24
“This whole making coffee in your underwear thing really suits you,” Ezra smiled as he watched Mike flick the coffee pot on, sitting back in his chair.
“Yeah, well, don’t expect thiseverymorning,” Mike responded, turning to face him. Ezra didn’t even try to hide his appreciative once-over, too thrilled tohaveMike to care about him knowing it.
Besides, they were okay now. Mike would stick around, one way or another. They hadn’t talked details, but that didn’t seem like the kind of thing to start on the day after Christmas.
Ezra’s bed was big enough for two, for the time being, and his room was far enough from his mom’s that they’d be fine to share it.
Besides, she still hadn’t gotten home yet. Ezra had expected her to sneak in early this morning, but it was just after ten o’clock now and they still had the house to themselves.
“Way too late,” Ezra said, grinning. “You’ve set a standard now.”
Mike smiled back at him, obviously nottoobothered by that idea.
The toaster popped, interrupting whatever Mike had just drawn breath to say. He dutifully picked the toast out, hissing as it burned his fingers and waving them to cool them off.
It was the perfect moment of domestic bliss, to Ezra’s mind. The cozy future he used to daydream about. Just him and Mike, sharing a life. Best friends and lovers.
After everything, it really seemed like it was going tohappen.
Mike brought the toast over, leaving it up to Ezra to add whatever he wanted to it. They’d known each other for years, but they still had these little things to learn. The thought of doing that, together, made Ezra’s heart flutter.
“Still take it without cream?” Mike asked, waving the coffee pot in Ezra’s general direction.
“Yeah,” Ezra responded, getting to work on spreading butter and honey on his toast. It was sweet that Mike had remembered.
He could have gotten used to this. Hewantedto get used to this.
The thought that he could now was incredible.
Ezra couldn’t stop grinning at Mike as he sat down, still in his underwear, and started in on his own breakfast. No amount of knowing he looked like an idiot could have made him stop, could have convinced him not to stare as much as he was allowed.
He was so goddamnhappyhe could have burst.
The front door opening snapped him out of his thoughts about Mike, drawing all his attention to his mom. She strode into the kitchen, went straight to the coffee pot, and barely acknowledged that either MikeorEzra were sitting at the table. Ezra wasn’t even sure she’dnoticed.
She also looked a little hungover, so that probably explained it. Ezra smiled into his coffee, watching his mom pour herself a cup that was three-quarters cream and then drink the whole thing in several long swallows.
Mike glanced at him, clearly concerned, but Ezra only shrugged. He was used to this.
His mind went briefly to the unmissable hickey on his neck, but he figured his mom wasn’t in a position to say anything about it. Not when she was stumbling into the house in the middle of the morning after spending all night with her new girlfriend.
“I’m so glad you two boys finally got your act together,” Ezra’s mom spoke up, pouring herself a second mug of coffee with a more conservative amount of cream this time. “I’ve been waiting for this day since the first time Ezra came home and told me all about the new boy volunteering at the sanctuary.”
“Mom,” Ezra said, horrified.
At almost the same moment, Mike asked, “really?”
“Really,” his mom responded, completely ignoring Ezra’s objection. “You should have seen the way his eyes lit up when he talked about you. And he couldnotstop talking about you. This was before he came out to me, but I knew right away.”
Ezra shifted his weight. “Ididn’t even know then,” he said. “I was just… excited to make a friend.”
“Well, for the record… I couldn’t stop talking about you, either,” Mike confessed shyly. “I was pretty sure I was just excited to make a friend, too. And I spent so much time looking up stuff about birds so you’d like me.”
Ezra grinned at that, warmth coiling around his heart. He hadn’t known that. “I thought you were just a nerd about them like me,” he said.
“Not until I met you,” Mike said. “I guess, looking back, I was trying to impress you. I wanted you to like me sobadly.”
