Caleb doesn’t get angry. At least, not at you. Not around you. You always believed you could do no wrong in his eyes—that he’d always forgive you. And for the most part, that was true.
But then, you saw it. A flicker of anger, restrained on his face. And you panicked.
Maybe that’s why you’re sitting here now, staring at the ground, gently pushing yourself on the swing. Back and forth. Zayne crouches beside you, drawing snowmen in the sand with a tree branch.
“So? What happened this time?” he asks flatly, not even looking up. “He didn’t let you tickle his armpits or something?”
You glare at him, sulking. You want to be annoyed at the ridiculous suggestion—but you’re more annoyed because he’s right. You would be upset over something like that.
“That’s not it,” you mumble, shaking your head.
Zayne stays quiet, waiting. The cicadas buzz lazily in the distance, and the peak summer sun filters through the trees.
“I tried to tie a ribbon around Caleb’s model plane—the one he’s been building forever. He finally finished it, and I thought I’d surprise him. I tried to get it down to decorate it, but it fell… and broke,” you pause. “He looked angry. And that scared me. But I was angry too—angry that he got angry… even though it was my fault.”
Your voice cracks, and the words melt into soft sobs.
Zayne stops drawing. He turns toward you, watching as your small hands cover your face, your feet barely skimming the ground. Then he stands and settles into the swing next to yours.
“This is just what I think,” he says, “you only act like that with Caleb because you two are that close. He might’ve been upset… but he’s never really mad at you.”
He reaches over, ruffling your hair with a gentle smile.
“Trust me. Give it a minute—he’ll come running to find you.”
As if Zayne was clairvoyant, Caleb appears at the park entrance, a plastic bag in hand.
“I figured you’d run to Zayne,” he calls as he walks over. He reaches into the bag and tosses Zayne a popsicle.
You don’t look up. You keep your eyes locked on your shoes.
Caleb kneels, peering up at your face. Zayne tears open his popsicle in silence.
Caleb opens one too, and holds it out to you.
A peace offering.
That evening, before dinner, the three of you walk home hand in hand.
Your right hand holds Caleb’s left.
Your left hand holds Zayne’s right.
𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆ 𓂃 ₊ ⊹
a/n: inspired by when life gives you tangerines 😭😭😭
i feel like if mc and caleb had an angry confession in the rain this would be one of the lines
𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆ 𓂃 ₊ ⊹
“Caleb, I can’t be your friend. I can’t be your sister, or whatever it is you’ve decided I am to you. I love you—so much it feels like I’m ripping my own heart out and throwing it at your feet just so you can crush it, and you just brush it off under the guise of being my family. We aren’t fucking family. Stop pretending, Caleb. You can’t pretend when you look at me like that.”
so alone i would be, in a world that you’re not near
𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆ 𓂃 ₊ ⊹
image credits: guther lee
The argument had been setting fire on the fragile peace you and Caleb had re-built together. The living room still hummed with your raised voice and his sharp silence. He stood there like a wall, arms rigid at his sides, jaw locked, as you shouted at him for suffocating you with his protectiveness. You couldn’t see that, for him, it wasn’t control. It was survival—the only way he knew how to care. The only way he’d ever been taught. But, he couldn’t deny your anger either.
Your chest heaved as you stuffed belongings into your bag, refusing to look at him. His shadow loomed behind you, tense and unmoving, like if he moved even an inch you might shatter what you have forever.
“You don’t trust me,” you hissed, choking on the frustration knotting your throat. “You don’t see me. You only see the dangers. You only see the worst.”
Caleb flinched—not outwardly, not in the way others might. His movements were too disciplined, his mask too practiced. But you’d spent enough time with him to feel the faint crack in his armor. A tremor, like the floor itself had shifted.
And yet, he said nothing.
“You only want me behind you, never next to you.”
Your fingers tightened around the strap of your bag as you stormed toward the door. Your pulse thudded in your ears, drowned out the sound of his breathing. You wanted to escape, to get away for a bit. You hated this emotion clouding your being. You hated thinking this about Caleb—your Caleb.
But then, just as your hand curled around the doorknob, his voice cut through the room—low, hoarse, trembling in a way you’d never heard before.
“Don’t go home without me.”
The words froze you in place.
Your breath hitched. Your vision blurred. That line—it wasn’t just words. It was a memory, carved into both of you, sealed in grief. You knew exactly where he’d gotten it. That night. That note. That fragile piece of paper you had written with trembling hands when the world had convinced you Caleb was gone forever. Don’t go home without me. It had been a prayer. A plea. A desperate bargain with the universe. And he’d found it. He knew.
Slowly, you turned.
He was standing there, his composure finally cracking. His violet eyes burned with something raw—pain, guilt, desperation. His lips pressed together as if holding back everything else he wanted to say, everything he couldn’t bear to lose if he said it wrong. His hands reached out, hesitant, as though afraid you might recoil from his touch.
“I read it,” he admitted, voice rough, almost breaking. “That note. I wasn’t supposed to, but I couldn’t stop. You wrote it because of me. Because of what I put you through. And now I’m here, alive, and I can’t-”. His voice faltered, swallowed by the weight of his own shame. “I can’t watch you walk away like I’m already gone again.”
Your tears slipped free, burning down your cheeks as your chest tightened until it hurt.
The room was silent except for the sound of your unsteady breathing, except for the quiet breaking of the walls around him. For once, Caleb didn’t look like the unshakable protector, the man forged in discipline and shadows. He looked human. Shattered. Afraid.
And all at once, leaving felt impossible.
𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆ 𓂃 ₊ ⊹
a/n: i knew i would use this song sooner or later but idk if i wanted it to be v romantic like something ab vows or angsty like ab caleb blowing up or whatnot.
off topic but i will be at that bts concert idc how much it costs i will sell my kidney i will queue with all my devices + friends’ i WILL BE IN THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENS IDCCCCC 💜💜💜💜💜💜 #bts
Caleb has an incredible, almost inhumane ability to understand every word you say.
"Here ya go." Caleb sets a refreshing glass of water in front of you. He noticed your cup was getting low and got up to fetch a refill without being asked.
"Rank rou!" The words 'thank you' attempt to force their way out around a mouthful of food. Your gratitude is muffled, voice wet from the chewed mush stuffed in the pockets of your cheeks.
"No problem." Under the guise of ruffling your hair Caleb places a hand atop your head. Really, he's trying to protect innocent strands of hair from getting glued to the sticky sauce smeared all over your messy face.
It doesn't gross him out. It's one of the highest compliments he can receive as your personal chef.
"You know nobody's gonna take that away from you, right?"
"Rrassrole..."
"Don't swear with a full mouth, honey."
Caleb's side of the bed is cold. The indent his head leaves on the pillow has already puffed back into shape. The only trace of him left behind is the readjusted blanket, tucked neatly over your shoulder and under the chin.
There's still a few hours until sunrise. It's at this unfortunate time, between the waking world and the sleeping souls, that Caleb departs to begin his day.
"Mmph? Mmn?" He has no choice, you know this. And you have no right to blame him for a messy work schedule when yours is also far from pretty.
But he's never left without a goodbye kiss before. He wouldn't forget, would he?
"Relax. I'm still here."
A familiar shadowy figure emerges from the hallway. The outline of his colonel hat illuminates in the low lamp light coming from outside the bedroom.
"G'mornin' kith?" Drool trickles out the corner of your mouth. It smudges on the pillow sheet, leaving a circular stain.
You can't see his smile in the darkness. But you can feel its warmth seeping through the soft blankets.
"Of course I came for a good morning kiss. I'd have a pretty bad day if I didn't get to kiss my pretty girl goodbye."
Caleb kisses the same wet lips leaving marks on the nice pillows. He lingers, eyes comfortably shut, charging his social battery to get through the day ahead. Pulling back, his gloved thumb wipes away any excess spittle.
"Have a good day. Get some rest."
"Mhm." Sleep is taking hold of you again, already eager to sink back into the plush bed. It's easier to not be awake when Caleb leaves for these early hour shifts.
"Wuv you..."
"I love you too. Sweet dreams."
"I can't do this. I can't." Breath so heavy, nose clogging your sinuses with thick snot, your voice is barely recognizable. Even you can't fully grasp the panicked babbling coming from your mouth.
The weather app on your phone has been visited the most today. A few days ago a co-worker mentioned a big storm might pass through the area. And ever since you've become fixated.
The app said the storm would miss you. So why is it here, hovering just over the house, wind whipping and thunder cracking with a vengeance? The power was out, likely to remain that way until the weather cleared. The bathroom window, showing you just how big and bright the lightning was, is the only thing penetrating the darkness.
"Caleb, it's so loud." The thunder rushes through your ears, your head pounding along with its melody. The sound of your voice is lost to the whistling wind squealing past the trees.
"Is that what you need? For it to be quieter?"
Your noise canceling headphones are in the bedroom. Caleb isn't willing to peel you out of his lap and leave you on your own while he gets them.
His palms curl over your ears, cupping the lobes in the crevices of his fingers. It isn't enough to block the chaos outside completely. But maybe just because it's Caleb touching you, doing his best to block out the source of your fear, it helps.
"No storm has managed to pull us apart yet. I won't let it now." He knows you can't hear him. He needed to say it anyways.
Gideon's temple rests against the cool glass window in the passenger seat. Conversation had fizzled out after a few minutes of sitting in the car together. A quiet radio station hums in the background to fill the silence.
Spending time with Caleb gets boring fast when you're not with them.
Ring!
Speak of the devil. The soft pop music cuts halfway through the chorus. Lifting his head off the window Gideon glances at the radio's smart screen.
Your contact name is affectionately titled: Little Tail♥️
"Hey! You're on speaker. I'm here with Gideon." Caleb was all sunshine and rainbows once more.
"HEY GIDEON!"
Gideon felt his soul leave his body. Your voice is cutting out, buzzing so high-pitched it's nearly screaming through the speakers. He can't understand a single word.
"Gideon says hi," Caleb doesn't acknowledge the sounds emerging from hell interrupting his phone call. He keeps the conversation flowing without a hitch.
"Do you need me to get something while I'm out?"
"OH, CAN YOU PICK UP SOME CHIPS PLEASE?"
"Got it. Your package is on the way ma'am. T-minus thirty minutes til drop-off."
"HEH, LOSER. I LOVE YOU. DRIVE SAFE."
"I will. Love you too baby." With a soft 'boop!' the call closes.
Was this some sort of program Caleb implemented into his phone? A type of code that makes your voice so crackled, so unintelligible, that nobody can hear the words except for him?
"How did you understand any of that?" He asks incredulously, rubbing his poor ringing ears.
Pulling to a stop at a red light, Caleb's gaze lingers on the smart screen your contact name was on seconds ago.
“Caleb,” you smile coyly, hands tucked behind your back as you approach. His gaze is fixed on the distance, face carefully blank.
You know full well he’s resisting every urge to break form before being tapped out and sweep you into a hug. You wave a hand in front of his face, giggling when he doesn’t react. It’s a rare opportunity—Caleb, unable to fight back against your teasing, when usually you’re the victim.
You reach out, about to tap his shoulder—then pause at the sharp breath he draws in, quickly withdrawing your hand.
His eyes twitch. His fist clenches. You can almost see the little cartoonish angry icon pop up above his head, and you bend over laughing at his helplessness.
“Serves you right, Caleb!”
On your tiptoes now, you lean closer to his face, blinking slowly and deliberately, teasing him to his limit. His gaze stays locked ahead, but the corner of his mouth betrays him as it twitches into a whisper:
“Pipsqueak… you’re dead.”
“Shiver me timbers!” you gasp dramatically, clutching your chest and stumbling back in mock terror.
Around you, some of the recruits who had already tapped out begin watching, wide-eyed. They’ve never seen their usually composed comrade undone like this, strung along by a girl’s teasing. In their minds, this must be the girl—the one he always talks about.
Satisfied with his torment, your playful grin softens into something gentler.
“Welcome home, Caleb,” you murmur, before wrapping your arms around him.
His reaction is instant. He pulls you into a crushing hug, burying his face in your neck, inhaling the scent of your perfume as though grounding himself. His arms tighten, clutching you like a lifeline. No words pass between you—just the shared warmth of skin and the rhythm of swaying side to side.
Despite all your earlier teasing, your eyes sting with tears. The familiarity of it overwhelms you.
He’s finally back in your arms.
𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆ 𓂃 ₊ ⊹
a/n: this was inspired by that tiktok of this girl waiting to be tapped out but her family kept messing around and she was like imma beat your ass.
CALEB - i just wanna keep calling your name (headcanons)
till you come back home
𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆ 𓂃 ₊ ⊹
“Calebb,” you whine as he squeezes your cheeks, rubbing his warm palms against your face. He does this on the daily, without a single hint of remorse on his face.
“Caleb, pretty please,” you flutter your lashes, flashing him the best puppy eyes you can pull. You want him to do your laundry, because you’re too lazy and because you know he wouldn’t say no to you. You don’t know this, but he only pretends to be annoyed. He loved doing your laundry…for certain reasons.
“Caleb!” You call for him in a crowd of academy graduates. He immediately turns to find you, his poker face breaking out into a smile reserved only for you. His friends, wide-eyed, quickly snap pictures as evidence.
“Caleb,” you sob, arms open and reaching out to him. He hugs you tight, hands stroking your hair to comfort you. When you have a bad day, he’s all you want.
“Calebbb,” you stumble into his strong arms as he catches you, losing your balance as you’ve had too much to drink. Your friends apologize for egging you on. While he thanks them, you casually wrap your arms around his shoulders and climb onto him, legs hooking his waist.
“Caleb,” you bury your face into his warm chest, shielding you from the thunder. Groggily, he lifts the blanket to let you in, and holds you close. You had tiptoed into his room when the storm was too much to bear alone. His warmth, his embrace, his company brought you so much comfort.
“Caleb,” you whisper as you clutch onto his shirt, pulling him close to you. His face is inches from yours, and you can feel his breath on your skin. You glance at his lips, then back up at his eyes. The expression on his face made you flustered. His lips were soft, delicate and careful—as if he was savoring this moment after pining after you for years.
“Caleb,” you cry as he makes love to you, pinning your hands above your head. You lose your mind in pleasure, and he loses his in you moaning out his name.
i ain’t even thinking of letting go, not even sometimes
𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆ 𓂃 ₊ ⊹
when it’s raining and the ground is wet, he’ll carry you on his broad back so you don’t ruin your shoes.
caleb who comes home from work after you and notices while you’re sleeping that your skin is dry, so he puts lotion on you.
caleb always lines up your shoes properly when you carelessly kick them off at the front door.
he keeps your plushies at his place for when you sleepover, and tucks them in when you’re not there.
caleb will put on your shoes for you and do your laces when they become undone, so you don’t have to bend down and trouble yourself.
every time there’s a step or uneven ground, he makes sure to announce it to you so you can’t get hurt.
over the years, he has learned to braid hair. he still does them for you when he thinks it will go with your outfit, or when you request it.
you and caleb are on the train at peak hour. there are no seats and you are both standing by the wall. your fatigue and drowsiness consumes you as you fall asleep and lean your head on the wall. the train rattles and your head bangs against the wall lightly, which wakes you up. keeping your eyes closed, you continue to sleep—when you feel big arms circling around you. one hand is wrapped around your waist to pull you closer, and the other is holding the side of your head to shield you from the wall. at this small gesture, you smile. you love this man.
Caleb is not someone who gets shitfaced. His nights out drinking usually end up with him herding his drunk friends and dragging them home, hand on their backs as they throw up in the toilet. Being a responsible drinker combined with having high tolerance makes him invincible to friends trying to outdrink him.
However, tonight was different.
You were laying in bed of Caleb’s Sky Haven apartment, watching the new show you were excited about. Two episodes in, you heard the door lock jingle, then the front door opened. Through the walls, only mumbles of “Caleb, you’re so damn heavy” and tired heaving were audible.
You got out of bed to check out the situation—only to find Caleb haphazardly thrown over the couch, Gideon standing over him with his hands on his waist. He turned to look back at you as he huffed out an “you’re on your own” before fleeing the apartment.
In the silent darkness, you approached him—standing arms crossed in front of his limp body. Caleb groans—his world spinning, and in pain from being thrown at the couch. Slowly pushing himself up, he slurred, “Huh? When did I get home?”
“You better get on your knees for Gideon tomorrow, Caleb,” you sigh. Only then did he realize you were there.
“Pipsqueak! You’re here!” He broke into a childish grin and tackled you onto the couch. Surprised, you yelped as you find yourself caged in his arms. He’s above you, metal necklace dangling above your face, “I missed you soooo much you have no idea.”
He leaned down and peppered kisses all over your face—cheeks, nose, forehead, chin. You giggle, “Caleb! You smell, and it tickles.” He didn’t stop and continued to shower you in kisses. He kissed the corner of your lips, pushed himself up to look at your blushing face, then leaned back in to kiss your lips.
You have never doubted his love for you, no matter what kind. He had always been expressive, but that was amplified a hundred times by alcohol. You guessed he’s in this state because it’s the first time he’d gone out for drinks with his friends after they found out he was still alive.
“Pipsqueak—baby, I love you soooo much, did you know?” He buried his face in your chest, collapsing onto you (“oof” -you) and started to ramble, “I’ve loved you forever, even before I knew what love was. You were, and are, the only light of my life. I loveeeee you even when you thought of me as a brother.”
You smiled, deciding to cherish this moment of Caleb being unguarded and honest. You ran your fingers through his hair, earning a sigh from him.
“You know? I can’t even imagine my life without you. What would I do if one day you decide to date some fucker like Zayne and leave me? How do I live? Whenever I’m away, I only think about coming home to you. Baby, I’d do anything for you—like if you really wanted me to I’d probably shave my head for you, and I love my hair. I just love you that much,” he paused. “Does pipsqueak love me too?”
“Pipsqueak loves you too Caleb,” you chuckled. “I will never ever leave you, I promise. You can’t leave me too.”
“That’s a no brainer darling,” he mumbled. Silence filled the room, then you heard soft breathing. “Caleb? Are you sleeping?”
No response.
“Caleb, please free me and go take a shower.”
No response.
You tried to push him up for a while, so you could help him clean up and get both of you in bed—but he would not budge. Eventually, you gave up because he was too heavy and your arms got tired.
“Goodnight my love,” you kissed the top of his head and closed your eyes.
𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆ 𓂃 ₊ ⊹
a/n: i love zayne i just think caleb is a bit jealous of him lol. also i didnt proof read but pls enjoy
