A Room at the Arms Hotel, Saturday Morning

[smilestopscars]

Ezra had had a pleasant NPC encounter or two, yesterday. But in the end, he'd gone to bed alone. Which meant that now he was also waking up alone. And, he was actually pretty okay with that. Especially now that the tug of the pollen had abated. He had a comfortable bed all to himself, and nowhere he really needed to be anytime soon.

So he wasn't in a rush to get up.

Yet.

[ooc: Oooopen for everything that these weekends usually entail!]

Comments

[bouncy_foxkit]

It didn't appear Zeke had inherited her tendency for word-walling. he trembled a little as he felt her join them, but he didn't say anything.

And once he did, all he said was, half in a wet gasp, "I'm sorry."

[smilestopscars]

Ezra's chest felt too tight. Too tight for breathing or speaking or anything, but he forced words out anyway. "Nothing to apologize for, cupcake."

It wasn't his fault that he was hurting.

[spin_kick_snap]

"He's right," Kathy soothed, rubbing her hand over his back. "We understand. This...this is a hard thing you have to deal with."

[bouncy_foxkit]

"It's just --"

It was so much. Too much?

He was at a complete loss for words. That did not happen often.

[smilestopscars]

And here was Ezra, not really knowing what to do except to hold on.

And press his lips against the side of Zeke's head.

[spin_kick_snap]

"It's big," Kathy murmured. "It's so big. And it claws at your guts and your throat. Makes it hard to talk or think or do anything but curl up."

This, at least, she knew. Too well, really.

She was hugging them - both of them - so tight.

[bouncy_foxkit]

"Mom," Zeke mumbled. "Don't."

He'd heard all of that so many times already, before. Here, it didn't come with the underlying guilt of knowing how much she was hurting too, but --

It still hurt, in its own way.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Okay," Kathy said. "Sorry."

And shut up, going back to quietly hugging.

[smilestopscars]

"I've already done this," Zeke said. Though it was barely audible, again. Words getting lost somewhere against Ezra's collarbone.

"We know," Ezra replied, almost as quietly.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy just rubbed his back in slow-moving circles.

Physical comfort was usually better anyway, when it came to these two.

[smilestopscars]

She wasn't wrong.

"I don't think there's anything we can say," Ezra noted quietly, after a moment. "So I'm just going to say one thing."

And he said, very very quietly. "I'm sorry." He wasn't sure Kathy could hear it, but it wasn't for her, anyway. Zeke's ears would pick it up.

And they did.

Zeke let out an uneven breath, his shoulders drooping some as a little bit of tension went out of them.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy eased back slightly, not wanting to crowd as Zeke seemed to relax just a hair. Her hands cupped her elbows, lips pressed together as a reminder to stay quiet. She was just going to...go get some water from the bathroom and a cool washcloth. Give them a few minutes alone, plus Zeke was going to need that to stop a headache. Probably?

She hoped that Zeke's mom was better at...well, pretty much all of this.