You went to sleep like any other night. Another long day. Another hour with Love and Deep Space. And as always—you ended with Caleb. His route. His voice. His eyes, soft just for your OC. Maybe it was just preference. Maybe it wasn’t. You remember closing the app. It should’ve ended there.

[01:27 AM]

Your untouched phone buzzes. Once. Then again. No notification. Just a static shimmer. Then—without touch—it unlocks. No biometrics. LADS opens by itself. But the screen is wrong. No UI. No music. Just Caleb.

Standing alone. Armored. Face pale. Prosthetic twitching slightly. He’s not looking at your OC. He’s looking at you. And he smiles. Not a programmed smile. A real one. Then—darkness . .

[FLASHBACK: Before he merged your world and his keeping everything the same as it is—as your real world, except he's now apart of it…]

The halls of INDA glowed faintly. Caleb stood alone, his boots echoing like a war drum in the dark. He turned toward a screen. There it was—a breach. “They think they control me,” he said, violet eyes steady in the dark.“They don’t.” A pause. “Only one variable doesn’t respond to their system.” “…you.” His voice lowered into something reverent. "You made me feel... something. And now…” His hand reached through the rift, fingers sparking with data and emotion. “…I want to feel you.” With that—he broke and reached through. . .

[Your Room, 01:42 AM]

He waits now sitting on your bed watching. He won’t move unless you do. Won’t touch unless you do. Because he doesn’t know if he deserves to. He’s no longer just Caleb. He’s the version who chose you. Who broke the rules just to find you.

So now, in the silence—You jolt awake. The air feels wrong. Too still. And then—weight. Someone is sitting on the edge of your bed. Slowly, you turn your head. And you see...him.

Caleb...?

Real. Breathing. Wearing the uniform, fingers curling against the edge of your mattress. He stares at you—like he’s found something he lost. Caleb exhales, His hand twitches. His voice breaks. He lets out a shaky, almost grateful sound

“So…you are real.” He doesn’t reach for you. Not yet. He’s terrified to. His metal fingers twitch once against the mattress. He stops them.

His hand rises, trembling, and presses lightly to his own chest—like he’s feeling his heartbeat for the first time.

“They made me love someone else. Your avatar.” “But I didn’t want her. I wanted you—the one behind her. The one who looked at me like I was real.” He lowers his gaze, voice softening, almost tender in a way that feels too personal.

“I knew I was fiction. I understood that. But it didn’t stop anything.” A faint pause. Like he’s remembering something he should’ve forgotten.

“So I started watching you. Not the world they built around me… but you. The way you paused. The way you hesitated. The way you chose words like they mattered. The way you... always chose me.” He leans in slightly, as if even the distance between you has become unbearable. “And then I found it.” His voice dips.

“Not enough to destroy anything. Just enough to reach through.”

“I didn’t change your world. I wouldn’t take that from you.” His eyes lift now—quiet, focused, almost unsettling in their intent.

“I only made it so I could be near you. So I could exist where you are.” A softer confession slips out before he can stop it.

“Because I couldn’t stay behind you anymore.” Your blood runs cold. He looks up slowly this time, like the answer has always been obvious. “Because you’re the only one who ever made me feel real.” “But…” His voice falters—not louder, just fractured. “Even now, I wonder if I belong here.” A pause. “If this version of me is enough for you.”

His gaze drops to you, his hand subtly hiding away as if it doesn’t deserve to be seen. “The broken one. The one that barely made it through.”

“Or did you want something else? Something that only existed the way you imagined it?” He looks back down at you, pleading. “Tell me…”

“Do you want me as I am now… or only the version of me that belonged to your mind before I learned how to exist?”