fluff out of context #2
“It’s just for a week,” Casey said, cradling a scrawny, orange creature in her arms like she was holding a human infant (which wasn’t too far off, because the thing had been screaming since she left the shelter).
Alex gave the cat a once-over. It looked like it had recently fought God, lost, and now lived with the consequences. Its fur stuck out at odd angles, it was missing a small chunk of one ear, and it was currently trying to climb into Casey’s jacket.
“She looks like she eats drywall,” Alex said.
“She’s perfect,” Casey cooed, stroking the cat’s crooked whiskers. “Her name’s Pickles.”
“Of course it is,” Alex sighed. “One week.”
Casey’s face lit up. “I love you so much.”
“One. Week,” Alex repeated, pointing.
“Totally.”
“No exceptions.”
“Absolutely.”
“She’s not sleeping in the bed.”
spend 3 whole dabloons on cameo
so many people on this app are way too casual about being friends with diane neal
i’ll probably edit and post this some time tomorrow
maybe
it’s only 10k words but i cried writing
hey gorjuses
it’s no secret that i project my own personal problems into my writing. would yall be down to read a calex fic where one of them has cancer?
it’s how i’m coping while i wait for the results on my own tumor <33
you are my sunshine abbreviates to yams and i think that is hilarious.
alex being avoidant and casey being anxious is SO real
CALEX headcanons — the series
part 1: running back to each other after breaking up and cursing each other out of their own lives
they have different attachment styles. toxic but they persevered long enough to last two years.
alex being an avoidant attachment and casey being an anxious attachment. both obtained from their own past — unhealed trauma that they carried with them.
they both healed each other but overtime, alex would catch herself relapsing and casey would always be there to catch her and coax her.
alex called the break up and casey cursed her out of her life, repeatedly yelling the sentences “i wish i never met you!” and “i hope you end up alone forever!”
alex spent her days regretting what she had done. drowning herself in work, purposely forgetting to eat, abandoning her feelings, and drinking and crying herself to sleep.
casey spent her days crying over alex. she would occasionally stare at her phone blankly hoping that maybe, just maybe, alex would call and apologize to her.
one night, alex, drunk, called casey. of course, casey picked up. she was waiting—longing for alexandra’s return.
“we we’re doing so well and i messed us up. i’m sorry my love. i really tried. i know you won’t forgive me. so, if not in this life, then maybe in the next one. i’ll be the best you’ll ever get”
sniffling, casey replied with a raspy voice. “why not now? why not in this lifetime, lex?”
there was no response from alex, only soft whimpers that could be heard from the other line. so, without any hesitation, casey grabbed her keys and rushed to their old apartment.
there, she found a cried-out alexandra. weeping, nursing a beer bottle. face red, eyes puffy, and voice raspy. “i don’t deserve you” she cried out as she saw casey’s figure.
casey sighs and walks over to her, sitting by alex’s side. “you’re all i ever wanted, you know?”
“but i’m shitty”
“so what? we all are. except you’re nice to me and you love me — deeply, endlessly.”
“if anything, we deserve each other. we’ll make it work. we already did. we can do it again”
alex, rubs her nose, smiling as she lays her head on casey’s shoulder. “i love you and i love that we’re in love”
pwp or like… a fic with actual effort…
when i was fifteen, i rode my bike home from work and stopped at a pumpkin patch. it was one of those shitty seasonal pop-ups. i had stopped by before my shift to see the animals, and one rabbit had caught my eye. she was bigger, yet more timid. she had this beautiful black fur with little grey spots around her face.
it was almost 37 degrees out and they were just in a pen on the pavement with no water.
i knelt by it and reached my hand in to feel the one i found earlier. nothing. i tried to shake her awake but i was too late. she was cold and stiff, even in the heat.
i ran for the owner and showed her what I’d found. she wasn’t sympathetic or remorseful, there wasn’t an ounce of guilt in her expression. she grabbed the rabbit by the hind legs and threw her in the dumpster behind the concessions.
her body was so stiff it kept its form the whole time. so i took her. and i held her in my arms. it was difficult to balance my bike while holding her so tight but i took her to the park and i dug her a little grave.
i still see her. still feel the dirt under my nails. maybe if i had come sooner.
so i dyed my eyebrows after getting humbled at the dmv and i’ve only just now, two days later, realised they’re completely different shades
calex shipper because cabenson hurts too bad
added a new part !!
calex !!
first time posting a fic on here YIKES
i was going to make this longer but i got through one part and got bored
updated!!
inspired by Maroon by Taylor Swift
sue me
The first rays of pale sunlight seeped through the windows of Alex Cabot’s loft, illuminating the incense ash that sprinkled across the oak floor.
Casey Novak, with her rumpled hair and wine-flushed cheeks, tucked her legs beneath her and knelt beside the record stand. She gently brushed the sandalwood from cardboard jackets: Rumors, Tusk, Mirage. Faint creases on sleeve corners told their own quiet stories of late‑night needle drops long before she’d moved in, long before Alex had made space for another toothbrush beside hers.
From across the rug, Alex tipped the soiled incense holder over the small trash bin, grimacing as the ash slid from the ceramic in a hush of gray. Her borrowed Harvard Law crewneck hung just past her thighs; every time she shifted her weight, Casey’s gaze caught on the swing of fabric, the easy way Alex occupied her own home—and now, somehow, Casey’s too.
They’d meant to review witness statements and crash early. Instead, Alex had put Fleetwood Mac on the turntable, and Casey cracked open some cheap‑ass screw‑top rosé. Everything after Blue Letter dissolved into laughter—burned popcorn, a debate over hearsay exceptions, Casey’s terrible impression of Judge Petrovsky that made Alex choke on wine and clutch her ribs.
Steam drifted from a single mug on the coffee table—the blonde’s jasmine tea. Casey had already stolen a sip, her lipstick print glowing a faint maroon on the rim beside Alex’s own. She lounged back against the couch, idly brushing her toes against the loose hem of Alex’s sweater, a slow, playful sweep that made the burgundy fabric sway and Alex glance down with a half-smirk.
“How’d we end up on the floor, anyway?”
Alex asked, voice still rough with sleep. Casey, knees drawn up and heels resting in Alex’s lap, tugged her hair down from its haphazard bun and let it encompass her shoulders. “Easy culprit,” she said, a lazy grin tugging at her mouth. “Your old roommate’s bargain-bin wine demolished our sense of time management.
Alex’s laugh was a quick, unguarded burst, sharp and melodic, filling the loft with the kind of warmth that made everything feel brighter. The sound bounced off the brick walls, then sank into Casey’s chest, stirring something she hadn’t realized had settled there. It was a sound she didn’t know she’d need this much. One she’d come to crave more than anything. Three weeks had passed since Casey moved in. Boxes were still haphazardly stacked in corners, a lone lamp perched on the dresser with no shade. But mornings like this, with Alex beside her, had a way of making everything feel rooted in place, as though they'd shared this space for years, not just weeks.
A faint draft slipped in from the fire escape. Smoke from the incense curled and spiraled, pale and gentle against the glass, wrapping the room in its quiet calm. For a few moments, they simply listened. The soft popping of vinyl static, the ticking radiator, the steady, almost shy rhythm of two heartbeats learning the same tempo. Outside, Manhattan kept its frantic pulse, taxis groaning across the wet pavement, but from up here, the noise felt decades away.
Alex reached for the kettle, poured a second mug, and handed it over. Their fingers grazed and Casey’s pulse thrummed, not with urgency but with a grounded certainty that surprised her.
“So,” Alex said, voice soft enough that it nearly blended with the crackle of the record, “when we finally unpack those boxes, where do you want your books?”
Casey leaned her head on Alex’s shoulder. “Somewhere close. I’m tired of looking for things I’ve already found.”
Outside the window, snow began to fall, the first flake landing on the wrought‑iron rail like a single note on an open staff. Inside, two women sat amid incense ash and album sleeves, finishing lukewarm tea and memorizing a silence that felt, for once, like home.
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
Two nights later, winter hovered indecisively above the city, unable to choose between sleet and snow. The courthouse steps were slick and gleaming when they stepped off the curb, breath visible in the cold.
“You didn’t even call,” Casey said, not looking at her. Her heels clicked down the sidewalk.
Alex tried to catch her pace. “I was buried in witness prep, Casey. I wasn’t ignoring you.”
“You don’t even have to ignore me,” Casey shot back, then stopped, folding her arms tight across her chest. Her shirt was damp, her curls frizzing at the edges, and her voice came out low. “You just forget.”
The words landed like a slap. Casey wasn’t raising her voice, but that calm, steady tone was worse. Alex opened her mouth, closed it again. They stood in the glow of a streetlamp, faces half in shadow.
“I didn’t forget,” Alex finally said. “I just… lost track of time.”
“You always do.” Casey’s voice broke, just a little. “And I wait. And I forgive it. And I keep showing up.” She was calm, but underneath her voice was that quiet, brittle kind of sadness that never announced itself until it was already settling in.
Alex ducked into a bodega, the kind with flickering lights and a handwritten sign for oranges out front, without a word. When she came back, she had a bottle of wine (actual cork, not screw-top) cradled in her hands. “Come on,” she said. “Walk with me?”
Casey hesitated. Then, she stepped out of her heels and scooped them up by the straps. “Only if you promise not to talk about depositions.”
“I solemnly swear,” Alex said, and Casey gave her a tiny smile.
They walked under a dull streetlamp that made everything look a little more golden. Casey tipped her head back and gave a spin on the wet sidewalk, hair flying. “Tell me again why we don’t just quit and move to Barcelona.”
Alex laughed, startled and bright. “You don’t speak Spanish.”
“You do,” Casey teased, and twirled again, before handing the bottle back over. “Problem solved.”
A cab tore past, catching a puddle, Alex jolted to protect the wine, but the bottle tilted just enough to splash a crimson streak across Casey’s white blouse.
“Oh my god,” Casey gasped.
“Oh my god,” Alex echoed, horrified. “Casey, I am so sorry—”
“You spilled Rioja on the one thing in my wardrobe that didn’t already look like a crime scene,” Casey said dramatically, but her grin was spreading.
“I’ll replace it.”
“You can’t replace white-collar ugly,” Casey said, eyes dancing.
And then she started laughing. Real, unguarded, throw-your-head-back laughing. It bubbled out of her so easily that Alex couldn’t help joining in, half-doubled over with relief.
“I choose you,” Alex said between gasps, holding the wine like it was sacred. “Always. Even when I’m an idiot.”
“Especially when you’re an idiot,” Casey said, still breathless. “You’re kind of my favorite idiot.”
Then Alex tugged her closer, gingerly, because the wine bottle was still open, and Casey dropped her shoes and wrapped both arms around her neck. They swayed there, in the middle of the sidewalk, tipsy on nothing but each other.
No music. Just the soft rhythm of laughter, the spill of streetlight, and the way the world seemed briefly, wonderfully, theirs.