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you didn’t think much of it when all your classmates huddled up and started brainstorming. you were too busy doomscrolling on your phone to join in, their bickering acting as background noise.

suddenly, a notification pops up in the midst of your brain melting session. a sigh leaves your slightly scowling face, annoyed at being interrupted. however, when your eyes flicker up to read the message, your scowl quickly morphs into a smile accompanied by a quiet, breathless laugh that grabs the attention of your classmates.

my apple pay: i miss uuuu :(

unaware of all the eyes on you, you giddily rise from your desk, preparing to head over to caleb’s classroom. unfortunately for you, before you can even take a step towards the door, a hand roughly lands on your shoulder, holding you in place.

startled at the unexpected action, you jump back to see that the entire class is now silent and staring at you.

“where are you going?” the classmate that grabbed you casually asks, but their stoic expression tells you they feel otherwise.

you have a suspicion that they definitely know you’re going to see caleb. the two of you don’t really try to hide your relationship after all.

“uh,” you cautiously glance around the room, “caleb—“

you swear the room drops a few degrees at the sound of his name.

“sorry,” the classmate tightens their grasp on your shoulder, making you slightly wince. “but you’re banned from seeing him. we can’t risk having our plans getting leaked,” and thus began your torture of not being able to see caleb during your long hours of school and after school festival preparations.

you stop reminiscing when you realize that you’re now at their front door. wearily, you knock on the door, barely waiting a few seconds before the door flies open to reveal caleb.

a relieved, yet drained sigh escapes your lips at the sight of him standing in front of you in his worn-down top gun shirt and sweatpants.

“hey,” caleb grins out, watching in amusement when you faceplant into his chest, your arms immediately locking around his waist. “rough day?” caleb gently comforts you, one arm rubbing up and down your back, the other carefully tugging you into the house.

the groan you let out in response is muffled by his shirt, but caleb can still feel the intensity behind it. “more like rough week,” you mumble. the sound and vibrations of caleb’s humming makes you nuzzle deeper into him.

“hmm, i don’t know, babe. you looked like you were having the time of your life avoiding me,” caleb tries to keep his voice light and playful, but you can hear the slight strain in his voice.

caleb lets out a startled, incoherent sound from the back of his throat when you pinch him. “don’t even joke about that. wanting to see you is what caused all this anyways,” you huff, face still squished against his warm chest.

satisfied with how oddly clingy you are than usual, caleb decides to reward you and let go of his grudge. the two of you stand by the door for a few more minutes before caleb reaches down to pat the back of your thighs, a silent gesture to warn you as he lifts you up. “mc’s not here, by the way. said she was busy with something,” caleb says as he guides the two of you to his room.

“perfect,” you sigh out, “i’ve been needing an excuse to try out that new cafe.” the feeling of your slowing breaths against his neck makes caleb hum out in delight, his arms tightening around your practically limp body.

once you both get settled in his bed, you glue yourself to his side, starting to doze off, while caleb focuses on setting up his laptop. through lidded eyes, you follow the movement of caleb’s cursor as it lands on mob psycho 100. content, he finally relaxes, wraps his arms around you, and tugs you impossibly closer into him.

everything’s too much for you: the cozy atmosphere, the background noise, the sound of caleb’s breathing and heartbeat, and the feeling of his familiar and comforting warmth. you really do try to stay awake, but you can feel yourself slowly succumbing to sleep.

right when you’re surely about to pass out—a dribble of drool even drops onto caleb’s shirt—your eyes snap open. slowly turning your head to face him, his eyes questioningly meeting yours, you ask the question that has been occupying your mind for weeks. “what’s your class doing for the festival?”

a smirk immediately overtakes caleb’s face. “well, what do we have here? a little cheating cheater, huh,” he mockingly teases you, “we can’t let all your hard work of avoiding me go to waste, can we?” his hand pulls at your cheek.

scoffing, you smack his intruding hand away. “it’s not cheating,” you emphasize. “i just thought you said you would never keep a secret from me. is this you breaking your promise?” you try to guilt trip him, pairing your words with the pretty pout you know he can never say no to.

when caleb still refuses to let up, you’re admittedly a bit shocked. however, you refuse to lose here, so you quickly recover and pull out your biggest weapon, “please, babe? my beloved future husband—“

caleb swears he hears wedding bells ring. feeling his resistance waver, and his face heating up, caleb turns away to hide how much a single word affects him. he’s been trying to stop spoiling you after he became aware of how you always get your way with him, but he just can’t help it. not when you call him that.

“that’s so not fair,” caleb whiningly huffs out. one hand comes up to hide his face while the other tightens his grip on you.

knowing that you’ve already won this battle, you push a little further to deal the final blow. you carefully push up on your knees, then lean in to press a light kiss just behind his ear. a victorious smile makes its way across your face when you feel caleb jolt as a shudder makes its way throughout his entire body.

his eyes instinctively shut at the feeling. “haaa,” he shakingly breathes out. “when d’ya get so mean?” caleb risks a glance at you.

“i learnt from the best,” you poke his cheek, “duh.”

“okay, you brat. i yield.” caleb can’t stop the growing smile when you cheer, despite his desire to appear annoyed. “since you’re so desperate to know, we’re doing a cosplay cafe. whatever that entails.”

your smile immediately drops, but your heart is racing. “caleb,” your eyes grow wide, your mind moving at the speed of light. “you’re joking, right? whenever i ask you to cosplay, you always shut me down!”

amused at your reaction, but a bit ticked off at the mention of your previous pleads for him to cosplay, caleb says, “it’s different when i’m not being asked to pretend to be your fictional crushes.”

offended and distraught at his betrayal, your hands tangle in your hair. “then who in the world are you goin’ to be? and please don’t say toji,” you groan out in despair.

“what? no, we’re doing something about a host club?”

“no way,” your voice drops. “you’re cosplaying ouran high school host club?!” you shriek, startling caleb a bit. “you’re the worst! you know ouran high school host club was my favorite back then! i’ve even asked you to dress up once and you didn’t even let me finish my sentence, but now you’re willingly doing it?!”

caleb can tell that you’re actually getting upset with him, and with how little time you’ve had together already, he refuses to be lonely and be in the doghouse at the same time. so, he anxiously tries to comfort you. “wait, babe, calm down—!”

unfortunately, all caleb gets is a pillow shoved into his face. “you traitor, i’m not staying here for another second,” you huff as you prepare to march your way out. your foot is barely touching the floor when you’re inevitably dragged back to the center of his bed. before you can even process anything, caleb goes slack right on top of you, smothering you with his entire weight.

“hey!” you try flailing around in an attempt to recover your ability to breathe, but your legs are pinned under his. “i can’t breathe,” you screech, slamming your fists against his back in retaliation. “get off me you big, overgrown puppy!”

caleb lifts his head just enough for his face to fill your entire field of view. “promise you won’t leave?” he asks, furrowing his eyebrows.

gasping for air, you reach up to tug the hairs at the back of his head, desperate to maintain the brief moment of mercy. a grunt leaves caleb’s mouth when you give in, “okay, you win! now move!”

“i don’t like that attitude,” he grits out, more focused on untangling your fingers from his burning scalp. “promise you won’t be mad too,” caleb quickly adds.

“alright, i’m sorry! i’ll do whatever you want, please. i’m dying,” you loudly groan, going slack once caleb finally relents and slides off you.

once the two of you recover from ‘play fighting,’ you glance over to meet caleb’s awaiting gaze. “i wasn’t even mad,” you hesitate a bit. noticing your hesitation, caleb scoots towards you, softly letting his forehead lean on yours in encouragement.

embarrassed at the proximity and vulnerable atmosphere, you duck your head to hide in his neck, his chin now resting on the crown of your head. “i was jealous,” you quietly confess. “you don’t even care about the festival or the grand prize, but whenever i ask—“ you cut yourself off, becoming sheepishly aware of how childish you sound. “ugh, nevermind,” you murmur, squeezing your eyes closed.

caleb is beyond ecstatic at your confession, especially when the reason why he kept on rejecting you was because of his own jealousy. granted, his unreasonably stems from his hatred for the fictional characters he has to share your affection with. in his eyes, he’ll lose his number one spot if he dresses up as his competitor.

unknowingly, caleb throws his head back, bursting out laughing in pure bliss. “d’awh, my cute widdle apple is jealous!” he teasingly shouts in awe.

you let out a playful groan as caleb leans back, his hands quickly finding home on your cheeks. through your now squished cheeks, you muffledly yell in protest, “caweb!”

without giving you a chance to pull away, he hurriedly, yet happily presses multiple short kisses against your forcibly puckered up lips.

once satisfied, his attack slowly dies down. there’s barely any space between you two to the point where caleb’s grin is just brushing against your own. shifting a bit, he murmurs out, “i won’t do it.”

you wait to see if caleb will continue speaking. when he doesn’t, you gently say, “i didn’t want you to not do it. i feel bad now.”

“babe,” he drags out, “you know you come before everything else. besides, even if my class won, i wouldn’t have gone anyway.” caleb pauses, opting to admire how perfect you look—how at home you look—in his bed, in his arms, before speaking up again, “what’s the point when you’re not goin’ to be there?”

refusing to let caleb see you flustered because of him, you lurch back, shoving your hand into his face to obscure his vision. despite your attempt, you don’t get far since caleb is clearly adamant about keeping you close with his ironclad grip on you.

“that was so corny,” you fake a gag, but the smile on your face gives you away.

“really?” caleb hums against your palm. “i dunno,” he playfully pitches up his voice a bit, “you looked like you really enjoyed it.”

feeling his smirk underneath your hand, which is now trapped between caleb’s hands, you quickly maneuver to straddle caleb to reestablish your authority. “whatever! look,” you yank your hand free in favor of pointing at him. “you can cosplay on 2 conditions: one, no getting within a foot of your customers; two, make sure everyone knows you’re taken,” you sternly demand.

caleb’s raised eyebrows and eyes, filled with disbelief, meet your awaiting, yet impatient, stare. “i don’t think number two is necessary, babe,” he reaches out to rest a hand on both your sides, stabilizing you.

“is this you rejecting the conditions?” you raise your eyebrows accusingly back at him.

“i never said no,” he reassures you, removing a hand from your side to raise it in a salute. “i’ll gladly comply with whatever you want.”

a matching smile breaks out on both your faces, but just as you open your mouth to play along, a knock—more like banging—startles you.

you’re blankly staring at caleb when mc’s voice seeps through the closed door, “i’m coming in and you guys better be dressed!” she warns.

—

it’s finally the day of the festival. everything is chaotic; students from every class are frantically rushing around, preparing last minute details. despite the nerves and stress, it’s difficult for them to not be excited seeing their hard work come together.

amongst the chattering and lively crowd, an out-of-place, dark aura is looming over a classroom, your classroom to be exact.

unsurprisingly, all your classmates avoid you like the plague once they realize you’re the source of the suffocating atmosphere. the 11th irritated sigh of the day slips from your lips, drawing concerned gazes.

you haven’t seen caleb the entire day. even worse, you haven’t even seen a peek of him in cosplay. you’ve pulled out every trick and threat, but he was strangely adamant about keeping it a surprise; something about wanting you to get the full experience with the decorated classroom setup.

the festival officially opens to the public in 30 minutes, which, to you, only means another 30 minutes of not being able to see caleb. thus, you throw all your frustration into finishing up the fake, made-up fortune telling props.

your classmates somehow landed on going all out with the supernatural-esque theme, but mainly focusing on different types of fortune telling. there were the tarot cards, astrology reading, palm reading, and simply letting the customer purchase a homemade pastry with a basic fortune paper hidden inside

despite working in the back, everyone was persistent in having the backstage classmates properly dressing up as well to ‘improve team morale and synergy.’ just like the rest of your peers, you’re adorned in an outfit your classmate—who was placed in charge of costume design—deemed fit for fortune tellers: layered and flowing clothes, dangly jewelry adorning your neck and wrists that clinks whenever you move, a headpiece, and such.

caleb hasn’t seen you in your costume since you refused to let him see, an act of revenge, really. unfortunately for you, the sound of your classmate’s high pitched, customer service voice pulls you from your thoughts and signals the beginning of your shift.

—

somehow, time quickly flies by, and you find yourself wandering around the various different and unique attractions during your break. with your break coming to an end soon, you decide to finally bite the bullet and visit caleb’s class.

still wearing your fortune teller outfit, you arrive at the long line—you don’t fail to notice how the majority, if not all, are girls. after waiting a few minutes in line without moving an inch, you anxiously check the time, worrying that you won’t be able to check out caleb’s class after all.

just as you’re about to abandon your position in line, you spot a familiar pair of silhouettes in the corner of your eye. “gideon, mc!” you shout, waving your arms around to try to catch their attention.

you quickly lower your arms to opt for a casual wave when they begin making their way over to you. “hey, we were just about to go searching for you,” gideon says as he reaches you.

mc instead fixates on your unusual clothes, “wow, you look great,” she earnestly compliments you.

after shooting mc a smile and a quick ‘thank you,’ you focus back on gideon’s words. “you were looking for me? why?” your confused expression only grows even more when both their faces scrunch up in frustration, clearly done with whatever’s causing them the stress.

“look, did you say something to caleb? like, oh i don’t know,” mc throws her hands up in the air, emphasizing their irritation, “don’t get within a foot of every customer and be as dry as humanly possible?!”

flustered at the accurate accusation, you stutter out, “wait, what? i didn’t— no, way! i, mean—why would you think that?”

it doesn’t take a genius to realize that mc’s patience has officially worn out. without answering your guilt-ridden and poor attempt at denial, she grabs your arm, giving you no chance to protest as she drags you towards the entrance.

now gideon is also ignoring your shouts of protest, preferring to try to calm you down instead. “hey, i know you and caleb have this certain dynamic, but he’s supposed to be our best seller, and whatever you told him is making our profits plummet.”

“technically, he’s still bringing in loads of customers, but it’s like he’s purposefully trying to drive them away,” gideon finishes his rant just as the three of you enter the classroom transformed host club.

you’re too busy looking around in awe to hear mc’s yell, “caleb, you have a special customer!” you’re snapped out of your daze, a yelp escaping your throat when mc pushes you forwards, towards the figure with his back turned towards you.

suddenly, the room quiets down and all the eyes in the room land on you. you’ve never been more aware of how odd you look in your out-of-place uniform in the middle of a makeshift host club.

as if a switch was flipped, caleb’s entire demeanor completely changes. his halfhearted, stiff posture perks up immediately just from your presence. a scoff leaves mc’s mouth as she watches him turn around to face you. she swears she can practically see his imaginary tail wagging, only growing even more uncontrollable at the sight of you in your get-up.

mc’s disgust only gets worse when she witnesses your own excitement in reaction to caleb dressed up in a school uniform that closely mirrors the one from ouran high school.

mc starts fake gagging when she sees you slightly shaking from pure bliss at caleb’s slightly slicked back hair, which partially puts his forehead on display.

mc’s long gone when caleb visibly forces a gulp before leaning down to meet you with a long-awaited kiss. to caleb’s dismay, he pulls away shortly after, aware of the audience watching their every move. caleb lingers for a brief moment, trying his best to stabilize himself, before fully pulling away and returning to his full height.

before you can react, caleb announces to the entire room, “i’m going on break.” he doesn’t wait another second before dragging you out of the classroom.

“caleb, wait!” you’re struggling to keep up with his long strides. “where are we going?” you attempt to slow him down a bit with a tug to your interlaced hands. when’d he even slip his hand into yours?

caleb slows his pace just a smidge, but you forgive him when he turns around to smile at you—the one he only shows to you, the smile that only appears when he allows himself to forget everything for a minute because you’re there with him; still impatiently weaving his way down the hall.

“i overheard some classmates say they’re planning to shoot off fireworks during the sunset,” he explains, only taking his eyes off you to make sure he’s going the right way before quickly returning his gaze. “the best view should be on the rooftop, and since everyone’s too focused on winning that grand prize,” caleb smirks, “there won’t be anyone else up there, but us.”

you can only muster a tight squeeze to his hand in response, but that’s all he needs before he returns his focus in front of him; still securely holding onto your hand as he carefully, yet hurriedly pushes through the crowd.

—

“i was supposed to be back, like, 15 minutes ago,” you sigh, but rather than sounding guilty, you sound more satisfied than anything.

the two of you are leaning against the barriers placed amongst the edges of the rooftop, waiting for the fireworks to make an appearance. caleb has long stripped off his outer blazer and placed it around your shoulders with the excuse of ‘it being a pain to take care of you when you’re sick.’

you’re too busy admiring the lowering sun to notice caleb’s soft gaze on you. “d’ya want to return?” he asks despite having no intention of letting you leave.

“nope,” you put a heavy emphasis on the ‘p,’ even popping the letter. removing your focus on the sky, you meet caleb’s eyes with an equally, overwhelmingly, adoring gaze of your own. “i’m happy with where i am right now,” you grin at him, slightly swinging your intertwined hands.

caleb’s face immediately scrunches up in distraught. a groan leaving his tightened lips before he slouches down, hiding his face in your neck. “you’re so cute. it’s—i can’t,” he rambles against your skin. “did i tell ya how adorable you look today? it hurts my heart so much when you do that,” he presses a soft, barely there, kiss to your neck before he pulls away.

you’re laughing at his antics, but all caleb can focus on is how heartachingly perfect you look, freely laughing as if there isn’t a single worry in the world.

caleb decides to let go of his control just for today. he leans in again, but before he can make contact, a hair’s breath left separating the two of you, the long-awaited fireworks burst in the air.

immediately, you step back and whip your head to catch the fizzling out remainders of the firework before another one instantly launches and releases a different variety of colors into the sky.

you’re absolutely enamoured by the beautiful sight—the dying sunset being once again lit up by the fireworks bursts of color—to notice that caleb hasn’t moved his gaze from you once.

if you were to turn around and ask him why he wasn’t watching the fireworks, he would simply reply that he was. caleb can perfectly admire the fireworks through the reflection of it on your eyes, the colors lighting up and highlighting every inch, every millimeter of the face—your face—that he cherishes so much that he’s sure there’s no word in existence that’s capable of conceptualizing the depth of his emotions.

if anything, caleb would argue that he has the better method of watching the fireworks.

a few minutes pass by, but for caleb it feels like an eternity.

eventually, the silence is broken by you. “it’s so pretty,” you so quietly murmur, still staring at the fireworks in a trance.

“yeah,” caleb agrees, “really pretty,” he whispers back, but he’s still not looking at the sky.

suspicious, you glance at caleb just to be met with his windswept hair and his utterly, devastatingly gentle, yet worshipping stare. choosing to ignore the way your heart clenches at the sight, you scowl at him.

“that was disgustingly cliche, gross,” you complain, but caleb doesn’t miss the way you hold his hand just a bit tighter and how you move an inch closer to him.

—

“i don’t think this is a good idea,” you stiffly announce, too scared to move a micrometer.

on the other hand, mc proudly surveys the unfamiliar surroundings. “c’mon, we’re already here! it’d be a waste to turn back now. plus, valko spent so much time working on these,” she points at her earring, and your matching one, that she got just for this.

you face is twisted up in disbelief and anxiety over your current situation as you stiffly move your head to meet mc’s determined smirk.

“don’t look at me like that! it’s not like we’re spying on him non-consensually,” mc huffs out, clearly not satisfied with your lack of trust.

willing yourself, you finally allow yourself to relax a bit to glance around the maze-like campus. “but isn’t that exactly what we’re doing?”

“hey!” mc interrupts, smacking your back in an attempt to encourage you to move. instead, you launch forward a few steps, not expecting the sudden assault.

“ack!”

“give me some slack,” she tuts at you. mc smoothly pulls you into step with her since you’re too busy trying to soothe the stinging pain on your back to put up much of a fight.

mc moves to adjust her clothes while she tries to find an excuse to defend herself. “gideon gave us the go-ahead, so technically we aren’t doing anything wrong?”

“we?” you defeatedly sigh out, accepting your fate.

suddenly, a wagging finger is thrusted into your face. you skid to a stop as mc taunts you. “ha, don’t act like you aren’t the whole reason why we’re here, and not to mention how you’re the one who was moping around while stalking caleb’s social media!”

“wait, don’t say that so loud!” you frantically try to calm down mc.

unfortunately, your flustered reaction only fuels her to continue. “not to mention how you would constantly refresh his feed and even—“

“okay, okay! i get it,” you quickly slam your hands together. “i apologize for ever doubting you, my goddess! please take pity on this humble being, oh great one,” you plead with your eyes squeezed closed, head tilted down.

a hand tugging yours apart causes you to snap open your eyes. “hmph, should’ve said that from the beginning,” mc oh so graciously accepts your begging with an amused smirk on her face.

an exhausted sigh escapes your now resigned figure as mc tugs you along. “hey, seriously. don’t worry. it’s probably just a misunderstanding,” mc tries to reassure you.

“i hope you’re right,” you dejectedly sigh. “i just don’t get why he’s acting so weird all of a sudden. we were fine when he first moved to skyhaven,” you exclaim.

mc hums as she listens to you rant. “listen, everyone knows how devoted caleb is. so if anything, this entire thing is probably just him being stupid,” she theorizes.

before you can complain even more, mc quickly cuts you off, “okay, no more stalling! we’re late, and if gideon leaves, we’re actually screwed!”

—

the first thing gideon feels when he finally spots the two of you rushing towards him is relief. the first thing he says is: “what’s up with the get-up?”

gideon carefully analyzes the unusual clothing you and mc are wearing. mc spares no time to show off the face altering technology disguised as an unsuspecting earring that valko gifted her, “wait, watch this.” mc reaches for her singular unique earring, the other pair resting on your ear, and presses it. gideon is stunned when mc’s facial features are slightly altered, but the change is enough to make her unrecognizable at a glance.

“woah,” gideon’s mouth drops open.

beaming with pride, mc’s quickly deactivates the device. “cool, right? we’re gonna use this to spy on caleb!”

confused, gideon blinks at mc and you. “uhh, how exactly is that going to help you hide from caleb?”

“uh, duh. how would we spy on caleb if he always spots us whenever we’re within a 10 mile radius?” mc says like it’s the most obvious thing ever.

still confused, gideon cautiously speaks up, “uh, yeah.” he breaks out of his staring contest with your questionable outfits to dumbfoundedly glance between you and mc. “that’s my whole point.”

now you’re confused too. “what do you mean?” you ask. gideon can only afford to respond with a deadpan stare, as if he’s witnessing the world’s most oblivious and hopeless case.

mc takes offense, and irritatedly lets out, “what’s that face supposed to mean?”

“i-“ exasperated, gideon stops himself to take a deep breath before continuing. “look, you said it yourself. if ‘canine caleb’ can sense your guys’ presence whenever he gets a tiny whiff of your scents, then what’s the point of the disguises?”

a silence breaks out as mc begins contemplating her choices. you, on the other hand, try to defend your boyfriend’s honor. “hey, don’t call him a dog,” you weakly protest, immediately cringing as soon as the words leave your lips.

your embarrassment only gets worse when gideon groans out. “you,” he points at you, causing you to tense up, “cannot be talking.”

your brows furrow as you open your mouth to defend yourself, only to get stopped by gideon speaking up again. “oh, please. caleb not being able to recognize his childhood friend is one thing, but him not being able to recognize his girlfriend?”

you know gideon is completely right, but your pride and dignity refuses to lose. “he’s not that bad,” you falsely, but confidently rebut.

“right,” he drags out, “and i don’t have 10 fingers.” he taunts you by shoving both of his, very obviously, 5-fingered hands into your face.

you’re busy smacking gideon’s hands out of your face when mc lights up. “hey,” she mischievously chirps out, rocking back on forth on the heels of her feet, “why don’t we make a bet?”

when both yours and gideon’s attention is completely on her, mc points at you and declares, “i bet caleb will recognize you before me, and i bet he’ll notice within 15 minutes.”

before you could retort, gideon scoffs, “please, be realistic.” a chill fills the air as gideon’s face darkens. you’re starting to regret making every decision that somehow led you here when gideon raises his hand. “i say 5 minutes,” he narrows his eyes competitively at mc.

“deal. winner gets caleb at their beck and call for the entire day,” the two of them shake hands, both clearly satisfied with and determined to win the reward.

aghast at what just happened, you clear your throat. “uhm, do i not get a say in this?”

mc instantly shakes her head, “no way! you’re just going to cheat,” gideon nods along to her words. “and besides, you already have caleb on a leash, so you winning would be a waste,” mc argues.

“seconded,” gideon comments.

sparing him a quick glare, you cross your arms as you unconvincingly mutter, “i do not have him on a leash.”

mc and gideon don’t waste a second before jumping at the chance to let out their fed-up grievances and experiences of life as caleb’s not-girlfriend.

“please, have you even experienced his non-stop nagging?”

“or getting your socks thrown out because he ‘thought it was trash’ since it was left laying on the floor for too long?”

“how about when i lost my front teeth ‘cause i fell off my bike, and whenever he saw me he would laugh until he couldn’t breathe! not to mention how he told me, with a straight face, that the tooth fairy wasn’t real just because i stole a bite of his ice cream?!”

“you think that was bad? i forgot my keys to our apartment, and when i called him for help, all he said was ‘that sounds like a you problem.’ and then he just hung up!”

“don’t get me started on—“

mortified at their alleged stories, you throw your hands up and shout, “okay, i get it!” you’re met with their smug faces as you defeatedly sigh out, “alright, you two deserve it, but how are you going to get him to actually listen?”

your question only makes mc’s smug look grow even more. “don’t you think the owner should take responsibility over their puppy’s wrongdoings?”

speechless and baffled, you stumble over your words to deny mc’s claims. “i- what?! no, wait,” you quickly shake your arms and head side to side to emphasize your disagreement. “i am not his owner! and stop calling him my puppy?!”

“i’d doubt he would complain about being called—“

“no, no. no,” you huff out in a desperate attempt to end the conversation. “if i agree with whatever started this entire thing, will you please never bring that up again, please?”

—

“what happened to the spying plan? why are we just straight up meeting him,” you question the duo as the three of you wait for caleb’s lecture to end.

mc hums, “there really was no point in spying when we all know he isn’t sneaking around.” she turns to meet your anxious gaze with a reassuring one, “seriously, just talk to him. trust me, it’s the easiest way to put an end to this,” mc hooks her arm with yours as an act of comfort.

closing your eyes, you take a deep breath in as you contemplate mc’s words. “okay,” you open your eyes to reflect her encouraging expression, “i trust you.”

not seeing a need for the disguise anymore, you reach up to take off the earring only to get stopped by mc. startled, you glance at her with an eyebrow raised, waiting for an explanation for her sudden actions.

“wait,” she sheepishly mutters. casting a quick glance at gideon, mc winces at how childish her next words are going to sound. “uhh, can you keep the disguise on, for, y’know, the bet?”

“no way, this is so stupid. there’s no way he would recognize me in this ridiculous get-up,” you complain, but you end up keeping the disguise on anyway. saying that you aren’t curious about how caleb would react would be a lie.

gideon finally tunes in after finishing up his texts with caleb, probably trying to convince him to meet up after his lecture ends instead of heading home. gideon refuses to pass up a chance to chastise caleb. “please,” he shuts off his phone and looks up at you. “i could hand him a strand of your hair and he wouldn’t even blink before figuring out it’s yours.”

“stop exaggerating,” you huff.

mc chimes in, “he really isn’t, though?” you send her a knowing glance, which she shrugs at.

“well, let’s see who’s right,” gideon raises his arm and begins waving someone down. “caleb, over here,” he shouts, effectively grabbing everyone else’s attention.

you’re freaking out, but you’re given no time to calm down when caleb’s annoyingly big strides allow him to reach your small group within seconds. mc has to nudge you free from your tense state when caleb and gideon start chatting. “snap out of it,” mc scolds through gritted teeth, “you’re going to blow our cover. hold out for another 13 minutes.”

unfortunately for mc, caleb’s eyes flit over to politely acknowledge your presences when he does a double take as soon as he looks at you. without meaning to, the three of you, excluding caleb, hold your breaths as you wait to meet your impending doom.

caleb pays no mind to the sudden silence from gideon, and simply tilts his head, squints his eyes, and scans you from head to toe.

the three of you stare caleb down when he decides that his assessment is done, and bends down to be face-to-face with you.

he’s so close that all you can see is his face, all you can feel is his breath softly spanning across your face, and all you can hear is your scarily rapid heartbeat.

caleb quickly darts his eyes to the side, his analytic gaze lingering for a moment before returning to scan your face for a reaction.

unknowingly, your eyes widen with anticipation and nerves at the thought of him discovering the device, and apparently, that’s all caleb needs to confirm his suspicions.

without any warning, caleb reaches for the earring and pinches it between his fingers. you don’t know how he knows about the existence of the device, but you couldn’t be bothered to care when your altered appearance returns to normal.

everyone freezes for a brief moment before the brightest, yet familiar comforting smile breaks out on caleb’s face, but, unfortunately, you’re only spared a brief glance. you’re not even given the time to grieve before you’re once again filled with utter glee since caleb has taken to pepper kisses all over your face.

“hi, honey,” he smiles against your cheek as you let out a content sigh. “what’re you doing here?” he continues attacking your face while you unconsciously move your hands up to grip onto his shoulders. “not that i’m complaining, ‘f course,” caleb snakes his arms around your waist, pulling you closer until the two of you are chest to chest. the new position forces you to practically break your neck to maintain contact due to caleb’s obnoxious height.

“hi, ‘leb,” you mumble out, too focused on attempting to gently push him back to properly articulate your words. “missed ya, so let me see your face, please?”

and because caleb physically cannot go against your words, he relents, despite his desire to not go another second without his lips on you.

caleb concludes then and there that you’ll always be right, no matter what, because your smile that he’s greeted with is a hundred times better and makes him forget about everything. until mc reminds him of her presence.

“wow, and i thought he would’ve pounced on her.” gideon quirks an eyebrow and glances at mc, “if that’s not him pouncing, then i don’t even wanna imagine the real thing.”

annndd the moment is ruined. caleb sighs as he pulls you into the tightest hug possible. your arms are hooked around his waist, squeezing back to replicate his sentiment.

finally sparing the two intruders a proper once over, caleb does a double take at mc. “woah, what’d i miss? identity crisis or…?” he trails off.

scoffing, mc retaliates at caleb’s obvious bias, “your girlfriend, who you’re practically smothering to death, is dressed the exact same, but you’re judging me?”

caleb merely blinks in response, “it’s different.”

fired up, mc jabs at you, only managing to get a solid 4 pokes before caleb flicks her hand away. “see! please. please, tell me you heard that,” she shouts.

laughing, you pat caleb’s back twice to signal him to let you go, which he begrudging does. “yeah, i noticed,” but before you could comfort mc, gideon speaks up.

“too bad you didn’t win, though,” he shrugs with faux pity.

while mc goes quiet, undoubtedly coming up with an alternate plan, caleb has reverted back to showering you in kisses. he only takes a short break when gideon’s words register in his head. “what d’you mean by ‘win?’ what exactly did i miss?” caleb narrows his eyes at gideon.

ignoring caleb, mc comes out of her daze, snaps her fingers, and points at gideon. “if you take revenge for me, i’ll pay you back,” she promises him.

confused, caleb turns to you for an explanation, but he quickly realizes that you’re busy staring off in a different direction. tracing your line of sight, caleb’s gaze lands on a somewhat growing crowd. he totally forgot he was still in public.

softly squeezing your waist, caleb waits to properly meet your eyes before he whispers out, “hey, did you want to head up to my room?”

no matter how many times caleb proves how well he knows you, and how well he can read you, it’ll still render you breathless. “yeah, was it obvious?” you match his tone, but you’re afraid your eyes give away the overwhelming adoration you hold for him.

a grin spreads on his face as he gently shakes his head. caleb begins speaking again, but his slightly overgrown bangs catch your attention instead. “no,” he breathes out, watching your hand rise to brush his hair out of his eyes. reflexively, caleb closes his eyes to relish in the feeling of your hand running through his hair as he forces himself to finish his sentence, “just wanted to have you to myself again.”

still focused on caleb’s hair, you quietly hum, “you always have me, though?” all caleb can muster in response is a half committed huff, trying to disguise his uncertainty with an act of being too distracted by you now scratching his scalp.

unfortunately for him, you know him just as well as he knows you. “caleb,” you softly demand, halting your movements.

realizing he’s caught, caleb slowly opens his eyes to meet your now worried ones. “it’s just,” he pauses to gather his thoughts while moving to grasp the wrist of your hand, still tangled in his hair.

at the sight of caleb breaking eye contact in favor of staring at the floor, you consider speaking up once more, but the feeling of his thumb caressing your pulse point stops you. soon after, caleb confesses, “it doesn’t feel like i’ll always have you anymore.”

your hand falling from his hair, now seemingly frozen in mid-air, is what causes caleb to drag his vulnerable gaze back up. the sight of your crestfallen expression only makes the pit in his stomach grow.

caleb can’t pinpoint exactly when the pit first made its appearance, but he does know it has been lingering ever since he moved to skyhaven—away from you, away from his home. the longer caleb struggled with the anxiety and nausea-inducing insecurity that came with long-distance, the more he believed that just a minute in your presence would relieve him of his pain.

however, now that he’s basking in your affection, caleb has never felt so wrong. so off. if anything, caleb feels even worse, more jittery at the overwhelming, yet completely nonsensical, idea of you finally realizing that he isn’t worth it.

being with caleb already meant that you had to sacrifice the normal couple lifestyle, along with having to put up with his overprotective and unhinged tendencies. and now, as he burns your unreadable expression into his memory, caleb feels as if he’s burdening you with another one of his problems again.

caleb’s mind goes blank as soon as he notices your lips start to part, and his desire to desperately move on, to return pretending as if everything’s okay, takes over. just as he rushes to reassure you, mc’s approaching voice wakes him up from his spiraling state. drearily, caleb tries to clear up the fog by blinking, yet still staring at you, waiting for you to make the first move of looking away.

internally, caleb knows that he’s actually waiting for you to give him an excuse to run away from his feelings. he’s afraid that by being accepting and admitting his flaws, he’ll shatter the dynamic he shares with you. one wrong move, and he throws away his entire life, he loses his reason to live rather than survive.

caleb has been doing just fine his entire life pretending and holding himself back, so he forces himself to believe that there’s no need to fix what isn’t broken. so he ignores the desperate, burning stares you send his way, he forcibly smooths out his tense expression, and he tears his gaze from yours.

if caleb is given the chance to relish in his false reality for a few more minutes, he’ll always take it no matter what.

slightly tightening his hold on your wrist, caleb glances at his forgotten friends, who are now staring at him, clearly waiting for a response from him. clearing his throat, caleb tries to buy some time for himself while he attempts to read the room.

it isn’t difficult to guess what mc had asked him, despite caleb not paying attention, with the cautious and concerned expressions being displayed on both mc and gideon’s faces. “yeah, i’m- uh, we’re,” he fights against his urge to take a peek at you. “yup, we’re fine,” caleb slowly nods out, however, his tone exposes his own uncertainty.

unable to handle the awkward atmosphere, caleb fakes a tense grin. “we’re goin’ to head back to the apartment,” he takes a step back, carefully tugging you with him. caleb doesn’t fail to notice how you’ve fallen completely silent, but your staring hasn’t faltered once.

caleb makes a mental note to thank gideon and mc later when gideon waves him away, clearly sensing caleb’s dire need of alone time with you. “y’know what, you two go on ahead,” gideon eyes caleb’s tense stance and your worryingly lack of expression. “we’re,” gideon moves a few steps towards mc, “going to get food, so see you later,” he trails off awkwardly before pulling mc away.

now left alone with you, caleb wills himself to slowly slide his hand down from your wrist to cautiously hover over your palm. he waits a few seconds, holding in his breath while giving you a chance to pull away. only to let out a sharp, yet somewhat disappointed, sigh when you show no reaction.

caleb’s heart is racing when he risks interlacing your hands together. yet, the pit in his stomach grows when he notices that you’re no longer looking at him, but rather fully avoiding him instead now.

suddenly, the fantasy wears off, and caleb’s desire to reach his apartment in record time fills him uncomfortably to the brim. antsy to start the conversation that he has been dreading up until now, caleb tries his best to mimic his normal, stable everyday voice. “i walked to campus today, sorry,” he pauses to scan your face. “it’s not that long of a walk, but if you’re not up for it, i can—“ caleb can’t help but ramble off when he’s desperate for you to give a sign that you’re still there, present with him, and not closed off from him.

the overwhelming ache from the pit soothes slightly when you give him a taste of mercy through the act of squeezing his hand.

instantly, caleb cuts himself off, his eyes darting to check on you. when he’s met with the same lack of expression, caleb feels the ache spread upwards. “okay,” he says more to himself. “let’s go?” caleb doesn’t really expect a response, but when you grace him with another squeeze, this time slightly stronger and longer-lasting, he wastes no time starting the painstakingly silent walk.

—

the first thing you notice as soon as you step into caleb’s apartment for the first time is that it’s freezing. the second thing you realize is that the apartment is so heart wrenchingly caleb, with hints of gideon plastered around.

it’s absolutely devastating that you can see your presence scattered around the place too, despite never having been there before. you’re trying your best to stop your darting eyes from making contact with every item that holds a memory, but you can’t help it.

the singular, out-of-place, apple shaped throw pillow that you jokingly made caleb promise you to get just because it reminded you of him.

the tv stand that you and caleb agreed on after spending hours on facetime arguing over about 50 candidates just because you sent him one text about not being able to sleep.

the cat shaped mug sitting in the sink, the same one that you sent him a tiktok about. except that exact mug only came in a matching set, so you know that its missing half—the one you called dibs on—is sitting somewhere, collecting dust in the cupboard as it waits for you to claim it.

if your presence was this prominent in their common space, you’re terrified to see how much of you takes up caleb’s room. on a normal day, you would’ve swooned over caleb’s dedication. unfortunately, today is anything but normal, and all you can focus on is the hurt and confusion clouding your mind.

you had convinced yourself that the reason why caleb was pulling away was because he was busy with his academics. it wasn’t him putting distance between the two of you, but rather him putting up this act that everything was okay and perfect. you tried so hard to be understanding when he stopped telling you every detail about his day and began giving vague answers before redirecting it back to you. it hurt when you had to find out he pulled a muscle, 3 days after the incident, through gideon’s close friends story instead of caleb himself.

you chalked it up to exams and midterms keeping him away, but you knew from every story, every post where caleb was tagged in, that he wasn’t studying.

the worst part was that you trusted caleb, and you still do. you know that cheating would never be an option to him, even if his life was on the line, so you could only come up with one last explanation. caleb was losing interest in you.

except, and maybe it’s conceited of you to think so, but you’re willing to bet everything that there isn’t a single universe where caleb would go down that route either.

and with all possible options crossed off, you’re starting to go insane trying to figure out what was going on with caleb. mc, who was a witness to your meltdown, simply asked why you wouldn’t just ask him. it wasn’t as if he ever actually lied to you. however, to mc’s frustration, you adamantly refused, claiming that if acting normal is already making caleb pull away, then being clingy would just make it worse.

on the other hand, mc wouldn’t give up on her belief that she's one hundred percent sure that this is all a huge misunderstanding, and decided to drag the both of you up to skyhaven to end both of your miseries.

when caleb smothered you just like he used to before he left for skyhaven, you were prepared to give mc the biggest hotpot apology ever. but then, it was as if a switch went off. caleb reverted back to his confusing behavior, which only caused your dread to return tenfold.

now, you’re stiffly standing in the middle of, what you presume to be, your future ex’s apartment. you can hear caleb clearly walking around, asking if you want some water. you so desperately want to wait and see if he’ll pull out the missing cat mug, your cup, but you start to shake and you know that your tears will soon follow.

caleb’s voice has never sounded so loud, yet muffled at the same time when he calls out your name again. but all you can focus on is how frustrated you are. there’s nothing wrong, but everything feels wrong.

you’re too caught up in your mind to realize that caleb has quickly made his way over to you as soon as he noticed your shaking.

caleb immediately takes hold of your shoulders, but before he can verbalize his concern, you snap. “what did i do?” tears welling up in your eyes.

“what?” caleb furrows his eyebrows.

irritated at the entire situation, you shake off his hands and start accusing him. “why won’t you trust me anymore? what did i do wrong?”

heart racing at your sudden change and confused about your accusations, caleb is rendered speechless. unfortunately for him, this only enrages you even more. “i just don’t get it. you won’t talk to me anymore. it feels like im holding you hostage in this relationship,” you take a deep breath in, hiccuping in the process. “i’d rather you just straight up tell me that you want space or something, just don’t make me second-guess everything i do,” you angrily croak out, slightly out of breath.

caleb wasn’t expecting this from you, and now he’s panicking, but you give him no time to collect himself. “i feel like i’m chasing a ghost. like i’m trying to fix something that doesn’t even need fixing!” you’re staring him down now, with tears racing down your cheeks. “it’s not fair to me and you know it,” you move to step away from caleb, and that’s when he finally breaks.

caleb falls to his knees, hands desperately grasping on both sides of your waist, head digging into your stomach. “im so sorry,” he breaths out like it's his last, as if he’s suffocating. whether intentional or not, caleb’s grip tightens like he’s terrified at the possibility of you escaping.

“it’s my fault, i’m the problem. i never meant to push that onto you,” he’s spiraling again, and caleb can’t find the energy to restrain himself when he’s so sure that he’s one wrong move from losing you.

“caleb,” you wearingly whisper. unsure whether you want him to stop or keep on going.

“you know that i can’t live without you, right? that i trust you with my entire being?

god, i’m a coward. i was scared.” he allows himself to briefly pull away from your stomach before he immediately tilts his head up, resting his chin on your abdomen. “i was terrified ‘cause i missed you so, so, so, so much, you don’t understand. i know it doesn’t make sense, but,” he gasps for air, tears starting to stream down his face, “i couldn’t stop thinking about you, you’re on my mind every second, and i can’t help but think you deserve more, but i would rather die than willingly give you up, you know that. please, tell me you know that.”

“caleb,” your mind’s spinning, all you can muster out is his name.

“i can’t do long distance,” he finally admits, voice and face twisted up in distraught. “it was manageable back in linkon ‘cause i was there with you, but up here, i can’t do anything. if you’re hurt or in danger,” caleb pauses before he comes to terms with what has been plaguing his mind for months.

“i’m useless,” caleb feels like he’s going to vomit. “i can’t save you or be there whenever you need me,” he forces out. “you deserve someone who can do all of that, but i’m selfish and i can’t bear losing you. i’m sorry, i’m so sorry,” caleb weakly atones, his voice gradually becoming shakier.

caleb’s ashamed at how much of a mess he looks, so he returns to burying his face into your stomach, but he doesn’t regret a single thing. for once, caleb feels like he can breathe without the presence of the pit brewing in his stomach anymore.

the apartment is soon overcome with a vulnerable silence, allowing the both of you a brief second to calm down.

after taking a moment to process everything, you carefully push caleb away before lowering yourself onto your knees too. gingerly, you lift your hands and plant them onto his cheeks. “caleb, please look at me,” you quietly plead as you begin soothingly caressing his now flushed face.

even now, at what he thinks is his lowest, caleb can’t refuse your words, so he obeys. an exhausted sigh escapes his lips as he tilts his head up, and rests his forehead against yours.

you swear you feel your heart swell when you take in caleb’s ruffled and worn-down appearance. whether or not he’s aware of it, caleb’s slightly reddened and puffy eyes are accompanied by a pair of furrowed eyebrows and slightly parted lips. if you weren’t in such an emotionally vulnerable situation, you would’ve been all over him right now. without intending to, you can’t help but let out a laugh at this rare state of his.

quickly pulling yourself together, you finally allow your words to flow out. “you’re an idiot, xia,” you huff out. “you’re saying all this stupid crap about how i deserve someone who’ll always be there for me no matter what, but,” you breath out, a knowing smile stretching across your face.

caleb knows this is the worst timing ever, but he can’t stop himself. his breath hitches at the sight of your oh so familiar smile mixed with your own tears and puffy expression that reflects his. caleb thinks this is what he’ll see when he dies and arrives at the gates of heaven. he’s so transfixed on how perfect you look that he almost misses your next words.

“caleb,” you adoringly whisper out, your smile only growing bigger as his eyes meet yours. “you’re my everything too.”

you lower a hand down to rest on the base of his neck as you lean into his ear. “even if i somehow decide to choose someone else, which is never happening, i will always run to you first for everything. i can’t help it,” you finish off with a peck to his cheek.

the soft puffs of his breath against your neck, along with the ticklish feeling of his fluttering eyelashes, encourages you to go on. “did you forget that you’ve been dropping everything for me whenever i call for you, no matter how minuscule the issue, ever since we’ve met?” you grin at the sound of his satisfied humming against your neck.

you don’t stop the onslaught of kisses as you continue whispering affirmations meant just for caleb’s ears. at some point, caleb rediscovers his strength as he tightly snakes his arms around your waist while shoving his face into your neck.

caleb’s breathing has evened out a while ago, and you’ve completely lost feeling in your legs long before, but you couldn’t care less. you’re pretty sure caleb’s asleep, however, that doesn’t stop you from confessing one last thing. “‘leb,” you slur out, your own voice and body eventually losing the battle against exhaustion. “i don’t know how you can’t see that i need you as much as you need me,” you sigh out, squeezing caleb’s limp body into an even tighter hug as sleep begins to overcome you.

—

caleb was awkae the entire night , refused to move cuz he wws scared that u wld get a moment of clarity if he woke u up trykng to move u to a more comfortable spot, hes tired asf cuz he used his evol to lessen the pressure on u

u start waking up so he carefully releases evol so u dont find out he never actually fell asleep

u wake up n ur neck hurts asf , everhthing hurts, u call out his name n caleb contemplated whether or not he shld pretend to stkll be asleep or to answer u. he ends up answering so at his response u start pulling away but he jst tightens his grip instead. u decide to not put up a fight n try your best to reciprocate by slowly wrapping your numb asf arm around his shoulder where ur fingers start to play w the hair on his nape. after letting caleb avoid the elephant in the room for a few minutes, tou decide to lightly pull away. “my legs hurt, caleb.”

“i’m sorry,” he shudders out against your neck.

“that’s not what i meant.”

“sorry.”

you sigh as your entire body goes slack, and caleb knows that you’re reaching your limit, so he finally concedes and loosens his hold on you.

without waiting, you immediately lean back just enough to see his face. caleb doesn’t know how he looks right now, but at the sight of your face and how he feels, he can tell that he looks like utter shit.

your eyes are darting all over his sullen face. his lips are dry and his eyes are bloodshot and half-lidded with pure exhaustion. instantly, both your hands are on his face, tracing every feature possible. instinctively, caleb croons into your hands, his eyes fighting to stay open and alert.

“did you even sleep?”

not wanting to ruin the moment, caleb chooses to gentle shake his head while reassuring you, “i’m fine. really.”

seeing the doubt cloud your eyes, caleb moves to loosely rest his hand around your wrist, squeezing it as if to beg for you to not bring it up again.

exasperated, you sigh before getting ready to stand up. noticing your intentions immediately, caleb rushes to stabilize your stiff body. you’re hell-bent on making your way to the kitchen, and despite being worried about you and wanting to stop you, caleb forces himself to quietly accompany you instead.

the moment you take a step into the kitchen, you spot your cat mug. the one you didn’t get to see be pulled out from the back of the cupboard. the one caleb abandoned on the counter before the fight—if you could even call it that when the two of you were just bawling your eyes out rather than actually arguing.

caleb watches with wide eyes as you robotically go through the motions of filling it up with ice cold water before shoving it against his chest. “here. drink it,” you sternly demand.

you closely monitor caleb’s every move as he chugs the water. once he returns your mug to it’s earlier spot on the counter, you speak up. “about last night,” you pause for a second when you see caleb tense up. “how can i help you?” you’re hoping he can decipher the look of pure concern you’re staring at him with.

a weak smile forced its way on caleb’s face, “you can’t,” he truthfully confesses. “i wasn’t just rambling last night. it’s really something i have to deal with myself, and i shouldn’t have dragged you into it.” you open your mouth to strongly protest his words, but he gives you a knowing look that makes you hold your tongue.

“i thought i could just wait it out, and everything would go back to normal, but i should’ve known better.” he pushes his hair back before taking a step towards you, his long legs practically leaving no space between the two of you. “i promise i’ll work on it. i won’t run away or hide from you anymore, especially not after last night.” in a normal situation, caleb would’ve already been embracing you, a method he utilizes during disagreements to guarantee your persuasion. but, right now, caleb needs to know that you trust him completely without any tricks or manipulation.

“i don’t think my heart or mind can handle almost losing you again.”

“but you didn’t,” you harshly strain out. closing the gap, now standing chest-to-chest, you roughly grasp onto caleb’s shirt. “why won’t you get it? you could never lose me, caleb,” you firmly state, face scrunched up in frustration.

you rest your forehead against his chest, preparing to reveal the secret that you vowed to be buried with. “ever since you moved here,” you shout, the sudden increase in volume startling caleb a bit. “i wake up and go to sleep worrying that you’ll find someone here who fits into your schedule, who you can see everyday, who will understand you more than i do,” you confess. “i think about all the people here who are cooler than me and better than me at everything, and—“ you cut yourself off at the feeling of caleb’s shaking chest and hand on your waist.

you think you’re going insane when you hear a sound resembling his muffled laugh, so you whip your head up to confirm your suspicions. immediately, you’re met with the sight of caleb’s head being thrown back while he’s trying to stop his laughter with his other hand. before you can protest, caleb’s laughter quickly dies down, and he greets your confused gaze with a beaming smile. “sorry,” he breathlessly lets out as he tries to catch his breath. “i just realized how stupid we are,” he ends with a huff.

you’re too stunned to question whats gotten into him and what he’s talking about. a few seconds ago, caleb looked like he just woke up from the dead, but, now, you swear he’s glowing. taking advantage of your frozen state, caleb quickly leans in, gleefully pressing his lips against yours. as if it was a reflex, you predictably melt into him and his kiss, which makes caleb hum into the kiss as he practically begins vibrating with euphoria.

you have no clue how long the kiss goes on for, but you do know that you’re in desperate need of air. when caleb follows you as you lean away for air, you think you’re going to pass out from asphyxiation right then and there. “caleb,” you panically mumble against his relentless lips.

when he honors your plea and pulls away, you’re left heavily panting as you try to rapidly blink away the slight dizziness that tugs at you. caleb, on the other hand, changes his target to your neck instead. you’re starting to believe mc’s taunts about how caleb doesn’t need air to live, he just needs you.

once you’ve got enough oxygen, you question him, “whats gotten into you?” caleb lets out a sigh of relief against your neck before slowly pulling away and straightening up. a teasing smirk makes its way across his face as he explains himself, “nothin’.”he shrugs, attempting to pull you impossibly closer, “i’m just glad my girlfriend is as obsessed with me as i am with her.”

caleb expects you to jokingly retaliate like how you usually do when he teases you, but instead, he’s met with your serene smile. “of course i am, idiot,” you whisper out. caleb’s knees almost buckle when he feels the intensity of your affection that you hold for him, and him only, in your voice. “i’ve been trying to tell you that for years,” you murmur, leaning up to give caleb a well-deserved peck.

caleb feels like the world’s biggest fool, but he doesn’t exactly mind being the owner of said title if it means getting to be the only one to witness this side of you.

noticing that caleb has finally gotten the idea through his thick skull, and how his adrenaline is nearly depleted, you reach up to begin tracing his under-eyes. “how about we get some sleep, yeah?” you urge, but all you get in response is silence as caleb continues to memorize how breathtaking you look/relish in how lucky he is. “c’mon,” you try again, “i’ve missed sleeping in your bed.”

at your admission, caleb breaks out of his daze, laughing. no longer having to walk on eggshells, he securely interlaces your hands while leading you to his room. “just my bed?” caleb mockingly teases you. at the same time, he tugs at your connected hands to pull you into his side. laughing at his exaggerated puppy eyes, you decide to play along. “yeah, the owner’s too clingy in the mornings,” you pretend to sigh out of annoyance just as the two of you arrive at, what you presume to be, caleb’s room.

however, before you can take a step inside, you’re suddenly being lifted onto caleb’s shoulder. while you squeal at the sight of the world being turned upside down, caleb takes the bait you laid out for him. “really? i’m too clingy,” he drawls out, not struggling one bit when you start flailing around.

once caleb reaches his bed, he carefully tosses you onto it before quickly making his way on top of you, essentially trapping you. “hey,” you yell out, pushing your hands against his shoulders to maintain distance in retaliation. caleb ignores your pushback and instead focuses on proving you wrong. “who was the one always complaining whenever i had to get out of bed?” your arms go slack and your face flushes instantly at the mention of your own clingy moments.

caleb reels at your reaction, only prompting him to continue pushing your buttons even further. “what was it that you would say,” he pretends to think, as if he doesn’t have it completely memorized. you rush to hide your face behind your hands out of embarrassment, but it does nothing to stop caleb. “oh, i remember now,” he leans down before delivering the final blow. “caaaleeeeb,” he pitches his voice higher in an attempt to mimic yours. “come back to beeeeed,” he drags out his words, his lips curling up in satisfaction when he spots your mortified expression.

“or,” caleb starts up again, but he’s met with your hands covering up his mouth. “okay, okay! i get it! no more, please,” you beg. caleb’s eyes crinkle up in delight as he presses kisses against your palm. leaning back a bit, he makes a little space to allow him to taunt you, “i don’t know, you could beg a little bit more than that.”

wrapping your arms around his neck, you pull him down to attack his face with kisses. “i’m sooooooorry,” you mutter out in the midst of your affection. despite caleb seemingly have given up on teasing you any further, you continue on with your kisses.

the sound of his content and soft laughter is what puts an end to your display of endearment. your arms are still encased around his neck when he maneuvers his around your waist as he goes completely lax on top of half your body.

a silence fills the room, occasionally disturbed by the sound of yours and caleb’s synchronized breathing.

you can feel sleep starting to come onto you, so you know for sure that caleb’s on the edge of passing out. “g’night, caleb,” you murmur, carefully moving the arm that he’s not resting his head on to brush his bangs out of his face. “i love you so, so, so much, more than you think,” you quietly confess, your lips pressed against his forehead. you don’t get a response, but you don’t mind.

—

bonus: caleb being at gideon’s beck and call

caleb is slouched against the couch armrest, his legs sprawled open across the rest of the couch as he watches some documentary about planes and jets. you’re resting between his legs, your head, stomach, and hands pressed up against caleb’s chest with his arm wrapped around you. mc has claimed the loveseat and is doomscrolling, one handed, on her phone as she rests her head in her other hand.

you’re so close to falling asleep, and caleb’s hand tracing your spine is only encouraging you to pass out. however, as soon as your eyes close, gideon loudly groans, startling you awake. the jolt makes caleb rip his gaze from the tv to look at you stirring, his hand now motionless on your back.

annoyed that gideon disturbed your sleep, caleb prissily yields to gideon’s obnoxious way of getting his attention. “what’s your problem?” he asks without even glancing at gideon, his attention still on you as you move out of his embrace.

“are you kidding me,” gideon gawks at caleb, who is still actively ignoring him and is now sitting up with you. “you’re the problem! i won the bet, but you won’t do anything i tell you to,” he complains.

at the mention of the bet, mc perks up and drops her phone in favor of playing devil’s advocate. “y’know what, gideon’s right,” she stares down caleb, but he’s still ignoring the ongoing conversation.

you’re too drowsy to participate or even listen to what’s going on around you. the only thing you do take notice of is caleb’s hands soothingly rubbing up and down your arms. however, you’re forcibly included in the conversation when mc shouts out your name. you slowly turn your head to face mc as she teams up with gideon with the sole mission of making caleb suffer. ignoring caleb’s death stare, mc continues to tattle on him to you. “your boyfriend isn’t keeping his promise of being gideon’s servant for a day. after all the work he, we, put in to fix your relationship, don’t you think caleb needs to help you repay us?” mc rambles on, praying that you’re too out of it to realize how flawed her reasoning is.

to mc’s and gideon’s luck, it plays out exactly how they wanted it to. caleb scoffs at the ridiculous situation, and he’s about to shut down the entire thing when you turn back to dazedly blink at him.

“‘leb,” you groggily slur. “do whatever they want, please,” you softly plead, to caleb’s despair.

before caleb can say anything, the duo jumps at the opening. “c’mon, ‘leb, listen to your girlfriend,” mc teases him. “yeah, be a good puppy, won’cha?” gideon’s smirk grows at the sight of caleb’s eye twitching in irritation.

all you can think of is caleb’s soft and inviting bed waiting for you, so you unintentionally sign away your beloved boyfriend to his demise just to be able to sleep quicker. “please, do it for me?” you weakly lift your hand to run your fingers through his hair.

caleb has never despised the hold you have on him until now. despite his entire being against it, caleb begrudgingly agrees with a tense nod. at the sound of gideon and mc celebrating, caleb is fuming and already plotting his way out when you move off the couch.

“thank you,” you lean down to press a grateful kiss against caleb’s waiting lips, but you miss and land near the corner of his mouth instead. caleb doesn’t think his day could get any worse. “‘m goin’ head to sleep, love you,” you mumble as you push away from him and begin heading towards his room without letting him respond.

the moment the door to his room closes, gideon instantly assigns caleb a task. “wow, i’m feeling thirsty after all that. a homemade smoothie does sound pretty nice. could you get on making one?” he instigates.

to gideon’s and mc’s surprise, caleb doesn’t put up a fight as he gets up and heads to the kitchen. caleb’s willingness is what terrifies them.

despite the never-ending sounds coming from the kitchen, the living room is completely quiet. when it’s suddenly silent, the duo tenses as caleb walks out holding a glass of gideon’s smoothie. caleb is smiling, but there’s something off about it, which only makes gideon second-guess all his decisions leading up to now.

“uh,” gideon nervously chuckles, “what’s in it?”

caleb lists off all the ingredients and so far it sounds normal so gideon’s confidence slowly returns/doubt slowly fades. mc holds her breath as gideon takes a sip, and immediately, his face screws up in disgust.

“oh, i forgot. i added some handfuls of ginger last minute ‘cause it’s good for your health. the blender also died midway, so there’s might be some texture too,” caleb reveals with a chillingly calm voice.

despite presenting it as a coincidence, they both know that caleb had planned out every incident. mc tries to hold in her laugh at the sight of gideon suffering, but she ultimately fails when a loud ‘pft’ escapes her mouth. after quickly glancing at mc, gideon sets down the smoothie and pushes it away from him as far as possible.

“okay, uh. y’know what, the laundry needs to be done,” gideon carefully brings up.

caleb’s smile grows even bigger, as if that was exactly what he was waiting for. however, before gideon can take back his words, caleb reassures him, “i’ll have it done.” gideon wearingly watches as caleb disappears down the hall.

mc laughs as soon as caleb’s out of sight while gideon groans and begins regretting everything. “i’m gonna go brush my teeth to get this taste out my mouth,” he sighs as he dejectedly pushes himself off the couch.

as gideon makes his way to the bathroom, he walks by caleb suspiciously holding a tub he doesn’t usually see when he does laundry. skidding to a stop, gideon cautiously approaches caleb and checks in on what he’s doing. “hey, what’re you holding right now?”

caleb’s face lights up as he shows gideon the label, “it’s bleach.” gideon pales at the reveal. “i swear i’ve seen this same stain on your clothes a few years ago, so—“

without letting caleb finish his sentence, gideon snatches the tub of bleach out of his hands. “i’m sorry, you can stop now,” gideon practically begs caleb.

a genuine grin makes it’s way onto caleb’s face. “are you sure? i mean you were suuuupeer adamant about this,” he taunts gideon as he cocks his head to the side.

“no!” gideon hurriedly shouts. “i mean yeah, i’m sure,” he takes a sharp deep breath in. “just go spend time with your girlfriend. she’s leaving soon, and you two just made up,” gideon rushes out an excuse to get caleb far away from his clothes or anything of his.

“wow, thanks dude,” caleb starts heading towards his room. “i’ll remember this,” he says in a grateful tone, but gideon somehow ends up feeling threatened instead.

you’re woken up by the feeling of the bed dipping down. “caleb?” you instinctively call out without bothering to open your eyes.

“hi, honey,” caleb coos as he settles down behind you. “sorry, didn’t mean to wake you up,” he whispers while tugging you back into him.

you hum out in content as soon as you feel caleb’s warmth, wasting no time to turn around in his arms so you can shove your face into his neck. “that was quick. i thought gideon was gonna wear you thin,” you mumble against his neck.

smiling into your hair as he reminisces his schemes, caleb tightens his hold and agrees with you. “yeah, me too, but then he said he wanted me to spend time with you before you leave,” he conveniently leaves out certain details as he recalls the interaction.

despite trying your best to reply to caleb, all that comes out of your mouth is an incomprehensible murmur of pure gibberish. if you weren’t practically passed out, you would’ve been squirming in embarrassment. however, you force yourself to stay awake when you barely catch caleb whispering.

“goodnight,” he presses a kiss on the crown of your head. “i love you so much that it feels wrong to just call it that.”

“me too,” you strain out, desperately fighting against your drowsiness to make sure your words are coherent. caleb wasn’t expecting you to be awake, and the brief second when he tenses up at the sound of your voice exposes him. “i love you so much that it hurts imagining a world without you,” you’re relieved that you just barely finished your words before you’re finally asleep.

blinking, you move your eyes to meet caleb’s disbelieving stare. “i was just asking,” you shrug while his mouth drops open in bewilderment. 

satisfied with how caleb is reacting so far, you continue your prank. “like, i know you’re strong, but being athletic is different,” you clarify. 

standing up, caleb crosses his arm with an unamused expression and tone, “uh huh, and what do you consider athletic that i don’t have?” however, before you can respond, caleb boastfully cuts you off with a smirk, “‘cuz i know that stamina isn’t a problem.” 

caught off guard, you stumble as you attempt to pull yourself together. you stammer out gibberish with a slight blush. caleb’s smirk and ego grows at your reaction. you pause. the sight of his smug, winning grin irks you so much that it lights the competitive nature in you. 

no longer flustered, and in an attempt to annoy caleb, you continue on with your prank. “okay, well,” you huff out as caleb simply tilts his head with raised eyebrows. you fake a pout as you accuse caleb, “i know you use your evol to help you with your workouts. you don’t have to lie to me.” 

“oh, really now,” caleb pokes his tongue against his cheek as he sarcastically drags out his words. without waiting another second, you yelp as you’re suddenly lifted into the air, then land perfectly onto caleb’s shoulder. you’re still processing why all that fills your view is caleb’s back when you're snapped out of your daze.

encasing his arm around your calves, caleb makes sure your secure against his shoulder before simply saying, “i’ll show you how my evol feels like when it’s activated.”

xavier “do you wish you were good with the sword?”

xavier doesn’t even stop stuffing his face at your question. but you know that he heard you when you see his eyes drift from his food to your eyes. 

taking a moment to swallow, xavier scans your face before he confusedly asks, “good with the sword?”

instantly, you’re enthusiastically nodding your head, “yeah! like expert level, really good with the sword!” you’re no longer facing him as you move to grab food, but you’re still closely watching for his reaction in your peripheral vision with a gleaming smile.

now even more confused, xavier slowly states, “but i am good.” however, his tone makes it sound as if he is starting to doubt himself. 

the sight makes you feel bad, but then you remember how much hotpot you’ve eaten just this week because of him. in fact, you’re eating hotpot again right now! you deserve a little, harmless revenge on him for making your skin suffer. 

“hmm, yeah,” you hum out as your eyes dart around, thinking about what food item you want to eat. after you finally came to a decision, you make a move to pick it up as you continue explaining, “but i feel like you have the potential to reach isaiah’s level if you really try your best,” you tease as you look up to meet xavier’s eyes while simultaneously shoving the food into your mouth.

there’s a brief moment of silence as the both of you hold each other’s stares. you’re happily chewing on your food while xavier slowly places down his utensils and straightens up. he can’t tell if you’re being serious or joking around simply by your behavior, but with how incredulous your statement is, he safely assumes that you’re just trying to rile him up. 

huffing, xavier leans his face against his now propped up arm resting on the table as he declares, “it seems like i’ve been too lax with you during our spars.” a content smile spreads onto his face while your smile immediately drops at the insinuation. 

“wait,” you rush out while shooting your hands up in an attempt to stop xavier from finishing his statement. unfortunately, your actions prove to be futile when he teasingly smiles out, “i’ll make sure to properly do my best from now on, so we can both improve our lacking skills.”

zayne “do you wish you were busy?”

zayne doesn’t even look up from his paperwork while you continue admiring him from the other side of his office desk. the two of you are sharing a lunch, but, as usual, zayne is drowning in work. 

you’re starting to feel neglected, but you’re not upset at all. you understand how important he is, and thus, how heavily in demand he is. however, that doesn’t stop you from taking advantage of your girlfriend privileges of being able to push his buttons and facing little to no consequences. to be fair, you are doing this to force him into taking an actual break, but if you can entertain yourself while doing it, why wouldn’t you jump at the chance? 

he indulges you with a question, “whatever do you mean?” but you refuse to make a move until he finally redirects his burning stare, which is focused on his paperwork, to your pouting face instead. 

exasperatedly, you huff as you sarcastically roll your eyes, “i don’t know. i mean, you’re spending so much time with me.” you childishly cross your arms and turn your head ahead as you mockingly complain, “i feel bad for your coworkers and patients with how much attention you’re giving me.”  

immediately picking up on the actual meaning behind your words, zayne is quick to reassure you. “i apologize. as soon as i’m finished with this pile,” he gestures to the smallest pile of papers out of the multiple stacks crowding his desk, “i’ll join you.” 

you glance at the 5 inch stack of papers that zayne just gestured to and sigh, “zayne, i don’t mind if you can’t spend time with me, but you,” you firmly jab a finger in his direction, “need a break.” 

zayne has now fully abandoned his pen and moves to open his mouth to retaliate. but you don’t give him a chance because, knowing him, he would say something along the lines about not being able to afford a break or he would simply tell you that he would take one later. you rush to rise up from your seat and forcibly demand, “now,” as you stand your ground. 

“or if you’re so busy, i’ll go have lunch with greyson,” you move to gather your things while zayne carefully surveys your movement. 

suddenly, you gasp out in realization and freeze. then, you spin around to face a somewhat startled zayne as you reveal your idea. “maybe i’ll go visit that hot, new, and, young ophthalmologist-”

clearing his throat, zayne quickly stands up and interrupts you, “now that i think about it, i’m actually quite hungry.”

rafayel “do you wish you were creative?”

rafayel instantly releases an insulted gasp before you can completely finish your question. “why don’t you remind me who’s the professional, globally-known artist between the two of us,” he scoffs at you. 

mischievously humming out, you continue to tease him, “i don’t know raf.” you take a peek at him from above your canvas. it’s date night, and the two of you are sitting across from each other on the couch, painting a portrait of one another. 

“i mean, i did win that art contest,” you shrug as you return your focus onto your purposely deformed depiction of rafayel on your canvas. 

at the mention of the contest where he lost to you, he immediately drops everything in his hands as he begins his rant. “of course you won with your subpar, fluorescent drawing,” he angrily huffs out. “those kids wouldn’t understand art if it hit them in the face,” he complains while flailing his hands around to emphasize his irritation. 

you’re now laughing at his despair, your canvas and paintbrush abandoned as well. he ignores you as he continues on with his complaints, “you just chose the brightest colors, and the worst part is that they weren’t even cohesive colors!” 

you mockingly comfort him as you finally catch your breath, “it’s called strategy, raf.” you attempt to continue your painting that doesn’t even resemble rafayel one bit as you giddy smile out, “y’know how kids are. they may be simple and lack awareness, but they don’t pass on a chance to be brutally honest about this stuff.”

“yeah, well,” rafayel slouches back into the couch as he pouts and crosses his arms. “they seemed to have missed your lack of fashion sense,” he throws out as he turns his head to face away from you.

letting out an insulted gasp of your own, your hands fumble around until they land on one of rafayel’s many abandoned and expensive paintbrushes. rafayel is too busy whining and sulking to notice the still wet paintbrush in your hand. thus, it isn’t a surprise when rafayel yelps out of shock as the paintbrush hits the side of his cheek, smearing paint across it. 

after a minute or two of scanning the doors, gideon becomes reassured that caleb won’t storm in any time soon. huffing out a temporary relieved sigh, he returns his gaze to meet your confused stare. he doesn’t fail to notice how the kitten copies you and is now looking at him too. 

“c’mon,” gideon groans out while you continue to stare with furrowed eyebrows. 

at the sight of your expression, he throws his head back to face the ceiling while shoving his hands into his pockets. it’s not hard to tell how exhausted gideon gets with having to deal with you and caleb, and you can’t blame him. but, just because you understand doesn’t mean you’ll put up with his whiny and vague behavior. 

now irritated with gideon being a pain, you quickly jab at his knee. instantly, he yelps out and doubles over to soothingly rub at his knee. without stopping, gideon glares up at your satisfied expression. 

“you used to be nice before caleb,” he whispers, but clearly not quiet enough when he sees you quickly straighten up and turn to fully face him. 

however, before you can jump to your beloved boyfriend’s defense, gideon beats you to it. 

straightening up himself, gideon tiredly lets out, “why would caleb want a kitten that reminds him of himself?” he maintains the same knowing expression as he witnesses you go through the entire process of realization and embarrassment. 

a silence breaks out as both of you turn back to the kitten. sensing that his freedom and safety was going to be returned to him soon, gideon’s mood lifts as he approaches the enclosure the kitten is residing in. unfortunately for him, you break his brief stress free moment when you questionably murmur, “are you sure,” as you trace patterns on the glass. 

without waiting a second, gideon drops his head and exasperatedly answers, “you’re the one who insisted on bringing me along ‘cuz i supposedly know caleb the second best after you, your words by the way, and now you’re doubting me?” 

slightly embarrassed with your overthinking, you finally pull yourself together and agree with gideon. “okay, you’re right,” you nod while you continue to stare down the kitten. gideon, on the other hand, visibly lights up, “i am?” 

“yeah, she’s perfect,” you turn to meet gideon’s relieved smile with a beaming one. 

after completing the documents, you, gideon, and your newly acquired kitten are on the way back from the adoption shelter with a comfortable silence lingering between the three of you. 

despite making it clear to gideon that you wanted to be the one carrying the kitten, he was scarily adamant about your hand not being anywhere near the handle of the carrier. you know that his odd reaction has something to do with caleb, so you dejectedly complied.

you’re doing your best to hold yourself back, but you can’t help continuously peering over gideon’s build to sneak glances at the napping kitten. gideon is also doing his best to ignore your actions as he stares at the path ahead, but he immediately checks on you when he feels your gaze move onto him. 

feeling caught, you avert your gaze the moment you meet gideon’s as you clear your throat. “so,” you drag out, “what did caleb get me,” you ask as innocently as you can manage. 

gideon doesn’t even slow down his stride as he scoffs out, “like he would ever tell me.”

—

the kitten has been staying over at gideon’s to avoid caleb’s suspicion. unfortunately for you, this meant that you had to get updates via secret messages and phone calls. however, both of you knew that it would be impossible to completely keep caleb in the dark. so when he did eventually notice the increase of interactions between you and gideon, you didn’t even try to lie to him. but at the same time, all you gave up was, “gideon is helping me with our anniversary.” 

it’s the night before your anniversary, and you’re currently sitting on the counter, next to the sink, waiting for caleb to finish brushing his teeth. the two of you agreed to stay up until midnight to celebrate every second, especially since caleb’s presence during holidays is rare. 

happy with your response and how you’re not lying to him, caleb allows your secrecy to pass just this once with a tease. “what happened to your self-declared number one spot of caleb trivia,” he grins while slouching to hover over the sink.

you match caleb’s attitude and rest your hands on your hips with a smirk. “i’ve still got it,” you cockily shrug, “i just used a lifeline.” caleb rolls his eyes in response, but all you can focus on is his still wet, slicked back hair that shows off his forehead. 

it’s just his forehead, and, despite your insistent pleas, caleb refuses to give in and show off his forehead more often. you figure that caleb gets some sort of enjoyment from denying you of it. still transfixed, you don’t notice caleb who is now waiting for his towel in your hands. 

to your dismay, caleb definitely notices. now smug with the reminder of how much of an impact he has on you, caleb slides himself between your legs and towers over you. 

the droplets from his hair fall on your face and wake you up from your daze. instantly, you recognize the pleased expression and shove the forgotten towel into his face. with how much the two of you catch each other practically drooling over one another, embarrassment is no longer the immediate reaction, but rather annoyance from the inevitable teasing. 

removing the towel, caleb slightly shakes his head to cover you with more water droplets as he speaks through your mock irritated groan, “i’m more insulted at you phoning gideon over mc.” 

gasping, you quickly pivot to turn on the faucet in an attempt to flicker water back at him. “don’t be mean,” you scold, but before you could actually get revenge, caleb grabs your wrist. 

bending over once more, caleb maneuvers himself and utilizes his grip on your wrist to carefully pull you onto his shoulder as he comments, “alright, time for bed.”  caleb ignores your yelp and begins making his way to your shared bed. both of you know that you won’t make it to midnight, but it’s the thought that counts. 

you and caleb are wrapped around each other when your consciousness starts slipping, and just before you’re completely out, you swear you hear caleb muffledly whisper something you can’t quite make out through his lips that are pressed against your forehead.

—

when you woke up, caleb was already in the bathroom getting ready for the day. you, on the other hand, are still lying on your side of your bed, rapidly messaging back and forth with gideon. 

out of the corner of your eye, you see caleb reenter the room looking as if he’s about to go out. immediately, you turn off your phone with a growing smile on your face. caleb, with a matching smile, begins striding towards you while you’re simultaneously getting out of bed. 

before you can even place both feet on the floor, you realize that caleb is practically already in front of you. knowing how caleb is, you don’t even attempt to make another move, and, instead, patiently wait for him to reach you. 

“happy anniversary,” you can barely finish when caleb interrupts you with a tackle back into bed. your legs are slightly hanging off the side of the bed while caleb is stuck in an uncomfortable position, trying his best to avoid his outside clothes, which were fresh out of the dryer, from touching the bed. 

your laughter, accompanied with caleb’s exaggerated smooching sounds that trail from your neck, to your chin, and all over your face, echoes throughout the room. caleb is trying to speak through his kissing spree, but it comes out muffled, yet barely audible, “sorry, happy anniversary.” 

you know exactly what he’s apologizing for, but you pretend to be clueless. moving his face back down to your neck, caleb halts his affectionate display as he upsettingly confesses, “i’m sorry. mc needs my help with something, but i’ll be quick. promise.” 

a mischievous grin breaks out on your face, but caleb is too busy shoving his nose into your pulse point to notice. you had planned for mc to get caleb out of the house for a solid few hours, so you could retrieve the kitten from gideon. however, since it was your anniversary, mc had to put together an extreme and urgent excuse to distract caleb. thus, you’ve agreed to be at mc’s mercy for three weeks in return for her having to deal with the aftermath. 

you’re too busy polishing up your plan to realize that you never responded to caleb. your silence, however, makes caleb nervous to the point that he finally peels himself off of you. 

at the feeling of caleb’s heavy body being lifted off, you quickly correct your expression to one of understanding just as you meet his weary gaze. sighing, you move to push his hair back while lifting yourself off the bed to peck between his brows. “‘s okay. as long as you come back,” you pull back with a smile. 

in a hurry to get to mc’s and get it over with as soon as possible, caleb reluctantly pulls away and begins to actually leave, but not before he confidently answers, “always.” 

—

you’ve successfully received the kitten, and now, you’ve been waiting hours for caleb to come back home to you. the sunset is reflecting off your face as you sit in the living room alone since you decided to leave the sleeping kitten on your shared bed. 

as soon as you got back and let the kitten settle down, you immediately went to dress up although you and caleb planned to stay home all day. at first, you were excited to see caleb’s reaction to both you and the kitten, but now, the special outfit you bought just for your anniversary felt suffocating. caleb promised you that he would return, and you don’t doubt him. but, you can’t help losing hope as the sun continues to lower as the minutes pass by. 

fortunately for you, your faith in caleb is rewarded when you hear the front door slam open. startled, you jump up from the couch. now wide awake, you quickly spin around as your eyes land on a disgruntled caleb who looks like he just returned from a war. 

shocked at the sudden change in mood, you rush over to caleb’s side without noticing how caleb is obviously hiding something in his jacket. by the time you’re right in front of him, caleb is still stumbling around, trying to get his shoes off with one arm protectively shielding the lump under his jacket from you. 

to caleb’s relief, you’re too focused on caleb’s torn up and mud-stained clothes, the scratches sporadically adorning his skin, and his hair sticking out all over the place. “caleb,” you gasp out. your hands are frantically hovering about because you have no clue what area of caleb’s body to begin checking up on. 

once caleb finally catches his breath, he huffs out a drained, “i’m sorry.” he begins to gently push you further into the house with one hand while the other is still holding the hidden lump. “i’m sorry you had to wait so long,” caleb rushes out. however, his attempt to calm you down causes you to worriedly scoff in response instead. 

the two of you are by the bedroom door when caleb cuts you off with a giddy smile, “i”m fine, i just had a little bit of a hiccup getting your gift.” 

bewildered, you shriek out, “a little?!” 

ignoring your exclamation, caleb excitedly nods as he pleads, “close your eyes.” 

shocked at how dismissive caleb is being about his disastrous state, you continue to stare him down with a baffled expression without saying a word. realizing that you won’t let this pass, caleb guides his free hand to interlink with your hand and squeezes. 

adding a pout to his already pleading, puppy eyes, caleb repeats himself, “i’ll explain everything later, but for now, close your eyes, please?”

with confirmation that caleb wouldn’t brush over the incident, you hesitantly comply with his request. as soon as you finish closing your eyes, caleb briefly lets go of your hand to adjust both of your hands to be cupped together, hovering in the air. 

you hear caleb’s jacket being ruffled around before you feel him quickly press a kiss to your check. “happy anniversary,” he whispers against your cheek. then, without giving you a chance to reply, he pulls back and gently places his very familiar feeling gift in your hands. you know exactly what caleb got you, and you’re ecstatic. 

without waiting for his permission, you rapidly snap open your eyes to meet caleb’s doppelganger in kitten form staring back at you. “no way,” you gasp out. immediately, you carefully, yet hurriedly shove your hands, which were coddling the kitten, back into caleb’s chest as you simultaneously shout out, “wait here.” 

once caleb has the kitten securely in his hands, you disappear into the bedroom. you spot the once napping kitten now awake and stretching on the bed. quickly, you pick up the kitten, but as you approach the open door, you only eagerly peek your head out to mimic caleb’s earlier demand, “close your eyes!” 

despite being confused, caleb obediently shuts his eyes close as tight as he could muster to make sure that you know he’s not peeking. slowly, you move to stand in front of caleb and proudly present the kitten you got him in your hands. “okay, open your eyes,” you impatiently demand with an expectant smile. 

with your permission, caleb slowly opens his eyes. but instead of immediately looking at the kitten that you’re happily showing off, caleb takes a moment to scan your beaming smile before drifting his gaze down to the kitten in your hands. 

caleb’s face drops. undeterred, you, on the other hand, are smiling even brighter at the sight of caleb’s panicking face. don’t get him wrong, caleb loves that you two somehow got the same gift for each other. what caleb is genuinely worried about is you having to take care of two kittens alone whenever he has to return to skyhaven. 

however, you quickly quell his worries, “this is perfect!” you move to hand caleb his kitten while you embrace the kitten caleb got you. “whenever you leave for skyhaven, you can take the kitten version of me to keep you company, and i’ll have the kitten version of you to keep me company,” you beam. 

at your reasoning, and the longer he stares at your kitten doppelganger, caleb seems to slowly accept your logic. maybe, caleb thinks, the next time he has to leave, he won’t feel as guilty leaving you behind and he won’t be as lonely in skyhaven. 

—

after showering, both you and caleb are now retrieving the hidden kitten care materials and setting it up while he finally recalls what happened to him. 

“—when i opened the door to mc’s apartment, the kitten immediately escaped, and we spent hours—”

at the reveal, you freeze. caleb instantly notices your lack of movement and pauses. 

you’re slowly putting the pieces together when you ask caleb, “wait, mc was sheltering the kitten the entire time?” at the sight of caleb’s slow nod of confirmation, you yell, “i told mc to keep you busy in the morning so i could get the other kitten at gideon’s!” 

caleb’s confusion morphs into amusement as he watches you realize that you got played by mc. you stare at caleb with widened and horrified eyes while he moves to comfortingly rub up and down your back, “oh my god, i agreed to be her lackey for weeks for nothing,” you wail out.

at her insinuation, your drooping eyes snap wide open. no longer sleepy and clearly insulted, you gasp as your face scrunches up in offense. 

mc quickly raises her hands to slightly obscure her panicking face, then she begins frantically shaking both her hands and her head in order to placate you. “you’ve been doing so much overtime,” mc pauses to examine your expression before continuing, “either you’re overworking to avoid caleb or you need extra money, and we both know the latter can’t be true since caleb spoils you rotten,” she dissects her theory. 

after patiently waiting for mc to finish speaking, your entire being relaxes as you roll your eyes in mock annoyance. you start walking again as you make it clear to mc, “we are not fighting,” you scoff. 

mc immediately catches up to you, but remains silent in order to encourage you to continue your explanation. noticing mc’s stare burning into the side of you face, you give in as you sighs. embarrassed at being caught, you finally murmurs out, “i’m saving up to get caleb a ticket to his favorite artist’s concert.” 

before mc can properly finish doting on yours and caleb’s relationship, she stops herself to clarify her confusion. tugging you to a stop, mc moves to face you as she questions, “wait, did you say ticket, as in a singular ticket,” while lifting her index finger to emphasize her point. 

you mirror mc’s disbelief as you upsettingly admit, “even with weeks of overtime, i can barely purchase one ticket, and i’d rather have caleb go alone than not go at all.” mc immediately moves to disagree with you as mc furrows her eyebrows, but you don’t let her start, “it’s not a gift for him if he’s helping me buy his own present,” you counter.

huffing, mc pulls you forward as she makes her final stance on the situation, “you clearly don’t know caleb as well as you think you do if you think that he would prefer going to a concert without you over doing chores and running errands with you.” 

—

you’re finally back in the comforts of your own apartment, but before you can fully settle down, you notice a silhouette lingering in the middle of the living room. terrified, your hand slams around in search of the light switch. you weren’t expecting a visitor, and you’ll be damned if you did weeks of overtime just to die. 

as soon as you turn on the lights, you simultaneously launch your keys at the figure in an act of defense. without glancing at the now lit up and discernible person, you start to reach down again, frantically searching for another item to throw. however, at the sound of the person’s voice, and the lack of sound to indicate the keys falling to the ground, you freeze. 

“wow,” you slowly turns to face the origin of the familiar voice, “is this how you treat your boyfriend after not seeing him for months,” caleb sarcastically drags out as he shakes the keys in his hands back and forth. 

a silence breaks out as you process the situation. caleb teasingly tilts his head as he waits for  your mind to catch up. fortunately for him, he doesn’t have to wait long before you break out into the brightest smile you’ve shown in weeks as you rush into his now open arms.

caleb laughs out while you exclaim, “caleb!” the both of them tighten their hold around each other. “you didn’t tell me that you were coming back,” your smile practically being tattooed into his neck. 

caleb’s matching smile is evident as he explains himself, “it wouldn’t be a surprise if i told you ahead of time.” he takes a slight pause before he continues at a lower octave, “besides, you made it pretty easy for me with how you’ve been ignoring my calls,” his knowing grin still present.

not even a second after caleb finishes his accusation, he feels you immediately tense up in his arms. despite you carefully trying to pull away from the hug, caleb refuses to loosen his grip around you. accepting your predicament, you remain stuck in his hold as you slowly, yet hurriedly rush out, “i can explain.” 

unfortunately for you, your desperate words get muffled against his neck. in response, caleb hums out, “what was that? i couldn’t hear you,” he teases you with a barely noticeable strain in his voice. from the way caleb is still slightly joking around, you relax a bit. 

however, you know that he’s still upset to a degree, so you quickly work at clearing up the misunderstanding. mustering up your most serious voice, you breathe out against his neck, “caleb,” as you gently push against chest, “let me explain.” 

after caleb finally lets you put some distance between your chests, you instantly get to work once the two of you are face to face, “i was doing overtime ‘cuz i want to get you an anniversary gift with my own hard work and not yours, caleb.” you notice his face scrunching up in disagreement, but you refuse to stop, “the tickets for your favorite artist’s concert are going on sale soon, and i really wanted to get a ticket no matter what.” 

once caleb makes sure that you got everything you wanted to say out of your system, he asks a simple question, “a ticket?” caleb already knew that you would never betray his trust, so he wasn’t surprised at the underwhelming reveal. but, he is upset that you were ignoring him even if your reasoning was endearing. 

you lean your forehead against his chest as you reluctantly nod, “sorry,” you mumble out a bit dejectedly as you realize that mc’s earlier statement is starting to be proven correct. at your apology, caleb breathlessly laughs out as he shuts you down, “don’t worry about it,” as he tugs you back into his embrace. 

caleb lifts a hand to trace the edges of your shoulder blade as he confesses, “i already got presale tickets for the both of us.” 

his revelation causes you to whine in discontent. “that’s not the point, caleb. you’re always working so hard, and you still manage to always do something for me, so, just once, i wanted to do something for you,” you frustratedly sigh out. 

at this point, caleb cannot believe how oblivious you are. he takes a brief pause before he points out, “and you think i’m doing this much work just ‘cuz i like it?” he bewilderedly huffs out as he continues ripping apart, what he considers, your useless worries, “all i need from you is to be with me.” he pauses as he contentedly leans his head against yours, “i’ll take care of everything else, m’kay?” 

however, after persistent reassurance and begging, your apartment had eventually became the abandoned one, while the once lonely place xavier called home finally felt like an actual home with your presence. he can’t help but pity his past self for not being able to know what it feels like to sleep with you in his arms every night. even now, xavier still feels jealous towards his future self who will get to wake up with a view of you roaming around his place as if it’s second nature.

despite xavier knowing that you’ll always come back to him at the end of the day, he never fails to ask you every night to stay at his, even if the two of you haven’t seen each other all day. he prides himself with always being able to find a way to contact you no matter what. 

unfortunately for xavier, you have different plans—a prank in other terms—in mind as you giddily drag him back home before he could even finish his tradition. fortunately for you, xavier mistakes your excitement for finally being able to sleep in each other's arms as he lets you tug him all the way into bed.

—

the mission yesterday had taken everything from both you and xavier, so you weren’t surprised when you woke up in the middle of the afternoon. stretching, you barely shuffled an inch away from him when you feel xavier’s arms pull you back into bed, essentially pinning you against his chest as he lets out a soft whine. 

although you’re already smiling at his predictable behavior, your smile grows even bigger when you feel xavier shove his half-asleep face into the back of your neck. “star,” he hoarsely yawns out against your neck. 

to his dismay, his complaint only came out as incorrigible mumbles which only makes you wriggle around in his hold even more. in response, xavier only tightens his hold around you while further nudging his face against your neck. 

at your inability to stay still, xavier mumbles out more complaints into your neck while you let out a whine of your own, “xavier, that tickles,” you giggly complain.

suddenly, xavier’s movements completely halt. as you’re catching your breath, you feel xavier slightly pull back, which gives you enough space to lay on your back.

slightly turning your head, your blissful expression meets xavier’s grumpy, yet sleepy frown. however, before you can question him about his change in mood, xavier immediately shifts to hover above you. 

after gently knocking his forehead against yours, xavier narrows his eyes into a glare as his tight-lippedly murmurs out, “xavier?” 

his frown morphs into a pout when his intimidation tactic only results in an even brighter, teasing grin breaking out onto your face. 

as you move both of your hands to smush his cheeks together, xavier thinks that he has finally found a con to you two being attached at the hip. he can’t pull the same tricks on you anymore he dejectedly realizes as you continue cooing at him as if he was a cat rather than your boyfriend. 

“d’awh,” you gasp out in adoration as xavier closes his eyes in acceptance while you teasingly shake his head side to side. “is the star of my life upset that i called him by his name,” you laugh out as xavier lowers himself on top of you, once again making himself at home against your neck. 

still giggling, you taunt xavier even more as you begin softly treading your hands through his hair, “how about the center of my universe, is that better,” you mockingly question while he hums in response as he locks his arms around your waist once more.

as your laughs die down, the only sounds that fill the room are yours and xavier's now synced heartbeats and breaths. you’re starting to think that xavier has fallen asleep again from how quiet and still he has been, but then he whispers out, “keep going,” to which you happily comply with.

—

you’ve somehow managed to slip out of xavier’s trap of an embrace without waking him up. now, you’re in the kitchen in order to carry out the plan that you’ve been harboring ever since mc and tara has shown you the trending pranks. 

at the thought of them, you begin to feel guilty. although the two of them know that you are seeing someone, they don’t know that the someone is xavier—your coworker and mc’s partner at work. trust wasn’t the reason why you wanted to keep it a secret, but rather the taboo behind dating your coworker. 

you weren’t worried about the possibility of jenna finding out because you knew that she was confident in yours and xavier’s ability to properly perform while keeping work and personal life separate. 

xavier didn’t mind when you requested to keep your relationship a secret. he was fine with anything as long as he started and ended his day with you. however, despite his reassurance, you still felt the need to make sure that xavier 100 percent knew that you weren’t embarrassed of him. 

thus, a panicked xavier was subjected to you crying as you did your best to explain how you, a relatively new hunter, would be affected by xavier, a very well-known and experienced hunter, at work. you didn’t want to be treated differently just because one of the most well-established hunters was essentially wrapped around your finger. and you most certainly didn’t want all of your accomplishments to be diminished just because your stupid, love-sick boyfriend would do anything for you. 

sighing as you try to clear the embarrassing memory from your mind, you refocus on your current task. you’re baking egg tarts as a ‘thank you’ for xavier, but not without playing a small little prank on him first. 

before you can feel bad, you think about all the times that xavier had subjected you to his cooking. now invigorated with revenge, you hurriedly hide your recording phone as you hear xavier exit your shared bedroom. as you pile a mountain of salt onto the biggest spoon the two of you have in your cupboards, you beckon him over at the same time, “xavi? come here, quickly!” you finish your command as you’re proudly admiring your now finished and perfect egg tart covered spoon. 

without waiting a second, you hear xavier slightly speed up as he responds, “coming, my star,” right before you feel his presence right next to you. one of his hands is innocently rubbing up and down your lower back while the other is resting on the counter as he leans over to examine your freshly baked egg tarts. 

you’re too busy making sure that xavier’s head is properly cut off, and out of frame, to hear the compliments he’s showering you in. however, you’re immediately snapped out of your daze as you see xavier’s head dip downwards—almost making an appearance on your phone screen— to give you a quick peck. 

without thinking, you swerve out of the way, and before xavier could process it, you practically shove the ticking time bomb of a spoon in his face. xavier’s eyes slowly flicker from yours to the spoonful of an egg tart, and salt unbeknownst to him, that you’re eagerly offering to him. 

as if sensing xavier’s growing suspicion, you quickly hurry to smooth over his concerns, “i made egg tarts just for you.” you take a short pause before you shyly confess, “i just wanted to thank you for being so patient with me,” and you know it’s hook, line, and sinker when you see xavier’s face soften and his mouth opening.

beaming, you gently, but excitedly guide the spoon into xavier’s mouth as you continue your ramble, “i accidentally made too many,” you pause as your smile turns even more radiant when you spot xavier freeze after you completely remove the spoon from his mouth. 

you’re trying your best to keep your composure when you hear a crunch come from xavier’s mouth as you continue speaking, “so i was planning to give some to tara and mc, y’know, maybe the entire hunter’s association too!” you pretend you don’t notice the terror in xavier’s widened eyes as you flutter your eyelashes in an attempt to appear innocent, “what’d you think, love?” 

you almost break when you see xavier trying his absolute best to swallow the monstrous bite you doomed him with. his adam’s apple continuously bobs up and down, however, the food, if you could even call it that, refuses to leave his mouth. you swear you see his eyes gloss over as his knuckles begin to turn white. 

satisfied with his reaction, you’re about to reveal the prank when xavier finally swallows and coughs out, “i have a better idea,” he avoids your question. at your confusion, he starts up again with a slight tense coarseness to his voice that wasn’t there before, “why don’t we give them to jeremiah,” he contently grins. xavier can’t bring himself to lie to you, so he’ll sacrifice jeremiah instead. 

however, his pleased demeanor immediately fades away as you loudly and accusingly gasp out. “bad xavier,” you disappointedly exclaim as you point the spoon at xavier, whose expression screams ‘caught.’ 

shaking your head, you continue scolding him, “poor jeremiah already has to suffer through so much ‘cuz of you,” you click your tongue, “and you want me to thank him for babysitting you all these years with pure salt egg tarts,” you huff out as you cross your arms against your chest.

feeling as if he was being unfairly punished, xavier pouts out, “how about your poor boyfriend who has to deal with your pranks,” he moves to uncross your arms. 

a small grin returns as you continue teasing him, “you should be thankful that these are pranks, xavi.” you turn to scoop at a properly baked egg tart this time and turn back to be met with xavier’s already awaiting, open mouth. 

after carefully confirming that it wasn’t a salt filled egg tart again, xavier nods his head in satisfaction while you move to retrieve your hidden phone. 

xavier isn’t even surprised at the sight of your recording phone as he moves to cling around your waist again while he comments, “i’m always thankful for you gracing me with your presence everyday, star.” you giggle out at xavier starts distracting you with innocent pecks to the edge of your chin without pausing his praises, “i can’t live without you,” he whispers. you’re not even paying attention to whatever button you’re pressing on your phone anymore. 

“you are to me what the sun is to life,” xavier wholeheartedly, yet breathlessly confesses against your skin. as soon as the words leave xavier’s mouth, you know you’re screwed. it wasn’t even what he said, but rather how he said it.

the quietest of whispers as if he wanted to guarantee that only you would hear his pure and vulnerable admission. 

filled to the brim with pure and unadulterated love that you so desperately want to show to xavier, you hurriedly, yet blindly press one last button before slamming down your phone on the counter and jumping into his arms. 

—

you’re late, and you’re mad. it’s not even your fault, which enrages you even further since the culprit remains still in bed, laying on his side, head supported by one of his arms, eyes sleepily blinking as they follow your panicking movements. 

sensing an incoming repeat of the scolding he got the day before, xavier immediately attempts to quell your anger before it comes out, “you’re pretty,” he murmurs out. 

xavier sees you freeze as soon as the words come out of his mouth, and he instantly knows he messed up. 

before you can fully turn around, xavier is already pushing himself up. however, once your eyes meet his, xavier’s grip on the sheets slips, which sends him tumbling back down with an echoing ‘oomph’ sound as he faceplants back into bed, unwillingly this time.

without giving xavier a chance to recover, you sternly call his name out, “xavier shen.” at your serious tone, along with the use of his full name, xavier wastes no time stumbling out of bed as he responds with, “at your command,” he ends with a salute. 

rolling your eyes, you shoot him a teasing glare as you finish resume your fussing, “go get ready.” you point a finger at him before you rush out to the living room in search of your abandoned phone, “and then you’re figuring out a way to get us there in time,” you yell out. 

now left alone in the bedroom, xavier speaks out to no one in particular, “but we’re already late,” he mumbles out as he heads towards the bathroom to freshen up.

unfortunately for xavier, it seems that annoyance somehow enhances your hearing abilities as you yell back, “what was that?” startled, xavier reflexively responds with, “i said anything you want, starlight,” and rushes into the bathroom this time to prevent himself getting into more trouble.

—

before xavier can take a step forward towards the hunter association building, you tug him back by the crook of his elbow. xavier immediately digs his heels into the ground as you call out to him, “wait.” at the added sound of your plea, xavier looks over his shoulder to meet your nervous eyes as he tilts his head in confusion.

you’re too scared to maintain his gaze as you begin to fidget with the creases of his jacket. before you can spiral, xavier moves his free hand to gently grasp around your wrists. once he begins rubbing circles on your pulse point, you become confident enough to return his understanding and patient stare. 

gulping, you ashamedly admit, “maybe you should wait a bit after i enter the building.” you frown as you force yourself to continue on with your explanation, “so people don’t think we arrived together, y’know.” 

you instantly regret your suggestion when xavier’s entire demeanor deflates as he lets his hand that was softly comforting you fall back down to his side. all xavier can manage in response is a breathless, “oh,” as he dejectedly takes a few steps back, which causes you to release your grip on his elbow.

noticing that you look like you’re on the edge of bursting out into apologies, xavier forces a small smile onto his face as he shakes his head, encouraging you to head to work. however, when you don’t move, xavier speaks out, “if you don’t leave now, you’ll be late again,” he finishes off with a shooing motion with his hands.

as you turn away from xavier and begin rushing to the entrance, you make a mental note to make it up to him for the rest of your lives together. however, it seems as if xavier’s noble sacrifice ended up being useless when you spot two very familiar silhouettes standing guard at the entrance of the building. 

before you can recognize who the two are, the pair immediately recognize you and begin stomping in your direction, eyes locked onto your widened ones. you screech to a stop as you finally realize who is angrily bulldozing their way to you, it’s mc and tara. 

you’re frozen in fear as you’re desperately doing your best to rack through every memory to see if you forgot a hangout, but you can’t figure it out by the time they’re in front of you. without giving you a chance to speak, mc shoves her blinding phone into your face. 

taking a step back in order to actually be able to see the video playing on her screen, mc and tara accusingly shout out their complaints in unison, “i can’t believe you didn’t tell us.” they continue huffing and puffing while you wonder why the video looks so familiar. you swear the background is xavier’s apartment, but you and xavier would never post something this obvious about your relationship. 

your gaze drifts to the username of the poster, and that’s when you realize. you posted it. mortified at your blunder, you jerk your head back as you hear footsteps that you know belong to xavier approaching the three of you. you must’ve accidentally posted the unedited video instead of saving it to your drafts when xavier began distracting you.

just as xavier stops right behind you and before you can calm things down, mc decides to put the final nail in the coffin. “xavier is your boyfriend,” mc shrieks out as tara rapidly nods her head in agreement with mc’s feeling of betrayal. 

undeterred, caleb happily chuckles out, “gladly,” the ends of his eyes crinkling from his beaming smile as he, finally, pushes mc out of the way to tug you back into his arms. a matching, but shy, smile breaks out on your face as you feel caleb slightly speeds up his pace, which in turn quickens yours as well.

caleb’s usual composed behavior is nowhere to be seen, and you know that it’s a result of him finally having an excuse to flaunt your relationship. all caleb has been desperately wanting to do since the beginning of your relationship was love you loudly in both public and private, and he would rather die than let this chance pass by. 

despite caleb obviously being excited about having his dream come true, he doesn’t fail to prioritize you over his desire. as the three of you approach his parked car, caleb steps forward to hold the door open for you first, then gets into the driver’s seat while he contentedly announces, “i’ve been waiting my entire life for this moment,” he confesses with his stupid grin making a reappearance on his face. 

—

as soon as you step foot back in mc’s apartment, caleb ushers you to go sit on the couch and rest up while he grabs a cup of hot tea for you. to his dismay, you insistently follow him and mc as they make their way to the kitchen. despite being adamant about being able to make your own tea, caleb refuses to back down. however, you immediately halt your complaints when you spot a mischievous smirk light up caleb’s face. 

nervous about what caleb is up to, you take a step back to prepare for whatever he has up his sleeve. unfortunately for you, you don’t make it far before caleb softly grabs your waist and drags you back against his chest. ”honey,” he sweetly draws out as he lovingly gazes into your widened eyes, which are flickering between him and mc. without waiting for a response or acknowledging mc, caleb continues on with his dramatic act and exaggeratedly pouts as he teases, “won’t you let your poor, loving boyfriend take care of you,” he puts an emphasis on the word as he simultaneously squeezes your waist. 

from the corner of your eye, you can see mc’s face scrunch up in disgust as she witnesses the pda between you and caleb for the first time. your attention is pulled back as caleb tightens his hold around your waist, essentially pinning you against his chest as he whines out, “just leave it to me, your boyfriend,” his cheek squishes against the crown of your head. 

however, before you can respond to caleb, mc is already sick of the amount of pda she has seen, so she decides to remind you and caleb of her presence as she begins her confrontation, “i have a confession.” mc’s voice causes you to spring apart from caleb and the two of you to snap your heads to see a serious expression spread across mc’s face. 

at mc’s admission, you freeze. this exact scenario was the entire reason why you were adamant about keeping your relationship with caleb a secret, and her current reaction was not making you feel better. you’re too caught up in your fears to notice that caleb has made his way to your side once more.

thankfully, before you can spiral any further, mc continues , “i knew,” she confesses.

silence envelopes the entire room. you’re still frozen, but your fear fades into confusion. however, unlike you, caleb’s face is unreadable. if anything, he’s more focused on calming you down as he wraps an arm around you to begin rubbing up and down your side.

noticing your confusion, mc’s face morphs into one of disbelief as she rolls her eyes, “c’mon,” she scoffs out, and now you’re utterly lost. on the other hand, mc starts up her rant again, but now feeling insulted, “i may be oblivious, but i’m not that oblivious,” she huffs out. “of course i knew there was something going on between you two, i just didn’t know that you two were already dating,” she exclaims while your mouth drops out in shock. 

mc is too focused on her rant to acknowledge yours and caleb’s reaction, “do you think i wouldn’t notice the lingering glances, and, oh my god,” she gasps out of exasperation, “the way that whenever someone flirts with you guys, you both would reject them a little bit faster than usual whenever the other is around?” 

now extremely embarrassed about how unknowingly obvious the two of you were being, you jab your elbow into caleb’s side as you feel him slightly shake as he attempts to hide his laughs, his hand now stationary against your side. 

“don’t even get me started on the double date tonight,” at this, caleb finally freezes for a second as he processes mc’s insinuation before he straightens up, an intense fire burning in his eyes with a slight curious tilt of his head.

at the feeling of caleb’s searing stare on her face, mc takes it as a sign to explain her complaint, “do you really think that i wouldn’t know my best friend’s type,” mc groans out as caleb’s smile grows the more mc talks, “i purposely chose someone who was the exact opposite of caleb, and i didn’t even actually want the other dude!” mc begins to pace back and forth as she flails her hands around to further emphasize her loyalty, ”i couldn’t handle you two dancing around each other anymore, but,” she pauses to glare at you and caleb while accusingly wags her finger between the two of you, “you sneaky backstabbers were together this entire time,” she reveals, annoyed that you would even doubt her.

caleb is beaming so bright that, if you glanced at him, you swear that you would get blinded. on the contrary, you’re beyond shocked at the extent of mc’s matchmaking plans. you can’t believe that she went through years of meticulous planning in an attempt to get you and caleb to end up together, yet you rewarded her efforts by leaving her in the dark. 

not being able to hold in your guilt any longer, you interrupt mc with an apology, “i’m sorry, it’s my fault,” you ashamedly rush out as mc upsettingly stares back at you, quietly waiting for you to finish. you cover the back caleb’s motionless hand that still remains on your side with the palm of your hand as a form of self-comfort. 

“it’s not that i don’t trust you,” you hurriedly reassure her, “i was just scared that, if it didn’t work out between caleb and i,” a disbelieving mumble and scoff arises out from both caleb and mc, which causes you to pinch caleb’s hand in retaliation, “then everything would get awkward and everything would get ruined between all of us,” you finally confess, but too afraid to meet mc’s eyes.

despite expecting mc to feel hurt, you hear her voice laced with understanding and a hint of distress, “don’t apologize,” she stresses out. “i’m not upset at all,” mc reassures you, nodding her head with a smile on her face as you force your gaze to meet hers. “if anything,” mc’s smile grows, “i’d rather have you hide your relationship than not be in a relationship at all with how much i’ve suffered,” she teasingly giggles.

mc looks as if she has lifted years of weight off from her shoulders by the way she refuses to stop mockingly complaining and reminiscing about everything she had to go throughout her entire life because of you and caleb. 

suddenly, mc pauses in the middle of her rant and looks as if a lightbulb turned on above her head, “let me show you guys my evidence book,” she gasps out in remembrance before she breaks out into a run into her room without waiting for a response. 

although you’re still recovering from the whiplash that mc’s confessions and constant change in conversation caused, caleb immediately makes a move to squeeze you into a hug again as soon as mc is out of the room. 

as you begin to pull back, yet still surrender to caleb’s embrace at the same time, you notice how his eyes roam your face as he hesitates, “see,” he whispers out. then, he drifts his eyes to meet yours once again, and any form of doubt is instantly replaced with confidence and content, “i told you she would be our biggest fan.” with a proud grin, caleb carefully leans down, making sure to give you enough time to move away in case you were uncomfortable after the confrontation. to his delight, you remain still, patiently waiting for caleb to continue his advances. 

caleb figures that he could kiss you breathless right then and there. you always look perfect in his eyes, but he swears that nothing compares to how you look right now. the you whose hair is still tousled from the chilly wind that you never bothered to fix; the you who proudly announced that he’s yours and that you’re his; the you who is currently standing in front of him, staring up at him with the most adoring eyes he has ever seen; the you who loves him; the you that he finally kisses on the cheek. 

sighing against your cheek, caleb reluctantly waits a second, lips still against your cheek, before pulling back while slowly opening his eyes that he didn’t even remember closing. as soon as caleb pulls back far enough to relish in your blissful expression that, unsurprisingly, reflects his own serene smile, caleb immediately regrets stopping at just a peck to your cheek. caleb has never hated his sense of restraint this much before. 

however, his selfish thoughts fade away as the sound of mc’s returning footsteps stomps towards you two. caleb is still staring at you when you drift your gaze to look at mc’s fumbling form. a doting grin grows on caleb’s face when he notices your eyes widen in shock as you process the overfilled, giant photo album that is practically bursting at the seams.

slightly pushing caleb back in order to get a better view of the evidence album in mc’s hands, you shriek out, “how many photos are in there,” as a low-quality, unfocused, high school photo of you and caleb slips out of the album and falls to the ground. mc simply shrugs as she moves to carefully place the album down, “just about 500,” she says mindlessly before retracing her steps to pick up the fallen photo.

mc straightens back up as she waves the photo back and forth in front of your and caleb’s faces as she confesses, “and this is only one album,” right as caleb carefully plucks the photo from mc’s grip. with a satisfied hum, caleb scans the old photo as he addresses mc, “how much to make me a copy of everything?” caleb thinks that a photo album that reflects your relationship’s journey would make a perfect anniversary gift, if not, a wedding gift, he softly smiles.