#this was in my drafts for a while but my powers been out for a week

[airosuiren]

𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔒𝔫𝔢𝔰 𝔚𝔥𝔬 𝔑𝔬𝔱𝔦𝔠𝔢𝔡 𝔗𝔬𝔬 𝔏𝔞𝔱𝔢

A/N: Okay, so… You ever walk into a room where you were once unwanted, and every head turns because suddenly you’re everything they’re not? Yeah. That’s this chapter. 😌 This one’s for the readers who’ve leveled up in silence. Who were counted out too early, who walked out of the fire looking dangerous instead of damaged. This is [Y/N] stepping back into the space that broke them—and not breaking this time. Let’s be clear: this isn’t a reunion. This is a revelation. Grab your tea. Let’s shake a few foundations.

Thank You @arislia for this Idea!

And I'm sorry for not making this longer because I had this planned (I plan my series in google docs after tumblr deleted my old drafts). These will be shorter BUT, the next series I promise to make it longer!

𝔓𝔞𝔯𝔱 1

You weren’t supposed to stand out. That’s the irony. You had trained yourself to be unseen, unheard, unfelt—because the moment you started to feel, you started to hurt.

But when the League summoned their families to a secure location, the world you built in the shadows was forced into the light.

You arrived alone.

Lois had offered to fly with you. Clark had said they’d wait at the entrance. But you declined. You wanted them to see you walk in under your own power. No crutches. No borrowed names. Just you.

When you stepped through those doors, the reaction was immediate.

The Queens lit up like someone had flipped a switch. Ollie pulled you in for a hug, Thea waved you over, and even Dinah looked proud. Clark’s face softened. Lois’s arm went straight around your shoulder like it belonged there.

And the Batfamily?

They stared.

Not with joy. Not even with confusion.

They stared like you were a ghost. Like they were seeing something they’d buried come back to life and demand retribution.

You didn’t smile. You didn’t greet them. You turned away from them the way they once turned away from you.

Because if they wanted to pretend you never mattered, then they didn’t get to matter now.

Still, their eyes followed you.

And then the meetings started.

The League began dissecting the threat. Hackers. Leakers. Global-scale blackmail. Someone had infiltrated systems that were supposed to be airtight. It wasn’t just about identities anymore. It was about dismantling everything.

You knew how the media would spin it. You knew how Gotham’s elite would react. And most of all, you knew how fear worked when it had the public in a chokehold.

So you spoke.

You laid out a counter-strategy like you’d done it a thousand times. Because you had. In Metropolis. In Star City. Behind the scenes of political campaigns and corporate power moves. You’d sharpened your teeth while the people who threw you away forgot you even had a bite.

The room listened.

Clark deferred to you. Lois backed you. Oliver vouched for you.

Bruce stayed silent.

But you caught the flicker in his expression when the others nodded along. When Diana praised your foresight. When J’onn said you understood humanity better than most.

The others? Dick tried to pretend he wasn’t surprised. Tim’s stare was surgical, dissecting you in real time. Damian looked like he’d bitten glass.

And the new girl? She finally looked at you.

With fear.

You weren’t the quiet reject anymore. You were something else. Something dangerous. Something they didn’t make—and couldn’t control.

Later, in private, Alfred brought you tea. You almost cried at the gesture.

Almost.

He said nothing about the past. Just, “You’ve grown.”

You wanted to scream, I had to.

But you just nodded.

The truth was, they needed you now. And you were going to help. Not because they deserved it.

Because the world did.

And even in the darkest parts of you, that mattered more than revenge.

But they would never forget this version of you.

Not the one they raised.

The one they abandoned.

The one who rose anyway.

𝕭𝖔𝖓𝖚𝖘! (𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙳𝚊𝚢 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝙻𝚎𝚏𝚝)

(this is kind of a bonus I thought of while writing...)

It had been late. Quiet.

The kind of quiet that seeped into your bones. The kind of quiet that made your footsteps echo like they didn’t belong.

You were fourteen. Maybe fifteen. You don’t remember the exact age—only the feeling. Raw. Unseen. On the edge of breaking.

Your ribs ached. Your shoulder throbbed. You’d taken a hit meant for Damian—an instinct, not even a choice—and landed hard on a rooftop ledge. Rolled too close to the edge. Limped all the way back. No call of concern. No one on comms. No “Are you okay?” Just silence.

It should’ve earned you a lecture at worst.

Instead, it earned you her.

The new girl.

Barely two weeks in.

Bright. Perfect. Adored.

You limped into the Batcave, helmet tucked under your arm, dried blood crusted over your eyebrow. You expected quiet, maybe concern, maybe just the acknowledgment that you existed.

What you got?

Laughter.

She was in your seat. At the computer. Wearing your gear.

The armor you'd trained in. The one Alfred helped custom-fit after months of trials. The one you’d stitched, cried in, bled into.

And she wore it like it had never belonged to you at all.

Tim leaned over her shoulder, pointing something out on the screen. Damian hovered close behind. Dick was saying something about how “clean” she moved in the field.

And Bruce?

Didn’t even look up.

You stood there, waiting. Expecting. Begging, in that small, desperate way you told yourself you’d outgrown.

Then, finally—his eyes flicked toward you.

And his voice cut through the cave like a scalpel.

“You’re benched. Permanently.”

Just like that. Like a weather report. Like an afterthought. Like you were a dented weapon tossed in a drawer.

You opened your mouth—“But—”—

And then Alfred was there.

With a tray.

Tea and towels. The same ritual. The same script.

But this time, he didn’t meet your eyes.

Not once.

You watched him walk past you like a ghost.

And then—then—came the final blow.

The girl in your gear turned to Bruce, tilting her head with practiced innocence.

“Was I a mistake too?” she asked softly.

A test. You knew it was a test. A way to secure her place. But you didn’t expect the knife that followed.

Bruce didn’t even hesitate.

“No,” he said. “But she was.”

He didn’t mean for you to hear it.

But you did.

And the sound it made in your chest wasn’t a crack. It was a shatter.

You stood there for maybe another full minute.

No one turned. No one asked you to stay. No one noticed the way your fingers curled so tightly around your helmet that the edge dug into your palm and drew blood.

You went to your room. Packed your gear. One piece at a time.

You stood in the center of that tiny space—bland walls, no posters, a bed that had never felt like yours—and realized you’d been living in a house, not a home.

You left the suit on the bed.

Left the tracker on the desk.

Left your voice in the hallway.

And shut the door behind you.

You never opened it again.

A/N: Whew. They called the meeting to fix a crisis—and walked into their biggest one yet: the ghost they buried came back golden, angry, and smarter than all of them combined. And let’s talk about that power shift. She didn’t gloat. She didn’t lash out. She just existed loudly in the place that tried to erase her. And they couldn’t handle it. This wasn’t revenge. This was justice with restraint. Power without apology. Presence that didn’t ask for permission. Next chapter? Let’s make them earn the right to say your name again.

—Your eyes-still-wet, hands-still-shaking, soft-but-spiteful author 🖤💫

Taglist: @feral-childs-word, @trashlanternfish360, @astro-girly1, @suneaterscape, @thatcatladywrites, @arislia, @kittzu, @ottjhe, @tinybrie, @wpdarlingpan, @ryuushou, @simpingpandas, @lettucel0ver, @moonxmio, @kneelforloki, @sirenetheblogger, @xzmickeyzx

Let me know if I missed someone!

[eveemclangly]

And Still, Sun

adult content: 18+ MDNI

pairing: caleb x reader

summary: You wanted him to consume you, to be honest. At this point, after everything you’ve been through together, you could say that you’ve long since passed Caleb’s event horizon, even if you didn’t want to admit it to yourself. The point of no return was behind you, and now you gravitate toward him eternally, and you feel like you’re being inexorably sucked into him.

themes: Fluff and Angst Angst with a Happy Ending Sharing a Bed Light Dom/sub First Time Blow Jobs Rough Sex Oral Sex Mutual Masturbation Fluff and Smut Hurt/Comfort Emotional Hurt/Comfort Emotional Manipulation Possessive Caleb Romantic Fluff I'm obsessed with Caleb First Kiss Porn With Plot Original Character(s) MC have a name no beta reading

word count: 21k

evee's note: hello! this is my first LaDS fanfiction and also my first smutt! be gentle <3

It’s the middle of summer now, and the heat is clinging to your skin, making everything uncomfortable. It’s even worse now because, oddly enough, the power in Caleb’s apartment went out while Skyhaven was having a ridiculously heavy downpour, and you can’t help but complain about missing the air conditioning, uselessly waving your hand in front of your face, and cracking open the only manual window in the kitchen in an attempt to catch a measly gust of wind.

You lean on the counter to open the window and feel only a momentary coolness, since the kitchen opened onto a sheltered space in the middle of the building's structure, preventing the draft from circulating. The freshly washed dishes from yet another solitary lunch rested next to the sink, and now you regret not having dried and put everything away in the cupboard so you could sit on the counter and enjoy the coolness of the black marble.

Your sweat shorts are already rolled up and bunched up to the max on your thighs, squeezing the soft flesh there, and your shirt, which is actually one of Caleb's old, oversized shirts you find at the laundromat, falls off your bare shoulder, exposing your sweaty neck.

You release your long hair from its messy bun, only to impatiently pin it back up in an attempt to gather all the short strands at the nape of your neck. Your bare feet tap against the kitchen floor, and you walk back into the living room, stopping in front of the double doors that lead out to Caleb's private helipad.

Being a colonel in the Deep Space Fleet certainly had its perks, but what good were they when you couldn't use air conditioning because the power was out or have an apartment with normal windows to open during the summer? You reach for the handle of the balcony door, too tempted to open it and let the wind caress your feverish skin, but the wind, the thunder, and the bright flashes that crawl across the sky make you jump in fright at the noise.

The glass vibrates slightly as thunder rumbles in the distance, and you hope it doesn't start to thunder any more than that because, honestly, you're terrified of the sound of thunder. Especially when you're alone like this in a place that wasn't your home, despite Caleb's efforts to make it seem like this apartment was your home too.

You sigh, more irritated than before because of the heat, and now more worried because the summer storm seemed to be getting stronger by the minute. You tilt your head, looking through the glass, hoping to see Caleb's aircraft pierce the dark, dense clouds, and land gently in the courtyard, but even for Caleb, and all his ego as being one of the best pilots, flying during a turbulent storm like this and, especially, landing on his apartment's private helipad, could be risky, so you hope he really doesn't do it, despite wanting him to come back soon before the sky completely collapses on top of you.

You've been alone in Skyhaven for eight days now and there's not much to do other than wander around the sights by yourself, sink into the leather couch while randomly flipping through channels on the TV, finishing reports Jenna sent you, and checking your phone every few minutes in hopes of seeing a text from Caleb flash across the screen.

Even when you send four messages – because if you sent more than that, it might seem too obsessive even to him – he doesn't receive them when he's away.

You know he's in the Deep Space Tunnel performing routine missions and monitoring abnormal Metaflux fluctuations, and regular phones don't get a signal there. And even when he reassures you that there's no hostile activity in your mission area, you can't help but be concerned when the last Wanderer seen there was one of those who really gives even your fleet a hard time.

Sweat drips down your temple, pools and trickles down your spine and into the valley between your breasts, and you run your hand there to wipe away the moisture. This happens more often than necessary. You’re already too disturbed by the heat creeping up your neck and clinging to your skin, and you simply pull your shirt—his shirt—over your shoulders, toss it on the floor next to the couch, and sigh as a distinct breeze that you don’t know where it’s coming from caresses your skin pleasantly.

You're only wearing your top, which is a tight black bandeau covering your breasts, and you ponder for a moment whether you should just stand there naked since you're alone, and there's no chance of anyone spying on you through the huge windows on the 29th floor even if it was a bright summer day.

You're about to pull your top up with your hand when a hacking cough interrupts you. You barely think and jump back, using all your trained hunter reflexes, slapping your hands on your thighs as if to grab your weapons from their holsters, only to find nothing, and turn towards the suspicious noise with a groan and a burning sensation on the skin of your thigh.

First, you see a tall shadow walking slowly, leaning against the wall, and then you see the soft glow reflected off Caleb's uniform insignia and his cap. You frown in confusion, barely thinking about how your guard was down because you barely heard the front door alarm, much less heard his military boots thump against the floorboards.

"Caleb?" You ask, still a little uncertain even though you know it was him, deep in the shadows of the room.

“Calm down, it’s me.” He groans dramatically as he sees your attack position standing in the middle of the room. “I’ve climbed 28 flights of stairs, wait for me to catch my breath before you jump on me.” He replies. His voice was playful, though it almost disappeared between breaths. “I’m about to die of dehydration!” He continues dramatically, throwing his cap somewhere and walking over to you, collapsing on the soft couch.

"What?" You blink, still confused. "You climbed 28 flights of stairs now? Why?" The obvious question escapes your mouth and you grimace at him as he looks at you unbuttoning the top button of your shirt.

There’s irritation and tiredness in his voice, but he answers with a smile on his face nonetheless. “There’s no power anywhere.” He explains, loosening the tight tie around his neck. “No power, no elevators, no locked doors, smartass.”

"Oh…" You grimace as you think about how dangerous this could be since no one knew there was an unknown woman in the Fleet Colonel's apartment – the same one who was identified as being clandestinely infiltrated in your squadron weeks ago.

You push the thought away when something different comes to mind and take the opportunity to question him. “But how did you get here, weren’t you in the tunnel?” Your voice becomes thick, and you mentally reprimand him, feeling the table next to you for your cell phone. The communication network was now offline, and the last message you exchanged was from eight days ago, along with a warning from the civil defense for storm warnings, and possible electromagnetic storm for that night.

“Ah… that explains a lot.” You whisper to yourself. “You still should have let me know! I could have met you as soon as you got back and we could have gone out to eat.” You say quietly and he nods at you.

He laughs humorlessly. “Then it would be the two of us climbing 28 flights of stairs. No chance, pips, besides…”

You interrupt Caleb. “But you still haven’t answered my question, why didn’t you tell me sooner? Unless you guys just docked at the hangar… but wasn’t it raining so much? How did you land?” You frown in doubt and hear Caleb sigh deeply as you pepper him with questions.

"Tsk… so many questions. I was going to say… we landed yesterday." He says, unbuttoning the top row of buttons on his uniform and sighs, looking at you from the corner of his eye. "At night." He adds quickly when he sees you step forward to position yourself, and block whatever it was you threw at him.

"You!" You stepped on your shirt – which is his shirt – that was on the floor, and pulled it with your foot only to throw it with all your strength as if it would blow a hole in his head. "Why didn't you tell me you were here?!" You shouted, irritated, and his laughter bubbled in your chest.

Even though you were relieved with his safe return, you didn't feel like giving Caleb many more chances to explain himself since he "came back to life", but you also didn't want to pressure him even more to tell you all his secrets and recount his every move.

You had faith that he would tell you all the reasons that caused his absence in the last eight months when it was safe for the two of you, after all, the one in front of you, with the sweetest and most beautiful smile you had ever seen, was Caleb, although he seemed like another person at times.

Caleb had always been like the sun, and you always, always gravitated towards him, searching for the light and warmth he gave off just to feel safe, to feel like you were walking in the right direction. But that had been changing ever since the day you stepped foot in Skyhaven and found this Caleb, lukewarm, seemingly lifeless, but who lived for you. It irritated you because you had proven yourself capable of living without him.

With his “death,” you had to learn to chart your own course in life. There was no longer a star for you to gravitate toward, and it made you feel adrift in space for the first time in your life since you were a child. Of course, your grandmother - the woman who raised you together when she adopted you - had always helped you too, but Caleb had always been your compass and your north star, never failing to protect and guide you.

His return, however, left you feeling suffocated in a way. You were more than grateful that he was here by your side, safe and sound – as far as you could tell. But this Caleb, Colonel Caleb Xia, seemed to be something – someone – that he had always been. His dark, threatening, cold and calculating side had always lurked on the surface, but his light had always been too bright for you to see the darkness on the other side. And realizing this made you hate him and push him away – or so you thought you were doing. But it was the other way around.

And then there was Caleb Xia. Your Caleb Xia. The one you loved. The one who was your sunshine on a summer day, your sunshine for all seasons. The Caleb who held your weakened heart in his hands so carefully. The one who looked at you with boyish eyes, the one who looked at you with eyes familiar from a thousand lives past, the one who guided you and protected you through the darkest days of your lives in the shelter.

And now, the thought that anything, even a stupid summer storm, could take him away from you again, and leave you alone in the darkness of the world, made your stomach twist in a sickening way. You hadn’t even been able to deal with his “first death.” The grief was still fresh in your mind, and it still ached in your bones and poisoned your heart. The thought of going through that again, for whatever reason, would be the end of you.

Irritated by the thought that crept into your mind, you stepped on his foot like a petulant child and threw yourself down next to him on the couch, only to see him smile like he did even when you disturbed him. And there it was.

He groaned a naughty curse, and you saw the most beautiful smile drawn on the corner of his lip, too used to your irritable way, especially when something was really bothering you, or when you couldn't control the situation the way you wanted. That was your Caleb Xia.

Your heart pounded. It pounded like it was going to fly out of your mouth with happiness. But for now, you held it precariously, trying to keep it safe in your own chest.

At least for now.

You sighed as a comfortable silence formed between you. He settled back on the couch and finished unbuttoning the second row of inner buttons on his uniform, letting out a sigh of relief and standing up to take it off, tossing the jacket over the arm of the couch. He sat back down beside you, your sweat-sticky arms brushing against each other.

That sent a nervous jolt through your body, torn between continuing to pretend your mood had soured, and suddenly becoming aware of how the muscles in his defined arms glistened softly under the emergency light on the wall outside.

You mentally cursed yourself to where your thoughts were floating. Evee, stop it! You thought getting agitated next to him.

Unfazed and accustomed to your less-than-obvious scrutiny, he stretched his legs out in front of him and pulled his arms up, relaxing the abdominal muscles that were still visible through the tight white t-shirt on his form.

“How long has the power been out?” He asked, and you jumped a little in fright as a clap of thunder sounded close enough to raise the hairs on the back of your neck. That made him look closely at you for the first time since he’d stepped foot inside.

You bit your lip as you felt Caleb's gaze burn into you, taking in your small figure, and you turned your face towards the window away from his gaze, watching the mass of grey cloud cut through the building like a knife. It felt like you had been without power for several hours because of how quickly the heat escalated in there, but in reality it hadn't been more than an hour yet, which was a little worrying.

If it was unbearable when you were alone in there, adding another person to the equation could be even worse. You groaned, throwing your head back, hitting the headrest, and he imitated you, glancing at the side of your shadowed face as he waited for you to answer. "It can't be more than an hour, really, but it's so hot it feels like it's been like this all day."

He nodded at you, looking at the silent air conditioning unit in the room. “Uhm… I’ll try to find out what happened and when the power is expected to come back on, just wait.”

He spoke a minute later when you didn't offer him anything else, as if you were ignoring him, or if his presence was still too much for you. He knew you were still hurt by him and he accepted your feelings without question. He didn't force you to be with him, or even to talk to him when you were silent for a long time.

The couch seat moved as he stood up, and you turned your face to look at his slender form walking slowly towards the door only to stop halfway and bend down to the floor, picking up something you couldn’t identify. You leaned forward, resting your elbows on your knees and tilted your head to the side, trying to peek at what had made him stop in his tracks. “Caleb?”

Even in the darkness, you saw Caleb’s shoulders rise and fall, relaxing. Your heightened hearing also heard the deep breath he took before he turned to you and tossed a damp cloth into your lap. “Have you been going through my things all day? If you messed up my drawers, you’re going to have to clean them up.” He said, his voice slightly playful. “Smells like candy and citrus, huh? I’ll be right back.”

Your mouth opened to protest whatever came to mind, but nothing came out when you realized that Caleb was sniffing his own shirt - which now smelled like you. The smell of sweat, because that was all you had on now. You felt your cheeks flush and no doubt felt your body temperature burn even more at the implication.

He was certainly mocking you and with a silent prayer, you grabbed his shirt and sniffed it deeply as you watched him stop again next to the couch, grab his cell phone from his jacket pocket and walk to the kitchen.

First, you smell his distinctive scent lingering on your shirt: fresh and earthy, like a forest after a rain. Then you smell the citrus scent of your own sweat. Passion fruit with a hint of floral and sweetness. How lucky you were to have taken a long shower with the soap he bought for you the last time you went to the grocery store together.

That made you self-conscious, and you shoved your warm blouse back down your arms when you remembered you were only wearing your top that was nothing more than a thin strip covering your breasts and a small shorts.

You chuckled. It wasn’t like Caleb, or even you, hadn’t seen a bit of extra skin on each other before, of course you had. You’d venture to say you’d seen a lot more than he had, though, especially when he was on the basketball team and would often let his jersey hang halfway down his stomach, exposing his toned abs and his v-line disappearing beneath the seam of his basketball shorts, giving you room to imagine.

The memory made you mentally curse yourself as you watched him pace back and forth with his cell phone slung over his shoulder, talking to someone – probably asking about the power outage and when it was expected to come back on.

Caleb has always had a defined physique, and you've found yourself enjoying the view whenever you can, just because he's really good looking. Hot as hell, if you needed to define it now. But ever since he went to the DAA, and joined the Deep Space Fleet, he seemed different, not only in personality, but also physically.

He looked bulkier from his grueling workouts, and his muscles were definitely more defined than they used to be. On the days when you two had free time together, you couldn’t help but enjoy watching him bustling around the kitchen, making your favorite dish while wearing those thin, comfortable clothes that hugged his delicious form.

You remember noticing how the dog tag necklace - the same one you’d given him twice - now rested on his defined chest, and how the chain fell between his collarbones. Or how his hair was slightly more tousled at the nape of his neck, making you want to stroke it there with your fingertips, or how his biceps looked so much stronger and more defined, making you want to bite them and lick them and…

"Hey, Evee, did the heat melt your brain?" He asks turning to you, the emergency light shadowing his features in the darkness of the room.

It takes you a second too long to answer him, and he smirks when he catches you staring at his form almost blatantly. He turns completely to face you, casually lifting his shirt halfway up his stomach to scratch it. To tease you.

And there it was. You pout and feel your mouth water as light and shadow dance across the skin of his defined abs, slightly shiny with sweat, and the muscles in his arms flex as he reaches up to stretch.

“I said we probably won’t have power for the next hours. The electromagnetic storm affected some of the modules, and half of the floating island is offline, but they’re already trying to get it back up.” He repeats, throwing his phone on the table and then walking to the couch again, collapsing next to it. “It’s so hot in here…”

“Oh.” You frown in concern. From what you knew, Skyhaven was a fortress prepared for these kinds of cosmic events, but you never knew how strong its defenses would be to withstand such events. “Will this last the whole night? Could we sleep in the pool maybe?” You suggest with a chuckle.

“Sure, that’s an excellent idea, pips.” He says, unbuttoning the top button of his pants and it makes an alarm go off in your head as he lets out a teasing chuckle. “Let’s go now.”

“I—I was joking!” You rush to say, dazed, and think of something else to say. “I’m saying this because… I was feeling a little dizzy from the heat… we can’t open the door or the windows because of all this wind and rain, so…”

You feel him drag his legs across the couch and the next second, his large hand is hovering over your sweaty forehead. “What the– Caleb?!”

“Still not feeling well?” He asks slightly agitated. “We can go to the pool if you want!” His hand comes down and gently wraps around your wrist, tugging lightly.

“I’m fine, it was just a joke! Stop being so overprotective, I can take care of myself.” You scold and soon regret saying it.

You feel the couch dip as he pulls away, and he sighs exasperatedly. “Okay, sure. Tell me… if you feel bad, okay? We can figure something out together.” He offers with a tired smile.

You nod, and all you can do now is glance at him sideways, planning how to make him smile next - but you stop yourself from trying. He seems relaxed on the surface, but you know there’s an internal struggle going on in his little head, and you choose to let him deal with it on his own. He sighs, folding his arms behind his head and stretching his legs out again.

He turns his head towards you, his gaze suddenly fixed on you. And that damn little smile – the one you love so much – is on the corner of his mouth, as if he knows everything that has gone through your chaotic mind in the last 1 minute. Sometimes, you forgot how Caleb Xia knew you like the back of his hand.

You barely have time to organize a coherent thought in your head to prevent him from finding a reason to provoke you and, on impulse, you get up from the couch, stumbling awkwardly over your own feet. He remains there, unfazed, looking at you from beneath his lashes with those impossibly beautiful, bright eyes that make your heart falter.

It wasn't the first time you'd seen him look at you like that. It was as if he used his EVOL and created a black hole around his own body, and pulled you in with its relentless gravity.

But ever since you met again, his gaze seemed to want to consume you until it disappeared. It took everything in you to be able to walk away. It was tiring not understanding him like before, even though you were trying.

And you were afraid to understand, though, afraid to discover that this Caleb who seemed to want to consume you was just a character he was playing.

You wanted him to consume you, to be honest. At this point, after everything you’ve been through together, you could say that you’ve long since passed Caleb’s event horizon, even if you didn’t want to admit it to yourself. The point of no return was behind you, and now you gravitate toward him eternally, and you feel like you’re being inexorably sucked into him.

Madly in love with him, you think with a lump in your throat.

“Are you hungry? There’s still some food in the fridge.” You ask, trying to sound casual, even though you can feel your heart pounding in your ribs. Caleb blinks at you, as if he’s been lost in space for a moment and has just stumbled upon an unfamiliar and fascinating planet.

He sighs, resting his elbows on his knees as he watches you walk away and towards the kitchen. “I’m not.” He squints, trying to read your expression from across the room through the darkness, and slaps his hands over his knees before standing up and following you. “My team had a little celebration after we finished the mission. We went to that new restaurant in Westcity I told you about the other day.” He says, leaning his elbows on the counter. “We can go when we have some free time. If you want.”

He offers and your heart presses against your chest. You see the sad look in his eyes before you turn around and open the fridge door to look for the food even though he denied it. You just need to distract yourself, to keep your hands busy and your eyes focused on anything other than him, but Caleb makes it too difficult when he holds the fridge door open.

“It’s still cold in there. Leave the door open a bit.” He smiles softly, brushing his shirt against his body in an attempt to cool himself off. You take a step back, confused by his request, walking behind the counter and out the other side, away from him. You fear that he might be offended this way, dodging and slinking away, but you can’t help the suspicion that poisons your heart.

Your hands ball into tight fists, and you sigh painfully as he looks at you again with his bright eyes. “Do you want to?” He asks again, turning his body towards you while still holding the refrigerator door open that offers only a cold breeze. “Go to the restaurant, I mean.”

His voice is deep for some reason, and you notice a hint of anxiety hidden in his request. Do you want to go with me, he means. It hurts to hear his voice like that, secretly begging you to accept him again like you used to, without reservations, without secrets, without fear.

But there, in the shadows that flickered over your face, you still saw him as Colonel Caleb Xia, even though he was essentially just Caleb to you. This was the one who gave you an extra dose of medication to make you sleep so you wouldn’t go after Kevi and do something stupid while he was gone. The one who imprisoned you in a chair under his command, the one who interrogated you and threatened you and tracked your steps against your will even though it was an innocent prank - all for your own good, he said.

He was the one who lied to you, letting his death haunt you for all eternity even after he returned to your arms.

You sigh, biting your lip hard, not wanting to hurt him any further, and shaking your head. “I need to go back to Linkon. I have a new set of tests to do in a few days and I need to get back to patrol, you know? I still have a job.” Your voice sounds soft and your eyes turn to him, trying to understand his hardened and dark expression.

“I see.” He nods slightly, bumping his knee against the refrigerator door to keep it open, which was actually providing a momentary relief from the irritating heat. “It’s routine checkups, right? Is everything okay?”

You study his face once more before giving him more information about the process. “It’s just routine. My cardiologist is Zayne, do you remember him?”

His knee hits the door harder, and you blink at the sudden noise. Your eyes flick back to his face, and you catch a glimpse of a small, irritated grimace marring his handsome features. The muscles in his arms tense as he leans his body against the counter and leans toward you.

“Zaynie, huh?” Caleb scoffs, his voice even deeper, but he soon breaks the mood and laughs softly, joking. “I thought he’d never come back to Linkon. Does he still have that annoying blank face?”

“Caleb!” You scold him with a chuckle, knowing that what he said was true, despite everything. Zayne was a guy who was too stoic for his own good, but he’s a kind man who has shown himself to be increasingly concerned about your well-being, especially since your grandmother and Caleb passed away. “He’s treated me very well. He cares about me and I know I can go to him when I need him.” You say next and bite your tongue.

“Are you saying this to me because you think I don’t care about you, or because you think you can’t run to me when you need me?” Caleb accuses you, but all you can do is flinch a little because deep down, what he said is true. You’ve seen Zayne like this for the past eight months, a bit like the safe haven Caleb was for you, but it didn’t compare.

No, not at all.

He lets out a deep sigh, slightly regretting throwing such an accusation in your face when he sees your face form a dark scowl, but he doesn’t dare say anything. Letting the fridge door close on its own, he slides down to the floor and sits down, his back against the counter and you feel the air growing warm and thick again.

You lean to the side, looking at Caleb's huddled figure on the ground and your chest sinks painfully. You didn't want every small step you took forward to be taken five more steps back in the next instant, but you didn't know how to lie, not to Caleb.

You bite your lip and walk to his side, standing. “Grandma’s gone. You’re gone, Caleb. You left me and I had nothing left. Nothing to hold me to this world anymore, and Zayne was the one who anchored me here when everything fell apart. I owe him.” You return the bitter accusation, and feel him shrink even further beside you.

“Yeah… sorry.” He whispers, his hand squeezing the side of his head tightly - as if he wanted to rip something out of it - and knowing he can’t win you over with any argument or excuse. However, you don’t know if he apologized for insulting Zayne or for accusing you of leaving him for a guy he wasn’t a big fan of or for abandoning you to your fate.

You shake your head in exasperation. You need to verbalize that you don’t blame him like he thought you did. You were hurt, yes, but you know he had a dark, hidden motive that he couldn’t share yet, and all you could do was trust him, no matter how questionable his actions were.

With a sigh, you walk over to his side, your legs sliding across the floor to sit beside him. He barely moves an inch. “There’s no way I could compare you to anyone else, Caleb Xia.” Your voice comes out soft, almost a whisper, and you watch his lips curve up slightly and fall back in the next second. “You’re you… yet different… you’re you, and I…”

“Are you mad? You don’t call me that unless you’re mad.” He chuckles and shakes his head at you, avoiding your gaze. He relaxes his shoulders, and rests his arm on his knee, while his other leg stretches out in front of him. “I’m so sorry… I’ll do anything to be the one you can come back to again.” He whispers and your heart skips a beat. “I’ll do anything to protect you too, no matter how far I have to go.”

“I don’t want you to go anywhere, Caleb.” Your voice is shaky, tears burning at the edges of your eyes and you blink them away, not wanting him to see you broken. “I need you to stay with me, no matter what.” He sighs regretfully, and his hand reaches for yours. You hesitantly but gladly intertwine your fingers with his tightly, and grunt in surprise when you feel him pull you closer, your arms brushing against each other.

Your bodies were sticky with sweat, and with a playful shove you pulled away from him with a groan. “It’s too hot for us to be stuck together like this! Open the fridge door again at least.” You suggest, blowing into your shirt, and he complies immediately without question, which you are grateful for.

The cold air from the refrigerator soon caresses your skin and, in unison, you both murmur with relief. “How come a skyscraper this size doesn’t have a damn power generator for situations like this? Don’t you have your own power generator? You should.”

You scoff and hear him chuckle beside you. His laugh warms your chest, but not in an unpleasant way like the hellish heat of the apartment. It’s warm and familiar, and you feel like you could listen to him laugh all day long. “That’s true. I hadn’t thought about getting my own power generator, because that’s not supposed to happen. But I don’t stay here long enough to enjoy the comforts of the apartment, so…” He waves his hand indicating the empty living room.

Your head nods in agreement. Caleb’s apartment was certainly large, luxurious, comfortable and technologically advanced, but it lacked the comfort that a real home should have. Until a few weeks ago, there wasn’t a single photo of him, of you, of his friends, of his fleet, or even the woman who adopted you both from the shelter. Now there was only a small photo that the two of you had taken in the instant photo booth at a coffee shop in Linkon, apart from personal care items and some “girly” decoration that he had arranged in the room you had chosen.

In a moment of newfound joy - after your miraculous reunion - you pulled Caleb into the cabin’s curtains and, without hesitation, pressed your fingers to the buttons on the holographic panel. The command was so quick that in the first photo, he was still looking at you with an expression of fascination, his eyes shining and a sweet smile on his lips, while you pinched his cheeks with your fingers and smiled carelessly at the camera. In the following photos, he seemed less dazed, hugging you tightly, making faces and squeezing your belly to make you laugh.

He scoffed a little as you pulled the strip of four photos out of the booth and examined the images curiously. And you didn't miss the sparkle in his eyes as he admired the photo. Before you could steal the photos back, he shoved them into his pocket, not allowing you to take them.

A few days later, when you returned to Skyhaven, you discovered that Caleb had bought a small picture frame, placing the first picture of you two on the mantelpiece, along with a cat sticker from the season’s limited series - the same one you’d gotten for winning the Kitty Cards game against him. The other three pictures were hung on the fridge with an apple magnet.

Seeing these little details in your apartment after all the hell you had been through in the last 10 months warmed your heart. They were proof that the Caleb Xia you had known since childhood was still there, trying, in his own way, to redeem his sins.

Suddenly, a flash of light cuts across the sky, illuminating the entire room with a yellow-white hue. The hairs on your arms and the back of your neck stand on end in a painful shiver, and fear makes your breath catch in your throat. Reflexively, you release Caleb's hand with a sudden gesture, and press your ears with a stinging slap on the ear before the thunder sounds, reverberating everything around you.

Thunder explodes soon after, shaking the windows, echoing through the walls, the floor, and your sensitive skin. You bend over, tucking your head between your legs in an attempt to drown out the deafening boom.

A startled groan escapes your lips, and you feel Caleb shift beside you, his knee brushing up and down yours. You can't pay attention, however, too worried about the next bolt of lightning that will explode nearby, making your body tremble. Your eyes glued to the wide windows just to prepare yourself.

A second later, another silent flash illuminates the room, casting long shadows across the walls and floor. You press your hands over your ears tighter and hide your head between your knees again, waiting for the noise to happen, but before the explosion of thunder shakes everything again, an icy chill runs over the skin of your feverish back.

You arch your back, making an irritated grunt as you feel another cold – and welcome – drop run down your skin, melting on the fabric of your sweat shorts. Your eyes fly to the side, and you see Caleb holding a tray – which you recognize as the ice tray from the freezer – in his left hand, and his right hand holding a small ice cube between his fingers.

You try to make an expression of irritation and threat on your face, but the playful smile that lights up Caleb's face is brighter than the flashes that illuminated the room without you noticing. "What are you doing?" You ask, and your voice sounds broken because of the feeling of ice on your hot skin, and you playfully push his hand away when he moves closer to you.

“Cooling and distracting you,” he states, his voice calm and deep. “Come here. I didn’t think you’d still be afraid of thunder…” He sets the ice tray down beside him, pats it on the floor, and pulls you closer when you’re still. Your arms stick together again, but you barely notice when he brings his free hand with an ice cube to his mouth and lets out a hiss of refreshing relief. “Take one,” he offers.

A single, glistening droplet slides across his lips, and all you can do is follow with your eyes the slow, tortuous path it takes downward, past his defined jawline, past his Adam's apple, between his collarbones, until it disappears between the links of his chain that rested on his chest.

Your mouth opens to protest this innocent provocation – only to him – and you can’t find any coherent words in your mind. All you can do is laugh in surprise as the thunder explodes and vibrates in your bones and skin, barely affecting you.

“Come on, try one before it melts.” He says, oblivious to his thoughts, fishing another ice cube from the tray. His brow furrows in confusion as he hovers his hand to his mouth, the small, shiny ice cube partially melted between his fingers. “Open your mouth.”

His voice sounds deep and authoritative as it speaks to you, vibrating through every fiber of your being like thunder, and destroying the barriers of self-control that it took years to build around your heart, ever since you were in college.

Your mind races and pulls in all directions, a mixture of anxiety and excitement and fear as you berate yourself for the thought that, once again, insists on returning.

You know this has always been Caleb’s way. To make you laugh and push and manipulate you until he gets the result he wants even if he's the one who has to pay the consequences. And as much as you want to resist, part of you yearns to test the limits, to find out how far he’s just playing, how far he’s willing to pull you in with his relentless gravity, and where something more begins between you. But you knew this was a no-go zone that neither of you had dared to enter yet.

And fear grips your chest.

You both haven't been on the same page since the explosion took everything from you, and you're afraid of losing the one desire that connects you two now.

Of being each other's safe haven like before.

Ever since you met again and part of the lie was exposed, you knew that something fundamental between you and him had shattered into a million pieces in space. The complicity, the honesty, and you could even say your friendship. Rebuilding that would take time, even if you told yourself that you could trust him again with your eyes closed.

You can't. Not yet.

You feel like you still can't trust the way Caleb avoids certain questions, the weight of his silence when the past threatens to be the topic between the few meals you've shared since you accepted him slowly returning to your life.

There are things he doesn't say, secrets that slip between his words when he sees no other alternative than to answer your questions in a way that makes you stop asking them for a moment, and looks – looks of desire, of longing, of fear – that hurt every part of his body and that carry more than he is willing to admit.

And you distrust, feel angry and hurt. You want to do everything to achieve what you were, even if it means putting your fragile relationship with him in check again.

The ice cube still glistened between his fingers like a silent invitation, like a disguised challenge from the games you’d played in the past. Your fragile heart stumbles inside your chest, your breath falters, and for a moment, you consider retreating at the intensity of his gaze on you. But Caleb has never been someone easy to ignore, and you know he’ll insist until you tell him to stop.

But the point is, you don't want him to stop.

“Tsk… are you going to leave me here holding this until it melt?” He teases, leaning in slightly, closing the distance between you even further. “What a waste.” The closeness makes your skin tingle, and the electricity in the air no longer seems to come solely from the storm outside.

He takes his hand away from your mouth with a slightly disappointed look, and brings the ice cube to his own mouth. On impulse, you grab his wrist tightly, stopping him from continuing.

Instinctively, you lick your lips, hesitant, your gaze alternating between his eyes and the ice that had shrunk considerably. A part of you wants to give in, to accept the game, to see where this goes. The other part of you fears that if you cross this line, this man will become the Caleb Xia you don’t know.

He doesn't look away from you. He just waits, staring at you with such intensity that you fear disappearing into the vortex he creates to pull you in.

And then, almost without thinking, your mouth opens, a silent consent that not even you expected to give at that moment. You see his lips curve into a satisfied smile of someone who knows he has emerged victorious from whatever it was you started to do, then he slides the ice cube between your lips and you capture it with your teeth.

Your body reacts before your mind does as a shiver runs down your spine, a mix of shock and anticipation and embarrassment that your mind is elsewhere. You feel the ice melt against your tongue, the clean, cool taste contrasting with the growing heat spreading through the rest of your body. You let out a shaky laugh, trying to shake off the crushing feeling in your chest, but Caleb doesn’t give you a chance to ease off and gather your thoughts.

You feel Caleb’s thumb brush against your lip, wiping away the remaining drops you let escape the ice cube when you grabbed it with your teeth. He applies delicious pressure as he slides his rough finger back and forth across your lip. The undelicate movement is so slow that you’re sure the fabric of space and time between you has just folded in on itself.

You sigh as a shiver runs down your spine. Your eyes meet his, bright with mischief, as a distant flash rips through the sky, illuminating the lingering darkness in the room. He knows exactly what he’s doing to you, and you know you’re giving in to his whims.

“Good girl.” He murmurs, his voice low, husky, raw, and something inside you shatters and rebuilds itself at the same time.

You feel the pressure on your lip increase slightly, and you feel him pulling your bottom lip down, coaxing you to open your mouth in a blatant provocation. The roughness of his touch makes your skin sting and your core ignite. Your consciousness wavers, unable to protest or even understand what was happening. You were just going, floating until you were lost forever on the edge that was his singularity.

It wasn’t like you hadn’t had these kinds of desires for Caleb in the past three years. It was pretty embarrassing that you had them in the first place, because neither of you had ever given any indication of them happening, but it had intensified as you’d grown apart to deal with the responsibilities of adulthood, which was ironic. You were going to become a hunter in Linkon, while he was training to become a fighter pilot in Skyhaven.

Perhaps the imminent separation between the two of you turned on a light bulb in your head and, afraid of losing him in every possible way, you started to think, desire, feel and imagine what it would be like to have him for yourself in every possible way.

You feared you would never find out what that feeling was like, and yet here you were, turned on by the way he teased you without even knowing why he was doing it.

But you choose to give in a little. To taste a little.

Your lips part, just enough for the tip of his cool thumb to touch your warm tongue. Your breath hitches in your throat as you look up at Caleb, and see the raw, wild desire cloud his face even in the darkness of the room.

You don’t know who it is that’s teasing your mouth and breaking your heart. He’s not the sweet Caleb Xia from your childhood and adolescence, and he’s not the Fleet Colonel who’s standing in front of you either. There’s something different about him now, lust mixed with something dark and desperate, as if he’s lost in his own thoughts while waging an internal battle.

Maybe this was a little bit of all the versions of Caleb that you know, but, finally, he was willing to show you only now.

Caleb slides his index finger along your chin, lifting your face with an almost cruel gentleness, afraid that you were something too precious and fragile, about to break in his hands. But the firm pressure he places with his thumb against your lip says the complete opposite – it says that he wants more from you and he will not be gentle. And you give in to his whim again, opening your mouth enough for him to slide his finger completely over your tongue, inside your mouth.

The sensation destroys any restraint Caleb seemed to have in his body, and you see him tense his muscles, and hear him moan painfully, low and hoarse, as he slides his finger back out, and wets your lip with saliva only to repeat the process.

Slow.

Calculated.

His longing gaze never wavered from yours for a second. It was as if he wanted to repeat the process over and over again, imprinting your reactions into his mind so he could never forget what it was like to feel you this way. It was as if he wanted to hear every ragged, confused breath you took. It was as if he wanted to see what it was like to feel you break first.

The fire burned in your lower belly, spreading across your skin, messing with your senses and tingling all your nerves that screamed more for his touch. You felt the moisture wet your panties with the friction over your tongue, making you uncomfortable and, at the same time, more excited and eager for more.

The line you had drawn years ago had been crossed in every possible way in that small moment, but then you wondered why Caleb was acting like this all of a sudden.

You don't even know how this situation escalated so quickly. You don't even know how he feels. He doesn't even know how you feel.

Was it the stifling heat of the apartment that messed with your heads? Had the closeness, the tension held back for too long, finally broken all the complicity and friendship you’d built over the years? Before you could rationalize a sense of it, Caleb’s thumb slid back into your mouth, and the pressure he applied to your tongue sent a shiver down your spine. He pushed his finger deeper into your throat, testing it, and the husky groan he let out at the way you accepted his touch so well reverberated in your chest like thunder.

Your body reacted, writhing under the sensation. Caleb’s finger was thick, warm, and the implication of it made the heat pool even deeper between your legs. You felt the urge to close your lips around his finger, to suck on it the way he seemed to want - the way he expected you to.

But you blink, praying, seeking some glimmer of clarity in your mind, and you grip his wrist tightly, stopping him from continuing the torture, and remove his hand from your mouth.

And he accepts without saying anything.

You grip his wrist tightly, feeling his accelerated pulse beat beneath your skin, and pull his hand away from your mouth. A thread of saliva still connected you, glistening in the dim light of the room, and the sight alone almost made you reconsider your decision.

But instead, you took a deep breath and slapped his hand away, trying to regain the control that was already slipping through your fingers – and down your thighs.

Caleb blinked, confused, his expression turning into a dangerous mix of frustration and something darker—something wounded and broken beyond repair. His eyes, once filled with desire, were empty as if he had suddenly woken from a long dream and was staring at some distant point, far from you.

Your chest tightened.

“Caleb.” Your voice came out shaky, almost a whisper.

He didn't answer.

“What are you doing?” Your throat was dry, but your tongue still lingered with the taste of his finger - cold and salty with sweat. “What are we doing?”

You bite your lip, frustrated, not knowing how to act or what to do. “I don’t understand what…” You say, your voice sounding bitter as the breath squeezes your windpipe. “Why are you acting like this all of a sudden?

He finally turns his face to you, his gaze much darker than any darkness you’ve seen in those beautiful eyes. “Do you think it’s all of a sudden, Evee?” He asks, his voice piercing you with accusation, and you don’t understand why it seems to hurt him so much. “Do you really think I decided to act like this on impulse or that I never thought about it?

“Have you ever-” You don’t get to finish your thought when he turns his face away again, not having the courage to look at you. “Caleb.” You call out once, your heart almost threatening to jump out of your mouth and your ears ringing in anticipation. “Caleb, look at me, please.”

But he ignores you.

You don’t know what’s going on in his mind, in his heart. Before, when you were younger, you thought you understood him. When your worlds were still shrouded in a false peace, it seemed possible to understand the nuances of who Caleb was. But now… now, it’s all too much.

You can't expose your feelings to him if he isn't willing to say them too, so without thinking again, you curse him under your breath, and stand up, no longer willing to fall for his manipulation.

But the relentless gravity keeps you from taking the next step. You feel Caleb's EVOL holding you in place, keeping you close, keeping you safe by his side, and yet he says nothing and you feel anger, betrayal and pain. How long will he keep you in the dark even though he's by your side?

“Let me go.” Your voice is low, and your eyes burn behind closed lids. He doesn’t move, and he doesn’t look at you, and it fuels the anger in your chest. “Let me go, Caleb!” Your scream rips through the silence, laced with venom, cutting through whatever was left between you. “You’ve done this before, so let me go!”

Gravity presses down relentlessly on your shoulders, and your knees give way. But Caleb doesn’t let you touch the ground - he holds your weight, keeping you on the edge between falling and staying on your knees. You feel your body being pulled in every direction, as if he’s too confused to control his own EVOL right now. Then, suddenly, he let go.

You fall awkwardly, the impact reverberating through your body. Out of the corner of your eye you see him almost move to help you up.

Almost. But once again, he remains still and silent.

“Idiot! What are you doing?!” You slam your hand on the floor in protest, anger consuming everything, and you point an accusing finger at him. And this time, he looks at you, but says nothing.

Frustration burns everywhere in your body, making everything even more uncomfortable, and you feel your vision blur with tears in the corners of your eyes. But you don’t give Caleb the pleasure of seeing you break down again, and a new determination blooms in your chest when you see a glimpse of a tiny, cheeky smile curve his lips.

And without thinking, you move, crawling on your knees and hands, to position yourself between his legs and kneel there. Your hand grips his chin tightly, your fingers squeezing his skin, forcing him to look at you.

And the smile is still there. Teasing, funny, sad, kind, loving. That's your Caleb Xia.

All the feelings and confusion in one smile, and seeing him like that makes your heart bleed. It makes you want to hit him. It makes you want to take out every feeling he made you endure before your lives turned upside down and left you with no hope. It makes you want to fall apart on him, scream his name senselessly and let him do whatever he wants to you.

However, you also do nothing.

You think you need to threaten him to get some kind of reaction. Maybe cover his mouth and nose, deprive him of air, force him to move. But when he finally decides to react, it's not in the way you expect. Mocking you, using his EVOL to push you away, telling you it's a silly joke you fell for as usual, no.

Instead, Caleb reaches up and, with an infuriatingly cruel calm, he slides a stray strand of hair from your messy bun behind your ear. His fingers are still slightly cold from the ice cube from earlier, and it sends a shiver down your spine.

He doesn’t pull away as his gaze slides between your eyes and your lips. He keeps his hand there, his fingers tracing a slow path down the curve of your ear, searing your skin, to your lobe, where he applies gentle pressure. Deliberate. Calculated. As if he’s testing how far he can go before he makes you break any further.

And oh, he was so close. And you were going to let him destroy you.

Your body reacts to the stimulus, and you nestle your face into the palm of his hand and press your fingers against his cheeks once more – you know this will make his skin red tomorrow, but you don’t care. “What are you doing?” You ask again, trying to sound firm.

His Adam's apple bobs, and his mouth opens, but the words seem to be stuck forever in his throat. Then he mumbles something you don't understand.

“What?” You ask, leaning closer, closing the gap.

He lets out a raspy, humorless laugh and shakes his head.

“The only time I wasn’t sure what I was doing was when I had to leave you behind.” His voice was low and sharp, sending a shiver down your spine. “Leaving you meant keeping you safe. At least until you ran straight into danger… like you always do. Silly girl.”

He repeats the last part, the one you didn't hear.

His hand wraps around your wrist. His touch is firm but gentle, almost a sharp contrast to the storm that seemed to be stirring inside him. His thumb slides slowly over your skin, finding your racing pulse, feeling the truth of what he does to you.

“And all the other things… including this, especially this…” His gaze drops to where your hands are clasped together before returning to your eyes. Caleb’s smile is sweet, so sweet it feels like poison and you’re tempted to drink it right there. “I’ve always been sure that I’m in love with you.”

Your fingers loosen around his jaw, and your hand slides away, falling with his between you like an invisible link. He takes a deep breath, as if he’s preparing to say something that should never be said, at least not in this situation.

“I never had the luxury of telling you how I feel about you.” His voice is weak, as if his confession should remain adrift in the confines of space. “I needed to protect you. I couldn’t let these feelings distract me. That’s why I left. That’s why I grabbed the gun in the first place.”

His eyes never leave yours.

“I know I took everything from you…” He hesitates for a moment, but then his expression hardens. “But I’d do it again. Again. Again.” His gaze dips into yours lips. “And again, if it meant keeping you safe. But you’re so hard to deal with, Evee… so stubborn.”

Your mouth opens, ready to protest, to curse him, but no coherent words come. It’s hard to say anything after hearing him. You want to scream that you love him with everything you are. You want to fight, you want to break him back just because you know he’ll take whatever comes from you.

A heavy sigh presses against your throat and, without the strength to continue maintaining your upright posture, you bend your knees and sit in front of him, your shoulders hunched under the weight of all your feelings and your confession.

“Stop…” You whisper, afraid you won’t be able to contain your trembling voice. “You need to stop leaving me out, stop deciding for yourself what’s safe for me and what’s not!”

The pain stuck in your chest and in your guts makes your voice gain strength and you let the words leak from your lips in a steady stream.

“I can’t let you decide for me, Caleb. I’m not a little kid anymore that you have to follow and count the steps to protect me! I want to be by your side, whether it’s risky or not. If you go, I’ll go with you. If you stay, I’ll stay too. It doesn’t matter! Just… don’t leave me… stop leaving me!” You groan, swallowing hard when Caleb’s gaze widens in your direction.

You reach out, finding his hand, and squeeze it with all the strength you can muster at that moment, slowly massaging his knuckles, as if you could calm him down, or perhaps, calm yourself down in fear of his response.

“Please don’t leave me anymore.” You insist when he remains silent.

Caleb closes his eyes, the sigh that escapes his lips sounding exhausted. “You… you mess everything up in here, Evee.” His voice is low, husky. “I should have let someone else deal with you that day when I found you sneaking into the fleet. You’re so bold now… you don’t think about the consequences, you run to your death. You shouldn’t be here, but you are. And I—I shouldn’t be trying to get back into your life again. And here I am confessing to you.”

He lets out a bitter, almost soundless laugh.

“But I don’t have the strength to keep you away anymore.” Caleb wraps his hand firmly around yours and brings it to his chest, pressing it hard, right over his heart, where you feel it beating erratically—slow, fast, and slow again until it stabilizes eternally—and the realization makes your bones ache. “I don’t know how to take care of you anymore.”

His eyes shine with something that looks like desperation and surrender.

“I don’t know if I can keep this here…” He presses your hands against his chest harder. “This… this hurts every minute you’re near, or away, so I guess it doesn’t matter what decision I make anymore.” You sigh deeply, your heart pounding so hard in your chest that it hurts and bleeds. Your hands cup Caleb’s desolate face tenderly, and a small, precious smile lifts his lips upward. A smile you knew like the back of your hand.

He wants to comfort you, but he himself does not have the strength to do so, and yet he smiles at you and warms your chest like the sun, because that is what he is to you. Your sun.

The vision of him in front of you begins to fragment and blur at the edges. You try to hold back the tears that sting behind your eyelids, but they spill out of you when you feel Caleb's hands gently pull you by the elbows, hugging you so tightly as if it were possible to merge you both into a single body.

“Shh…” He rubs your arms roughly. “I’m here. I’ll stay here.” He assures you, but your heart skips a beat at the promise you know he might not be able to keep. But it doesn’t matter now. No matter how broken your hearts are, you’ll rebuild them again.

You two are each other's poison, and you will consume each other anyway.

“C-Caleb…” You stammer, your voice a shaky, low mess, and yet you want to verbalize everything you feel to him. His head shakes as if he’s about to stop you from saying whatever is on your tongue.

“You don’t have to say anything… I know.” His voice sounds like a whisper caressing your skin, and he leans in and presses himself closer to you, sliding his fingers into your loose hair, combing the long strands to calm you down.

This is the first time you've allowed yourselves to truly break down in front of each other. You were both so shocked when you met during the interrogation, and everything that happened after that was just a jumble of feelings, of anger, and distrust, and longing floating on the surface. Until this moment.

And now, it doesn't seem fair to him that you continue to keep your feelings locked away in your chest when he confessed to you like that.

A nervous, disbelieving laugh suddenly bursts from your chest. Of all things, you had Caleb confess to you. And although you were scared by how truly overwhelming it was to realize and receive this feeling back, you feel like this will finally allow you to give your heart to him.

“Caleb…” You call again, your voice still shaky. You hold onto his shoulders to sit down and rest your back against his hard chest and he welcomes you willingly, cuddling you, warming you.

You bite your lip as you feel him nod, encouraging you to continue, and you feel his eyes staring at you with practiced patience. “Me… too… you know…” You laugh again, suddenly realizing how many butterflies were flying around in your chest, and how good it felt to say that to him while staring into the most beautiful eyes you had ever seen, even though the room was still dark.

“What’s funny, pips?” He pinches your arm playfully, not putting any force into it, but you lightly slap his hand. “What were you going to say, hm? I’m listening to you.”

You bite your lip and he closes his eyes.

He knows. He knows and yet he’s waiting for you to say it in so many words so he can be sure. So he can be allowed to love you back. “I want to tell you that I’m in love with you too—I’m in love with you.” Your breath comes out in a heavy rush and you realize how emotional and embarrassing it is to tell him this.

Caleb’s chest moves against your back in a sigh and he exhales deeply, pleased to hear your voice. Then he leans in, his nose brushing the curve of your shoulder.

“That’s all I needed… to hear.” He whispers against your skin, and a shiver runs down your spine. His strong arms cross in front of your chest and he squeezes you again, not tightly, but to make sure you’re there now.

You tilt your body to the side, enough so that you can look at his eyes shining under the flickering emergency light of the helipad. Your hand reaches for his face, and gently, you hold him as if he were the most precious person in this universe. And he was. Your precious Caleb Xia.

Your eyes slide over his face, studying his expression and you don’t miss how he does the same to you as his heartbeat goes into an erratic mode again. He notices your concern but silences you with his thumb, brushing your lip, this time, tenderly and without ulterior motives.

But you still haven't recovered from the tension and the blatant provocation he subjected you to minutes ago. It burned in your lower abdomen, making you want more. And the thought alone makes your eyes drop to his lips and linger there, and Caleb notices, because of course he does.

And he doesn't miss the opportunity you give him when he leans in towards your lips.

The shock of the moment makes your breath catch as his lips meet yours. There is no hesitation. There is no gentleness. He is as rough as you thought he would be, and you do not complain. Your kiss is one of anger, and longing. It is with the urgency of all the weight of what you can no longer contain. It is a sloppy kiss of lips, tongues, bites and moans as you drink each other in.

Caleb groans, low and guttural – almost like a warning – against your lips, and he cups your face with his hands, tangling his fingers in the back of your neck to deepen the kiss even further, tilting his body towards yours, positioning you where he wants you to be.

His touch doesn’t slow down, but he takes every little reaction from you as a prize. His fingers slide slowly from your face, tracing your soft jaw, caressing the shell of your ear, and you gasp in response. Your body writhes against his at the stimulation, and the sound that escapes your lips is an indecent invitation that he receives with bleary eyes.

He leaves your mouth reluctantly, planting slow, teasing kisses on your shoulder, your collarbone, as far as he could reach in this position, which wasn’t very far, and he groans in frustration. “Do—do you know what you’re doing to me?” he murmurs, his voice low and husky, and you feel like he’s just lit you up inside.

The heat travels from your lower belly, to your chest and back stronger to your pussy. You start to feel dizzy from the temperature, from the looks, from the touches that you know are coming.

“You’re so hot.” ​​He says slowly, as if he knows exactly what you’re thinking. “Are you like this because of me?” There’s amusement in his voice and you grunt when he presses his chest into your back and rests his chin on your shoulder. “Do you need help?”

“What the f—ahh…!” Too slow to anticipate the movement, you just feel Caleb pull back the collar of your shirt - which is his shirt - and blow on your chest. The sensation is warm and tingly against your skin, and you want to cry as you arch your body and rub against him, feeling him hard against your back. “You’re not helping me, you know?”

He chuckles, low and husky in your ear, but pleased that he’s teasing you the way he wants to. “You should take that shirt off.” He says, and when he hears you nod in agreement and shake your head frantically, he moves his hands to the hem of your shirt and pulls it awkwardly off your shoulders.

You let out another moan as you feel Caleb’s hand palm your flat abdomen and he presses you back against him. This elicits a groan from him and you feel the wetness pool even more between your legs, leaving you a wet mess.

“You’re still so hot…” He says against the shell of your ear, his warm, husky voice tickling you. “Take these off too.” He slides his fingers down the sides of your shorts and you feel your chest swell even more in anticipation.

You don’t even respond to him, too eager for him to touch you, and you lift your hips up, hooking your finger in the fabric to pull them down your legs. Your position doesn’t help, and he holds tightly to your waist to help you push yourself up, and when you finally slide your sweat shorts down to a pair of thin panties, he lowers you back to the floor, grinding your ass slowly against his cock.

His muffled breathing becomes a melody in your ear, hot and husky, as if you’re forcibly extracting each breath from him. You can feel him trying to control himself, trying to prolong the moment. But you know that everything is overflowing between the two of you, and you won’t blame him if you collapse like a bright star before your time.

He rests his chin on your sweaty shoulder, your damp skin pressed against his, and he stays there for a moment—breathing you, feeling you, soothing you. You feel Caleb’s fingers draw lazy circles on the side of your hip, then slip beneath the fabric at the side of your panties, making you arch against him each time a stronger shiver forms on your back.

With his other free hand, he trails his fingers ever so lightly along the curve of your shoulder, which draws more anxious, hungry sighs from his lips. He continues on his way, sliding his hand up to your neck, his fingers closing around it with a light pressure that doesn’t scare you, only turns you on once more, from the inside out.

Your eyes search his in the darkness, and out of the corner of your eye you see a mischievous smile spread across his face as he slides his gaze down and he sees, there, between your legs, the wet, shiny proof of his teasing printed on your light purple panties.

His smile grows, and his chest vibrates happily against you with a muffled chuckle. “Evee…” He whispers like he’s dazed, and your name feels almost like a sin rolled on his tongue. His lips lightly touch your jaw and move up to your ear, nibbling before he speaks in a voice proud of his own work. “Look how messy you are and I didn't even touch you.”

Your skin crawls all over, your spine arches against his chest, and you can barely contain the moan, more indecent than the last, that escapes your throat – much to his fascination and delight. His hand holds your chin, and he turns your face carefully.

His eyes are dark and bright at the same time, devouring you completely, and then he kisses you again – hungrily, unceremoniously and roughly, and you kiss him back with the same intensity, as sloppy as he is.

The world disappears around you again, and your mind feels like a blank sheet of silk, thin and fragile. You can’t think of anything at all as Caleb kisses you, but a shrill - and delicious - bell rings in your head when you feel his fingers slide lower, where you’ve been wanting him to be all along.

Your panties are dragged to the side, across your crotch, without any delicacy. His touch shatters you into a thousand fragments and you suspect that it will never be possible to put you back together. You whimper, grinding your hips, trying to seek any momentary relief before he even elaborates the movements of his finger.

His chuckle sounds muffled against your neck, and he rubs up and down, teasing your clit in slow, almost unbearable circles, collecting your wetness, only to tease you in a way that makes you want to split in half. “C-Caleb—” You warn, but your voice sounds so stupid that your teeth grind together as you clench them to stop yourself from babbling.

Your hips roll forward and up sloppily under his large hand as you try to make him understand what you need, but he seems too happy and too proud to see you bend for him. Frustration, anger, and desire make the rest of your mind go blank and you grab his hand, pressing and rubbing his fingers hard against your clit.

“Fuck… Evee–” He groans in your ear and slaps your clit with his open hand as if it were a warning. The wet, obscene slap makes you whimper again. “You’re enjoying it, huh?” His voice, husky and low, and the feeling of being teased by him like this, makes bright, colorful stars blur behind your eyelids.

He barely lets you babble any incoherent nonsense past your lips when you feel his index finger slide inside you with ease and a deep sigh of happiness rises in your chest. You fold against him again, your thighs opening and closing over his hand as if that will lessen the feeling of being about to explode.

And instead of being rough like he was when he kissed you, he was careful as he slid his finger deeper inside you, testing the limits, preparing you, stretching you, while softly coaxing you with some very dirty talk that you didn't know your Caleb knew. Your shame flew out the window long ago along with the storm outside, but still, you felt your cheeks flush and the heat burn of pleasure in your ears as he whispered and moaned your name.

You squirm, your ass finding the hardness of his cock against your back, and you gasp when you feel him increase his thrusts and add another finger inside you. “You like it when I finger you like this, huh? You’re so fucking wet–”

Your vision blurs as tears of pleasure well up in the corners of your eyes, and you don’t know if it’s lightning cracking in the sky or if it’s the sensations Caleb makes you feel that make everything go blank. He curls his fingers inside you, flicking against your swollen clit as you undulate against him.

You cry out softly, feeling like you’re about to lose yourself to him forever when suddenly he stops thrusting, and rubs lazy circles on your clit.

You groan in frustration as you realize what he was doing. He was punishing you. He wasn’t going to let you cum any time soon, and he shifts his focus elsewhere. You feel him squeeze your neck lightly, searching for the spot where your rapid pulse beat beneath the skin, and when he finds it, he bites it, sucks on the skin, and kisses it tenderly to comfort you, and even then, you know it’s going to leave a mark there.

His hand drops from your neck to your chest, and he pulls the band of your top down. His fingers massage your breast and pinch the hard nipple, sending shivers down your nerve endings. “Caleb—please!” You whimper, bucking against his hand, but he laughs again.

“We haven’t even started and you want to cum now, pretty girl?” He says, mocking your impatience, and bites your earlobe, massaging your breast. You shake your head vehemently for him to have mercy. “You’re so eager.”

“I need you, please.” You beg without even thinking, and you’re not even sure if you’ve said the words right when he adds another finger inside you and rubs your clit again. Your head falls back onto his shoulder, and another round of wet, sloppy thrusts threaten to send you over the edge. “Ahhh! Caleb! I—ah…ah!”

You curse him silently as you feel his fingers, shiny and soaked, pull away from you. Out of the corner of your eye, you see his hand go straight to his mouth, and he licks his own fingers, from tip to base, tasting you.

Your mortified gaze meets his as he feels satisfied with what he’s tasted, and the edge of your stomach twists even more in pure anticipation.

“Stand up.” He says, and you notice the tone of his voice change. The order comes low, firm with an authority you know you can’t question. This is the colonel of the fleet, and a hint of anger and desire burns under your skin.

And you don't care if he sets you on fire now.

With your body shaking, you force your legs to obey with a push upward. You risk a staggering step to the side, but Caleb is quick enough to anchor you in place as he stands and stands in front of you.

Before you can even do anything, you hear a hiss, followed by electronic pops, and suddenly, the lights in the apartment turn on, one by one. Cold wind caresses your skin, and a shiver runs down your spine as you finally, finally, look at Caleb.

He looks as breathless as you do, and his beautiful eyes seem cloudy, melting into a pool of black and violet as he devours you. You see red marks around his cheeks and mouth, and you curse yourself for having squeezed him so tightly there with your fingers moments ago. But you don’t regret it - you wanted to hurt him, and break him too.

You bring your hand to his face and let it rest there, gently. He smiles at you as if he had seen you after a long time – which was no lie. And his smile was so sweet that it felt like warm molasses dripping over you, enveloping you with so much love that it took your breath away. A moment later, he holds your hand tenderly and places a slow kiss on your palm. Then, in a low, firm voice, he says: “Turn around.”

Your eyebrow raises in a flash of confusion, but he doesn’t give you a moment to process his unspoken order, and you feel his fingers wrap around your wrist with measured strength, spinning you around so your back is to him. He’s quick, and he sends you staggering forward, caging you between him and the cold kitchen counter.

“Caleb!” You gasp as he nibbles the bare skin of your neck and then places a wet kiss over it, as if apologizing in advance for the mark he knew would be there. “Caleb… I want to– oh… I want to see you.” You try again.

He doesn’t say anything, though, and you’re slightly annoyed by it. His silence isn’t cold or distant, as you dared to think for a moment. But it still frustrates you not to look at him while you’re like this. You want to face him and savor his expressions. You want to look directly into his eyes to find out if he feels as destroyed by you as you do by him.

You want to know if he loves you as much as you love him.

And you hate yourself for distrusting Caleb – even a little – even at this moment. Neither of you have ever been this vulnerable with each other and you want to strip his heart bare to find out how he really feels.

You shift, trying to show your displeasure, and you’re irritated by how he still restrains your hand from the small of your back, keeping you behind him, lightly biting the skin on your neck and shoulder. Your chest tightens. “Caleb… let me look at you.” You try again, his breath coming closer, burning your ear, and you feel the hard erection contained by his uniform pants press into the middle of your ass.

You chuckle softly, unsure if he’s punishing himself or you in the process. But you accept his commands. He pauses for a moment, and instead of answering you, his mouth finds the warm, sweaty skin of your shoulder again. His fingers curl into your loose, messy hair, dripping down your back, and he tugs - just enough to tip your head back, exposing your neck completely.

Your hips roll back in frustration, and you want to curse him again for doing this. “Caleb...” But you can only manage to mumble his name when you feel his grip on your back tighten.

“No.” He says, adamant, and you shiver again at the tone of his voice.

He takes advantage of your bare skin, tracing your spine with slow kisses and soft bites, and each mark seems to be imprinted forever on your skin. His free hand sinks his fingers into your flesh, rubbing his hand down your sides, and he presses you back against the counter.

The bare skin on your belly prickles against the cold marble, and he lets go of your hand for a moment.

Your breath catches in your chest when you hear the sound of his belt buckle jingling behind you. You try to turn away, instinctively, but he pushes you back against the counter, preventing you from peeking – but giving you space to imagine.

You feel his hands move closer to your ass, working to unbutton your pants, but a moment later, nothing happens. “Not yet.” He says. His hand firmly cups your chin, turning your face enough to steal a chaste kiss that doesn’t match the hunger he has. “I’m not done with you yet, be a good girl for me, hm?”

He takes a step back, and you are sorely tempted to turn around and see what he will do to you after hearing that little threat. You want to see how he will dominate you and destroy you and feast on you. But his order is fresh in your mind, and you offer him this playful Colonel prize and turn your back completely to him.

“Good girl,” he says, pleased to note your obedience.

His foot hits yours, parting your legs and at the same moment you feel a dry, hot smack hit your ass, squeezing it hard. A little cry of surprise escapes your mouth, and Caleb laughs teasingly when he sees you bending against the kitchen counter.

You dare to peek through the gap between his outstretched arm, and the sight twists your insides with fire and steel, and all you can do is smile desperately in anticipation as you see Caleb kneeling behind you. His hands grip any exposed patch of bare skin, leaving more wet kisses around your thighs, the backs of your knees, and the insides of your buttocks.

“Caleb! Ah– do you want to ahh–” You moan incoherently as you feel his hand rub with delicious pressure over your wet panties. “Kill me?”

He doesn't answer you, instead hooking his fingers under the fabric of your cotton panties and pulling them down your legs, leaving them hanging precariously around your ankles.

“Do you want me to kill you like this?” He kisses your buttock, squeezing it. “I think it would be a good death.”

“Arrogant.” You tease, trying to turn to look at him.

“You didn’t see anything. Turn around. I won’t say it again.” He stares at you with bleary eyes, and you don’t dare disobey his order this time. He grips your thighs tightly, spreading them wider, and the cold air of the kitchen touches where you are most exposed.

And he’s barely finished speaking when your body shudders under his attention, and you can barely contain your moan as his fingers brush against your clit, wet and throbbing. Your eyes roll back as his tongue licks you, from bottom to top.

“Oh–my…!” You cry out as he drags his tongue slowly and deliberately across your cunt, and you feel a moan rip through your insides. You don’t even know how that sound comes out of you - it sounds like a whimper - and it makes you arch even further against the cold marble, thrusting your ass up toward him, exposing yourself more, your hands gripping the stone so tightly that your knuckles turn white.

He grips your thighs tightly, using his fingers to spread your wet folds even further, and when he envelops your pussy with his mouth, flicking his tongue inside you, sucking and pressing with intensity, you know you’re going to explode. “C-Caleb—” You mumble, your voice coming out broken. “I’m gonna cum like this!”

He squeezes your ass with his hand and you feel him move behind you, standing up and stepping to the side. You stand on your tiptoes, leaning your body further over the counter and opening yourself even more for him. He growls as he sinks two fingers inside you. He slams into your pussy, hard, fast, not at all careful, and you don't care if you'll be sore the next day, because you know you will.

His fingers curl inside you, stroking the spot that makes you shiver desperately, and he jerks, rubbing your clit in the process. You’re so wet, the sounds he makes when he pounds into you are obscene enough to make the orgasm coil even tighter in your womb. “C-Caleb! Ah— I’m gonna cum!”

He kneels as you warn him. “Do you want to cum like this? In my mouth, Evee?” His tongue returns to you, and he varies the rhythm, alternating between firm kisses and sucks. “Fuck, you’re going to cum, aren’t you? You’re swallowing my fingers so well…”

You can't resist anymore.

A gut-wrenching moan sends your body into spasms as Caleb drinks you in with a growl. Your orgasm is a white-hot, overwhelming wave, making you moan his name incoherently, shameless and unfiltered as your thighs tremble.

And he doesn't stop. He continues, to your delight, fingering and rubbing your clit, increasing your pleasure, leaving increasingly wet kisses on your pussy, on your ass, on your thighs, until he knows he has wrung every drop of your pleasure from inside you.

You pant heavily, trying to gather strength in your shaking legs to keep yourself standing, and you almost fail when you try to turn around to see what he’s going to do next. But all you see when you turn around is Caleb standing there, his fingers wiping your wetness from his face as he checks out his own wet handiwork between your soaking legs.

You turn to face him completely, and he's panting, a smug smile on his lips, and you feel like hitting him again. Your elbows rest on the counter and your gaze drops to where his cock is still trapped. The white tailored pants of his uniform are wrinkled at the knees, and there's a large, very wet stain between his legs.

“Caleb.” You call, gaining his attention. “Take off your pants. I want to suck you.”

His brow furrows at the request. You’re pretty sure he didn’t expect to hear something so depraved come out of your mouth, and you almost feel happy to surprise him like this – especially since you were surprised at yourself. It was his fault anyway.

You’d never had an experience like that with anyone else, and touching yourself was far from the same. You knew a few things you liked, how much pressure to put on, what to think about while you masturbated, but this? Maybe you were feeling so bold and messy and assertive because this was your Caleb. And your Caleb had always brought out intense things in you.

“Your pants.” You repeat, your breath coming in short gasps, and take a single step forward. Your fingers curl over the dog tag chain on his chest, and you pull him close. He doesn’t protest, and his expression is a mix of surprise and disbelief.

Excited, your fingers slide, somewhat clumsily, to the already undone button of his pants. You unzip the zipper in a hurry, too impatient to seem normal, and push the fabric down with a quick movement – ​​only to come across another obstacle: his boxers.

“Do you need my help?” He chuckles, now as eager as you are, and slides a strand of your messy hair behind your ear.

“Yes.” You say, looking up at him from beneath your lashes and kneeling in front of him unceremoniously. “Don’t interrupt me.”

Your fingers grip the belt loops of his pants and you pull them down along with his boxer briefs. Maybe you should have prepared yourself a little more before making this decision, and you bite your lip when all you see is his cock in front of your eyes – hard, thick, glistening with pre cum dripping from the tip and throbbing through you.

You gasp, feeling heat bloom again in your lower belly. Anxious, just as he said you were, you tease him with your fingertips, circling the bulge with affection – perhaps too much so, to his sadness or relief – and your head tilts forward, leaving a kiss on his thigh.

“Evee–” The sound he makes - half a defeated sigh, half a warning growl - makes you even wetter and more eager. “You don’t have to.”

“Says who?” Your gaze lifts to his, and you almost laugh when he rolls his eyes as your thumb presses into the slit of his cock and you find it’s going to be easy to see him break in your hands. “I want it. It’s only fair.”

He laughs at your boldness, and groans when you firmly grip the base of his cock with your hand, not knowing exactly what to do, but having a slight notion. You see goosebumps rise on the skin of his thigh when you press a little harder, moving your hand up and down with ease, and that is more than enough confirmation that you are doing it the right way.

Your tongue slides experimentally across the swollen, reddened tip, savoring the taste of him. You think about it thoughtfully—it’s not tasty, but it’s definitely not bad. It’s salty, bitter, maybe woody, but it doesn’t matter right now. You wanted to take him all in, but Caleb was… big.

Taking advantage of the fact that he had his eyes closed, very focused on feeling your tongue sliding around his cock, you open your mouth, enveloping him with your wet heat. You feel him pulsate in your mouth, warming your tongue, making his flavor more prominent.

He shudders and groans, arching his body forward to lean against the counter with his outstretched arm, and a spasm runs through his legs. You almost think he’s going to collapse on your body as you pump him again while sucking him with gentle pressure.

“Fuck, Evee, uh– wait.” He speaks with some urgency, tangling his fingers in your scalp to get you to stop.

You release his cock with a wet, reluctant pop, and look up at him. “Take your hand off.” He instructs, his voice cracking, but he still struggles, trying not to sound too defeated before it’s too late. You pull your hand away, unsure of where to place it, and bring it back as if it’s trapped. Your position makes Caleb grunt in satisfaction, and he bends slightly to cup the back of your head. “Open your little mouth wide, will you?”

You look up at him from beneath your lashes, and he smirks at you as he grabs the base of your cock, lightly smacking your lips. “Breathe through your nose. If it’s too much, spank me, and I’ll stop.”

Caleb teases the head of his cock in your mouth, and you let him slide it inside you. Taking his time, he slowly pushes it in once, testing it inch by inch further down your throat, like he did with his finger. He’s big, he knows, but he’s satisfied when you take more than half of him.

“Yes… that feels good.” He thrusts again, further, and for a second too long, almost in your throat. “Good girl… you look so beautiful with your mouth full of my cock. Will you let me fuck your little mouth, hm?”

You let out a broken moan, acquiescing to his request, and he thrusts his cock into your mouth, fast and shallow while keeping your head still. Your lips are growing swollen and your mouth is drooling with your saliva and pre cum. You know you look like a mess right now, but Caleb looks at you with eyes clouded with desire and adoration, and you want to pound into him and give it all to him.

You love him.

His scrutiny is so intense as he fucks your mouth that you find it too much to bear, and you squeeze your eyes shut. You hear him growling in dissatisfaction, his fingers tightening in your scalp, thrusting his cock down your throat. “Look at me.” He purrs like a cat.

Your eyes meet his, teary and submissive, and the impact of it makes him shiver again. “Ah— fuck, like that, look at me, didn’t you want to look at me?” He continues to thrust his cock into your mouth, looking down at you in awe. His eyes are so bright and beautiful and he looks happy. So happy that your heart bleeds. He’s so beautiful.

Your mind goes blank again as he increases the speed of his thrusts. His hips gain momentum and his grunts are low, broken, and animalistic. You think it’s too much, the involuntary reflex in the back of your throat threatening to cause an accident, and before you can slap his thigh to stop him, he pulls back enough for his cock to slide out with a pop.

Caleb groans, a slurred, frustrated sound. “Fuck…” He says, pumping slowly as he stares at you as if he wants to burn your image into his eyes. You looked so beautiful there, so panting, submissive to him on your knees, your face red and shiny with saliva and pre cum, messy hair streaming down your back.

“Come here.” He catches your eye, and you blink at him as he reaches down to help you up after getting rid of the pants that were on his legs, and the panties hanging around your ankles. With a thrust, he throws you up with his arms – more brute force than EVOL – and cups your ass with the palms of his hands only to realize how much of your pussy was still dripping. “You’re beautiful, you know that?”

You smile, embarrassed by the infectious joy and sincerity tinged in his voice. “You say that after fucking me?”

He laughs exasperatedly – ​​incredulous that you said that to his face. “Tsk… I haven’t fucked you yet, princess.”

You feel your heart leap between your ribs and your chest swell again in anticipation as he walks into the bedroom. Your arms wrap around his neck, breathing in the familiar scent of sweat and forest that is so intrinsically Caleb, and you feel safe like that.

The door was ajar, and he kicks it lightly, making room for you to walk through. His steps, precise and slow, stop at the edge of the bed, and he gives your ass a light pat, only to let you down from his arms. You almost protest when you miss the warmth of his body against yours, supporting you with a care and affection that you haven't seen since this mess started.

“Evee.” He calls softly as you look up at him. His arms wrap around your back, and he pulls you closer, hugging you tightly. This is where you want to be. The place you know as home. The home you know you can return to even after the storm.

And you stay like that for a moment. Skin against skin, completely naked and vulnerable, feeling each other's hearts reverberate through your body, trying to understand why you took the longest and most painful path to be there, in each other's arms.

But that didn't matter anymore. Not now.

Not when he looked at you with those sweet eyes – the most beautiful eyes you had ever known. Not when he still seemed so dizzy with desire for you, but still showered you with so much love, so much admiration, so much longing. It made you want to crawl out of your own skin and take refuge inside his, if that was possible to keep him close, safe, by your side.

“Hm?” You murmur as you feel his fingertips stroke up and down your back, the touch as light as a feather.

“I’m happy.” He says as you tilt your head back, resting your chin on his chest to look up at him. He kisses your forehead as you smile from ear to ear and stand on your tiptoes. He kisses your jaw, the corner of your lips, your chin, your cheek, over your eyes, and then your mouth—soft, gentle, completely passionate. Your tongue tangles with his slowly, and you moan softly into his mouth and he drinks you in.

His lips languidly lick yours, kissing your jaw again, down your neck, tickling your ribs. A happy laugh bursts from your chest when you feel his lips stretch into a smile against your skin as he continues to kiss you softly.

He almost leans over you to lick and suck on your hardened nipples, and pulls back to look at you with such adoration and love. You sigh with happiness, with everything you’ve held so tightly in your heart for years and years on end. “Me too… Caleb.” You blink back the tears that threaten to spill from the corners of your eyes.

You were overflowing with so many feelings that you felt dizzy.

You kiss again, and the fire starts to crackle in your lower belly again when you feel Caleb’s hand press his fingers into your waist, squeezing your soft flesh as he carries you up onto the bed. The mattress dips under your weight and he settles you down onto your pillows, hovering over you carefully.

You catch a glimpse of his attention shifting to something on the left side of your head, and you catch him staring at the apple plush you insisted on leaving on his bed. He grimaces and grabs it, turning his innocent, smiling face away. “That’s not right for you, stay like that.”

You laugh, slightly confused and distracted, about to ask him what he means, when you feel Caleb’s palm slide over your pussy, stimulating it again. “Ah– ah! Caleb!”

“What’s up, princess?” He kisses your jaw, cooing in your ear. “I told you I haven’t fucked you yet, didn’t I?”

You nod, unable to speak, feeling the tightness in your lower abdomen tighten. You were both so overstimulated, you doubted you’d last more than a few thrusts. But your eyes slid to Caleb as he shifted his hips between your legs in a slow motion, jerking his cock - hard and glistening with pre cum - to align your entrance with his tip, and you knew he was going to destroy you.

He arches over you again, his tip rolling over your hardened clit almost making you howl at the sensation. It wasn’t the same as having his fingers or wet tongue working you over, drawing gasps of pleasure. It was something rawer and obscene.

Caleb kisses your mouth, quick and sloppy, before whispering in your ear. “Tell me if it’s too much… I’ll try to be gentle… but don’t count on it.” He grins wickedly at you, and your eyes nearly roll back in your head as he lifts himself up and sinks his swollen head into your pussy.

Your toes curl and you kick your legs up, wrapping your calves around Caleb to pull him closer. Your hands grip the sheets as the pressure - not of pain, but of something you couldn’t quite put into words - threatens to throw you over the edge. You need to anchor yourself to something, anything to keep from exploding, to keep from drifting away from the overwhelming sensation. “Caleb—ah!”

“I know… fuck–uh… you’re so tight…” He whimpers into your ear, biting and kissing your earlobe to distract you from the intrusion. His fingers wipe away the tears that have welled up in your eyes and you smile up at him, a little more relieved as the pressure slowly eases.

“You can… move now,” you assure him breathlessly, and he kisses your jaw when he gets his cue. He slides inside you, still slowly, holding himself with a muffled, ragged groan, and his hips grind against yours in a slow, deep motion. He barely blinks as he watches you roll your eyes again, completely at his mercy, and he hums, satisfied that he’s made you feel good.

He tries to pull back a little and makes his way in again, hitting you deep and languidly to get you used to the intrusion. Your body writhes in pleasure, moaning rhythmically each time he pulls back and sinks into you once more, hitting a spot that you don't quite know where it is, but that makes you see stars.

He undulates over you all the way to the hilt, and you whimper as the friction on your clit and the penetration stimulates you over the edge. “F-fuck, Caleb! Harder ah-ahh!” You mutter nonsensically, your body rocking back and forth as he lifts your ass, and drags you up onto his thighs so that you nearly double over onto the mattress.

“Do you want it harder, princess?” You shake your head frantically and look up at him in time to see him bend over your body, planting a smacking kiss on your clit, and pull back, getting on his knees, hovering over you as he plunges his cock back in.

The edges of your vision nearly blur with sensation again. He feels like he’s touching you everywhere on your body, and you think it’s such a beautiful sensation, even as it overwhelms you. You force yourself to look up at him, to capture his expressions and store them away forever. But Caleb’s attention is lower, and your eyes slide from his face to where you swallow him. The sight makes your core tingle and ignite.

He presses you against the mattress, burying himself inside you as he stares at you with bleary eyes. “You like it like this, hm? You like it when I fuck you hard?”

Another desperate cry rips from your throat, and Caleb grunts above you. He pulls his cock out completely, and thrusts into you, once, twice, three times, and you start to feel that white haze tinge the edges of your mind. “Fuck… you’re— oh… you feel so good…” He pulls back again, sloppily rubbing and tapping the swollen, red head against your clit. “You’re swallowing my cock so good…”

The thrusts come back more powerful, more rhythmic. His body slams against yours with sweaty, wet, obscene slaps. Deeper and deeper, harder. He holds you by the thighs to anchor you as he feels you tighten around his cock more tightly.

“Let me watch you cum, hm?” You squeeze his biceps in agreement, too numb to speak.

He slides you back into a more comfortable position and bends over you, kissing your neck and sweaty collarbone. Your fingers tighten on his jaw, making him pull away so you can look at him as he increases his thrusts and you gasp.

The sound comes out as a shaky, desperate sob, and your entire body contracts around him. The orgasm invades you with violence, leaving your vision completely painted in white. Waves of pleasure that consume you, and break you from the inside out in intense spasms, leaving you breathless.

“That’s it… ah–ah!” Caleb’s moans come out loud and choked, his own movements faltering, losing their rhythm as you choke his cock with your pussy. He digs his fingers into your waist, squeezing so hard it almost hurts, and sinks into you with sloppy, wet thrusts. “Fuck… ah–! I– don't…”

His body shudders against yours, and he pulls back just in time to cum, leaving long trails of cum falling onto your thighs as he masturbates and moans hoarsely and senselessly, milking his own cock.

You watch him, panting, as you feel the aftershocks of your own orgasm fade into the fog in your head.

“I–” He collapses on top of you as he feels like he’s spilled everything onto you, his body also slightly shaking from his recent orgasm. He rolls onto his side a minute later, looking down at you. “Evee? Are you okay?” He asks breathlessly, poking your swollen cheek with the tip of his finger.

You barely get a look at him before a laugh escapes your lips like a deflating balloon, shaking the mattress. You glance at him sideways, only to see a sullen pout on his lips - despite trying to contain his own laughter - which makes you laugh even harder.

“Seriously?” He snorts, rolling over onto his stomach. “What could possibly be so funny now?”

“Hah– I…” You gasp, trying to stop as your stomach tightens from the exertion. “I really don’t know, sorry! It must be the effect of having two orgasms?!” You laugh again – like a little pig – which makes Caleb turn to you, laughing. “Stop looking at me!”

“Two orgasms, huh?” He says smugly, resting his head on his arm.

You take a deep breath, and let it out through your mouth, trying to calm yourself down. When you feel like you’re in control again, you turn over in bed, facing Caleb. “I’m fine.” You say, knowing he’ll ask again.

“Okay. That’s good.” He smiles at you, cupping your cheek with his hand. “I was really trying to control myself.”

Your brow furrows and you almost believe his words. “You really didn’t make it.” He sighs, pulling you into his arms and wrapping you around him carefully.

“Was I too rude?” You just shake your head and he pulls back a little, enough to look into your eyes. “So… was it too bad? Was it too good?”

You pretend to think for a moment. You've never met this Caleb Xia. The one who was hungry for you, and who wanted to dominate you, giving you orders with dirty talk. The one who made you have the first sexual experience of your life.

“A little rough, I guess, but I liked it.” There’s amusement in his eyes as he looks at you a little more relieved. “I think we both needed this… I feel lighter in a lot of ways…”

“But…?” He asks, anxious, and you feel his fingers dig into your arms.

You take a deep breath, patting his arm to loosen it, and sit with your legs tucked against your chest, feeling suddenly cold. “Caleb. Where does that leave us?”

He shifts in the bed, uncomfortable with the question. Maybe it was way too soon to bring this up, but you feel like you can’t waste a single second after this. You need to know what you mean to him, because he is everything to you. “What are we to each other now?”

“Duuh… everything…?” He doesn’t look at you when he speaks, but he crawls across the mattress to sit beside you, pulling the sheet over your back to cover you and himself. “Isn’t that obvious, huh? You’ve always meant everything to me, Evee. Before I could even understand what that was to me, it’s always been there. It’s like—like we’ve met a thousand lifetimes ago, and this feeling has been there forever. That’s how I feel about you.”

You listen to him intently, and your skin crawls. Thinking back, you realize that Caleb has always been like this in a way. Letting little crumbs of his feelings surround you. Letting you pretend to be his girlfriend while you were in high school and college. Not approaching other girls, not because he had no choice, but because he always had eyes only for you.

Letting his little touches tingle over your skin, small gestures of care warm your heart. It’s all been there for so long that your heart breaks into pieces with the realization. How did I not see this before? How did he cultivate this feeling for so long alone and receive nothing from me? You think to yourself, angry.

You weren't just an angry fuck he used to take out his intense feelings on. You were a dream he chased, a desire he dreamed of, a love he longed to achieve.

“Hey… you’re thinking too much…” He says when you get lost in some thought that he can’t read in your eyes.

“What are we now then?” You ask, softening your expression. “I mean…”

“We are what we are. I don’t care about that, to be honest. Friends, boyfriends, lovers, I don’t care, you’re everything to me before and after that.” He says and his words seem so sincere that you feel silly for thinking about it.

You can’t help the giggle that escapes your lips and he makes a face at you. “I didn’t know Caleb Xia could be so cheesy.”

“Ahhh… yeah, I feel like I can finally act stupidly in love with you.” He looks out the window and thinks before speaking the next words. “Even though I may feel that way about you, I don’t want people to know…”

“Uhm? Why?” You ask quickly, feeling your stomach turn when he turns to face you. “I–I’m in a position where people want to get to me… and once they find out that you’re my biggest weakness, they’re going to target you straight away and those people are going to do everything they can to–I mean, it’s not like they don’t know you’re around as my temporary assistant and–!” You smack his knee and he stops talking when he sees your expression. “Ouuch–hey, what was that, pipsqueak!?”

“Stop rambling! It’s not like I’m not a walking target too, Caleb! Once those same people find out my secret, and that you’re also my weakness, they’ll target you! So we’re in the same boat, looking out for each other, like we always have, hm?” You say, leaving a smacking kiss on his knee.

He nods in agreement. “I guess you’re right… we’ll take care of each other like we always have…” He says, glancing sideways. “But I still prefer to be discreet about it, even tho I kinda want to scream right now.” He says, chuckling, opening his arm and curling up on your lap. “And as much as I want you to be home for me when I return from missions, I’d rather you not be here alone while I’m out of reach.”

“Hah…” You chuckle softly. “Unfortunately, as much as I want to be here when you arrive, I can’t stay either… I need to go back to Linkon for a number of reasons.” You see him nod, agreeing with you regretfully. “But whenever I’m free, I’ll be here in Skyhaven for you.”

“I know, I’ll visit you too when I can.” He pulls you in, wrapping his arms around your back as he combs your hair with his fingertips. “It’s okay. I’m happy like this. We’ll find a way to… be together in peace…”

You nod slowly, feeling your chest tighten. Happiness and fear face off inside you, and the line between those two feelings is fragile and frayed. But you hold on to her like she’s all that’s left of the two of you. It doesn’t matter anymore - it never really mattered - that she’s falling apart.

You two will redo this line in blood if necessary.

–----------------------- ♥

You don’t talk much for the rest of the night, respecting the comfortable silence that has settled in after you’ve taken a long shower, eaten, and done your chores. But you steal glances and cheerful smiles at each other as Caleb sits comfortably at his desk, filling out reports on the latest mission in the deep space tunnel, and you text Tara with a speed that has Caleb leaning in slightly to see what you’re doing so enthusiastically.

You didn’t let him peek, though. Girl talk needed privacy, and you weren’t going to let him see how many scandalous things you were confessing to your best friend who was also a hunter like you. You knew the woman would bombard you with questions as soon as she stepped foot in Linkon after days of enjoying “a friend’s wedding,” so you offered her some crumbs to make her die of curiosity about your adventures.

“I hope you’re telling people how great the transportation system is here, you know. You seem really excited about telling someone something.” Caleb hums with a smug smile, even though he knows you won’t fall for his teasing.

“I’m just updating my friend on how my friend’s wedding went! I’ve only had good things to say, don’t worry.” You say with a wink, making him laugh in confusion, but soon his smile falls a little, his eyes turning back to the papers. “Caleb?” He tilts his head without looking at you, but hears your words. “I need to catch the first train tomorrow. Can you go with me?”

Caleb looks at you with furrowed brows, trying to avoid the inevitable, even though he knows there’s no way. He sighs exasperatedly, leaving his pen and papers on the table, and walks towards you, sinking into the mattress next to you.

“We’ve intercepted Metaflux fluctuations in a stable zone within the secure border… it’s high priority. I have to leave in two hours.” He explains, his voice lowering with each word. “I’m sorry, Evee.”

You nod a few times before smiling at him, a smile that barely reaches your eyes. “No need to apologize.” You say shakily, forcing yourself to keep it together, and pat his thigh comfortingly. “We would have to say goodbye soon… but right now–right now I don’t know how to do that.”

Caleb presses the bridge of his eyelids together and murmurs, “I know… I feel that way too.” He doesn’t say anything else for a while. He just pulls you closer, until your head rests against his chest. You hear his heartbeat, slow, steady, as if he’s trying to calm yours. “We’ll be okay, Evee.” He whispers against your hair.

You close your eyes, trying to think how and when the next time you'll meet will be, and you try to believe that everything will be okay. And you do.

–----------------------- ♥

You're standing on the train platform the next morning, waiting for your train, alone. The cacophony of voices, announcements, and people rushing back and forth distract you a little from the longing that's already coiling in the pit of your stomach, making you even more uncomfortable. Your whole body aches, your eyes sting from crying, and it's cold and cloudy, even though it's summer.

It’s the aftereffects of yesterday’s storm, you think. It makes you miss the sun warming your skin, shining down and pulling you in with its relentless gravity. And your sun, your Caleb Xia, was far away too, beyond the clouds, somewhere in space, unable to reach you with its gravity.

“Caleb…” You mumble regretfully, clutching your phone in your hand as the train finally pulls into the platform, sending a gust of cold wind against your face.

With a resigned sigh, you step onto the train as the last warning sounds, and find your seat in the corner by the window of the first carriage. You almost feel like crying for the thousandth time since Caleb left during the early hours of the morning when your cell phone vibrates twice in your hand.

You don't want to talk or speak to anyone right now, but the insistent notification makes you turn on your screen to see what it was so you can curse properly. Your eyes light up and your heart jumps in your mouth when you see a text message from Caleb come up in the chat.

⤷ “u must be on the platform now, rite? u know where gate A-01 is, dont u?” “do u need help finding it? If you miss the train, come back to my apartment, I mean, ours lol :D”

You bite your lip and frown in confusion and quickly tap the screen, typing.

⤷ “How are you able to send messages now? You’re in the tunnel, aren’t you?”

⤷ “yeeep, we’re actually on our way, we’re a few kilometers above the atmosphere, but from that point on we won’t have a signal until we return. :( go to gate A-01, dont get lost, pips!”

⤷ “Stop calling me that Caleb! We had sex yesterday, you know?!”

⤷ “hah, i know that very well xD! i cant wait to fuck you really good again ;)”

Your mouth drops open comically when you read the message, feeling your cheeks burn, and you bite your lip to contain your stupidly infatuated smile so no one thinks you're going crazy.

⤷ “Caleb…! That’s all you’re thinking about, huh?”

You tease, trying to think of something equally provocative to type back, and you delete the text when you see him typing something back, but you don’t receive anything for several minutes. You turn off your phone screen as the train starts to speed up, and your eyes are glued to the futuristic landscape of Skyhaven’s surroundings, until it quickly becomes green fields as far as the eye can see.

Five minutes later, your phone vibrates again, making your heart skip a beat once more when you see an audio message from Caleb pop up in the chat.

“Hey… we’re about to enter the no-communication zone, and I might be gone for a few days. Please don’t do anything reckless, Evee.”

The audio ends, and you pout in annoyance. But it doesn’t take long for another one to appear next.

“Evee…” He says your name slowly in a low voice, and your heart tightens. “I love you. I won’t let anything separate us again. I love you, don’t forget, okay?”

Your vision blurs at the edges and you have to fight the tightness that grows tighter in your throat. Your finger presses the audio button, and even though you’ve tried to make your voice sound steady, it comes out shaky and choked.

“I’ll take care of myself, Caleb. I love you too, I love you so much!” You choke out and take a deep breath before continuing. “Let me know when you get back, okay? Take care!”

You rest your head against the window glass, your eyes still watery, and try to focus on the sky that was slowly gaining a shade of azure blue on the horizon, and the clouds finally letting the sun, your sun, shine on you, warming your skin.

♥

thank you for reading!

[augustsblossom]

I need to make classmate! Mark Grayson happen it is rotting my brain

── ── ── ── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ── ── ── ──

˚ ༘ *ೃ⁀➷ main! Mark Grayson x fem! reader

˚ ༘ *ೃ⁀➷ cw: mark doesn’t have powers, marks lowkey a perv, reader is super girly, kind of insinuates that Mark jerks it LOLLL, reader teases mark some bit lolol

˚ ༘ *ೃ⁀➷ a/n: hiii I promise I will get to my requests I’ve just been needing to clear my drafts! This also is a pretty common fic I see with characters I’m not for sure if there is one of Mark but creds to the people that did it first! Inbox is still open if you would like to see anything else 💋

── ── ── ── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ── ── ── ──

classmate! Mark who is one of the biggest geeks at school, he’s like super hot but still people get a laugh or two when they see him reading Seance Dog

classmate! Mark who takes a chemistry class with you and is super smart, he turns in his tests before anyone else and people come to him for help

classmate! Mark who notices you ALL THE TIME. When you walk into class he is always eyeing you to see which outfit you picked out. He likes to think you pick them for him, buuuttttt

classmate! Mark who noticed you’re into girly stuff. A lot of your outfits resemble just true girlyness and he adores all of them. One day you wore a matching Juicy Couture tracksuit and he LOSSSTT ITT. It hugged your curves perfectly and left some imagination for him to use tonight

classmate! Mark who almost shits himself when you guys get paired for a project. Your professer assigned you guys together and when she called out the names he looked over to see you applying your cherry Victoria’s Secret lipgloss. He was in awe with just how truly unbothered you were

classmate! Mark who hypes himself up to ask if you wanted to go to his place to work on it. He took a quick few deep breaths and walked up to where you were sitting

“I know we don’t talk like a lot and it can be weird going to a strangers house but I was wondering if you wanted to work on our project at my place? I have like the whole thing to myself and-“

He rambled for a bit before shutting up and was waiting for an answer. You looked up at him just staring for a second before you respond

“Yeah, I’m down”

His heart might have just fell to his ass. God you were so confident and unbothered he was SO into it. And it didn’t help that the shirt you were wearing was a size smaller so your twins were suffocating and pushing for air

You weren’t oblivious to his actions and tone. You knew he liked you and you known for a while. But sometimes you liked to act oblivious so he would HAVE to push out of his comfort zone even more, it was a fun little game you played

classmate! Mark who lets you into his home and leads you to his room. He was ready to start the project and you guys got to work. To be honest he lowkey did all the work, you were tired and he didn’t mind! As long as he still had an imagination for the nights that kept him awake he would have no problem doing whatever you asked

classmate! Mark who when after you left he immediately got to his room to calm down. He truly couldn’t believe you were just in his home, with your sweet scent lingering on his bedsheets where you were sitting

classmate! Mark who then notices you left your jacket, and boy was he over the moon. Leaving your jacket helped his imagination feel more like a reality

You were just glad you could return the favor of him doing your project :)

[bet-on-me-13]

Dark Secret

So! Danny was discovered pretty quickly after his first battle against the Lunch Lady. His hair turned white, and his body shape was a little different, but he largely looked very similar to his Human Form, so it was only a matter of time really.

Thankfully he was assumed to be a Metahuman.

He didn't look like any other Ghost, the closest resemblance was his hair and eye color, but even that could be explained away. Also his parents were adamant that he couldn't be a Ghost because he was still Sentient and not Evil, so he must just have powers that just looked similar to Ghost Powers esthetically. Probably as a result of the Portal Accident, which he used as an explanation for how his powers awakened.

Danny also avoided using the more obvious Ghost Powers like Intangiblity and Invisiblity, sticking mostly to the most basic Flight and Energy based Powers he got to be as generic as possible. If anybody saw otherwise, it was a trick of the light or a trick of the Ghosts.

Danny became the Hero of Amity Park, always pretending to be something else. It was his darkest secret.

Unfortunately because the public never saw a Ghost like Phantom on a positive light, their perception of Ghosts never changed. Nobody believed that Ghosts could be anything aside from Evil, and as the knowledge of Ghosts and the Ghost Zone began to spread around the world that perception became more and more commonplace.

If Danny had been revealed in the early days, it could have been salvageable, but nowadays if his secret was revealed he would have to convince the entire world that everything they knew about Ghosts was wrong. It would practically be impossible.

Even when he joined the Justice League when he became an Adult, he still had to hide his secret. Years of hiding made sure he could conceal his true Nature from the magic users on the team, but he still had to be distant from the team just to be sure.

While all this was going on in the Living Realm, his adventures in the Ghost Zone still happened as normal. He saved Pandora and the Acropolis, dethroned the Tyrant King Aragon, managed to defeat Pariah Dark in Single combat, and even became recognized as a Great Warrior by the Far Frozen.

After years of hiding, he actually felt more at home in the Ghost Zone than in the Human Realm. There he could be his true self without having to hide a huge part of his identity, and people accepted him for who he was. Sure he had enemies there, but he also had more real friends outside of Tucker and Sam.

He was content with his double life, acting as a Hero to the Public while hiding his true self, and secretly going to the Ghost Zone to be himself among his friends and even his enemies.

Of course it all came crashing down when he Anti Ecto Acts finally passed.

Now there was a Legal Path for Humans to enter and profit off of the Ghost Zone. Beyond just being able to legally kill and experiment on Ghosts, the Acts also allowed Humans to claim parts of the Ghost Zone as their own Property, enslaving the Ghosts residing there, and destroying the Ecosystem of the Zone because there were no laws preventing it.

And now Danny had a choice.

He could either side with the Humans to which he was a Hero, allowing them to destroy the Ghost Zone and Enslave the denizens living there with the full support of the Government, or he could side with the Ghost Zone, betraying Humanity and the people he had been protecting for years, but trying to save those who had accepted him for his true self years ago.

To him the answer was obvious.

[esmeblaise]

Instead of setting sail and leaving Luffy alone Ace and Sabo got twin tattoos for their 17th birthday (they were both very very drunk)

masterpost

[mintjeru]

"but if you turn around now. then, i'll kiss you according to my conviction."

bonus:

open for better quality | no reposts

[love-is-a-pearl]

daily reminder that dawn is the only one out of the OG trio that gets a special pika-name ♥

[hurricanek8art]

Screw it, I posted the fic, she's my other main oc in the SWTOR-fic-verse in my head and drafts, SO part two of me clawing my way out of my anxiety bubble: character profiles part two! In which i still suck at summarizing events without sounding pretentious or overdoing it on the lore dumping. I have like. two good screenshots of Chrysali on my tablet and no access to the ones on my old laptop hard drive still (😭😭😭), but thanks to @jeswii coming in the clutch with a screenshot so I don't claw my hair out (THANK YOU AGAIN) I have finished one out of three parts of that art thing I've been going insane rambling about lately and it's my favorite part of it so have this bit of a thing that I will finish eventually!🥴 I'm probably going to come back to this and swap the art out for the full finished piece once it's done-done, but! in the meantime!:

Chrysali Vidoi: the Cipher

Homeworld: Druckenwell

Born: 3662BBY (age 22 at start, currently 40)

Species: Genetically- and cybernetically-enhanced Human

Occupation: co-operations manager and head of Alliance Intelligence; formerly agent of the Imperial Intelligence division

Affiliations: Eternal Alliance; formerly Imperial Intelligence

Romances: Theron Shan

Chrysali Vidoi is a woman of many names—Cipher Nine, Nashtah Twelve, Legate, and countless more she cannot even remember, but none of them matter more to her than the one she was born with and constantly denied. A survivor of the Battle of Druckenwell as a child, Chrysali found herself rounded up in the aftermath by agents of the Imperial Science Division and taken as test subjects for the Arkanian cyber-geneticist Atro Arkova's Project: Nashtah. Arkova wanted to create a perfect living weapon, and through a combination of cybernetic modification and genetic enhancement, he made the children under his thumb more—faster, stronger, more agile, more capable in a fight, immune to the effects of external stimulants like alcohol and drugs, and with a lowered sensitivity to internal hormones like adrenaline that could impair their reactions. Better than droids because they could think for themselves, Arlova molded them into becoming a potential replacement for even the vaunted Cipher program one day. They were deadly killing machines with only one flaw: they were not invincible. By the time Chrysali (now designated Nashtah Twelve) came of age, only a handful of her fellow Nashtahs had survived their grueling training, and the project was closed down as a failure with the survivors shuffled into Imperial Intelligence instead. Chrysali took to the work like she was made for it (and she had been) but all the while hated everything about it—the Empire, the work, herself, everything. A rollercoaster three years followed that ended with Imperial Intelligence disbanded, Ardun Kothe's offer to make her a double-agent for the SIS, and Chrysali aimless as she struggled to be more than just the weapon she was made to become. The Revanite crisis served to be the lifeline out of her confusion, and Chrysali latched onto the allies she found amongst it, in particular finding something of a kindred spirit in Theron Shan. The years under Zakuul, then fighting Zakuul, brought them together, and now they are an unbreakable partnership in every sense of the word, facing down whatever comes next the way they do best—together.

[grey-tumbles-and-falls-down]

Carol hcs because they're KNAWING AT MY BRAIN like a a dog with a chew toy bro

• she does crossfit, not competitively but when shes not saving the world she likes to go to a local gym and hangout/workout

• she is an IPAD KID. i will not take arguments on this she sits on her kindle fire or whatever right before bed and scrolls through whatever social media app.

• we know she likes cats (chewie/goose) but she also likes to volunteer at animal shelters and take dogs for runs

• she listens to a majority of 70's-early 80's classic rock music because thats when she was growing up and because i said so

• she's very Ilona Maher to me, with less knowlage of the internet

• she doesn't let people like bully her for her age, shes kinda like MCU bucky in that "i read the hobbit when it came out" kinda way

• she despises mechanics if you tell her you're thinking about going she will lecture you about how they over charge you WHILE fixing your car

[gensnix]

So apparently totk isn’t getting a dlc here’s some botw->totk things that make me go mmmmh 

[greyedian]

oh my god I was thinking about a jayvik fallout new vegas AU and was like "hm maybe Viktor uploads himself into one of those robots until he can get a different body by like repurposing power armor or something idk" and then I remembered that this guy's name actually is Victor

[mishy-mashy]

WELP got a new BNHA fic idea about the Resistance and an entrepreneurial OC, including:

Kudo is pretty sure the university barista isn't as polite and proper as she seems. Bruce doesn't believe him

"Are you sure you want to be working on Valentine's, Shiki-san?" Bruce looked up at the red streamers hung around. "Don't you have someone to go out with? It'll be really busy with all the couples."

She gave a closed-eye smile, which set off an alarm in their heads as this was very much not her usual one. It was a familiar sensation, being why they stiffened—the instinctive fear of scary women.

"What are you talking about, Bruce? Other than the fact that I have no time for romance..."

Her back turned, fist clenched as fire erupted in her eyes and around her. The aura she let off darkened her surroundings to a noxious blue, and Kudo could swear he saw GOGOGOGO~ characters shrouding her.

"Coffee dates are a classic. I can't turn down this chance to turn a profit......"

Bruce and Kudo sweatdropped.

Kudo likes facial masks

"Are those things really essential?" Bruce deadpanned, watching her stash mask packets away.

"If I ever need a self-care day to relax for a bit," she said.

Kudo put a finger on his cheek, touching the results of the deluxe face mask he stole from her.

"Totally understandable. Shit feels great. I'm smoother than a baby's ass."

"Kudo," Bruce warned, not wanting him to swear in front of her.

"That's why I was saving it. Jerk."

"Jerk who saved your life."

"Kudo!"

Being asked out by All For One while undercover with a fake identity

Her brain stalled.

"Fumi Haruka. Be my woman."

"..... I'm sorry, but we barely know each other. So, a relationship like that is..."

Yoichi didn't want to be here. He really did not want to watch his brother do this right now.

"Brother!!"

... Oh boy.

Yoichi doesn't understand Resistance codenames

"What's your name, dear?"

"Yoichi," he mumbled.

"What would you like to be called?"

"Yoichi."

"...... Alright." She didn't falter, tone as chipper as when she first asked. Similarly, Leader and Bruce didn't even blink as she introduced herself with a codename.

Writing their own domestic fanfiction in a canon-divergent void out of boredom

"I think we should adopt," Yoichi said thoughtfully. "I'd love to give children another chance at family."

"Oh, boy, 'children' plural." She did not miss that little big fact. "What's the limit of children? I don't want more than three."

"I want six," Yoichi hummed.

"More than one," Kudo decided so firmly that he definitely already had a number in mind.

"Only one, because just one is going to drive our house crazy," Bruce remarked as the sole voice of reason. "I wouldn't mind another one when the first is old enough."

"Well, we definitely aren't in agreement."

Going through their theater kid arc while waiting for the other vestiges

"She's the most beautiful girl in the whole town. That makes her the best."

"Damn, Kudo, didn't know that was your motivation," Bruce muttered not-quietly-at-all.

Yoichi still learning his memes

"Are we all cowabunga on this?" Yoichi asked the other holders.

None answered him. Finally, Shiki sighed and spared them all the discomfort of answering. "Yeah. We're cowabunga."

"God, I hope the road works ahead," Kudo muttered under his breath.

"This is fine." Bruce held up a thumbs-up.

En crinkled his nose, keeping quiet. They were his senpais, but, They're so outdated.

The first four holders being old

"Do you think we should call them Quirks now?" Yoichi asked Shiki, turning his head. "It's been long enough. No one calls them Meta Abilities anymore."

"Eh..." She looked away, not partial to the idea.

"We should keep up with the times," Yoichi decided for them.

".. If you think we should," she relented. Yet again, she fell victim to it: no one could say no to Yoichi. "Quirks," she tried it out. "Quirks. We have Quirks."

"No offense, Shiki-tan, but it sounds weird coming from you."

"Bruce, please."

Bruce basically having aneurysms whenever his attention is brought to All Might and Midoriya's health

"I WAS RIGHT."

"Bruce-"

"FORCING HIMSELF TO DO SOMETHING HE CAN'T DO WILL JUST BREAK SOMETHING."

[*Midoriya using One For All for the first time]

[st4rstudent]

Unfortunately, it has gone quite slow. This writing thing has HANDS!!! It's just a short one story since I haven't actually wrote anything in a whiiileeeee. i think its about maybe halfway done

[h-a-unted]

Cassandra "Cassie" Webb was an orphan whose mother died at childbirth for unknown circumstances. She was raised in an orphanage for non-Supes where she grew up awaiting for foster parents who would care for her. This never came. Instead, once she was of age and able to have a job for herself, she takes on the mantle of a paramedic and moves out of the orphanage and into an apartment complex, where she would occasionally have the company of a stray cat – and a box full of things from her mom.

The first sign of Supe abilities comes as she aids a man trapped in an upside-down car hanging from the edge of the street. Apparently, one of The Seven had been trying to stop a criminal, some damage was bound to be left behind ("collateral damage", if you will). Though Cassie successfully saves the man in the car, as she takes a sigh of relief, the car falls into the river with her inside, and she dies for all of 3 minutes. During those 3 minutes, she witnesses threads, webs, noises, and an overwhelming sensation of unnatural strength coursing through her body. She wakes up and, suddenly, the world she knows is long gone. Hell, even her body feels overwhelmingly different.

Now, she is much more aware of web threads around her, and suddenly, she starts seeing visions of what's to come minutes or seconds before it happens. It feels more like a time loop to her, with the confusion being much greater than the actual question lingering in her head of if she has become somewhat of a Supe.

One thing is for sure, she doesn't know how to stop it, despite having tried to. And though she can see what will happen, no one can change fate. Eventually, everyone dies, she thinks and yet... The moment she tries to save a dove from dying after living it for a second time, things become clearer. She can save people, but she can also be bound to the guilt of reaching them seconds too late, a roulette she is uneasy to accept, a destiny she feels is not her own. That's for the Seven, that's for Supes, not for her.

[k0mmari]

Endless Abyss(kinda)! SY AU

First things first, this is very much inspired by this post by @/rainbowsmagicandshit and @/allpiesforourown, HIGHLY recommend reading that fist just to get a glimpse of where I started off, but do note I have accidentally deviated from the original idea a bit, so uh, oops ig.

This was born out of a mix of different ideas (as usual), so think of this as ‘The AU where SY is a demon, and also the Endless Abyss, and also my excuse to have Binghe possibly make a harem consisting entirely of SY’s’, or, as I like to call it:

As per usual, Shen Yuan has died. It happens to the best of us, and of course, he died while reading the glittering piece of trash that is Proud Immortal Demon Way.But, as he is in the process of getting snatched away by the System, something goes wrong, and the System has to quickly redirect itself and it causes SY to get knocked out of course.

His soul scrambles to find a new host, and it manages to find someone suitable enough. When SY wakes up though, he isn’t greeted by the sight of a roof, or a forest, or anything remotely familiar; instead, the moment he regains consciousness, he’s senses are flooded with as much information as possible. It’s like a computer with too many tabs open, but in this case, you can see all the tabs at the same time and all of them are playing the most obnoxiously loud videos possible, in fact, everything feels so overwhelming even thinking becomes too much.

What SY doesn’t know is that he has transmigrated into the body of a Titan, an almost extinct godly demon race that only existed in the confines of Airplane’s first drafts, and it turns out shoving a human soul into the body of a deity doesn’t bode so well, since what the human mind is able to process doesn’t even come close to what a Titan is able to feel. So because SY can’t get a hold of his own mind, his control of his own body is also not great, and he is completely unaware as his newly acquired body goes on a rampage.

See, SY is currently in a very old version of the Demon Realm, so old in fact, Heavenly Demons still rule over the Realm. It really is quite a shame that SY wasn’t in his right mind at the time, and instead of being able to observe how ancient Heavenly Demons governed demonic society, he instead accidentally set on a path of destruction, with the casualties being anything that had the bad luck of standing in his way. In fact, the destruction got so bad a few of the Heavenly Demons rulers, who notoriously hated each other, settles on a temporary peace agreement and joined forces to stop the mad Titan.

SY, in his frenzied state, didn’t even notice as hundreds of years went by as the Heavenly Demons tried to stop him, and also barely noticed when they finally managed to chain him down and cast him away to be forever banished to the Endless Abyss. His body, once so tall it grazed the clouds, was torn apart, with each of its different parts sealed away in various locations as an attempt to diminish the Titan’s power. It worked, actually, and unbeknownst to the demons, SY slowly began to get his thoughts in order; the event that finally pushed him to coherency was when a few of those Heavenly Demon rulers got greedy, and while sealing away SY’s body parts, attempted to harness his power for themselves, and tried to create legendary weapons out of his flesh and bone.

Most of them failed, a Titan’s power to overwhelming for even a Heavenly Demon to handle, but one of them succeeded, and created a powerful sword made from the Titan’s own heart: Xin Mo. Unfortunately for the creator of Xin Mo, it didn’t take long for them to fall into madness and eventually succumb to Xin Mo’s power, casting themselves away to hold onto the sword forever in the same valley SY’s hands were sealed; but it is as they say, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and while Xin MO’s creator perished, they managed to take enough power away from SY for him to finally be able to think.

It had been a thousand years at this point, and SY’s first coherent thought was that he desperately needed a break, and that in all these years, he hadn’t managed to get a single glimpse into the world of PIDW, and what a waste! Specially since he was now in the most interesting area Airplane had managed to create, he was itching to explore the world. Of course, in his current state he wasn’t exactly able to move (having his limbs cut off certainly didn’t help, but apparently it had been so long since he was imprisoned that his Main Body had started to fuse with the Abyss? Really, more of a slight inconvenience than anything), but he also had become tired of his Titan body with it’s Titan feelings, and so he decided to split his consciousness and create a small army of human sized avatars who were later dubbed his ‘Watchers’, who’s sole purpose was to explore the Endless Abyss and send their findings back to the Main Body (in bite sized, easy to understand thoughts).

It is the first years of his Watchers wandering about that SY finally understood what had happened to his body, and figured out that Xin Mo was a product of his flesh. He figured that since demons tried to use his body for malicious purposes before, with one even succeeding, he decided that one Xin Mo was enough, and came up with a plan: He was going to piece his Titan body back together as a means to prevent anything of the sort happening again, but he was immediately going to seal the Titan body away again, as to not have to deal with it’s overwhelming power.

As the Watchers were sent to locate his body parts again, one of their first findings were the hands, which also meant the resting place of Xin Mo itself. How lucky, he thought! He could just take the hands away and maybe leave one of the Watchers guarding Xin Mo so when Luo Binghe eventually comes to retrieve his sword, SY at least can catch a glimpse of his favorite protagonist! He wasted no time, and while his avatars tried to unseal his hands, one of them went to move Xin Mo, just so it was out of the way, and in doing so the sword retaliated and ended up disintegrating the poor Watcher. What a rude sword, going against its own body.

Fine! If Xin Mo was going to be difficult so be it, and SY formed a new plan: before reuniting his Titan body back together, SY send his Watchers to keep an eye on as much of the Endless Abyss as possible and the moment Luo Binghe fell in, he would turn to hugging the protagonist’s thigh and help him survive the harsh environment as long as Binghe took Xin Mo. Well, it should be no problem, right? Binghe was fated to get the sword one way or another, and SY is sure his involvement will be small insignificant enough that it won’t be much more of a side quest for the future Demon Emperor!

Now, if he were a half human, half Heavenly Demon teenager who just got pushed into hell by his teacher, where would he land….

*

So, as you can see, this is mostly more like SY’s origin story lol, but I’ll probably write Binghe’s first meetings with the Watchers sometime soon (hopefully).In the meantime though, enjoy some more of the bonus sketches I did while figuring out the AU, and of course, if anyone has any questions or thoughts about this, feel free to send them to me!

[chloe-petrichors]

seething, blooming // jace x reader

your father has always been something of an opportunist, but trying to marry you off to the blacks while he courts the greens? this is taking playing the game to a whole new level.

the rose discovers she is an instrument of war. —victor hugo.

fandom; house of the dragon pairing; jacaerys velaryon x f!tyrell!reader (no use of y/n) warnings; canon au (set after aegon takes the crown but before luke's death bc luke will never die in my eyes), altered timeline (jace and reader are in their 20s), arranged marriage, mention parental death/death in childbed (reader's mother), love at first sight vibes, jace is a flirtatious little shit with his betrothed, tooth rotting fluff, love confessions. word count; 6k+ notes; one day i might write for another man. but that day is not today. jace velaryon u have my heart. i'm not majorly pleased w this fic but it's given me enough trouble and it's as good as it's gonna get! this was longer originally, and was meant to be a bit more political at first hence the blurb/quote choice, but i haaated some of the scenes so ended up scrapping 'em. she's not as long as predicted as a result but still an ok length i think. some of the scenes i scrapped were tragically the smut ones, so have this fairly pg one-shot with the promise of the smut-shot sitting in my drafts coming ur way soon. fair warning that the scrapping of scenes has fudged with the pacing a bit but honestly i can't take this fic sitting in my drafts any longer so here u go!! i have a taglist now, mostly cos eldrith keeps telling me i have to tag her in everything, so lmk if you'd like to be added to it! requests; are open !

the rising sun paints highgarden in shades of pink and gold.

you stand upon your balcony, finger curled loosely over the pale marble as you stare distantly out over the rolling green fields and blooming gardens. the faint bubbling of the river mander in the distance adds to the peaceful morning, the early wash of sunlight coaxing the sleeping world into life. a cool breeze carries the sweet smell of roses and you take a steadying breath, eyes fluttering shut as you tilt your face up to the sun.

it's a morning that starts like many others. you’ve always risen from bed early, the slow blooming of morning stirring you from slumber more often than not. birds chirp and bees buzz and the river flows and you rise with it, like part of you calls to the breaking dawn.

if not for the thick sheaf of parchment discarded on your father’s desk, it could be a morning like any other. but the parchment is there, and this day will be like no other before it.

today, a dragon is expected at highgarden.

a targaryen has not stepped foot in the reach since before you were born. you don’t think even the princess rhaenyra – queen, now, according to some – had come this far on her marriage tour years ago. but your father has taken it upon himself to invite a prince to your home.

you love your father deeply, but in this you think he must be a fool. as lord paramount of the reach he is, in theory, the power of this kingdom. but anyone with a lick of sense knows that it’s the hightowers that the people look to; oldtown is home to the starry sept, the citadel and, perhaps more importantly, the dowager queen’s family line.

the tyrells have only been in power for a few generations, and people’s memories are long. too many know the truth of how house tyrell had been only a steward when the gardener kings had ruled before the conquest. and so too many see tyrell as a house grasping for power that should be beyond their fingers, and your father is apparently determined to prove them all right.

he’s been careful about his neutrality as war threatens to break out between the targaryen kin, brother and sister both claiming their right to the throne and the realm splitting down the middle. your father has not officially allied with either side, walking a careful tightrope to appease both. up until now you had assumed he sided more with the greens, but he’d sent your assumptions crumbling with only a few sheets of parchment.

your father has always been too ambitious for his own good.

gods, how you miss your mother. when she’d been alive, she’d tempered the worst of your father’s foolishness. she’d been a stark before she’d married, steadfast and sensible in the face of your father’s folly. she’d been a woman unlike any other you’ve known; ferocious and a little wild, but with a good heart and a warm smile for any she’d met.

she’d taught you how to be a lady, but so much more than that – she’d taught you to know your own mind. to know when to mind your tongue and when to speak, how to grow your roots so deep you will always stand tall, flourishing and growing like the most determined of flowers. she’d taught you a little of that northern ice, too, reminding you oft that for as much as you were a rose of highgarden you were equally a wolf of the north, and the wolf’s blood has always run thick in your veins. 

she’d called you her little winter rose; delicate and steely and a rare bloom, indeed. she had loved you so fiercely you’d flourished with her tender care, just as the patch of winter roses she’d brought from the glass gardens of winterfell had bloomed ‘neath her careful ministrations. a piece of the north she’d brought south with her, a tiny bit of her home that she’d cradled and cared for until the day you’d lost her to the birthing bed.

your little brother is nearing six, now, and many moons have passed since the sudden grief of your mother had overwhelmed you. but, in recent days you have ached with her loss more often, wondering what she would think of your father’s plans, what she would say to soothe your storm of anxiety. with your looming marriage you find yourself missing your mother acutely, the grief a reopened wound in your chest.

because you are a betrothed woman, now, to be married to a stranger, a prince who is sure to be fighting a war against his kin in the moons to come.

the velaryon prince arrives on dragon back as the sun reaches its peak in the sky.

he dismounts his winged steed in an empty stretch of land a distance from the keep itself, and your father greets him there with a host of staff to accompany him back to the entrance courtyard.

your brother leo bounces in place beside you where you stand with the rest of the household in the courtyard, fairly vibrating with energy at the prospect of seeing a real-life dragon. since the news of the prince’s arrival was announced a sennight ago, leo has done little else but babble about dragons and magic and targaryens. you wish you could share his excitement, his sheer uncomplicated joy, but this visit comes with too many conflicting emotions for you to enjoy it at all.

you’ve always known you would not marry for love. you are the eldest child and only daughter of the lord of the reach – love has never been a factor you could afford to consider. you would do your duty and marry for your house, to seal whatever alliance your father deemed important enough. you’d resigned yourself to this fate as a young girl when your mother had told you in slow, halting words the fear she had felt coming south to marry your father.

but you’d not expected to marry a total stranger. you’d thought your father would at least do you the courtesy of allowing you to meet a suitor before betrothing you to them, but in his feverish ambition to sit his blood on the iron throne he’d promised you to a man you’ve never laid eyes upon.

you don’t want to be queen.

frankly, you think yourself a touch unsuited for it. your father has many times bemoaned your wildness, the wolfs blood that drives you to stubborn recklessness. though you’ve mellowed a little with age and experience, you think you’re still a bit too prone to chaos to be queen of the seven kingdoms one day. never mind the complexities added by the fact that queen rhaenyra’s claim is so fiercely contested, and her half-brother is the one currently physically sitting the iron throne.

thinking about the mess you’re marrying into too much makes your head ache, and the blazing noon sun does little to ease it. leo beside you continues to whisper rapidly about everything he knows about dragons, which is actually quite a lot considering his young age. you think absently you might need to have a word with the maester’s again; leo has wrapped most of the household around his finger, and the elderly maester is prone to indulging your brother when he fixates on a new topic of interest instead of sticking to his lessons.

the sound of hooves on cobble stones startles you from your meandering thoughts, and you straighten your spine as your eyes take in the unfamiliar man riding into the courtyard beside your father while your brother finally falls silent.

he’s handsome, at least; a tumble of dark curls brushing his shoulders, a sharp jaw and a strong nose. though you like to think yourself more than superficial, it eases at least some of your worries to know the prince is attractive to you. your mother had done you the courtesy of explaining what was expected of you on your wedding night after your first moons blood, and in secret since you’d perused the library for books detailing more lustful acts in an effort to satiate your unending curiosity.

you’re worried enough about completing your wifely duties without having to worry about finding the man lying with you repulsive, and so you allow yourself a few moments of relief at his pretty face.

your father dismounts first, gesturing for you to step forward as the prince gets down from his own horse. leo moves forward with you, eyes wide and shining with something akin to hero worship as he gazes at jacaerys. you have a wry thought that perhaps he should marry him since he is so clearly already enamoured, but you brush that aside as your father and the prince approach.

“i am most pleased to introduce my daughter, your grace, as well as my son and heir, leo,” your father says as they reach you, his satisfaction in his successful planning clear as he smiles smugly.

you dip into a perfect curtsey as leo bows a touch clumsily at your side. as heir it would traditionally be leo’s job to greet the prince, but when you send him a sidelong glance you see he is too busy making moon eyes at the darkhaired man to say anything, and so you take it upon yourself to speak.

“welcome to highgarden, my prince. we are honoured to host you,” you greet, finally meeting jacaerys’s eyes. they’re a warm amber shade, the noon sun turning them to liquid honey as he looks at you, and you feel your cheeks flush with the appreciation you can see in his gaze as he drinks you in. it seems he does not find you repulsive either, at least.

he sketches a quick bow, eyes never leaving yours, and you feel your heart start to race in your chest at his attention. “it is an honour to be here, my lady, and to finally make your acquaintance.” he smiles at you then, small and a little crooked but there, and your flush deepens. “i look forward to getting to know you better in the coming days.”

you swallow, hoping your budding attraction is not as obvious as you fear it is. your father is looking increasingly smug as he watches the interaction, though it seems to war with some paternal annoyance as jacaerys lightly flirts with you.

“and i you,” you return softly, a smile quirking on your lips.

“—can i meet your dragon?” leo bursts out, seemingly unable to contain himself any longer, and jacaerys blinks down at him in surprise as you resist the urge to press your palm to your face.

“leo,” you scold immediately as your father chortles at his heir’s enthusiasm for dragons. “the prince has had a long journey. you should give him a chance to settle in before demanding anything of him.”

“right you are, my dear.” your father waves to the household steward before turning to the prince. “alyn will show you to your rooms, your grace, so that you might freshen up, and then we have a feast prepared for this evening to welcome you to highgarden.”

jacaerys nods easily as the greeting crowd begins to disperse, the maester corralling leo to take him for his lessons with fond exasperation even as the boy loudly protests. you mean to go walk the gardens, and so you stay standing in place as the prince trails after your father and steward alyn.

he pauses beside you, though, a slight smile on his face as you look up at him questioningly. your eyes catch on the smattering of freckles on his face, and it takes a moment for you to process his words. “i look forward to speaking to you further at the feast, my lady.”

you smile back at him, cheeks flushing once again as his eyes linger on your mouth for a breathless moment. “i shall save you a dance, my prince,” you return a touch coyly, tucking your hair behind your ear.

“only one dance?” he teases, eyebrow arching.

you hum, head tilting to the side in mock consideration as something like satisfaction gleams in jacaerys’s eyes. “i shall have to use the first dance to judge your dancing skills, your grace, before i risk promising you another.”

he laughs then, a little surprised but no doubt pleased as his eyes crinkle with his wide smile. “then i shall do my best to meet your standards, my lady.” he dips into a quick bow of farewell, then, as you finally take note of your father lingering on the steps to the keep with raised eyebrows.

“we shall see,” you return as you curtsey.

you allow yourself a moment to watch his retreating back, eyes dragging over the strong line of his shoulders before you internally shake yourself and head to the gardens, thoughts swimming with honey brown eyes and tanned, freckled skin and a slow dawning certainty that while this betrothal may be unexpected, you doubt it will leave you unsatisfied.

the feast is in full swing by the time the prince arrives at the hall.

the minstrels are playing a jaunty tune as couples twirl on the dance floor. you sit at the head table with leo and your father, watching with a careful eye as your brother cuts up his food. he’s only just mastered the art of eating his food without spilling half if it down his doublet, but as distracted as he is by the festivities and the prospect of seeing a dragon close up, you worry he’s at risk of making a mess of himself regardless.

so absorbed in your task you are, it takes a long moment for you to realise jacaerys has arrived. it’s only when your skin prickles with awareness that you look up from leo and catch sight of the prince winding his way across the floor to the head table, eyes fixed on you. your head tilts to the side slightly as you watch him move, graceful and controlled, through the crowd.

he’s in black and red again, just as he had been when he’d arrived. it seems your father had been right when he’d stated that jacaerys favours his mother’s house colours. you smooth your hand over the skirts of your dress, the deep wine-red of the material feeling less out of place now, before standing with your father to greet the prince.

you all exchange pleasantries quickly as the noise in the hall dims, people realising the prince has arrived. your father ushers jacaerys into the empty seat between you and your father as he raises his goblet to the hall before speaking in his booming voice.

you don’t pay attention to your father’s speech, too aware of the warmth radiating from jacaerys who stands only inches from you to focus. you risk a glance at him from the corner of your eyes only to find his dark honey eyes fixed on you, and you cannot help but smile to yourself even as you flush, turning your eyes back to the crowd.

rousing applause and cheers draw you back to the moment, and you catch yourself in time to raise your wine in toast with your father. you go to sit back down as the crowd returns to its revelries, but the soft brush of a hand on your arm halts your movement. you turn expectingly to the prince, a soft smile on your lips.

“yes, your grace?”

“would you do me the honour of a dance, my lady?”

your lips quirk into a sly smile even as you bob your head in a nod. “i suppose i did promise you one, did i not?”

“that you did, my lady, and i have thought of nothing else since.” dark honey eyes sparkle with mirth as he offers you his hand, and with a quiet giggle you take it and allow him to lead you to the dance floor.

you feel the heat of his hand on your waist like a brand even through the layers of your dress, and it makes your breath catch in your throat. you inhale deeply in an effort to steady yourself as you rest your palm on his strong shoulder, and are immediately overwhelmed by the woodsy scent of him as he claps your hand in his and begins to dance.

you start the dance in comfortable silence, both of you taking a few moments to get a feel for the other and settle into the steps, and when you feel comfortable enough you speak.

“how are you finding highgarden, prince jacaerys?”

“jace, please,” he entreats, and elaborates only when you blink at him in confusion. “my friends and family call me jace, not jacaerys. we are to be married, my lady. it would please me a great deal for my future wife to refer to me as such.”

you nod in acceptance, butterflies erupting in your stomach at his eager expression. “jace it is, then,” you say, and try not to feel the way your heart flutters at his radiant smile in response. “although you have not answered my question. how are you finding highgarden?”

he hums, twirling you as the dance requires and then pulling you closer before responding. “your father has been very hospitable, and it is certainly beautiful here. the grounds especially, though i’m afraid i’ve not had the opportunity to see much of them as yet.”

“a shame we shall have to rectify, i think.” you offer him a small smile as you press just an inch closer, finding yourself wanting to be nearer him. “perhaps i could show you the gardens on the morrow?”

“yes,” he agrees a touch too quickly, and you giggle as his cheeks turn pink. “that is to say— i should like that very much, my lady. very much indeed.”

you lapse into silence once more as the dance reaches its crescendo, and you find yourself reluctant to leave the comfort of his hands as the music pauses while the minstrels ready their next song.

jace seems to share the sentiment, it seems, as his eyes linger on your entwined hands for a long moment before returning to your face. “have i met your standards enough for another dance, then?”

you take a moment to pretend to consider it, eyes narrowing slightly as you hum. he shuffles on his feet as he waits for your response, and you find the nervous motion far too endearing.

“i suppose so,” you concede after a moment, grinning at his smugly pleased smile as he tugs you closer.

“and what about the dance after that?” he asks lightly, something cheeky in his eyes as the music starts up again and he sweeps you along the floor.

“you should not press your luck, jace,” you say imperiously, although the effect is rather ruined by the silly smile on your face as he laughs with you.

jacaerys smirks. “my lady, since meeting you, i have felt nothing but a lucky man.”

you smother a snort, shaking your head at his unrepentant expression. “you are incorrigible.” it comes out a touch exasperated and yet far too fond.

“yes,” the prince agrees readily, a sly twinkle in his eyes. “but i think you rather enjoy it.”

your startled laugh is loud, though thankfully not so loud as to be heard over the minstrels. “perhaps.”

after that, the night is lost to flirtatious banter and dance after dance in your betrothed’s arms as a seed of affection is planted deep in your heart. and when you wake in the morning after dreaming of nothing but jace’s lips and eyes and words, you can think only one thought;

gods, i am in so much trouble.

time passes in a slow trickle of syrupy summer heat.

as the days go by, you find yourself spending more and more time in jace’s company. you’re always chaperoned, of course, a household guard following at a respectful distance wherever the two of you choose to roam. you find the whole thing a touch ridiculous; jace is to be your husband. it’s hardly like spending time together alone would be a significant scandal in light of your impending marriage, but your father insists there will be no doubts about your honour before the marriage actually takes place and so ser dickon is assigned as your reluctant shadow.

the date of the wedding itself remains unset as you and jace start to know one another. your father wishes for the marriage to wait until the war is done – a last-ditch chance to keep his options open, perhaps. Or, if you are feeling generous, a way to try and keep you safe from the greens when war inevitably rages. jace’s mother wishes the marriage to happen as soon as can be arranged – a way to try and ensure further heirs with the uncertainty of war looming, you assume.

you find yourself hoping the queen’s will wins the day as time creeps on. jace becomes ever dearer to you the more you learn about him, and soon you think of your impending marriage with nothing but hope and warm desire.

because oh, how you want him. from the first moment you’d laid eyes upon him you’d been attracted to him, but the more you get to know him, the more your heart opens to him – the more you ache for him. for his mouth on yours, his fingertips on your skin, his voice in your ear. if you were a less reckless woman, a little less shameless, you’d be embarrassed of how easily you think of him in your moments apart.

but late at night when the candles burn low and you are alone in your bed, there is no shame to be found, only the wildness of your wolfs blood and liquid heat as your hand drifts between your legs and you find completion with your betrothed’s name on your lips.

beyond the desire, though, is a slow blooming affection. it feels like every time you learn something new about him or share a new experience together, another petal of tenderness unfurls in your chest. when your father had first told you about your betrothal, you’d not dared to hope for more than civility with your husband-to-be, but now you find yourself harbouring deep fondness on top of steadily burning desire, and you look to your future as his wife with little else but excitement.

you’re not sure if jace feels the same. you don’t doubt he desires you; his flirtation and the weight of his gaze on your form is too frequent a thing for you to think otherwise. but desire is not the same as affection, and though you hope desperately that the way he always seeks your presence whenever he steps into a room means what you want it to mean, you can’t be sure.

after a week passes, you both start to chafe at the relentless presence of ser dickon. it feels like every time you so much as think about inching closer to jacaerys, ser dickon is there with his stern glare of disapproval. and so, when one morning jace suggests taking you to meet his dragon, alone, you are quick to agree.

you leave your guard long behind at jace’s instruction; he doesn’t want vermax crowded with strangers, he explains, but you personally think he seems a little too gleeful at the idea of being alone with you for that to be sole reason behind his insistence ser dickon stays far away. you don’t say anything since you’re equally pleased to finally be spending some time with your betrothed without feeling others curious eyes on you.

your excitement starts to waver, however, as you and jace get closer to his dragon. you’ve only seen vermax from a distance before this, and though it perhaps shouldn’t the size of him startles you. he’s just so large and fierce looking, the sharp spines on his back catching your eye. the beast yawns as you slow to a stop, jace sending you a quick smile before he continues on to greet his dragon with fondness, and the glimpse into vermax’s open maw – gods, there as so many teeth – has your palms starting to sweat.

jace stands beside his dragon, murmuring soothing words in high valyrian that you don’t understand as his hand smooths along his snout. your heart races in your chest, nerves making your hands shake when faced with this great beast. you curse your reckless curiosity, your northern stubbornness that makes it impossible for you to refuse a challenge. you have no idea how jace can look so at ease, the line of his shoulders relaxed and the slightest smile on his face as he talks to his winged steed, but there he stands.

“you can come closer now.” he turns to you, brown eyes shining with excitement and, yes, a hint of challenge.

he expects you to back out, you think, and that realisation has you straightening your spine and pressing your lips together. you twist your fingers in your skirts to hide the way they tremble as you step cautiously forward, eyes darting from jace to vermax and back. when you’re within touching distance of the velaryon prince, he reaches for your hand. the shock of his bare skin against yours arrests you for a moment, the slide of calloused fingers around your wrist startling in how easily it sparks desire in you.

you’re so distracted by the feel of him that you don’t realise until it’s too late that jace has tugged you closer, guiding your hand until it’s pressed to vermax’s scales, and then you’re too busy being surprised by how soft they feel to be annoyed that he’s so easily coaxed you into this position.

you still as the dragon rumbles, swallowing thickly as your fingers twitch against green scales. he blinks lazily at you, an alien intellect gleaming there as he seems to consider you for a long moment, and as you blink back at him some of the fear in your chest shakes loose.

because this is not just some beast, you realise. this is fire and blood and magic made flesh. there is life and intelligence in vermax’s eyes, not one you recognise but one you immediately respect. being this close to the dragon is a heady rush of awe and adrenaline; the knowledge that vermax could so easily harm you at any moment but is choosing not to because he trusts his rider. it’s staggering and wonderful and beside you jace is beaming, eyes shining with happiness at seeing you greet his draconic companion, and you are helplessly, hopelessly, wholly overwhelmed by your affection, your desire, by jace.

you kiss him.

it’s barely a kiss, more a breathless press of your mouth against his, and he startles at the sensation even as his arm loops around your waist. you break apart for the barest moment, nose sliding against his as you tilt your head, and jacaerys sighs out your name with heavy relief before he captures your mouth once more.

you’ve been kissed before, so you know the mechanics of it, but it’s never been like this. his lips move smoothly against yours as his hand flexes on your waist, drawing you closer until your chest is pressed against his. your hand tangles in his hair, fingers twisting in the soft curls and he moans with it, hand dragging up your back to cradle the back of your head tenderly as his tongue sweeps over your lips.

the gentle pressure of it has you gasping and he takes the opportunity immediately, tongue sliding against yours as heat pools in your core. your thoughts tumble wildly, incoherent as you can think of nothing but of how desperately you want more. the taste – the smell – the feel of him is drowning everything out that isn’t jace and you cannot resist it, do not even want to.

you want to kiss him forever, want his hand in your hair and his tongue in your mouth for always. you think he might even let you with how relentless he is, barely giving you a moments pause to catch your breath before consuming you in another desperate kiss.

you finally part only when vermax grumbles, cheeks blazing with heat as you step out of jace’s arms. jace murmurs lowly to his dragon in valyrian, and he nudges his great snout against jace’s shoulder in response before stepping away and curling down into the long grass to sleep. you take the moment to properly catch your breath again, hand pressing to your heaving chest in an effort to soothe your racing heart.

when you peek up at jace from beneath your lashes, you flush deeply at the sight of him. his curls are a mess, his lips swollen and cheeks pink beneath his tan. he looks almost debauched, and it sends a rush of desire through you. you suddenly can think of nothing other than him looking like this only flusher and skin glistening with sweat and in your bed.

the thought startles you into dropping your gaze to your feet, and you shuffle uncertainly. you feel – unsettled. you don’t think there’s anything wrong with sharing a kiss with your betrothed, and yet something like guilt curdles in your stomach as you worry at your bottom lip. you had kissed him. for all that he’d kissed you back, you worry that now he will think differently of you. think worse of you.

a knuckle tucks under your chin, then, lifting your face so that you meet jace’s eyes. you feel small and strangely vulnerable in the aftermath of your kiss, like you have somehow shown him something you never intended to, and the urge to shy away remains. but you are not a winter rose for nothing and so you tuck the doubt away as jace runs his thumb soothingly along the line of your jaw.

“i have been thinking of doing that since the moment you first smiled at me,” he confesses, a hint of shyness in the quirk of his lips even as he stares steadily into your eyes.

“oh.” you blink at him once in surprise, the uneasiness in you finally settling at the fondness in his gaze. “oh. that’s— good.” you curse yourself for your lack of wit in this moment as jace snickers.  “i-i mean, i’m glad that it was not… unwelcome.”

your betrothed looks at you with deep affection, then, cupping your cheek and ducking down to press a fleeting, butterfly-soft kiss to your mouth before reluctantly parting from you. “it was most welcome, my lady. most welcome, indeed.” his eyes sparkle with mirth. “i find myself looking forward to the next time you greet vermax, if this is the kind of response such a thing garners.”

“jace!” you narrow your eyes at him in pretend annoyance, even as you smother a giggle with your fingers. “you should not expect me to indulge in such desires again, then, if you persist in being so smug about it.”

his laugh warms you as the two of you fall into easy banter, leaving vermax to his rest and returning to the ever-watchful ser dickon, and all the while all you can think of is how much you cannot wait to kiss him again.

as the air cools with the dying light of day, you lead jace to the gardens.

in the week since your first kiss, jace has oft tugged you into shadowy corners for more kisses any chance he’s had. his desire for you is matched only by your own for him, and as your confidence in your mutual attraction has grown, you have been equally as likely to pull him into a dark alcove to trade sweet words and sweet kisses in secret.

it’s thrilling and exciting and wonderful, but as the week passes you find a growing doubt whispering in the back of your mind.

while you cannot doubt jace desires you, not when he is so relentless in chasing after your smiling mouth, neither of you breathe a word of any feeling between you beyond attraction. perhaps it is reckless of you, foolhardy to fall for him so quickly – but then you are your parent’s daughter, all wolfs blood and deep roots, and you know no other way of being than this.

so you take him to the gardens as the moon rises in the sky, sneak past the night guards and out into the fresh air. you guide him through the blooming flowers and swaying trees, stopping along the while when the fancy takes one of you to stop and examine an interesting bloom or inhale a sweet scent. at least three times he stops you to slot his mouth against yours, to swallow your breathless giggling with feverish kisses, and each time he does it takes longer and longer for you to disentangle yourselves from each other.

eventually, with swollen lips and mussed hair, the two of you reach the winter roses. your effervescent mood becomes sombre as the moon shines on the blue flowers, turning the petals almost silver, and jace seems to recognise the change in atmosphere, a seriousness overtaking him as he watches you approach the flowers.

“my mother planted the first of these roses,” you tell jace as you kneel at the edge of the flowerbed, uncaring of the risk of dirt on your dress as you brush fingers over the pale blue petals tenderly. “winter roses, they are, from the north. from winterfell. she was born a stark, you see, and when she was betrothed to my father the only thing she asked was to be able to bring a few blooms from the glass gardens. she used to call me her little winter rose when i was a child, and she would bring me here and show me how to tend to them.”

jace kneels beside you, glancing at the side of your face before turning to look curiously at the blue flowers. “they’re beautiful,” he tells you sincerely.

“i’ve always thought so, too,” you agree almost absently, stroking the petals in an effort to calm your racing heart. “everyone told my mother she’d never be able to get them to grow so far south. they’re very rare, you see, and need very particular conditions.” your lips quirk up into a fond smile. “but my mother, for all that she became a tyrell, was always a stark at heart. stubborn, you know. and now look at them, thriving.”

you gesture out at the carefully tended rows of roses. “nobody else comes here, now, other than the gardeners and me. i think… i think my father finds it too hard, being here. it makes him miss her too much. so i come here when i need to be alone. or when i wish to be reminded of her. it's the one place in the world where i feel i can be wholly myself, without any pretence or worry.”

jace’s gaze is fixed on you, now, eyes almost black in the faint moonlight as understanding dawns on him. “thank you for bringing me here.”

you nod once, climbing back to your feet, and jace follows you. he watches you so intently, like he’s afraid that you might disappear if he dares to look away. you feel a little like you might, feel tenuous and vulnerable and a breath away from cracking your chest open.

“i’ve never brought anyone else here,” you confess quietly, flexing your fingers with nerves as jace’s lips part in surprise. “i wished… i wished to share this with you. to share who i am, myself, with you, i suppose.” you laugh a little self-deprecatingly. “however pretentious that sounds.”

“it doesn’t,” jace denies immediately. you sense he wants to say more, but he seems to understand that you’re building to saying something yourself, and so he stays quiet, expression earnest and open and fond as he gazes down at you.

“i know it’s perhaps too soon – we have only known each other a few weeks. but i… when i first found out we were betrothed, i was so scared. i worried you would be some arrogant princeling, and i dared not hope for anything more than civility between us. i’ve always known i would not marry for love, but i did not ever consider i would marry a man i had never met.”

you pause for long enough to suck in a breath, feeling a little like the floodgates have opened and you simply can’t stop speaking, can’t stop the feeling pouring freely from you. “and then i met you, and you were so unlike anything i’d expected. i know we still have so much more to learn about each other, and i know that things are— complicated, with the war, and that our marriage may be a ways off yet, but still— i find myself feeling for you, and i cannot hide it anymore. i don’t wish to hide it from you anymore.”

you let the open affection in his face buoy you as you steel yourself, pressing your shoulders back in a mimicry of confidence. “i wanted to show you this part of me, this place, because i….” you hesitate for a breathless moment, biting your lip, before gathering every scrap of courage you possess and diving in headfirst. “i am falling in love with you, jacaerys.”

you inhale the sweet scent of the pale blue petals deeply, let the familiar scent soothe you as jace stares at you with wide eyes. the winter roses are something that, until now, have been so uniquely yours. as you’d told jace, none other than you and the gardeners comes to this corner of the gardens now. the staff that tend so carefully to the flowers know to leave you well enough alone if they stumble across you, skirts splayed on the ground and fingers diligently caring for the roses. you’ve never even brought your sweet little brother, though you can admit that’s for practicality as much as anything else – his childish energy is a bit too boisterous for these delicate blooms.

bringing jace here, bringing him here to confess the deepening affection you harbour for him, feels raw. feels like you’re tearing your heart out of your chest and offering it up to him for perusal, hands bloody and soul bare. feels like saying ‘this is all that i am and all that i have been and all i will ever be and i hope, i hope, i hope it’s enough.’

jace finally, finally speaks, sighs your name, soft and sweet and tender, and hope blooms in your chest.

“oh, my sweet lady,” he murmurs, crowding into your space as he cups your cheek, and the smell of woodsmoke and dragon and jace floods your senses. “i am falling so unbelievably in love with you. only, it does not feel so much like falling as it is like choosing it, like walking into love with you with my eyes wide open and seeing nothing but you.”

it's almost unbearable, the blazing heat of his gaze as he presses his forehead against yours, and it makes you tremble as your hands clutch as his elbows in an effort to ground yourself to this moment, to him. “our betrothal was decided for us without care or consideration for our own desires,” he says, lips brushing against your own with every whispered word. “i know that as well as you, but i need you to know that if i had the choice i would choose this. i would choose you, your stubborn heart, your fierce spirit, your gracious soul.”

his hand slides from your cheek to your hair, holds you so tenderly like you are something precious, and it steals your breath from your lungs as you revel in his unbridled affection. “i care not when we marry, if we marry, in truth, because in my heart you are already mine just as i am already yours.”

he kisses you, then, a desperate and greedy thing, as if he can no longer restrain himself from devouring you whole. and you are just as needy, hands fisting in his doublet as you press yourself against him and somehow finding yourself wishing to be closer still. the world narrows down to him and him only; his mouth, his hands, his hair. you can think of nothing else, and do not wish to, because in this moment you are wholly yourself and he is wholly himself and it’s enough, it’s wonderful and delicate and it’s enough.

and, there beneath the moonlight and amongst the winter roses, deep and enduring affection, the kind of love the bards sing songs about, takes root.

taglist; @eldrith