#c: caleb

[mythblossoms]

nebula

pairing: caleb x gn!reader content: first! kiss!, yearning & down bad caleb and reader, light teasing, nicknames (pip-squeak), two dummies (affectionate) in love, loose EPIC/Odyssey reference because it's me a/n: double posting today to BECAUSE IT IS LOVE DAY and this is dedicated to beloved @spiderlilypetals - happy valentine's day, i think you deserve the world and sweet nights cuddled up and looking at the stars ;u; wc: 1.6k

Solar systems begin with the collapse of a nebula, swirling clouds of dust and gas expanding, swelling, building until caving in on itself. Waves of energy rippling across space and time, clinging to the remnants and tugging them in and forming a new home.

Funny, Caleb thinks, that this is what loving you feels like. 

Years spent memorizing the way your lips quirk up into a smile when he teases, the way you bit your lip when you were upset, how your eyes sparkled  when sharing some new interest — moments building something in his heart until it caved in on itself and you became the center of his universe, the brightest star with the strongest pull, keeping him stable but spinning.

“Any one home?” your voice broke through the churning cloud of thoughts encasing his mind like a bright light, the slight nudge of his knee with your foot grounding him — as you sat curled up on your couch. “Is someone getting too sleepy?” 

He grinned at you, lightly grabbing your ankle and squeezing. These light touches were familiar, safe. Contact that came easily after years of knowing each other. “Me? I wasn’t the one who stayed up late last night looking up best claw machine tactics.” 

“Well, at least one of us is trying,” you scoffed, tucking cold toes under his thighs and crossing your arms. “Your skills are getting rusty. Might have to revoke your arcade membership.”

“Don’t pout, pip-squeak —” his hand grazed your knee before settling on the back of the couch, another barely there touch that sent a ripple of energy towards his heart. “Pretty sure those new plushies on your bed came from your very dedicated co-pilot.”

“You can’t always use your evol, you know.” You poked your tongue out at him. “It’s cheating.”

It was easy like this, hidden under the familiarity of teasing and the safety of nostalgia. You would laugh, poke him in the cheek, make some silly joke at his expense. And he would collect this moment, another star in the galaxy of you. 

“And I’ll do it again,” he grinned. “Anything for you.” Only for you. 

You yawned then, the late hour truly not lost on either of you. Your hands stretching above your head, the collar of his old sweatshirt loose on your shoulder. 

“Remember the time we hung all those glow in the dark stars in my room?” You leaned in, head resting on your knees. Wistfulness lingered in your eyes, and Caleb’s heart stuttered - the gravitational pull of your gaze that strong. 

And how could he forget. All day spent arranging those stars in different paths across your ceiling, every pillow, blanket, and plushie to be found pulled into a massive pile on the floor. The night spent creating stories about constellations found in the patterns crisscrossing the ceiling. The pale green glow of the stars reflected in your eyes, the atoms hovering in the smallest space between the two of you humming with the energy of a combusting star. A night sky for just the two of you. A memory so ingrained that he could feel that weighted charge clinging to his skin. 

“What, you think I’d forget that?” He pinched your chin gently. “Someone wasn’t tall enough to put them on the ceiling so I had to do all the hard work”. He waited for the eye roll, the huff that would surely follow or the pillow that would be tossed his way. Safe he thought, easy.

The energy in the room had shifted, perhaps in the way you had looked at him or in some memory that had reawakened. The comfortable silence now thrumming in time with his beating heart. He wondered, briefly, could hear it? You sighed, wrapping your hand delicately around his, offering a gentle squeeze. “I miss it.”

Did you know the effect you had on him? Eyes closing as you relived the memory, fingers threading delicately with his. “I miss it being just me, and you, pretending like the stars were meant for us.” Caleb would pull every star out of the sky and hang it in your room, if it meant you were happy, if it meant your hand entwined perfectly with his.

“We don’t have to pretend anymore,” he said gently, his eyes speaking every word that drowned on his tongue. Simultaneously hoping you felt the weight of his words, wishing you would stay in your reverie. He moved imperceptibly closer, hovering on the boundary of what was familiar. “We could grab some blankets and look at the stars now.” His voice just above a whisper, the softness masking the slight quiver in his words. 

You hummed, a soft content sound, squeezing his hand - a slight glimmer in your barely open eyes. “Don’t forget our plushies.”

Your balcony had become your very own cozy fort. Big pillows carefully arranged against the windows of your apartment, every blanket you owned layered up, plushies propped up in the optimal stargazing seat — and Caleb sat next to you. The warmth of his leg pressed against yours, the chilly night a distant memory. He was safety, a constant comfort entangled in your life - never just you, or just Caleb, but you and Caleb. 

From here, the bright city lights hid most of the stars from view, only the brightest peeking out from their inky blanket. “I never thought it would be so hard to see the stars in the city,” you sighed curling into the blanket, pulling it up to your chin. “No stars means no stories.” 

Caleb grinned then. “Are you sure? Look-” he pointed to two stars that shone brightly - directly across from each other in the night sky. “You don’t know the story of the man who couldn’t return home?”

He was always better at this, the lightheartedness, the ease in offering something to you. Even back then, pulling stories from nothing just to make you smile. And of course you did. Earnest hands pointing to each plastic star, words energetically tumbling out, his own warm smile. Could he see warmth dusting your cheeks then? The way your eyes widened with each knock of his knee? 

His voice brought you back, the simplicity of a story much like before, but this time his voice was softer, the words more delicate. “Every time he tried to get home, some new obstacle blocked his path. Monsters and mayhem — but each time he would use his strength in strategies and calculations to pass them.” 

You leaned in, enraptured, eyes focused on him as he gazed up at the night sky. “And each time he felt like it was too much, like giving up - he only had to think of her. His guiding light. His constant - always together, always tethered. No matter what happens, he would stop at nothing to be by her side. “

Truths always lie hidden in stories - offering a semblance of reality. You could feel that here too, tonight. Time had stopped, or was it moving too quickly? Outside your balcony everything was a blur, here it was just you and Caleb. 

“Did he ever get home?” you barely heard your own voice. 

He finally looked at you, brows knit together in some unreadable expression. “He did, but things weren’t the same. All those things he did to get home had changed him.”

Your fingers found his, easily - simply. Fitting together as they always had. “But she loved him all the same.”

You felt it now, the restraint. The way Caleb held his breath, how his body stilled. His eyes the only thing betraying him — flicking from yours, to your lips, down to your clasped hands. The soft sound of surprise that escaped him. A bundle of energy bound so tightly it threatened to implode. 

“He was always hers too, right? Time can’t change that.” You moved closer, angling your head closer to his - warm breath against his cool cheek. “It’s always going to them.” It was always going to be Caleb and you.

The space between you felt too large, too charged with an energy that bound you and Caleb together. Closing the distance, you placed a tentative kiss on his jaw. His hand squeezed yours tighter, eyes fluttering shut — a slow shaky exhale released, as he leaned just slightly into your touch. 

“Is this okay-” you hummed into the tender part of his neck. The flutter of his heartbeat strumming against the soft of your lips. 

“More than okay,” he said hoarsely, fingers still laced tightly with yours — grounded in familiarity in the face of this gravitational shift.

“Okay,” you smiled, pinching his chin with your other hand - flitting small kisses against the length of his jaw and angling his lips towards yours. The space between so small but electric, sparking against the sensitive skin. He murmured your name, soft and pleading, before your lips met his. 

Kissing Caleb felt like the universe had exploded - stars and cosmic dust swirling between as gravity rearranged, realigning into a place that was you and him and this moment only. Something new yet familiar. His hands once hesitant now desperate pulling you into his lap, wrapping his arms around you, kisses becoming rushed, tongue tentatively brushing against yours.

Letting go was harder, Caleb chasing after your mouth - planting small kisses to your chin, the corners of your mouth.

“Just wait,” he whispered, resting his forehead against yours. “Don’t move.” 

You ran your fingers through his hair, drawing lazy circles at the nape of his neck. “Why?”

“If you move, I’m worried I’ll wake up and this will all be some dream.” He whispered into your skin, hands playing with the ends of your hair. 

Cradling his jaw, you moved him towards you again - kissing the worried space between his brows, the outer corners of his eyes, then lightly on lips. “I’m here.” Then, with a soft pinch of his chin again, “This is real.”

[gwen-lycaon]

Tension Rising| Gwen x Caleb ( @caleb-lycaon )

Gwen's jeep had barely skidded to a halt before she was flying towards the door. How could Caleb let Jax leave the pack? Jax was his second in command. If he wanted to keep up appearances, that was not the way to do it. People would talk the minute this got out and Gwen was not about to let it get that far. She entered with a slam of the door behind her, throwing her things on the side table and storming through the house. The youngest Lycaon knew that her parents probably weren't home, maybe her siblings, but she didn't care. She saw Caleb in the den, nostrils flaring as she took a few steps inside. "What the fuck did you do?" she questioned as calmly as she could muster, a silent rage boiling under her skin.

[cantfightmoonlight]

Option A: The Jolly Roger

Chai had been leisurely resting across one of the lower masts of the ship. His arms were crossed behind his head, propping himself up enough so that he could stare out at the Faire festivities going on below. Only bothering to call down as a townsgoer made their way onto the deck of the ship. "You there," He said, pulling himself up to his feet as he hooked his sword over one of the many ship chords, propelling himself down onto the deck beside them. "What brings you aboard?"

Option B: The Feast of Thieves

"How do you? Do you just-" She blinked over at the Turkey leg in hand, tilting her head to the side to attempt to take a bite, only to pull back again and look at the leg questionable over once more. "Oh what the hell?" Bri finally decided as she took the biggest bite she could muster. The now vampire had been a vegetarian most of her human life, but now that she had to survive off a diet of blood, she had decided what the hell? Might as well see what she had been missing out on all this time on the meat front. "Huh," She swallowed down the bite, motioning to the person beside her with the turkey leg. "You know not as good as I thought it would be?"

Option C: The Knight's Joust

 "Doth thee liketh excitement? Doth thee want to be entertained? The next joust starts in 20 minutes and, if thee couldst doth me the honor? You'd join me in the right corner of the arena. It is the shady corner. Right under the big Oak Tree. You won't have to worry about drying up under the sun and, when thou art standing in the right corner, Sir Lancelot the Galavanting Lover and Arguable Traitor, but all around Decent Fellow's corner - tis I, by the way- thou might cheer on the right side for victory? Aye? For Sir Lancelot? Huzzah? 'Twill beest a valorous time," Caleb called out as he trotted around the arena on horseback, only to hop down from the horse to offer a passerby in the crowd a rose. "A rose for thee. May thee cometh to the joust? It's sure to be a great time?"

[naz-ulusoy]

earth day | caleb & naz

for: @caleb-lycaon location: Vievecor City Park

It felt like half the supernatural community was out and wandering the park. Naz had fond memories of trying to track down a unicorn the previous year and while there wasn't any unicorns this year, the golem's had drawn her attention. The giant creatures were a mystery to her, but even though they towered overr her, they still seemed like big friendly giants, almost like a loyal lapdog.

As more people approached the golem's, Naz took a step back into the shade and just watched the crowd. Amongst the crowd, she recognised a tall figure towering over everyone. The spirit hadn't reached out to Caleb since she returned home and now it felt silly that she hadn't.

For some reason, she felt nervous to even say hello to the Lycaon leader. It wasn't as though there was any animosity between them but there was something that had stuck with her since the visions of the future. Regardless, Naz couldn't avoid him forever. There was bound to be a council meeting soon enough and she wanted to reach out before she surprised him there.

He was easy enough to find and she pushed through the small crowd that was watching the golem's and gently touched his elbow, trying to get his attention. "Hello, Caleb," she greeted, trying not to sound nervous. "It's nice to see you."

[irismitchells]

STARTER FOR: @ofcalcbs where: Willoughby Complex when: January 4th, 9:30pm

Caleb hadn't answered any of her texts or calls — of which, at that point, there were a fair few. Almost as soon as an hour after Iris received the news of what happened to the Willow family, she called Caleb. It went to voicemail. And then it went to voicemail again. And again. Next came a text telling him to call her when he was ready, then a text telling him to call her as soon as possible, and then a text asking why he hadn't called her back yet. There was a chance it was too much, but Iris had to talk to him. And she didn't want to wait very long. She felt she'd burst if she had to wait longer.

She'd been to his apartment before. Not often, but enough times that she knew the number, the oddly sweet smell in the hallways of the building, and the woodgrain of his door against her knuckles. Iris had been here before, and maybe that was part of the problem. She knocked quickly and succinctly, not raising her voice like she wanted to — not letting him know who was on the other side until he looked through the peephole himself. She'd be able to hear his footsteps as he got closer. She always had in the past. Iris didn't think Caleb would actually ignore her face-to-face. Floorboards creaked. There wasn't much of a pause, but she hurried to break it before it could firm up into something real.

"Caleb, you're not allowed to avoid me forever," she finally said, firm and tired and fed up.

[lluiscarrasco]

How many shots would it take for you to sleep with Caleb? (LOL)

"In his fucking dreams."

[mythblossoms]

@spiderlilypetals

FIND A MAN WHO CAN DO BOTH!

[quotesofviolet]

Caleb: :)

Hayes: >:(

Caleb: Turn that frown upside down!

Hayes: ):<

Caleb: Not sure what I was expecting...

[mythblossoms]

okay i have volleyball player caleb thoughts, like him playing on his college team and looking for you at every game and giving you that little smirk before each serve

[gwen-lycaon]

Who: Gwen x Caleb ( @caleb-lycaon ) Where: Lycaon Manor When: Few days after Xmas

Gwen savored the last few drags of her cigarette as she pulled into the driveway of her childhood home. Caleb had texted her after the party saying they needed to talk, and since she was still apart of the pack, she had to obey. It had better involve him waving a white flag, Gwen thought as she shifted her Rav 4 into park. The two had basically ignored each other the entire Christmas Party, only talking briefly for check-ins and updates on pack members. She wondered what Caleb could possibly want to talk to her about. Maybe he'd finally grew a pair and was going to punish her or something. Considering how their last one-on-one conversation had gone down, she wondered how much of the house would still be left standing after round two. Taking a last, long drag of her cigarette, Gwen exhaled with a sigh as she turned her car off and headed toward the house.

[mythblossoms]

@deepspacenova

volleyball/haikyuu!!!Caleb that no one ever asked for 🤞

Captain of the DAA volleyball club, he takes the team's motto "succeeding beyond our limits" very seriously. Incredibly talented in the air (spiking, blocking, you name it), onlookers swear he must be able to manipulate gravity... hmm....

[cantfightmoonlight]

@briarreed

"Hey Aurora," Caleb said softly as he approached Briar. "I got you this," He said, sliding the pastry he had picked up for her over to her as he motioned to the funeral arrangements she had been scanning over. "I was wondering if you maybe wanted me to help handle, well, some of that?" He admitted quietly. "I've been told I'm pretty good at picking out flower arrangements, so it could one less thing on your plate, maybe?"

[naz-ulusoy]

darkest night | caleb & naz

for: @caleb-lycaon location: towards the wine cellars

A lot had changed since the previous year's wine festival. There was no blood shortage this year and no frenzied feeding yet, but the biggest change was that Caleb was her date this year. Naz's stomach had fluttered with nerves when they had met at the entrance in their planned costume. It felt almost surreal to see him in a costume that matched hers but she couldn't help but grinning up at him. "You look very handsome."

Not wanting to give either of them a chance to be awkward, she held her hand out to him. "I thought we could check out the wine cellars. It sounds like one of the safer choices," she explained. Last year had been tense so Naz wanted to keep the alpha distracted so they could enjoy the night before things got out of hand.

Stepping over the threshold, the spirit could feel the small tingle of magic on her skin and she knew something had happened. There was no immediate effect but she knew she should mention it. As she looked up at Caleb to warn him, the thought disappeared, too distracted by the sight of him in the dark suit. "Did I mention how handsome you look?" Naz asked, feeling a surge of affection when she looked up at the alpha.

[quotesofviolet]

Caleb: Hopefully Hayes has learned a lesson about respecting other people's feelings.

Hayes: Oh, shut up and die Caleb.

[mythblossoms]

@deepspacenova @syleb

OMG?? HES SO FINE IIII- cardiac arrest.

[mythblossoms]

Hey, Princess. I wanted to leave somethin' for you. Just a little message while I'm out and about in Skyhaven.

Days feel a lot longer when we're not together, but I look down and see the necklace you gave me and the day becomes bearable enough. I miss hearing your voice and seeing your smile.

I wanna see you soon, pip. How's that sound?

Seems like you always know when I'm missing you too.

It kind of feels like the days all blend together, right? Missing the things the keep you grounded.

What I mean is — I'd like to see you too. How about our favorite spot? Oooor, I could cook you something this time.