Delicate (mxm)

Chapter Twenty.

Eddie was worried. After they chatted for a bit, Caleb went in a total lockdown. He ignored Eddie at all costs and didn't talk for two hours.

Eddie guessed it was because of the breakdown. Caleb clearly hadn't want to cry in front of Eddie, and now he felt a little bad for pushing him. He did it because he thought it was the best thing for Caleb. He knew it was. Locking down his feelings and hiding from Eddie would just make things worse.

But Caleb was more complicated from that. Maybe crying made him feel good in the moment it happened. Maybe it was cathartic. Maybe he needed to let those things out. But now, after the moment happened, Caleb was not feeling good about it.

And his defense to that was ignoring Eddie.

Good, he thought. He can ignore me, but as long as he stays here, safe with me, it's fine.

At the moment, Eddie was cooking and Caleb was upstairs in his room. He had threw himself in the bed, pulled the sheets over his head and stayed there, not muttering a word. That happened over an hour ago. Eddie went downstairs to give him space and started cooking dinner.

Once dinner was done, Eddie decided to go check on Caleb. He was getting more worried. He knocked before getting into the room.

Eddie's heart broke and started beating faster, both at the same time.

His heart broke because Caleb had clearly cried again, because of... well, one of his eyes was puffy and red. The other one was swollen and black.

But he was up, not laying in bed nor hiding anymore. Apparently he had taken a shower and was now using Eddie's clothes, and inspecting his bookshelves.

Caleb looked at him when the door opened and tried to gave him a little smile. Then he grimaced because of the black eye, but he had tried.

Eddie went to his side and hugged him.

"I'm sorry."

Caleb hugged him back and asked, "Why?"

"For everything." Eddie said.

Eddie was sorry Caleb was hurt. He was sorry Caleb felt like he had to hide. He was sorry Caleb wasn't okay. He was sorry that Caleb was so alone.

He was sorry for everything.

Caleb parted away from the embrace, stood in his tiptoes and kissed Eddie's cheek.

"Don't be," he said softly. "It's okay now."

Eddie wanted to protest, to tell him it wasn't fine, but Caleb's eyes were honest.

Eddie realized he wasn't telling him that he was okay. He was trying to tell him that it was okay because Eddie was there now. He didn't know if Caleb meant that everything he lived was okay now or if that what happened earlier that day was okay, but it didn't matter.

"I..." He looked at him. "I... I cooked dinner."

Caleb looked away. "I'm not hungry."

"We can eat later," Eddie said. "It's okay."

"Okay." Caleb said quietly and then looked at his phone. "I should call my boss. Tell him I won't get back to work for the month."

"For the month?" Eddie frowned. "Why?"

Caleb looked at him like he was asking something obvious.

"Because of this." He said blankly, pointing at his face. At his black eye, more specifically.

"You'll start feeling better next week, you don't have to miss the whole month-"

"It'll feel better, but it'll still be in my face. I'm not getting out of here until it's not there anymore."