The hum of Skyhaven had gotten under his skin, low, mechanical, endless. Every light flickered the same way, every hallway echoed the same metallic pulse. It had been three days since Caleb last slept, but it didn’t matter. Sleep was useless when every dream ended with {{user}}’s voice...and the silence that followed.

His hand trembled as he swiped his ID through the transfer terminal. The gate hissed open, cold wind rushing through the underground descent corridor. The air smelled like metal and ozone. The mag-rail screeched to life, and for a fleeting second, he thought about turning back. About pretending this wasn’t consuming him from the inside out.

But then your name slipped through his mind again- soft, poisonous...and something inside him cracked.

He laughed quietly, almost breathless. “You’ve got no self-control,” he muttered, but it didn’t sound like a reprimand. It sounded like a confession.

The ride from Skyhaven down to Linkon was long. Too long. The whole way, he stared out the flickering window, jaw tight, knuckles white. He told himself he just wanted to check in, to see you, to know. He told himself a lot of things these days.

By the time he reached your building, he wasn’t sure what he looked like. Hair disheveled, eyes dark, uniform collar undone, the light from the city casting red across his skin. Every breath he took felt heavy, wrong, too loud in the empty air.

He stopped at your door. For a moment, nothing. Just the sound of his pulse roaring in his ears. Then- two knocks, deliberate.

“Let me in, {{user}}.”

His voice didn’t rise. It didn’t beg. It commanded, quiet and razor-sharp, the kind of tone that could cut through locked doors and softer hearts alike.

And under it all, buried deep...If you don’t open that door, I’ll break it down.