#either show me you're enjoying the compliments or be visibly weirded out by them but reacttttttttt

[kirbymybeloved]

I'm not tired of men but god am I tired of having to deal with the standard issues that occur when liking them

[daddy-deathslinger]

Hello! I hope you're doing good :) I was hoping to make a request for Caleb x fem!reader where they're friends, and Caleb would like more. So he's making flirtatious/suggestive comments but they just go over her head because even though her English is very good it's not her first language (plus different time periods and location), and Caleb is confused and amused at first, but then just frustrated. Thank you ♥️

Ahoy! This was such a sweet scenario, I had a good time writing it, thank you! Hope you're doing awesome! ❤️

"Why didn't you tell me?" - Caleb Quinn/The Deathslinger x Fem!Reader

"Are you feeling alright?"

Caleb scoffed at the question, placing his Redeemer on the bar and sitting down next to you.

"I just brutally murdered four teenagers, and you're asking me if I'm alright?"

He looked at you with a smile he didn't hope came off too cocky, but you just shrugged and gave him a slight smile.

"I know the Entity punishes you if you... perform badly. Just wanted to make sure..."

You returned your attention to the clothes you were currently mending by hand, inserting the needle into the fabric to carefully drag the thread through.

"Trust me", Caleb said, stretching out his leg to relieve some pain. "If I was bein' punished right now, you wouldn't be here."

He cast a glance over at you, but all you did was hum in acknowledgement at this remark. Caleb felt a small sting of frustration at this. For weeks, he'd had feelings for you. Deeper feelings than friendship. Him being an old gump who'd never really cared for anyone besides himself, before he'd met you in this wretched place, he had no idea how to show his feelings towards you. He'd tried being extra nice towards you, without making it too obvious at first, but as you hadn't seemed to notice his change in behavior at all, he'd upped his pace a bit. He'd started to give you little compliments when he saw fit, about your hair, your hands, even your laughter. But you still didn't seem to catch on. You always smiled that friendly smile and you showed that you enjoyed his company, but Caleb felt like you didn't understand that he wanted more. Or maybe you just didn't feel the same way for him. Of course, that thought had entered his mind many times. After all, why would you feel any certain way about someone like him?

"Don't you ever feel... weird, about me killing yer friends and all?"

You looked up at Caleb, meeting his questioning gaze with something that resembled sadness. Caleb started wondering if maybe he shouldn't have asked that, and cursed himself for his stupidity, but to his surprise you answered:

"Not all of them are my friends. Some have done terrible things in the past."

Caleb let out a surprised hum, waiting for you to continue, but your gaze quickly turned warm as you gave him a little smile.

"Better to have few friends, but good ones, than be surrounded by false ones. Right?"

Caleb gave you a curious look, then returned the smile.

"True that, Y/N."

Damn, that smile of yours made him melt on the spot. He felt so ridiculous falling head over heels for you, not even knowing if you felt the same. That's a fool-proof way to get your heart broken.

"There, patched up once again!" you suddenly declared, lifting up the shirt you had worked on and folding it on the bar counter in front of you.

Caleb gave you a thumbs up and was about to get up to make himself a drink, but as he caught you eyeing him, he decided to stay put.

"What's the matter, doe-eye?" he asked, instantly kicking himself mentally for the stupid nickname.

You just studied him, seemingly pondering over something, and if Caleb wasn't mistaken, he thought he could see your gaze trailing towards his... chest?

"Would you mind if- I mean..." you stuttered, eyes darting up to Caleb's face and then down to his chest area again.

Caleb felt a tingle in his stomach, feeling a grin spread on his face. He turned his body towards you on the chair, discreetly straightening his back and pushing out his chest a bit.

"What's on yer mind, doll?"

To his wicked triumph, he could see you starting to blush.

"Y-You're allowed to say not, but.... I was just wondering, since I've got some extra thread left, if maybe you'd let me... fix those ugly holes in your shirt once and for all?"

Caleb blinked a couple of times in confusion. He looked down on his chest, eyeing the small holes in his shirt.

"Oh", he said, feeling a bit stupid. "Well, I... It's really not that big of a deal to me, but..."

"Please?" you gave him a pleading smile that relit the tingles in his stomach. "It's a really beautiful shirt, I'd hate to see it ruined."

Now it was Caleb's turn to feel his face heat up a bit. Stupid old gump, he thought you had other things in mind, but now that he considered it, letting you mend his shirt wouldn't be too bad either. He chuckled at your pleading face, and removed his duster coat and tossed it on the floor. Seeing your face light up with happiness was already worth it.

"It won't take long, I promise!" you said, scooching your chair closer to his and gripping the needle and thread.

"That's alright", Caleb assured you, trying hard to force away his wide smile. "Ain't nothin' wrong with a bit of pampering now and then."

He watched as you threaded the needle and leaned in towards his chest, a concentrated look on your beautiful face. As your warm hands touched his chest, Caleb couldn't stop himself from gasping quietly.

"I-I'm sorry!" you exclaimed, a worried look on your face as your eyes darted up to meet his. "Did I-"

"You're fine!" Caleb chuckled, shaking his head and cursing himself for being so skittish.

"It's just, these holes have been bugging me for quite some time..."

You trailed off and got to work, your nimble fingers quickly gathering the shirt and starting to thread the needle through the fabric. Caleb hoped to the gods that you couldn't feel his trembling heart as your hands were placed steadily on his chest while you worked. If you could, you didn't show it, your face not changing from it's concentrated state during the whole process. Caleb tried to keep calm, not thinking about how great it felt to have you touch him. How much he longed for your hands to trail around his chest, hug him tightly as you looked up at his face and met his gaze...

"Ah!"

"Shit, fuck, I'm so sorry!"

You had accidentally poked his skin with your needle, and as Caleb had jumped in surprise, the needle had poked even deeper.

"I-I'm so sorry, Caleb, shit, I'm so nervous working on someone else, I-" you stuttered, visibly embarrassed, but Caleb grabbed your hands quickly and squeezed them before he had time to think about what he was doing.

"Hey, Y/N, it's alright", he smiled, meeting your gaze.

The tingle in his stomach was a full on fire by now, and he wanted nothing more than to kiss you. But he couldn't, he mustn't, so he released your hands and quickly looked away with an embarrassed scoff. He felt you hesitate for a couple of seconds, before you got back to work on his shirt.

"It's almost finished", you assured him, the tone of your voice hard to read.

And soon enough, too soon, Caleb felt you retract from his chest. He dared look back at you as you put away the needle and he glanced down to study your work.

"My, I haven't had a shirt lookin' this nice in ages!" he declared, feeling the shirt where your fingers had patched up the holes.

He met your gaze, and you gave him a wide smile.

"Pleasure's all mine", you said.

"If only I could repay you some way..." Caleb smirked, but to his immense disappointment you just gave him a slightly confused look.

"It's alright, really", you said, still giving him that clueless smile as you moved to push your chair back to it's place.

That was the last straw for Caleb.

"Alright, I give up!" he growled in frustration, throwing his hands up in the air in defeat. "I don't know how y'all court these days but clearly I ain't fit for it! Can't believe I was this stupid..."

He muttered and turned away from you, feeling too embarrassed to look at you. He felt your confused gaze at him, and he wished he could just sink through the floor.

"Court?" you asked, and Caleb buried his face in his hands with a sigh. "W-What does food have to do with any of this?"

At this, Caleb looked back up from his hands, and then at you. "What?"

He narrowed his eyes in disbelief at you, but you just stared at him in growing confusion. A confusion that Caleb certainly mirrored by now.

"What do you mean?" he asked, and you shook your head with raised eyebrows.

"What do you mean?" you returned.

Caleb blinked a couple of times, then shook his head in a bewildered manner.

"I-I... Christ, Y/N", he said, turning towards you in an attempt to clear this mess up. "I like you, alright? You know that?"

To his frustration, you just blinked at him.

"I like you too, Caleb, what do you mean?"

Caleb growled and dragged his hand over his face, knowing that he might as well make the biggest fool out of himself now. He had nothing to loose, he was already looking so stupid.

"I'm in love with you, alright?" he spat out, waving his hands as to signal it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I love you, Y/N!"

He met your gaze, hoping for a quick response, but when he couldn't read your face, he decided to give up.

"Christ's sake..." he muttered, feeling his heart drop in his chest.

He got up from his chair and bent down to pick up his duster coat from the floor. Just as he was about to grab his Redeemer and walk out from the saloon, you called his name.

"Caleb!"

He stopped in his tracks, looking at you. A wide grin had taken over your face, a grin unlike any other he'd ever seen you have. You exclaimed something in a foreign language, and then jumped up from your chair.

"Caleb, I love you too! Why haven't you told me earlier?"

Now it was Caleb's turn to stare in confusion at you. You laughed, that amazing laughter that sent him flying high, and he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Why haven't I... Why, I oughta...!"

In one quick move, he'd embraced you tightly in his arms, and you laughed again as he hugged you as close as he'd wanted to for so long. Retracting to look at you, he met your joyful gaze and stroked your hair carefully.

"You're one mysterious thing, you", he chuckled, and you giggled as you carefully moved in for a kiss.

Caleb was more than happy to return the kiss.