Work Text:
Caleb isn’t paying attention to his surroundings. He doesn’t have to - he’s with his friends, a group of people he trusts enough not to feel the need to look over his shoulder every few minutes. More importantly, they’re people he can allow himself to get properly lost in his reading around without fearing any negative repercussions.
So when Fjord’s voice finally snaps him out of his focus, Caleb is certain that this isn’t the first time Fjord’s asked him the same thing before he finally heard him.
“Caleb?”
“Yes, sorry. I was a little…” Caleb says, waving noncommittally at the book in front of him.
Fjord just smiles. It’s a soft smile, never annoyed when Caleb gets wrapped up in his studies but always patient and understanding.
“No worries,” Fjord says. “I was just wondering if you had a book I could borrow.”
“What kind of book?”
Fjord shrugs. “Any book.”
Any book. It isn’t as if Caleb can carry that many on his person at any point in time, not while they’re traveling, but he does have a few smaller ones in his bag. He picks one out and hands it up to Fjord.
“It may be a bit… dull. I don’t have the best selection on me,” Caleb apologizes in advance. It’s a book about magic, and while there’s a bit in there about theories and history it’s mostly technical and practical in structure.
“I’m sure it’ll be fine. Thank you, Caleb,” Fjord says before walking away with the book.
Caleb nearly forgets about it until nearly a week later, when Fjord returns it to him. “It was good, but if you have a recommendation that isn’t quite so technical next time I’d appreciate it.”
Fjord still doesn’t explain what he’s looking for, or why he’s suddenly interested in reading Caleb’s books, but Caleb hardly minds. He doesn’t think too much about the fact that he would mind if it were anyone else, but not for Fjord.
“Will do,” Caleb says.
That next time is a few days later when they reach a city with a small bookshop. While Jester and the others giggle in a corner over some romance novel they find, Caleb grabs a few easy-to-carry books he thinks Fjord might like.
“Here, I think these might be of more interest to you,” Caleb says, handing Fjord two small books once they leave the shop.
Fjord takes them carefully, looking down at them with surprising fondness. “You bought them for me?”
It’s no surprise that Caleb is consistently low on funds, often passing on things like big meals and drink in favor of paper and ink for his spells. Perhaps it says more about his feelings for Fjord - feelings he doesn’t dare voice - than he means to when he so casually spends money on him when Fjord could’ve just as easily bought himself the books if he was interested in them.
Caleb shrugs, trying to seem casual. “I thought you’d like them.”
The others tumble out of the bookshop in a rush behind them, early discussing their next stop in the city, and Caleb does his best to put that fond look out of his mind.
---
Fjord does like them, and they’re perfectly tailored to him, which apparently is a problem.
“Okay, so these were great, but they’re not quite what I was looking for,” Fjord says another week later. The books were about sailing and adventurous tales of ships and pirates, something Caleb thought would interest Fjord much more than anything Caleb normally read.
“Oh?” Caleb asks, surprised.
“I know I’m not the best with this sort of thing, but… I want to read things you like. Things that interest you that’d you’d recommend.” Fjord explains.
Caleb is, rightfully, surprised. “Why?”
If Caleb didn’t know better, he’d think he sees a slight tint of color flush across Fjord’s face.
“Do I need a reason?” Fjord counters.
“I suppose not,” Caleb relents. “Alright then. In that case…” Caleb reaches into his bag and pulls out a small, heavily worn book. “This one I read at least once a year. I suppose one might consider it a comfort read, something safe and familiar. I’ve had it since I was a boy.”
“Perfect! I’ll take good care of it, Caleb.”
Before Caleb can say another word Fjord is already turning away with the book opened to the first page.
---
They continue on like that for days, weeks, months. Caleb remembers books he’s read and enjoyed in the past and tries his best to obtain copies of them along their travels. Sometimes he takes a gable on a book he hasn’t read but is on a topic he knows he’d enjoy.
Fjord never keeps any of the books, always dutifully returning them to Caleb who holds onto them for a rainy day. It isn’t often he’ll re-read something, not with so many new books to read and spells to learn, but it isn’t unheard of. And when they finally settle into a more permanent residence, somewhere they can have rooms and leave belongings, Caleb wastes no time filling his space with books.
Some of the shelves are lined with the books he’s given Fjord to read, while others he buys here in the city, new ones that catch his interest as they wander the shops to gather more necessary supplies.
It’s nice, to have a home again, but it also makes Caleb a bit contemplative of the past he’s left behind. He’d been alone for so long, running for so long, that he never imagined he would settle down with a group of people he truly cares about.
Some more than others, admittedly.
With some time to kill Caleb pulls the old, worn book from his childhood out of his bag. He intends to put it on the shelf, but as he does something falls out of it. It’s a small scrap of paper, with Fjord’s handwriting.
‘If you grew up reading stuff like this, no wonder you don’t trust people.’
It was a small book of children’s tales, told in a cautionary style meant to deliver life lessons. Some were admittedly a bit grim, but Caleb had never looked at it like that in relation to himself.
But Fjord had. Fjord had taken this piece of Caleb’s past, this thing that interested him, and made the connection to Caleb himself. Following a hunch, Caleb walked over to the bookcase and picked up another book he’d given Fjord in the past.
Another note, tucked safely into the crease of one of the pages, with another commentary on Caleb rather than the text itself. Another book, another note, another commentary.
Sometimes about the way Caleb protects himself, sometimes about the way he forms friendships, sometimes about his reactions to fire, or the ocean, or the stars. Every note proves that Fjord knows him better than Caleb ever imagined, every note proof that Caleb can never quite help letting in the people he cares about, even when he doesn’t mean to.
“You finally found ‘em,” Fjord says, standing in the doorway of the room. Caleb stands next to a table with dozens of notes unfolded in front of him, the books piled separately to the side.
“You didn’t tell me you were leaving me love notes,” Caleb jokes, except it isn’t really a joke. That’s exactly what they are, in a way - in Caleb’s own way of observing and noticing things about the people he cares about. There’s no way after reading all of these that Fjord didn’t know exactly what he was doing as he wrote them. “For someone who claims to be observant, I never realized…”
“I had to get to know the real you somehow,” Fjord says.
“And?” Caleb asks, stepping away from the table and toward Fjord.
“I like what I see, and what I don’t see. I always have,” Fjord admits, taking a few steps of his own to meet Caleb in the middle of the room.
There’s no hesitation. They both know each other better than they let on, better than they’ve acted on in the past. But now with everything out in the open, it’s clear between them that they’re both on the same page.
Fjord put in the effort to get to know Caleb, the real Caleb, and Caleb let him. It’s all either of them needs to realize to feel confident in what comes next.
When their lips meet, as Caleb brings an arm up to rest on one of Fjord’s biceps and Fjord wraps his other arm around Caleb’s waist to pull him close, it feels good. It feels right, like they were always leading up to this.
Caleb knows he still has things he hides away, things that might scare off Fjord once he learns them, but that doesn’t matter right now. For now, Caleb is more than happy to live in this moment and embrace the start of a new chapter in his life. Maybe, if he’s lucky, a chapter in both of their lives - one they will continue together long after they leave this room.