freefalling (m)
✈︎ summary: after Caleb died, it felt like permafrost had settled over your heart. not even the coldest winds could faze you. one reassignment later, you’re right at home where you belong— hunting Wanderers in the Arctic Circle. but when you find yourself stranded amidst a snowstorm, you come face to face with a snow leopard whose haunting violet eyes remind you of the man you’re trying so desperately to forget.
only to realise he’s the only one who can save you from freefalling.
✈︎ TAGS :snow leopard! hybrid Caleb x reader, use of gege/meimei, oral (f receiving), caleb cums once he’s inside, creampie, cum eating, you can have a little breeding kink as a treat, caleb uses his tail to hold you open
✈︎ notes: 9K+ | been sitting on this one a while. officially my first full length caleb fic, and i just had to write him as a snow leopard hybrid. took liberties with how hybrids work here, but let’s not pretend we aren’t here for something else…
✈︎
The cold winter chill sinks deep into your bones, the kind of cold that can’t be warded off with a padded jacket or central heating. It’s the wind that’s the killer, everyone tells you, but you just smile and wave them away. Because no amount of sheer cold could ever match the frost that settled over your heart ever since you received the message from Linkon CityHall.
We regret to inform you…
… Josephine and Caleb have been officially recorded as deceased due to an accident…
… collect the death certificates…
So you begged for a transfer to a position in the Arctic Circle, figuring that a place that people call “the hidden realm of ice and snow” would be a fitting home for you now. Your colleagues welcomed you with curiosity, calling you the newcomer, but you soon became known as the Ice Hunter. No amount of snowstorms or blizzards seem to faze you, and where your colleagues would complain about the cold, you only faced it with sheer tenacity and an even icier resolve.
“Hello? Earth to Miss Ice Hunter?”
You snap out of your daze at your coworker, Tara’s voice. “Oh… what? Sorry, I was just caught up in yesterday’s mission report.”
Tara leans over to peek at your computer screen. “Still working on it? I thought you said you were done ages ago.”
You hum and save the changes to the report, even though it’s been sitting there untouched since this morning. “Yeah, just one last look. I’m almost done.”
Tara rolls her chair back and stands with a stretch. “Good. We’re heading out for hotpot soon, since today’s especially cold. You coming?”
You’re about to reject her offer in favour of going home and heating up some leftovers, but then you feel the curious gazes of your other coworkers around you. There’s nothing more you’d like to do than to spend a quiet evening at home, but if you don’t even make an effort to get to know them, very soon they’ll stop asking you out altogether.
So you smile reluctantly and shut off your computer screen. “Sure. When do we leave?”
Tara actually stops short for a moment, the shock evident on her face before she smooths it over, clearly not expecting you to accept. Then she turns to grab her padded coat. “Guys, stop working, it’s too cold for our brains to function. Last one at the hotpot restaurant pays for dinner!”
You let yourself be tugged away from your desk, grabbing your coat on the way as Tara ushers you out the door.
”Is that your coat?” Tara frowns. “Seriously, I don’t know how you’re still surviving in this weather. It’s like you’re made of ice or something.”
You take a step back and look at Tara’s thick padded coat vs yours. It is thinner, but you don’t even feel the bite of the wind as you step outside, mumbling something about being used to it.
The hotpot restaurant is warm and inviting, and soon you’re all gathered around the table. There’s the usual bickering over what to order, menus are passed around and orders are taken, and once the food arrives, everyone tucks into the hot meal.
The lively atmosphere around you is nice, you have to admit, but the curious stares that you sometimes have to put up with are tiring. You don’t talk about your personal life much, can’t— it just feels too raw— so you stick to safe topics. Like what kind of new plushies are at the arcade. How tough the Wanderers you faced that day was. Mundane, safe, normal things.
It’s only when a plate of braised chicken wings arrive on the table that your breath gets caught in your chest. The dish gets placed in the centre of the table, and the sight of the juicy wings glazed in rich gravy, wafting a mouth watering smell, makes your chest ache.
”____, you have to try these! It’s this restaurant’s speciality,” Tara exclaims as she maneuvers a piece onto her chopsticks and to your plate. “I’ve never tasted wings so juicy and delicious!”
Your other coworker, Simone, backs her up with a nod, spearing two pieces for herself, and that sets off another round of bickering around the table. Forcing a smile, you thank Tara and grasp the chicken wing between your chopsticks, raising it to your mouth for a bite.
It tastes bland.
Nothing like his.
Your coworkers are all looking at you expectantly, so you rearrange your features into a somewhat pleasant expression.
“It’s great!” At your approval, the chatter resumes and Simone even gives up her extra wing for you.
But just the thought of taking another bite makes your stomach churn and bile rise in your throat. So you throw down your chopsticks hastily and make some excuses, pushing your chair back and running for the washroom.
You’d just finished wiping your mouth as Tara knocks on your stall door. “Are you okay?”
”’M fine,” you mumble, flushing the toilet and standing shakily. You take a moment to compose yourself before unlocking the door, bracing yourself for her questions.
But to her credit, Tara doesn’t say anything, only hands you some tissue and pats your back. As you rinse your mouth and pat your face dry, somehow her silence feels even worse than her questions.
”I know we’re just co-workers, but I’m here for you, you know,” Tara says softly. “We all are. Be it for a distraction, or if you wanna talk. You don’t have to carry… whatever it is alone.”
You take a deep breath, looking in the mirror and really seeing yourself for the first time in a while. Limp hair hangs down your back, red rimmed eyes and sallow skin. It’s been like this ever since he left.
Ever since Caleb died.
“I lost someone before coming here,” you say finally. “Someone very important to me. He was the most important person in my life. And that dish… was something he used to make for me everyday.”
Tara remains silent as she watches you wash your hands slowly, smooth your hair back and dispose of the used tissue. You don’t expect her to say anything, but somehow just hearing the words out loud is like a double edged sword. You’re glad it’s out, but hearing it also makes it feel more real.
You turn to her with a sad smile. “I think I’ll go home and rest. Tell the others for me, will you?”
Tara nods and pats your arm. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it. You need me to send you home?”
You just shake your head, walking out of the washroom and telling her to go back to dinner.
The ride home is even colder than usual, but only because of the lingering taste of braised wings in your mouth.
✈︎
Jenna sighs as she looks through the assignment files on her desk. “I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t have a choice… but we really need to gather more info on this new species of Wanderer in the far north. It’s threatening the nearby villages.”
”I’ll take it,” you say without hesitation.
Jenna frowns as she looks up at you. “Not so fast. You know we always assign you in pairs for these missions. There’s no one else free right now because of the avalanche down in the south. This mission will take a week, at least.”
Your eyes are firm as you glance over the assignment file. “These people are in danger. We need to get some help out there sooner rather than later. Send me ahead first. When the others free up, then you can send someone after me. But at least let me start the mission first.”
Jenna only sighs. “I don’t like this.”
”But you don’t have a choice.” You say while maintaining eye contact.
“Fine,” Jenna relents. “But you’re to check in every day. If you don’t, I’m personally going out there to find you.”
Your bags are packed, and you prepare yourself for the long journey up north. The weather conditions right now are still bearable, but the forecast says that snowstorms are inherent over the next week. The villagers of the north welcome you with open arms, settling you into a humble but comfortable room at the inn for the duration of your mission.
The next morning, you set out bright and early, bag heavy on your shoulders, filled with emergency supplies as you follow your Hunter’s Watch to the last reported sighting of the new Wanderer species.
At first, it’s nothing you can’t handle, you barely break a sweat taking down the first few, but then the attacks start to get more vicious. It would be easier if you had a partner with you, but after reducing one of the more imposing Wanderers to dust, you have to sit and take a break.
The snowy white landscape is as beautiful as it is bitterly cold. White blankets nearly everything in sight, from the rolling hills to the bare branches of trees that are still standing, just waiting for the harsh winter to end. You’re about half a day’s hike away from the village now, and you have to turn back soon to make it back before dark.
Cleaning your snow goggles off before taking a deep breath, you push yourself to your feet to start the hike back. But then, a gust of wind knocks you over, and you struggle to regain your footing. The blasts of snow are relentless, and you gasp, pulling up your Hunter’s Watch to check the weather.
This isn’t right, today was supposed to be relatively clear. Where did this sudden snow storm come from?
Panic rising in your throat now, you struggle to get a grip on your emotions and navigate your surroundings. But your fall has disoriented you, and with everything covered in a blanket of snow, finding your way back to the village is almost impossible.
You force yourself to your feet amidst the ever growing winds that sometimes knock you to your knees, leaving you crawling just to gain a few inches forward. Just when you think you’re gaining some significant ground, your foot slips, and this time there’s nothing but air beneath.
And you go tumbling down, racing against gravity.
Everything goes black.
✈︎
Your head hurts.
That’s the first thing that comes to mind when you open your eyes, aside from the fact that everything is pitch black.
You come to with a gasp, fingers scrabbling on the icy ground next to you. Your head whips around, taking in your surroundings. Because it’s dark, your eyes take a while to adjust before you realise that you’re in some sort of cave.
But how did you get here? The last thing you remember is slipping off the edge of a cliff, and then—
The cave is small, but the only exit that leads to the outside is obscured by a long winding path. You sit up gingerly, feeling your body for any injuries, but the only thing you’re missing is your bag. It must have slipped off when you fell.
Then you spot some tracks at the path leading to the exit of the cave, and it makes you hold your breath.
They’re big, larger than your fully extended palm. Rifling through your knowledge of wildlife in this area, you deduce that it must belong to some kind of cat, judging from the way its claws can retract, and the singular trail that leads in and out.
You push yourself to your feet with a new sense of urgency. If you somehow ended up in a wild animal’s den, it would be wise if you aren’t here when it returns.
Cautiously using the cave’s wall as a guide, you find your way to the exit of the cave, bracing yourself again for the assault of the cold wind, but then you hear it.
A low growl from your left.
Your heart freezes in your chest, blood pounding in your ears like the terrified prey animal that you are. This is it. You’re about to be the animal’s dinner, and the last sight you ever see will be of this snowy landscape that will also be your grave—
The light crunch of snow alerts you that the animal is now moving, and you grit your teeth, hand going to your gun holstered at your belt. You won’t give up this easily.
As you grab your gun and turn to aim, what you see gives you pause.
A beautiful, majestic snow leopard, long fluffy tail curled and twitching, watches you with its deep violet eyes.
The pure beauty of the creature makes you hesitate, your gun lowering just a tad. In the back of your mind, you know that this moment of hesitation could very well cause you your life. But it seems like such a crime to shoot an endangered animal like this.
The snow leopard doesn’t move a muscle. As if it’s studying you just as intently.
When neither of you move a muscle, it takes a step forward with its head lowered.
You take a step back accordingly, and the two of you start this little dance. It doesn’t advance forward, not until it’s blocking your path out of the cave.
“Let me go,” you say calmly, raising your gun again. As if the creature could understand you.
A low growl emanates from its throat as it steps forward. Something in its deep violet eyes roots you to the spot. You remember belatedly that direct eye contact can be considered a challenge, but it’s too late as the leopard leaps forward, lunging toward you.
You wait to be torn to pieces, but you only feel the soft fur against your cheek as the leopard’s teeth sink into your collar, dragging you back into the depths of the cave. Your gun slips from your grasp, left forgotten at the mouth of the cave.
The leopard drags you back to where you first woke up, only then does it let you go. You scramble back in fear, putting as much distance as you can between you even in the limited space of the cave.
But the leopard, instead of baring its teeth and sinking them into your throat, sniffs deeply at your neck, soft nose picking up your scent. Then, it settles down, resting its large head on your chest. With its weight on top of you, you’re forced to stay put and feel the warmth of its soft fur.
Not daring to say a word, you remain under it, your panicked heartbeat refusing to slow while you have such a dangerous predator curling up on your lap like a kitty. The leopard’s low purrs fill the cave, and it just looks at you with those captivating violet eyes.
Eyes that remind you of—
You breathe, shaking your head. “I must be going crazy.”
The leopard does nothing to disparage your claims. Instead, it flicks its long fluffy tail, curling it around you as if claiming you. For a moment, it seems satisfied with you in this position, before the dampness of your clothes draws its attention again.
Then it brings its large paws to swipe at your chest, claws retracted, and your panic starts all over again.
”Wh- stop! If you want to eat me, just do it already! Stop using your dinner as a pillow first!”
The leopard chuffs, seemingly amused at your reaction and despite the life or death situation you find yourself in, you cross your arms in annoyance.
”I’m much tastier as a meal,” you say, pushing its large paws away. “Just do me the favour and kill me already.”
But the leopard only chuffs again, and with one swipe of its large paw, pushes your coat off your shoulders and tugs the neck of your shirt down.
”Ugh, what are you doing?” Now that it’s clear the leopard for some reason isn’t trying to eat you, your annoyance wins out over your fear. “You want your meal frozen in ice, is that it?”
The leopard hooks one claw gently into the neck of your shirt, tearing it slightly. But its large, hulking form along with the structure of the cave blocks most of the windchill from reaching you. You watch the leopard’s violet gaze settle on your chest, and on one thing.
The metal dog tags that once belonged to him, now around your neck and following you to the ends of the earth.
You see an almost human expression flit by in its violet gaze, before it noses insistently at your chest. Its soft, pink nose brushes against the metal dog tags, causing a soft jingling sound. When you don’t move, it sighs impatiently and sticks out its tongue to lap at your bare chest.
The rough, wet and warm feeling of its tongue jerks you to your senses, and you try to push it away. But there’s no use fighting an animal several times stronger than you. It insistently licks at the dog tags until you relent, drawing it from around your neck.
Only then does it stop, still looking at you with its violet eyes. At the side of the dog tags hanging from its chain around your fingers, your throat goes dry.
This is no normal snow leopard. A wild one would have eaten you ages ago. But the way it’s looking at you, more human than animal, the possessive way it dragged you back into the cave as if it were protecting its young, leads you to think—
“Caleb?” Your voice comes out thin, a wavering sound barely audible in the dark cave.
And you see the once familiar eyes light up, then a strong shove of its head into your arms.
“Caleb? Is it really you?” You ask again, but the leopard only answers by burying its head deeper into your neck. Scenting you as if it can’t get enough. “H-how can it be?”
You’d known about animal hybrids, of course, but Caleb never presented as one… so how could this possibly be him? And how’d he end up here after your house got blown up to shreds— deep in the arctic wilderness now as a snow leopard hybrid?
Your mind is spinning with too many questions. As if sensing your inner turmoil, Caleb purrs low in his throat now, settling down and curling around you so that your head rests on his soft belly. His long tail, almost the length of his body, coming up to curl around you protectively, offering you warmth and comfort.
Sleep, his purr seems to say.
And like all the times he coaxed you to sleep when you were sick or injured as a child, your eyes close and you drift off to sleep.
✈︎
When you wake this time, you’re no longer cold but surrounded by fluffy warmth.
A pair of violet eyes watches you, and when you stir, a rumble sounds from deep within Caleb’s chest.
You reach out to run your fingers through his thick, soft coat, feeling the warmth and plushness of it. All while the questions from earlier start to surface in your mind again. Activating your Hunter’s Watch, you try to call up any information you can about hybrids.
Caleb only nudges at your arm as if trying to angle it into a better position so he can see as well.
Hybrids, OTTO reads out. Part human, part animal, many hybrids are often able to retain their original Evol possessed while human, if any. Not much is known about their origins or behaviour at this time, aside from the initial study published by EVER.
You try to click the link to access the study, but your watch beeps once, and then the hologram goes dark.
Caleb nudges your wrist once, but no matter how many times you press the restart button, your watch just won’t start up again.
“Great, it’s dead,” you groan, letting your wrist fall back to your side. “I should have tried to call for help when it was working. Now, I’ll probably have to go out and find help.”
A low growl from Caleb sounds, and you turn to frown at him.
“Even as a snow leopard, some things never change, huh? You’re still my bossy gege trying to protect me,” you poke his nose with a wry grin. “If you could speak, you’d probably be saying something about me being an idiot meimei.”
A chuff from him tells you that you’re right.
But then a more sombre mood comes over you as you run your eyes along his long, lithe body. “Can you turn back, Caleb? Or are you… stuck like this forever?”
A frustrated growl comes from his throat as he turns his head away, tail flicking in irritation.
”Now I’m guessing you’re saying if you could, you would’ve already?” You sigh. “You know, maybe it’s a good thing you’re stuck like this. Now you can’t use your Evol on me whenever you lose to me in a fight.”
An annoyed growl emits from his throat as Caleb flicks his tail, using it to smack you right in the face. You grab it before he can escape, fully intending on biting it, but as your fingers close around his thick tail, you realise he probably won’t even feel it. And you don’t want to end up with a mouthful of fur.
Like an annoyed cat he is, he bats at you with those huge paws, but there’s no real force behind it.
“Bet you wish you had your Evol right about now, huh?” You tease him, finally letting go of his tail.
Caleb fixes you with a mock-wounded glare, licking his own tail for a moment before he pauses, then tilts his head. Then one of his giant paws comes up to bat at your hand again.
”Hm? What?” You ask, “What do you want?”
If Caleb could sigh in frustration, he would have, but instead he settles for low, feline hiss. Then he flicks his tail back into your grasp before tugging it away. When you still don’t get the message, he noses at your dead Hunter’s Watch, before sniffing at your belt where your gun used to be.
”I’m a… I’m a Hunter now.” You say. “I have an Evol too but…it’s useless on its own. It’s been a while since you were here, but…”
You hate the way your voice trembles. Remembering the darkness that threatened to swallow you after he died. The way you forced yourself to go through with everything you’d promised him. The bittersweetness of achieving it without him by your side.
Caleb nudges against your chest, bringing you back to the present as your fingers sink into his silky fur.
“It’s been a while, but my Evol presented. It’s called… Resonance,” you smile sadly. “It doesn’t work on its own. It can only enhance and amplify someone else’s.”
Caleb lets out an excited chuff as he starts sniffing you all over, starting from your neck and then your chest. His warm breaths on your skin tickle, and you laugh while pushing him away. Relenting, Caleb places one of his heavy paws on your hand.
Then his violet eyes land back on the metal chain around your neck. You follow his gaze, trying to guess what he wants.
”You want me to… what? Use my Evol?” You shake your head. “Caleb, I told you, I can’t. Not without another Evol. Unless you’re telling me you still have yours…”
He stays silent, and your fingers reach to touch the soft ears on his head. He doesn’t move away.
”Can I bring you back like this?” You whisper. “Back to the Caleb I know?”
He remains silent, only bringing a paw up to your hand and moving it down to his chest. You stroke the soft, silky fur there, trying to calm your emotions.
”I’ll try,” you whisper. Eyes closed, you focus on channeling that feeling in your chest. The one that got buried from the very day he died. Reaching for it now, you will your Evol to focus into a single point, channeling it into your fingertips in the hopes that it reaches the Caleb who’s in front of you, only in a different form.
To bring back the Caleb you know and love.
For a moment, the wind roars in your ears, your chest stirs with hope, and your fingers tingle with heat. But when you open your eyes, Caleb sits in front of you, and nothing has changed.
Tears fill your eyes, and Caleb snuffles against your cheek with his tongue, trying to lick them away. You can feel the low purr in his chest, and his words couldn’t be clearer than if he’d spoken them.
Get some sleep, pipsqueak. We’ll deal with tomorrow’s problems, tomorrow.
✈︎
The sound of your stomach growling seems to echo in the cave, and Caleb chuffs. You’ve now gotten used to the way he communicates in this form.
Chuffing, growling, purring, sniffing, licking. He’s still your Caleb alright, but just… different.
“Don’t think you can make me braised wings in that state,” you mumble into his fur, reluctant to leave the warmth.
Caleb lets you snuggle into his fur for a moment longer before he pulls away, tail flicking as he rises. He prowls to the exit of the cave before shooting you a warning look with his violet eyes.
Don’t move. And don’t you dare leave this cave.
You roll your eyes, wrapping the remnants of your torn coat around yourself. “As if I can go anywhere without freezing to death since you ripped my coat.”
Caleb seems satisfied with this, letting out a low purr and flick of his tail before he stalks away, out of the cave.
You attempt to revive your Hunter’s Watch a few more times, but it’s well and truly dead now, be it from the sheer cold or empty batteries. If only you didn’t lose your bag. You have plenty of emergency supplies in there, enough to tide over a few days, and even a spare battery for your Watch.
It’s not long before Caleb returns, and what he brings into the cave makes you shriek. It’s a bloodied snowy owl.
”Caleb! What the hell!” You gasp, scrambling away as he tosses it at your feet. “You can’t be serious!”
Caleb only flicks his tail in displeasure at your lack of gratitude, but he looks mildly amused. Like all the times you would turn your nose up at a new recipe he created, only to devour it and ask for seconds later. Only this time, it’s nowhere near close.
He turns to the owl, securing it between his teeth as he methodically starts stripping it of its feathers.
”Caleb, when I said braised wings, this is not what I meant,” you glare at him, pelting him with a small stone when he ignores you. “I can’t eat that!”
Caleb sighs, a long suffering one as he pauses, turning to stalk further away towards the exit of the cave. You hear him tearing apart the owl, presumably devouring it out of your sight. When he returns, the only sign of it are the slight blood stains near his jaw.
”Caleb, when you found me, where was I? Did you find anything else with me?” When Caleb only looks at you in confusion, you sigh. “I had a bag with me before I fell off that cliff. It must have gotten lost. There’s food and emergency batteries in it. If you can find it…”
Caleb stares at you for a moment, before you see recognition start to dawn in his eyes. He approaches you to sniff your belt and watch a few times, before backing away. Then he shoots you the same look of asking you to stay put before he leaves again.
When he returns this time, there is a slight rustling noise at the entrance of the cave, and you find him dragging your bag in with his teeth firmly around one of the straps.
”Caleb!” You exclaim, jumping to your feet and hugging his soft fur. “You found it!”
You bury your face into his fur, slightly wet from the snow outside but still warm. He licks your fingers once before nudging the bag curiously.
You release him and sit back, reaching to open your bag and hoping that nothing of significance has been lost. You find the emergency rations of energy bars inside, along with the bottles of water, even though they’re well and truly frozen now. Caleb nudges your hand, jaws gently taking the bottle from you and putting it on the ground before settling over it.
”Gege’s still my personal heater, huh?” Tearing into the energy bar, you moan at how good it tastes. Usually, you’ll avoid eating these at any cost, but right now they taste better than the best five star buffet.
Caleb only watches you eat, but you hear the purr in his chest. The same way he used to watch you eat the meals that he cooked.
Once you’re done with a few energy bars, you reach for your spare battery and swap it out. Your Watch beeps once, but the monitor indicates that the temperature is too low for it to function, and the display dies.
A sigh in frustration, when a low grumble from Caleb catches your attention. His paw curls up beneath his body, bumping against the water bottle he’s helping you to defrost. So you approach him, snuggling against his side and sliding the watch next to it.
”You better not crush it, else we’re stuck here forever,” you warn him, even as you sink into his soft fur. With hunger sated and the addictive warmth next to you, your eyelids start to droop again.
Caleb only purrs in response, and you don’t even need to imagine his response.
If I could keep you here with me forever, I would.
✈︎
You’re surrounded by warmth. Your hands reach out for more of it, wanting to wrap yourself in it forever. Something tightens around your waist, and for a moment, you’re transported back to those endless summers back at home.
Back when Caleb would come home to visit for a few days. When you’d tiptoe into his room during thunderstorms, and snuggle into his bed. When fleeting, stolen kisses behind Gran’s back only heightened the desire that both of you refused to acknowledge. When neither of you wanted to admit that these were things brothers and sisters shouldn’t be doing with each other.
“Caleb…” your voice is low, and you reach for him again. In the dark months that passed, you’ve had plenty of these dreams. When he’d appear in front of you, looking just like the real thing, only to vanish in smoke the moment your fingers close around the visage of him.
So this time, you don’t reach. You let him stay just that way a little longer.
”Five more minutes again, pipsqueak?” His voice sounds near. Nearer than it has been ever since…
Your eyes fly open. And there he is. Right in front of you, in your arms.
Caleb is looking down at you with an expression so tender that it takes your breath away. One of his hands smoothes your hair away from your forehead. His bare chest is all you can see until you tilt your head back. The other arm is wrapped around your waist.
You’re tempted to fall back asleep again before this dream Caleb vanishes right in front of your eyes, but his tightening grip around your waist pulls you back down to reality. Along with something else, hard against your lower stomach.
”Wh- Caleb? You— I…” your voice trails off as your hands come up to cradle either side of his face. His warm, violet eyes don’t waver as he returns your gaze. “But how?”
”Dunno, your Evol must have worked,” Caleb grins with that easygoing smile that you’ve missed for so long. “Why? Cat got your tongue?”
You smack his chest hard, half for his terrible joke, and the other just to remind yourself that he’s really here. When your palm meets the solid wall of warmth beneath you, your heart finally slows.
He’s real. And he’s here.
But then you notice something else different about him. The soft leopard ears still sit on his head, and you reach up to run your fingers against the silk you find there. From the corner of your eye, you can see his long tail flick once, twice. Caleb closes his eyes with a sigh, and your attention is brought back to the hardness you feel against you.
And the fact that he is very naked.
You push him away, feeling your cheeks heat up instantly as you clear your throat.
Caleb’s eyes open and there’s a look of protest on his face, before he realises what you’re blushing about. He lets you push him away, watching you turn your back to him as he imagines the pout on your face.
“Acting shy all of a sudden, pips?” You can hear his teasing voice as he laughs behind you. “It’s nothin’ you haven’t seen before…”
You shut him up by tossing what’s remaining of your coat behind your back, hoping you at least hit him in the face. But there’s no chance of that, since the Caleb you know and love always had reflexes faster than the wind.
When you turn around, he is decent again- or as decent as one can possibly be anyway, given the conditions. You spy the watch sitting beside him and grab it, pressing the on button while praying under your breath.
“Welcome, Hunter ____.” OTTO’s voice sounds, and you sag against the cave wall in relief. ”It’s working!”
Caleb wraps a hand around your wrist to tilt the watch towards him. From this vantage point, you start to check your location, sending a message off to Jenna with your coordinates before your watch beeps, indicating low battery again.
”Damn, it must be the cold,” you swear under your breath as the hologram goes dead again. “Well, now that I know where we are, it’ll be easier to know which direction to go for help.”
All while you’re navigating on your Watch, Caleb is watching you with a strange expression. You catch the look on his face, raising a brow at him. “What?”
”Nothing!” Caleb clears his throat. “I just… seeing you become this capable and smart… feels like a lot of time has passed, huh? It’s almost like…”
And there’s nothing you can say to refute this, because he’s right. A lot of time has passed, you’ve now become a capable Hunter, and he’s…
Suddenly, it’s hard to speak past the lump in your throat. Just by looking at him, you already know the words he’s not saying.
It’s almost like you don’t need me anymore.
“Dummy Caleb, you broke my Watch,” you say just to change the topic, tossing it into your bag and rummaging through just so you don’t have to withstand the sadness of his indigo eyes. A sneeze interrupts your next words.
”Idiot meimei caught a cold again, huh?” Caleb grins, ruffling your hair and pulling you in close. “C’mon. Let gege warm you up.”
You don’t protest, even if this means you’re pulled right into his bare chest again. He was always warmer than you, and the years apart haven’t changed that. Up close now, you can’t help but trace his features with a cold fingertip, as if trying to commit everything to memory once again.
Like you could ever forget.
”What’re you doing?” Caleb murmurs, his voice low now.
”Checking to see if you’re the same Caleb I know,” you whisper, your exploration taking you from his browbone, down to his cheek, over his nose, and finally to his lips.
”Is there another me in this world?” Caleb finally stops you, pressing your palm to his cheek.
”I spent a long time wishing there was,” your voice cracks, but it’s not from the cold. “I missed you so much…”
Caleb inhales sharply, as if your words are like a knife to his chest. “I’m sorry, meimei. For leaving you all alone. For not being there to see you grow up. After the explosion… I tried so hard to come back to you. But I couldn’t, not in that state. I had to wait till things were… stable before I could even start looking for you.”
You turn over each word he says, savouring the sound of his voice, the sadness that tints each word. “Was it EVER who did this to you?”
Caleb stiffens in your arms, and even if he denies it, you recognise the signs of him trying to protect you.
“Each time I thought about you, I wondered: is she still looking for me? Or did she forget about me? Now that she’s surrounded by other people?” Caleb says these words with his face buried in the crook of your neck, his voice sending shivers down your spine.
”I never stopped looking for you,” you whisper fiercely into his chest, as if your words could brand a mark into his skin. “Not a single day passed where I stopped thinking about you.”
Caleb pauses for a moment, lets the silence settle. “And even if I’m slightly different from the Caleb that you know and love? Even if… he’s the worst version of all the Calebs from then to now?”
“There’s only one Caleb in this world,” you say with finality, running a hand down his back and letting your fingers trace the muscles in his back and shoulders.
At your words, he draws back slightly to meet your gaze, his violet eyes shimmering. Then he leans in close, eyes dropping to your lips before pausing, hesitation flitting over his features. As if unsure if time had changed what was left unsaid between the two of you.
You answer him without words, closing the gap and letting your lips meet his.
They’re the same as you remember- slightly dry, but warm, and undoubtedly Caleb. There’s a pause as the both of you share the same breath, before he kisses you back with an intensity that makes your stomach flip.
He rolls you so that you’re under him, arms coming to rest on either side of your head as he devours you, the small pants and whines coming from him making you more and more greedy. He kisses down your neck, scenting you deeply in a way that he’s never done before, and your fingers seek out the velvety softness of his new leopard ears, feeling how sensitive they are.
His warm fingers trail down your sides, pushing aside your thermal layers to feel your bare skin, until he gazes upon your chest once more. Caleb doesn’t even hesitate before he sucks a nipple into his mouth, tongue swirling and the warm wetness making you cry out his name.
“Gege, please,” you pant, hands coming up to tangle in his hair, then coast over his biceps and back, feeling the harsh lines of muscle on his body.
Caleb kisses down your soft belly, skipping past where you need him most to press kisses to your inner thighs. He rids you of your thermal leggings in a single motion, then presses his nose deep to the seam of your panties. There’s something feral in his gaze that wasn’t there before, but you’re not the least bit scared. He kisses and licks your inner thighs before biting down and sucking, marking you with his teeth. One hand comes up to push your thigh back, opening you up for him. One finger hooks the center of your panties aside.
You can feel the heat of his gaze now on your dripping centre, and your thighs twitch closed involuntarily. There’s an answering growl of displeasure from Caleb, and his long fluffy tail comes to wrap around one of your thighs, while the other is held down by one of his hands.
“Meimei’s already wet for me, hmm?” Caleb admires the way your slick drips down your inner thigh, flicking a tongue out to catch a drop of it before it can go to waste. He tugs your panties down your thighs, leaving it around one leg like all he used to back when he’d eat you out hastily while Gran left for the convenience store downstairs. “It’s been so long since I tasted you, meimei. Be a good girl and let gege have his meal.”
He spreads you even further by wedging his broad shoulders between your legs, tail still wrapped around your upper thigh as he gives you a broad lick with his tongue, the action seeming more feline-like than you remember. Caleb attacks your clit with a precise meticulousness, first circling it, then rewarding you with broad, flat strokes once you start to buck your hips into his face.
His fingers are digging into the flesh of your thigh, leaving marks on your skin. When you whine his name again, he chuckles.
”Greedy little meimei. Looks like this pussy missed me?” He toys with your clit with the tip of his tongue, watching your entrance clench around nothing and slick dribble out. Pinching your clit just to watch how you whimper and feel your fingers tighten in his hair.
Finally deciding to spare you from another moment of waiting, he slides one finger into your heat, up to the first knuckle, groaning at how tight you are. “Missed my meimei’s tight little pussy.”
”Caleb,” you sob his name, watching the way he stretches you out with his finger, rewarding you with little sucks of your clit. “More, please…”
He chuckles against your thigh, obliging by adding another finger. “Gotta stretch you out well before you take me, my sweet little meimei.”
Caleb grinds his palm into your clit expertly, knowing every inch of your body and how to wring out every drop of pleasure from you, courtesy of hours spent alone at home when Gran was out. Heat coils in your lower belly, and you feel yourself clench hard around his fingers as you come undone around him.
”Fuck, my little meimei’s pussy squeezes me so well,” Caleb soothes you with kisses to your thigh as you come down from your high. “Such a good girl for me.”
Your fingers tremble as you brush his hair out of his eyes, and he leans his cheek against your thigh, looking up at you with what can only be described as devotion deep enough to span the entire midsummer night’s sky.
“Caleb,” you reach for him. “Come here.”
He presses one last kiss to your thigh before crawling back up your body, tail releasing your thigh. You watch his length, leaking and dripping against your belly. It looks just the same as you remembered, but your curiosity makes you reach for it with one hand. But Caleb stops you by grabbing your wrist.
”Wait, stop,” he says.
Startled, you glance up to meet his eyes. “Wh- what is it? Why? Did you… change here too?”
Caleb releases a breathy laugh. “Idiot meimei. Do I look like I changed? No, it’s just…”
You watch a slight blush heat up his cheeks and spread to his ears.
“It’s been a while, I might come once you touch me,” Caleb says, gaze sliding away guiltily.
You giggle, cupping his face in your hands as you squeeze his cheeks and force him to meet your gaze. “Awww. Gege’s all worked up just eating his meimei’s pussy?”
A flicker of defiance in his eyes as one of his fingers reach down to pinch your clit harshly, reminding you how he always managed to tame your brattiness in bed.
“That’s right,” Caleb smirks with a harsh suck to your neck and collarbone. “And the only place I want to come is inside you.”
Then he guides himself to your entrance and teases you by sliding back and forth across your drenched folds. Like the game you always used to play back when you started exploring each other’s bodies.
Just the tip, he’d swear. A promise he’d never keep.
”Caleb,” you whine, bucking your hips and seeking more friction.
He chuckles against your neck. “You know that’s not my name.”
”Gege,” you relent, lips dragging across his shoulder and biting down, marking him just as he marked you. “Please. Don’t tease me anymore.”
Considering this battle as won, Caleb smirks in victory as he lets himself slide into you, feeling your walls clench around him. He has to pause halfway in, his abs trembling with the effort of staving off the urge to slam into you.
You feel the tables turn almost immediately as he stills inside you, not even all the way in yet. Reaching down to feel where you’re joined, you grin when you realise more than half of him is still not in.
“Gonna cum?” You whisper against his ear, legs coming up to wrap around him, feeling the fluffy brush of his tail as he groans. His tail reciprocates by wrapping around your body, as if cradling you close. “It’s okay, gege. Just let go for me. Come inside your meimei.”
”Fuck,” Caleb swears, allowing his hips to sink in deeper, until he’s buried balls deep. The feeling of your walls hugging him, the warmth and wetness that he missed for so long has him at the end of his rope.
Feeling him trying so hard to hold back, you squeeze your walls around him, trying to send him over the edge. Caleb groans as his cock twitches, releasing hot ropes of cum deep inside you. He pulls out just to slam back into you, trying to prolong his long awaited release.
”Shit, ‘m sorry,” Caleb whines into your neck, hips still chasing the last vestiges of pleasure. “Sorry, meimei. Been so long, just couldn’t hold back anymore.”
You stroke his back gently as he comes down from his high. “‘S’okay. You know I like it when gege fills me up.”
Caleb exhales heavily, and you feel his length twitch inside you before he pulls out, hands spreading your thighs wide as he sinks down between them once more. Watching the mess he made start to leak out of you, using his tongue to stop it from dripping out.
“Oh, meimei, I’m nowhere near done with you,” his voice comes out in a low growl as he runs a finger through your creamy center, pushing his warm release back inside before he laps at you with his tongue. Cleaning you up and tasting your combined releases.
He brings your slick and his cum up to your clit, circling it messily and making your back arch. Your walls clench around nothing, making more of him seep out of your cunt.
”Be a good meimei and keep me inside,” Caleb spanks your inner thigh once before pushing two fingers deep inside, curling them to reach that one spot inside you. “That’s it, baby, can you come around my fingers just like this? Suck all of gege’s cum deep inside your pretty little womb.”
You cry out against his shoulder, thighs trembling and nails digging into his back as you fall apart, orgasm claiming your every sense until he’s all you can feel. Your cunt spasms around his fingers as he slides his palm against your clit, drawing out your pleasure.
Caleb soothes you with gentle kisses against your forehead as your tremors ease, and withdraws his fingers to examine the slick left behind. With a mischievous smirk, he sucks every drop clean, not breaking eye contact with you even once. Then he helps you close your trembling thighs, pulling your back to rest against his chest as his tail curls around you, settling in your arms as you hug it close like a plushie.
”The ears are one thing, but don’t think I can ever get used to this,” you mumble, pressing your cheek against his thick tail and burying your cold nose into its warmth.
“Don’t like it, pips?” You feel more than see Caleb’s laugh as a rumble in his chest against your back. “Now I can be your personal plushie. Didn’t you always say you wanted a real life plushie to cuddle to sleep?”
”Caleb, I still think you’re much more handsome when you keep your mouth shut.”
✈︎
You keep your mouth shut about the spare set of clothes in your bag so you can selfishly keep sharing more of Caleb’s body warmth. But when the next morning comes and your Watch comes back to life with a message from Jenna, you reluctantly sit up and start taking stock of your provisions.
”The nearest village is about half an hour from here,” you say, peeking outside the cave to check if the snowstorm has passed. “I think my Watch should be able to last for that long at least…”
The landscape, blanketed in white, is calm now.
“Alrighty then,” Caleb sits up and stretches lazily, letting your coat fall to his waist without a care in the world. He pauses when you shoot him a worried look. “Don’t worry, pips. I was always better at directions than you even as a kid, remember?”
”It’s not that,” you roll your eyes. “You can’t be going out there like that. There’s an extra set of clothes in my bag,” you say, returning to settle beside him and dragging your bag towards you. “It’s just… I don’t think you’ll actually fit.”
Caleb grins at the set of thermal clothes you chuck at him. “Nope, definitely not fitting in these.”
Watching you fret over what to do next, he reaches down and taps your nose. “Pips, don’t worry. I’ll just change back. Once we reach the village, I’ll change back. Now that I did it once, I’m pretty sure I can change back by myself.”
”Really? What if it doesn’t work again and you’re stuck as a snow leopard forever?” You bite your lip and fix him with a worried gaze.
Caleb lowers himself to eye leve with you before he pinches your cheek. “Then I guess it’s one more promise I’ll be keeping. Since I’ll be following you around like a lovesick kitty. Meow!”
You roll your eyes and turn to hide the blush on your cheeks, shrugging on your coat and then your bag. “Just don’t freak the poor villagers out. Maybe they’re the ones who mistook you for a Wanderer and called for the Association’s help.”
Hand buried deep in his thick fur, Caleb guides you back to the village even when it’s near zero visbility. As promised, once the village is in sight, he disappears into the snowy landscape, letting you rejoin civilization safely.
But there’s a lump in your throat the moment he leaves your side, and you have to run your fingers over the bruises he left on your collarbone to remind yourself that he’s back.
Jenna, along with Tara and Simone are waiting at your room with worried looks on their faces, and Tara envelopes you into a bear hug, almost in tears as she exclaims how worried she’s been.
You rest your cheek against her shoulder, allowing Jenna to fuss over making arrangements for a full medical checkup once you’re back at base.
They leave you to get a night’s good rest before heading back to base tomorrow, and when the door closes, you sit on your bed alone, letting out a breath you didn’t even know you’d been holding.
Heavy footsteps sound outside your door, and you’re on your feet again, reaching for the doorknob and yanking it open.
And there’s Caleb, grinning at you as if he’d never left.
This time he’s dressed head to toe in winter gear, and you tug him inside your room. When you ask where he got the money for all the gear, he only shrugs.
”Told them to put it on your account, of course,” he ruffles your hair with a grin, When you reach out to pinch his cheek, he relents. “Ow, ow! Just kidding, pips, geez. I snuck into one of the resort shops when it was closed and stripped their mannequin bare. If you feel that guilty, we can go back and leave some money on the counter before it’s too late?”
”Idiot gege,” you murmur under your breath, but with no real heat to your voice.
✈︎
The next morning, when Jenna and Tara come to pick you up and return to base, Jenna is stunned when you tell her you need one more seat. Caleb stands awkwardly beside you, and it seems like even he’s at a loss of what to say.
But Tara smooths over everything with one of her thousand watt powered grins.
“Oh, I know who he is,” she exclaims as she bounds forward to stretch out a hand in greeting. “C’mon, there’s plenty of space in the jeep!”
Jenna’s eyes linger on you as you get into the car, but she remains quiet as Tara gets in the front seat beside her, leaving the back for you and Caleb.
Back at the base, Tara sneaks you a conspiratorial grin as she jumps out of the car.
“Don’t worry, I gotchu covered with Jenna,” she whispers as you reach in the trunk for your bag.
“What? Do you mean about…” your eyes drift over to Caleb as he slowly gets out of the car. “It’s a long story, I’ll explain everything to you and Jenna soon-“
”There’s plenty of time for that later,” Tara shushes you as she pushes you in Caleb’s direction. “You two have a lot of catching up to do.”
Before you let yourself be herded off, you stop in your tracks, placing an arm on Tara’s shoulder.
”Wait, how’d you know…?”
Tara only smiles. “For the first time since you came here, you finally look like you found what you’re looking for.”
