You didn’t think your newly established boyfriend and life-long best friend Caleb Xia was cheating on you, you just had a tickling, nagging, hunch.
A hunch that swept your mind when he continued to postpone or last minute cancel dates, a quick:
“I’ll make it up to you baby! Promise.”
“I, uh, gotta run! Gran needs me…”
A charming smile and chaste kiss from the puppy eyed brunette may have once eased your worries, but tonight you needed to get to the bottom of it. You made your way up his apartment's stairs, worried about surprising, well, confronting him like this. Your phone buzzes at the last flight 'til his door, a text from Caleb lights up your mobile.
🍎Caleb: Hey pips! We’re still okay for Friday night? Also, have ya had dinner yet? :p
You take a deep breath and knock on his door.
Some shuffling, a curious “hmm?” and alas, Caleb in front of you.
“Oh! Hey, babe! I just texted you.”
Surprise flickers across his face, mixed with glee as his broad arm reaches for you to pull you into a hug but freezes mid-air when he registers the sombre look on your face.
“Hey. Can I, um, come in? We need to talk.”
You whisper as your eyes dart into his apartment, was someone there with him?
You notice the empty couch and living room, the singular mug filled with (what you assume to be) some sort of vitamin-filled or protein drink, knowing your boyfriend. One, not two.
Clearly, he had nobody over.
Caleb nods quickly, visibly swallowing and your heart can’t help but flutter as you watch the muscle of his adam's apple bob upwards and down.
You sit on the couch, his tall form remains above you, his lilac eyes searching yours almost desperately.
Your hands clench as they sit atop your thighs, you don't even know if you have the strength to look at him.
“Caleb, I want to know why you keep missing our dates or even disappear for hours on end. I feel like I’m going crazy and I just-”
You begin to ramble, until a cold voice interrupts:
“I told you. Family emergencies and the internship, baby, what is this about?”
He crouches in front of you, cold hands intertwining with yours, a thumb swipes over your palm, calming, grounding yet urging you to continue.
“I… I don’t believe you. Is there someone else?”
He freezes, the sweeping touch of his hand on yours stops, guiltily, you think.
Until you look down at his eyes which are frozen in shock.
How? How could you come to the conclusion that his heart possibly had any space for anyone else when it was you. It had and always will be you for him, forever.
His breaths deepen and he says firm and true:
“No. Pips, I… there’s nobody else and I can’t tell you why I keep disappearing, it’s for your safety. I swear.”
His jaw grinds, eyebrows furrowed. He looks physically pained.
“Caleb, you can’t expect me to believe that!”
Anger courses through you, hot and embarrassed. Here was Caleb Xia, your Caleb.
The boy who laughed at you when you fell, but offered a warm hand and smile, the boy you split ice-creams and fair tickets and prizes with, the boy who now lied to your face.
You stood, hands firmly by your side.
You say, voice cracking on the last syllable, though you make no urgency to leave the room.
“What? No, no, no. Please.”
“Caleb, this seriously won’t work! We’ve been together forever, we said ‘no secrets!’ Remember?”
You don’t even register your body throwing the plush pillow towards him, an outlet of your frustration.
You do register the insanely inhuman speed in which he catches it, places it besides you and leans forwards to grab your wrists. He pulls you up and into his embrace.
“Okay. Okay.” He breathes in, preparing himself.
What could it be? Is he sick of you? No, clearly not by his emotional reaction, wait, how did he catch that pillow so–
He whispers it reverently, a shaky breath follows after.
Your mind races, frantically trying to piece everything together.
The picnic date he ran from quickly, claiming an emergency simultaneously at the same time as a downtown bank robbery and so, so many more.
“Can you... um, prove it...?”
You mumble into his chest, still being held by protective arms.
Caleb’s thumbs swipe at your tears that you didn’t even realise were falling, cradling your cheeks and staring at you with adoration in his irises.
You nod, shocked and curious.
“Alrighty, pips. You asked for it.”
You blink and he’s gone. You eyes dart up to the ceiling, a suspicious ‘thump!’ sounds. The thump that is your 6”2 boyfriend staring down at you, crouched on the ceiling.
“Soooo, how many guys d’ya know that can stick onto ceilings?”
Caleb wasn’t kidding, he really is Spiderman. Your Caleb is the vigilante roaming around Linkon, the same spidey fiend you coincidentally have been running into these past few weeks, you realise.
You giggle, jumping up to reach and grab at him, but failing as he dodges with quick "pswshh!" sound effects.
Spiderman then obliges, coming down, hand still attached to the roof, one finger lifting back down at a time - a show of his strength until only his pointer finger keeps him glued to the roof.
He comes back down head craned down to smile, no, beam at you joyfully, relieved.
“I have a lot to tell you-” He starts.
This time, it’s you who intercepts him with:
“Uh, yeah. I think you do. But why didn’t you tell me?”
It was the question most forefront on your mind. You trusted each other with all the secrets and quirks throughout your life, so why would he hide this from you?
“I want to, no. Need to protect you. If anyone I deal with knows how much I…”
“How much I love you, it would place you in danger.”
“Keeping me in the dark isn’t much better, Caleb…”
You mutter whilst your hand climbs up to his face and messes the mop of brown, warm hair atop his head.
He leans into your touch, his hand coming to grasp against your wrist, consolidating your hand in his hair as it swipes across his locks.
“You can make up for it...” You whisper.
“Oh, yeah?” His eyebrow raises. “How?”
“Hm, pancakes for dinner. Among other things, maybe…”
His head leans down as he murmurs:
He stares down at your lips, memorised as they reply:
A giggle escapes from you as his lips meet yours, a flurry of relief, love and passion as you slide your mouth to accommodate his sharp, quick-sensed movements. His teeth bite down on your bottom lip, a gasp escapes you and before you even register it, his tongue parts into your mouth.
His once cold hands, now scorching hot, reach up your top sliding across your abdomen and meeting the lace of your bra. You disconnect, needing air.
“Caleb, I, need a minute…”
You pant, hand splayed across his chest to create his space, despite his hands still… roaming.
Then, a thought hits you.
“Are your parents spiders too?”
“Pfft, don’t be stupid Pips.”
He murmurs into your neck, mouth leaving hot, open, kisses across your collarbone.
“Stupid? Says the one who didn’t tell his girlfriend he–”
His kisses silence you as he carries you into the kitchen, your legs encased around his waist.
A night of new beginnings, revelations and reverence along with the web of a new life with your supernatural, spidey, Caleb.
