Pairing/character: Pogue Parry/Caleb Danvers
Rating: FRM (for the swearing)
Prompt: Loyalty
Kink: friendship/affection developing into more
Word Count: 664

Notes/Warnings: SLASH, swearing (a few uses of the F-Word). Written for the rounds of kink comm on LJ. Reviews are loved, flamers will be laughed at


They each had their own roles. Reid was the Ass, Tyler was the lost puppy, Pogue was the adrenaline junkie, and Caleb was...well, Caleb. The oldest of the four and the unprompted leader of the group. The wise one, the sensible one, the one that kept them all in line. It had been that way since the day that Caleb turned thirteen and the subsequent months after that when the other three caught up.

It wasn't as if they all voted. They didn't list each others' names on a torn out page from an exercise book and then circle Caleb. They didn't draw straws, or play Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. Caleb just took up the mantle of leader and that was that. No questions asked.

At thirteen though, none of this really mattered. As far as they were concerned they had some really cool powers and could do just about anything with them. It went to their heads, they got into trouble, and the first to realize that this wasn't good was Caleb. It all just fell into place from there.

And he was so fucking loyal to them - always so forgiving. No matter what happened, no matter who fucked up or what was said, Caleb would always forgive them. Pogue can't count how many times Reid rubbed Caleb up the wrong way and did something stupid just to spite him. He'd been witness to the fights and the arguments between the two, and some of them were not pretty. At the end of it though, they would always get back on the same page. Nothing was said; no apologies were offered or asked for - it would take an act of God to get Reid to apologies to anyone - but by unspoken agreement, things always turned out right again.

That was one of the qualities that drew Pogue to Caleb. He was forgiving and loyal and caring. No-one had really cared about him before. They were all only children; there were no brothers or sisters to speak of, so all they really had was each other. Pogue's family was almost non-existent. His Dad died not long after his tenth birthday, and his mom went crazy a year later. Pogue was taken in and cared for by Caleb and his mom, which was where this all started. At first they were just friends, like all fourteen or fifteen year old boys. Then, sometime after Pogue's sixteenth birthday, his feelings changed. It wasn't just friends anymore...it wasn't just anything. He wanted Caleb in a way that he hadn't wanted any of the girls he'd been dating since he was thirteen. It scared him at first, not truly believing his feelings and dismissing them outright. But no matter how hard he tried to convince himself that he didn't want Caleb that way, the older boy would do something or say something or even just smile at him, and the conviction would just crumble away like it had never existed.

What was this anyway? To call it love would be an understatement, but to call it lust wouldn't be enough. On one hand, love made Pogue think of hearts and flowers and chocolate and all those sickly sweet things that he couldn't stand. On the other hand, lust suggested that it was just simple fucking, no strings and no feelings attached. Both of those were wrong. So what was right? Maybe there wasn't a word to describe what they had. Maybe this just simply existed and he should stop fucking questioning it.

"Stop thinking."

Pogue smiled slightly, "I've been telling myself that for the past half an hour."

"It's not working."

"Ya think?"

Dry lips pressed against the back of his sweat-damp neck as the arm around his waist squeezed a little tighter. He could feel the smile on his skin.

"I'm not going anywhere. There isn't a word to describe this, and I wouldn't care if there was. So shut the fuck up and go back to sleep."

Pogue took Caleb's advice.