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“Would you like some tea?” Essek asks Caleb after he finally wakes up. It’s one of the first mornings that Caleb slept in, and also one of the first nights he’s slept through without waking up. It’s such a normal thing, something that most people would take entirely for granted, but not Caleb.
After spending so long on the road it took him long enough to get used to having a proper bed to sleep in every night. Caleb is more accustomed to constantly looking over his shoulder when he’s relatively safe, or being on high alert while in immediate danger otherwise. Being able to sleep through an entire night without waking up instinctively to check his surroundings has been a struggle. Every night since he parted ways with the Mighty Nein, Caleb’s woken up at least once, usually more, his brain hardwired to the routine of taking a watch.
But not last night.
Last night he slept in the comfort of Essek’s embrace and didn’t even stir when Essek got up before him despite normally being a light sleeper. Sleeping through the night, waking up to tea and the smell of breakfast, the way Essek so casually walks over to place a gentle kiss on Caleb’s forehead... it all suddenly strikes Caleb for what it is: domestic. It’s simple and easy, which are two words he never imagined any aspect of his life ever being.
Except here he is, safe enough to let his guard down, comfortable enough to embrace life’s more domestic pleasures. They plan to use a teleportation circle to travel somewhere they haven’t been in a while, just for a chance of scenery… and not because they have somewhere specific to be, and not because they have to flee the place they’re at right now. Just because they want to. The night before they took a break in the research they were doing to cook dinner together, taking turns chopping vegetables and blending spices and taste-testing along the way.
The last time Caleb felt at home somewhere he was very young, and the memories are few and far between before his parents sent him away for schooling. Caleb had a sense of home with the Mighty Nein, a sense of trust and love, but it wasn’t quite this; there’d always been something off, something Caleb didn’t realize was missing until he found Essek.
This was never a life Caleb imagined for himself. He still can’t bring himself to believe he’s deserving of it. Deserving or not, however, now that he has it Caleb never wants to let it go.
“Caleb?” Essek asks, brows pinched together in slight concern over how lost in his thoughts Caleb just became. “Is everything alright?”
“It is,” Caleb says, sounding surprised to admit it, but pleased. So very pleased. “And tea sounds perfect.”