youâre so sweet, pipsqueak!!â
Before you could process, he lifted you againâthis time into a full bear hug, arms wrapping around your back, crushing you against the solid wall of his chest. Warm. Safe. Smelling like clean sweat and that maddening sunshine scent.
For the first time in⊠ever⊠you giggled.
Actual, breathless giggles.
Your arms looped around his neck instinctively. You nuzzled into the crook of his shoulder, cheek pressed to warm skin, inhaling him like he was oxygen. His heartbeat thumped steady and strong against your ribs.
Calebâs breath hitchedâjust for a second. A tiny, startled sound.
Then his big hand settled on the back of your head, petting gently through your hair. Slow strokes. Careful. Like he was afraid heâd break you.
He set you down slowly. When you looked up, his cheeks were flushed pinkâhigh on his cheekbones, creeping down his neck to join the hickeys youâd left.
He rubbed the back of his neck, sheepish. âUh⊠yeah. That was⊠nice.â
You smirked, slow and knowing.
Finally.
Something was working.
The way into his heart wasnât filthy whispers or barely-there lingerie.
It wasâ affection returned for affection. A lumpy protein shake. A stupid nickname. Letting him spin you like you were weightless and precious.
You could still feel the gnawing hunger under your skinâthe need to feed, to take, to drain him until he was empty and smiling about it.
But for the first time, the hunger didnât feel like the only thing that mattered.
You leaned up on your toes, pressed a soft, lingering kiss to the underside of his jawâright over one of your own marks.
âPancakes ready yet, big guy?â
He swallowed hard. Nodded once. Voice a little rougher than usual.
âYeah. Yeah, pipsqueak. Almost.â
When he turned back to the stove, shoulders tense, ears still pink, you let yourself smileâsmall, secret, almost tender.
Maybe evil succubi could learn new tricks after all.
For the next few days, your âsharingansââas youâd started calling the little demonic glint in your eye whenever you caught him lookingâ were finally, gloriously working.
Caleb hadnât changedâhe was still the same big, dumb, sunshine-puppy version of himselfâ waking up at dawn to jog, humming anime openings while he blended protein shakes, texting you gym selfies with captions like ânew PR on deadlifts đȘ whoâs proud of me??â âyou always replied with a string of fire emojis and a single drooling one he never questioned.
But you? You were changing. Or at least, the game was.
You started waking up earlier just to beat him to the kitchen. Youâd stand on a step-stool to reach the oat flour âbecause of course he kept it on the top shelf like a giant, wearing nothing but sleep shorts and one of his hoodies that swallowed you whole. Youâd crack eggs, flip pancakes, burn the bacon just a little so he could swoop in and ârescueâ it with that proud grin. âLook at you go, pipsqueak! Teamwork makes the dream work!â
Heâd bump your hip with his playfully. Youâd bump back harder. Heâd laugh like it was the best thing that ever happened to him.
Afternoons became âworkout time.â Youâd ask himâinnocently, sweetlyâto teach you proper form. Squats first. Heâd stand behind you, hands ghosting over your hips to âcorrectâ your stance.
âLike this, see? Keep your chest up, ass backââ
Youâd drop low, slow, deliberate, then push back up with a soft, breathy moan that had nothing to do with effort.
His hands froze on your waist. You glanced over your shoulder, lashes fluttering.
âFeels⊠so good when you guide me, Leb.â
His ears went nuclear red. âY-yeah? Cool. Uh. Good job. Ten more.â
You did ten more. Each one came with a little whimper, a little arch. By the end he was stuttering through counts and looking anywhere but at your ass.
Stretching was worseâor better, depending on how depraved you were feeling that day.
Youâd lie on the yoga mat heâd dug out of the closet ââI used it once for foam rolling, bro, itâs basically newâ, legs spread in a straddle. Heâd kneel between them to help push your chest toward the floor.
âDeeper, pipsqueak. Breathe outââ
You exhaled slow, dramatic, letting your back arch and your hips roll just enough that your ass brushed the front of his shorts.
A soft, filthy moan slipped out. âMmmh⊠right there⊠yes, Leb, fuckâdeeperâŠâ
He made a strangled noise. His grip on your thighs tightened, then loosened like heâd been electrocuted. Face scarlet, breathing uneven.
âUh⊠yeah. Thatâs⊠good stretch. Youâre doing great.â
Afterward youâd collapse onto your stomach, groaning theatrically.
âUghhh my shoulders are killing me. Everything hurts.â
Like clockwork, heâd drop to his knees beside you. âWant a massage? Iâm pretty good at them. Used to do it for the team after practice.â
You rolled onto your back firstâjust to watch his eyes flick down to where your shirt had ridden up, exposing the soft undercurve of your breastsâthen flipped over again, presenting your back like a gift.
His hands were massive. Warm, calloused from barbells and life. He started at your shoulders, thumbs digging in with careful pressure.
You let your eyes flutter shut, let the first moan roll out low and needy.
âMmmhhh⊠Leb⊠so good⊠ahhh yes, right there⊠yes yes oh~â
He froze for half a second,then pressed harder, like he could knead the sound out of you. His voice came out rougher than usual. âYeah⊠yeah, pipsqueakâŠâ
You arched your back, pushing your hips up just enough that your ass grazed his crotch.
He sucked in a breath. You felt himâthick, hot, straining against the thin fabric of his gym shortsâtwitch against you.
You grinned into the mat, naughty and triumphant, leaning back further, grinding slow, deliberate.
His hands slid down,big palms gliding over your waist, thumbs brushing the sides of your ribs, creeping higherâdangerously close to the swell of your breasts, but never quite cupping them, teetering on the edge.
A breathless sigh escaped him. You could feel the tremor in his fingers. The hard length of him pressed firmer against your lower back now, throbbing in time with his heartbeat.
He was finally aware. Not just blushing. Aware.
But he still didnât cross the line.
That afternoon it got too hotâtoo close.
You were on your knees this time, back to his chest, his hands working the knots out of your lower back while you rocked subtly against him. Every roll of your hips dragged a low groan from your throat. His breathing turned ragged. His grip turned desperate.
Thenâsuddenlyâhe pulled away.
Hands gone. Body gone. Just cold air where his warmth had been.
You twisted around, confused.
Caleb was sitting back on his heels, looking down at the mat like it had personally betrayed him. Face flushed crimson. Massive bulge still obscenely obvious in his shorts, tenting so hard the fabric looked ready to split. Throbbing visibly.
He wouldnât meet your eyes.
ââŠPipsqueakâŠâ His voice cracked. Small. âI think⊠youâre too good for me. Way outta my league.â
The words hit like ice water.
You stared at himâreally stared. At the way his shoulders hunched. At the kicked-puppy droop of his mouth. At how his hands flexed and unflexed like he didnât know what to do with them. At the way he was still hard, still aching, but refusing to take what was being offered on a silver platter.
Something cracked open in your chest again. Wider this time.
You crawled forward on your knees until you were right in front of him. Reaching out you tipped his chin up with two fingers so he had to look at you.
âLeb,â you said softly. No purr, no seduction, just quiet. âYouâre an idiot.â
His purple eyes went wide, confused. Hopeful?
You leaned in. Pressing your forehead to his, breathing him inâsweat, soap, that golden summer scent that had ruined you from day one.
âIâm not too good for you,â you whispered. âIâm the worst thing that could ever happen to you. And I still want you. All of you. Every stupid, sweet, oversized inch.â
His breath hitched again, louder this time.
You pulled back just enough to smirkâsmall, real, almost tender.
âBut if youâre gonna keep being a gentleman⊠I guess Iâll just have to keep wearing you down until you break.â
You stood up slowly, licking your lips with deliberate slowness, and let the glamour shatter like glass under moonlight.
One second you were still pipsqueakâsoft curves wrapped in his oversized shirt, teasing smile, human enough to pass. The next, the air around you rippled, heat blooming off your skin as horns curled upward from your forehead in elegant black spirals, glossy and sharp. A long, sinuous tail unfurled behind you, spade-tipped and swaying with predatory grace. Your eyes bled from warm brown to molten crimson, pupils slitting vertical like a catâs in the dark. The shirt dissolved into wisps of shadow; in its place clung tight, glossy black latexâbarely-there straps and panels that hugged every sinful curve, leaving your breasts spilling over the top, nipples hard and obvious beneath the thin material, the thong so high-cut it framed your hips like a frame around a masterpiece.
Calebâs eyes went wide. Breath hitching so hard it sounded painful. Mouth falling open in a perfect O of shock, fear, confusion, and something darker flickering underneath.
You purredâlow, velvet, dripping with promiseâand dragged your long, dark nails down the sides of your body, tracing the latex, letting it creak softly under your touch.
âSee?â you murmured, voice deeper now, richer, threaded with the echo of something ancient. âIâm the worst thing thatâs ever happened to you, Leb.â
You giggledâthe same light, bubbly sound heâd heard a hundred times over protein shakes and bad movie nights. The familiarity of it made his knees buckle.
He gulped, eyes darting frantically: your face, the curling horns, the flicking tail, back to your face. Finally the word scraped out of his throat.
âYouâre⊠youâreâŠâ
âA demon,â you finished for him, grin stretching too wide, fangs glinting sharp and pearlescent. You batted your lashes, slow and mocking. âSuccubus. And Iâm going to eat you.â
Caleb dropped to his knees like his strings had been cut. Hands clasped in front of him, eyes huge and glassy, already spilling over with that kicked-puppy desperation he wore so well.
âOh no please donât eat me,â he whimpered, voice cracking into broken little sobs. âIâm not tasty I promise! Please⊠I donât wanna dieâŠâ
Your chest tightened againâsharp, unwelcome, almost painful. You smirked through it, leaning down until your cleavage hovered inches from his face. Tilted his chin up with one clawed finger. His gaze locked immediately on the deep valley between your breasts; cheeks flamed crimson.
âAwww, donât worry baby,â you cooed, thumb brushing his trembling lower lip. âYou are tasty, I promise. But⊠Iâm not gonna eat you like that.â You winked, slow and filthy. âNot in the way youâre thinking.â
He blinked up at you, lower lip still wobbling. âThat way? Whatââ
You leaned closer, breath ghosting over his ear. âIâm going to fuck you raw, baby~â
He opened his mouth. Nothing came out. Just a soft, strangled sound. His eyes were wildâfear and arousal crashing together so hard you could practically taste it rolling off him in waves. His dick twitched visibly in his shorts, thick and insistent, already leaking a dark spot against the fabric.
You purred again, pleased. âYouâre gonna be a good boy and let me eat, right baby?~â
Your claws hooked the waistband of his shorts. One sharp tug and they were down around his thighs. He squeakedâhigh and startledâthen felt the world tilt as you shoved him backward. His back hit the mattress with a soft whump. He didnât know if it was magic or just the sheer force of your want, but God help him, he didnât care.
âPipsqueak?â he breathed, face burning scarlet, voice wrecked. His cock sprang freeâhuge, flushed, leaking steadily at the tip, veins standing proud. âItâs⊠itâs too big⊠itâs ugly⊠you canât take itââ
âShhhh, babyâŠâ
You silenced him with your mouth on his. Soft at firstâthen deeper, hungrier. His lips parted on a gasp and you plunged your tongue inside, tasting him: clean sweat, protein-shake sweetness, and that golden rush of pure life energy that made your whole body hum. A low groan vibrated in your throat. You kissed him harder, filthy and claiming, tongues tangling in a dangerous, wet slide.
When you pulled back a glistening string of saliva connected your lips. You grinned down at him, dark eyes glittering with mischief.
âOh baby, my Leb~â you purred, wrapping one hand around his shaft. âYouâve got no idea how much I can take.â
You pumped him once. Twice. Slow. Deliberate. Watching his face crumple into shameless pleasure, fingers clawing at the sheets.
Before he could stammer out another protest, you sank down.
One smooth, greedy swallowâtaking him to the base in a single glide. Your nose buried in the soft brown curls at his groin. Throat stretching around the impossible girth. Eyes rolling back in bliss as the thick length filled your mouth, your throat, pulsed hot against your tongue.
Caleb choked on his own spit. Head slamming back against the pillow. âAhâfuckâ!â
You groaned around him, the vibration ripping straight up his spine. Pulled halfway offâslow, torturousâthen swallowed him back down to the root. Again. And again. Bobbing your head with wet, obscene sounds, fingers rolling his heavy balls, massaging, tugging gently.
He couldnât take it.
His hands flew to your hornsâgripping tight, instinctive, desperate. Then he thrusted.
Whole length slamming down your throat with a choked, broken moan. âAhhhh fuck⊠so good⊠my whole dickâahhhâŠâ
Your eyes watered. Tears streaked down your cheeks. You gaggedâloud, messyâbut didnât pull away. Just let him use you. Let him fuck your face with frantic, uneven thrusts, drunk on the heat and the slick and the way your throat fluttered around him like it was made for this.
He pulled out halfwayâgasping, dazedâlooked down at you with glassy, drunken eyes. Gripped your horns tighter.
Then thrusted back in.
Back and forth. Merciless. Chasing the wet heat of your mouth like it was the only thing keeping him alive.
You were choking. Gagging. Drool spilling down your chin, over his balls. And he didnât even noticeâtoo lost, too far gone in the pleasure you were giving him.
His hips stuttered. Breath coming in ragged sobs.
âPipsqueakâfuckâIâmâgonnaââ
You hummed around himâencouraging, hungry, victorious.
And just like that, the big dumb puppy finally broke.
He came with a guttural groan that rattled the windowsâdeep, broken, animal. Hot ropes of cum flooded your throat, thick and endless, and you swallowed every drop like it was nectar from the heavens. The taste exploded across your tongueâpure, golden life energy, richer than anything the frat boys ever gave you. Months of hollow hunger finally satedâyour taste buds singing, your whole body thrumming with stolen vitality. You pulled off with a lewd, wet pop, strings of spit and cum connecting your swollen lips to his flushed tip. Gave the half-hard length a playful smack with your palm.
He whimperedâhigh, shattered, adorable.
âFuck, you taste so good, Leb,â you rasped, licking your lips slow and deliberate. âSo fucking good.â
You stood up on shaky legs, claws hooking the thin straps of your latex thong. One tug and it slithered down your thighs, pooling on the floor like spilled ink. Calebâs drunken gaze snapped wide when he saw you straddle him againâsaw you drag your soaked pussy along the slick head of his cock, coating him in your arousal.
His big hands flew to your hips instantly. Fingers digging into soft flesh, covering your waist completely, thumbs pressing into the dip above your ass.
âWaitâpipsqueakâit might hurt,â he panted, voice wrecked and earnest even now. âI donât wanna hurt you⊠itâs too bigââ
You smirked down at him, tail flicking playfully before it coiled tight around the thick base of his shaft like a living cock ring. He gaspedâback arching off the mattress, head slamming back into the pillow.
âIâm a succubus, Leb,â you purred, sticking your tongue out with naughty mischief. âI know exactly how to take a dick.â
Then you sank down.
One long, slow, greedy slide.
He filled you to the absolute brimâstretching you open, pressing hot and heavy against your cervix until the air punched out of your lungs in a shameless moan. His own breath choked off in a strangled sound, eyes rolling back.
âOh shitâahhh fuck⊠yes⊠oh god yes!!â
You started bouncingâslow at first, then faster, wet slaps echoing in the room. Your tail stayed wrapped snug around his base, squeezing rhythmically, the spade tip teasing lowerânudging, circling, pressing against his tight hole.
âMmmhhh⊠you like that, baby?â you gasped, grinding down hard. âYou like that? FuckâŠâ
Caleb choked againâhands clamping your hips like a vice. He thrust up to meet you, slamming his full length inside with brutal force.
âHnghhhhh~â
The obscene bulge appeared in your lower bellyâthick outline of his cock visible under your skin. You stared down at it, utterly fucked-out and pleased, nails digging into his shoulders.
Then the tip of your tail breached himâsliding in slow, slick, curling just right.
You leaned down, wrapping your arms around his neck, pressing your tits flush to his heaving chest. Drunk on the stretch, on the heat, on him.
âAhhh Leb⊠youâre so cute, baby⊠my baby⊠my Leb~â The words spilled out, soft and wrecked. âI love you, baby~â
Three words youâd never said to anyoneânot in centuries. Not like this. Not when your body was finally full and your heart felt like it might burst from how alive it suddenly was.
You could feel his heartbeat hammering against your breastsâfrantic, unsteady. His head was thrown back, babbling drunken nonsense: âPipsqueakâfuckâtoo goodâcanâtâahhââ
You rubbed the tip of your tail against his prostateâfirm, deliberate circles.
His whole body seized.
Back arching off the bed in a perfect bow. Eyes rolling back until only white showed. A scream tore out of himâraw, brokenâas he came like a fucking fountain. Pulse after pulse flooding deep inside you, hot and thick, overflowing until it leaked down your thighs.
His fingers dug into your hips hard enough to bruiseâeven through demonic skin. Body jerking, shuddering, riding the aftershocks.
Thenâquiet. Breathless.
He blinked up at you through tear-wet lashes, voice barely a whisper, cracked and reverent before he saw black.
âI⊠love you too⊠pipsqueakâŠâ
â
â
The next morning, sunlight spilled through the blinds and warmed your skin. You groaned softly, stretching in the sheets, body heavy and languid. The bed felt too softâtoo comfortableâand then the memories crashed in like a waveâ the way youâd taken him, drained him deep, pulled more energy than you ever meant to. In the past, when youâd gone too far, the boys never woke up the same. Sometimes not at all.
âCALEB?!?â
You bolted upright, heart slamming against your ribs, panting hard. The spot beside you was empty. Sheets rumpled, pillow dented, but no golden-tanned muscle. No sleepy grin. No heartbeat thumping under your palm.
Panic clawed up your throat.
You looked down at your handsâsmooth, human hands. No black claws. No crimson skin. Just soft fingers trembling in the morning light.
Heavy footsteps thumped down the hallway. Then Caleb appeared in the doorwayâshirtless, a ridiculous âkiss the cookâ apron tied haphazardly over his boxers, spatula in one hand, flour dusting his cheek like war paint. Hickeys and bite marks bloomed across his neck and chest in vivid purple, but he looked⊠fine. More than fine. Radiating that same dumb, sunny energy.
âYes, pipsqueak?â he asked, tilting his head, concern creasing his brow.
You blinked. Once. Twice. Then scrambled off the bed and stumbled to the full-length mirror on the closet door. Still naked and trembling.
You stared.
No horns. No tail. No wings tucked beneath glamour. Just youâhuman you. Skin warm and flushed, eyes the same soft color theyâd been before the curse took hold thousands of years ago. You reached up, fingers brushing your forehead where the spirals used to curl. Nothing. You tried to summon themâforced the old shiftâand nothing happened. They were gone. Not hidden. Gone forever.
Your eyes filled with tears so fast the room blurred.
You spun around. Caleb was still standing there, spatula forgotten, watching you with quiet worry.
âLebâŠâ Your voice cracked. âIâm⊠Iâm finally free. Iâm⊠not a demon anymoreâŠâ
The words tumbled out, small and broken. You didnât even realize you were crying until hot tears spilled down your cheeks.
Calebâs face softened. He dropped the spatula onto the dresser and crossed the room in two strides. You launched yourself at himânaked, shaking, desperateâand he caught you like always. Massive arms wrapped around your back, one hand cradling the nape of your neck, the other rubbing slow circles between your shoulder blades.
He didnât ask questions. Didnât demand explanations. Just held you tighter, chin resting on top of your head, pressing soft kisses into your hair.
âShhh, pipsqueak,â he murmured against your scalp. âIâve got you.â
You buried your face in his chest, inhaling soap and flour and that warm, golden scent that had ruined you from the first day. Sobs shook your shouldersâugly, relieved, centuries-old grief finally breaking free.
Youâd forgotten. A thousand years under the curse, youâd forgotten the oldest part of the storyâ the succubus had been human once. A woman cursed to feed, to take, to be lusted but never be loved in return. Only true loveâreal, stupid, unconditional loveâcould lift it. Break the chains. Turn her mortal again.
Youâd never believed it would happen. Never thought anyone could love the monster instead of the mask.
But Caleb had.
Heâd loved your giggles over burnt pancakes. Your lumpy protein shakes. Your teasing. Your softness hidden under sharp edges. Heâd never once hesitatedânot when you were human-glamoured, not when you were horns-and-tail-and-all. Heâd loved your soul first, and the body just came along for the ride.
Thatâs why he hadnât flinched. Why he hadnât run.
You clung to him harder, fingers digging into the broad planes of his back.
He kissed the top of your head again. Slow. Steady.
âWhatever you are, pipsqueak,â he whispered, voice thick with something tender and unshakable, âyouâre still mine. Okay?â
You nodded against his chest, tears soaking into his skin.
wondering how desperate caleb gets when MC's away and he just can't stop thinking about all the ways he wants to fuck her.
its just a week or two, he reminds himself. he should be used to this, after all, work and duties keeps both of you relentlessly busy. but then he finds himself leaning against the wall of your room, your panties clutched between his fingers and held up to his nose as his cock drools precum in his right hand, aching to be in your sweet, warm cunt.
shit, he wasn't good at waiting for you. he can't help but groan as his thumb brushes over the slit of his pink tip, just imagining the absolutely filthy way your pretty lips would tease him. and the way your eyes would become so big and round as he used your throat like his personal fleshlight, fingers wrapping around your neck to feel each languid thrust into your mouth.
another stroke and he's hunching over, cheeks flushed red and sweat lining on his forehead, eyes dilated. he takes another long inhale of your panties, his mouth watering up from the underlying sweet yet musky scent, wishing his nose were buried in your dripping folds instead. he can imagine all the noises you'd make if he had you right now. the way you'd let out such a pretty whimper when he sucks your clit with just the right pressure, or the moan that would slip from your lips as he slipped his fingers into your leaky cunt, drooling all over his mouth.
and the way you would squirm so perfectly under him. he couldn't help but moan, throwing his head back as he bit his lower lip, just thinking about slowly sinking into you. he'd fuck you so good, he can't help but groan out loud, his breathy voice echoing in the empty room along with the wet squelches of his cock in his hand. maybe he'd take you slowly, watch as you beg underneath him to go faster or a lil harder, and the way he'd tease you with his soft words, asking you to be patient, to let him indulge. and after he's got you begging for him he'll give in, watching your body shudder as each hard thrust hits that special spot, his hand slowly pressing down on your lower stomach that has you tearing up from pleasure. oh, he'd love to see you cry on his cock for him, from how good he makes you feel. talk you through it and watch as you scrambled for a response, too drunk on pleasure to even talk coherently. he'd lick away your tears and whisper sweet nothings into your ear as his cock drags against your gummy walls relentlessly.
he's so close, his hands moving faster on his throbbing cock, biting down harder on his lip as he nears the edge. you'd let him cum anywhere, he thinks to himself, his breath catching as he imagines cumming inside of your sweet pussy. the thought of filling you up has him shuddering, just imagining the way his cum would slowly drool out of your pussy once he was done, and fuck it was hot. a choked moan escapes his lips as he feels himself cumming, eyes closing shut as his hand slows on his cock, thick white ropes of cum painting his toned abdomen. he stands there for a few moments, recovering his breath as he looks down at the mess he made on himself. the image of your tongue running against his skin, licking it all away with that look in your eyes, flashes across his mind, his cock stirring again.
a desperate sigh leaves his lips as he sags against the wall, looking at your panties still bunched up in his hand. he wasn't going to last another day without seeing you, he thinks.
desperate and yearning caleb oh the things i would do for you... and to you.
anyways hope u guys enjoyed this filthy drabble ^^
caleb/reader â mdni
contains: rough sex, you get fucked in a chokehold, semi-public?, tinge of caleb being jealous & possessive, he threatens to put a baby in you 1x
*not proofread! forgive me lolll*
bestfriend'sbrother!caleb who wishes you didnât want to hide your relationship but lets it slide (for now), understanding your anxiety around telling his sister who youâve been keeping the secret from. you never intended to fall in love with him, but how could you resist when it was so easy to do? the last thing you wanted was to be forced to pick between your closest friend and her brother who makes your mind, body, and soul thrive.
bestfriend'sbrother!caleb is obsessed with you and does whatever he can (that you allow, admittedly. heâs such a simp lollll) to subtly express that you're his woman. it just makes him feel better. from the apple and fighter jet themed designs you get on your nails that he pays for to the glittery C keychain that dangles on your purse 24/7, it's a form of ownership that he's proud to see you sport.
bestfriend'sbrother!caleb who doesn't quite get the memo sometimes that people truly do not know you're together. so when his sister introduces you to a guy from work during her birthday party and you're way too fucking polite, accepting his phone number in the guise of interest and smiling at some lame ass joke, he's genuinely surprised by his restraint as he helplessly watches the entire interaction from across the room.
bestfriend'sbrother!caleb who can't let you go thinking for too long that he was unphased by what he witnessed. when you finally separate from everyone at some point to use the bathroom upstairs, he sneakily follows you after a carefully timed two minutes and forty-three seconds with quite a lot to get off his chest.
bestfriend'sbrother!caleb wouldn't say a word at first after he made his way inside in the midst of you washing your hands, quickly turning the wide space into a shoe box with his large and imposing stature. your explanation for why you seemed to be entertaining that dude never gets to see the light of day when the click of the lock behind him echos, already sealing your fate.
bestfriend'sbrother!caleb who has your dress flipped up and your panties at your ankles in seconds as he bends you over the sink and stuffs you full of his thick cock. you knew he saw everything, knew he'd get like this, knew he'd confront you. that's why your greedy pussy was so soaked and eager to squeeze him inside.
you wanna be a brat and push your luck in his face? then he doesn't give a damn about the volume of slapping skin, your pitchy choked moans, or the tears inked by your mascara that fall down your cheeks from how overwhelmingly good he feels within your tight walls. his forearm is curled with the perfect amount of pressure around your throat, chest pressed to your back, and heâs rutting into your dripping cunt with a message he seeks to ingrain inside and out.
you're both leaking with so much that it trails down your thighs, leaving a sticky mess that clings to his heavy balls before landing on the tile floor. he wishes you would try and clean up his hard work when he's finished. seriously, he wants you to. it'll give him a reason to leave you with even more when he puts it back where it belongs.
bestfriend'sbrother!caleb would make you look in the mirror at your flushed face, nearly ripping the material of your dress when he forces it down along with your bra so you two can watch your tits jump with every punishing thrust.
"look at yourself," he grunts, slamming into you roughly as you begin to drool. "you belong to me, yeah? yeah, you do. alllll mine. so keep fucking playin', pips. iâll fucking ruin you, leave you with a baby to make sure it clicks if i have to. that's what you want? thatâs the way weâre telling everybody?â
he's not pushing you too far nor is he being too cruel. because like the filthy girl he knows you to be, you arch your back despite the discomfort in shameless desperation for more and squeeze his bicep like an anchor. with a broken mewl, you beg, "hah, i w-want it âleb⊠harder... p-please..â
in that moment, it seems like you really are ready for everyone to know and hear who owns you. the erotic squelching when he fucks his cum deep for the first time tonight proves it and is more than enough motivation for him to fulfill that unspoken request..
A/N: not tagging my baes because i don't wanna annoy anyone since i justtt posted yesterday. idk if this is any good or if it makes sense, but it was really fun to write and âdecorateâ (i am just a girl), pretty quick, and i wanted to share soooo bad since itâs been on my noggin for like two days so yeah!!
creds to @/saradika-graphics for the button divider, @/cafekitsune for the mdni/reblog banner, & @/asiatic-apple for the username banner!
synopsis. caleb made a mistake when interpreting the anonymous threatening note, and so did you in thinking you can change a code-backed destiny.
pairing. caleb xia x isekaiâd! non-mc! reader
content. fem!reader, non-mc!reader, isekaiâd!reader, reincarnation!au, unrequited love (?), a ton of angst, slowburn (calebâs not really here), hurt/no comfort (?), maybe ooc!caleb, caleb doesnât know youâre isekaiâd, TW: EVER, TW: allusion to TORTURE, medical malpractice, degradation (the ever guy mocks you), evil plan incoming, self-deprication, low self-esteem, TW: allusion to CAR ACCIDENT.
word count. 5.1k
a/n. i finally got around proofreading this! sadly i had to divide it into two (or more) parts. thanks to @hajimeowmeow and the brilliant prompt that generated all this! i hope you all enjoy my take on this. please let me know your thoughts! feedback and reblogs are deeply appreciated.
the rain in skyhaven was a particular kind of mournful. it didnât fall so much as it seeped, a constant, misty drizzle that blurred the neon signs into weeping watercolor smears against the grim sky. from your apartment window, you watched it paint the world in shades of grey, a perfect mirror to the hollow ache that had taken up permanent residence in your chest.
your fingers traced the cold glass, following the path of a single, stubborn drop. it was the same path your tears had taken three weeks ago.
three weeks since caleb had left.
âąâąâą
the memory was a shard of glass in your gut. heâd stood right there, by the door, his bag slung over one shoulder, his face â the face you loved with a terrifying, all-consuming ferocity â etched with a worry that wasnât for you.
âitâs emcee.â heâd said, voice tight, not meeting your eyes. heâd shown you the letter, the crisp, anonymous paper that felt like poison in your hands. threatening black ink: we will take what you love most. âtheyâre targeting her. this has everâs fingerprints all over it. i have to go. sheâs in linkon, all alone. you understand, right?â
youâd understood, of course. youâd understood with a clarity that shattered something fundamental inside you. emcee, his childhood friend, his first love, the sun around which his universe had once orbited. the girl youâd somehow, miraculously, momentarily eclipsed.
you, the isekaiâd anomaly, the unexpected variable whoâd charmed the hero away from the destined heroine.
or so youâd foolishly believed.
âcaleb.â youâd whispered, your hand finding his, your touch pleading. âthe threat⊠it could be ambiguous. what if itâsâŠ?â
what if itâs me? the words died in your throat, too pathetic, too needy to voice.
heâd squeezed your hand, but it was an absent gesture, his mind already a hundred miles away in linkon, at emceeâs side. âdonât be silly. ever is after her unique evol, her potential. theyâve wanted her for years. youâre not...â
not important.
 âiâll be back as soon as this is sorted.â
heâd kissed your forehead. a kiss of duty, of distraction. not the deep, desperate kisses that used to leave you breathless against this very door. then he was gone, the click of the latch sounding like the snap of a bone.
âąâąâą
the first week was worry. the second, a slow-burning anxiety. the third⊠the third was the quiet, suffocating descent of doubt. your calls became less frequent, his answers clipped, always with her in the background. you could hear her laugh sometimes, bright and familiar, a sound that used to bring you joy but now felt like a twist of the knife.
âhey, canât talk long.â heâd say, voice lowered, a tinge of irritation in his tone. âsheâs⊠sheâs really scared. i have to be here for her.â
whoâs being here for me? youâd scream inside your own mind as you hummed and hung up the call.
the apartment, once a cozy nest of shared moments, now felt like a museum of your own naivety. you knew you had no place in calebâs life. heck, you had no place in this world, but something gave you hope.
that hope seemed to have been misplaced.
âąâąâą
you were brushing your teeth, staring at your own hollow-eyed reflection in the bathroom mirror, when the lights flickered and died. not just yours â the entire building plunged into an unnatural, swallowing darkness.
the hum of the city outside vanished, replaced by a silence so profound it rang in your ears.
your heart jumped into your throat. power surge, you tried to tell yourself. city grid issue.
but the air changed.
it grew cold, sterile, smelling of antiseptic and something dangerous â something like charged metal, like the air before a lightning strike. you stumbled out of the bathroom, your bare feet cold on the floorboards.
a soft, blue light emanated from your living room. not the warm glow of a screen, but a cold, clinical luminescence. two figures stood there, clad in sleek, black uniforms with a single, stark insignia on their chests: ever.
your breath hitched, frozen in your lungs.
âsubject located.â one of them stated, the voice filtered, genderless, and devoid of any inflection. it was the sound of a machine confirming a command.
a whimper escaped your lips, dry and pathetic. you took a stumbling step back, your shoulder hitting the doorframe of the bathroom. the cold of the wood seeped through your thin sleep shirt.
theyâre here for me.
the realization didnât dawn; it detonated.
it wasnât a suspicion anymore. it was a truth, sharp and jagged, carving out your insides. the letter, the threat... caleb had assumed. he had decided. he had looked at you, heard your unspoken fear, and dismissed it with a distracted kiss.
he had deemed emceeâs potential, her history, her place in this worldâs narrative, more worthy of protection than your entire existence.
grief, black and tar-like, surged up your throat, mingling with the unpleasant taste of panic. it wasnât just the fear of the agents, of the unknown horrors ever represented. it was the utter, soul-crushing betrayal. he wasnât here. he was in another city, playing guardian to another, while the real threat slithered through the darkness heâd left you in.
you had been assessed and found lacking.
âstay back!â you screamed, the sound raw and ragged in the consuming quiet. you grabbed the first thing your hands found â a heavy ceramic mug from the sink, a stupid gift youâd bought together at a street fair.
you hurled it.
it was a laughable act of defiance. one agent simply shifted their head, and the mug shattered against the wall beside them, exploding into useless, dusty shards. the sound was obscenely loud.
âdo not resist.â the same voice droned. âcompliance minimizes discomfort.â
discomfort. the word was so chillingly clinical it snapped something inside you. pure, animal fear took over, burning away the grief for a single moment.
you turned and ran.
not towards the front door â they were between you and it. you fled deeper into the apartment, into the bedroom. a dead end. your mind was a frantic, skittering thing.
the window?
the fire escape!
youâd never used it, always complaining it was rusted shut.
you fumbled with the latch, your fingers slick with cold sweat, tearing a nail down. behind you, you heard the soft, synchronized tread of their boots on the floorboards. no urgency. they had all the time in the world.
âcome on, come on!â you sobbed, yanking at the stubborn metal. it gave with a shriek of protesting iron, and the wet night air blasted in, the misty rain kissing your feverish skin. you scrambled forth, but only one leg made it out.
a strong arm wrapped itself around you, dragging you back in with force.
âahh!â
as you turned, a third figure melted from the deeper shadow of the bedroom doorway. you hadnât seen them enter. this one was taller, stronger, their presence a deeper chill. they moved with a predatorâs grace, while the other two stood sentinel, blocking your retreat back inside.
âcalebâŠâ you whispered, the name a broken prayer, a curse, a plea. it was all you had left. his name was the anchor to this world, to your heart, and he had let it go.
a broken sound, half-sob, half-laugh, escaped you. âhe didnât even consider it.â you breathed, more to yourself than to them. the rain mixed with the hot tears finally spilling over your cheeks. âhe left me here for you.â
they closed the final distance. you swung a fist, weak, desperate, but they caught your wrist with an effortless, gloved hand. the grip was like iron, cold and unfeeling. with their other hand, they produced a small, white cloth.
the smell hit you before the cloth did â a sickly-sweet, chemical odor that clawed at the back of your throat. chloroform.
the last of your strength fled, replaced by a paralyzing horror. this was it. not a battle, not a capture, but an erasure. you would disappear from this apartment, from skyhaven, from calebâs world, and he wouldnât even know where to look.
heâd been searching the wrong city, protecting the wrong person.
 âsleep now.â
âąâąâą
consciousness returned not as a gentle dawn, but as a violent, chemical sunrise behind your eyelids. your head throbbed, a sickening drumbeat against the inside of your skull. the sweet, cloying scent of the chloroform still lingered in your sinuses, but it was now undercut by something sharper, cleaner, and utterly repulsive â the antiseptic sting of a sterile environment.
you tried to move, and the world snapped into a brutal, fluorescent focus.
you were upright, strapped to a cold, metallic chair. thick, padded restraints bit into your wrists, your ankles, your torso, holding you in a cruel parody of an embrace. panic, cold and immediate, lanced through the lingering fog. you gasped, the sound loud in the unnerving quiet, and strained against the bindings.
they didnât give an inch, only creaked softly, a taunt in industrial polymer.
your eyes darted, taking in the nightmare.
the room was a blinding, seamless white â walls, floor, ceiling â a void with no shadows, no corners to hide in. it felt less like a room and more like the inside of a giant, sterile egg. the only features were the swarm of medical equipment encircling you like mechanical vultures. silvery robotic arms, tipped with needles, probes, and sinister-looking clamps, were frozen in place, poised. monitors with undulating green lines and cryptic numerical readouts glowed softly. wires snaked from panels in the floor to nodes stuck to your temples, your chest, the inside of your wrists, their touch cold and alien.
where am i? the thought was a scream in the silent chamber. caleb. caleb, where are you?
but the name that had once been a talisman now felt like a boulder on your heart. the memory of his departure, the weeks of silence, the cold dismissal â it all came crashing back with the force of a physical blow.
he wasnât coming.
he didnât even know you were gone.
the singular door in the wall, also white and nearly invisible, hissed open.
a man in a pristine white lab coat stepped through. he was middle-aged, with thinning hair scraped neatly across his scalp and wire-rimmed glasses that reflected the roomâs harsh light, hiding his eyes. he held a digital clipboard, a sleek tablet, and his fingers tapped against it with a rhythm that was both bored and precise.
he didnât look at you at first, absorbed in his notes, as if you were just another piece of equipment in the room.
then he stopped, a few feet away, and lifted his gaze.
his eyes, when they finally met yours, were a flat, pale grey. devoid of empathy, curiosity, or even malice. they were the eyes of someone assessing a failed experiment.
âah. subject is conscious.â he stated, his voice a dry, thin thing. âvitals are stable. elevated stress markers, of course. typical.â
âwho are you?â you managed to croak out, your throat parched and raw. âwhat do you want with me?â
he ignored your questions, stepping closer. he reached out, not to you, but to a monitor beside your head. he adjusted a dial, and a fresh, sharp prick of pain lanced through the node at your temple. you flinched, a small, trapped sound escaping you.
âuseless.â he murmured, more to his clipboard than to you. âa complete miscalculation.â
a spark of defiance, born from sheer terror, flickered in your chest. âlet me go.â
this time, he looked at you. a slow, condescending smile stretched his thin lips. it was a horrible expression, devoid of any warmth.
âlet you go?â he echoed, a laugh like rustling paper following the words. âand waste all the resources it took to pluck you from your dreary little apartment? the planning? the risk of deploying operatives for a null-value subject?â he shook his head, clicking his tongue.
âno, no. the waste isnât in keeping you. the waste was in acquiring you in the first place.â
he leaned in, and you could smell the stale coffee on his breath. âyou see, our intelligence â our very expensive, very precise intelligence â suggested you were a significant emotional variable for colonel xia. a leverage point. a weakness.â he snorted.
âimagine our surprise. imagine my professional embarrassment.â
your blood ran cold. âcalebâŠâ you whispered.
âcaleb.â the doctor mocked, his voice lifting to a falsetto of pathetic imitation. âoh, caleb, save me!â he dropped back into his own dry tone. âhe doesnât even know youâre here. our surveillance in linkon shows him quite⊠preoccupied. playing the devoted protector. buying coffee, standing guard outside a door, sharing cozy little meals. all for her. for emcee.â
each word was a needle, meticulously inserted. you could see it. you could see it with devastating clarity because youâd heard it in his distant voice on the phone. youâd felt it in his absence.
the doctor was just painting over the picture youâd already been bleeding onto for weeks.
âthe plan...â the doctor continued, straightening up and resuming his tapping on the tablet. âwas elegantly simple. snatch the beloved, watch the hero unravel, use his predictable, desperate attempts to rescue you to lure him into a trap. classic. effective.â he paused, his grey eyes locking onto yours with chilling finality. âit appears we snatched the wrong beloved.â
the air left your lungs in a slow, painful exhale. the room seemed to tilt. the monitors beeped a little faster, betraying your crumbling heart.
âhe doesnât love you.â the doctor said, not with cruelty, but with the utter certainty of a scientist stating a proven fact. âoh, he might have enjoyed your company. found you a pleasant distraction from his weighty, noble burdens. but love? his heart, his destiny, his purpose⊠itâs always been with emcee. anyone with two brain cells to rub together could see it. except you, apparently.â
tears welled, hot and shameful. you fought them, biting the inside of your cheek until you tasted blood. you wouldnât cry in front of this man.
you wouldnât.
âyou were a placeholder.â he sneered. âa temporary distraction. you thought you could outshine a bond forged in childhood? with the way he is acting? how dumb can you be?â
dumb. naive. stupid.
the words echoed the toxic whispers that had haunted your darkest nights. he was giving voice to your deepest insecurities, the fear that had trailed you since the moment you woke up in this strange world â that you didnât belong, that your happiness was borrowed, that you were living on stolen time.
âi love him.â you breathed, the confession torn from you, weak and pathetic.
âand what of it?â the doctor snapped, his feigned calm finally cracking into sharp irritation. âyour love is irrelevant. it is a null data set. it changes nothing. it moves nothing. he is not coming. he is not looking. you are here, strapped to a chair, and he is there, holding her hand because she had a nightmare about the big bad ever.â he threw his hands up in a gesture of exasperation.
âdo you comprehend the operational waste? the man-hours? i have budgets! i have timelines! and i am now left with a useless,weeping subject who is of no value as bait and of only marginal interest!â
he took a step closer, looming over you. the sterile light glinted off his glasses, turning them into white, blinding orbs. âyou are a mistake. a smudge on my otherwise impeccable record. and i do not tolerate mistakes.â
the verbal punishment began in earnest, cold, analytical, and designed to flay you open.
âthe only thing you have succeeded atâŠâ the doctor mused, his voice dropping to a venomous whisper. âis wasting my time. and for that, i can assure you, there will be consequences. if i canât use you as bait, i might as well make you my extension.â
he turned and walked back towards the door. before he left, he glanced over his shoulder, his final words delivered with chilling, surgical precision.
âyou will do the only thing you're good at â watch xia from afar.â
the door hissed shut behind him, leaving you alone in the blinding, silent white hell.
the sob that finally broke free was a ragged, ugly thing, muffled by the sterile air. you strained against the restraints until your muscles screamed and your wrists burned, but it was futile. the monitors beeped on, charting the catastrophic collapse of your heart rate, your spike in cortisol, your sheer, utter despair.
âc-calebâŠâ
the betrayal was a cold knife, twisted deep, not just by caleb, but by your own foolish heart. you had trusted. you had believed. you had loved with the desperate fervor of someone who knew, on some level, they were living a lie.
you were alone. you had always been alone. the love youâd clung to had been a mirage, and now you were stranded in the desert, with vultures circling overhead. as you stared into the featureless white void, the only thing left was the deafening, heart-shattering sound of your own love, echoing back at you as nothing more than a worthless, wasted sigh.
âąâąâą
the white void became your world. time lost all meaning, measured only in the hum of machines, the occasional, terrifying whir of a robotic arm calibrating itself, and the slow, cold drip of nutrients and sedatives through an iv line into your arm. you drifted in a haze of chemically-induced calm, punctuated by moments of sharp, lucid agony when the reality of your situation would crash over you anew.
days? weeks? it was impossible to tell.
the doctor returned, always with his tablet, always with that look of detached assessment. he never gave you a name. he was just the scientist in your mind, the architect of your silent hell.
one session began like the others. the hiss of the door, his soft-soled shoes on the seamless floor, the glare of his glasses.
âtoday, we check the repurposing.â he announced, his voice devoid of ceremony. two technicians in grey scrubs flanked him, their faces obscured by masks. âthe initial surveillance chip is now in place. we will establish the connection to your neural pathways.â
you thrashed against the restraints, a raw scream tearing from your throat. âno! take it out!â
he didn't even flinch.
a nod to a technician, and a cold pad was pressed against your neck. a jolt, not of electricity, but of something deeper, a neural static that scrambled your thoughts into slurry. your body went limp, your screams dying into choked gurgles.
you were conscious, but trapped in a paralyzed shell.
you felt, rather than saw, the approach of the robotic arm. it moved with a smooth, insectile grace. a low whine filled your ears, a sound that vibrated in your teeth. a pinpoint of red light appeared on your neck, between your shoulders.
it was cold.
then, the pain.
it wasn't a pain of cutting or burning. it was an invasion. a feeling of something thin, impossibly hard, and icy being threaded through the bone of your skull, into the soft, wet universe of your mind. it was a violation so profound your psyche recoiled, shattering against the walls of your own skull. you couldn't scream. you could only watch from the prison of your own body as the monitors went wild.
the scientist observed the screens, nodding with approval. âneural pathways accepting the probe. good. begin the memory cataloging. we need to establish a baseline before we start editing her memories.â
editing.
the word echoed in the hollowed-out cavern of your mind.
the invasion shifted. the cold probe became a searchlight, spearing through the dark waters of your memories. you were forced to relive them, not as a participant, but as a spectator strapped to a chair.
the memories â mostly of you and caleb â played out, one after another, a beautiful, heartbreaking film of the happiest moments of your life. each one was dissected, labeled, and filed away by the icy presence in your head. it was the ultimate humiliation; to have your most precious love story treated as data points in a lab report.
then, the probe dug deeper.
past the memories of this world, past the moment you woke up in a skyhaven clinic with no identity and a head full of knowledge about a world that shouldn't exist.
âwait!â
it plunged into a deeper, older layer.
a flash of a different sky â blue, with a yellow sun, not skyhavenâs. the sound of laughter, a motherâs voice calling a name that wasn't the one you used here. the smell of rain on dry earth, of pages in a physical book. a cramped, cozy bedroom plastered with posters of bands that didn't exist here.
the soul-crushing weight of deadlines, the glow of a phone screen late at night, the comforting escape of a game â a specific game. characters moving on a screen. a story unfolding.
caleb. pixelated, handsome, heroic. text boxes of his dialogue youâd read a hundred times. your own hands on the screen, making choices, guiding him, loving him from a distance across an impossible void.
the probe hesitated.
the scientist, who had been monitoring the data stream with an expression of bored efficiency, suddenly stiffened. he leaned forward, his eyes widening behind his glasses. the flat grey was replaced by a spark of intense, voracious curiosity.
âwhat is this?â he murmured. he manipulated his tablet, commanding the probe to focus, to amplify.
the memories of your past life flooded the neural feed. your death â a stupid, mundane accident, a screech of tires, a blinding impact, then nothingness. then the waking up here, in the body of a stranger, with the haunting, joyous, terrifying knowledge that the fictional world youâd loved was now your reality, and the fictional man youâd loved was flesh and blood.
the probe withdrew.
the paralyzing field released you. you sagged in the chair, gasping, tears and sweat mingling on your face. the violation was total. they had seen everything. not just your life with caleb, but your true life.
your secret.
the scientist stared at you. for a long, silent moment, the only sound was your ragged breathing and the hum of the machines. then, slowly, a smile spread across his face. it wasn't the condescending smirk from before. this was something else â awed, hungry, and deeply, deeply unnerving.
âa trans-dimensional psychic imprint. a consciousness migration. or⊠simplerâŠâ he took a step closer, his eyes raking over you as if you were a newly discovered, priceless fossil. âreincarnation. with full, conscious memory retention. from a reality where our world⊠where colonel xia⊠is fiction.â
he let out a low, incredulous laugh. âastounding. the implications⊠the metaphysical vectors aloneâŠâ
the fear in you curdled into something new, something even colder. he wasn't just interested in you as leverage anymore. you were a specimen.
he circled your chair, his mind racing, almost talking to himself. âthis explains the anomalies.â he stopped in front of you, his gaze piercing. âyou knew him. before you ever met him. you loved a story, a fantasy.â
the words were a physical blow. he was taking the most profound, terrifying, and beautiful truth of your existence and reducing it to a clinical pathology.
âyou fell in love with a character.â he stated, his voice dripping with a newfound, grotesque pity. âand then you were dropped into his world, and you actually believed you could step into the narrative and change the ending. you thought you could replace the heroine.â
he threw his head back and laughed, a dry, crackling sound that echoed in the white room. âoh, this is too rich. the pathetic grandeur of it! to have the knowledge of a god â the script of his life â and to still fail so spectacularly!â
âstop it.â you whispered, your voice trembling.
âstop?â he leaned down, his face inches from yours. âwhy? i'm finally appreciating your true value. you're not a worthless variable. you're a case study in futility. you knew every beat of his story, every trauma that shaped him, every line of dialogue that would make him open up. you had the ultimate cheat sheet. and yetâŠâ he gestured broadly at the room, at your restraints.
âhere you are. he still chose her. he still left you. your foreknowledge was worthless. your love, born from pixels and text, was no match for the gravitational pull of his code.â
each sentence was a masterfully aimed dagger, finding every hidden wound of insecurity youâd ever harbored. the fear that your love was somehow less legitimate because it began in another world. the terror that you were just an obsessed fan who got lucky.
he was weaponizing your origin story.
âyou're wrong.â you choked out, but the conviction was gone.
his words had the ring of terrible truth.
âam i?â he straightened up, tapping his tablet.
a screen flickered to life on the wall.
it was a live surveillance feed, grainy but clear. a cozy linkon apartment. caleb was there, moving around a kitchen. he was smiling, a soft, easy smile you hadn't seen in months. he handed a cup of tea to emcee, who was curled on a sofa, wrapped in a blanket. she took it, her face glowing with gratitude and something more intimate. he sat beside her, not touching, but his entire body was angled toward her, a fortress of protection and care.
you couldn't look away. it was the confirmation of every nightmare.
then the screen changed to the lab⊠from your perspective.
âthe live feed from your ocular implant is already coming in clearly too.â the scientist said conversationally. âbut we need to ensure you don't⊠interfere. or break. so, we'll be modifying the recent memories. a few tweaks. softening the edges of your⊠volition. making you more accepting of your new role as our passive observer.â
horror, deeper than any you had felt yet, froze your veins. they weren't just going to watch through you. they were going to rewrite you. to make you a willing vessel.
âno⊠please⊠you can'tâŠâ
âi can.â he said simply. âbut this⊠this changes things.â he paced again, the wheels turning. âa consciousness that has already crossed the void of death⊠it's uniquely malleable. resilient in one way, fragile in another. i almost wish to keep you here forever.â
âbut i cant.â he stopped and looked at you, his expression shifting to one of chilling calculation. âorâŠ?â
his eyes suddenly shone with a lightning-like luminescence, frightening and powerful.
âi mock you for your pathetic fantasy.â he said, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. âbut what if i could make it real? not the messy, painful, rejecting reality you currently endure. but the fantasy you dreamed of when you stared at that screen.â
your breath hitched. a treacherous, desperate spark ignited in the wasteland of your heart.
a spark that shouldnât be there.
âwhat⊠what are you saying?â
âi'm saying your knowledge of him is a database of unparalleled depth. you have it all now. every moment that made you love him. but your consciousness â your ego, your fears, your pathetic grief â it's what's failing you. it's what causes him to pull away. your human weakness, your need, your⊠lack of code.â
he moved to a console and brought up a schematic. it was a brain, overlaid with a glittering, synthetic neural network.
âwe can integrate a code. we can build a new behavioral matrix for you. one that is optimized. one that knows exactly what to say, when to touch, how to be perfect. not a desperate, love-starved transplant from another world, but the ideal companion. programmed with the love you feel, but stripped of the neediness that repels him.â
donât listen to him.
he turned back to you, his eyes gleaming. âwe can make caleb xia love you. truly, devotedly, unconditionally. not by changing him, but by perfecting you.â
donât listen, donât listen, donâtâ
the offer hung in the sterile air, a glittering, poisoned apple. it was everything you had ever wanted. the end of the heartache. the certainty of his love. to have the fantasy made flesh.
but the priceâŠ
âit would require a gradual integration.â he continued, his voice hypnotic. âwe'd start small. editing your emotional responses to be less⊠volatile. then, layer by layer, we'd replace your organic consciousness with the synthetic matrix. you'd still be you⊠in a sense. your love for him would remain, purified and amplified. you would become efficient. perfect. and he would love you for it.â
he would?
he saw the conflict tearing you apart â the desperate, dying hope warring with the last shreds of your self.
âthink of it.â he whispered. âno more waiting by the phone. no more watching him choose her. no more feeling like a ghost in your own life. you would become the heroine of your own story at last. all it costs is the part of you that is⊠broken.â
you looked back at the screen, the one that flickered back to linkon city. caleb was laughing now at something emcee said, his face alight with a joy that had once been yours. the betrayal was a fresh wound, salted by the scientist's words.
you are broken. your love is flawed. you are not enough.
a deep, utter loneliness swallowed you. the kind that screamed for relief at any cost. the fantasy the scientist painted⊠it was a siren song in the crushing silence of your despair.
to be loved by caleb. to have him look at you the way he looked at her on that screen. it was the dream that had dragged you across the gap between worlds.
your voice, when it finally came, was a broken defeat, barely audible.
â...would it hurt?â
the scientist's smile was gentle, almost kind. it was the most terrifying expression you had ever seen.
âonly at first.â he said. âand then⊠peace. and love. real love. the kind that lasts.â
you could have him. you could have the happy ending. all you had to do was surrender. to let them erase the wounded, betrayed, human part and replace it with something flawless and machine-made.
the tears that fell now were not just of grief, but of a profound, soul-crushing temptation. the anguished choice between a painful, real self destined for heartbreak, and a perfect, artificial one destined for love.
âdonât you want him to love you?â
in the blinding white room, stripped of everything, you hovered on the edge of annihilation, seduced by the very devil who had orchestrated your ruin. the only sound was the steady, rhythmic beep of the monitor tracking the vital signs of the person you were, and the person they promised you could become.
Ë. à±ż đž OBSESSION ïŸ xia caleb x female reader áč college au, jock caleb, established relationship, caleb is a little off his rocker, so is reader, silly little crack fic, caleb wears his gfs panties, that's the fic. i wrote this idea rewatching john tucker must die at 2am last night so this is not proofread ËË WORD COUNT áš 1.7k ish !
caleb is grossly, irrevocably, indescribably whipped for you. heâd live inside of your skin if he could find a way to make it happen. carve out an itty bitty home for himself underneath your ribcage and set up shop near your heart where he could keep it safe. you know it. your friends know it. his teammates definitely know it. hell, everybody on skyhaven universityâs campus knows that caleb xia, captain and star point guard of the basketball team, is pathetically gone for his darling girl.Â
youâre a steady, constant presence in the gym even when youâre not physically there. your pastel bunny bag charm swings from the zipper of calebâs duffel bag. your initials are stitched into the wristbands he wears on game day. and he canât, for the life of him, stop bringing you up in conversations. âmy girl makes the best spicy noodles,â heâll gush when someone mentions food, or, âgotta call my baby, sheâs probably missing me right now,â before he facetimes you in the middle of pregame workouts. can anyone really blame the guy? youâre the most precious thing on campus and heâs convinced your smile alone can solve the global warming crisis.
calebâs friends all think itâs a phase, their captainâs first real relationship. they figure heâll get it out of his system in a few months and grow tired of you after a night out around even prettier girls with sweet eyes just for him. but they have no idea.
no one understands just how far gone caleb is until the day he bends over to tie the laces of his basketball shoes during a quick break and his low-slung shorts end up riding down just a fraction.
and there it is.
a delicate strip of strawberry cream lace, stretched across the sharp cut of his hipbones. a stunned hush falls over the basketball court, broken only by the slow dribble of a forgotten ball that bounces down the court.
âdude,â calebâs best friend, gideon, chokes out, âwhat the fuck is that?â
caleb straightens up then, throwing his teammates a glance over his left shoulder. âwhatâs what?â he asks, all innocent, golden-boy charm. but thereâs a flicker in his magenta eyes, a knowing glint; heâs absolutely shameless.Â
âthat!â another one of his teammates splutters, pointing somewhere beneath calebâs navel, horrified. âis that⊠dude, are those panties?â
a slow, love-drunk grin spreads across calebâs face like wildfire. âoh, these?â he teases, his long thumb hooking casually into the sweat-drenched waistband of his shorts and dragging down one side of the fabric, giving them a full, deliberate view of the lace hugging his hip. thereâs a tiny strawberry-patterned bow at the top of the pair. âyeah. my baby left âem at my place last night. just keeping them safe for her. you know how it is.â
his team exchanges glances, blinking in disbelief. he shrugs like itâs the most normal thing in the world, heading courtside for his water bottle and when he reaches for it, the movement makes the blush pink lace flash again. a collective groan echoes in the gym.
gideon, his supposed voice of reason, blinks rapidly. âcaleb. brother. my man. you know you can just⊠put them in a dresser until she comes back, right? you own drawers. you donât have to wear her panties to keep them safe. nobody is stealing your girlâs panties but you.âÂ
his team dissolves into loud wolf-whistles and the kind of boyish, obnoxious guffaws and whooping that can be found in any damp, old spice smelling locker room. the tips of calebâs ears tint pink, but heâs smiling dopily, rubbing the nape of his neck with his knuckles. someone throws him the ball and he catches it on instinct, bouncing it once. âwhereâs the fun in that?â he says, his grin returning full and bright, dribbling the ball idly. âtheyâre comfortable, and the best part? no chafing.âÂ
âplusâŠâ he starts, and the ball stops bouncing. his voice drops, losing all of its teasing edge and warming into something cloud-soft. his teammates groan in unison; they know that look. calebâs about to go off about you. âitâs like having a piece of her here with me. keeps me focused and reminds me what iâm playing for. i have to make it to the pros so i can build her a mansion.â he says it so earnestly his teammates can almost pretend heâs talking about why he wears his lucky socks and not, you know, his girlfriendâs fucking lace panties. for caleb though, itâs probably the same thing.Â
a slow, dreamy smile touches his lips. âaaaaand,â he singsongs, the dreaminess shifting into pure, unhinged glee, âthey smell like her.â
thereâs a beat of stunned silence between the players, thenâ
âjesus fucking christ, caleb!â the teamâs small forward wheezes, crushing the heel of his palms to his ears. âthatâs disgustingââ
âthatâs it. iâm finding another team. i canât. i physically canât,â one of his teammates, drew, declares, turning on his heel like heâs actually going to march right on out the swinging doors of the gym.
gideon just shakes his head, looking skyward for patience before holding his hands out for the ball. caleb passes it with a shit-eating grin. âyouâve seriously got some screws loose up there, xia.â
âheâs got a whole hardware store full of screws loose,â one of the seniors on the team hollers from the baseline.Â
caleb takes it all in stride, winking as he easily catches another ball tossed his way. he doesnât even sweat as he lines up for a shot from the corner. âjust a few,â he hums, tapping the side of his head with his free hand. the ball sails through the air, hooping through the net with a near silent swish. he turns back to his team. ânow, are we gonna practice or are you just gonna stare at my ass all day?â
practice resumes, but the energy has shifted. the only thing on their mind is the sight of their fearless captain in strawberry-patterned panties and they tease him relentlessly behind it: looking good cap! and down catastrophic, captain! and a little bit of hey caleb, you remember that one episode of spongebob with the panty raidâ but caleb could care less.Â
later, back in the apartment he shares with gideon, caleb flops onto his bed, pulling out his phone and tapping the message widget on the home screen that immediately brings him to your message thread.Â
> caleb: pip you there??
> caleb: the guys were so mean to me at practice today >:(
> caleb: sons of bitchesÂ
your reply is almost instant, and he can feel the restless, possessive coil in his chest begin to loosen just seeing your name.
> you: why? what happened?
he bites his lip. then, with deliberate slowness, he shifts onto his back and snaps a picture. just the low waistband of his gray sweatpants, tugged down an inch to reveal the strawberry lace against his skin that heâs still wearing. he sends it.
[Image Attached]
> caleb: wore the panties you left over here to practice:)
> caleb: theyâre soft. and they smell like you.
> caleb: which is the best smell in the world btw
the typing bubbles appear, then disappear.Â
> you: ????? YOUCDID NOT
> you: wdym they smell like me????? CALEB
> you: i canât believe you. did you really not wash them?
he brings the phone closer, tongue peeking out of the side of his mouth as he grins, fingers flying over the keyboard to write his reply.Â
> caleb: washing them would be a tragedy.
> caleb: itâs the only piece of you i have with me right now :cccc
> caleb: miss you so much my chest hurts.
he hits send and waits, pressing the phone to his sternum dramatically, right over the ache. the notification buzzes against his palm almost immediately.
[Image Attached]Â
he taps it and the sound he makes in the back of his throat is embarrassingly ruined. itâs a picture of you, of course. curled up amongst your fluffy pillows, drowning in his favorite heather gray sweatshirt with the hem of it pinched between your fingers, tugging up the fabric just enough to show him the familiar black boxer briefs youâre wearing, to show him that youâre just as obsessed as he is.Â
> you: miss you too >:)
satorhime: â thank you for readdingggg this is rushed and quick but jock caleb is driving me up the WALL. i took a super long hiatus from writing and iâm trying to get back into it. my writing style has changed a lot over the years since i started out on this blog but i hope you enjoyed it!!!! i will be posting more in the next few weeks bc i have sooo many drafts i finished heheh :( <333 love uuuu
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just like that. tossed over the shoulder. said in passing. you keep walking. caleb does not.
he blinks. once. twice.
gege?
it echoes. it loops. it sets up a camp in his head and refuses to leave. his brain short-circuits in increasingly unhealthy and unholy ways.
was it teasing? was it unconscious?
do you know what that does to him??
he hasn't been called that in a very, very long time. not since things shifted. that title belongs to a version of him heâs tried very hard to put away.
itâs a title he absolutely should not react to.
and yet.
because it lands somewhere warm and humiliatingly alive. because his body reacts before his pride can catch up, because something in him lights up at the sound of it, traitorous and undeniable.
he spends the rest of the day hyperaware of your voice, your distance, the way you donât even realize you've wrecked him. every time you speak, heâs braced for it again. but when you don't say it again, heâs almost disappointed.
later, much later, he finally manages, very casuallyâ
âyou, uh. earlier. what you called me.â
you look up. innocent. deadly.
âoh. gege?â
and caleb is gone. absolutely gone. internally combusting.
you smile, small and confused, and he realizes with horror that you have no idea.
synopsis. maybe the problem isn't the stalker, maybe it's the one being stalked.
tags. nsfw, modern college au, strong yandere themes, dead dove, dubcon, obsession, stalking, killing, violence, manipulation, slowburn, plot-based, sexual tension, a bit of one-sided pining, somnophilia, depraved!caleb, yearning!caleb, detached!reader, m!masturbating, heavy make outs, fingering, p in v, reverse cowgirl, backshots, rough sex, strictly 18+
a/n. this is incredibly long and perhaps a lot to take in, i got carried away and did too much effort on this ^^; i suggest reading this when you're fully free ;D ps. image isn't mine. ctto.
wc. 18k (help me)
you never knew how it felt to be stalked by a guy long enough for your entire connections to be known, never knew how it felt to be obsessed over quite enough for the people close to you to disappear.
most of all, you never knew, would it had come from the guy most people refer to as a golden boy.
caleb knows you a bit too well. he knows the time you tend to feel most restless, the days you skip meals without noticing, the precise expression you make when something irritates youânot enough to complain, just enough to remember.
he knows because heâs watched, because heâs listened, because heâs arranged himself around the negative space of your life until the outline became clear.
you never call it attraction.
you just tell yourself, caleb would know, when a choice presents itself.
and every time you do, he gets close enough to see how little room you leave for anyone else.
youâre seated at the long oak table by the east windows at the school's library, the one that catches light only in the afternoon. and caleb knows this because he has noticed the pattern. he adjusts his steps to arrive when youâre already settled, coat folded on the chair beside you, book open but untouched for the last several minutes.
you donât look up when he stops at the edge of the table.
âhey,â
you glance up then, and your eyes pass over him with the same neutral recognition you give the shelves, the lamps, the exit signs.
âhi,â you say.
caleb smiles anyway, he always does as a golden boy. itâs a good tool. it opens space.
it is. the library smells faintly of dust and pages. he likes places that cooperate. âmind if i sit?â he asks, even as his hand is already on the chair across from you.
you shrug. âgo ahead.â
permission granted without weight. it settles in his chest, warm and sure. he sits, careful not to scrape the floor. he places his bag down precisely, knees aligned with the table leg.
you return to your book, as your attention moves away from him so completely itâs almost surgical. caleb watches the way your fingers rest against the margin.
âi ran into your friend earlier,â he says casually. âhe asked about you.â
your page turns. âyea?â
âyeah, said he hadnât heard from you in a while.â
you hum, noncommittal. âiâve been busy.â
caleb nods like this explains everything. it does, in its way. busy is useful. busy thins things out. busy creates gaps. âif you need help with anything, you know. notes, rides, food runs.â
you finally look at him again. âi know.â
thatâs all. no gratitude, no warmth. the words land and stop. caleb feels a small, private satisfaction anyway. knowing is enough. awareness precedes dependence.
as you read, his attention driftsânot away from you, never that, but inward, where his thoughts arrange themselves neatly. he imagines this table without the extra chair. imagines you alone, every day, because thereâs no one else left to ask. imagines your routines tightening until they circle him naturally, like a well-designed system.
he wonders, idly, how long it would take before you stopped noticing his presence entirely, before he became part of the architecture.
âwhat are you working on?â
you tilt the book so he can see the title. âresearch methods.â
âfun,â he says, dry. âwant help?â
ânope.â
calebâs smile doesnât flicker. he likes your noâs. they make everything else feel earned. âokay, iâll just⊠be here.â he doesnât need to say why, he's already bringing out a book he will pretend to work on infront of you.
your sleeve slips down as you adjust your posture. he notices the line of skin at your wrist, the faint indentation where your watch usually sits. today itâs missing. he doesnât linger on it the way a lover would. he catalogs it, the way one notes a missing screw in a machine that otherwise runs perfectly.
you shift again, crossing your legs.
he thinks about your home, sparsely furnished and everything placed for efficiency. heâs been there enough times to know where the spare key is hidden, though heâs never used it. no need. patience sharpens the edges of things.
âyou eating later?â he pretends to bury his eyes onto the book.
âprobably, havenât decided.â
âi can bring something by,â he offers. âsave you the trouble.â
you consider this for half a second. not himâjust the logistics. âsure, thatâd help.â
help. the word warms him more than affection ever could.
âtext me what you want,â he smiles.
you nod, already gone again, mind back in the book. caleb watches your breathing slow into a steady rhythm. he imagines it continuing like this, uninterrupted, because he removes anything that might disturb it; noise and mess and people who take up space they donât deserve.
someone just laughs too loudly at a table across the room and calebâs jaw already tightens almost imperceptibly. he releases it just as quickly though, because not now. this place is orderly. it will correct itself.
he stands after a while, smooth and unhurried. âiâll let you work,â
âokay,â you reply, without looking up.
he pauses, just long enough to be seen if you were paying attention. you arenât. thatâs fine. he leaves with a smile anyway.
~
you text him at 6:17 p.m.
[name]:
burgerâs fine the one from elm street ! get one for yourself too, iâll pay you when you get here. :)
caleb reads it once, then again.
elm street is six blocks out of the way, but the rain has already started, loud and impatient against the pavement, the kind that turns the city into a smear of motion and noise. he checks the forecast anyway, out of habit, as if it might surprise him.
as expected, heavy rain, gusts, and limited visibility.
âokay,â he types back. âbe there soon.â
he doesnât hesitate. hesitation would imply negotiation, and there isnât one. you asked. thatâs the beginning and the end of it.
he leaves the school building with his jacket buttoned wrong, and he notices only after heâs already halfway down the steps. the umbrella he grabs from his bagpack is the flimsy one, the one that bends inward when the wind gets merciless. it doesnât matter.
the city looks different when itâs wet. surfaces shine, edges blur. caleb likes it. it simplifies people.
as he walks, he thinks about the way you phrased it. "get one for yourself too." not an invitation, but an instruction that saves you the trouble of refusing later. considerate in the way youâre always considerate, without sentiment.
he imagines arriving back at the library, rain-soaked, bag held carefully away from his body so the paperwrapper wonât soften. imagines you looking up from your books with that neutral expression, eyes flicking briefly to the bag before moving back to his face. youâll say âthanks!â you always do and say it like that.
the rain thickens, as his shoes darken at the seams. water slips down the back of his collar, cold and precise. he adjusts his grip on the umbrella, angling it forward, though the wind keeps catching it, tugging like a spoiled child.
halfway across the main road, a bus roars past too close. caleb registers it in parts: the sound, the pressure, the sudden arc of brown water lifting off the curb.
suddenly, mud splashes up his side, violent and abrupt, streaking across the white of his uniform. it blooms like a bruise.
he looks down at it. "ah..."
thereâs a momentâsmall, containedâwhere he considers turning back to change and arrive clean. the thought dissolves almost immediately though.
you didnât ask for clean.
so he continues walking.
at the burger place, the line is too long. people drip onto the tile floor, smelling like wet fabric and impatience. caleb stands still, posture perfect despite the water gathering at the hem of his sleeves and dripping down his hair locks. he doesnât shake it off.
when itâs his turn, he orders without looking at the menu. âi'll have two double cheese burgers please,â he smiles, remniscient of a wet golden retriever. âno onions on one.â
the cashier nods, bored. caleb pays without thinking, youâll reimburse him later. or you wonât. either way, the exchange has already served its purpose.
he waits, hands folded loosely in front of him. his reflection in the stainless steel is distortedâmud-streaked, hair darkened by rain, lilac eyes steady. he looks like someone who has been through something minor and inconvenient. he likes that too.
the bag is warm when he takes it. he adjusts his hold, cradling it instinctively to keep the heat in. the rain greets him again with renewed enthusiasm. but the umbrella finally gives a sharp, pathetic bend, one of its ribs snapping inward.
caleb doesnât curse, he simply angles it differently and keeps going.
he imagines you eating, he imagines watching from across the table, tail wagging, saying nothing.
by the time he reaches the school gates, the rain has soaked through everything. his uniform clings uncomfortably and mud has dried in uneven streaks. he looks down at the bag once more, checks for leaks. itâs intact.
heâs adjusting his grip on the paper bagâstill warmâwhen he sees you.
youâre coming down the steps, backpack slung over one shoulder, posture loose in that way that means youâre done for the day. beside you is a man caleb recognizes only vaguely: a face heâs seen in passing, a name heâs heard once or twice and didnât bother to keep. not important enough to catalog. not until now.
who is he?
the man laughs at something you say. caleb doesnât hear it, but he can see it in the shape of your mouth, the small tilt of your head. then, with an almost rehearsed politeness, the man lifts his umbrella and angles it over you.
you hesitate just for a beat. caleb feels it like a skipped stair as his pace slows.
then you step closer and accept. âthanks,â
you start walking, not toward him, but away.
caleb stops.
itâs not dramatic, his feet simply donât take the next step. he watches the two of you merge into the flow of pedestrians, his eyes following the pattern of your strides, and even the umbrella tilting slightly to keep rain off your shoulder.
and then, his phone vibrates.
he already knows what it will say.
[name]:
sorry, caleb. iâm heading home with a friend you can cancel the burger.
he reads it once, then again.
the bag is still warm in his hand, grease has begun to soften the paper at the corners. he thinks, briefly and absurdly, that he should eat it while itâs still hot. food shouldnât be wasted.
his eyes lift again, finding you easily. the umbrella dips as you step off the curb, the man adjusting it clumsily. caleb notes the poor angle, the way rain still hits your sleeve. amateur.
his thumbs move.
[caleb] okay :)
the smiley face feels right...
he doesnât feel angry. anger would require surprise, and this doesnât have that quality. this is just information. a variable briefly introduced, nothing more.
but caleb tries his best to ignore the sinking feeling in his chest.
he tucks his phone away and starts walking again, pace unhurried. he doesnât follow too closely. that would be rude. he stays far enough back that he could be anyoneâanother student, another figure moving through rain with somewhere to be.
he watches the way you lean slightly inward under the umbrella. the way the man angles himself protectively without quite knowing how. caleb almost smiles. itâs clumsy.
he thinks, not unkindly, that youâll be damp by the time you get home. the manâs umbrella is too small for two. youâll probably forget to hang your jacket to dry.
he crosses the street when you do, but not at the same light. he stays on the opposite sidewalk, reflection fractured in shop windows.
for a fleeting moment, something almost playful stirs in him. a faint amusement at how neat it all is, how unaware you are of the shape forming around you.
you think the burger is canceled.
you think the evening has simply rearranged itself.
caleb adjusts his pace, keeping you in sight as the street bends.
he has time.
the man beside you laughs again. that stupid, easy smile. almost cute.
it makes calebâs jaw tighten just enough to feel pleasure. almost, he thinks, but not quite. caleb lets the rain slick street guide his steps, following quietly, calculating.
and by the time the two of you reach your porch, by the time you finally went inside to leave your little friend alone, when he turns to an alleyway that cuts through to a side street, caleb is ready. the timing is preciseâhe lunges the instant the man is slightly ahead, stepping into the narrow corridor as if it belongs only to him.
the man doesnât understand immediately, feeling calebâs strong hands find his throat without warning. strength measured and restraint practiced. the alley swallows his sounds, struggling against the ground, coughing and gasping.
âwhatâwhat the hellâ?â your friend chokes out, wide-eyed.
caleb says nothing, he just watches the movement of the manâs chest, watches the panic flare. he imagines your terrified face if you were here. it steels him.
the man fights back, strong enough to shove him off for a moment. "what's wrong with youâ?" a punch lands, catching caleb's mouth. a quick, sharp pain. he tastes a bit of blood but doesnât falter.
instead, he pivots, countering immediately. the punches become a rhythm, measured but a bit out of place. he doesnât lose himself in anger; every movement designed to correct, to remove obstacles.
finally, he finds what he needs: a large, irregular stone at the edge of the alley. itâs heavy.
he swings.
the sharp edge of the form slams against the man's hard temple, and instantly he falls against the concrete once more. "fuck youâ!" and he's cut off by caleb's yet another swing.
again, "ghh!" and again, and again, blood starts to paint caleb's cheek, and again, "augh!" each time imagining only the one whose presence justifies the act. the man's face is already pooled with nothing but red, eyes unalive, unblinking.
at last, unconsciousness. caleb pants, chest and shoulders rising. he drops the stone, and the alley is now silent except for the pattering rain.
he looks down.
the man isnât moving now. caleb doesnât crouch immediately. he knows better than to rush the end of things. stillness has a texture to it; he waits until itâs certain. until the body has decided what it is.
only then does he kneel.
your name drifts through his mind, more like a constant hum. and his mouth aches faintly, he tastes it with his tongue and tastes copper. how inconvenient. caleb exhales once, steadying himself, and reaches for the manâs collar.
âsorry,â he pulls the shirt up and over the manâs head with careful efficiency. fabric tears a little at the seam. he folds the cloth and uses it to wipe his mouth, his knuckles, then the edge of his jaw. he presses firmly but not roughly. thereâs no reason to bruise himself further.
he works methodically, cleaning until his skin looks like his again. the shirt darkens with use, absorbing what shouldnât be seen. when heâs done, he wraps it around the manâs hands, then his faceâgentle, almost considerate. modesty should still be a habit...
he checks his reflection in a darkened window at the end of the alley.
a little pale, eyes bright, face bruised from your friend's punch, with a few of his damp fringes sticking to his forehead.
as for the restâheâs already thought it through. the alley opens into a service road, thereâs a construction site two blocks down, poorly fenced and poorly lit.
he grips the man beneath the arms and drags him a short distance, adjusting when necessary. itâs heavier than heâd like, but manageable.
all the while, he imagines you at home. maybe youâre already inside, shoes kicked off neatly by the door. maybe youâve forgotten about the burger entirely. you tend to do thatârelease things once theyâre no longer relevant.
he likes that about you.
caleb checks the time on his phone.
too late, by most standards. late enough that reasonable people would call it a night, late enough that the rainâstill falling, thin and persistentâhas driven everyone sensible indoors. the screen glows briefly against his damp palm before he slips the phone away.
he buys the burger again, because he accidentally stepped on the one he bought earlier while he was disposing the remnants of an added body count. the cashier doesnât recognize him; caleb looks different now, hair still wet, backpack sagging and misshapen from rain and weight. his umbrella is gone somewhere behind him in the city, forgotten and surrendered.
the paper bag is warm when he steps back outside. he walks the rest of the way without shelter, rain darkening his clothes further, water threading down his neck, soaking the strap of his backpack until it clings unpleasantly to his shoulder.
he doesnât rush.
by the time he reaches your house, he looks like heâs been through a disaster, with shoes leaving faint, damp prints on your porch.
he rings the doorbell once. he's known your address because of your recent study session with your blockmates together, or did he really?
inside, he hears movement. and then the door opens.
you freeze, just slightly.
your eyes take him in without asking permission: the state of him, the wet hair pushed back from his forehead, the way rain has sharpened the lines of his face instead of softening them. he looks worn-down and absurdly composed all at once. still⊠him.
âcaleb?â you say, incredibly confused. âwhatââ
he lifts the bag gently between you, like an offering. âyou wanted a burger,â he smiles, voice low. âfigured you might still be hungry.â
you stare at the bag, then at him. âiâdidn't you read my text?â
âmm, i know.â
that only confuses you more...
rain drips from his sleeve onto your doorstep. you donât move out of the way. youâre still processingâhis presence, the timing, the contradiction. he watches it all with quiet attentiveness, cataloging the way your expression shifts, the way your hand lifts halfway and stops.
âyouâre very soaked,â you say finally. thereâs a faint edge of distress now, practical in nature. âwhy are youââ
he doesnât answer. he steps closer instead, just enough that the warmth from inside your home brushes against his skin. his knees feel suddenly unreliable, like theyâve been holding a line longer than intended.
you reach for the bag, fingers closing around the warm paper. âcaleb, this isââ
thatâs when he lets go.
not dramatically, not all at once. his weight simply tips forward, the last of his restraint slipping quietly away. his head brushes past your cheek, and then heâs thereâcollapsed against you, shoulder to shoulder, heavier than you expected.
âcalebâ?â you gasp, startled, instinctively catching him. âwhatâs wrong?â
his head rests briefly against your shoulder, damp hair brushing your collarbone. for a secondâjust oneâhe allows himself to feel the simple fact of you holding him up.
âsorry,â he murmurs, faint and sincere. âguess i pushed it a bit, pip.â
your arms tense, unsure where to go, what to do. youâre not thinking about his feelings. youâre thinking about the mess heâs tracking in instead, the absurdity of a burger pressed between you.
âyouâre⊠youâre bleeding?â you say, noticing his mouth, the faint mark he didnât quite erase.
âitâs... nothing,â he answers, already closing his eyes, before completely fainting.
~
consciousness returns to caleb slowly, like a tide that doesnât announce itself.
first, thereâs softness beneath him. but it's not the rigid give of a couch or the utilitarian flatness of a mattress he knows.
he blinks.
the ceiling comes into focusâplain, faintly shadowed by light from the street filtering through curtains. his eyes drift, cataloging before understanding. the faint scent in the room isnât detergent or rain. itâs you. something heâs only ever encountered in fragments before.
he exhales.
his body registers itself next. same clothes are still on. damp, but not against fabricâthereâs a towel beneath him, folded carefully, placed with intention so the bed wouldnât absorb what he brought in from outside.
he turns his head.
youâre sitting beside the bed in a simple chair with a small basin on the floor near your feet. youâre wringing out a towel between your hands, itâs much tinier than the one beneath him.
for him.
you donât look at him immediately. âyouâre finally awake,â
âhello,â his voice is rougher than he expects. he swallows.
you stand and step closer, bringing the towel with you. he watches the way you fold it once before lifting it to his face. gentle pressure at the corner of his mouth, cool against the bruise.
âwhat happened?â you ask. âdid you get into a fight?â
caleb considers the truthânot the whole of it, just the outline. he measures how much weight the word can carry without collapsing the structure youâre both standing on. ââŠyeah, i did.â
itâs enough.
you frown slightly. not in disappointmentâmore like concern redirected inward, calculating what that means. whether it needs follow-up, whether it explains the state you found him in. âyou should be more careful,â you say, absently, as you dab at his lip again.
âi'm sorry,â he murmurs, because thatâs what fits there.
your focus doesnât waver as you clean the edge of the bruise, fingers brushing his skin with unthinking precision.
he feels it everywhere. his body reacts before his mind can smooth it over. heat creeps up his neck, and his ears feel too warm. heâs acutely aware of the way heâs lying in your bed, the way youâre standing so close, the way your attention is fixed on him without reverence or fear.
youâre not tending to him because you care about his inner life. youâre doing it because itâs necessary, thatâs what makes it unbearable.
his fingers twitch once against the sheets, then still. he doesnât want to move. movement might fracture this moment, and he wants it intact.
âdoes it hurt?â you finally look at him properly.
âno, not really, pips.â
you hum softly, accepting the answer without probing. you finish with the towel and step back, setting it aside. he immediately feels the distance.
his chest feels light and jittery, alive in a way thatâs almost inconvenient. heâs exactly where he wants to be.
you come back with a shirt folded over your arm.
itâs yoursâoversized even on you. you hold it out to him, eyes already drifting toward the door as if the exchange is finished the moment it begins. âthis should fit, you should change. your clothes are still damp.â
caleb pushes himself up on his elbows, the movement slower than necessary. he takes the shirt, fingers brushing the fabric, âokay,â
you turn, already halfway out of the room, when his hand closes around your wrist. the contact alone is enough to stop you, unexpected weight anchoring you in place.
you look back at him.
calebâs expression is... careful and faintly apologetic, vulnerable in a way thatâs been curated rather than stumbled into. his grip remains gentle, almost tentative, as if heâs waiting to see whether youâll pull away.
âhey,â he says softly. âcan youâwait a second?â
your brow furrows. âwhat?â
he exhales, a small sound, and shifts just enough to wince, deliberately. âi think i pulled something,â he frowns at himself. âmy torso feels⊠really sore. 's hard to move.â
you glance at him, unconvinced. your eyes flickânot to his face, but to his arms. his biceps, still defined even slack.
âyou?â you tilt your head. âwith those arms? youâll survive.â
caleb huffs a quiet laugh, corner of his mouth lifting. âbig guys feel pain too, you know.â
itâs almost playful. but you frown, unimpressed.
he looks up at you then, properly, lashes lowered, expression softening into something deliberately pitiful. a practiced helplessness, remniscient of a puppy. the kind that works on people who want to believe in it.
you donât.
your wrist remains in his hand, and you sigh.
âfine,â you reach for the edge of his jacket. âdonât be dramatic.â
calebâs breath catchesânot visibly, not enough that youâd comment on itâbut he feels it all the same. you undo the buttons with brisk efficiency, tug the fabric free from his shoulders. the jacket slips off and lands folded on the chair.
next is the polo. your fingers brush his side as you lift it over his head. the contact is brief, incidental, but it lights something sharp and electric under his skin. he keeps his eyes on the wall behind you, jaw tight, as if looking at you directly might undo him.
the undershirt comes last.
you pause, just barely. âarms up,â and he does.
fabric slides upward, peeling away inch by inch. his torso is bare now, marked only by faint tension and the shallow rise and fall of his breathing. caleb feels it thenâthe space between you narrowing, the quiet thickening. he wonders, absurdly, if you feel it too.
you do.
you just donât let it show.
your gaze flicks down despite yourself, a glance you probably didnât intend to give, catching on the lines of his abdomen, his abs, before snapping back up.
he gulps.
you clear your throat and step back, folding the damp clothes with unnecessary firmness. âthere, youâre fine. next time, donât overdo it.â
he doesnât answer. he just looks at you with a softened, open expression that hovers somewhere between need and embarrassment, like heâs been caught wanting something he knows better than to ask for.
you notice. ââŠwhat?â you say, exasperated. âdonât tell me you need help putting the shirt on too?â
his head shakes immediately. ânoâno, iâm good,â he says, voice a little too quick. âjustâuh. sore. i can manage.â
he reaches for the shirt you brought, grateful for the barrier, and pulls it over his head. it hangs loose on him, fabric skimming his torso instead of clinging. yours, unmistakably. caleb smooths it down, grounding himself in the feel of it.
you watch for a moment, âdo you need to change your bottoms too? i can look for something.â
âitâs okay, iâm fine.â
you accept that easily. too easily. you nod once, already halfway turned away when he says your name.
you stop and look back at him again, one brow lifting in mild question. patient, but faintly expectantâlike youâre bracing for something inconvenient.
caleb swallows. âhey,â he rubs the back of his neck, shoulders slightly hunched now that the moment has caught up to him. âthank you, for taking care 'f me. and for the shirt. andââ he gestures vaguely, encompassing the room. âfor everything.â
his smile comes easy, the familiar one. boyish and a little cheeky.
you look at him for a beat. then your mouth curves, just a little. âyouâre welcome, try not to get into fights every time it rains.â
caleb laughs, a soft huff of a sound. âno promises.â
something in his chest loosensâthen tightens again, because the smile you gave him wasnât deep, it was real. you didnât owe it to him, and thatâs exactly why it lands.
he feels it settle in his bones.
for one reckless, vivid second, he wants to close the distance between you. to grab you, lift you, press his mouth to yours and feel the thought stop being hypothetical.
the image flashes bright and dangerous, so immediate it nearly makes him dizzy.
he doesnât move. instead, he looks at you.
really looksâletting the feeling burn quietly behind his eyes while his face stays harmless. the boy-next-door facade fits him well. people trust it. you trust it.
the words "i like you" hover at the back of his throat. they feel insufficient, premature, and clumsy. saying them now would be like knocking on a door that isnât meant to be opened yet.
so he doesnât say anything at all.
~
two weeks pass.
caleb measures them anyway. he starts to show up more. when you leave class, when youâre deciding where to eat, when youâre reaching for something you didnât realize you needed help with until heâs already offering it.
his timing is always impeccable. too impeccable, if anyone were paying attention.
you donât comment on it.
you remain as you always are: calm, receptive in a practical way. you accept whatâs useful. you decline what isnât.
and caleb watches for a change that never comesâ there's no softening, no emotional echoes. and still, he persists.
it keeps happening. the music he puts on when youâre in the carâsongs you never said you liked, only listened to once when you thought you were alone. the way he orders food exactly how you prefer it, down to exclusions youâve never bothered correcting in other people. the books he recommends, always landing a little too close to your taste.
âweâre quite similar,â he answers once, when you raise an eyebrow at yet another coincidence.
âi guess,â you reply, unconcerned.
and then, one friday night, the house is already overflowing when caleb arrives at the party he's been invited into.
people call his name the moment he steps inside, bunch of hands clap his shoulders. someone presses a drink into his palm without asking, and a girl he barely remembers leans in, laughing too close, eyes bright with expectation. "you've finally arrived!"
he grins, of course he does.
itâs the right response. it keeps things easy.
but he doesnât move far from the wall near the living room, where the shadows soften the edges of things. he plants himself there, with eyes drifting instinctively toward the front door every few seconds.
he heard you were coming.
one of the seniors mentioned it casuallyâoh, yeah, she said she might drop by laterâand that alone had tipped the scale. caleb hadnât planned on staying long tonight, but you give shape to things.
so he waits.
the music grows louder with the bass vibrating through the floor, through his ribs. people dance, shout, spill drinks. a girl brushes his arm and smiles like it means something. he smiles back automatically, then looks past her head.
not you.
his brow tightens, just a little.
where are you?
he checks the time on his phone with just a glance. it's still early. youâre not late yet. youâre just⊠not here.
caleb tells himself this is fine. you donât owe the night anything. you donât owe him anything.
still, he keeps watching the door.
laughter erupts somewhere behind him. one of his friends grabs his wrist, tries to pull him into the center of the room. âcome on,â they shout over the music. âdonât be boring.â
caleb laughs, lets himself be tugged a step forward, then gently disentangles.
âin a bit,â he winks. âiâm good here.â
he returns to the corner like itâs gravity, like the space is meant to hold him. from here, he can see everything. the staircase. the kitchen. the front door. he catalogs faces as they come and go, dismissing them almost instantly.
not you.
not you.
not you.
the longer it goes on, the harder it is to keep the smile in place. his frown deepens without him noticing, an expression out of sync with the rest of the room. around him, people are laughing, carefree, loud with borrowed joy.
caleb feels oddly detached from it all.
he imagines you arriving laterâquietly, maybe, scanning the room once before committing. he imagines spotting you immediately, the way he always does. imagines the subtle recalibration of the night the moment youâre present.
suddenly, someone hooks an arm around his neck and laughs straight into his ear. âdo it,â his friend yells, already half-dancing. âcome on. you always do it.â
caleb exhales through a smile that doesnât quite reach his eyes. âno,â he shakes his head. âiâm not in the mood.â
âyouâre never âin the mood,ââ another voice cuts in. âthatâs why itâs funny.â
hands push at his back, nudging him forward. the music surges, bass heavy enough to feel like a second pulse. caleb resists for a moment longer out of habit, itâs easier to give in than to explain why heâs been standing still for nearly an hour, eyes fixed on the front door like heâs waiting for something to break.
âfine,â he lifts both hands in mock surrender. âone minute, alright?â
and they cheer like theyâve won something, so he lets himself be pulled into the center of the room, where the lights are brighter and the air is warmer, thick with sweat and perfume and noise.
someone presses a bottle into his handâwater, thankfullyâand before he can think better of it, the crowd starts chanting his name.
caleb laughs, genuinely this time. it bubbles up despite himself, because distraction is useful. he moves with the rhythm easily, and he tips the bottle over his head and lets the water spill freely, soaking his hair, streaking down his face and neck, plastering his white shirt to his torso.
the reaction is immediate. the scene causes screams to cut through the music, the attention is loud and uncomplicated and flattering in the most shallow way.
caleb grins, spins once, lifts the bottle again and spills the last of it down his chest.
for a brief, reckless stretch of seconds, itâs fun. genuinely. the kind of fun that asks nothing of him beyond being seen.
and thenâ
he sees you.
youâre standing just off to the side, near the edge of the room where the lights dim and the crowd thins, watching.
your eyes meet his.
and then, everything else falls away.
the music dulls like itâs been wrapped in cloth. the shouting fades to a low, distant roar. calebâs smile falters, muscles forgetting what they were doing. his heart even stutters, then pounds so hard it makes him lightheaded.
youâre wearing a dress.
it shouldnât matter but it does. it falls against you effortlessly, like it was always meant to.
you were watching him and the realization burns. he feels suddenly exposed, absurdly aware of his wet shirt, his damp hair, the heat still radiating off him from movement and attention. the contrast between the spectacle heâs making and the quiet way youâre seeing him makes his chest tighten painfully.
his body stops moving entirely.
then you look away.
just like that.
you turn, slipping through the bodies with the same unhurried ease you always have, as if nothing significant has occurred. as if you havenât just rearranged him from the inside out. you donât even glance back.
caleb almost jolts.
his breath comes shallow, his hand tightening reflexively around the empty bottle before he drops it to the floor.
someone calls his name again, laughing, reaching for him.
but he pulls free.
âhey, whereâre you going?â
he doesnât answer.
he pushes through the crowd, eyes scanning desperately for the curve of your shoulder, the fall of your hair.
the room feels wrong nowâit's too loud, too bright, and too crowded. his heart wonât slow down. his thoughts fracture, scattering around a single, urgent point.
donât leave yet.
he moves faster, following the path you took, letting instinct override everything else.
he has to see you again.
the crowd thins as he moves toward the back of the house, the noise loosening its grip the closer he gets to the open doors. and there you are, seated near the pool, slightly apart from the chaos.
people are clustered around youâlaughing loudly, perhaps tipsy with limbs slung carelessly over deck chairs. someone jumps into the water fully clothed. another spills a drink and doesnât care. you sit at the edge of it all, cup in hand, smiling.
caleb slows.
are you drinking?
the question hits him harder than it should. he watches the way you lift the cup, the way your fingers curl around it.
your expression doesnât give anything away. you donât look loose, or dulled, or different. you look exactly like yourself.
good.
then someone notices him.
âoh shit,â a girl laughs, nudging the person beside her. âitâs caleb.â
heads turn, and the circle opens.
âget over here,â someone calls, waving him closer. âwhyâre you hiding?â
you look up then.
and your eyes meet his again, briefly. no surprise this time, just recognition. like spotting a familiar object in a room you already understand.
caleb steps forward, heart steadying as he joins the group. his shirt is still damp, clinging in places, loose in others. he feels the cool night air against his skin in a way that makes him acutely aware of his body.
one of them whistles. âdamn. the wet look works on you.â
âyeah,â another voice adds. âhe really was overdoing it back there... don't do that unless you want them to keep fawning over you.â
caleb laughs, soft and easy, lifting his shoulders in a small shrug. âi'll keep that in mind.â
the conversation shifts quicklyâschool gossip, someoneâs messy breakup, a professor everyone hates, and rumors about who hooked up with who. caleb listens just enough to respond when expected, nodding, smiling, reacting at the right moments.
but his attention keeps drifting.
of course to you.
he steals glances when he thinks no oneâs watching. the way your smile flickers when someone says something amusing. the way you tilt your head as you listen, engagedâbut not invested.
you speak occasionally, concise and measured, then fall quiet again.
you never look at him.
itâs not avoidance, itâs indifference, pure and unadorned.
you donât glance his way. you donât seek him out. you donât acknowledge the way heâs angled slightly toward you, attention bent in your direction like a compass needle that refuses to behave.
he smiles at a joke someone makes, laughs when itâs appropriate, but all the while his eyes keep betraying himâslipping back to you, again and again.
someone laughs too loudly and says, âokay, but seriouslyâlet's talk about crushes.â
a chorus of groans and cheers follows. couples are named, denied, and confirmed. someone admits to texting their ex. someone else pretends not to care.
then the attention tilts toward you. âwhat about you?â a guy asks, leaning back on his hands. âyou seeing anyone?â
you shake your head lightly. âno.â
âbut do you want to? likeâare you planning to get into a relationship anytime soon?â
calebâs spine straightens without him realizing it. the noise around him fades just enough for your answer to matter too much.
you hum, thoughtful. âi donât know.. maybe.â
âthatâs not an answer,â someone teases.
âokay, thenâdo you have a crush?â
thereâs a beat.
you say, âperhaps i do.â
calebâs heart stutters. itâs not cinematic. itâs the quiet, visceral sensation of something missing a step and never quite landing where it should. his breath catches. his fingers curl slightly at his side.
you have a crush...?
his mind races ahead of itself, cataloging faces, voices, hands that might have lingered too close to you. anyone who has laughed with you too easily. anyone who has walked you home. anyone who has dared toâ
you just look at caleb, eyes unreadable, holding his for a second too long to be accidental.
his system short-circuits, eyes widening a fraction before he can stop them.
the world sharpens and blurs at the same time. he forgets how to sit like a normal person, how to smile on cue, how to breathe without effort.
you look away, and then you sway.
it happens too fast.
your shoulders dip as your hand comes up to your head like youâre trying to catch it before it falls. your cup tilts, liquid spilling a bit darkly down the front of your clothes, splashing onto the concrete.
âwhoaâheyââ
âare you okay?â
caleb registers the number only distantlyâsomeone muttering, half-impressed, half-alarmed, âsheâs had like⊠nine shots, right?ââas if itâs trivia, not explanation.
youâre drunk, more than he thought, more than you should be.
your cup slips from your fingers entirely this time, clattering uselessly as you press your palm to your temple, frowning faintly like the sensation is inconvenient rather than alarming.
âsheâs fine,â someone says, uncertain.
caleb is the one who speaks next.
âhey,â he lifts his hands in a calming gesture. âletâs not make it a whole thing. she just needs to lie down for a bit. donât kill the vibe.â it sounds generous, almost thoughtful.
no one argues right away.
caleb steps closer, and his arm slides behind your back, steadying you before anyone else can decide to do it. âiâve got her,â he adds, already committing to the role.
someone snorts. âlook at you.â
âdidnât know you were like that, caleb.â
he laughs, soft and unbothered, and bends without ceremony. one arm under your knees, the other at your back. you make a small, incoherent sound as he lifts you, surprised by the sudden absence of the ground.
youâre lighter than he imagined.
your body settles against his chest instinctively, head tipping toward his shoulder. your fingers clutch weakly at his damp shirt, more reflex than intention.
the group watches and a few eyes narrow, a few smiles turn teasing instead of amused.
âtaking her upstairs already? bold.â
caleb glances over his shoulder, grin easy and boyish. âjust gonna let her sleep it off, it's best to bring her back when sheâs not about to pass out.â
itâs said with such natural confidence that it closes the subject. the attention drifts back to the pool, the drinks, the noise. suspicion dissolves into disinterest.
good, he thinks.
he turns toward the stairs, indulging in the quiet thrill of itâthe way your weight presses into him, warm and unresisting. your head bumps lightly against his collarbone as he climbs, words slipping out of you in fragments.
âhey,â he murmurs, amused. âeasy.â
you donât answer. your eyes are half-lidded, unfocused, lashes dark against your cheeks. each step creaks underfoot. the party noise fades behind him, replaced by the dull hush of the upper floor.
âyou really overdid it, you know that?â he says lightly, as if you can still comprehend him. ânine shots... impressive, irresponsible, iâm a little proud.â
your head tilts toward his voice. he imagines you listening, he imagines you understanding. âdonât worry though,â he adds, adjusting his grip, âiâve got you.â
he carries you down the hall, savoring the simplicity of itâthe way the night has finally narrowed to just the two of you. and he doesnât hurry at all.
he fumbles for the door with his shoulder, nudging it open inch by inch while keeping his hold on you steady.
then he steps inside and eases the door shut behind him, the click sounds louder than it should.
âokay, here we are.â
the bed creaks softly as he lowers you onto it, careful, impossibly careful, like you might bruise from the wrong kind of attention. he adjusts you so your head meets the pillow, one hand lingering at your side longer than necessary before he pulls back.
for a second, youâre still.
then you stir.
your eyes flutter open, brows knitting together in faint protest. you push yourself up on your elbows, unsteady but stubborn. âiâm okay,â you mumble, words slurring into each other. âiâm fine. i canââ
ânope. lie down. youâre not fineâyouâre drunk.â caleb presses his palm to your shoulder, just enough pressure to guide you back down. "you took care of me last time, now it's my turn."
you let out a small sound of complaint as you sink back into the mattress. your head rolls to the side, hair spilling messily across the pillow.
god.
he exhales slowly through his nose, grounding himself. you look unreal like thisâsoftened by exhaustion with defenses dulled, mouth parted slightly as if mid-thought you forgot to finish. it would be so easy.
he doesnât move closer.
he wonât.
âyou really went all in tonight,â he says lightly, trying to keep the warmth in his voice from tipping into something else. âoverachiever.â
you respond with a string of quiet nonsense, syllables bumping into each other without direction. something about the music. something about being tired. something that might be his nameâor might not.
he smiles despite himself. âyeah,â he murmurs, indulging you. âi know. totally makes sense.â
he reaches out, fingers hovering for a heartbeat before he lets himself touch you at all. just your hair. just that. he tucks a loose strand back from your face, knuckles grazing your temple by accident.
you sigh, content, eyes slipping shut again.
that sound hits him low and dangerous.
âthere you go,â he whispers, almost absurdly gentle. âjust sleep, okay? iâve got you.â
you mumble again, softer this time, words dissolving before they can mean anything. he answers anyway, nodding, âmmhmm. yeah. i know.â
his hand lingers at the edge of your hair, then withdraws, curling into a fist at his side as if to physically hold himself in place. his chest feels too full, too tight, emotion pressing up against restraint until it almost trembles.
he loves you in a way that feels unmanageable.
suddenly, a knock sounded.
three quick raps against the door, cutting straight through the quiet heâd carved out for the two of you.
calebâs expression changes instantly.
the softness drains from his face, replaced by something colderâan irritation that settles deep and heavy in his chest. his jaw tightens. how dare anyone interrupt this. how dare they intrude on a moment that finally feels contained.
he exhales through his nose and stands.
âone second,â
when he opens the door, thereâs a guy standing thereâsomeone from the party, flushed and curious, holding a red cup like an excuse. âoh,â the guy says, blinking. âcaleb?â
âwhat,â caleb replies, already halfway to a glare.
the guy hesitates. glances past him, triesâand failsâto see into the room. âuh, nothing. never mind.â he shrugs, backs away with a sheepish laugh, and disappears down the hall.
caleb doesnât watch him go. he shuts the door immediately and turns the lock with a firm, deliberate twist. the sound of it clicking into place settles something in him.
only then does he turn back around.
youâre still on the bed, exactly where he left you. sometime in the last minute, you mustâve shiftedâyour dress has ridden up slightly, fabric caught higher on your thighs than before.
itâs nothing.
caleb inhales through his mouth, slow and careful, like heâs bracing against a wave.
his gaze fixes for a second too long before he forces it away, muscles in his arms flexing as he resists the instinct to reach, to adjust, to touch.
not like this.
he swallows, grounding himself with the simple facts: youâre drunk. you trusted him. youâre asleep because you feel safe, and that matters more than anything else.
still, his restraint creaks under the weight of how close he is, how easy it would be to blur lines heâs spent so long perfecting. âget it together,â his eyes return to your face instead, but the yearning doesnât leave. it never does.
sighing, he runs a hand through his messy hair, his eyes refocusing on your sleeping form once more. you really do look cute like thatâŠ
at that moment, you shift in your sleepâthe covers around you sliding down your torso as you flip to your other side. immediately, caleb's gaze focuses in on your squished-together cleavage, and his cheeks redden. how could you wear such a dress like that? shouldn't you be weary in a party?
his eyes begin to rake over your soft skinâsettling on the curve of your neck, as he imagines how pretty youâd look covered in his hickies. a dull ache settles in his gut, and while he knows he should stop, he continues to let his mind wander.
he imagines your breasts in his hands, and the quiet little sounds youâd make as he touched youâunable to help yourself. heâs sure your skin is very soft, and he wants to caress every inch of it, until he knows of each mole, scar, or otherwise.
shit, he thinks to himself, hand moving down to palm at his crotch. heâs hard thanks to his roaming imagination, but as much as he wants to touch you, that would be really wrong... right?
caleb swallows harshly, and despite himself, his hand reaches down to grab the edge of your covers. slowly, he peels them down your sleeping formânot too surprised that you donât awake. one of your friends had joked about your sleeping habitsâone being that once you got to sleep, it was very hard to wake you during the first few hours.
he hates that he gets aroused at the idea of touching you while youâre unaware. butâŠit would be so easy. so easy to just slip your tank top down your shouldersâŠlistening to you quietly moan while he sucks on your titsâhis fingers finding their way beneath your shortsâŠ
before he can think twice, he finds himself lowering onto the bed beside you. gently, he grips your shoulder and rolls you onto your back, releasing a breath he hadnât realized heâd been holding when you donât stir.
surely, he'd be going to hell for this...
reaching out, he cups your breast though your shirtâthe flesh squishing beneath his fingertips. he feels your nipple hardenâpressing up against the flat of his palmâand a quiet chuckle sneaks past his lips. even in your sleep, your body canât deny its desires, huh?
gaining a little courage, caleb slips the straps of your dress off of your shouldersâadditional inches of skin becoming exposed to his hungry eyes. and despite wanting to rip it off of youâhe works slowlyâpeeling the fabric down inch by inch until finally, your breasts are fully accessible.
abruptly, he leans overâflattening his tongue against one of your nipples and giving an experimental lick. at the sensation, your breathing hitches slightly, but you donât awaken. it makes him grin, hand reaching out to claim the other mound as his mouth continues working at the present one.
despite being asleep, itâs clear that your body has sensed a change. quiet whines begin to build in your throatâeyebrows furrowing on your forehead. however, the sounds only urge caleb to proceed.
his tongue continues swirling around your taut nippleâteeth gently nipping at the bud on occasion, and the whines that leave you in response has his cock straining against his underwear. without ceasing, his eyes drag down your torso, pausing at the crotch of your shorts. he can see your thighs clenching ever so slightly.
âpipsqueak....â he mumbles to himself, his hot breath fanning against you. âdo you want something to happen between us? that the reason why you're wearing this dress?â
caleb sucks your tit into his mouth a bit more harder, and you mewl beneath him. you stir slightly, your limbs stretching against the sheets, but caleb is too distracted to care. if you wake up, then you wake up. however, until then, he has no intention of stopping.
his chest fills with a warmth so complete it almost hurts. thisâthisâis how it was always supposed to be.
thenâ
the fantasy fractures.
caleb blinks, sharply, like waking from a dream.
heâs still there, standing near the door.
the bed is still between you, and the light hasnât changed, and the door is still locked. youâre still asleep, unaware of him in every way that matters. his hands are empty, hanging stiffly at his sides.
nothing happened.
the absence is... jarring. his mouth feels wrong, like itâs remembering pressure that was never there. his heart pounds too fast, as if itâs been fooled into thinking something has already been claimed.
he exhales, dragging a hand down his face. âjesus,â
he straightens, forcing his weight back onto his heels, reestablishing distance like itâs a rule he has to keep reminding himself of. âyouâre unbelievable,â
the thought that he could be cruelâthat cruelâsettles heavy in his chest. not because he fears crossing the line, but because he knows how badly he wants to pretend itâs already gone.
it settles low and insistent, a pressure that makes his stomach knot and his breath go shallow. caleb stays where he is for a moment too long, staring at the line of your body beneath borrowed sheets, at the quiet trust written into the way you sleep.
he turns away abruptly, like the sight of you has burned him. his steps are quiet as he crosses the room, the bathroom door is right there, just across the bed. close enough to feel like an escape route heâs been pretending not to see.
and in there he goes to work on himself.
one hand braces against the porcelain, tendons standing out stark beneath his skin. the other reaches down, his long fingers wrapping around the thick, throbbing length of his cock. he could feel every vein, every ridge, every sensitive nerve ending crying out for stimulation. and slowly, torturously, he began to stroke himself, his fingers gliding up and down his aching flesh with a sensual rhythm.
he leans forward slightly, forehead almost touching the mirror, shoulders rising and falling. "ah, fuck,"
the chain around his neck swings faintly. and without thinking, he lifts it and bites down on the dog tag, metal cold against his teeth. the familiar weight gives him something to clench around, something to muffle the sounds that threatens to break loose from his chest.
caleb's breath began to come faster, his chest heaving with the exertion of his strokes as he tried to lose himself in the fantasy, in the imagined scenario of you unwittingly inspiring his lust. his grip tightened, fist pumping faster along his thick shaft.
"fuck, fuck, fuck," he chanted dazedly, his hips starting to rock into his touch. wonder what you'd do if you knew it was you he was thinking about, you he was imagining as he touched himself like this? would you be shocked? aroused? disgusted?
he swallowed back the groan that threatened to spill from his lips, biting down hard on the metal of his dog tag instead.
his strokes grew even more urgent, more desperate, his fist a blur as it flew over his cock. "nmnnghh...!" he could feel the pressure building, the need coiling tighter and tighter in his core.
"i'm.. so...close," his eyes squeezed shut, his other hand gripping hard around the sink's edge until the pleasure bordered on pain, and finally, finally, he came with a silent, shuddering groan that wracked his frame.
thick ropes of cum erupted from his cock, splattering across his hand and dripping down onto the floor. his body jerked and spasmed, his hips bucking wildly as he rode out the waves of his intense release. and still, he bit back the sounds of his rapture, his face contorted in a silent scream of ecstasy.
he rests his back against the cool tile, letting the wall take his weight.
his head tips back just enough to expose his throat, breath shuddering as he triesâagainâto find its rhythm. in through the nose. out through parted lips. slow it down. contain it.
his jaw loosens, and the dog tag slips free from between his teeth and falls back against his chest.
caleb closes his eyes.
for a moment, all he can feel is the aftermathâhis hand slides up to press flat against the door beside him, steadying himself as if the room might tilt.
if he's this lost in just masturbating to the thought of you, what more if he finally gets to be inside you?
god.
it unsettles him how easy it is, how effortlessly you undo him without ever touching him, without even knowing.
just the thought of you reduces him to this quiet wreck trying to remember how to breathe like a normal person. he lets out a soft, humorless laugh under his breath.
âyou have no idea,â
he opens his eyes and stares at nothing, replaying you with surgical clarity: the curve of your mouth when you smile without thinking. the way your voice stays even, never bending toward him the way his bends toward you every time.
the simple fact of your presence, enough to tip him off balance...
~
you wake up with your head split clean down the middle, light pressing too hard against your eyes, your mouth feels really dry and sour with regret. the room is unfamiliarâstripped of the partyâs noise like it never existed. the bed beneath you isnât yours, either.
your phone is on the nightstand, charged, and your shoes are lined up by the door.
someone sure took care of you.
the memory comes back in pieces.
caleb...
you sit up slowly, head throbbing, and scan the room. he isnât here. no messages or anything like that - just the quiet evidence of his presence, already cleaned away. you donât feel panicked. you donât feel grateful either. mostly, you feel mildly inconvenienced by the gap in your memory.
monday morning arrives then.
by the time you make it to campus, the social hall hums with weekday lifeâvoices layered over each other, chairs scraping, the smell of coffee and crowd. you sit with your friends at one of the long tables, hands wrapped around a paper cup, listening as they dissect friday night like itâs a shared dream.
âi donât remember half of it,â someone laughs.
âyou disappeared,â another points out, looking at you. âwe thought you left.â
âmaybe i did,â you say, rubbing your temple. across you, a table away, someone is asleep.
hood pulled low, arms crossed on the table, head turned away just enough that you canât make out his face. his posture is unbothered, like he belongs anywhere he decides to stay. something about the shape of him tugs at your attentionâfamiliar, but not urgent enough to investigate.
your friend keeps talking.
âhey,â she says suddenly, lowering her voice. âhave you seen jaden lately?â
you blink. âno, i haven't,â
âhe hasnât been around,â another adds. âlikeâat all. hasnât replied to anyone. itâs been, what, almost three weeks?â
three weeks?
you frown faintly, thinking. jadenâs name slides through your head and bumps into the memory of rain soaking through your clothes as youâd laughed under a borrowed umbrella, him walking you home, and the wet pavements.
that was the last time, wasnât it?
âmaybe heâs busy,â you say, because itâs the easiest explanation. âor sick.â
someone shrugs. the conversation drifts on, attention pulled elsewhere, already bored of absence.
you take another sip of coffee and glance, without really meaning to, at the sleeping figure across your table.
the hoodie shifts slightly, and his hand moves, just enough to suggest awareness.
you look away.
âmaybe we should check on jaden,â you say, stirring your drink absently. âlike⊠go to his apartment later or something. just to make sure heâs alive.â
a few people nod. someone says, âyeah, do that. i'm starting to get worried of him.â
then someone laughs, sharp and sudden. âoh my god, waitâspeaking of friday.â
you hum in response, distracted.
âthe crush thing,â she continues. âby the pool.â
âyou remember that?â another voice chimes in, grinning at you. âwhen we asked who your crush was?â
you pause.
âyou totally looked at someone, like very obviously.â
âyeah,â someone else adds. âyou looked right atââ
you cut in. âit wasnât obvious.â your tone is flat, mildly corrective.
âcome on,â they insist. âwho was it?â
thereâs a stretch of silence that feels longer than it is.
âi donât really talk about that stuff,â you say.
they groan and continue to push.
âokay, but hypothetically.â
âjust say it.â
âwe already know.â
you sigh. and finally, you give them what they want. âwhat about it if i like caleb?â
the words land without flourish. there's no smile, no nervous laugh. your voice stays even, almost bored with the confession. you continue, as if clarifying a logistical detail. âheâs my type.â
thatâs it.
âoh my god,â someone laughs, leaning closer. âyou know what people say about caleb, right?â
you hum noncommittally, already half-detached as the teasing starts to pile up. âapparently he lives at the gym.â
âyeah, have you seen his back?â
âyou should check his socials,â another adds, grinning. âitâs honestly unfair.â
you roll your eyes, slow and deliberate. âiâm not doing homework on a guy,â you mildly scoff. âif i wanted to look, i would.â
that earns a chorus of groans and mock disappointment. someone nudges your shoulder, someone else mutters that youâre impossible. you let it wash over you, because rumors donât interest you and bodies donât impress you enough to warrant effort. caleb remains, in your mind, exactly what heâs always been.
the bell rings.
chairs scrape back, conversations fracture mid-sentence, and people scatter toward their respective buildings. you stand, sling your bag over your shoulder, and follow the flow without looking back.
you donât see the way the figure at the other table stirs the moment your footsteps fade. the slow lift of his head. the way his body uncoils like heâs been awake far longer than anyone suspects.
caleb slides the hoodie back from his hair.
his face is faintly flushed, color blooming high along his cheekbones. his eyesâa little too wideâtrack the empty space you left behind. a hand comes up, absentminded, to rake through his hair, leaving it artfully disheveled in a way that looks unintentional and isnât.
for a second, he just sits there. then he exhales, something breathless and disbelieving, mouth curving into a smile thatâs soft and stunned all at once.
you like him.
caleb slowly stands, shoulders rolling back as he slips fully into himself again. by the time he moves to join the current of students, heâs wide awake now.
~
after class, the sky has settled into that dull, undecided gray that makes everything feel suspended.
jadenâs building is older than the rest nearbyâthree floors, narrow stairwell, paint chipped thin from years of use. you climb to the third floor with a growing sense of unease, phone already in your hand.
you stop in front of his door to knock.
nothing.
you dial his number as you wait, pressing the phone to your ear, listening to it ring unanswered. you knock again, louder this time. still nothing.
minutes bleed together. ten. twenty. almost thirty.
youâre just starting to consider calling someoneâanyoneâwhen you hear footsteps behind you.
âhey,â a voice says, familiar enough to make you turn immediately. âyou.â
you look over your shoulder.
and itâs... caleb?
heâs dressed downâblack compression shirt clinging cleanly to his torso, sleeves hugging muscle without effort. a black cap shadows his eyes, brim low and casual. heâs carrying two grocery bags, one in each hand.
he pauses when he sees you, eyebrows lifting just a little.
âwhat are you doing here?â you ask, the concern in your voice overriding any social preamble.
he tilts his head, then nods toward the door youâve been knocking on. âi was gonna ask you the same thing.â
you glance back at jadenâs door, then at caleb. âiâm checking on a friend. he hasnât answered anyone in weeks.â
caleb follows your gaze, his expression shifts into a thoughtful one. âoh, well, i live here.â
you blink. âhere?â
he gestures vaguely down the hall, then back toward the door beside you. âyeah, third floor.â
the words settle slowly.
ââŠwait, you and jadenââ
âare neighbors,â caleb finishes easily.
the hallway feels smaller all of a sudden, quieter, like the air has been rearranged around the information.
you didnât know that.
you didnât know a lot of things, apparently.
caleb shifts the grocery bags in his hands, plastic rustling softly. âheâs not answering?â
âno... iâve been here for a while.â
he hums, considering, eyes flicking once more to the door. âthatâs weird,â he says calmly. and somehow, the way he says it makes you feel like it isnât.
he glances at your phone, then at the door again, as if checking the same conclusion you already reached. âhave you eaten?â he asks, casual, like it just occurred to him.
you shake your head. ânot really.â
thereâs a brief pauseâbarely thereâbefore he nods once. âthen while we wait,â he says, shifting the grocery bags in his hands, âyou can come to my place, was about to make dinner anyway.â
you hesitate.
itâs instinctive, the kind of pause you donât consciously justify. this wasnât part of the plan. you were supposed to knock, worry, maybe leave a message taped to a door. not follow someone into their apartment.
caleb doesnât rush you. he just waits, patient, like he already knows how this will go.
ââŠokay,â
his place is a few doors away.
inside, the apartment closes around you with a quiet thud. the interior is stark in a way that feels intentional: concrete tones, sharp lines, furniture chosen for function rather than comfort. itâs quite clean, but not welcoming.
gloomy, you think, without quite meaning it as a criticism.
caleb sets the grocery bags down on the counter and reaches up to pull off his cap. he ruffles his hair once, resetting himself now that youâre here. then he looks at you.
âiâll cook steak, how's that?â
you blink, processing, then nod. âsure.â
you move toward the kitchen island and take a seat on one of the tall chairs, legs dangling slightly as you settle in. the surface is cool beneath your palms. from here, you can see everythingâhis movements, the quiet efficiency with which he unpacks the groceries.
he moves like this is normal.
like this is planned.
he knows youâre watching.
not because youâre obvious about itâyou arenâtâbut because caleb has always been painfully attuned to the way your attention moves.
his back faces you as he cooks. the pan hisses softly, oil blooming into heat. he rolls his shoulders once, sleeves of the compression shirt hugging muscle like it was designed to be admired. he doesnât turn around. he lets you look.
then you stop.
you reach for your phone instead. caleb catches the faint shift in your posture in the reflection of the blackened microwave door.
he's a bit sad you've stopped looking at him. nonetheless, he salts the steak with care, flips it, listens.
your friendâs voice echoes in your headâcheck his social mediaâand you do.
caleb doesnât post. you already knew that. there's no grid, no carefully curated persona. just a profile picture and silence.
exceptâthere's a story posted an hour ago.
your thumb taps before you can reconsider.
itâs a mirror shot with gym lighting, and his back to the glass, shirt pulled just enough to expose the clean, brutal lines of muscle and spine, skin sheened with sweat. the kind of photo that isnât trying to be sexyâand is, because of it.
you feel heat rush up your neck.
caleb smiles to himself.
he turns then, quiet as a thought, and you donât hear him approach. youâre still staring at your phone when his shadow falls over you, close enough that you can smell him.
âyou were really drunk last friday,â he says mildly.
you jolt.
âiââ you lock your phone, flustered and mortified. âiâm sorry. i didnât mean toââ
your words tangle, and caleb watches them fall apart with fond patience. âdid iâŠ,â you hesitate, cheeks warm now for a different reason. âdid i say anything weird? or did anything inappropriate?â
that gets him.
he stills. the pan sizzles behind him, forgotten for half a beat too long. his gaze drops to your faceâalmost tender in how carefully he studies your worry.
inappropriate.
the word is almost funny.
he thinks of your weight against him, your breath, the way you trusted him without ever saying so.
caleb pauses just long enough to make the silence mean something. then he smiles. slowly.
he reaches out before you can interpret it, taps your cheek twice with his palm, light as a promise. âwhat if,â he murmurs, âiâm the one who did something inappropriate?â
he straightens before you can respond, turns back to the stove like he hasnât just tipped the room off its axis.
but his ears are burning.
you stay quiet.
he exhales first. âiâm kidding, you didnât do anything inappropriate. nothing happened.â he doesnât look at you when he says it. he turns back to the stove, gives the steak one last glance, lets the heat kiss it just right. control, caleb reminds himself.
restraint looks good on him. it always has.
when he plates the food, he does it neatly, he sets it down in front of you with a soft clink, the meat resting perfectly with juices glistening. he watches your eyes widen despite yourself.
you dig in almost immediately, hunger winning over caution. caleb leans against the counter, digging in as well, arms folding loosely as he watches you eat like it matters. like you trust what heâs given you.
âthis is really good,â you say around a bite, unguarded.
his smile comes easy at that. âthank you, sweetheart.â
then you pause.
he notices before you do.
your gaze flicks to his mouth, brows knitting just slightly. caleb tilts his head curiouslyâand thatâs when you reach out.
your finger brushes his lip. just once, absent-minded, intimate in a way that isnât trying to be. âyouâve got something,â
caleb stills.
his heart slams so hard it almost hurts.
for half a second, the world narrows to the press of your fingertip, the faint heat of you, the obscene tenderness of the gesture. he doesnât move. doesnât breathe. doesnât dare.
then he laughsâunder his breathâas if that might save him. âcareful,â he says, eyes dropping to his plate. âyou act like that with guys, youâre gonna get yourself a boyfriend real fast.â
you scoff immediately. âno i wonât.â
caleb hums, amused, and thenâwithout thinking, without filtering the thought as he usually doesâhe adds, âyou didnât seem to mind when you were with jaden. laughing and leaning into him under that umbrella.â
you blink.
âhow did youâ?â
caleb blinks back.
shit.
the realization hits him a fraction too late, sharp and sudden. he straightens just a bit. he hadnât meant to say it like that. he hadnât meant to say it at all.
he laughs again, a little louder this time. âpeople talk, you know how it is.â he watches you closely as he says it, watches to see if you believe him. âjadenâs a good guy, from what i hear.â
you take another bite of steak, slower now. âyou sure hear a lot.â
he smiles at that, âonly whatâs worth hearing.â
there it isâthat faint edge beneath the joke. it pricks at you, subtle but present. you glance up at him, the way his eyes stay on you a second too long before flicking away.
âhe hasnât been answering anyone,â you say. âitâs weird.â
âmm.â caleb hums, âheâs like that sometimes, right? just disappears.â
ânot like this.â you pause, watching his reaction. âitâs been weeks.â
caleb tilts his head considering. âpeople change though.â
the way he says it makes your fingers curl faintly against the plate. you let out a breathy laugh, half-joking. âyou sound like you donât like him.â
he chuckles, âi donât dislike him. i just donât think heâs very⊠reliable.â
âand you know that how?â
caleb finally meets your gaze head-on. thereâs warmth thereâalwaysâbut itâs concentrated now, focused in a way that makes your stomach tighten. âi pay attention,â
you should brush it off. you almost do. instead, you find yourself leaning back in the chair. âyou notice a lot about me too,â
âyouâre not hard to notice.â
that should be flattering.
and yet, you swallow. âyou knew what burger i liked, you knew i hadnât eaten today, you knew about jaden and the umbrella.â
caleb lets out a quiet laugh, like youâve amused him. âare those crimes now?â
ânoâŠjust interesting.â
for the first time since you sat down, caleb moves closer. âyou donât mind, do you?â he asks, âme paying attention?â
âi donât know,â
his eyes soften at that, something almost tender flickering through them. but beneath itâyou catch something else. possession, maybe. or anticipation. âthatâs okay, you donât have to know yet.â
you look away first, heart doing something uncomfortable in your chest. part of you wants to push. to ask how he knows so much. why it feels like heâs always one step ahead of your questions.
you finish the last bite slower than the rest, more aware now of the quiet between movements. caleb notices, but he doesnât comment. he simply reaches for your plate when youâre done.
âiâll wash these later,â he says, setting both plates in the sink. he turns back to you, leaning his hip lightly against the counter, and his gaze lingers on you in a way that feels⊠assessing. âdo you still want to stay? i was going to take a half bath.â
you shake your head. âi should get going.â
âthen iâll walk you out,â he says, âafter i rinse off.â
âyou donât have toââ
âitâs fine.â his tone is warm, agreeable. non-negotiable in a way that doesnât raise its voice. âjust a few minutes.â
you hesitate, then nod. âalright...â
thatâs all it takes. he turns away from you and heads toward the bathroom, rolling his shoulders as he goes, already loosening the tension from his body. you watch him disappear past the doorwayâthe broad line of his back, the confident ease of his stepsâuntil the door clicks shut behind him.
you tell yourself youâre only looking because waiting feels awkward, because standing still makes you too aware of the running water down the hall, of the fact that caleb is alone behind a locked door, rinsing heat and effort from his skin while you remain in his space.
you step off the chair quietly.
from calebâs perspectiveâthough heâs not here to see itâyou move the way you always do when youâre thinking, eyes tracing rather than darting, and the apartment opens up to you in fragments.
a book on the side table. not just any bookâone you mentioned once, offhandedly, weeks ago. you never said you owned it. only that you liked the ending. there it is anyway, dog-eared at the same chapter youâd quoted.
a spare mug in the cabinet, chipped in a familiar place. the same brand you keep at home.
even the way the furniture is arranged feels tailored to someone who dislikes clutter, who hates feeling boxed in.
to you.
your curiosity sharpens into something colder.
so you move farther in. the sound of the shower continues steadily, a soft rush through the wall, distant but present. caleb is taking his time. he always does when he thinks he has it.
you stop short at the center table.
thereâs a necklace there. a small, familiar pendant that youâve seen disappear beneath shirts more times than you can count.
jadenâs.
your breath catches, like your body forgot how to finish the inhale. your fingers hover above it, then pull back as if the metal might burn you.
why is this here?
your mind scrambles for explanations that donât quite land. borrowing? coincidence? something youâre missing? but the weight in your chest doesnât lift. it sinks deeper, spreading nauseatingly.
behind you, the hallway seems longer now. calebâs bedroom door is closed. and it shouldnât matter. itâs none of your business. youâve already crossed some invisible line just by being here, by looking.
and yet, the shower keeps running.
you swallow. it's just a peek, you think.
you move down the hallway like youâre trespassing inside a thought that isnât yours.
every step is quiet, your attention split between the closed bedroom door ahead of you and the bathroom behindâwhere the shower still runs. the sound should reassure you. instead, it presses against your nerves, reminding you that caleb is here.
the air feels cooler in the corridor, much denser. you stop in front of his bedroom door. your heart thuds loud enough that youâre certain it must be audible, a traitorous rhythm in your ears as you lift your hand. your fingers hover, trembling just slightly, before curling around the doorknob.
just a peek, you tell yourself again. just enough to quiet the unease.
you donât get the chance to.
before you can turn, a large hand comes down against the doorframe beside your head, close enough that you feel the vibration of it more than you hear it.
you gasp and spin, losing your balance for half a second before instinct catches up.
caleb is there, just stepped out of the bathroom, shirtless, skin still damp, droplets tracing slow paths down his chest and disappearing beneath the waistband of loose black pants. his hair is darkened from the water, and a small towel hangs around his neck to catch its dampness.
from calebâs perspective, the sight of you like thisâcaught mid-reach and eyes wideâis almost unbearable. not because itâs shocking, because itâs intimate. because it feels like heâs walked in on a truth you were trying not to admit to yourself.
he smiles, like this is exactly where he expected to find you.
âwhatâre you doing?â he asks gently.
his voice is calm. too calm. it contrasts painfully with the way your pulse spikes, the way heat floods your face. you open your mouth to answer, but the words donât cooperate. they tangle, stall, dissolve before they can become excuses.
âiâ i was justââ you stop, frustrated, swallowing hard.
caleb doesnât interrupt, nor does he move his hand. he leans slightly closer instead, not enough to touch you, but enough that youâre acutely aware of the warmth radiating from him. his eyes stay on your face, patient, intent, and unblinking.
take your time, he thinks.
finally, you straighten, forcing yourself to breathe evenly, to meet his gaze head-on. ââŠyouâre unsettling me, caleb.â
for a split second, something flickers behind his eyesâsurprise, maybe. then something warmer, almost pleased.
âunsettling?â he repeats softly, like the word interests him. he tilts his head, studying you with an intensity that makes your skin feel too tight. âi didnât mean to make you uncomfortable, but you wandered pretty far in.â
you donât step back.
that, more than anything, is what caleb notices first.
your pulse is loudâhe can see it, jumping at your throatâbut your spine stays straight. your expression settles into something almost flat, as if fear has to pass through several filters before itâs allowed to show. it intrigues him.
you draw in a breath. âyou...watch me too much,â caleb doesnât interrupt, he lets you go on. âyou know things you shouldnât, like- like my habits, my preferences. and jaden. i donât tell you everything, so explain how you know.â
all caleb could think about is how beautiful you are right now.
the way you confront him without dramatics, the way you donât ask why, only how. the way you keep your distance emotionally even now, even cornered in a hallway with his arm blocking the door.
he catches every word and every place where you could have softened and chose not to.
âi pay attention,â he says again, but this time itâs quieter, more honest than it should be.
"really? crossing the line is... paying attention?"
"no line has ever mattered to me when it comes to you."
you scoff, faint and humorless. âthatâs not an answer.â
he smiles wider, the kind of smile people trust. âit is, just not the one youâre expecting.â he shifts his weight, finally lowering his arm from the doorframeâhe wants you to feel like youâve regained ground. âyouâre observant too, you just donât like what this one implies.â
you search his face, clearly trying to decide whether heâs deflecting or confessing. he lets you. heâs good at thisâknows exactly how much to give. âi donât mean to make you uneasy,â he says softly. âbut when you care about someone, you remember things. that doesnât make it sinister.â
care?
he watches how the word lands. how you donât react the way most people would. just a narrowing of your eyes, analytical.
âyouâre twisting it,â you say. âi didnât say you cared.â
âyou didnât have to.â he tilts his head, âif you want me to stop doing something, tell me what it is. donât guess at my intentions. youâll only scare yourself.â
itâs subtle, he reframes your fear as imagination, your instincts as overthinking. and it makes you hesitate just for a second.
youâre scared, yesâbut youâre also curious. and that curiosity is the crack heâs been waiting for. âi donât like feeling like i donât know where i stand,â
caleb nods, as if thatâs the most reasonable thing in the world. âthen stay right here, i wonât move you.â
you donât realize it yetâbut the moment you chose to confront him instead of leaving, heâd already won something. and caleb, patient as ever, is more than happy to let you believe this was your move.
you stand there, barely breathing, and caleb notices every subtle shift in your posture. he takes it all in, cataloging it quietly, a predator and a poet at once.
âi think itâs time,â he murmurs, almost a caress. âtime you understood⊠everything.â
you donât respond. you canât. your chest has tightened so suddenly that every breath feels precious.
he leans slightly, just enough for the shadow of him to fall across your face. âeverything about me. everything i've needed. everything i've⊠wanted.â
his words arenât rushed. theyâre seductive in the quietest, deadliest wayâand youâre just speechless, caught in the pull of his gaze.
âyou donât know how youâre supposed to feel, do you?â he says, a small smirk playing at the corner of his lips. his thumb brushes lightly against your jaw, ghosting a line that makes your pulse jump. âdonât worry...most people donât.â
thereâs a pause, just long enough for your own heartbeat to fill your ears.
maybe the problem isn't me, caleb thinks. maybe... it's you.
âdo you want to hear a secret?â he asks, voice dropping lower.
you just stare at him, flabbergasted, breath hitching.
âgood,â he murmurs, interpreting your silence as consent. âiâll take that as a yes.â
before your brain can even catch up, he moves. his hand cups your chin with an ease that leaves you no choice but to tilt your head up, and the other braces against the door behind you.
"mm-!" his lips press against yours, the heat from his chest pressing fully into yours, and your knees threaten to buckle.
he doesnât pull away, not when youâre beautifully breathless, not when your hands twitch, uncertain where to place them. he leans in just enough that every inch of him presses into your senses.
âyouâre mine,â he whispers against your lips, and itâs not a threat. itâs a promise, and you canât think, canât respond, canât even fully comprehend how tight your body has gone under the weight of it.
from his perspective, every second is perfection: your hesitation, your surprise, the flush rising on your cheeks, the way youâre pinned yet unresisting. he leans in just a fraction more, teeth grazing the soft curve of your lower lip as he deepens the kiss, and he doesnât plan on ever letting go.
he whispers again, âiâve wanted you for so long,â and it vibrates against your skin, against the fragile line of your lips, as if every word is carefully designed to consume you.
you close your eyes, heart hammering in your chest, caught between disbelief and the strange, undeniable comfort of being consumed by him.
âyou feelâŠâ he murmurs against your lips, a vibration you feel more than hear, âso good. so... goddamn.. good.â
his teeth graze your lower lip just enough to make you shiver. he moves down your jawline, tracing it with the same precise attention he uses when memorizing the curves of your body, mapping each line with reverent obsession.
your pulse spikes, your skin feels too hot, too alive. and his hand slides gently around your waist, pulling you closer, anchoring you against him. the other rises slowly, threading into your hair at the nape of your neck, tilting your head so the column of your throat is exposed. he inhales it, lips grazing, tasting, a feather-light press that leaves you breathless.
he whispers again, âyouâre mine⊠mine to notice, mine to keepâŠâ
caleb's damp hair clings to his forehead, strands falling slightly over his eyes. the faint sheen on his skin catches the light from the hallway, highlighting the taut planes of muscle beneath the skinâhis shoulders, chest, arms.
he moves down to your collarbone, lips brushing, teasing, savoring. every exhale against your skin is a confession, a claim, a promise. his hands explore just enough to make you aware of his strength, his control, without ever forcing or frightening you.
he mumbles against your throat, words melting into the skin: âevery piece of you⊠every thought⊠iâve wanted it all. and now i can have just this.â
and for some reason, against all reason, it feels right. you lean into him, surrendering, letting him hold you, map youânot cruelly, but with the slow, dainty precision of someone who has memorized every part of you, who savors each moment as if you were his favorite candy.
caleb smiles against your skin, confident. devastatingly sexy.
you pull away suddenly, hands pressing against his chest with more force than you meant to use.
caleb lets himself be pushed back.
that, more than anything, steals the breath from your lungs.
his body yields easily, a half-step back, palms open at his sides like heâs showing you he never intended to trap you. the space between you snaps open, cold and dizzying.
you turn your face away and breathe. once. twice. again. your heart is loud, disobedient. âitâsââ you start, then stop, swallowing. âitâs too fast.â
caleb watches you like heâs watching weather roll inâyou keep going because stopping feels worse. âiâve never⊠kissed anyone like that. i donât know how far this is supposed to go.â
when you finally look back at him, you realize he hasnât interrupted once. heâs just staring at you.
then he leans in slightly and murmurs, almost to himself, âyou look...beautiful even when youâre overwhelmed.â
ââŠwhat?â
was he even listening?
heat rushes up your neck, straight to your face, traitorous and immediate. your reaction betrays you before you can mask it, and caleb sees itâhis lips curve faintly then.
âi was listening, i just didnât want to stop looking at you.â his hand lifts slowly, deliberately, like heâs giving you time to pull away again if you want to. you donât.
the back of his fingers brush your cheek, feather-light, barely there. then your shoulder. then the curve of your hip, just tracing, like heâs reminding himself youâre real.
your breath catches.
and caleb takes your hand next, guiding it gently, reverently, as if itâs something fragile. he brings it to his mouth and presses a kiss into your knuckles, there's a soundless whimper of devotion more than desire.
he lifts his gaze to yours, eyes undone in a way that feels far more dangerous than confidence. âdo you know how badly youâve imprinted yourself on me?â he whispers.
caleb eases back just enough for you to breathe. it costs him more than you could ever see. âwe can stop, if you want to.â
his body betrays him anyway.
from where you stand, you can see itâthe way his fingers curl slightly, as if resisting the urge to pull you back in. the way he's fixed on you with an intensity that borders on hunger. heâs still close enough that you feel his warmth, still angled toward you like gravity hasnât released its hold.
he means what he says, but he also doesnât want it to be true. inside calebâs head, he begs silently.
don't stop. please donât stop.
his thoughts crowd in, sharp and feverish, all orbiting you. the way your breath hitched when you pulled away, the way your hand felt in his, the way your mouth softened under his. he wantsâno, needsâto continue, to show you how carefully he could unravel you, how deeply he already has.
say yes, his mind pleads. let me keep going. let me prove it.
his chest aches with the force of it, with the restraint heâs forcing on himself. he has done terrible things with calm hands and a clear head. he has crossed lines without flinching, cleaned up messes the world never noticed.
for you.
he doesnât think the words out loud. he never would. but the truth sits heavy and warm in his chest: he has already chosen you over everyone else. irrevocably.
outwardly, he softens his grip, though he doesnât fully let go. his thumb strokes once, unconsciously, over your wristâan echo of possession he hasnât earned yet.
âi donât want to scare you,â caleb says, voice roughened by restraint. âi just⊠want you to choose.â
his eyes search your face, desperate in a way thatâs barely contained, like a fault line just under the surface. heâs smiling, but itâs fragile.
choose me, he thinks. choose this. choose now.
you donât answer himânot yes, not noâand the silence stretches. he exhales softly, a slow sigh that curves into a smile, as if heâs already forgiven you for hesitating.
âitâs okay,â he murmurs, âyou donât have to rush.â
his hand lifts again, unhurried, and this time you donât pull away. from his perspective, this feels like standing at the edge of something sacred.
his finger traces a careful path down the center of your chestâa line of awareness following his touch. he watches your breathing change, then lower, to your stomach, then down to your lower abdomen where he presses lightly, testing, grounding you in the moment.
âdoes that feel good?â he asks.
you donât answer, your silence thrills him more than words ever could.
his finger drifts a little further, right where your clit is. the pressure is firmer now, deliberate but still restrained, as if heâs asking permission without actually asking. he repeats the question, âdoes it?â
your throat works, you hesitate, then you nod.
calebâs breath catches. itâs sharp, involuntary, the kind of reaction he canât fully hide. his smile deepens into satisfaction, eyes flicking up to your face like heâs just been handed proof of something he already knew.
âgood,â he murmurs, approval threaded through the word. "i'll... just do this," he sneaks his hand under your shorts, feeling the dampness of your panty on his digits. this makes you squirm, the back of your hand covering your face. "i'll put it in, okay?" caleb's just about to shove a finger in, when you grab his wrist almost frantically.
"waitâ"
"hmm?" caleb stops short, eyes flicking up to you. "what's wrong, dear?"
"i... isn't that painful?"
his look of curiosity then turns into one of delight, how cute you are. "have you not tried putting your own finger in?"
"wh- why would you ask me that?"
"so i know how many fingers i can put in," caleb drags his voice in a seductive manner, eyes intentionally looking you down. "and how fast i can go," he continues pressing on your clit with little nudges. "and... how deep i should be."
you've lost count of how many times caleb have had your mouth ajar, utterly perplexed at this man's range of quality. there you are again, staring at him with furrowed brows, and despite yourself, you can feel your pussy clenching around nothing at his words.
"let's make a deal, pip," caleb places an open-mouthed kiss on your jawline, and instinctively, you tilt your head and shut your eyes. "every time you don't speak, i'll do whatever i want with you, 'kay?"
"aah!" that's what you let out the second caleb slides a long finger in, your hands flying to his shoulders for something to grip onto.
he catches your mouth, sealing your noises with a feverish lapping while his fingers linger at your slick heat, skimming just enough to make you ache, barely breaching you before retreating again.
when instinct makes you try to escape from his hand, his grip tightens, stopping you coldâand the small sound you make is answered only by his cruel restraint. he pulls his fingers back, not to leave you alone, but to continue tormenting your bud, circling, brushing, deliberately avoiding both your clit and the relief of letting himself sink inside.
without any warning, caleb pulls away and buries his face into your neck, his teeth sink into your skin as two of his fingers slide into you in one smooth motion. a shaky sound slips from your throat, the sharp sting blurring into heat, and when you instinctively try to move away from his hand, he bites you againâan unspoken command to stay still.
you part your lips to tell him to slow down, but he steals the moment from youâhis mouth claiming yours as his fingers drive into you with sudden intent. his tongue presses past your teeth, devouring every broken sound you make, swallowing them whole while his hand moves with an unrelenting rhythm. itâs rough, almost punishing, and he knows itâs exactly what pulls the gasps from your chestâthe obscene, wet sounds of his movements filling the room with every sharp roll of his wrist.
âcâcaleb,â you choke out, between the kisses, your legs threatening to give beneath you, already spiraling toward release as his fingers strike that sensitive place inside you again and again.
"yeah?" caleb breathes, the veins in his arm almost poking out as he makes an effort to piston into you with just two of his fingers.
you roll your head back against the door, arms now wrapping around his neck. you hate how the heat in your gut is starting to betray you. "f-feels good, caleb..." you cry out, tears starting to form around the corners of your eyes.
caleb stills abruptly, the sound of your voice cutting through him like a blade. he pulls back as if struck by the suddenness of it, breath catching. for a moment, he only staresâthen his gaze drops to his own hand, glistening with evidence of just how far heâs pushed you.
a quiet, disbelieving breath leaves him, something between a laugh and a sigh, and that familiar, dangerous smirk curves his mouth.
âlook at you....â he brings a finger to your cheek, caressing the texture of your skin ever so softly. "do you realize how being very good i am right now?" he whispers, " "...you should appreciate how hard this is f'me."
hard?...
"aren't you gunna say anything, bunny?"
you purse your lips together, shy and avoidant. you aren't familiar with these feelings, and you aren't sure how to approach them. so all you settle for is silence. just silence.
but, despite yourself, you like that caleb takes it as consent. that he's doing the honor of adjusting the sails. even though you haven't processed the fact that caleb's admitted his obsession toward you long enough for it to sink into your chest.
all you can understand, right now, is not that caleb had implied of doing horrible things just to keep you in his orbit, but the mere sensation of his hands on you, allover you.
and the way his gaze just tells you to let him in, to let yourself feel him.
so you do.
you lunge forward before you can think better of it, fingers fisting into his damp hair, palms cradling his face as you rise on your toes to crash yourself against him.
the world stops. his eyes squint shut on instinct, then flutter open again in disbelief, ghost-blinking like his mind has short-circuited. this wasnât the script. this wasnât how it was supposed to go.
youâre kissing him.
you chose him.
oh. god.
he makes a sound low in his throat, something broken and reverent all at once, and thatâs all the hesitation he gets. he cannotâwill notâlet this slip through his fingers. his hands move before his thoughts can catch up, sliding securely under your thighs, lifting you with terrifying ease.
youâre suddenly higher, closer, pressed to him as if you were always meant to fit there. he keeps the kiss intact, unbroken, unhurried now that he has you where he wants you, like this is the only reasonable outcome.
his grip is firm but careful, holding you as if youâre something precious heâs finally been allowed to claimâmouth still on yours with a heart thundering with the knowledge that this timeâyou came to him.
caleb carries you across the living area as if the distance is nothing. the room blurs at the edges until the sofa catches the back of his knees and he sinks into it with a soft exhale, cushions swallowing him whole.
you end up straddling his hips without quite realizing how, knees pressing into the give of the pillows, hands braced at his shoulders. for a split second, the closeness startles you bothâthe way your balance shifts, the way his hands hover at your waist, unsure whether to hold or let go.
you don't stop kissing. itâs clumsy in the way first things always are. your mouths donât quite align at first, teeth bumping faintly. caleb lets out a breath that sounds almost like a laugh, smiling into the kiss, relief and wonder softening the sharpness he usually wears so well. he follows your pace instead of setting it, learning you as he goes, tentative and greedy all at once.
your lips part, meet again. tongues brushâhesitant, exploratoryâlike youâre both testing how far the other will go. itâs almost intoxicating not because itâs perfect, but because it isnât. because youâre figuring it out together, right here, tangled up on his sofa like this is the most natural place in the world to be.
unconsciously, you donât register when the kiss stops being just a kiss.
your body has already begun answering for youâthe way your hips rock forward and grind against him isnât intentional, just a restless seeking born from heat and closeness. you think youâre only trying to stay balanced. you think youâre only following the rhythm heâs set.
caleb notices.
his mouth falters first. the kiss breaks unevenly, breath catching sharp between his teeth. when he kisses you again, thereâs a sound this timeâlow, strained, embarrassingly honestâslipping into your mouth before he can stop it. his brows draw together, the smile gone, replaced by something raw and overstimulated.
then his hand closes around your arm.
he pulls you back just enough to break the contact, and the absence hits harder than the closeness ever did. calebâs face is flushed now, color climbing high on his cheekbones, his chest rising and falling too fast.
his gaze drops, just for a second, down belowâthe way his hardening bulge is pressed against your pussyâbefore snapping back up to your face, wide and almost accusatory, like heâs been wronged by his own body.
âdo you even know,â he asks, voice rough and frayed at the edges, âwhat youâre doing to me?â
you shake your head immediately. no, of course not. panic prickles at your skin, fear that you crossed a line you didnât even see. your hands loosen on his shoulders, ready to retreat, ready to apologize.
but caleb doesnât let you move away. instead, he shifts beneath you, giving you a grinding motion upwards. it presses the truth of him into the space between you, heat and tension where there hadnât been any a moment ago.
your breath stutters, because you realize how rock hard caleb is.
his eyes darken, embarrassed and ruined all at once. âthat,â he murmurs, almost helplessly, âthatâs what.â then, quieterâlike itâs a confession he never meant to giveââyouâre making it so much worse.â
and the way he says it makes your face burn, all the way down to your chest, because suddenly you realize this isnât a mistake to him at all.
"i'm sorry... i thought, maybe... that you would like itâ" the words slip out soft and clumsy, tripping over itself the way you suddenly feel. you apologize again, quieter this time, eyes darting away as if youâve misread everything.
caleb doesnât answer right away, and he just looks at you.
with that maddening, knowing ease of hisâhead tipped slightly, mouth curved in a slow, indulgent smile, like heâs watching a child stumble through something inevitable. his eyes donât leave you, not even when you keep talking, explaining yourself, backtracking.
âoh,â he murmurs, voice low and almost amused. âthere you goâŠâ
you falter. "i'm sorry, i don't know how to do thisâ i..."
âmmhmm,â he nods along as if heâs encouraging you to keep going, like your apologies are something sweet heâs savoring. âyeah, go on...â
it makes heat crawl up your neck. you almost snap at him for teasingâalmost tell him to stop looking at you like that, to take you seriouslyâbut before you can gather the words, caleb leans in just enough to steal the space from your lungs.
âdo you really think, that a sorry is what i need from you?â his gaze drifts down your chestâyour cleavageâlingering a second too long before returning to your face. the implication settles heavy in your chest, in the silence he leaves behind on purpose.
caleb exhales through his nose, smile deepening, and slowly, calebâs fingers find the hem of your shirt.
he lifts it just enough to break the line between what he knows and what heâs imagined, breath stalling in his chest as if the sight alone has struck something vital.
his eyes narrow with awe, staring at your boobs, the kind that makes his throat work as he swallows hard. "you're so... beautiful."
for a moment, he doesnât touch you. he just looks. "so beautiful it hurts."
then his hands rise, tentative at firstâtesting, asking without wordsâbefore confidence overtakes restraint. his palms are warm on your mounds, memorizing you as if heâs afraid the knowledge might be taken from him. his breathing turns uneven, and you feel the answer in his body before he ever says a word, the way he presses closer without meaning to.
caleb buries his face against you as he slides your brassiere down to take your nipple in his mouth, murmuring something unintelligible, something wrecked. he clings like a man starving, and all you can do is clutch at him, a sound slipping from your throat before you can stop it.
caleb presses closer, hips moving on instinct rather than intention, chasing a sensation he doesnât have language for yet.
he rolls his hips upward, eager to bury his clothed erection into your sex, and you feel the way his tongue is simultaneously laving the pain of your nipple. it's desperate, like a man whoâs wandered into paradise by accident and is terrified someone will drag him back out.
his arms lock around you, fingers digging in as though you might disappear if he loosens his hold even a little.
he nuzzles closer, face buried against your chest as if he belongs there, and every movement of his body is pleading, clumsy and earnest, like heâs trying to fuse himself to you through sheer will.
suddenly, caleb pulls away and forces you to rise up. "for a while," he says it almost like a moan, you almost smile from how undone he obviously is. but that immediately falters when you see him unbuckling his belt.
"caleb?"
"yeah?"
"are we... going to have sex?"
he looks up at you, pausing for just a second. "do you not want to?"
you gulp, because the most rational choice is to stop. you don't have a condom. and yet, you can't help but imagine the feeling of his cock buried deep into your womb. shit, just the image is enough to have you clenching your pussy.
"please."
your eyes snap back to caleb, and he's giving you that look. that same look he gave you when you helped him put on a shirt in your bedroom. that same desperate, puppy eyes. "please, please let me fuck you." his voice is raw with desperation, and it takes you aback.
"please let's do it, please let me..." he murmurs against your skin, hands going down your hips, lingering further. "let me thrust into you, let me feel how tight you are, please, please."
you stay silent.
"let me fuck you raw, please."
and that's all it takes.
all it takes for caleb to be lounged back against the pillows, his chiseled abs on full display beneath his rumpled shirt, sweat dripping down his flushed face. his eyes were glued to your every move now that your back is facing him (it was easier to put inside that way), a look of pure, unadulterated lust etched on his handsome features as you rode him with slow, sensual rolls of your hips. the way your ass bounced and jiggled with each thrust, swallowing his rock-hard cock to the hilt, left him absolutely spellbound.
caleb's hands quickly grew restless, roaming greedily over your curves. they slid from your hips, up to your waist, before eagerly descending to grasp at the pliant flesh of your ass. his calloused palms smoothed over the supple mounds, squeezing and kneading the giving skin as if he needed to map every dip and swell. he couldn't resist the urge to grab and mold your ass to his hands, his fingers sinking into the plush, pillowy flesh.
he grabbed two generous handfuls, squeezing them almost roughly as he spread your cheeks apart. this allowed him a shameless, unobstructed view of your slick, dripping pussy swallowing his thick cock to the hilt with each roll of your hips. "oh, god..." caleb groaned, his voice low and rough with lust, almost as if he spoke to himself. "you're... taking me so... well. shit, i can'tâ" his eyes remained watching your walls stretch around him, your body accepting every thick throbbing inch as he bucked up to meet your downward thrusts.
your thighs quivered with exertion, muscles burning from the intensity of your movements. beads of sweat trickled down your back, your body glistening from the heat of what you're doing. yet caleb remained oblivious to your fatigue, his hands still greedily exploring every inch of your curves. his touch turned almost rough in his fervor, fingers sinking into the pliant flesh of your rear with shameless abandon.
"keep going..." caleb's voice was a low, husky murmur, soft even as his grip tightened meanly on your hips. "c'mon, just a little more." he urged you on, eyes still riveted to the debauched sight of your dripping pussy swallowing his cock over and over, his own need overwhelming any thought of your exhaustion. "you can do itângh! take... a little more of this dick, bunny."
but, it seems you couldn't take it anymore. caleb felt you starting to slow down, a soft whimper escapes your parted lips. not wanting you to stop, he leans in and captured your cheek with a tender kiss from behind.
seizing the opportunity, he wrapped a strong arm around your waist, gripping you tightly. and with a swift and sudden movement, caleb flipped you both over, your body tumbling down to the armchair of the sofa. the change in position left you face down, your shapely ass now raised and presented.
he takes a moment to admire the erotic sight of your backside up in the air, your dripping pussy on full display, before standing up. rising to his feet behind you, he grabbed your hips in a firm grip, then, with a primal grunt, he slammed his rock-hard cock deep into your soaked, needy hole.
"angggh!" you scream, as caleb sets a wildly fast pace from the start, his hips pounding against your ass with a staccato rhythm, the obscene slap of skin on skin filling the room. he gripped you tighter, pulling you back onto his thick shaft as he pistoned into you, the blunt head of his cock kissing your cervix with each brutal thrust.
the new angle allowed him to plunge even deeper than before, your body shaking from the force of his wild fucking. caleb leaned over your back, his sweat-slicked chest pressing against you as he growled filthy words of praise into your ear. "baby, this pussy is amazing. 'm gonna fucking ruin you, oka-ay?"
this is it.
this is heaven.
this is everything he's ever wanted, ever needed, ever imagined in the silence of his head. he's replayed this scene in him for many impossible times.
caleb's head rolled back, eyes squeezing shut as he fucked into you with wild abandon. guttural whines and grunts spilled from his lips, his hips slamming against yours with a force that shook the sofa.
"caleb, wait... don't cum inside," you gasped out between ragged breaths, feeling your own peak fast approaching. but he paid no heed to your plea, instead choosing to drive into you even harder and faster.
a dark chuckle rumbled up from caleb's chest, vibrating against your back as he leaned over you. "don't cum inside? mmm, you say that, but your pussy is squeezing me so fucking tight," he punctuated his words with a sharp thrust, grinding his pelvis against your ass. "like it's trying to beg for my cum."
suddenly, caleb's hand fisted in your hair, gripping the strands tightly as he yanked your head back. a surprised, wanton moan tore from your throat at the sudden sting of pain, your back arching as he forced your chin to tilt up. your pussy clenched around him, walls fluttering wildly as a fresh gush of arousal flooded your core.
then, without warning, he wrenched his swollen cock out of your dripping cunt, the sudden emptiness making you whimper. before you could process the loss, hot, thick ropes of cum erupted from the weeping slit of his dick, painting streaks of pearly white across the smooth expanse of your ass.
caleb's body shuddered and jerked as he came undone, his low moan rising in pitch until it almost sounded like a sob of ecstasy. he milked his pulsing cock, stroking it through the throes of his intense orgasm until the last weak spurts dribbled onto your skin. panting harshly, caleb slumped forward over your back, his chest heaving against you as he tried to catch his breath. "fuck... fuck..." he gasped, still gripping your hair with a trembling hand.
almost in disappointment, you look back up at him with a slightly confused gaze. "i... i thought you'd cum inside?"
still panting softly from his intense climax, caleb looked up as you glanced back over your shoulder at him. his eyes, though glazed with lust, met yours with a hint of amusement. a lazy smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth as he took in your questioning gaze.
"what, baby? did you really think i was gonna pull out at the last second?" caleb chuckled, he brushed a few stray strands of hair from your face with his fingertips, his touch surprisingly gentle despite the rough grip he'd had moments before. "i'm still the same guy, dummy."
same guy, sure.
caleb's still the same guy.
he doesn't know better that after he's finally, finally laid his hands on you like this, he'll spiral into something even more worse.
"caleb,"
"mhm?"
"can we... move to your bedroom?" you say softly, eyes tracing the line of caleb's biceps.
his bedroom?
no, anywhere but his bedroom.
caleb gives you a smile, lets out a breath that gives away a laugh. "we can stay here, can't we?" there's no way he'd let you in there. no way he'd let you see the true depths and layers of his feelings for you. the pictures, the posters allover his wall, the collection of pieces he stole from you, even pieces of all the previous people he's killed for you.
caleb inhales the scent of the sweat from your neckline, and he squeezes his eyes shut. "wanna fuck again?"