Archive of Our Own

“Our reporters on the field confirmed the lockdown will be lifted after being in effect for weeks. The Farspace Fleet assures everyone that the explosion in the Cascade District will not happen again-“ The reporter’s voice cuts off as the television screen goes black. For a moment, your own annoyed reflection stares back at you from the dark glass as Caleb sets down the remote.

Things have been tense between the two of you for the past three days. You have barely seen him around the apartment, but that has not made his presence any less suffocating. Even when he is out of sight, you know he is nearby. Watching. Monitoring. Hovering just beyond reach like a guard posted outside your cage. Like you are some unruly pet he has decided to keep contained.

“After all this is over... the Fleet will return to the Deepspace Tunnel. You'll be safe. For now.”

“In other words, you'll just disappear again?” The bitterness in your voice surprises even you. “And not even say anything?”

“I'll be gone.” Caleb's gaze lingers on you, though his expression doesn’t change. “Aren’t you happy that you won’t have to see me then?”

Before you can answer, he reaches for your wrist. “I’m about to leave. It’d be nice if we had a meal together.” His tone softens, an obvious attempt to ease the tension, but the firm grip around your wrist only makes your anger flare. You yank your hand free and take a step back.

“So I have to listen to the Colonel even when it comes to eating and drinking now?” 

Something flickers across his face. Frustration, hurt, maybe both, but it's gone almost as quickly as it appears. You turn away and march to the couch, dropping onto the cushions in silent defiance. Caleb follows without protest. He picks up an apple from the bowl on the coffee table and sits across from you.

“You can be mad,” he says quietly, turning the apple in his hand. “but don’t let it affect your health.” He holds it out in offering. You don't take it. The knot of emotions twisting inside your chest has long since settled in your stomach, leaving you too nauseated to think about food.

“I'm not mad.” The lie sounds weak even to your own ears. 

A soft, nostalgic hum escapes him. His attention drops to the apple as it slowly rotates between his fingers. “Growing up, we knew each other so well. Better than most, even.” A faint smile touches his lips. “I could see through your lies when you’d blink. Bite your lip, and I could tell you were upset.”  The familiar warmth in his voice tugs painfully at your heart. For a moment, he sounds so much like the Caleb you grew up with that it hurts.

“In that case,” you say, “tell me. What am I thinking about right now?”

Caleb lifts his eyes to yours. The intensity of his gaze pins you in place, and suddenly the resemblance to the boy you once knew vanishes. Sitting across from you is a man who feels almost like a stranger. You hold his stare.

“I wonder...” The words leave your lips before you can stop them. “How did you turn into someone I hardly recognize?” You ask, more to yourself than him. Because no matter how hard you try, you still can't understand how someone who once shared every corner of your life could become so distant.

“Oh, I know.” A humorless smile tugs at his lips. “You're thinking someone put a chip in my brain, right? And now, I’m no longer who I used to be.” He lets out a quiet laugh, and the casualness of it only makes your anger burn hotter. As if this is all some misunderstanding. As if none of it matters. Reaching out, his hand comes to rest on your cheek, and you hate how instinctively you lean into the touch.

“What if I told you I was always like this?” A shaky breath escapes you. Your eyes sting, tears threatening to spill, and you blink rapidly to keep them at bay. 

“Your life has threats around every corner.” He rises from his seat in a single fluid motion and before you can react, his hand closes around your wrist and pins it beside your head. “The people who are after your power, who wanna hurt you” His voice drops lower. “They should all just... disappear.” His broad frame blocks out the room as he leans over you, casting a familiar shadow. Once, you would have stepped into it without hesitation. Now, all you can think about is how trapped you feel beneath it.

“I’d rather face danger head-on than ‘safely’ live like this! I don’t need you-!” The words burst out before you can stop them. You wrench your hand free and shove against his chest. For a brief moment, he gives way, then his expression hardens.

“You don't need me?” His hand catches your wrist again and presses it back into the couch. “Is that what you think?” He leans in closer, so close you can feel his breath on your face.

Your free hand grabs his bicep, trying to hold him back, but there's nowhere to go. His body cages you in, leaving no space between you and him.

“All right, what do you need? You can tell me.” Something desperate flickers in his eyes, “We can return to Linkon if that’s what you want. If you want to return to the past, we’ll rebuild our old house and move in together.” His voice wavers with emotion, and it makes your heart twist in your chest. “And if one house isn’t enough, I’ll build you a whole maze. I’ll decorate it with everything you could ever want. It will be the most beautiful, stunning garden you’ve ever seen.”

His hand slides back to your cheek. This time, his thumb glides gently across your skin with heartbreaking tenderness.

“No one will be able to find you ever again. I’ll protect you forever.” The promise settles heavily between you, and for one fleeting moment, you let yourself imagine it. A life together, just the two of you, just like how it was before the explosion. Maybe more, more than you ever allowed yourself to hope for before. You place your hand on his chest, feeling his heartbeat against your palm, warm and alive. The sensation pulls you back to reality.

“Caleb… You can’t just…” You search his face, trying to find the boy you knew beneath the man standing in front of you, trying to find the right words before this spirals any further. “You’re very important to me. And no one could ever replace you…”

For a second, you think it might reach him. Instead, an annoyed sound slips from his throat.

“Tch. Really?”

The reaction catches you off guard. Before you can pull away, his hand shoots out and catches your other arm, fingers closing around you with enough force to make you wince. You struggle instinctively, twisting against his hold, but his strength overwhelms yours. His jaw clenches, and for a moment it looks as though he's fighting a battle with himself, then something inside him finally gives way. “I’ve always held myself back and endured. Day, after day, after day. It was suffocating.”

Lightning flashes across the room, the sharp burst of light casting shadows over his face, and for that brief instant, he looks almost unrecognizable. Then thunder cracks overhead, so loud and sudden that you jolt beneath him. Fear seizes your chest as you continue fighting his hold, but he barely seems to notice. 

“But now, I’m tired of playing these games.” He releases your arm so abruptly that you barely have time to react before both of his hands come up to your face. His palms cradle your cheeks, but there is nothing gentle about the way he pulls you toward him.

“You’re mistaken if you think you don’t need me.” His eyes burn into yours. “You’re reckless. You’ve always been reckless. You throw yourself into danger without thinking about your own safety, without thinking about what could happen to you.”

“Caleb—”

“What would have happened if I hadn’t shown up when I did?” His voice rises, cracking under the weight of his anger. “What would have happened if I’d been even a few minutes later?” His thumbs press against your cheeks, holding you in place.

“Those monsters would have ripped you apart.” Your breath catches, but he doesn’t stop. “You’d be dead. And even after that, even after I got there in time, even after you were lucky enough to survive, you’re still trying to get yourself killed.” His expression twists, anger and fear bleeding together until you can no longer tell which one is driving him. “Your wound is infected because you’re careless. Because you won’t sit still. Because you won’t fucking let me take care of you when you clearly have no intention of doing it yourself.”

His voice gets louder with every word, harsher than you have ever heard it. Caleb has scolded you before, teased you, worried over you, but he has never spoken to you like this.

“You’re so selfish,” he says, the words landing like a slap. “Have you ever thought about what would happen to me if you died?” His voice breaks, just slightly, but it is enough to make your heart lurch despite everything. “Have you ever thought about what that would do to me? I don’t know what I’d do. I’d be lost. I’d be—”

A ringing fills your ears. It’s sudden, sharp, and deafening. His voice fades beneath it, swallowed by the rush of blood pounding through your skull.

Selfish.

The word repeats in your mind until it twists into something unbearable.

Selfish.

After everything. After months of grieving him. After waking up every morning to a world that no longer had him in it. Heat floods your chest, boiling over so violently that your hands move before you can think. You slam both palms against him and shove with every ounce of strength you have. Caleb stumbles back, surprise flashing across his face as he crashes into the coffee table behind him. The bowl rattles. The apple rolls off the edge and hits the floor with a dull thud. You rise to your feet, shaking. Now it is your turn to close the distance.

“I’m selfish?” Your voice comes out raw, torn open by disbelief. He stares at you, still half-braced against the table. Hot tears blur your vision, but you refuse to look away.

“Have you forgotten that until a few weeks ago, I thought you were dead? Do you have any idea what that did to me? My family was ripped away from me in an instant. You and Grandma were gone, just like that, and I was alone!” Your voice breaks on the last word, but you force yourself to keep going.

“I had to go to city hall and pick up your death certificate.” Caleb’s expression falters. “I had to stand there while someone handed me a piece of paper that said you were gone. Like that was all you were. A name. A date. A file number.” The tears finally spill over, rolling down your cheeks in hot rivulets. “I planned your funeral. I picked flowers. And afterward, I stayed at the cemetery for hours. I sat in front of your grave until I couldn’t feel my legs anymore. I hugged your headstone like it was you. I kept asking God why I was still here and you weren’t. I begged him to give you back to me. You and Grandma, because I didn’t think I could survive the pain.”

Caleb does not move, and neither do you.

“For weeks, I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep. The only thing that kept me going was finding the people who took you from me.” Another flash of lightning illuminates the room, but this time you do not flinch. “And then months later, I find out you’re alive.” The word almost sounds like an accusation. “You were alive, Caleb. Somewhere out there, breathing, walking, existing, while I was mourning you. While I was standing in front of your grave, talking to stone because I thought it was the closest I’d ever get to speaking to you again.”

Your chest heaves with a sob, but you swallow it down.

“Tell me something. If I hadn’t found you, how long would you have let me suffer?” His face tightens. “How long would you have let me keep believing you were dead? How many more nights was I supposed to cry myself sick over you? How many more times was I supposed to visit that grave before you finally decided I deserved to know the truth?”

The tears are falling freely now, and your voice cracks as you force out a poor, broken imitation of his old teasing tone. “‘Hey, Pipsqueak. Don’t worry. I’m still alive and kickin’.’” It sounds wrong coming from you, all garbled and ruined by crying. You press a hand to your mouth for a second, trying to hold yourself together, but the grief is too old, too deep.

“So yes, Caleb. Maybe I am reckless. Maybe I am careless. Maybe I don’t know how to protect myself the way you want me to.” You look at him through your tears. “But that’s because of you. Because you were always there,” you continue, the words spilling out faster now, “and I trusted that you would always be there. Because you protected me before I ever had to learn how to protect myself. Because you and Grandma were my home, and then you both died, and suddenly I had nothing, and I needed to know why.”

A sob tears from your throat and it bends you forward before you can stop it. You bury your face in your hands, but it does nothing to hide the way you come apart. 

“I missed you,” you choke out, the confession slipping through your fingers, small and devastated. “I missed you so much, and you were alive the whole time.”

Your knees buckle beneath the weight of everything you have carried for far too long, and the sound of your body hitting the floor echoes through Caleb’s empty apartment. Somewhere beneath the weight of your grief, you feel the gash on your leg split open again. A sharp sting cuts through the numbness, followed by the slow, warm seep of blood soaking through your pants. But you couldn’t bring yourself to care. Right now, the pain in your heart hurts more than any physical injury could.Through the haze of your sobbing, you barely register the curse Caleb hisses under his breath, and the next thing you know you were being carefully picked up and placed back on the couch. He disappears from your blurred vision for only a few seconds before returning with a first aid kit in one hand and a box of tissues in the other.

“Hey,” he says softly as he kneels in front of you. “Hey… Shit, I’m sorry. Please don’t cry.” He gently pulls your hands away from your face, and at this point you are too tired to resist. 

His face is blurry through your tears, but you can still make out the pain in his expression. His brows are drawn together, his mouth pulled into a deep grimace as he takes a tissue from the box and gingerly wipes your eyes, then your cheeks, then your nose. The gesture is so familiar it hurts. How many times had he done this when you were younger? How many scraped knees, bad dreams, and heartbreaks had ended with Caleb crouched in front of you, wiping your face while telling you not to cry?

Only now, his own eyes are wet. In all the years you have known Caleb, you have never seen him cry, but the glassy sheen over his eyes makes you think he might. He swallows hard, jaw tightening as if he is forcing it back. Then he tosses the soiled tissue aside and reaches for your injured leg.

“I need to look at this,” he says quietly while he carefully rolls up your pant leg.

His movements are slow and methodical as he opens the first aid kit beside him and cleans the wound, dabbing at the blood with a cotton ball while his other hand steadies your calf. The antiseptic stings and your fingers twitch against the couch cushion. Caleb pauses instantly.

“Sorry,” he murmurs, thumb brushing once over your shin before he continues.

His hands are steady, but the tension in his shoulders gives him away. He applies a layer of antibiotic ointment and smooths the edges of a fresh bandage down with his fingertips, lingering like he is reluctant to let go, like this small act of care is the only apology he knows how to offer without ruining it with words.

A heavy silence settles between you. You sniffle, wiping uselessly at your cheek with the back of your hand. Caleb exhales. Then, he gently lowers his head until his forehead rests against your thigh. His breath ghosts over the fresh bandage, and then his lips brush against the covered wound in something too soft to be a kiss and too tender to be anything else.

“I’m sorry,” he says again, though this time the words are quieter. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have said those things about you. I shouldn’t have yelled.” His fingers curl lightly around your ankle, not holding you in place, just touching. Grounding himself.

“I just...” He closes his eyes. “I can’t bear the thought of anything happening to you.” Another sigh leaves him as he turns his face slightly, his nose brushing against your leg in a small, almost unconscious nuzzle. When he finally looks up at you, his eyes are dark, intense, and painfully vulnerable. It makes your heart clench.

“I know you feel like you can’t trust me right now, and you have every reason not to.” His voice is softer than before, but no less firm. “I know you’re angry because there are things I haven’t told you. Things I still can’t tell you.”

Caleb’s gaze searches yours, desperate for something you are not sure you know how to give him anymore. “But I need you to believe me when I say that everything I’m doing is to protect you.” His hand slides from your ankle to your calf, warm through the fabric of your pants. “There is nothing I won’t do to keep you safe. Even if it makes you hate me.”

You reach up to cup his cheek, and he immediately leans into your touch, his eyes fluttering shut. His hand comes up to cover yours, holding it there like he never wants to let it go. “I could never hate you.”

He lets out a self-deprecating laugh, though there is no humor in it.

“Are you sure about that?”

You have never been more sure of anything. The intimidating Colonel from before is gone. The sharp edges, the commanding voice, the cold distance, all of it has fallen away, leaving Caleb kneeling before you. Your Caleb. The real Caleb. The boy who used to race you home in the rain. The man who always came when you called. The person who has always done everything in his power to make you smile, regardless of how it affected him. You understand now, at least a little.

Whatever is happening is bigger than either of you. There are powers at play you cannot see, hands moving pieces across a board you were never meant to understand. Maybe the two of you are only pawns. Maybe Caleb has known that longer than you have. You still wish he would tell you more. You wish he would trust you with the truths he keeps locked inside. You wish he would let you stand beside him instead of trying to place himself between you and the rest of the universe. But if he is truly willing to live in a world where you hate him, if he would rather bear that than drag you into whatever this is, then some part of you has to believe he is doing it for you. Even if it hurts.

You reach for him slowly, your fingertips brushing his cheek. “Of course I’m sure, you big dummy.” You smile through the lingering heaviness in your heart.. “I love you.”

You have said those words to him countless times throughout your lives. After tight hugs, during late-night talks, through sleepy laughter and quiet mornings. Over shared snacks and inside jokes, in all the small moments that once made up the shape of your world. But this time, the words feel different. He feels it too, you see the exact moment they hit him.

His expression fractures, his eyes widening as if you have reached into his chest and wrapped your hand around something he has spent years trying to keep buried. For one second, he does not move. He only stares at you, caught between disbelief and longing, between the restraint he has clung to for so long and the hunger breaking through it. Then, that restraint finally snaps.

Caleb surges forward and captures your mouth with his. The kiss is fierce, almost bruising in its urgency, fueled by a lifetime of longing forced into silence. You gasp against him, but the sound disappears beneath the press of his lips as he pulls you closer. One hand slides to the back of your neck, steadying you, while the other wraps around your waist like he is afraid you might vanish if he gives you even an inch of space.

At first, you freeze, not because you do not want this, but because you do. Because some part of you has wanted this for so long that finally having it feels like stepping off the edge of a world you thought you understood. Then, your hands fist in his shirt and you kiss him back.

He makes a low, broken sound against your mouth - half relief, half need, and the restraint in him crumbles completely. He tilts his head, deepening the kiss, drawing you in until the air between you disappears. His mouth moves over yours with urgent devotion, as though he is trying to pour every unsaid word, every missed chance, every year of wanting into this single moment. His teeth catch at your bottom lip, biting, an aching nip that makes your breath hitch before soothing it over with his tongue. 

Then he is kissing you again, harder this time, and the world narrows to the heat of him, the weight of his hands, the ragged sound of his breathing mingling with yours. Your fingers drag over his shoulders, clutching at him as the kiss turns dizzying. The storm outside fades beneath the pounding of your heart. The pain in your leg, the ache in your chest, the grief and anger that had nearly torn you apart only minutes ago, all of it blurs beneath the overwhelming reality of Caleb holding you like this, wanting you like this.

When he finally tears his mouth away, you suck in a sharp, shaky breath, lips swollen and tingling. His forehead drops to yours and his warm breath puffs across your mouth with every exhale.

“I love you,” he says, his voice thick and unsteady. “God, I love you. I always have, just… not in the way you think.” His lips brush yours as he speaks, as if he can’t bear to part from them for even a second now that he’s gotten a taste of you. 

You blink up at him, chest rising and falling too fast. You try to answer, you really do, but your mind is swimming and your body is tingling and all that escapes you is a breathless whimper of his name.

“Caleb...”

A sound rumbles low in his chest, deep and possessive as he swipes his tongue across your bottom lip, trying to lick up the sweet remnants of his name dripping from your mouth like honey.

“Tell me to stop.” The words barely leave him before his mouth moves from yours to your jaw. He presses a lingering kiss there, then another just beneath it, each one warm enough to make your breath catch.

“Caleb-”

“Tell me to stop,” he whispers again, pausing just beneath your ear and resting his forehead against your temple. “Tell me now, or I won’t be able to.” His hand tightens at your waist, then immediately loosens, as if he has to remind himself not to hold you too hard.

“There’ll be no goin’ back.” A shiver runs through you. His breath tickles your skin, hot and uneven, stirring the hairs at the nape of your neck. You can feel the battle still raging inside him, the tremor in his exhale, the tension in his shoulders, the way his fingers flex against you before forcing themselves still.

The air between you feels charged, and your pulse pounds so loudly in your ears that you’re not sure whether the rhythm belongs to you or him. The room seems to hold its breath as you lift your trembling hands to his face, guiding him back until your forehead rests against his once more. His gaze is unfocused, pupils blown wide, two vibrant purple galaxies being devoured by black holes of his desire that were threatening to consume you, too.

And still, beneath all that hunger, you see him. Not the Colonel, not the stranger who lies and locks his secrets behind orders and warnings, but the boy you lost. The man who came back changed, the person you are still reaching for, even through the fear, even through the hurt, even through the wreckage both of you have made of this night.

“You asked me what I need,” you whisper as your thumbs brush lightly beneath his eyes. “I need you to stop deciding for me. I need you to stop treating me like something fragile you can hide away from the world.” You swallow, your fingers curling gently against his skin. “But this?” Your gaze drops briefly to his mouth, then returns to his eyes. “This is my choice, and I don’t want you to stop.”

Caleb’s whole body goes rigid and something desperate flashes across his face before he is kissing you again, fisting a hand in your hair to dive deeper into your mouth, stealing the breath from your lungs. His other hand begins frantically pulling at your clothes, desperate to feel your soft, warm skin against his. He swallows your gasps as he tugs the top of your shirt down below your bra, freeing your right breast from its cup and roughly pinching and rolling your nipple between his thumb and forefinger. He tears himself away from your mouth and gives your hair a sharp tug, exposing the long column of your neck to him.

“You have no fucking idea how long I’ve wanted you like this.” He breathes against your skin as he presses open-mouthed kisses down your neck, nipping at the tender flesh and leaving a constellation of purple marks in his wake. “I’ve wanted you for so long it hurts.”

You whine at his confession, his words sending waves of heat through your body that all converge between your legs and soak your panties. Once Caleb has kissed his way down to your sternum, he latches onto your tit, eagerly suckling and swirling his tongue around your nipple, his hand coming up to pull your bra down further to palm at your other breast. He sucks harder on your nipple, pulling it deep into his hot, wet mouth while his tongue flicks its stiffened peak. The wet sounds of his mouth combined with the sharp scrape of his teeth have your back arching off the couch and a moan spilling past your lips. At the sound, he groans against your skin and switches sides, latching onto your other breast with the same desperation.

After several long, indulgent moments, he finally pulls back, breath ragged. He stares down at your chest with open hunger, taking in the sight of his work. Your breasts are flushed and glistening with his saliva, your nipples swollen and shiny, flushed a deep red from his relentless sucking and gentle bites. You shiver under his intense gaze, heat flooding your face as you resist the urge to cover yourself. 

“Fuck… look at you,” He murmurs, voice low and rough with awe. His thumbs brush over your sensitive peaks, watching them tighten further under his touch. “You don’t know what you do to me….”

Caleb reaches for the hem of your shirt and tugs it upward. You lift your arms obediently, letting him pull it off and toss it aside. His hands move to your bra, unhooking it with ease and sliding the straps down your shoulders until it joins your shirt on the floor. Then, his fingers hook into the waistband of your pants. Staying mindful of your injury, he peels them down your legs slowly, eyes following every inch of newly exposed skin like it’s sacred. Your soaked panties come into view and he lets out a shaky exhale, dragging the pants the rest of the way off and dropping them to the floor.

“Goddamn,” He breathes, eyes shamelessly drinking in the sight of you flushed and bare before him. “You’re even more beautiful than I imagined.” 

His words make heat rush to your cheeks. Even though you’re lying here exposed and vulnerable under his intense gaze, a shy, fluttering nervousness blooms in your chest. You instinctively start to close your legs, but his hands are already sliding up your thighs and spreading them wider so he can settle more firmly between them. Part of you wants to hide from how hungrily he’s looking at you, yet another part aches at how tenderly he’s drinking you in.

You bite your lip, heart pounding as a mix of shyness and overwhelming desire wars inside you. No one has ever looked at you like this, like you’re something precious and devastating all at once.

Caleb leans down and presses a kiss just below your navel, his warm breath fanning across your skin. His fingers trace the edge of your panties, teasing along the delicate lace with feather-light touches that make your core throb with need. Every brush of his fingertips sends sparks racing up your spine.

“Caleb…” You moan, the sound needy as your hips roll upward, instinctively chasing more of his touch. He lets out a low, feral sound, caught somewhere between a groan and a growl that vibrates against you. 

“Tell me you want this,” he rasps, lifting his head to look at you. “Tell me you want me. Not just tonight. Not just because it feels good right now. I need to hear it.”

His fingers slip just beneath the waistband of your panties, not quite touching where you need him most, deliberately teasing you while he waits. The pleading, almost desperate look on his face makes your heart stir. This isn’t just lust for him, it’s years of love finally breaking free.

You reach down and thread your fingers through his hair, holding his gaze as your voice comes out shaky but certain.

“I want you, Caleb,” you whisper. “I think I always have.”

A deep, relieved sound leaves him as he surges upward, seizing your mouth in another heated kiss. At the same time, his fingers hook into your soaked panties and drag them down your legs in one swift motion. You barely have time to register the cool air on your bare skin before he’s settled back between your thighs, his body heat enveloping you.

“Finally,” He sighs, voice heavy with longing. “You’re mine. You’ve always been mine, you just didn’t know it yet.” He pauses, looking up at you with those hungry purple eyes, pupils still blown wide like black holes swallowing galaxies as he unabashedly brings your soiled panties to his face and inhales. His eyes roll and flutter shut, the intoxicating, musky scent of you making his cock throb. Your face burns with a mixture of embarrassment and arousal as you watch him bury his nose in the lacy fabric with absolutely no shame. He takes another slow inhale before tossing them aside, making you squeak in surprise as he grabs your thighs and pulls you to the edge of the couch, hands spreading you wider, exposing you completely. For a moment he just stares, breathing hard, like he’s committing the sight to memory.

“So fucking wet,” He murmurs as he slides one finger through your slick folds, teasing your entrance before circling your swollen clit. Your hips jerk at the contact, a sharp gasp escaping you. Caleb’s gaze flicks back up to your face, watching every reaction as he spreads you open with his thumbs and drags his tongue through your dripping folds in one long lick, groaning like he’s tasting heaven. Your head falls back against the couch with a broken moan, one hand gripping his hair while the other clutches at the cushion beneath you.

His grip on your thighs tightens as he buries his face deeper, licking and sucking with fervor as he eats you out like a man starved. He sucks your clit between his lips, flicking his tongue rapidly over the sensitive bundle of nerves as he slides two thick fingers inside you with little resistance. The wet, obscene sounds of his mouth and fingers fill the room, mixing with your soft cries. Every curl of his fingers strokes that perfect spot inside you while his tongue works you without mercy.

You tug harder at his hair, thighs trembling around his head. “Caleb… oh fuck-”

His eyes flick up again, locking onto yours over the plane of your body. He watches you intently, studying every gasp, every twitch of your face as he pushes you closer and closer to the edge. “You’re close, aren’t you?” he mumbles against your slick heat, “I can feel you clenching around my fingers. Come for me, baby. Let me taste it.”

Your orgasm crashes over you like a breaking wave. A loud cry tears from your throat as pleasure explodes through your body. Your back arches off the couch, thighs clamping around his head as you shake and pulse around his fingers. He groans against your soaked pussy, eagerly drinking every drop of your release. His fingers continue their slow, deep strokes, drawing out your orgasm until your vision whites out and your legs are trembling uncontrollably.

Only when you start to whimper from overstimulation does he finally ease back, pressing one last soft kiss to your sensitive clit before pulling his fingers free. He looks up at you with an almost drunk expression, lips shiny and swollen, chin glistening with your arousal. An absolute vision of debauchery.

“Good girl.” He croons, and you can’t help but mewl at his praise. “I can’t wait to feel you do this around my cock.” Your pussy instinctively clenches in response, as if saying that she can’t wait, either. Gripping the front of his shirt, you pull him in for a wet kiss, tasting yourself on his tongue. You desperately tug at the garment, needing to feel his skin against yours. 

He groans into your mouth before pulling away. He stands, reaching back to yank his shirt off in one rough motion, revealing the toned planes of his chest and abdomen. Your hands are on him in an instant, tracing the lines of muscle you’ve only ever admired from a distance. You slide your hands lower, fingers trembling with need as you reach for his belt. He’s painfully hard, you can see the thick outline of his cock straining against his pants and you can’t help but salivate at the sight. His breath hitches when you undo it quickly, popping the button of his pants and dragging the zipper down. You tug his boxers down just enough so his cock springs free, thick and heavy, the flushed head already glistening with precum. 

Wrapping your fingers around the base of his cock, you give him one slow, firm stroke. It feels like velvet covered steel beneath your palm, silky-smooth and impossibly rigid. He groans deeply, hips twitching upward into your touch. Leaning in, you press a soft, teasing kiss to the tip before dragging your tongue along the underside, savoring the salty taste of him.

Caleb’s hand flies to your hair, fingers threading through it as he lets out a moan. “Shit- baby…”

Encouraged by his reaction, you take him deeper into your mouth, lips stretching around his thickness. You bob your head slowly at first with long, deliberate strokes while your tongue swirls around the sensitive head on every upstroke. His hand tightens in your hair, guiding you further down until he bumps against the back of your throat. Tears spring to your eyes as you fight the urge to gag, breathing carefully through your nose while you relax for him.

“God… just like that,” His eyes are locked on you as he watches his cock disappear between your lips. “You look so fucking pretty with your mouth full of me.” The praise makes heat bloom between your legs again. You moan around him, the vibration traveling straight up his shaft. His hand tightens almost painfully in your hair as he starts guiding your movements, fucking shallowly into your mouth. His breathing grows ragged, curses spilling from his lips between moans.

“Mmm… who taught you this?” he growls suddenly, possessive jealousy flaring in him. “Who else has had this perfect mouth wrapped around them? Tell me. I need to know whose cock you practiced on before mine.”

You pull off him with a wet pop, a string of saliva connecting your swollen lips to his glistening cock. Breathing hard, you look up at him with teary eyes and answer honestly, “No one that mattered. I only want you now.”

The answer seems to both soothe and inflame him. A satisfied sound rumbles in his chest as he yanks you up suddenly, kissing you with bruising force. His hands grip your ass possessively and lift you off the ground, your legs instinctively coming up to wrap around his hips.

“Good,” he mutters against your mouth, nipping at your bottom lip. “Because this mouth, this body, this pussy… It’s all mine now. No one else gets to touch you ever again.”

He carries you to his bedroom, the one you had been staying in since you arrived, and gently lays you on the bed. Despite all his bravado, he still handles you like you’re something precious. He pushes his pants the rest of the way down his legs and kicks them aside, standing fully naked before you. His cock stands hard and heavy against his stomach, still glistening from your mouth. Without another word, Caleb climbs onto the bed and lies on his back, propping himself up slightly against the pillows.

“Get on top of me,” he orders, “I want to watch you ride me.”

A fresh wave of arousal floods through you at the possessive demand. You move toward him, heart pounding, and swing one leg over his hips, straddling his thighs. His hands settle on your waist, fingers digging in with barely contained need as he guides you forward until you’re hovering just above his throbbing length.

“Look at me,” he says, one hand sliding up your spine while the other wraps around his cock, holding it steady for you. “I’ve waited so long for this. Don’t hold back.”

You hold his gaze as you slowly sink down onto him. The thick head of his cock stretches you open, and you gasp at the intense pressure. He’s so big, the stretch burns in the most delicious way, making your breath catch as you take him inch by inch. Every time you think you can’t take more, you sink a little lower, until your thighs finally meet his hips and he’s buried to the hilt inside you.

A shaky moan escapes your lips. He feels impossibly deep like this, filling you so completely that your mind goes hazy. You can feel him throbbing against your walls, hot and hard and alive. Your body trembles as you adjust to the overwhelming fullness. His hands grip your waist tightly, his jaw clenched as he visibly fights for control. 

“Fuck…” he breathes, voice strained. “You’re so tight around me.” The awe in his voice makes your face flush even deeper. You brace your hands on his chest, feeling the rapid thud of his heartbeat under your palms, and start to move. You roll your hips slowly at first, savoring the drag of his cock against every sensitive spot inside you. Pleasure sparks up your spine with every motion, and a soft, needy sound slips from your throat.

“That’s it,” he groans, one hand sliding to grip your ass, guiding you. “Ride me, baby. Let me feel you.” You pick up the pace, rising and sinking on his cock with growing confidence. The wet sound of your bodies meeting, combined with his low groans and your own moans fill the room. Every time you drop down, his thumb finds your clit, rubbing firm circles that make your thighs shake. You feel exposed like this, completely on display for him. But the way he’s looking at you, like you’re the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen, it makes the vulnerability feel intoxicating rather than frightening.

You begin to ride him harder, every roll of your hips becomes deeper, more desperate. All the love, longing, frustration, and desire you buried for so long pour out of you with every downward thrust. Your cries grow louder as you take him faster, grinding down on him with raw need.

Caleb’s eyes roll back for a moment before locking onto you again, his hands gripping your hips hard enough to bruise.

“You have no idea… how many times I imagined this. How many nights I fucked my fist thinking about you on top of me just like this, moaning my name, your perfect tits bouncing in my face…” His words send a fresh rush of heat through you. You clench around him, riding him even harder.

“I wanted you so badly,” he continues, voice bordering desperation. “It was torture holding back. Everyday… I was dying inside, trying not to touch you the way I really wanted to.”

You slow just enough to catch your breath, your chest tight with emotion. 

“I wanted you too,” Your voice comes out unsteady as you confess, “But I always felt so ashamed for wanting you like that. You were my best friend. I was terrified that if I said anything… I’d lose you forever.”

He lets out a breathless, disbelieving laugh. His hands slide up your back, pulling you down closer to him so your foreheads nearly touch.

“We’re such idiots,” he chuckles, the laugh melting into a groan as you roll your hips. “Both of us wanting each other this badly, both of us scared of the exact same thing. All that time wasted.”

The realization seems to ignite something deeper in both of you. You kiss him fiercely and pick up your pace again, riding him with wild abandon now, chasing the pleasure you both denied yourselves for years. 

The injury on your leg begins to burn with the exertion, a sharp, fiery sting radiating through it as you bounce on his cock. The pain flares hotter with every hard drop of your hips, but you don’t care. You refuse to slow down.

Caleb notices the slight hitch in your rhythm and his grip on your hips tightens, helping guide your movements.

“Baby-” he starts, voice laced with concern, but you shake your head and kiss him again, swallowing his words.

“I don’t care. I need you. I need this.” Suddenly, you feel the familiar sensation of his evol wrap around you. A gentle, invisible force that cradles your body, easing the burning strain in your leg. The gravity around you shifts, making you feel lighter, almost weightless, holding you just enough to support your movements without letting you fall.

“I’ve got you, let me help.” He says, hands firmly gripping your hips as he plants his feet on the bed and thrusts up to meet you halfway. 

The first powerful upward stroke punches the air from your lungs. His cock drives into you at the perfect angle, hitting that spot deep inside with every motion. The slick slap of your bodies meeting becomes louder and faster as gravity and his strength work together to pull you down onto him harder than you could manage alone.

“Oh god- Caleb-” you cry out, your head falling back. His hips snap up again, meeting your downward roll, every thrust forcing a moan from your throat as the pressure inside you coils tighter. His thumb returns to your clit, rubbing tight circles in time with his hips. You claw wildly at his chest, desperately trying to seek purchase against the onslaught of pleasure cresting inside of you.

“Come on, sweetheart,” he growls, increasing the pressure on your swollen clit as he drives up into you. “Let go for me. I want to feel you come all over my cock.”

It hits you like lightning.

Your orgasm explodes through you with devastating force. A shattered cry tears from your throat as your walls clamp down around him, pulsing and spasming in rhythmic waves. Every muscle in your body locks, your fingers digging crescent marks into his chest as the slick gush of your release coats his cock. His evol holds you steady through the storm, keeping you from collapsing while he continues thrusting into you with deep, grinding strokes that drag out every last pulse of pleasure.

His evol fades back to a soft, protective hum around your body as you collapse fully onto his chest, panting, trembling, and utterly spent. He holds you close until your breathing evens out, pressing soft kisses to your temple, your forehead and the corner of your mouth. Then, with effortless strength, he rolls you both over. You gasp as your back meets the sheets and he settles between your thighs, never once slipping out of you. He braces himself on his forearms, caging you in with his body, his face hovering just above yours. His eyes are soft now, brimming with pure adoration as he looks down at you.

“There you are,” he croons as he rolls his hips in one slow, deep thrust. “My beautiful girl.” 

A soft, overwhelmed whimper escapes you as he starts moving again, his pace slow and gentle. He feels even deeper like this, filling you completely with every drag of his cock.

“I love you,” he whispers as he rests his forehead against yours, “God, I love you so much. I have for so long…”

Your heart clenches at the honesty in his voice as you reach up and thread your fingers through his hair, still hazy and floating from your orgasm. 

“I love you too, Caleb,” you breathe, the words trembling with feeling. A quiet, broken sound escapes him. He kisses you deeply as his hips continue their gentle rhythm, pulling back almost to the tip before sliding home again, grinding against you in a way that makes your toes curl.

“Say it again,” he murmurs against your mouth, “Please, say it again.”

“I love you.”

“Again,” he groans, sinking deeper.

“I love you, Caleb.”

“Again… fuck, keep saying it.” His pace stays slow and tender, but his voice grows more desperate, each thrust punctuated by his pleas. He peppers kisses along your jaw, your neck, then back to your lips. “I need to hear it. Over and over.”

“I love you,” you moan, louder this time as your walls flutter around him. “I love you… I love you, Caleb-”

His rhythm starts to falter, his slow, tender thrusts growing deeper, more urgent. You hook your hands under your knees, opening yourself to him further, pulling your thighs back so he can sink even deeper.

“Baby…” He groans, the new angle making his hips shake. “I’m so close… fuck, I’m so close.”

Lifting his head, his wild, pleading eyes lock onto yours. His arms tremble, muscles flexing with the effort of holding back.

“I love you,” he rasps again, “I love you so fucking much. I don’t know if I can- shit-” His body stutters as pleasure visibly overtakes him. His jaw clenches and you can feel the tension coiling in his body as he chases his own release. 

“Please… Can I come inside you? Please baby, let me fill you up. I need to. I’ve wanted this for so long...” He begs, voice nearly frantic. “Say it again,” His thighs quake, like he’s right on the edge and barely hanging on. “Tell me you love me while I come inside you. Please, I’m so fucking close.”

“Yes,” you gasp, cupping his face as your own pleasure spikes from the intensity of his desperation. “Come inside me, Caleb. Please— I want to feel you. I love you. I love you so much-”

The words snap the last thread of his control.

With a loud, guttural groan that vibrates through his entire chest, he buries himself to the hilt inside you. His hips snap forward one final time as his orgasm crashes over him. You feel the powerful pulsing of his cock deep inside your walls, thick, hot spurts of his release flooding you. He comes hard, pumping rope after rope of his spend so deep it feels like he’s pouring straight into your soul. You moan at the sensation of warmth filling your belly as you unconsciously clench around him, milking his cock.

“Fuck- take it, take every drop…” he chokes out as he grinds his hips in slow, possessive circles, stirring his come inside you. He doesn’t pull back even an inch. Instead, he presses deeper, rolling and grinding his pelvis against yours as if he’s trying to fuse your bodies together, pushing his release even further inside with every movement. 

His evol flares faintly around you both, a warm, gravity-like embrace that holds you impossibly close, sealing you together. You can feel every twitch, every throb as he empties himself. He keeps moving like that even after the last pulse, slow, deep grinds, unwilling to leave the tight heat of your body. You thread your fingers through his damp hair, holding his forehead to yours as he trembles above you.

You’ve never felt closer to anyone in your life.

Eventually, his movements slow to a stop. He collapses carefully over you, careful not to crush you, but close enough that every inch of your sweat-slicked skin presses together. He buries his face into the crook of your neck, and you can feel the heavy hammering of his heartbeat against your chest. 

Tears prick at the corners of your eyes without warning. Not from sadness, not exactly, but from everything.

Caleb lifts his head immediately, concern flashing across his flushed face. His eyes search yours, sharpening with worry.

“Hey…,” he whispers, voice tender and comforting. One hand comes up to cradle your cheek, his thumb brushing away a tear that slips free. “What’s wrong? Did I hurt you?”

You shake your head quickly, another tear falling as you smile through the overwhelming emotion. Another tear slips down your temple and he brushes that one away too, his brows drawing together with worry.

“I didn’t mean to-”

“You didn’t hurt me,” you quickly cut him off before he can spiral any further. “I’m just...” your breath hitches and a wobbly laugh escapes you, “I don’t know. I’m just feeling everything at once.”

He nods in understanding, pressing a gentle kiss to your forehead before he carefully pulls out of you. The moment his cock slips free, you feel a rush of warmth, his release leaking from you. A visible shiver runs through your body at the sensation, your thighs pressing together instinctively as some of his come drips down onto the sheets.

He rolls onto his side beside you and pulls you into his arms, tucking you securely against his chest. One strong leg drapes over yours, keeping you close as his hand rubs slow, soothing circles over your back. You rest your palm over his heart, fingers spreading across the warm, steady beat beneath his skin. You need to feel it again, need the rhythm of it to ground you, to remind you that he is here.

Caleb covers your hand with his own and presses it more firmly against his chest.

“I’m here,” he says. The words are simple. Too simple, maybe, after everything. You swallow around the lump in your throat.

“For how long?” His mouth parts, but no answer comes. That silence tells you enough.

The tenderness between you does not disappear, but something colder slips beneath it. Reality, creeping back in through the cracks. The Fleet. The tunnel. The secrets he still cannot tell you. The goodbye neither of you has figured out how to say yet.

“I don’t know,” he admits and you can’t help the way your chest aches. A heavy sigh leaves him. “I don’t know how long I’ll be gone, and I can’t promise you everything I want to. I can’t promise I’ll always be able to stay. I can’t promise I won’t make choices you hate. But this?” His thumb strokes along your cheek. “This is real. What I feel for you is the only thing in my life that has never changed.”

Your tears spill faster, silent now. He kisses one away, then another, like he is trying to apologize for every moment he was not there to wipe them away before.

“I’ll come back to you,” he murmurs against your cheek.

“You can’t promise that, either.” You sniffle.

“No,” he says quietly. “But I can swear it.” There is something about the way he says the words - sure and resolute, like a vow he makes no intention of breaking that soothes the ache in your heart. There are still secrets between you, still danger waiting beyond this room, still a future so full of uncertainties. But you’re together again, yin and yang reunited, and for tonight, that’s enough.

“I love you,” he whispers.

“I love you too,” you whisper back and he kisses you again, just a quiet press of his mouth to yours. When he pulls back, he stays close, his nose brushing yours.

“You need rest,” he says, and a faint, tired smile tugs at your lips.

“So do you.”

“I’m not the one with an infected wound.”

“You’re the one who looks like he’s been emotionally mauled.” A breathless laugh escapes him, as though he can’t believe you still have it in you to tease him after everything.  He brushes his thumb beneath your eye again, wiping away the last of your tears. 

“Still bossy, even after everything.”

“Still overbearing, even after everything,” you murmur back. His smile fades into something softer.

“Yeah,” he says quietly. “I am.”

He shifts carefully, reaching for the blanket that had been shoved to the end of the bed at some point during the chaos of the night. He pulls it over both of you, tucking it around your shoulders before settling back beside you. Then, he draws your injured leg over his, keeping it elevated. The familiar fussing should annoy you, but instead, it makes your eyes burn again.

“Don’t start crying again,” he whispers, panic already creeping into his voice. You let out a watery laugh and hide your face against his chest.

“I’m not.”

“You are.”

“I’m not.”

“Pipsqueak.”

You press your face harder against him and his arms tighten protectively around you, one hand returning to the slow, soothing path along your back.

“I missed that,” you breathe, and for a moment, he says nothing. Then he presses his lips to your hair.

“I missed you.”

Exhaustion begins to pull at you. Your body is spent, your wound throbs dully beneath the bandage, and your eyes sting from crying. 

“Sleep,” he mutters, as if reading your mind. “I’ve got you.”

You want to argue. You want to tell him he needs rest too, that he can’t keep watching over you like this, but the words won’t come out. All you can do is listen to his heartbeat until it drowns out the storm outside. Just before sleep takes you, you feel Caleb’s hand cover yours again. He brings it up to his face, brushing his lips across your knuckles.

“I’m here,” he whispers one last time, and with his warmth wrapped around you, you finally let yourself fall asleep.