Caleb hums thoughtfully and looks down at the ring, where he knows he's going to keep it, gag gift or not.

Not all of the feelings he feels are fluid, he realizes, and that's why it feels weird trying to shift between them. He tries to imagine shifting from the Pop Rocks sensation of curiosity to the swelling, sunshine warmth of pride, but without feeling the emotions in that moment, it's difficult, so he focuses on something a little more present.

Michael's smugness isn't slimy, like some people's. It's warm, and slightly damp, like an early summer morning, before the dew's evaporated by the sun. Near that, always present, is a sense of guilty shame that Caleb's come to realize is tangled with the edges of his love for Alex. Where there's one, there's the other. Following his love for Alex is a love for other things, vaguer and gentler, less overwhelming but still there, and the joy that those things bring him.

"Okay, it is... surprisingly easy to navigate your feelings," he admits, re-focusing on reality and not the various shades of red that Michael lives in.