Hello! This is fluffy :3 Brand new blog so not much to say but I’ll yap a lot about my interests and random thoughts. I have another blog @mifluffy-random where I just reblog stuff, never really adding anything. Follow it if you want lol :)
Here’s a list of some of my interests in no particular order:
Digital art
Music composition
Love and Deepspace
Mr. Love: Queen’s Choice
Stardew Valley
BG3
Fan fiction
MHA
Death Note
KNY
Will Wood
DnD
StarKid
And more!
Stuff I'm okay with in fanfics/ships:
Pseudo-cest with REALLY good reasoning/lore
Minor x Minor ships
Mentions of SA, as long as there's no huge details
Whump
Gore
Stuff I'm not ok with in fanfics/ships:
Actual incest
Explicit SA/Non-con
Adult x minor ships
"I know she looks 10 but she's actually 300 years old"
thinking about drawing while sitting in valko's lap!! his arms wrapped around your waist and his chin resting on your head as he uses his size to his advantage and watches you draw from above. his chest is solid and so so warm against your back, almost too warm. you can never get used to how much warmer he is compared to you.
if you're working digitally, he has endless questions. "what's that? how'd you do that? what does that do?" you answer them all, because you know he's asking just to hear a bit more of the sound of your voice. even if he repeats a couple questions unknowingly.
every once in a while, once you finish a step, he'll ask to borrow your pencil/stylus. if you oblige him, he'll draw a little doodle on the side, his brow furrowed in focus and concentration. (aww! he drew a little puppy!!!!!)
you ask him if he's bored, if he'd rather be doing something else, if he wants to get his phone or gaming console to entertain himself with, but every time he tells you no without even a second of hesitation. he loves being in your presence and feeling your body against his own; just spending time with you and watching you do what you love, even if everything progresses slowly.
if you look up at him, you'll find him attentively watching your process, flashing you a charming grin when you meet his gaze. if you get frustrated during the process of drawing, he'll kiss your furrowed brow, tilting your chin upwards so you move your focus to him instead. he's a master at dissolving the tension building up in your head, and you're never quite sure how he does it. you just know that a few minutes later, you feel reinvigorated and ready to get back to drawing.
and once you put in the last finishing touches and show him your artwork, he'll gaze at it with shining eyes before kissing all over your face and pulling you into a bone-crushing hug, telling you he's so proud and so incredibly lucky to have such a talented mate <333
Abt the whole Valko thing, I wrote something in the official server that I’m gonna post here as well jic something happens.
Honestly my main worry is the legal side of things as there was a VERY small but vocal group that got the Chinese state involved. I feel like the pressure was more political/legal than because of money.
Honestly this is messed up an all sides imo. This isn’t the first time that one of infold’s games got sent downhill due to political reasons. Lads’ predecessor (MLQC) had an issue in 2021 where one of the VAs was fired due to an accidental political message. I doubt he knew that what he said would result in him being fired, but Chinese laws would have destroyed the company had they not fired him. This drama resulted in a large percentage of people leaving the game and all of the VAs quitting the game (two in good graces with the company, two in bad graces) and being replaced. The game went steadily until they had to make the change to partial voice acting, but still did not make enough money. The game went EOS this March.
Right now, the issue, just like last time, is the lack of communication from infold. Rather than fully explaining their decision with something as simple as “Due to legal matters we cannot move forward with Valko” they try to keep it vague. Now the community is split between people blaming infold and people blaming the CN girlies when I feel like it’s more nuanced than that.
Yes infold is an greedy company but unlike most of their decisions this doesn’t feel like it was done purely because of money. Their office building was sent literal manure which is a huge health hazard and people were wishing death to them via the chrysanthemums. There were news reports on them, a detail in-game that was there for a while was suddenly the main point of attention. But they could and should have done more. Their PR team is shit
There are some CN girlies who are celebrating Valko’s removal, but others are grieving just like us. The people who harassed infold were very few, but even 10 can raise an eyebrow. Blaming all of them will be just as toxic and cruel when the vast majority are actual well adjusted people
Rather than placing the blame onto one group (CN Girlies, Infold, etc) it’s important for us to work together to try and solve this. Send emails, sign petitions, write posts, etc. Don’t spread hate.
But above ALL else make sure to focus on yourselves. I sincerely doubt this issue will be solved in the next 24h. If this really stresses you out then take a step back from social media (especially twt, it’s a dumpster fire over there. Saw one person call another brain dead for liking Valko and blamed both Valko and infold for all of this. I will not be including them in the sources to not cause unnecessary drama). Take care of yourselves, drink water, go to sleep, cry if you need to, engage in other hobbies, etc. Your mental health is more important than this game. If you can’t take action without worsening your own mental health then don’t
Lads will not reach EOS any time soon. They were able to keep MLQC running for 5 years, I know they’ll try their best to keep it alive from a functionality point of view.
Infold, if you’re somehow reading this, a small update could calm things down. Legally, idk how much you can say, but even a simple “Dear Hunters, We cannot discuss all of our reasons behind everything due to current legal matters. We apologize for any stress caused by our recent announcement. Here’s a code for (idk how much I personally think 50 pulls in dias in case ppl wanna spend it on something else)”. And if you can say more, PLEASE say more. The biggest issue right now is your vagueness tearing the community apart. We do not want a repeat of MLQC
Abt the whole Valko thing, I wrote something in the official server that I’m gonna post here as well jic something happens.
Honestly my main worry is the legal side of things as there was a VERY small but vocal group that got the Chinese state involved. I feel like the pressure was more political/legal than because of money.
Honestly this is messed up an all sides imo. This isn’t the first time that one of infold’s games got sent downhill due to political reasons. Lads’ predecessor (MLQC) had an issue in 2021 where one of the VAs was fired due to an accidental political message. I doubt he knew that what he said would result in him being fired, but Chinese laws would have destroyed the company had they not fired him. This drama resulted in a large percentage of people leaving the game and all of the VAs quitting the game (two in good graces with the company, two in bad graces) and being replaced. The game went steadily until they had to make the change to partial voice acting, but still did not make enough money. The game went EOS this March.
Right now, the issue, just like last time, is the lack of communication from infold. Rather than fully explaining their decision with something as simple as “Due to legal matters we cannot move forward with Valko” they try to keep it vague. Now the community is split between people blaming infold and people blaming the CN girlies when I feel like it’s more nuanced than that.
Yes infold is an greedy company but unlike most of their decisions this doesn’t feel like it was done purely because of money. Their office building was sent literal manure which is a huge health hazard and people were wishing death to them via the chrysanthemums. There were news reports on them, a detail in-game that was there for a while was suddenly the main point of attention. But they could and should have done more. Their PR team is shit
There are some CN girlies who are celebrating Valko’s removal, but others are grieving just like us. The people who harassed infold were very few, but even 10 can raise an eyebrow. Blaming all of them will be just as toxic and cruel when the vast majority are actual well adjusted people
Rather than placing the blame onto one group (CN Girlies, Infold, etc) it’s important for us to work together to try and solve this. Send emails, sign petitions, write posts, etc. Don’t spread hate.
But above ALL else make sure to focus on yourselves. I sincerely doubt this issue will be solved in the next 24h. If this really stresses you out then take a step back from social media (especially twt, it’s a dumpster fire over there. Saw one person call another brain dead for liking Valko and blamed both Valko and infold for all of this. I will not be including them in the sources to not cause unnecessary drama). Take care of yourselves, drink water, go to sleep, cry if you need to, engage in other hobbies, etc. Your mental health is more important than this game. If you can’t take action without worsening your own mental health then don’t
Lads will not reach EOS any time soon. They were able to keep MLQC running for 5 years, I know they’ll try their best to keep it alive from a functionality point of view.
Infold, if you’re somehow reading this, a small update could calm things down. Legally, idk how much you can say, but even a simple “Dear Hunters, We cannot discuss all of our reasons behind everything due to current legal matters. We apologize for any stress caused by our recent announcement. Here’s a code for (idk how much I personally think 50 pulls in dias in case ppl wanna spend it on something else)”. And if you can say more, PLEASE say more. The biggest issue right now is your vagueness tearing the community apart. We do not want a repeat of MLQC
Abt the whole Valko thing, I wrote something in the official server that I’m gonna post here as well jic something happens.
Honestly my main worry is the legal side of things as there was a VERY small but vocal group that got the Chinese state involved. I feel like the pressure was more political/legal than because of money.
Honestly this is messed up an all sides imo. This isn’t the first time that one of infold’s games got sent downhill due to political reasons. Lads’ predecessor (MLQC) had an issue in 2021 where one of the VAs was fired due to an accidental political message. I doubt he knew that what he said would result in him being fired, but Chinese laws would have destroyed the company had they not fired him. This drama resulted in a large percentage of people leaving the game and all of the VAs quitting the game (two in good graces with the company, two in bad graces) and being replaced. The game went steadily until they had to make the change to partial voice acting, but still did not make enough money. The game went EOS this March.
Right now, the issue, just like last time, is the lack of communication from infold. Rather than fully explaining their decision with something as simple as “Due to legal matters we cannot move forward with Valko” they try to keep it vague. Now the community is split between people blaming infold and people blaming the CN girlies when I feel like it’s more nuanced than that.
Yes infold is an greedy company but unlike most of their decisions this doesn’t feel like it was done purely because of money. Their office building was sent literal manure which is a huge health hazard and people were wishing death to them via the chrysanthemums. There were news reports on them, a detail in-game that was there for a while was suddenly the main point of attention. But they could and should have done more. Their PR team is shit
There are some CN girlies who are celebrating Valko’s removal, but others are grieving just like us. The people who harassed infold were very few, but even 10 can raise an eyebrow. Blaming all of them will be just as toxic and cruel when the vast majority are actual well adjusted people
Rather than placing the blame onto one group (CN Girlies, Infold, etc) it’s important for us to work together to try and solve this. Send emails, sign petitions, write posts, etc. Don’t spread hate.
But above ALL else make sure to focus on yourselves. I sincerely doubt this issue will be solved in the next 24h. If this really stresses you out then take a step back from social media (especially twt, it’s a dumpster fire over there. Saw one person call another brain dead for liking Valko and blamed both Valko and infold for all of this. I will not be including them in the sources to not cause unnecessary drama). Take care of yourselves, drink water, go to sleep, cry if you need to, engage in other hobbies, etc. Your mental health is more important than this game. If you can’t take action without worsening your own mental health then don’t
Lads will not reach EOS any time soon. They were able to keep MLQC running for 5 years, I know they’ll try their best to keep it alive from a functionality point of view.
Infold, if you’re somehow reading this, a small update could calm things down. Legally, idk how much you can say, but even a simple “Dear Hunters, We cannot discuss all of our reasons behind everything due to current legal matters. We apologize for any stress caused by our recent announcement. Here’s a code for (idk how much I personally think 50 pulls in dias in case ppl wanna spend it on something else)”. And if you can say more, PLEASE say more. The biggest issue right now is your vagueness tearing the community apart. We do not want a repeat of MLQC
can i ask what are your opinions on infold cancelling valko?
ahhh i'm really bummed, i was super excited for the update, and valko seemed really silly and goofy and fun in all of the trailers; i was looking forward to see what other weirdo stuff he was going to do :(. he broke into your house and started building block towers he had so much potentiall..
i'm not surprised they caved to the cn fanbase, but i am surprised that they took it this far and canceled him. similar stuff has happened in other games; like iirc wuthering waves originally had a story where the girls were much less trusting of mc, but the cn audience complaining made them change things to be much more bland and 'waifu simulator' esque, and the girls are extremely friendly and welcoming right off the bat. but that was all pre-release, and valko's cancellation is after all the marketing has been released and his character is already finished.
also, i am a bit confused. if they are canceling him, why leave his trailers up on youtube? but the letter they put out is super long and official sounding so i'm not sure whether to have hope or not... i just don't feel like global audiences have much of a say in it and infold feels a world away from anything we can influence.
i feel really sorry for the artists and the writing team. dealing with so much harassment for just doing your job and putting so much love and care into a new character just for him to be dropped a week after he's announced must really hurt. i wish they could arrest the people harassing infold, rather than caving and rewarding the behavior.
all the hate and negativity just really sucks to be around. i'm going to keep playing the game, it means too much to me to stop, but i feel a bit helpless, like i'm just along for the ride while cn players shape the story however they want it to be. after all of this it seems like creativity and going against the grain with released content is punished, which is really disappointing in terms of the game's potential. like it would be cool to me if they delved into horror rather than just sticking to romantic angst, but i know now that's probably never gonna happen LOL.
anyway i am staying faaar far away from twitter today LOL i don't want whatever they've got going on over there to make my mood even worse
Abt the whole Valko thing, I wrote something in the official server that I’m gonna post here as well jic something happens.
Honestly my main worry is the legal side of things as there was a VERY small but vocal group that got the Chinese state involved. I feel like the pressure was more political/legal than because of money.
Honestly this is messed up an all sides imo. This isn’t the first time that one of infold’s games got sent downhill due to political reasons. Lads’ predecessor (MLQC) had an issue in 2021 where one of the VAs was fired due to an accidental political message. I doubt he knew that what he said would result in him being fired, but Chinese laws would have destroyed the company had they not fired him. This drama resulted in a large percentage of people leaving the game and all of the VAs quitting the game (two in good graces with the company, two in bad graces) and being replaced. The game went steadily until they had to make the change to partial voice acting, but still did not make enough money. The game went EOS this March.
Right now, the issue, just like last time, is the lack of communication from infold. Rather than fully explaining their decision with something as simple as “Due to legal matters we cannot move forward with Valko” they try to keep it vague. Now the community is split between people blaming infold and people blaming the CN girlies when I feel like it’s more nuanced than that.
Yes infold is an greedy company but unlike most of their decisions this doesn’t feel like it was done purely because of money. Their office building was sent literal manure which is a huge health hazard and people were wishing death to them via the chrysanthemums. There were news reports on them, a detail in-game that was there for a while was suddenly the main point of attention. But they could and should have done more. Their PR team is shit
There are some CN girlies who are celebrating Valko’s removal, but others are grieving just like us. The people who harassed infold were very few, but even 10 can raise an eyebrow. Blaming all of them will be just as toxic and cruel when the vast majority are actual well adjusted people
Rather than placing the blame onto one group (CN Girlies, Infold, etc) it’s important for us to work together to try and solve this. Send emails, sign petitions, write posts, etc. Don’t spread hate.
But above ALL else make sure to focus on yourselves. I sincerely doubt this issue will be solved in the next 24h. If this really stresses you out then take a step back from social media (especially twt, it’s a dumpster fire over there. Saw one person call another brain dead for liking Valko and blamed both Valko and infold for all of this. I will not be including them in the sources to not cause unnecessary drama). Take care of yourselves, drink water, go to sleep, cry if you need to, engage in other hobbies, etc. Your mental health is more important than this game. If you can’t take action without worsening your own mental health then don’t
Lads will not reach EOS any time soon. They were able to keep MLQC running for 5 years, I know they’ll try their best to keep it alive from a functionality point of view.
Infold, if you’re somehow reading this, a small update could calm things down. Legally, idk how much you can say, but even a simple “Dear Hunters, We cannot discuss all of our reasons behind everything due to current legal matters. We apologize for any stress caused by our recent announcement. Here’s a code for (idk how much I personally think 50 pulls in dias in case ppl wanna spend it on something else)”. And if you can say more, PLEASE say more. The biggest issue right now is your vagueness tearing the community apart. We do not want a repeat of MLQC
So a while back I said I’d compare the MLQC (lads predecessor) LIs to the LADS LIs but writing full paragraphs was too exhausting due to life stuff and never got around to it
Buuuut if people are interested I wanna make a slides that first shows a summary chart and then goes more in-depth with comparison tables. Ofc with Valko it won’t be super in-depth but it will later on! Valko has wayyyy too many similarities to Gavin with just what we’ve seen of him but yeee
So a while back I said I’d compare the MLQC (lads predecessor) LIs to the LADS LIs but writing full paragraphs was too exhausting due to life stuff and never got around to it
Buuuut if people are interested I wanna make a slides that first shows a summary chart and then goes more in-depth with comparison tables. Ofc with Valko it won’t be super in-depth but it will later on! Valko has wayyyy too many similarities to Gavin with just what we’ve seen of him but yeee
Step into the light to look her in the eye, feeling so exposed, he tries to stay composed
When you wake up from a nightmare, Caleb finds out something you never really wanted him to...
Featuring: Caleb, gn!reader
Contents: Mostly reverse hurt/comfort, neglectful!Josephine(pretty sure this is canon but just in case), toxic family stuff in general, kinda excessive use of gege but idc I'm making my stance ✨known✨
Wordcount: 1,642
It's just like any other day that Gran is home, when it happens.
The tension in the air at the dinner table suffocating you as you try to force yourself to make whatever bland piece of meat had been out of you. It was better when she was out, away, anything that would keep her away from you so you can take care of yourself in peace.
She opens her mouth and says something. You can't make out the exact words but you somehow know it's about Caleb, and that it definitely isn't good.
Anger twists in your stomach, sharp and corroding and explosive.
You break. You can't let her say things like that, can't let her keep getting away with what you know she's been doing—you stand up from your chair and start yelling, defenses that you know are falling on deaf ears spilling from your lips as tears spring to your eyes.
He'd cooked for you since he physically had the ability to. He'd soothed you through your tantrums and held you through your nightmares and wiped your tears when you got your heart broken. He'd done everything that she hadn't, and yet she still has the audacity to try to turn you against him?
You'd heard the yelling matches. Heard how hard he fought to keep you safe, heard her slam the door when she eventually realized he wouldn't budge.
Heard how he cried right after, quiet little sobs you could barely make out from the top of the stairs that you oh-so-desperately wanted to soothe.
You scream and scream and scream, and she screams back, and you know deep down—more then you should—that she won't listen, but you can't stop. You have to try.
So the fight continues, arguments being repeated ad nauseam until—
"Pipsqueak!"
You jolt awake, registering the feeling of arms around you—arms that tighten when you squirm, holding you there, unable to escape—
"Pips, c'mon, It's me." You freeze, taking in a deep breath. Your favorite bodywash. Plane exhaust. Apples. Caleb. "Yeah, theeeeere we go. It's just me, yeah? Juuuuust me."
You feel a nuzzle against your hair and you melt into him, your breathing starting to slow down from a pace you didn't even realize was so fast. It's easier with his breaths to follow—measuredly even, each one easing some of the leftover anxiety sparking through your veins.
One of his hands slips under your—his, but who's counting—shirt, warm and grounding against your back. You hear your own contended sigh before pressing a kiss to his neck, relishing in the feeling of his skin under your lips. She can't hurt us here.
"You back with me, baby?" His voice is barely above a whisper when it drifts into your ear, and you manage a small nod. "Good. Ya gonna tell me what your nightmare was about, or do you just wanna go back to sleep?"
You hesitate for a moment, not quite sure which road to go down.
So you don't choose. You press another kiss to his neck, trying to push all your feelings into that single action. "You know you're the best, right, gege?"
It's his turn to freeze, now, hand stopping its soothing movements for just a moment. "I—well, yeah, 'course I'm the best." His bravado sounds thinner then usual, worn down by the hazy aura that coats the early hours. "Glad you admit it, for once."
You shake your head, snaking your hands under his arms to hold him by the back, pressing yourself as close to him as you can. "No, I really mean it. You're—you've done s…so much for me, been through so much for me, and I—"
You remember now, what she said that day.
"He'll get bored of us, you know. He doesn't care the way you think he does."
"I need you to know that I know. That I know how much you care, how much you love me, and I—I…" You pause to breathe, sobs overwhelming your lungs once more, and before you can continue—he speaks instead.
Low. Desperate. Guilty.
"What…what did you hear?"
You don't know the right answer to that. Don't know how much you didn't hear, how many arguments were safely smuggled right under your nose. Don't know how many times he'd cried in that kitchen, all alone, without even you to witness it.
"Enough that…when you left for college, it was me gettin' into it with her instead of you." You feel more then hear his immediate sharp intake of breath, then the way it stutters on the exhale. "When she was home to get into it with, anyway. It—that's…" Too late to back out now. "That's what the nightmare was. The—the first fight. And, uh, the…the worst one, too. She said something—really, really nasty about you, I'm…I'm not gonna repeat it, and I just—I couldn't take it anymore."
Silence falls over you, the haze of the room suddenly feeling suffocating—until you hear a small sniffle, breaking the tension, and also your heart.
You push yourself up to see his face, but he's already hidden it away in the pillow, trying to cover up what was already so obvious.
You slip your hand between them, caressing his cheek and gently raising his face so you can actually look at him.
You scan him with your chest aching—the tears streaming down his cheeks, the way his lips are so tightly pressed together, the way he's still trying to stay strong for you.
"You're always trying to be so strong, gege," you murmur, leaning up to press a kiss to his wet cheeks. "And you are. You're so, so strong. But I—I need you to know that it's okay to…to not be. When…when I was at the top of those stairs, listening to you and Gran argue, it was…"
You let out a shaky sigh, not quite sure if you want to say what you're planning to say next, but something in the way he's looking at you right now tells you he needs to hear it. So you do.
"It was never the arguments themselves that got to me, not really. It was—it was that you were left alone in that kitchen, crying to yourself, and—and I couldn't figure out how to help you. Like you helped me." Another kiss to his cheek, and your lips are salty now but you don't care. "And I—I still don't know how to help you, but that's because you won't let me. So…please, let me?"
You hear his confliction in the way his next breath rattles, but you stay firm, wiping each and every fresh tear away with the same reverence you always feel from him. "I love you so much, gege. So so much. And that means I don't want you to deal with anything alone, not when I could be there helping you."
You barely have time to think before he's crashing down into you, face now hidden in your neck instead of the pillow as those familiar, heartbreaking little sobs start spilling from his mouth.
The ache in your chest grows stronger then soothes, like tension finally being released from a rubber band. You wrap one of your arms around his back, burying the hand of your other one in thick brown hair and scratching his scalp in just the way you know will make him melt.
It still does. He lets out a damn-near pathetic whimper, a fresh set of tears coating your neck as he tries to press himself closer. You allow yourself a soft coo, pressing a kiss to his head.
"'M—'m so s'rry I didn' pro-protect you…"
You shush him gently, digging your nails slightly deeper into his scalp. "No, you did. All those arguments you got into with her were protecting me. It's not your fault you needed to get into screaming matches that I could overhear with her to do so." The scent of your shampoo fills your nose as you nuzzle his hair. "You've always protected me the best you could, gege. Always. Don't do both of us the disserve of saying you haven't."
That tears a choked, wounded sound out of him—so you tighten your grip and press a firm kiss to his head, trying to remind him that you're here. That he doesn't need to hide.
The sobs that spill from him are louder now, desperate and unrestrained, but you don't mind. This is what you wanted. What you needed, and what he needed too.
You feel tears start to pool in your eyes, and you let them fall. You know he won't care.
You've always done things together, there's no reason crying would be any different.
And even with tears streaming down your face and Caleb's sobs in your ears, you feel safe. At peace, almost.
"I-I l-love you s…so m-much, baby…"
"Shhh." You tuck a stray hair behind his ear, trailing your hand down to caress his jaw. "I love you too, gege. Save your breath. It's okay."
He whimpers, like he doesn't want to listen, but he does. He always does, with you.
Time flows by—seconds, minutes, hours, days, you can't really tell—just like that. Caleb crying into your neck, your arms wrapped around him and keeping him safe from the world.
Eventually, the room starts to quiet, choked sobs fading into soft whimpers into sniffles into nothing. He fell asleep.
Tension flows out of your shoulders and you press one last kiss to his head, noting absentmindedly that you'd also stopped crying. The next time you close your eyes, you don't open them again. But that's okay.
A/N: Look I know reverse hurt/comfort isn't the MOST popular but like...god I was parentified Bad as a kid and I see so much of myself in Caleb. I just wanna hold him and tell him it's alright and that he can let go sometimes
Hopefully this self-indulgent mess spoke to someone else too<3
I'm picky with the non-mc fics I read because the ones I like are when MC and NonMC are best friends or lead up to a MC x LI x non-mc relationship after angst.
Wait omg that is lowkey fire. I have never read any like these omg
🍎 caleb fic idea (get him out of my head) 🍎
tw: sh mention in one paragraph right after the read more
wc: 800
nonmc reader who has no one. who wonders if anyone would really care if they died. spiraling deeper into a deep pit of loneliness until they bump into caleb.
maybe he's your superior in the fleet, maybe a coworker at your new job, maybe a classmate. but he has one conversation with you, and he's hooked.
he doggedly tries to get to know you, even though you act a bit cold and nervous towards him at first. he watches the way you cautiously perk up at the hope that you might gain a new friend. how you stumble over your words in an attempt to make a good impression on the cool guy who suddenly started talking to you.
he tries his hardest to involve himself in your daily life without being too overbearing too soon. he subtly follows you to learn everything he can about you, consuming as much information about you as he can. he needs to know everything.
once he realizes how deep in a hole you really are, he does his best to improve your life however he can. he invites you out to eat more often after he sees your daily eating habits, and somehow always happens to have your favorite snack on hand. he notices when you start skipping sleep and begins to text you reminders around your bedtime, coaxing you to bed the best he can.
[TW: SH] if you make a habit of harming yourself, you notice that whatever implements you use to do so mysteriously go missing. no matter how intensely you search, you just can't find them anywhere. if you buy replacements, they always end up disappearing as well. caleb doesn't feel the slightest remorse for doing this. he was going to break into your place to learn more about you anyway, and he's doing you a favor by taking away objects that pose a direct risk to your health.
at first, he's a bit overzealous, used to dealing with MC's higher level of energy, but it doesn't take him long to realize that you need a softer touch. your patterns of behavior are pretty easy to understand after a few days of watching you through his map of security cameras and reading every post on your social media accounts.
he keeps his voice softer than usual when talking to you, and avoids busy locations during hangouts. he knows you don't quite know how to say no to him yet, so he dutifully monitors your reactions to different situations in order to adjust to the struggles you don't tell him about.
instead of making plans over text that caused you to experience noticeably heightened anxiety as the date approached, he would just happen to run into you while you're doing work at the library, or your desk would just happen to be on the way from his desk to the break area, and, hey, isn't it around lunchtime? why don't you join him for a meal?
he slowly chips away at your hardened exterior, convincing you to trust him with more and more of yourself over time. he's receptive whenever you open up with your struggles, always having a solution you hadn't thought of at the ready, or the right comforting words that act as a salve for your troubled mind.
he finds it adorable how eager you are to spend time with him. after so long aching for human contact, you don't ever take him for granted. you visibly brighten when you spot him in a room, eyes filled with hope, then happiness as you realize he's making a beeline towards you. he can practically see your little tail wagging.
he learns about your interests so he can ask questions about them, always loving the sight of the sparkle in your eye as you discuss your passions with him. and you have a surprising interest in learning about him as well, always eager to listen to him talk about airplane schematics or intricacies of anomalies in space.
you show gratitude for every little thing he provides for you, something that's new to him after caring for MC for so long. he once spotted you crying after he brought you your favorite drink on a hard day. you do little favors for him too, buying his favorite sweets and leaving them on his desk with a sweet note attached, replacing his stationery when you notice it running low, learning which coworkers he dislikes and telling them that he's busy when they ask about him.
and when he asks you out—he had never seen you any happier than in that moment. you pull him into a tight hug, the first time you'd ever initiated physical contact, crying into his jacket, your voice wobbly and hoarse as you thank him for spending so much time with you and for feeling the same way that you do. he holds you for a long time, gently stroking your back and making sure you know just how much he adores you.
you go home with him and fall asleep in his arms, having your first happy dream in a long, long time.
