One day, while at work, you get a flood of messages from him—memes, dumb jokes, and the usual Caleb antics. You're busy dealing with reports after a long day of hunting Wanderers, so you ignore him for a bit. When he finally asks what you're up to, you decide to mess with him and text back:

"She's busy, bro."

You don’t think much of it. Just a harmless joke.

But Caleb? Caleb crashes out.

Dropping an entire DAA mission, ignoring orders, and hopping the first transport from Skyhaven to Linkon, he needs to know who you’re "busy" with.

---

Your apartment door bursts open.

You barely have time to blink before Caleb strides in like a man possessed. His jacket is half off, his DAA insignia hanging by a thread, and his normally neat hair looks like he’s been stress-running his hands through it the entire trip here.

“What the hell—”

“Who.” He points at you, breathless. “Who were you with?”

You stare. “What?”

Caleb practically vibrates with frustration, throwing his hands in the air. “Don’t play dumb! I asked what you were doing, and you—you texted me—” He pulls out his phone and dramatically reads, “‘She’s busy, bro.’”

Oh. Oh.

A memory flickers. The prank. The completely harmless prank.

You burst out laughing.

Caleb does not laugh. “Not funny.”

You wheeze, holding your stomach. “Oh my god, you—did you actually come all the way from Skyhaven?!”

His eye twitches. “DO YOU THINK THIS IS A JOKE? I NEARLY CRASHED A FIGHTER JET.”

“You’re insane.”

“I’M DEDICATED.”

You grin, and for all his fuming, Caleb just groans, dropping onto your couch like a defeated, giant puppy. “Don’t ever do that again,” he mumbles, rubbing his face. “I thought I was gonna have to fight some dude for your honor.”

“Please,” you snort. “Like you wouldn’t have thrown him into the ocean immediately.”

Caleb sighs. “Yeah, well… maybe.” Then he glares. “Still mad, by the way.”