smilestopscars | A House in Currant, Maine, Monday

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A House in Currant, Maine, Monday

Anyone who hadn't expected Ezra to hightail it the hell away from Limbo City at his earliest convenience was a fool. Because he had. Immediately as soon as danger had been over, and straight back to Currant.

But not to his house.

Nope, to Ava and Cade's, where he'd made himself at home on Ava's bed until she figured out he wasn't leaving. (Even if he also wasn't saying what was wrong with him. But she knew something was wrong, and that was enough.) He'd slept restlessly, but with his nose buried in Ava's hair. The warmth of her against his chest.

Home wasn't a place, you see.

But he'd returned to his house, now. Scowling at the porch like it had betrayed him, somehow. He was a little more friendly to the fridge, though, now that he was standing in front of it: he was going to positively devour its contents.

Getting kidnapped and stripped of half his self was hungry work, clearly.

[ooc: NFB but open.]

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And so Ezra held her tight and close, and dropped a kiss on the top of her head.

He wasn't at all surprised.

It felt like she hadn't been held since it all had gone down. And sometimes--sometimes you just needed that comfort. The feeling that you mattered.

"Thanks," she murmured. "Worth all three batches of cookies, just for this."

"Sounds a little cheap, dumpling," Ezra murmured. Just to attempt a quip. It was his nature, after all.

His fingertips rubbed a circle against her back.

"Not when you realize cookies are pretty much the best thing I've got to offer," Kathy mumbled.

"Not true."

He was too worn down to go for a more elaborate argument. So he hoped that was enough.

She wasn't going to press him for more anyway. Just hugged him tighter. Hand coming up to cup his cheek, her fingers tracing over the fine bones under his skin.

"You can have 'em anyway," she said. "I'd brought them so I could eat them, too, but...they're yours." She laughed softly. "I'm not really hungry, so it's not even a very good thank you."

Ezra's eyes were closed. For a second, he just focused on her touch.

"Still," he said, just to say something.

Her fingers ghosted over his lips for just a moment, standing in for the kiss he wouldn't accept yet. For a second, she was tempted to throw over good sense and just go for it, but...no. It would all - well, okay, not all but a lot - be because of how crazy and out of sorts she was feeling and that was a shitty reason to force a kiss on someone.

He was her friend, not her toy. And how could she demand he respect her if she acted like she didn't respect him?

Instead, she moved her hand up to his hair and gently scratched, nails light over his scalp. "This okay?" she whispered.

Ezra wondered for a second whether she'd go for it. But then she didn't, and then there was a hand in his hair, and his breath hitched. Then he exhaled a sigh.

He nodded. It was a little... quick, but still only a slight movement. Like he didn't want her to think even for a second that it wasn't okay, but also he didn't want to interfere with the touching by jostling her hand.

She was tempted. God, she was tempted. But if she was going to go against his no, she was going to do it for the right reasons, not because she was feeling scared and lonely and angry and abandoned.

Ez deserved better than that. From everyone, but most definitely from her.

"Good," she murmured, adding a little more pressure to her finger tips. "It's been a shitty weekend. You deserve to feel good after it."

And she just needed this. This moment of connection, of belonging.

Ezra's 'no' was a fragile and fickle thing.

He didn't say anything, just made a noise in the back of his throat that managed to be want and need without being sexual. Or maybe that was just the context. Maybe it was the exact same sound as always.

He tried pulling her closer.

Kathy didn't know that, so she was treating his no like it was made of stone and iron. The last thing she wanted was any more regrets between them.

But she did move when he pulled her, sliding into his lap, legs stretched across his thighs. Her other hand slid into his dark hair, too, joining the first in trying to soothe. That noise had made her breath catch in her throat and color rise in her cheeks, but the rhythm of her fingers remained slow and steady and even.

Edited 2018-08-21 09:28 (UTC)

Ezra was keeping his eyes closed. He could do with his other senses. Touch. Scent. The warmth and weight of her on his legs. Anything and everything that kept him grounded in the here and now, because he had memories he didn't care to revisit right now.

One of his arms was tight around her waist. His other hand rubbed its way up her arm, all the way to her shoulder.

Her hair smelled like citrus and vanilla. The rest of her smelled like cookies. Even the scent of her body lotion was wholesome: something softly floral and unobtrusive.

She was quiet for a little while, gaze focused in word on her own roiling thoughts. Eventually though, she spoke. "I'm not moving to Limbo City."

Ezra was a fox. He smelled all of that, sure, but underneath it all, he smelled her. He was a little lost in it for a moment before her words processed and he came out with a hazy reply of his own.

"... Good."

He wasn't aware that anyone was moving to Limbo City. He couldn't see why anyone would.

He didn't particularly want to think about it, either.

Kathy laughed at that and would thank him not to mention the quiet bitterness beneath the humor. "First person so far with that reaction. Maybe I'm not crazy after all."

In fairness, she hadn't told Raven yet, either. Though part of that was because she hadn't wanted to jerk Raven around while she yo-yoed back and forth between deciding to go or stay.

"Seems like a reasonable enough decision to me."

He was trying not to think about all her words seemed to imply about other people.

"Funny cause I still feel like an asshole for it," Kathy mumbled.

Before realizing that she probably shouldn't be talking about Limbo City at all. Right.

God, she was an asshole.

Kind of. But Ezra would forgive her, provided that she stopped.

He was pulling her closer, down, trying to get her to rest her forehead against his.

He still hadn't opened his eyes.

"You're not."

Her forehead came to rest gently against his and her eyes also slid closed. The intimacy of it felt almost like a kiss, too.

She bit back her instinctive apology, since that would be continuing the conversation and just shook her head slightly.

But she was still scritching so maybe that was... something?

It was more than something. It was cause enough for Ezra to exhale a quiet sigh. Pleased and tired all at once.

He was very aware of how close her lips were to his, now.

That was one of the the things she'd always liked best about Ez. He didn't often make her feel like she had to entertain him. Sometimes he'd want attention, sure, but when they were together, he hadn't made her feel like she needed to talk or be funny to let her stay. More than once he'd let her nap or read or just fuck around on her phone and had seemed perfectly content that way.

She'd almost forgotten that.

So rather than make awkward conversation, she just relaxed a little further. Her breathing fell into rhythm with his as she appreciated the chance to just be.

Like so much of Ezra, even his need to be entertained was largely an act which he could drop as necessary. Right now, he didn't need entertainment. He just needed to breathe.

And feel, and listen.

One oh her hands dropped down to the nape of his neck, lightly running up and down his skin. "Thank you," she said softly. "You're exactly what I wanted today, Ez."

There were so many quips to reply to that with. Some light, some dark.

Ezra said none of them. Instead, he just shifted a little, bumping his nose against hers.

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