Truth or Consequences


Title: Truth or Consequences
Fandom: The Covenant
Characters: Caleb/Tyler
Prompt: Passage
 The Covenant Caleb/Tyler Passage

A/N: This was written for the Community lover100 over on Definitely check it out, if prompts and big damn tables intrest you. It's an awesome comm.

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"Truth or Dare?"

He hesitated. He raised one hand from where it had lain on his knee cap, index finger pointing while the rest curled inward into his palm. For a moment his hand wavered helplessly, pointlessly in the air. "Uhh…" His lungs compressed, pushing out air to make a plain, uncertain sound that caused the other boys in the room to fidget with impatience.

"C'mon man, I swallowed that worm. Thing was effin' nasty." Reid urged, the color beginning to rise under his pale cheeks. The mere thought of him having to follow through on a dare, but his younger friend not made his blood hotten. Who cared if Tyler was the baby of the Covenant? The boy had to learn to be worth his salt. (Which at Reid's age, meant that he had to provide adequate humor for the rest of them.) "You ain't gonna wuss out. What ever we say, you gotta do, man."

"Reid's right, dude." Pogue interjected now, looking up from where he had been warming his hands in front of the small fire. The small fire that they were circled around was the only light they had, providing an eerie glow to their tiny campsite. He reached over to the burgundy camp-table next to him, the kind made of canvas and black piping sold at camping stores. Popping yet another marshmallow into his mouth, (at this rate there would be none left to toast) he continued. "Youb got to." –Here he paused to shovel in another puffy, white blob of gooey goodness- "You shed you woub."

By this time Tyler still hadn't spoken, already schooled in the fact that the older boys hated it when he interrupted them. Once, when he'd done that at school to Reid while he was talking up a pretty girl, the older blonde had put spiders in all his sandwiches for a week. A week.

He sighed, and then took in a long, slow breath, letting his eyes settle into the soothing flow of the flames as they licked the air. Quickly, he spewed out his choice. "Dare!"

"Whatever we say, you've got to do it." Reid warned again, cocking on eyebrow. He looked across the camp fire, to where the other member of the Covenant lay, half-shrouded in the shadows. "Right, Caleb?"

The leader of the Covenant had been watching the back-and-forth antics of all three younger boys with quiet contentment. It had been quite a long day; their first camping trip all alone, with no adults for two whole days. They had taken every advantage of that freedom humanly, and inhumanly possible, now that three of the four of them had their Powers.

He leaned against a huge log, not in a chair although their was one handy. His long legs stretched out in front of him, covered in the denim of his jeans, skin visible only in a few places where they'd been torn that day, probably while trying to climb the rock ledges up past the creek.

A smile cracked across his face. "Sorry, Ty." He said, his voice already beginning to deepen –Reid was secretly jealous, of course- with the onset of puberty. "But that's the rules. You have to." He crossed his arms over his chest, proud of feeling the hard muscles underneath his gray t-shirt; he'd started working out a few months ago, swimming more, lifting weights, and it was beginning to show.

Tyler nodded his head twice after Caleb finished. "I get it guys, I get it. Give me my dare. I'll do it. I promise I'll do it." Tyler impatiently stated, standing up to his feet as if to show that he was ready and willing to take on even the most disgusting dare they could brew up.

This seemed to satisfy Pogue and Reid, in whose world Caleb's word was law. "Okay, umm…" Reid whispered something to Pogue, who made a face and shook his head. Then Pogue whispered something back, which Reid promptly rejected, coming up with something else.

"Hurry it up, guys." Caleb poked, after this exchange had gone on several more times. "You can't keep 'em waiting forever."

"Fine!" Reid squeaked in his own voice, which wasn't deepening yet but instead had starting that damned annoying cracking that he despised because it set him below Caleb. "We've got it. Tyler, you have to….kiss Caleb. Yeah. That's it."

"Hey!" Caleb immediately responded by twitching and looking ruffled. "I already did my dare," He pointed out.

"No, man, that's awesome. I double dare you, Tyler." Pogue put on a shit-eating grin. "You totally have to man. You have to like, make out with him."

"Yeah!" Tyler seemed to second this idea, punching Pogue on the shoulder happily.

"Guys, there is no way…" Tyler squeaked, looking over at Caleb, and putting on a squeamish face. "I mean, seriously, eww." He cringed.

"Nope, you have to. Caleb said so."

Caleb bit his lip and frowned. Damn his final declarations that had a way of screwing him over.

Tyler bit his lip. He slumped his shoulders, fidgeted with the zipper on his jacket. He shuffled his feet a few inches closer to Caleb.

Behind him, Pogue and Reid had started up chanting Tyler's name, at first softly, but not with growing intensity. Tyler cringed, scrunching up his face. A few more steps. Pogue and Tyler got louder, -all though Pogue's was slightly garbled, which meant the supply of marshmallows was steadily getting smaller.-

All the other boys had their Powers. He was the only one…the reason for this camping trip was that Tyler would turn thirteen tomorrow. But it still wasn't enough, getting them, because that was tomorrow. His whole life he'd been behind the rest of the Covenant. Reid had his powers. Pogue had his powers. Caleb had his powers. He felt like the Omega in the group. The flunkie.

If he did this…maybe, just maybe they would respect him a little more. Maybe they would see that he wasn't a little kid anymore. Maybe…maybe they would respect him. Like a right of passage.

Lost in his thoughts he found that he'd drifted around the fire, to stand at Caleb's feet. He knew Pogue and Tyler were still watching, still chanting, but he was only vaguely aware of their presence. The noise had faded into the background.

All that he saw was Caleb. Tall and already broad and strong. He had lips like a girl, Tyler noticed when he dropped to his knees at Caleb's feet.

He drew himself closer, and the light from the fire seemed to dissipate into nothingness. He crawled up Caleb's legs, and finally crouched across his middle, knees pressed into the dirt on either side, and one of his hands pressed into Caleb's chest for balance.

Caleb's lips were moving, were saying something, his eyes were wide and he looked…sort of angry. But Tyler ignored him.

"Please?" He whispered so only Caleb could hear him. "It's the rules. I have to."

Caleb looked deep into Tyler's boyish eyes, which only he could see were beginning to water, and something inside him relented. He couldn't bring himself to disgrace the younger boy. He wanted to prove himself to the others; he was quick enough to grasp that concept, but he felt a deep guilt in the put of his stomach. This simple, light-hearted camping trip had suddenly taken on a darker tone that he wished had never come about.

He felt his tongue forming the words, he felt his hands moving, pulling Tyler's face closer. When their lips were inches apart, he whispered. "Alright."

Relief pooled in Tyler's stomach at Caleb's reluctant surrender. With butterflies banging wildly against his insides, and prickles on his face where Caleb's gentle hands stayed, he leaned forward and closed the gap between them, lips pressing against lips.

He wasn't sure what to do, put just pushing his lips against Caleb's didn't qualify as making out, he knew. He wanted to do this right.

Tyler gently kissed Caleb's plump bottom lip. He nibbled on it uncertainly with his teeth, and Caleb reacted in a way he hadn't expected.

The older boy's hand suddenly snaked around to the back of his neck, and yanked him forward, and suddenly his mouth wasn't just on Caleb's; Caleb's mouth was on his, and his tongue was in his mouth, on his teeth, kissing his lips.

It lasted for a second, maybe two, and then it was over.

Caleb's fingers slipped away. Tyler pulled back, leaped up, and visciously rubbed at his mouth.

On the ground, Caleb did the same, making retching noises in the back of his throat and reaching for the water in the cooler next to him.

"Alright!" Pogue said, delighted that Tyler had gone through with it, and a little grossed out.

"I didn't think you had the balls, Tyler!" Reid slapped him on the back, Tyler nodded, not speaking, not saying a word.

He looked back to Caleb, who was carefully not meeting anyone's eyes, being too busy washing his mouth out.

Tyler laughed and hi-fived Reid, and threatened to make up a dare that would make them wish they'd never been born, but inside he felt…well, he felt different.