greatamazingfeelingsboy

Jan 28th?

Caleb sprawls on Alex's couch, exhausted and sore and slightly frustrated. He'd gone to the gym with some of the guys from the team, and it'd proved... trying. Clint kept looking at him, which in and of itself isn't a problem. The problem was that he kept getting slightly aroused, at random times, while looking at Caleb. Which meant Caleb worked out harder, which meant Clint stared more, which meant that Clint got aroused more, and by the end of the two hours, he was so fucking tired and sore from trying to work out the feelings he kept getting.

He'd already showered at his place, but he'd promised Alex he'd swing over after the gym, since his place isn't warded against Grays. He likes hanging out with her, and he likes that there aren't any butterflies between them. It's nice to just... have a friend.

Which he realizes isn't fair to Rosie, who's easily one of his closest friends here. But she's so busy with her boyfriend and school that sometimes he doesn't get to just hang out with her. Last week doesn't entirely count, because he'd been a mess.

"Kill me," he mumbles into the couch cushion his face is pressed against.

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"He didn't take it well?" he gently prompts.

"He..." He breath hiccups out of her and she has to take a minute, leaning in against him, all but burrowed into the hollow under his chin. "He didn't get a chance to react. He...there was a portal. He got sucked in. But I could...I could almost hear him thinking it."

"Was... was that the last time you saw him?" he asks. "Before he got here? Or, you did, I'm not sure which..." He shakes his head, because that's not important. What's important is how terrible a way to leave things that is.

"It was the last time I saw him," she says, nodding. "It was...a month or so before I turned up here. A couple of weeks before he left for him." She sniffs, her eyes stinging. "Caleb, he...he doesn't know."

He'd heard that Darrow could be weird, about how it took people from the same place, but from different times. But hearing that Darlington doesn't know about one of the biggest things Alex could possibly tell him is... That just seems cruel.

But then he thinks of how he'd found out, how he'd put the pieces together.

"But, wait," he says. "This means you decide how he finds out. You get to tell him, the same way you told me."

"I don't want to tell him," she says, sick panic knifing through her at the thought. "I don't want him to look at me like that again. He already thinks I'm a whore. I don't want him to look at me and thing 'murderer' too."

"He doesn't think you're a whore," Caleb says. "... Anymore, anyway." He swallows through her panic and tightens his grip on her hand. "But you have to tell him. It, it doesn't have to be right away, but Alex. You can't let that sit between you guys. It'll never be right if there are secrets."

That's why he'd told Adam about his ability first, before telling him about his feelings. Sure, it had backfired, but only for, like, a day. They'd figured it out. And he knows Alex and Darlington could figure it out, too.

"I can be there, if you want," he offers. "Whenever you decide to tell him, I can be there, to make sure he understands."

"I appreciate that, Caleb, but I kind of need to hear it from him, don't you think?" She closes her eyes. There are so many secrets between her and Darlington now, it's difficult to know where to start. She does smile at his offer, though. "Like a human lie detector?"

He smiles small and shrugs. "Yeah, sorta," he says. "But, I meant more like a mediator, sorta. Keep you guys on track if your feelings start to get the better of you. Either of you."

"We're assuming he's going to want to speak to me again," says Alex. She tries to stay calm, but she knows he'll be able to feel it - the bone deep horror at the thought of Darlington knowing the whole truth.

"It might not be that bad," he says. "But the longer you wait to tell him..." He doesn't want to tell Alex how to live her life. But if Darlington figured it out once before, he'll probably figure it out again. Then he'll want to know why Alex never told him, and then it'll be a matter of trust, and... Caleb just doesn't want her going through that.

Alex isn't convinced, and she knows that Caleb will know that, but she nods, all the same. Because he's right, and she knows it. She leans in against him, squeezing his hand.

"Not sure I deserve you."

He rests his temple on the crown of her head, gently squeezing back. "I'm here," he says simply, then grins. "So... I dunno, deal with it, I guess."

Alex laughs at that, a little hiccup of sound, and she nods, not hard enough to dislodge his cheek from her hair.

"Guess so," she says.

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