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The first time Caleb said he’d kill for you, he was ten years old and he was holding a toy sword.
The last time he said it, he was 25 and covered in blood. But you still kissed him anyway.
It hit you harder than a bullet to the heart. The boy you've lived with (mostly, eh) your whole life, now the lieutenant colonel of the farspace fleet, your childhood best friend, loved you. What the fuck happened to "I love you like a sister even though your not" thing? No clue, but it hasn't mattered in a while anyways. It's not like you've been with him and swore to stick by each other's sides, right?
"My name's Caleb and I'll always be by your side!"
Oh. Never mind.
Eh, you don't know. All you do know is that this man has been the best thing to happen to you, despite the fact you both would rather not admit it.
After the explosions downtown, you thought you had lost him forever, as everyone told you he had died, crushed by rubble in the attack. With a broken resolve but still positive he could be out there, you persevered, and joined the site investigation, only to fall into the rabbit hole of the farspace fleet after an undercover mission, finding out he somehow survived, but became the colenel of the fleet, a cold-hearted commanding presence that haunts the halls of skyhaven's HQ.
[11 YEARS AGO]
It’s another one of those starry nights, you're in the attic with Caleb as you both work on a science project together. It's a warm, windless august night, the soft yet bright moonlight cascading from the windows and skylight from above. You’re laying on the floor next to Caleb, diagrams and wires scattered everywhere, and the red-orange glow of your candles casting shadows across his face.
He’s focused, silent, chewing the end of his pencil with that little furrow between his brows you’ve known since you were seven.
“Hey… remember that guy I told you I had a crush on last month?”
He doesn’t look up. “Yeah. The one who wouldn’t stop calling you pretty or something.” There’s a weird little tightness in his voice as he speaks. Voices run through his head haunting him, but it doesn't seem to bother. He's too young to be dealing with the aftermath of a first kill, but he still feels the boy clawing, kicking, and screaming as caleb choked him out.
"They found him yesterday. Tied up in a bag at the bottom of the river–drowned.”
Silence. Caleb’s pencil suddenly snaps in his hand.
He hums lowly, like you just told him your cat ran away.
“Damn. That’s… tragic."
You pause, watching him weirdly roll the broken pencil pieces in his fingers like it’s totally normal behavior.
“He was kind of a jerk though,” you mutter. “Still. That’s scary.”
Caleb finally looks at you, expression unreadable. “You’re not scared, though. Are you?”
“No, I mean-... I just think it’s messed up how-”
“It won’t happen to you.” He smiles softly. Reassuringly. Too reassuringly, like a porcelean mask risking a drop to the cold ground, knowing someone will catch it.
“I’d never let anyone hurt you like that. Never.” he squeezes your hand, but not too hard, almost afraid to hurt you.
You try to smile back. You don’t see the dried up bits of blood on his knuckles, or notice the bruise forming under his sleeves.
[He Explod]
[Yes.]
[Peak writint am i rifht or what]
[Yes i admit to being too lazy to recap on them reuniting, interrogation, homecoming wings chapter 1 and 2, blah blah, I'm just here to write and have fun shhhhh]
If you seriously don't know how they met again and reunited, i think it's best for you to play the game [or not, it's not my job to tell you that], and then read fanfiction to not get spoiled unless you just like it that way i guess. If you haven't actually played the game/watched playthroughs then it's maybe best you do that and then come back for the best experience. Have fun reaadingggggg <3/em>
You’re walking home with Caleb. It’s a quiet, peaceful night.
His hand is brushing against yours, the way he always does when he thinks you won’t notice. You’re just about to laugh at something he said when a guy suddenky steps out of the alley.
He's all grimy and sweaty, he’s holding a knife in his hand. His eyes crawl over you like cockroaches in a gas station bathroom. “Nice little thing you got there,” he spits. “Gimme the girl and I’ll forget it. Hell, I’ll even letcha take turns.”
Time stops. Did this fucker seriously offer taking turns assaulting you? Caleb goes still. Too still. He tilts his head back slightly. "Don't you dare say that.” His voice is quiet. So quiet. The guy laughs, like this is a game. So Caleb steps forward, slowly and deliberately as he says “Don’t ever say that shit again.”
“I hope hell has a special spot where the infernal burns hotter for little shits like you.” hearing this, the man lunges. Knife in hand. He goes for Caleb’s side—misses—and drives the blade into his arm instead. The left (right in his perspective so idk) one. The wrong one.There’s a terrible, mechanical screech as the knife drops to the ground, slightly dented. A flicker of metal beneath synthetic skin, bright fiery sparks fly off his arm.
Caleb blinks. Slowly. Like he’s disappointed yet amused at the sheer audacity of this thug. "Did you seriously think you could hurt me?” His voice drops an octave. Cold and threatening.
“Think fast, bitch.”
And then he detaches the entire cybernetic limb, swings it full force, and brings it crashing down into the guy’s skull with a wet, metallic crunch. Silence. Blood trickles between Caleb’s fingers as he clicks the arm back into place with a shunk. You can still feel the man’s voice crawling over your skin like rot. Caleb turns to you, chest heaving. He drops the arm beside the corpse.
He walks toward you with wide eyes. “Are you okay? Did he touch you? I should’ve stepped in sooner- fuck, I’m sorry–” You shake your head, choking back a sob. He pulls you into his arms. “He’ll never touch you again.”
“I promise. Not him. Not anyone.”His voice breaks a little, and then you realize he’s shaking too. He buries his face into your shoulder, “Sorry you had to see that, love," he presses a kiss to your forehead as if there isn't blood on his cheek, let alone literally killed a man in an alleyway.
“I just can’t stand when people try to touch what’s mine.”
You sit across from Caleb at a cozy corner café, it's a nice escape from what just happened no less than twenty minutes ago. It smells like burnt espresso and cinnamon. He’s all warm, soft-spoken, and gently swirling the cream into your coffee. “You okay, pipsqueak?" Caleb asks, his hand brushing against yours. “You’ve been quiet since earlier...” You nod. You’re trying to stay composed after what the fuck just happened. He smiles at you–a real smile, a smile that makes you forget the blood on his hands.
“I gotta use the bathroom,” he murmurs, kissing your knuckles. “Be right back in a bit, darling.” You watch him leave, but he doesn’t head toward the restroom, He walks straight out the back door. The alley’s silent now, save for the flies now attracted to the corpse. The man’s cold, limp body lies crumpled like discarded trash. Caleb exhales slowly as he rolls up his sleeves. He works methodically—Silently, Precisely, and efficiently. He uses a utility knife from under his pant legs, in a leg strap.
He cuts deep and unflinching into the corpse. "I told you hell had a place for you,” he mutters, gritting his teeth as he starts to discard whatever makes him recognizable as a human being, "But I’ll help you get there faster.” He removes the corpse's clothes, throws them into a dumpster, chops off the fucker's dick off, guts out his eyes–throws them onto the ground and crushes them with a wet squelch, now nothing but a red jelly on the cold ground and under his military boots.
He starts meticulously skinning the man and chopping him into pieces, then packing them in black bags, the bones in another and stomping on until they're broken shards and mixed in with the rest. He walks two blocks to a shady butcher’s back door—just in time for waste pickup. He drops them in—they're just pieces of meat now. Unrecognizable, and perfect for what he had done.
Grabbing some unemptied water bottles, he washes off most of the blood from the ground or at least diluting it for another day. Taking a deep and contented breath, he took some left over water and washed his bloody hands off, putting the knife back in his hidden leg strap and going back inside.
He heads back to your table and waves over the waiter for the check as he finishes up his slice of apple pie. "Sorry you had to wait, darling," he says, kissing your hand softly, "there was a line at the bathroom, but that doesn't matter now, I'll pay, and we can head over to my place, okay? I wanna make you feel welcome in Skyhaven after all,"
Back at home, it’s been too quiet, with the silence now being heavier than the murder. The bystanding guilt sinks into your bones the second the door clicks shut behind you. You try to speak, but the words knot in your throat. Caleb notices. Of course he does. Like he always does.
He says nothing at first. Just walks over slowly and places a warm hand on your waist, his thumb lovingly stroking gentle circles into your side.
“You’re shaking.” His voice is barely above a whisper. "What..? I.. I am?" You look down at your shaking hands, barely registering your tremor as he pointed it out to you, “You didn’t even flinch when he first tried to grab you. But now…?” He pulls you close. “Now it’s hitting you.” he kisses you, but not roughly, not urgently, but softly, in a way that's steady, and anchoring. One kiss, then two, and then more. Until your lungs forget what fear feels like and breathes him in like he's the oxygen you need to live and survive with. You both shed off your clothes, fumbling with belt loops and zippers as Caleb's eyes hover over your body and his eyes now searching yours.
“Look me in the eyes, darling.” His hands run up your arms, firm but never forceful, almost reverent as he brings his hand up to your chin, making you look him in the eyes. “I’m here. You’re here. That man was nothing.” he grabs some lube from the bedside drawer, pouring a generous amount onto his fingers and hand as he plunges two inside you, "Just getting you ready, don't want you to bleed onto my cock after all, I want you to feel good, not feel pain, darling...♡" he said as he stretched your tight heat to accommodate his fingers, slipping in another as he elicits a moan from your lips, driving him further as he pulls his fingers out, a wet squelch coming out along with it, He pulls his fingers to his mouth, groaning in pleasure at the taste of your slick. His voice grows lower, slower, with more gravitas. He strokes himself a few times, getting ready to enter you.
"Fuck...~" He slowly slides into you, working himself inside inch by agonizing inch. "You’re safe now…”
"Ngh~..♡ hah.. Ahh... C-Caleb..~"
“Shh.. Eyes on me…” He says it again when your breath hitches. Again when your eyes flutter shut too long. “Eyes on me, love. That’s it. You’re doing so well… Such a good girl..." he rolls his hips again, pistoning in and out of you deliberately, wringing out every drop of pleasure from your body as he slowly and carefully works you up to your orgasm.
"You're taking me in so well... how.. Ngh-~ amazing," He’s grounding you with his body, his warmth, his love, and his sex—twisted as it may be. But it’s real. You’re not thinking about blood anymore. Only him and how he's making you feel, and fuck, does it feel so right to be in his arms again.
"You don’t have to be strong anymore... Let me.. hah.. be your.. shield..." he says, picking up the pace as his thrusts double in speed, burying himself to the hilt of his shaft as his tip slams against your cervix, making stars explode behind your eyelids in pure ecstasy, your orgasm imminent as almost immediately, your inner walls spasmed and clenched adound him like a vice, coming undone around him as he groaned loudly, his hips slamming against your own until he buried himself deep inside you as he rode the waves of his own orgasm, coming hard and fast as he filled the condom with his seed, staying buried deep inside your cunt. "Fuck... I needed this..." he mumbled, tucking some of your hair from your face behind your ear, his eyes flickering around you features as if wanting to memorize it and keep it locked away for himself in his heart.
"It's only us now, he giggled darkly, feigning innocence and amusement, "It's only us now..." he repeated once more, a crazed yet obsessive look in his eyes. "Just you and me, forever." He whispered into your ear, his breath hot on your skin as he inhaled the sweet and soft perfume on your neck with an intensity– no, a need for you and only you, his violet eyes deep and dark with devotion and love.
“Let the whole world burn, so long as you’re still breathing beside me and waking up in my sheets..." he started peppering hot, open-mouthed kisses on your neck, sucking and biting on the tender skin leaving dark hickeys in their wake. "It'd be cruel if I kept you locked up in here, but then you'd be all mine... Oh, the things we can do..." it was in this moment you realized that the sweet boy you knew, the caring man you love, and everything you've grown to love about Caleb was a front. This man wants everyone that gets close to you dead. No matter the cost, he needed you to be his in the most wholesome and depraved ways. But it's too late to even say anything. What's been done has been done, and you're already in love with this tender monster.
"I..."
"Yes, darling?
"... I love you, Caleb."
"Me too, pipsqueak, me too," he says, planting a soft kiss on your head as you nuzzle into his chest like its the warmth keeping you alive outside in a blizzard.
"I wish I could stay this way forever, darling... would you like that? Just me and you... we could get married, have two kids... buy a nice house... Gosh, I can't wait for you to be the mother of my children..." he says, fantasizing about a future with you, his eyes hazy in a domestic delusion as he held you close.
"I'll make this nightmare end. I promise. You don't have to fear me, I won't hurt anyone unless I find a reason to. Got it?"
"Got it."
"Alright, well, I think it's time to clean you up, huh pipsqueak? Bet you're aching in all the right spots after that..." he said, trailing his hands up your inner thigh after he had pulled out, already taking off the condom and throwing it away. "I'll run a bath for you, okay darling? Be right back." He walks off to the bathroom, turning on the bath as the hot water ran loudly into the tub, bath salts desolving in the warm fluid as caleb lit a few candles and turned off the lights. He tied a towel low on his hips, planning to get dressed some time later. Soon as the tub filled to the desired height, he turned off the tap and walked back to your bedside, scooping you up with ease as he brought you to the bathtub, putting you in like a porcelean doll with the most careful care he could put in you.
"As much as I'd love to join you, pipsqueak, I'm kinda way too tall for this.. There's no way we'd both fit lying down in the tub without compromising your comfort... Maybe when your legs feel better we could shower together?" He offers, trying to change the subject to a possible think to look forward to. "Anyways, how long are you planning to bathe? I'm getting dinner ready, your favorite---braised chicken, so I'll check up on you in ten, 'kay?" he says smiling at you as he softly closes the bathroom door, the door clicking shut as he let go of the handle--not locked of course. He wouldn't ever dare compromise your trust or safety.
[End of chapter for now!]
Just wait for his food and wash up while I cook you lil freaks another few chapters (edit: nvm I think I enjoy the one-shot life.) <3
Comment suggestions if I got something wrong, or anything you request/want for any next fics! Have a nice day/night, ♡