Hi! I just recently found your account and I've been obsessed with your lads analysis, especially Caleb's! If it isn't such a bother I wanted to ask what your thoughts would be if MC was somehow older than caleb? Would their dynamics change? Or do you think caleb would at least rely on her a bit more since the role of being "the older brother" is no longer his?
I'm so glad you enjoy my insane rants about Caleb :3 and this isn't a bother at all, I love getting asks! And I love this idea!! So! Caleb is your precious baby brother; you've taken care of him for as long as you can remember, looking after him and being there all you possibly can for him. He's your source of life, the reason you fight for everything you do- the reason why you strive to make the world a better place. You want to give him the safest, loving, comfortable life you never got to have. You'll always see him as the little boy who took your hand at the orphanage and wouldn't let go (you'd never want to let go).
Caleb, on the other hand...you are all he's ever known. His first memory, his first dream, his only life. He adores you with everything in him and has done all he possibly can to be someone you're proud of. He does, however, come with a few issues. Caleb has always loved and admired that you've raised him, you're his caretaker- his big sister.
But, there came a certain moment in Caleb's life when he realized that you saw your own monsters, you had your own nightmares, and you had no one to protect you the way you protected him. And that shook his poor little heart to the core. He vowed to do whatever he could to fight and care for you- to be the person who you ran to when you heard the thunder in a storm. You're just...so stubborn. With every year that passes, Caleb gets stronger, smarter, bigger and yet you still see him as your one and only "pip squeak" (he was taller than you when he was twelve!). You hide things from him. You keep your stresses and issues out of sight for him (he's only ever seen you cry twice and both of those times were by accident). You shield him from problems. You don't let him in. "It's big people stuff" you'd always say with a smile that wouldn't reach the corner of your eye. He hates it. Caleb tries again and again to prove to you he's plenty grown! He beats your dumb boy friends at arm wrestling, carries your things for you, he gets perfect grades so you don't think he's some kid that doesn't have a clue, but nothing ever works.
It's not until Caleb reaches...let's say- a certain age- that his ideas to prove himself to you as a man rather than as "your pipsqueak" actually begins.