## Preface

A Moment's Respite
Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/15641496.

Rating:
  Explicit
Archive Warning:
  No Archive Warnings Apply
Category:
  M/M
Fandom:
  Critical Role (Web Series)
Relationship:
  Mollymauk Tealeaf/Caleb Widogast
Characters:
  Mollymauk Tealeaf, Caleb Widogast, Jester (Critical Role), Fjord (Critical Role), Nott (Critical Role), Yasha (Critical Role), Beauregard (Critical Role)
Additional Tags:
  joke title: I accidentally stalked my crush with my cat but it's okay, he still gave me a good ass pounding anyway: a Caleb Widogast story, Illustrated
Language:
  English
Series:
  Part 3 of Dreams
Stats:
  Published: 2018-08-10 Words: 5,822 Chapters: 1/1

# A Moment's Respite

by Neesi

Summary

> A few days of travel later, things have gotten easier between Caleb and Molly, but Caleb still isn't sure where their relationship stands. When the group makes a rest stop, Molly pulls Yasha aside to discuss something with her. Caleb lets his curiosity get the better of him and sends Frumpkin to follow after them.

Notes

> All 3 fics in this series were started and completed between June 10th and August 2nd, so approximately between eps. 22-29. They were started pre-26, so as such follow those conventions.

> Shipping Widomauk has been the most fun two months I've had in a very long time. Long may he reign.

> UPDATE 9/8/2021: Apologies to all readers that the images have continued to break off and on over the course of the last year or so. Image hosting is dumb. They should be working now. Thanks!

## A Moment's Respite

Caleb Widogast glanced up from his reading for the seventh time that morning to watch Mollymauk. The ostentatious tiefling was still where he'd been the first six times he'd looked: driving the cart Caleb sat in, laughing easily with Beau next to him on the bench. Caleb could see the subtle way the muscles in his forearms flexed each time he shifted the reins to keep the horses on course; the slow, relaxed back-and-forth of his tail from where it hung over the edge, and the way it curled on itself every time Molly laughed.

For once, Caleb didn't mind the distraction. He let the book relax on his lap and fidgeted with the corner of a page, reddish brown curls hanging in his eyes. Frumpkin lay balled up against his leg, hard at work obtaining those sixteen-some hours of sleep he seemed to need each day when left to his own devices.

Molly’s words repeated in his head with near perfect clarity.

“I don’t know. For me. For this? For dragging you into this? Gods, I don't even really get it…”

Neither did Caleb, though he suspected that for him it was a different kind of confusion.

Caleb didn't understand why, but it was obvious Molly was crazy about him. Well, at least it was obvious to Caleb--Molly still seemed to be figuring out what anything beyond basic attraction was, like a teenager fumbling through his first crush.

Caleb had little experience himself but was a battle-hardened veteran by comparison. He understood all too well the way his pulse quickened when Molly grinned wide enough to show his fangs, or when he laughed and the corners of those infernal red eyes crinkled. Or when those skilled, elegant hands dragged along his skin as they lifted his shirt.

Stupid, his voice echoed in the back of his mind. Stupid, stupid.

He kept watching the driver's bench.

“Not enjoying the book?” Nott asked from his right, voice slightly muffled by the porcelain mask covering the lower half of her face. She sat cross legged in the cart beside him--one of her clawed goblin feet poked out from under her knee, and when she noticed she quickly tucked it back under the edge of her cloak.

If he was being honest, he'd already finished all the books he had on his person and was just trying to make himself look busy. He closed the book.

“You know, I have already read this one--I thought maybe I might glean something extra during a re-read but perhaps it is just not what I am looking for right now.”

She gave him a couple pats on the knee with one wrapped hand and didn't say anything. The rough wood of the cart rumbled beneath them, gently swaying with the dips and bumps in the road.

They’d been traveling again for the better part of half a week now. Two more days (or had it been three? He was starting to lose count) had passed since the night he and Molly had kept watch together. They hadn’t spoken about it, of course, but something was different nonetheless.

After their encounter behind the inn, right when they’d gotten back on the road, Caleb hadn’t really known how to behave. What were you supposed to do or say the day after your crush brings you off with his mouth, surrounded by friends and acquaintances? It had felt so awkward that he’d mostly spent the time busying himself with the minutiae of travel and watching to see what Molly did, which had been mostly the same thing.

This time it had been much easier. Whenever they caught eyes throughout the day Molly would flash that easy smile of his and Caleb would relax a little.

Something had changed, indeed. He probably shouldn’t have laughed at Molly like that, after that whole rabbit thing, but Caleb must have done something right anyway because the awkwardness was mostly gone. Maybe they were just getting used to it.

Fjord reigned in his horse from where he'd been riding some ways ahead of them, maneuvering until he moved parallel beside the bench. He leaned over to Molly and said something that Caleb couldn't hear over the noise, gesturing toward the side of the road up ahead. Beau seemed to have heard as well and threw her hands in the air with relief, the tails of her blue coat flipping up with the momentum.

“Oh thank fuck !” she shouted, loud enough to turn the heads of the other riders in their party. “My ass hurts like hell!”

They were stopping, then. Caleb snorted, then tucked the book away with the rest of his belongings.

---

Molly nudged the horses off the dirt and gravel road, leading the cart into the grass before bringing it to a complete stop. Everyone else who had been riding separately joined and within a few minutes their entire group had come to rest in a cozy clearing not too far off the side of the road. Despite the partial cloud coverage it was still a sunny day, and leaves gently rustled in the occasional breeze that swept through, carrying the scent of damp earth and grass with it.

Beau vaulted down from the cart the second it stopped moving and stretched dramatically with a loud groan. The others dismounted and began to walk and stretch tired limbs as well, though with rather less enthusiasm. When Nott climbed down from the cart Caleb followed suit; Frumpkin stirred when he moved and jumped onto his shoulders.

After ensuring the horses were adequately watered and grazing in the clearing, the group began to settle down for a break from the road. A light lunch was passed around and a companionable air settled over their temporary rest stop.

Caleb got comfortable seated at the base of a tree by himself and watched the group while he nibbled on some bread crust, Frumpkin an ever-present furry heater in his lap. Nott was play-fighting with Jester over some pocket bacon, or at least he assumed it was play-fighting for Jester anyway, and they nonetheless looked like they were having fun.

He breathed deep, enjoying the smell of the trees and the feel of the grass between his fingers. Travel was exhausting and uncomfortable, but it was the brief moments like this that got him through it. When he focused on the calm of this little world around him, he could almost feel the storm in his mind quiet with it.

A kaleidoscopic swirl of color moved past Caleb's peripheral vision as Molly walked by, the intricate embroidery of his vibrantly patterned coat glinting in the sunlight that shone through the gaps in cloud cover. He approached Yasha and tapped her on the shoulder.

“Hey, Yasha.”

She turned her head and gave him an inquisitive look, scattered braids in her long hair shifting on her broad shoulders.

“Walk and talk with me a minute?”

Caleb shifted just a little so he could get a better viewing angle. He could only just see Molly’s face: was it his imagination, or did something seem off? He’d smiled at his friend when he spoke, but it looked fake, or forced. It lacked that carefree joy that made Caleb’s heartbeat stutter whenever it was directed at him. Was something wrong?

Did it have to do with him?

Now he almost wished he hadn't looked.

Yasha watched Molly for a few seconds. “Sure,” she finally said, and together they turned and left the clearing, heading down a wide gap between trees toward the west.

Caleb listened to their retreating footsteps until he couldn't hear them anymore, and he worried. Not for any good reason. It wasn't even technically his business, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong, and that it had something to do with him.

Leave it alone, it is not your problem.

But then why did his gut insist on telling him otherwise?

“You have been wrong before,” he muttered toward the knot in his stomach. Frumpkin lifted his head and watched Caleb for a few seconds, then returned to his nap, bored.

Several minutes passed. Caleb finished the bread but didn't feel any better: if anything, now his stomach just had something to toss around along with the anxiety. He kept glancing toward the edge of the clearing where they'd left.

Leave it alone. Stupid. Stupid. It is none of your business.

Caleb sighed.

He gave Frumpkin a scratch behind the ears, disturbing him once more, and shooed the cat off in the direction Molly and Yasha had gone. Once Frumpkin was out of sight, he drew his knees up to his chest, bowed his head, and went blind.

His paws--no, Frumpkin's paws--padded silently through the grass and weeds beneath him. Molly and Yasha's scent was still fresh and so he had no trouble following their trail, body kept low to the ground as he moved.

Several minutes passed before a large tree came into view in a second, smaller clearing. Frumpkin could hear voices coming from that direction and pivoted, heading toward them.

"I guess I don't really see what the problem is." Yasha's voice. Frumpkin ducked low and made a wide arc toward the base of the tree.

Molly's voice came next. "I...it's not really a problem, per se? Or maybe it is? I mean, he hasn't rejected me on any of these occasions--" Frumpkin reached the base of the tree. It towered above him, several times his size in width alone. "--but he also hasn't exactly said he wants it either."

Claws digging into the tree bark, Frumpkin swiftly climbed the back side of the trunk of the tree, out of sight.

"If he's not saying no then it's probably fine, yeah?" Yasha responded in her usual monotone.

Frumpkin reached the base of a bough where it met the tree trunk and pulled himself onto it. From there he crept forward, peering down, and now Caleb had a high perspective view of Molly and Yasha below. Yasha stood facing the tree, her arms crossed, while Molly's back was turned to him, tail swishing nervously and moving the hem of his coat with it.

"Maybe," Molly said, worrying at a spot behind his ear. "I mean, you're probably right. It's just...Caleb is so quiet, and..."

He raised his head to look at Yasha. "I think maybe he was abused before, or something traumatized him, or whatever, and I just..."

Molly sighed, pacing a few steps off to one side while he collected his thoughts. His back was still facing the tree.

"I'm worried he's the kind of person who wouldn't speak up even if he didn't like something, and I…” Molly swallowed. “I don't want to be the kind of person who would do something like that to him."

Stepping very carefully, Frumpkin moved further out onto the bough to try and get a better look. What did Molly's face look like right now? What kind of expression--

“I’m not really the one who can--”

A branch snapped under Frumpkin's weight and he froze.

It hadn't been that loud. Had he given himself away? A quick glance revealed that Molly hadn't seemed to notice. Yasha, on the other hand…

Her heterochromatic eyes darted over and locked onto Frumpkin for a meaningful moment, then returned to Molly.

“I know, I know,” Molly sighed. “I guess I'm just venting more than--”

"Wait here a minute," Yasha interrupted. Molly blinked in confusion but nodded. Then, without another word, she turned and calmly but purposefully strode back in the direction of the rest of the group.

Sheisse.

Caleb returned to his own senses and glanced around the clearing with a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.

She'd seen him. She'd definitely seen him, hadn't she. Shit.

Shit. Shit.

Frantic minutes passed while Caleb catalogued all of his options, which were few, and tried to determine if any were viable. But before he could decide whether to flee or stay and somehow feign ignorance, Yasha came storming up to the temporary camp, turning all four other heads.

She marched right up to Caleb and looked him dead in the eye.

"Come with me."

Caleb winced. Everyone was staring, so he got to his feet and reluctantly followed her. He really had no other options, and even if he had, he was too terrified of Yasha just then to even consider them.

They walked in complete silence the entire trip. Caleb had to struggle to keep up with Yasha's long, confident strides. When the tree--and with it, Molly--came into view, Yasha stopped about ten feet away and looked pointedly at Caleb.

Caleb didn't budge.

Yasha sighed, placed a hand, palm flat, against the middle of his back, and pushed him closer to Molly, his feet skidding along the grass.

"You guys talk this out," she said, looking between them both.

Molly's eyes darted back and forth between Caleb and Yasha as he tried to process what had just happened. Frumpkin leapt down from his tree branch perch and padded over to rub affectionately against Caleb's ankles; Molly looked at the cat, then back at the tree, and seemed to realize what had happened.

Yasha turned to leave, but Molly stopped her. "Yasha, wait," he said, walking up and placing a hand on her shoulder once again. He leaned over and whispered something in her ear that Caleb couldn't catch. When he was finished she nodded, then walked away, leaving the two of them alone.

Caleb wanted to run away.

He stayed, staring at his feet.

Molly crossed his arms, then decided against it and let them fall back to his sides.

Despite the ambient noise of the forest around them, it was frustratingly quiet. The silence was so uncomfortable Caleb had to do something to fill it.

“I…” he began, rubbing at a tattered edge of his scarf. “I am sor--”

“No, no, it's fine,” Molly interrupted, shaking his head. “She's right. I should have just come to you first.”

Caleb shook his head this time. “I can understand wanting to talk to a friend about--”

“And I can understand wanting to eavesdrop,” Molly finished, their words overlapping.

They both blinked, then laughed nervously. The distant sound of bird chatter filled the space between them once more.

Molly rubbed at that spot behind his ear again. “How much did you hear?”

Caleb's face reddened and he turned away. “Um. Only the last part.”

“Ah.”

More awkward silence. Why was it so awkward? This time it was Molly who spoke first.

“Look, Caleb,” he said. “I...this is all weird and different and I don't really know what to do about it. I…” He took a few idle steps in no particular direction. “I thought maybe Yasha could, I don't know, ease my mind a little, or...” He trailed off.

A light breeze picked up, setting the frayed edges of Caleb's coat knocking against the calves of his boots.

“You think I have not wanted the things we have done?” Caleb asked.

Molly flinched.

“I…” He hesitated. “I don't know!” Flustered, he began to pace, tail lashing behind him. “You’ve never said! You’re so quiet and withdrawn and I don't even know what you want half the time and...and…” He gestured aimlessly. “And, I don't know, it's never fucking mattered to me so much before.”

Caleb lifted his head and stared at him. Never said? Wie bitte? He had been telling him, didn't he get it? Did Caleb have to spell it out in small words first?

“You did not seem too terribly concerned about it the last two times,” Caleb remarked.

Molly winced again and regret passed over his face. “I...I’m sorry,” he said, rubbing a hand over his eyes. “Those times I got caught up in the moment, and when you didn't stop me, I--”

Caleb took several steps toward the tree and Molly, crossing his arms.

"Tell me, Mollymauk: do you make a habit of forcing yourself onto people who are not interested?"

Molly made a face. "No, of course not," he said, sounding offended.

"Then why do you believe that is what you are doing to me?"

Caleb may as well have slapped him in the face. Molly seemed to withdraw for a moment, stunned.

"I…” he stammered. “But…but you never said if you--"

Caleb pinched the bridge of his nose. "I thought you of all people would--” he groaned. “Because I did not think I needed to!” He took another step closer. “But since you are such a dummkopf after all, I will spell it out for you: ja . Yes. I like it. I like you. I like it when...when you touch me." He faltered there, cheeks and ears burning, but did his best to push through it.

“Is that clear enough for you?”

Molly blinked. “Um.”

“ Meine götter, ” Caleb muttered. "You have done this all backwards, you know. It is no wonder you are confused."

Caleb walked over to the base of the tree and leaned his back against it.

“And what is that supposed to mean?” Molly asked, standing a little straighter--he looked as if he'd settled on mild indignation for lack of anything better to hold on to.

Caleb only watched him expectantly, eyebrows raised. When Molly didn't answer, he sighed.

Don't you get it yet?

"I do not understand what you see in someone like me,” Caleb continued, “but it is clear that you do. Is that what is bothering you about this?”

“What? Of course n--” Molly started to say on reflex, but he stopped himself. He took a deep breath and let it out before continuing. “It's...not that, exactly.” Once again he started pacing, but slowly and with less fervor, almost defeated.

“It's not that it's you, Caleb. I...It's that it's anyone ,” he said, putting a hand to his forehead. “It's just...it's always been easy before, you know? I never had to think about it, and then suddenly it's like I can't do anything but think. It's worry over this and puzzle over that until I don't even know what I should do anymore. Nothing’s ever…” He lowered his head and looked away. “Nothing’s ever been like this.”

Caleb continued to watch him for another moment.

“Do you think maybe it is liebe?”

“What?”

“Love.”

Molly froze.

For several long, long seconds he didn’t move, utterly still but for the swaying of horn charms and flashy coat hem in the breeze. Then, finally, his shoulders relaxed and he looked down at the grass with a chuckle.

“Ha. Is that it?” He shook his head with a self-deprecating smile. “That...would probably explain some things, I suppose.” After a breath he looked Caleb in the eye. “What do you think?”

“I think you have been behaving like a lovestruck depp, ja.”

Molly barked with laughter, and with that everything about his posture and body language changed. Gone were the nervous flicks of his tail and the tension in his shoulders--he wiped his palms on his thighs and relaxed into a casual stance. “Seeing as this is all new to me, I defer to your judgement.”

He took long, easy strides over to where Caleb leaned against the tree trunk and looked down at him, red eyes flashing with mischief. “Well then, Mr. Caleb: if what you say is true, it would seem I’m in love with you.”

“So you are not completely hopeless, then.”

They'd been out in the sun a lot the past few days and there was a smattering of freckles across Caleb's nose and cheeks; Molly reached up and ran a thumb across them, and there was that smile on his face that made Caleb's heart skip a beat, real and genuine and worlds better than the one from before.

Caleb broke eye contact, color rising on his sun-speckled skin. “Well? Are you just going to stare all day?” he asked.

“Heh. Message received,” Molly murmured, grinning, and pressed his mouth against Caleb’s. Caleb’s stomach did ecstatic somersaults and verdammt , he didn’t deserve this at all, but he was pretty sure he was falling for Mollymauk as well. Gorgeous, eccentric, wonderful Mollymauk, who could love a broken murderer like him and somehow make it seem like something beautiful.

The smell of sweat and incense filled his nose, so undeniably Molly, and he took a second just to savor it. With uncertain movements, Caleb lifted his hands and slid them up Molly’s neck and into his tousled violet hair, thumb brushing that spot behind his ear he’d been rubbing at all day. To think that he could be allowed such a thing…

Molly pulled Caleb closer and deepened the kiss, fingers tangling in reddish-brown locks. He seemed to love touching Caleb’s hair while they kissed. Luckily, Caleb loved it, too. Their tongues met and Caleb made a small noise of pleasure in his throat.

The back of Caleb's hand bumped into the side of Molly's horn, knocking the dangling crescent moon charm hanging from it. He tentatively wrapped his hand around the horn, feeling the smooth, hard ridges and metal bands beneath his fingers, and held onto it. When Molly shivered against him in response, Caleb made a mental note for later.

Molly pressed his hips against Caleb's thigh, his already hardening cock a firm pressure on his leg. He pulled away from the kiss, breathless, and took a long look over his shoulder back in the direction they'd come before sighing in frustration.

"Damn it. I hope Yasha's keeping them busy," he muttered.

He took a deep, steadying breath. Then, with a slow, laborious exhale, burying his face in the collar of Caleb's coat, he reached both arms under Caleb’s coat and grabbed him by the buttocks, pressed in close. "Would you be...? Can I...?" Molly began but didn't finish, his proposition implied by the silence as well as the way his fingers worked their way a little lower. His voice was rough with desire, right next to Caleb's ear, and Caleb's cock twitched against the fabric of his pants.

"I mean, I literally just finished telling you how I feel," Caleb said with a soft chuckle, “but if we must say these things out loud now, then fine: ja . Okay."

He carefully turned his head and kissed Molly on the cheek, just on the edge of a teal green peacock feather. When Molly lifted his head, Caleb cupped his face in his hands, smooth jawline under his palms, and kissed him. Molly made a surprised sound against Caleb’s lips, but quickly recovered and pulled him hard against him, his tail curling around both their legs to complete the embrace.

Gods only knew how much time they had left before someone might come looking, so Caleb wasn't surprised that they started rushing. Molly worked his mouth over Caleb’s with urgency, grinding his leg against Caleb’s crotch in a way that made him feel faint. One last frantic press of lips, holding Caleb’s face with both hands, and then Molly was gently but quickly turning him around to face the tree, planting kisses along his hairline and the nape of his neck.

Molly dragged his hands down Caleb's clothed body, lingering just longer than necessary as if he seemed regretful that he didn't have more time to properly dedicate to the task at hand. He slid them under Caleb's coat and, with quick, rough movements, began working at buttons and buckles, shoving excess fabrics out of the way. It was a little like being manhandled, but the manhandling was its own sort of pleasure and a thrill of both embarrassment and excitement ran through Caleb when Molly yanked the waist of his pants down around his thighs, exposing his flushed, swollen erection to the outside air.

Caleb adjusted his grip on the tree bark and rested his forehead on the backs of his hands, doing his best not to think about how exposed and vulnerable he probably looked. There came rustling from behind him, then the sound of a vial stopper being removed, and Caleb remembered the vials of lavender-infused oil Molly had purchased not too long ago. He briefly wondered if this had always been one of their intended uses.

"I'm sorry there's not more time to get you warmed up," Molly said, slicking his fingers with the oil. Caleb heard and understood the words, but he was frankly too aroused to care just then and so he nodded but said nothing.

The scent of lavender reached his nose as Molly slipped a digit inside him, and Caleb gripped the tree beneath his fingers with a groan. It felt strange and foreign and thrilling all at once, and then Molly began to move it in and out and before much time had passed at all pleasure had replaced them.

Molly was still doing his best to be thorough despite their rushing, Caleb realized. After a few minutes and a little more oil he added another finger, carefully relaxing and opening him up until he had Caleb whimpering and panting before him.

Caleb made a strangled noise when Molly withdrew his fingers, but after a few seconds the head of Molly's cock pressed against him and he shivered. Molly leaned forward so his mouth was next to Caleb's ear again, breath tickling.

"It'll have to do," Molly said, and Caleb was surprised to hear how breathless he sounded. "Tell me if it's too much, alright?"

Caleb nodded, not trusting himself to speak. Molly gave Caleb's earlobe a brief nibble and pushed in.

"Oh, sheisse ," Caleb breathed, knees quaking beneath him.

Molly really had done a fine enough job in the time they had, all things considered. The initial breach into his body burned a bit and he felt stretched just to the edge of pain, but otherwise he was in relatively little discomfort.

Molly stopped. "You okay?"

Caleb held still for a long time before jerking his head in a brisk nod. Molly eased in a little further. They repeated this pattern until Molly was all the way in, and Caleb had to squeeze his eyes shut to battle the sense of vertigo that swept over him.

Oh gods, he'd never imagined he could be so full.

"Oh Caleb ," Molly whispered in wonder, voice trembling. A shiver ran up Caleb's spine at the sound and his cock twitched as he made a little whimpering sound. He must have clenched up too--Molly inhaled sharply and gripped Caleb's hips for support.

Molly had to take a moment to recover, swallowing hard. Once he was ready, he pulled away, then slowly, carefully pushed back in. Caleb moaned, clutching at the bark under his fingers.

Then he did it again, and a third time, and Caleb wasn't counting after that. There was only Molly moving inside him and the rushing of blood in his ears as any residual discomfort went away and he forgot it had even been there.

Despite his best efforts to hold in his voice, it was extremely difficult to do so when Molly smoothed his hand over Caleb's abdomen or ran his tongue along the ridges of his ear. Long fingers grasped his erection and Caleb moaned his approval, body trembling; they stroked him in time with Molly's thrusts and Caleb gave up any attempt to stay quiet after that.

After a little while Molly took a moment to adjust his angle and an electric jolt of pleasure hit Caleb in the belly and shot up his spine. He cried out in equal parts shock and ecstasy and he heard Molly huff what sounded like a laugh near his ear.

"There we go," he chuckled, tail coiling playfully around Caleb's ankle. Shifting his weight, boots planted firmly on the ground, he began again so that every thrust hit that spot over and over.

Any remaining cognitive faculties Caleb still possessed simply ceased to function as wave after undulating wave of pleasure crashed into him, overwhelming all other senses. Rough bark scraped the skin on his fingertips until it was raw but he hardly noticed. Too good, it was too good--white hot fire seared through him, so intense it was almost painful, and Caleb came helplessly into Molly's hand with a string of incoherent cries.

He was only dimly aware when a short while later Molly gasped and cried out next to his ear, shuddering against him and tail squeezing like a vice around his ankle. Time became a blurry haze that held suspended in the air while Caleb just breathed, Molly's heaving weight pressed to his back a comforting and grounding presence.

Once Molly had recovered somewhat, his own breathing returning to something closer to normal, he wrapped his arms tight around Caleb and just held him for a while. It was probably the only thing still keeping Caleb on his feet, he realized absently. It was also warm and reassuring, and the simple intimacy of the gesture made Caleb's throat tighten up just a little.

Eventually, Molly let go and pulled away, leaving Caleb to the mercy of his shaking knees once more. There was a pause, then Molly said, “Shit, sorry,” and began digging through his coat pockets, Caleb assumed, based on the rustling of fabric. “Though I'm not sure anything else would have made less mess…” he continued, mumbling to himself, and he sounded a little embarrassed. Caleb found that he didn't have the capacity to care about much of anything just then.

Molly set to cleaning both of them up with an unused rag. Part of Caleb wanted to protest, to argue that he could take care of himself, but since he could barely stand as it was he said nothing and let himself be attended to.

Dressing himself was where Caleb drew the line, however, and so when Molly finished with the rag and moved to help, Caleb gently shrugged him off and got to work rearranging his clothing. Once everything was properly buckled and buttoned back into its place, he put his back to the tree and leaned heavily against it with a slow exhale.

He only got to rest for the space of one breath, though, as Molly promptly swept Caleb up into his arms and hugged him so tightly his bones creaked, tail wagging in a wide, happy arc behind him. Caleb coughed as the air was forced from his lungs, but before long he melted into the embrace, lifting his arms to Molly's back with a returning squeeze.

A light breeze tickled Caleb's skin, cooler than before, and he snuggled a little closer into the warmth of Molly’s body.

“We should probably go back,” Caleb eventually squeaked out.

Molly took a deep breath, then let it out as a heavy sigh. “I know.”

Frumpkin jogged over from wherever he'd been lurking and rubbed against Caleb's ankle with a meow. Molly finally, reluctantly let go, and Caleb kneeled down to give his cat a scratch under the chin. He held out his arm for Frumpkin to climb onto his shoulders, but instead the familiar turned and ran off back in the direction of the group. Caleb rolled his eyes.

“Cats,” he said in a weary tone.

Molly laughed. “Isn't he magic? Can't you just poof him back?”

“Well sure,” Caleb replied with a grunt as he fought to stand back up onto his shaking legs, “but if I do not let him have his fun once in a while then he gets all sulky.”

“I'm...trying to imagine a cat sulking and I admit I've got nothing,” Molly said, but he was smiling. “Come on, we've given Yasha enough trouble already.”

---

When they returned to the rest of the party, Jester came running up as soon as they were within earshot, her long skirt billowing behind her.

"Caleb! Caleb, are you okay?" She exclaimed, worry written all over her blue-skinned face.

A tendril of panic began to worm its way up Caleb's spine. How did she--? Did they know? What had Yasha said to them? He thought he'd been walking normally. Hadn't he? How did he even walk normally? Now he couldn't remember. He put on the most convincing innocent act he could manage.

"I-I, hm? What?" He stuttered.

"Yasha said you and Molly got in a big fight. Are you okay, did he beat you up or anything? You don't look hurt..."

Molly gave Yasha a look; Yasha shrugged.

Caleb struggled for something to say to continue a story in which he hadn't realized he'd be complicit. "Oh, n-nein, I...we, well..."

Coming to the rescue, Molly walked up behind Caleb and clapped a hand on his shoulder, making him jump. "If anything, it was the other way around--Caleb's got a better right hook than you might think."

"Oh Caleb, really?" Jester asked with perhaps too much enthusiasm--no one else in the group seemed convinced.

Molly laughed. "Really though, everything's fine. We talked it out and now we're best friends, right, Caleb?" He put a companionable arm around Caleb's shoulders, and despite his best efforts Caleb could feel the blush rising in his cheeks.

" J-ja . Good friends."

Molly gave Caleb's arm a gentle squeeze before letting him go, and then, hips and tail swaying, he sauntered off to join the others as if it were the easiest thing in the world.

Jester bounced up to Caleb and whispered in his ear, "I can still beat him up for you if you need me to. Just let me know, okay?" Satisfied, she bounded after the others as well.

Caleb just stood and watched. Something brushed up against his ankles and he looked to find Frumpkin purring at his feet.

"Ah, come here," he said without thinking, leaning down and taking Frumpkin in his arms. The cat familiar's soft, warm body and gentle vibrations did wonders for Caleb's nerves and he could already feel his heart rate returning to normal.

Nott approached him next, when he still hadn't returned to the group. She looked up at him with her big, yellow eyes and an expression of mild concern that he always thought should belong on someone’s mother, rather than this young goblin woman.

"Are you alright?" She asked, moving several strands of dark, stringy hair out of her face. Even if she knew the answer, or knew Caleb would dodge the question, she always asked, and he loved her for that.

He nodded. " Ja . I am okay.” He looked back out toward the camp. “Everything is...worked out, at least for now."

Nott reached out a small, green hand and took Caleb's in it. He squeezed it in return, and together they walked back to the group where he could already hear Molly’s charming laughter ringing through the clearing.

---

Later:

## Afterword

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