#caleb fluff

He sends you a sticker - the red apple patting the smaller green apple’s head. You watch the animation, your chest aching a little. 

> Poor Pipsqueak. Wanna do a video call?

< you aren’t busy? I thought you were flying tonight.

> Yeah, but I can do a quick call for a few minutes. Put this thing on autopilot.

You chew the inside of your cheek, considering it. You don’t want to be a burden, but you also miss seeing his face. You decide to take him up on his offer.

< ok, let’s do it :) 

Almost immediately after you send the message, your phone starts to ring. You quickly answer it and are met with a view of Caleb’s forehead.

“Hang on,” he says, his voice slightly distorted. “I’ll prop you up on the panel.”

Your view shifts a few times as he tries to find space for his phone on the panel. Once you both have a good view of each other, he settles into his seat again, and grins at you from where he’s sitting. You return his smile, the ache in your chest softening.

“Hey,” you whisper, taking in the view. He looks good in the cockpit, with his hands on the controls, and you realize you like looking at him being in control. It suits him.

“What’s keeping you up?” he asks, flicking a few switches on the board in front of him.

You shake your head. “Just can’t sleep. Too much space in the bed.”

Caleb chuckles, his attention turning back to you. “I’ll be home soon. In the meantime, do you want to see the sky tonight?”

You nod eagerly, and he reaches for you again, adjusting your place on the panel. Soon, your view is of the outside of the windshield, and you can see the night sky. You gasp, taking in the sight of countless stars against the inky sky. Caleb is flying above the clouds, and the moon is nowhere in view, so all you can see are the countless tiny lights scattered across the windshield.

“Is this your view every time you fly at night?” you ask him, slightly breathless.

“Most times. Not bad, huh?” he chuckles again. “I wanna show you something.”

You see his hands come into view, waving to get your attention. “You see these stars?” he asks, pointing at ones that are shaped into a cluster that looks like an asymmetrical arrow. “This is cluster X-02AA.”

“So cool,” you breathe, waiting for him to continue with his astronomy lesson.

“But I like to call them the Pipsqueak constellation,” he muses. 

Your heart flutters slightly, and you fight to keep your voice steady. “Oh? Why’s that?”

“Because they point in the direction of where we live. Because when I see them, I know that I can follow them and they’ll eventually lead me to you. Seeing them in the sky means that I get to see you soon.” Caleb’s voice softens at the end of his statement, and you feel a tear roll across your cheek. No doubt your pillow is going to be damp. You hope he doesn’t hear you sniffling as you wipe at your eyes.

“I can’t wait,” you tell him, trying to swallow your tears back.

He continues with the astronomy lesson, pointing out different stars and planets, naming constellations and telling you random facts about them as if they were his old friends. Your eyelids start to feel heavy, but you’re intent on trying to absorb as much information about the stars from Caleb as you can. However, your sleepiness wins the battle, and soon, you’re snoring softly, your phone face down on the pillow.

“Pipsqueak? You still there?”

Caleb listens to you breathe, smiling to himself. He keeps you on the line as he continues his flight, occasionally glancing back up the Pipsqueak constellation. 

He could hear his mother’s voice in the back of his mind as it all played out, asking him the same question she had all those times before: will you remain relishing in the paradise that is the Garden of Eden—my sweet boy, or will you fall victim to the taste of the forbidden fruit?

The answer came to him one dulcet night.

It was in the middle of a placid December, Caleb remembers, when the lilac paint strokes decorated the sky like a masterpiece in the Louvre, the small sliver of sunlight vanishing as quickly as it came, marking the end of another tiresome day. You were there, hair tied in loose braids, dress completely tattered at the hems as you moved gracefully through the marketplace crowd, glistening eyes set on something further than they could reach.

Caleb didn’t know what it was about you that was so enchanting—but something inside of him snapped when he saw you, a fervent yet foreign feeling erupting in the depths of his chest. He had seen his fair share of beautiful princesses and countesses, all of whom had batted their doe eyes at him in hopes that they’d be the lucky one to capture the prince’s heart, but none of them could remotely compare against the beauty you offered to the universe.

You were, in every way, catastrophically beautiful, as masterfully violent and tempting as the sins he had been taught to stray away from, and no doubt just as alluring as the forbidden fruit in the parable his mother used to recite to him as a child.

And just like Eve, Caleb couldn’t fight the temptation to reach out and taste it, just once—to feel the thrill of holding something he wasn’t supposed to touch, to feel the curve of it between the skin of his palms like soft silk, to savour what sin felt like on the tip of his tongue.

Oh, what a lovesick fool he was.

Yet, despite the warning signs, neither Caleb nor you expected to be where you are now, sitting on the wet, muddy grass as you gaped at the pulchritudinous moon, wondering how it all happened so quickly. It had started as a flickering flame, but now before you was a blazing, red-hot firestorm, and there was no point in pretending that either of you possessed the strength to put it out.

You’d burn with it, for sure, because falling for each other was very much like playing with fire—knowing you’d turn to ashes, yet finding a peculiar sense of comfort in knowing that you’d at least go down in flames together.

When Caleb finally admits his feelings for you beneath the big willow tree just on the outskirts of town, it is like a dam breaking under the weight of a violent storm. Everything that he had bottled inside of him for weeks had spilled out all in one go, and there was nothing to stop it.

“I think I’m in love with you.”

The silvery moonlight was a diffused ocean above you that night, lessening the inky blackness of the nightfall, but not so bright as to dull the stars that speckled and glittered in the heavens above. It was a breathtaking spectacle, but Caleb does not notice any of his surroundings. He cannot focus on anything but the sight of you looking as mesmerising as ever, wearing that same goddamn dress as when he first laid his eyes on you.

Just the mere sight of you in front of him makes his heart sting, and there are no words in his vocabulary that could possibly explain how much he longs for you to be his.

Caleb didn’t know what came over him, but his confession fell out of his mouth before he could even grasp what he had said. Judging by your reaction, he sensed that it was perhaps not the right time to reveal his feelings for you, but it was too late.

You don’t answer his confession though, in fact you choose to pretend that you hadn’t heard it at all.

“I must leave soon. Thank you, Prince Caleb, for giving me some of the most amazing days of my life—my time with you has been nothing short of wonderful.”

The way you sourly emphasise the word prince leaves Caleb feeling uneasy. It is your way of reminding him that you come from two very different worlds—worlds which are meant to be kept separate.

Caleb feels like he is drowning; not only in the mere absence of sound but in the tide of your breathing, your voice, your warmth. Every bit of him feels as if he has been set alight, and he doesn't want this ardent feeling to end - not yet, for he has yet to savour the taste of this moment. With each look you give him, Caleb comes closer and closer to his inevitable demise.

Fuck, he really was losing it.

“Don't leave, it's only half past twelve.”

“I'm afraid I cannot stay, for I have already wasted enough of your time, but I hope that our paths cross again sometime in the faraway future, Your Highness,” you say, eyes looking anywhere but the prince's face, knowing very well how persuasive he can be. It was those damn eyes - you're sure that you'd give him all of your limbs if he gave you that look, and not even think twice about it. That's how dangerous he was, and the fact that you've fallen hopelessly in love with him makes the bitter aftertaste of the situation grow even more acrid in your mouth.

“What if I tell you it's an order? You cannot possibly ignore the order of the prince.”

You don't bother replying, because you know he's right. But still, you cannot taint his reputation because of your inability to distinguish quixotic fantasy from the bitter truth of reality.

Caleb whispers your name to get your attention, his words echoing into the night like some sort of a forbidden lullaby. His face is suddenly so close that you could feel the silhouette of his lips dancing shyly around the shadow of your top lip - carefully, as if he was afraid that you'd break easily at his touch. The way his tongue forms the syllables of your name is enough to ignite the fire residing within your skin, the walls that you had built around your heart slowly vanishing at the sight of how magnificent he looks beneath the somber blue hues of the moon hanging above you.

But you know better than to act on your desires. It hurts to know that you can't tell him you like him too, perhaps even more than he likes you. You can't stand thinking about what they'd do to you and Caleb if they discovered that you were the real reason why he slipped out of his chambers in the late hours of the night.

You don't belong in his world, and Caleb certainly doesn't belong in yours. It should’ve never happened in the first place, but sometimes fate is cruel enough to unite two souls together only to tear them apart again. This was one of those times, and deep down - you both knew it. You saw the end as it begun, but you were far too deep to even consider backing out of it.

“What if I let you steal my first kiss - will you stay then?” he whispers against your mouth, the calloused skin of his finger tracing the line of your jaw delicately. Caleb's eyes gleam with unadulterated affection as he peers at you through the thick blanket of his inky lashes, soft and gentle like the moonlight spilling onto your skin.

“I- I don't want it,” you stutter, swallowing the lump that forms in your throat. “Your first kiss - I don't want it.”

Caleb finds your answer amusing for some reason, the corners of his mouth moving upwards to show the slightest hint of a smile.

“Well that's too bad because I don't want anyone to keep it but you.”

You close your eyes, wishing he wasn't so stubborn about this whole ordeal. He must know that this - whatever this is - can never happen. Neither of you can afford to face the consequences of what would happen if someone found out the prince was fooling around with some peasant. They'd look down on him, no doubt, but Prince Caleb doesn't care.

“If I let you steal my kiss, you’ll keep it safe for me, won’t you?” Caleb says as his lips brush against yours again, and you almost forget how to breathe at the close proximity of his mouth against yours. His twinkling eyes softly dart from your lips to your eyes and back again, and it suddenly feels as if your lungs are filled with nothing but water.

“Won’t you, my princess?”

The words make your heart stutter in a way you wish it wouldn’t. You know he does not mean anything cruel by it; if anything, the tenderness in his voice makes it all the more dangerous. But there is something painfully bittersweet about hearing such a title from him, because for a fleeting moment, you allow yourself to imagine a world where you truly could be his princess. A world where there were no rules, no expectations, no invisible barrier separating you from him.

But that world does not exist.

And perhaps that is what hurts the most.

You let out a shaky breath when his lips meet yours in a soft, careful embrace. Caleb’s lips move sweetly against your own, your skin raising goosebumps as soon as you touch, the foreign yet pleasing feeling sending both of your heads spinning. You have never been kissed before, but for some strange reason—you don’t feel afraid of seeming clumsy or inexperienced as you move your lips against Caleb’s, mimicking his actions. The prince doesn’t seem to mind much either, kissing a little harder, holding onto your hips a little tighter.

You pull back again, that rational part of your brain still telling you that this is a territory you shouldn’t cross — a mere peasant like you shouldn’t meddle with someone who is of much higher status than you, especially not a crowned prince of all people.

“We shouldn’t,” you repeat, even as you automatically lean back into his touch when he brushes his thumb over the apple of your cheek. Your actions contradict every single thing you say, and you wish you weren’t so vulnerable to his touches.

Caleb, however, is enjoying the effect he has on you a little too much. He presses soft kisses to the corner of your mouth, feeling a thrill at how visibly affected you were, the familiar glimmer swimming in his eyes teasingly at you.

Caleb pauses for a small second.

“Just for one night, let us pretend that there are no titles weighing us down. I’m not a prince, and you’re not a commoner. It is just you and me, as ordinary as we can be — just for tonight.”

But there was nothing ordinary about the way Caleb touches you underneath the constellation of stars that freckled across the midnight-blue dome, like you are made of candlelight and everything delicate.

Caleb captures your lips in a chaste kiss again and again, the feel of your skin underneath the calloused skin of his palms much too euphoric for him to think of anything else but the burning memory of your mouth on his.

One kiss turns into two, and two into three.

Caleb kisses you until he feels like he’s been kissing you for his whole life, like he didn’t know the world before he knew what your lips felt on his.

“It is yours now,” he whispers to you, the words barely audible as he pulls back away from your mouth, his own lips raw and red from kissing you for God knows how long.

He hopes his words do not get lost between tongue and teeth, hopes that you can read between the lines of what he wishes he had the courage to say. The look simmering in his eyes reminds you of starlight, and you understand the meaning behind his words then — he wasn’t talking about the kiss, but his heart.

March was here, and thank the heavens above your spring break lined up with his. You’d spent all of winter quarter doing… long distance? Is it still considered long distance if he isn’t technically your boyfriend?

It’s not that either of you had commitment issues or anything. It’s just… after years of being best friends, it never occurred to you that what you had now was worthy of a different title.

Caleb was, or is, still your best friend. He just became your best friend that also knew you liked being woken up to his head between your legs.

Long distance wasn’t as bad as you’d expected. Texts and weekly phone calls made it tolerable. Although, a naughty text here and there always got you too worked up. And there was that night you watched him jerk off on FaceTime.

That’s a story for another time.

The point is, you were partaking in couple activities without the couple title. Which was fine, I mean, the boyfriend-girlfriend title is just a formality right? He’s still your Caleb. You’re loyal to him, he’s loyal to you, there’s no issues, right?

A couple weeks before the end of the quarter, when you had a break between midterms, you flew out to see him. It was perfect! You stayed in his dorm, you got to see one of his basketball games, he took you to his favorite spots around town, it was a very pleasantly uneventful break!

Until he introduced you to his friends.

Trivia night at the local pizza place. Vibes were high, apparently Caleb was the “Trivia Goat,” as his friends called him. The two of you were the last to arrive, everyone else already seated at the booth.

His friends immediately wave him down, smiles beaming and cheering for their trivia savior. His hand gives your hip a quick squeeze before interlacing his fingers with yours and leading you to the booth.

Caleb and his boys all do that weird handshake to back slap combo thing that guys seem to love doing to each other. After the rowdy bunch calms down a little, Caleb slips an arm around your shoulders.

“Guys, this is (name), my…”

He freezes, looking down at you with a lost expression. All of his friends gazes flick between the two of you.

Well, what are you? You think his friends know you’re sleeping together, so friend seems a little strange. Neighbor is even stranger, for sure. What the hell do you even call the relationship you guys have right now, if not boyfriend-girlfriend?

“My… girl!” He tries to save himself, but it’s clear there is some confusion amongst the group. It blows over almost instantly, the guys taking turns introducing themselves with the utmost politeness.

That moment had made you realize you needed a title. Not because it was hindering your relationship with Caleb, but because without the title, it made explaining your relationship very, very difficult.

Don’t get it twisted, Caleb had apologized in more ways than one that night. When he kissed you goodbye at the end of the trip, he promised he’d make it up to you.

That was before the end of winter quarter. You’d almost completely forgotten about the incident. Now you’re both back home, on spring break, nothing in the way of giving each other your complete attention.

“Can I have one of your rolled tacos?” Caleb asks from his spot in the drivers seat. His Tacoma was his second favorite girl, you holding the number one spot, obviously. You had picked up Mexican food and driven down to your favorite beach spot for sunset. Windows rolled down, letting the breeze carry in that nostalgic saltwater scent. Stereo on low, playing your playlist.

“Ask me again when you’ve finished your burrito, fatass.” He huffs, reaching into the white paper bag for yet another container of hot sauce. Eating in silence, the two of you just enjoyed the ambience of the warm sunset casting highlights of reds and pinks over the waves. Neither of you needed to be constantly speaking. Being together since you were in kindergarten, the company of one another was plenty.

Caleb inhaled his burrito, no surprise there. You, on the other hand, were taking your sweet time getting through three rolled tacos.

“Are you sure you don’t need help finishing those?” He pleaded, his best puppy dog eyes coming out to strengthen his request.

“You know I’m a slow eater! What the hell is with you tonight…” It’s true, Caleb had been a little antsy all afternoon. He was bouncing on the balls of his feet when he came and knocked on your door to pick you up. His fingers were mindlessly tapping on the steering wheel the entire drive, not even on beat to the music. Even his posture was a little more rigid than normal.

“I’m just hungry, Pips. I’m a big, growing boy.” He snorts over at you, boyish grin on his face. Shooting him a sideways glance as you take another bite of your food. After about two and a half rolled tacos, you throw in the towel.

“Alright, have at it, big guy.” You hand over the little styrofoam tray and he wastes no time going to town on your leftovers. Two big bites is all it takes him to scarf down the remainder of your rolled tacos.

“Is there anything on my face?” He turns to you, face shockingly devoid of any toppings. You still take the opportunity to kiss him.

“Yeah, let me get it.” You lean in to gently peck his lips. “You taste like sour cream.”

“I thought you like sour cream.” Another kiss.

“Never said I didn’t.” You say in between kisses.

Caleb pulls away and runs a hand through his hair, before taking a deep breath in.

“Do you wanna go sit on the sand? I have a blanket in my trunk.” He asks, gaze shifting from you to his rear view mirror.

“Sure.” Hopping out of the passenger seat, you make your way to the trunk, unlatching the cargo cover and releasing the tailgate.

To reveal all of your favorite things.

Candies, plushies, books you’ve been wanting to read, shopping bags from your favorite stores… are those packs of Pokemon cards? All surrounding a cute little sign.

“Can I be your boyfriend?” You read the sign aloud, just as Caleb comes around his side of the truck with a bouquet of your favorite flowers, lilies.

“Caleb…” You can’t fight the smile that spreads from ear to ear, hands coming up to cover your face. He sets the flowers on the open tailgate and pulls you into a total bear hug.

“Well?” Your face is buried in his chest, but you can hear the grin on his face. You put your chin on his pecs to look up at him, arms snaking around his torso.

“Of course I’ll let you be my boyfriend.” He immediately lifts you off your feet, spinning you around as you yelp in happiness. After a couple turns, he sets you down to sit on the tailgate, instantly coming to stand between your legs.

“Oh my god, you have no idea how nervous I was. Holy shit, I thought I was gonna vomit.” He leans his forehead against your shoulder.

“What? Did you think I was gonna say no?” You laugh, hand coming up to scratch his nape.

“I mean. Yeah, let’s be real, ‘no’ wasn’t an option. I just wanted things to be perfect. And like, I was worried everything was gonna get all jumbled when we were driving, I thought you were gonna see the flowers under my seat. And you were eating so fucking slow, I could barely sit still!” You giggle, head thrown back.

“I knew something was up! Acting like you had a two-by-four down your shirt when you were driving.” You exclaim, pressing a chaste kiss to his hair.

“I needed the sign to stay intact!”

“So you keep the driving steady, not your whole damn body!”

“I was one with the truck, Pips. Me and her were aligning our chakras for absolute cohesion.” You furrow your brows at him.

“Shake your head and tell me if you hear rocks.” That earns a boisterous laugh from Caleb. Using his hands to brace himself on either side of your hips.

“God, I can’t believe you said yes.”

“You just told me I didn’t have any other choice!”

“Yeah I did! But like… still! I can’t believe you’re my girlfriend now.”

“You’re such a dork.” You huff, pulling him into a kiss.

“Your dork, now.” He smiles against your lips, gentle kisses turning steamy as his tongue enters your mouth.

“Now you really can’t disappear without saying anything. Because I’ll have every right to hunt you down.” You tease. He throws his head back.

“I already made that up to you, times like, a million!”

“I’m just teasing, boyfriend.” You emphasize the title, shaking your head at him. Caleb kisses you one more time before pulling away to hand you the flowers resting on the tailgate. Taking a few steps back, he reaches into his pocket to pull out his phone.

“Smile for the picture!” You get a little camera-shy, but still posing nonetheless.

“Better not send that to anyone.” He rubs the back of his neck.

“Well, your Mom totally caught me setting everything up in the driveway. I told her I’d send a picture when you said yes.”