caught in the middle
xavier x mc x caleb
part two (smut)
wc: 2.3k
summary: tension sparks as caleb and xavier battle for your attention.
contains: jealous!xavier, jealous!caleb, suggestive towards the end (no explict smut in this part)
a/n: hiii first time writing for lads and xavier and caleb have been heavy on my brain. inspired by a tiktok made by @/caleb.main3 on tiktok (idk how to hyperlink it LOL) . i'm definitely gonna write a part 2 with smut with them BOTH there's not enough star apple content out there.
You leaned all the way back into your chair and sighed, belly full from the assortment of yummy pastries you and Xavier stuffed yourselves with at the local cafe you two found on your way home. “I think we ordered way too much food. I’m so full I can barely even move.” You complained as you rubbed your aching stomach.
You two had just come back from a grueling mission. It felt as if you were fighting wanderers for hours; they’ve been stronger than normal lately. “You needed to fuel back up. You pushed yourself hard today.”
Xavier cleans up the scattered trash from the table and you two begin the sluggish journey to the exit of the cafe. He reaches to hold the door open for you when you’re greeted by a pleasantly familiar face.
“Caleb!” a wide smile immediately makes its way to your face. He wasn’t supposed to be back from Skyhaven for another week! “Surprise! I couldn’t go another day without seeing you, pips. I needed to come spend time with my favorite girl as soon as I could.”
In the midst of the exchange of excitement between you and Caleb, you forgot Xavier was still holding the door open for you. “This one of your friends, pips?” You were so caught up you forgot to introduce the two boys to each other. “This is Xavier! We actually just came back from doing a mission together.”
Xavier straightens his back and reaches his hand out to Caleb. “Nice to meet you.” He said monotonously. The other looks at the hand in front of him and smirks smugly before agreeing to shake it. “You wouldn’t mind if I took her off of your hands for a bit, yeah? I came all this way to see her.”
Xavier swallowed harshly at an attempt to keep his emotions at ease. The cockiness in this guy’s voice is really starting to piss him off. Feigning innocence, he responds, “She’s free to do whatever she’d like. No need to ask me for permission.”
At this point, the tension between the two was becoming uncomfortable for you to be in the middle of. Rolling your eyes to yourself, you began heading towards Caleb who was reaching out to hold your hand. Xavier retained his neutral expression but the other boy couldn’t help but patronize him a bit more. “Thanks, buddy,” Caleb waved as walked away with his prize.
♡
The sound of rustling oak leaves filled the air as you and Caleb sat on a shared bench underneath the tree. Currently, the two of you are being swarmed by a flock of ducks all waiting for one of you to grace them with another piece of bread.
The wind filled up the comfortable silence in the air as you finished your small talk. All that was left was to bask in the presence of each other. It’s always lovely when Caleb comes back to visit Linkon city. The stress of your job consumes all of your time and you never really have time to sit back and relax. Caleb, knowing this, makes it his priority to help alleviate some of that stress whenever he comes to see you.
Breaking the silence you question him, “Was it just a coincidence that you were going to the same cafe that I was at or were you following me again?” The question was playful but part of you was serious about it.
All Caleb could do was smile lightly as he tossed another piece of bread for the ducks. “Is your new thing asking questions that you already know the answer to?” You scoffed light heartedly. “We’ve already talked about this before, Caleb. You don’t have to follow my every move. I can handle things on my own.”
He seemed to be slightly annoyed at your response. He reached for your hand next to his on the bench and began rubbing circles with his thumb before sighing into his next reply. “What’s with this Xavier guy? I think you could find someone way more fun to try to replace me with.”
“I’m not replacing you,” you rolled your eyes. “And luckily he's my friend and not yours so you don't have to worry about that.” You threw the last piece of bread to a little duckling that poked at your foot. Your response earned a chuckle from Caleb as he stood up and dusted off his pants free of crumbs.
“You’re right, I’m the coolest person that you have the pleasure of knowing.” You smiled at his forwardness. His boyish charm never fails to make you ignore his arrogance. In all honesty, you found it endearing.
The two of you approached the entrance of your apartment. The night coming to a bittersweet end.
“Thank you for surprising me today.” He smiled back, “Thank you for letting me see you today.”
The silence in the air felt heavy. Not wanting him to leave and him not wanting to walk away from you. The two of you stood there gazing into each other's eyes.
“So do you-”
“I can-”
You both awkwardly tried to break the silence at the same time, in which you both laughed lightly at the patheticness. “We can plan something for tomorrow! There’s this new restaurant I’ve been wanting to try.” You suggested while a smile never left his face. “I’d like that.”
The air went silent again, this time Caleb walked closer into you. Your back against the door while he reached to rest his hand on the small of your waist. He was dangerously close. So close you could almost feel his breath on your face as he began leaning in to finally break the distance between you two.
Suddenly, you began to panic as you felt yourself falling backwards into what should’ve been your front door. “Y/N! You made it back! I was beginning to get worried about you.” You regain your footing and turn around to see Xavier with a warm smile on his face.
Xavier couldn’t handle seeing how close Caleb was getting to you. He isn’t even embarrassed to say that he was watching you through the window (to make sure you were safe on your way in, of course).
Straight-faced, Caleb questioned, “Why are you in her apartment.” Xavier immediately pulled you into your home, beating Caleb who tried pulling you back towards his chest.
“It was getting late and I’m sure you were too distracted to make sure she had dinner.” Here you were, yet again in the middle of them as they stared death threats into each other's eyes.
“I got us your favorite take out and I have a warm bath waiting for you.” Xavier smiled as he switched his gaze to focus on you.
“She’s not hungry.” Caleb’s voice was sharp and he was unaware of how painful his tight grip on your arm was getting.
Ignoring him, Xavier gets you all of the way inside, “Well, if you’re not hungry, there’s always room for dessert. I got us your favorite cake to share as well.” Your eyes gleamed with joy. “You’re the best, Xav! I can’t wait to take a bath too. I still feel so gross and sweaty from the mission earlier.”
Before leaving, you turned to a stunned and bitter Caleb and gave him a hug good bye. “Thank you again. I really missed you and I’ll call you about tomorrow!” Caleb couldn’t help but soften his gaze when looking into your kind eyes.
“Anytime, pips. I wouldn’t come to linkon city and not see my favorite girl.” Xavier deadpanned at the exchange between the two of you. He couldn’t get you inside fast enough.
“Thanks, buddy.” Xavier smiled before shutting the door in Caleb’s face.
♡
Between the scented candle, the bubble bath, and the soft jazz music playing on the speaker, you could’ve fallen asleep right then and there. This relaxing bubble bath was exactly what you needed after a long day of fighting. You started playing with one of the rubber duckies Xavier left in there for you, thinking of the ducks you and Caleb were feeding earlier. Your cheeks began to warm as you remembered how close he was to kissing you just thirty minutes ago.
A knock at the bathroom door interrupted your replay of the intimate events. “Come in!” Xavier walked in with a hand covering his eyes, so as to not look at you while bathing. “Sorry, I just wanted to check on you.” You chuckled at his shyness, “You're covering your eyes but you didn’t have to come inside of the bathroom to ask me that.”
You weren’t entirely oblivious to how Xavier would look at you, or how his touch would always linger a little bit longer than it needed to. However, as your partner, you wanted to make sure nothing interrupts the work relationship between you two. That doesn’t mean you can’t share the longing interactions with him as well. “You can uncover your eyes, I don’t mind. You can’t see anything underneath all of these bubbles anyway.”
Xavier removes his hand from his eyes and reveals a slight tint of pink on his cheeks. He cleared his throat “What movie do you want to watch with your dinner?” “Honestly, I’m really tired from earlier. You can put on anything, I’ll end up falling asleep before we finish it.” Xavier couldn’t help but glance at the way the water beaded on your chest.
“Okay, I’ll go get everything set up.” You smiled at his bashful response and decided not to tease him any further than you already have.
The two of you sat on the couch watching a random cartoon that Xavier selected. On the coffee table before you laid a feast of food.
Another big meal to share with Xavier. It’s clear that he likes to make sure that you’re well fed. He must be putting a spell on you too because ironically, your stomach always rumbles with hunger whenever you're with him. As if your body knows that he wants to take care of you by feeding you. “Everything looks so good! Thank you, Xav.”
“I know you don’t always have the time to take care of yourself properly so I want to do anything I can to make sure that you’re in good health.” His response is so sincere and felt too serious considering you both were in your fuzzy matching pajamas watching a children’s movie. Nonetheless, you smiled at him and started digging in.
Throughout the movie, you could feel Xavier looking at you through the corner of his eye. His body language seemed tense and the air between you two felt thick. Somehow, he ended up shoulder to shoulder with you. The credits of the movie then rolled.
“I can’t believe I managed to stay up for the whole movie,” you yawned while stretching. Honestly, your mind was racing to see what was wrong with Xavier. Your exhaustion was replaced with anxiety.
As you two walked to your door to let him out, you stopped in your tracks, “You’re not acting like yourself. What’s wrong, Xavier?”
He sighs, “I’m sorry, I just have a lot on my mind. I don’t mean to worry you.” He looked at you sheepishly as he reached for the door handle. This isn’t entirely out of his usual behavior. You’re not normally able to get Xavier to speak about his emotions easily on the first try.
“We don’t have to have a big conversation about anything. I want you to know that I’m here for you if you ever want to say what’s on your mind.” He’s silent for a second, contemplating how to frame his words.
“What else do I need to do to win you over?” Your chest tightened slightly at his questions. You’ve been trying to avoid the obvious feelings Xavier has for you. Not because they aren’t reciprocated, but because that would require a lot more emotional unpacking than you wanted to deal with right now.
Instead, you drop the oblivious act and walk up to place a soft, reassuring kiss to his cheek. He looks at you in slight disbelief.
A slight hint of frustration as well, “Do you like him?” You know he’s referencing Caleb. The tension between the two was painfully obvious earlier.
You waited before answering him honestly, “I haven’t sat with my feelings at all. For either one of you. I don’t want to know what I feel but I know there’s… something.”
Xavier stops the rest of your confession by pressing an intense kiss to your lips. Stumbling on your feet, you're stabilized by his hand on your back. You snake your hand around the back of his neck and kiss him back.
He stops and pulls away with a deep breath between you two. “I’m sorry. I should’ve asked you first before I did that.” You smiled shyly at his response. Even in times like this he was worried about your comfort.
“Do I have permission to kiss you again?” You nodded eagerly and closed the space between you two. This time with the kiss being more fervent than the last. One hand slid to the small of your back while the other tangled in your hair. Your hands curled into the fabric of his pajama shirt, tugging him closer. You melted into his embrace. His lips were eager and his touch was hot, his presence overwhelming your senses. This was more than just a kiss. It was all of the pent up feelings the two of you had been holding back on- all for the sake of professionalism.
Knock knock
The two of you pushed each other away in a state of panic. Readjusting both of your clothes to look presentable again.
“Piiipppsss,” Caleb dragged, “You okay in there?”
You and Xavier looked at each other anxiously before walking to welcome your beloved childhood friend in.
stay tuned for part 2 (star apple threesome :D)
likes and reblogs appreciated <3
