crack the ice, a critical role sick!caleb fic
Beau had a knack for spotting people’s tells. You didn’t train in the Cobalt Soul without learning how to read a room - or a person. And Caleb Widogast had plenty of tells.
The coughing wasn’t too alarming at first. They’d been traveling through sleet and ice for days, and Caleb wasn’t exactly known for his robust constitution. He was all bones and books and quiet guilt. And cold? That got into his joints fast. He’d wrap himself tighter in that long coat of his, hunch his shoulders like he could disappear between the pages of a spellbook.
But then he started lagging behind.
Skipping meals.
Staring into the fire like he was somewhere else entirely. And not in that sad sort of way he sometimes did.
And still, he said nothing.
Typical.
At first, Beau figured it was just the usual brooding. Caleb’s melancholy was like an old friend by now, always trailing a few paces behind him, sometimes catching up to walk beside him. But this was different.
Continued on ao3
When Caleb falls ill on a perilous journey through the mountains, Beauregard and the others take care of him. But Caleb’s battle isn’t just against his sickness - it’s against the trauma that haunts him. In the midst of his struggle, Beau is forced to confront how far Caleb has yet to come in trusting his friends - and how much further she’s willing to go to make sure he does.
