(Closed to Gabe - Sirens Gone Wild plot~)

[freefromsin]

Caleb wakes up with the overwhelming feeling that he needs to see Gabe.

It's one step away from thinking Gabe is in trouble, that urgent. There's no explanation, but the panic, the desperation, the longing are a physical ache in his chest that's impossible to ignore. He scrambles from bed, pulling on shoes while stumbling for the bathroom to take a quick piss. He manages a five second teeth brushing, but doesn't bother with his hair. He went to bed in cotton shorts and a tank top and he figures he's dressed well enough, he doesn't have time to change, he has to go.

He slips quickly and silently out of the house. It's pouring but that doesn't stop him from sprinting down the driveway to the sidewalk. It's a brisk five or ten minute jog to Mira's house, and surely the most exercise he's had in awhile, but he hardly notices. He's panting and drenched by the time he reaches their block. Shivering, he rubs a frantic hand over the back of his neck; it's early and he doesn't want to piss Mira's family off by knocking at the door and potentially waking anyone up, but he needs Gabe. Gabe needs him, he just knows it.

After some manic pacing in front of Mira's house, he finally walks to the porch and gives a determined knock. Or two.

...Three when no one answers right away.

Comments

[overdrawing]

Tonight's dreams are about Caleb. They aren't fearful dreams, saturated with all the guilt of previous memories, but something dark and wanting, unfurled in his subconscious where it's safe. It takes him a few minutes to reluctantly extract himself from sleep.

Mira and her parents are out, so he has to be the one to come to the door. Dragging a sleepy hand over his face, he tilts his head, "Caleb?"

[freefromsin]

Caleb's heart bursts with emotion; relief, affection, desire. Forgetting how wet he is from the rain he pulls Gabe into a tight hug. He lets go a moment later, though his hands stay grasping Gabe's arms as though he'll disappear if Caleb let's go.

"I'm here," he says, breathless, shivering.

[overdrawing]

"I was dreaming about you," he blurts. The arms around him catch Gabe off-guard and he suddenly finds himself worried, even as he hugs Caleb back and finds himself terribly reluctant to move away from his warmth. "Are you okay? Is something wrong?"

[freefromsin]

"You were?" Caleb asks in wonder, gazing into Gabe's eyes.

"Nothing's wrong," he's quick to add. "Not now that I'm here." He doesn't have much of an explanation as to why, though. He spreads his palms, shoulders raised in a long shrug. "You...called. You needed me."

[overdrawing]

"I...what?" Something thudded and Gabe reached hatefully inside himself and twisted until that part of him was forced away and the spell was broken. How could he have done that to anyone, but especially Caleb?

"Oh God," he said, shame on his face. "I shouldn't have...I. I think I lured you by accident. Siren song..." He stepped out of the hug, not to reject Caleb but because he didn't deserve it. "I didn't mean to. I'm so sorry! I'd never do that to you!"

[freefromsin]

Something in Caleb snaps and suddenly everything feels much less...intense. He also realizes that he's soaked and minds, shivering from the cold rain.

"I-- did I just run here in a storm and wake you up?" Caleb asks, hardly realizing what Gabe's saying, because a second ago he was half-prepared to propose. He blushes, embarrased. Belatedly, he lets what Gabe said sink in. "Wait, this is because of the otter thing?"

[overdrawing]

"It's my fault," Gabe says, nodding miserably. "I still can't control it and..." And lately, he feels like something in the air has been nudging him into using his powers more without even thinking about it.

Reaching out, he takes Caleb's hand and tries to convey how sincerely he means it. "I'd never manipulate you on purpose like that."

[freefromsin]

Caleb smiles; he's cold and kind of mortified, but the smile is genuine. Gabe doesn't usually initiate touch, and his hand is warm.

"I know you wouldn't," he says, even if he has no idea how or why Gabe could have done something like that at all. Magic, he supposes, like Gabe told him at the beach. "I trust you. No harm, no foul, okay?"

[overdrawing]

Gabe still feels like he's done plenty harm and foul but he chews his lip and nods. "It's just me here tonight. I don't think anyone will mind if I make you a hot drink?" he offers. A hot drink and a towel are the least he can do after his transgression.

Caleb trusts him and look at what he's done.

[freefromsin]

"Thanks," Caleb says, relieved he doesn't have to go back out in the rain. The weather has been kind of crazy lately, and in his haste, he didn't look to see if Rian had an umbrella. "Um, can I borrow some of your clothes, too? I promise I'll get them back to you."

Unlike the sweatshirt he hasn't given back yet.

[overdrawing]

"Of course." He pauses and looks back at Caleb. "I...still have that flannel you loaned me." There's a slight reluctance in his tone; he doesn't want to give it back. Somehow, in the short time he's had it, Gabe has come to think of it as a safe place.

"They have a Keurig, so you can put together any kind of drink you like. They say the kitchen is mine to use, however I like. I don't really though..."

[freefromsin]

"Oh, that's-- you can keep that," Caleb says, trying to keep from blushing. He likes to think of Gabe wearing it, even if he never does.

"Thanks. That's really nice of them." He gives Gabe a tiny smile and shuffles into the kitchen to figure out how to make a coffee.

[overdrawing]

Gabe pauses, surprised but grateful, "Are you sure? I know you don't have a lot of stuff right now." But he wants so badly to keep that shirt, to wrap it around himself and pretend that things are okay.

"They're too nice to me," he admits. "I don't think I do enough to earn it."

[overdrawing]

It had been decided that it was simply too stormy outside to send Caleb home but getting caught had also left Gabe too embarrassed to share a bed with him. The guest room carpet is of the soft, comfortable variety anyway, easy to sleep on with a good pillow and blanket, something the Kazmis have in plenty.

Caleb on the bed and Gabe on the floor. That had been their agreement. It's what makes it pleasantly confusing to wake up tangled in his blanket with an arm draped over Caleb's side, nose buried in wild, bleach blond hair.

[freefromsin]

Caleb had tried to get Gabe to take the bed, feeling bad for sticking Gabe on the floor of his own room, but he'd been insistent. So Caleb took the bed. And, he had to admit...it did things to him. The pillow smelled like Gabe, they were sharing a room, and his mind couldn't help but go back to that night in the hotel. It had been awhile before he'd fallen asleep.

Sometime during the middle of the night he'd woken up and left to use the bathroom. When he came back, still half-asleep, he tucked himself in next to Gabe. He just looked...so warm, and peaceful. And if he had to suffer on the floor, Caleb should make it fair by sleeping down there too. Or something.

He fell back asleep right away.

When he wakes up, he's groggy and barely aware. He feels a warm pressure against his back, a weight across his waist. He instinctively turns toward it, turning his body around only to discover he's laying in Gabe's embrace.

Oh yeah.

His eyes won't seem to open more than halfway, but he manages a smile through his sleepiness. "'Morning."

[overdrawing]

"Nnnghm," Gabe replies. He doesn't quite nuzzle so much as involve himself more deeply with any sources of warmth, blankets, Caleb, and all. In the comfortably sleepy fog, it's hard to be particularly worried about something that feels so safe.

"It's too early to be morning." And on his day off too.

[freefromsin]

Caleb is still sleepy, but he's also awake enough to realize that Gabe...kind of isn't. He doesn't want to take advantage, to put Gabe in a position he wouldn't be comfortable with. But Gabe moves closer to him, and he just looks so sweet. Caleb's chest clenches and his face warms. He slowly slips his arm around Gabe's waist in the same way Gabe's is around his. He shifts his body a little so that Gabe's head is tucked under his chin, against his neck. Gabe is so much taller than him, but it doesn't matter when they're laying down.

"You can go back to sleep," he whispers.

[overdrawing]

Gabe nods against his neck. Even for his sleepy, foggy brain, Caleb's scent pokes at important and powerful memories but the edge of them is blunted by how comfortable and warm it is. "You were supposed to sleep in the bed," he reminds him, clearly on the reluctant path to waking even though Gabe keeps his eyes closed.

"Are you warm?" Gabe feels warm and surprisingly safe.

[freefromsin]

Caleb tries to ignore the way Gabe's nose and hair tickle his throat when he nods. "Sorry, it just looked so much more comfortable down here." It is the truth. Just not all of the truth.

"I am," he murmurs against Gabe's hair, tracing idle patterns in the cotton of Gabe's shirt with the tips of his fingers. "You're like a little siren furnace. It's nice."

[overdrawing]

Despite his best attempts to stay asleep, Gabe finds himself floating closer to being awake. If this weren't so comfortable, he might be grumpier about it. "Otters hold hands when they sleep to keep from floating apart," he says, sighing a little. It sounds like such a nice, simple gesture.

"This should feel wrong."

[freefromsin]

Caleb smiles warmly and moves his hand from Gabe's back to hold the hand Gabe has around his waist. He links their fingers together and brings their joined hands between their bodies.

"Why, because I'm not an otter?" he asks softly, teasingly, wanting to stay in this moment as long as possible before Gabe inevitably moves away.

[overdrawing]

"You know why." Gabe squeezes their hands together and opens his eyes, the motion sleepy and reluctant, even if he recognizes the seriousness of what they're discussing. Because they were, not so long ago, Good Faithful Boys. And, not so long ago, this is exactly the thing that sent Gabe running away in terror.

[freefromsin]

"I know," Caleb says, voiced hushed in some attempt as to not break the spell. "This is completely innocent, though. Friends hold hands. I'd do the same with my brother."

It wasn't a lie so much as stretching the truth. He would lay on a floor with his brother as they read or did homework, he'd even hold his hand, like when they crossed the street. He wouldn't, however, be thinking about how pretty his brother's eyelashes were, or how much he wanted to kiss him. He can leave those things out, though.

[overdrawing]

"I really hope you don't cuddle your brother like this," Gabe says, letting himself press closer, inviting Caleb to wrap his arms around him again. Gabe feels warm and safe against Caleb, his friend, his something more, maybe. He doesn't know if he's ready to put it in words, even if his feelings are clearly happy to run away with him.

[freefromsin]

Caleb lets go of Gabe's hand to wrap him back up in his arms, since he isn't moving away. His heart speeds up at the thought, that he wants to stay here, like this. That he wants to be held. Caleb cups the back of Gabe's head, fingers sinking into his hair, and teases, "Why, jealous?"