🍎 caleb x fem!mc reader, before the explosion, caleb hates grandma, kissing, hints of their previous life as married in the underworld, canon storyline meets fanon personal lore🍎
the mirror above the sink was beginning to fog around the edges from the steam caused by the shower she’d taken twenty minute ago, yet, the small bulbs of light still shined over her frame. her finger gently tugged at her eyelid, lips slightly parted in concentration as she steadied the small brush of mascara against her lashes.
three loud knocks echoed from behind the door.
she ignored them, but the familiar anticipation bubbled inside of her stomach and made the corner of her mouth twitch upward. another knock rattled the door.
“pipsqueak,” his voice carried effortlessly through the wood, “unless you’ve decided to move there permanently, I’d like access to my bathroom”
“you mean, our bathroom,” she joked, battling her long doe lashes at the mirror before deciding the lashes weren’t even and they needed a few more brushes.
“semantics. im serious, open the door.”
she smiled despite herself, carefully digging the brush into its respective tube to gather more product, “im almost done, wait downstairs,”
with all the theatrical resignation of a man enduring a harsh hardship, he sighed, “easy to say for someone standing between me and a biological necessity. last warning,”
shaking her head, she laughed a small giggle “oh come on, you’ve been through worse training, you can wait five more mi—“
a sudden click echoed through the small room, and from the corner of her glittering eyes she noticed the knob turning on its own, pulled by an invisible force. oh, right.
the door swung indoor and Caleb slipped in, shoulder first, with the unmistakable smirk of someone who’d just solved a difficult situation with the least logical and most unreasonable solution.
“wait— caleb!” she lowered her mascara, blinking at him in a way that seemed both amused and surprised. he nudged the door shut behind him with his foot, walking into the cramped space as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened.
“you know,” he said casually, crossing the small room they’d spent years accidentally sharing together since childhood, brushing teeth, looking for towels, “lockers are a suggestion when you can control gravity,”
she met his eyes from the mirror for exactly one second before returning to her mascara, “they’re actually not,”
“mmh, debatable,” he remarked, completely at ease, purposefully grabbing her waist for a brief moment when he walked past her, squeezing her hips and making her jump slightly like a skittish bunny,
“caleb! you—“ she lowered her hand and inched forward, bending over the sink to inspect her face in the mirror and look for any smudge of mascara on her skin, “you’re lucky you didn’t get me dirty”
“yeah, yeah, your fault for taking too long,” his voice carried his characteristic boyish and warm tone, so cocky and arrogant it made her feel fuzzy with something unexplainable. she reached for the small makeup bag picked two tubes of lipgloss, one peachy pink, the other a little more red.
the close sound of a zipper being pulled down made her shake her head again. she shifted half a step to give him more space, space he didn’t need nor wanted. it was the normal way they’d always moved around one another, just effortlessly existing in each other’s orbit and space in a way that never required permission. like two people who had memorized the same map, long before either of them realized there were places they maybe were not supposed to know at heart.
she tried to ignore the sound that fallowed, only casting swift glances down at his parted boots, subtly tracing a pattern from his pants all the way to the dark fabric of his DDA jacket, before finally looking at her own reflection, “could use more glitter,”
“yeah, right,” he said, zipping his pants back and rustling with his belt, before pressing the flush button and turning around toward the sink with his signature grin.
“gonna sprinkle glitter all over dinner tonight,” he leaned toward the sink, washing his hands. when he straightened his back, he flicked a few drops of water toward her.
she opened her mouth, blinking in disbelief when she felt a cold droplet run down her rosy cheek, “really, caleb?”
“you wanted more glitters, these are echo friendly,” he grinned, reaching for the towel and winking at her. she pressed her lips together, a small giggle bubbling in her throat and vibrating against her chest like notes on a chord.
If anyone has looked at them, they would’ve probably frowned. maybe even considered them freaks, sharing a bathroom together like this. there had never been a single moment in their life where either of them had consciously decided that sharing intimacy required permission. the concept of personal privacy worked different with them. they were each other’s personal space. it didn’t matter if people found that weird, wrong, because at the end of the day, only they could decide the lengths in which their relationship would go.
“okay,” she turned around, holding the two tubes of lipgloss close to him, “which one?”
his brow lifted in confusion, nonetheless he leaned his waist against the sink and looked down at her with that familiar interest and amusement, “mmh, what about them?”
“apple,” she turned the tubes so he could read the labels first, “or sugar?”
“mmh,” he nodded, tilting his head and directing his purple, goldish eyes to an undefined spot, a distant corner in the room with exaggerated concentration, “you’re taking me off guard here…”
but she could tell he was just making fun of her, pretending to be serious about her indecision, so she just stepped closer, reducing the imperceptible distance between them in that already crowded room, “come on! this is a serious decision, please!”
“there are flavors?” he asked, fond of her sweet demeanor, innocent eyes blinking at him like they always did whenever he consulted him over anything.
“so…flavors,” he stood straighter, grabbing the edge of the sink next to her waist and trapping her between his imposing, tall frame and the mirror, “i think im gonna need empirical evidence,”
she lifted her brows, “so you’re a scientist now?”
“it’s a big responsibility, couldn’t disappoint the founding fathers. what would Newton think of me?”
despite the silliness of that conversation, she tilted her head all the way back to meet his gaze and smiled softly at him, “I think he would be jealous of you,”
“mmh?” his eyes sparkled with curiosity as he looked down at her, that attractive smirk that made him always look so handsome never fading, “why? because I’m a master at controlling gravity?“
but he was met with a shake of her head, “nope, because you’ve found what holds you to ground, something that not even gravity can explain,”
for a moment, the sunset behind his eyes deepened, gold and purple glimmering with a bright and vibrant shade of warmth, because that truth was impossible to laugh off — the effortless banter, the joking, all melted away with the certainty of that statement. because she was right, and he knew. no metter how high and where he flew off to, he always had a reason to come home, someone to keep me grounded. a love no one else had the right to ever doubt, define or judge.
“mmhmm,” he simply murmured, though it sounded rougher than his usual playful voice, as he lifted a mindless hand to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear, “you’re right, pipsqueak. my bunny on earth,”
his hand was warm and rough against her flushed cheek, leaving a trail of red blush behind it, like it set her on fire. with a soft blink, a small silent smile of acknowledgment, she looked away first.
of course he’d pick the apple.
she uncapped it, smoothing the gloss across her lips before pressing them together experimentally. she looked at him expectingly, raised brows and red cheeks.
“what do you think about this one?“
he sighed with a dramatic seriousness that only made her lips tremble with an upcoming smile, “i suppose there‘s only one reliable testing method,”
before she could ask what he meant, he reached out and, with two fingers beneath her chin, tilted her face toward him. it was such a familiar gesture that she didn’t think twice — he’d done it hundreds of times since they were kids, to wipe flour from her cheeks, to press wet towels against scratches, to check her temperature when he suspected she had a fever.
but none of those times had felt as intense as this one. hi thumb rested near the corner of her jaw, the contact sending a sudden rush of warmth down to the pit of her stomach, making her grip the edge of the sink next to her to keep her balance steady.
"you hold still." he whispered, voice rough and deep despite his mocking smirk.
she blinked, blushed, timid yet comfortable.
"…so i can conduct my very important investigation."
then, as casually as if he were stealing a french fry from her plate, he kissed her. his mouth pressed against her lips, softly first, waiting for any hint, but she didn’t move, simply tilted her head ever so slightly to give him better access. with that, he deepened the kiss, letting his tongue brush against the glossy coat that covered her mouth, tasting the apple with small flicks of his tongue.
she kept her eyes closed, her free hand placed on his chest, just above the blue and black fabric of his jacket. his thumb slid from her jaw to her chin, tilting her face closer to his as he stepped forward.
a small, breathless noise left her lips, devoured by his own small groan of satisfaction — a kiss too passionate and heavy for it to be only used to steal the taste she’s been debating over. a kiss spurred by pure desire and intimacy.
when his tongue brushed against her, they both tasted the apple flavor of her gloss mingled with the taste of the forbidden nature of their love, somehow reminding them of another apple. caleb swallowed down the proud feeling of victory against all kinds of people who’d ever mistaken their relationship, who’d frown upon this scandalous act, unaware this was the true, normal nature of their relationship. he’d always ever been her guardian, her protector, but an unfortunate fate had sealed off his raw love and desire for her, forcing him to witness society’s expectation from him.
we belong to each other, he thought in between the kiss, she’s mine, I’m his.
doesn’t matter if people didn’t understand what only they knew. if that woman had never taken custody over them, if she’s just minded her dirty business in that lab, they’d be more able to demonstrate each other’s love freely, without guilt and neglect and..
caleb slowed the kiss before it could get ruined with the bitter taste of anger and hate, and she moaned, a small, imperceptible sound that he drank up like syrup.
a string of saliva connected their lips together when he slowly pulled away, licking off the coated gloss that now smeared his own mouth. he leaned back with an expression of exaggerated contemplation, staring at her heavy breathing and red cheeks.
she stared at him, blinked like a doll and bit her lip, shyness taking over hernow that her want had smoothed out. Caleb always tasted and smelled so good. like apples, cologne, his personal manly scent and wood.
he pretended to think, folded his arms together against his chest.
then, almost absentmindedly, he brushed his thumb once across the corner of her mouth, “a little gloss here," he said quietly.
his hand lingered for only a heartbeat before dropping away.
"there." the teasing smile returned, crooked and familiar, but there was something different behind it now—something warmer, quieter, more aware.
she looked at the tiny tube in her hand, noticing the way her fingers were slightly trembling with anticipation, her belly filled with burning butterflies and a tingle between her legs she couldn’t quite name.
then she looked at him. a timid smile tugged at the corner of her lips despite herself, “you haven’t even compared it to the other one yet."
his grin widened, “I guess we'll have to run another test."
this time, neither of them pretended not to understand what he meant. the joke hung between them, held by years of familiarity, but beneath it was a shared realization that something had shifted. whatever line the rest of the world might have imagined for them, the only people who could decide what this moment meant were the two standing in front of the mirror.
she looked down at the other tube and uncapped it, “fine” she managed to whisper,
he lifted his brows, “fine?”
“your second experiment,” she giggled, softly, almost childish, and turned around to look at her flushed self through the mirror — she wiped off the remaining gloss and applied a careful brush across her bottom lip, the top one, and pressed them together. this gloss was more clear, less dense.
she turned around again, catching the way he was staring at her mouth, in contemplative silence,
“considering the methodology…”
she laughed at her murmur, shaking her head with disbelief, “really?”
“but for consistency,” her grinned, flexing his neck and standing in front of her, “I should probably repeat the same exact procedure…otherwise it’d devastate the scientific community,”
her eyes caught a quick fleck of light, and she looked down towards his necklace, the words carved into the metal chain and the apple charm glistening like a mirror where she could see the reflection of her gloss,
he reached again, his hold firmer this time as he practically tugged her chin upward and kissed her with more strength and causality, as if that were the most ordinary thing between them, just right, just normal.
the sweetness of the gloss lingered between their lips, but after the first second neither of them could have said whether it tasted like sugar anymore, now too far gone in the taste of each other’s mouths.
he grunted something against her lips, smearing the gloss on purpose so he could kick every corner — she giggled between the kiss, tugging at the chain of his necklace just to feel him closer, angling her head in a comfortable position. his tongue pushed against hers, and she could barely keep up with his force and grip, eating her mouth like a man who’d been starving for too long.
“fuck, pipsqueak, you taste so sweet i think im gonna have to fill up a diabetes prescription…” he joked against her lips, but she only blushed more, her cheeks growing red and on fire,
his hand slowly let go of her chin and slid down to grab a fistful of her hair, tugging her closer to him, making her yelp softly — his kiss grew more urgent, hungry, feverish, but his stance was always composed and controlled like a man who’d spent years yearning, holding back and mastering every ounce of his willpower.
her fingers found the front of his shirt without thinking, bunching lightly in the fabric to get his attention — the small, fragile motion made him exhale a quiet laugh against her lips, pulling back for a moment and looking down at her with expectation,
she whispered, off breath “so?”
"I haven't finished evaluating. you interrupted me.”
"liar…” she smiled, bashful, wanting to hide her face against the crook of his neck,
"i take my work seriously, y’know”
he kissed her again before she could smile, slower this time, longer and unhurried. she breathed, swallowing down his taste, and let go of his necklace to let her free roam to caress his adam’s apple,
the world outside the little bathroom faded into the background — the humming light above the mirror, the dripping faucet, the distant clatter of dishes from the kitchen.
there was only the warmth of him, impossibly familiar, impossibly close, and the strange realization that nothing about this felt foreign. If anything, it felt overdue.
something they'd been circling for years without ever naming it.
his forehead rested lightly against hers when they finally paused, she parted her lips, some kind of hunger she couldn’t name still twisting in her throat, an hunger that must’ve come from a past life, years and years thirsting over something she now finally had in front of her her: her caleb. the distant memory forged into the shape of a lotus flowers filled the back of her mind, hands and lips intertwined in a way so familiar yet unknown.
she flicked the tip of her tongue against his closed lips, timidly, and he only inched closer to catch it with his mouth, licking a quick, wet stripe against her own tongue, and groaned again. “you’re mine, pips, y’know that right?”
she nodded, too eager and too quick, embarrassed but relived, “mmhmh, and you’re my caleb”
he grinned, brushing his nose against hers, “that’s right, missy,”
she was just beginning to close the tiny distance between them again—
gran’s voice echoed down the hallway.
"table’s ready! call Caleb!”
for one suspended heartbeat, neither of them moved. caleb could sense his jaw twitch with uprooting frustration and nervousness, and the muscles clenched as he darted his eyes towards the door — they darkened in a way so sudden and intense it would’ve scared her if it were anyone else. a flash of something passed through this golden purples but he quickly recomposed himself, letting out a quiet, helpless chuckle.
“aight, pips,” he smiled at her, the duality of his personality a scary and intimidating contrast that would’ve frightened anyone else. but to her, he’d always be protective, safe, soft and loving. a side of him crafted by the stars for her only.
she blinked, swallowed, lips sticky with gloss and saliva, and looked toward the door, “she’s gonna look for us,”
for a few seconds, neither of them spoke. neither moved. then, he broke the moment with his usual crooked grin, tucking the moment secretly away for only the two of them, “come on,”
he crossed the small space and reached for the doorknob,
“so…what’s your conclusion?” she attempted a small, hopeful smile he couldn’t see. already missing the feeling of his mouth against hers.
he opened the door just enough to peek into the hallway before glancing back at her, taking her in with a look of proud protection, affection and possessiveness, “apple, pipsqueak. obviously.”