13
Getting agood nighttext from Ezra was probably the most romantic thing that had ever happened to Mike in his life, and he was still glowing from it when he pulled up at the sanctuary the next day, as promised.
Mike had texted him to say he was home safe as promised, and they’d done that a lot before Mike had left the first time, but… something about it had beennice. Like Ezra hadn’t abandoned him despite mutual orgasms.
Mike was pretty sure theyweren’tin any kind of romantic relationship, but it’d still been nice. Despite not being clear on what he wanted or what the hell he was thinking, he didn’tregretanything that’d happened yesterday.
Well, he regretted leaving a little. It might’ve been nice to sit down with Ezra and his mom and have dinner. Itdefinitelywould have been better than doing it with his own parents, but Mike hadn’t wanted to have to explain where he’d been. Even if it was fine that he was seeing his friend, even if his parents never really had toknow, he felt like…
Like he wanted to keep this a secret. Just for now.
Or maybe forever.
That was where he was running into a problem. He’d enjoyed coming in Ezra’s hand alot, he just wasn’t sure he was ready to tell the rest of the world that. Not…that, exactly, but even admitting that he was attracted to Ezra seemed like saying too much.
Ezra’s reputation preceded him, for a start. The moment any of their friends found out, they’d have some idea of what had happened between them.
Which was only a tiny part of what made all of this feel so damned complicated.
Wherever Ezra was, it wasn’t with the birds. Mike had seen his car in the lot, so he knew he was aroundsomewhere, but when he got to the aviaries, he was alone.
Well, alone except for Millie.
The scratch on the side of his face had healed quickly, but that didn’t stop him hesitating a moment before approaching her. If he was even remotely interested in getting closer to Ezra, though, he really needed to get along with this bird.
All birds, really, but Ezra seemed to have a soft spot for this one.
“Hey, Millie,” Mike said, tilting his head to get a good look at her. “You and I got off on the wrong foot. I’m Mike. I used to hang out here a lot. Before your time.”
Millie hopped a little closer, turning her head side-to-side to get a good look at him.
Mike liked birds, too. He hadn’t spent any time with one since he’d last been here, but they still made him smile.
He noticed now that one of Millie’s talons was missing on her left foot. Not that it’d stopped her from trying to take a piece out of him, so she probably wasn’t suffering all that much from the loss. Birds of prey were tricky, though. Good hunters, ridiculously smart, but fragile. One thing going wrong could be a disaster for them.
To be fair, one thing going wrong for a human could be a disaster, too.
“I’m sorry I scared you,” Mike continued. “I didn’t mean it. And I knowyoudidn’t hurt me just for the sake of hurting me. So. Friends?”
Millie took a few steps along the branch she was perched on, still sizing Mike up.
“I’ll go in with you if you wanna hold her,” Ezra said behind him. Mike jumped, too busy focusing on Millie to have heard him approach.
“Uh. Sure, I guess?” Mike responded. Hedidlike kestrels, and he wanted to just… hang out with Ezra, too. That was why he was here. Being back had reminded him how happy hanging out at the sanctuary made him, how free he felt when he was among the animals and the people.
Ezra, especially. Ezra had always made him feel like it was okay to be himself, and now he was doing it all over again.
“She doesn’t bite,” Ezra promised, grabbing a heavy gardening glove from a nearby table and handing it to Mike. Ezra didn’t bother with gloves anymore, which Mike wasn’t sure was a good idea, but also wasn’t something he planned on mentioning. Of the two of them, Ezra wasdefinitelythe expert.
Unlike Oscar and Finn, he didn’t have any fancy qualifications. He’d just been a fixture at the sanctuary for so long that he’d become the bird guy, and ended up with an actual job there.
Mike got the feeling he worked a lot of hours for free, too. Ezra loved this job. Always had.
He ducked inside the aviary when Ezra opened the door, moving out of the way as Ezra followed him in. Millie looked at them both, but she didn’t ruffle a feather. Obviously, she was pretty confident around people.
“How long has she been here?” Mike asked.
“Just a couple of weeks,” Ezra responded. “But she was being kept as a pet before that. And fedcat food, because the owners were too squeamish for dead mice. Some people are so goddamn stupid I wonder how they walk and breathe at the same time.”
