Ezra called his mom early the next morning, as soon as Holly had left his room. He was officially done with bedrest and had moved onto “taking it easy.” Holly had been careful, but Ezra had been able to participate a little more than anyone had let him the last few days.

“Hello dear,” she cooed into the phone.

Ezra winced. He knew that tone.

“So, a lovely young man moved in across the way from me a few months ago. He’s very handsome. And he’s gay.”

Ezra sighed. At least they had moved on from nice young women. That had at least changed in the last decade. It used to be ‘my coworker’s mother’s friend’s daughter is such a lovely young woman’.

“Mom,” he said softly, cutting off the long list of the man’s assets and abilities that was sure to come. “I’m married. Happily.”

“Honey, you’re just confused. The fae… They’re lovely to look at, but they aren’t human, dear. In a few months you’ll be regretting this whole marriage thing.”

“Mom!”

“What? I’m just being honest with you honey.”

Ezra stifled a groan and dropped his head onto the pillow.

“Honey, you aren’t in a good place right now. This whole thing with Rick…” She cleared her throat. “Well, I’m glad you left him although I wish you had done it earlier. But it’s got you so confused. Just because they’re better than Rick doesn’t mean they’re good.”

Ezra winced. “Mom-“

“Honey, they’re fae. I understand you think they’re good people and maybe they aren’t as bad as the rest but they’re deceptive as an entire race. I want you to be happy.”

“Mom, they’re good people. Two- two of my husbands are human. They’ve been here a lot longer than me and they’re still happy.”

“Hmph. Fine,” she said.

Ezra blinked at the phone. “What?”

“I said, fine. I’ll just have to meet them. I’ve already booked a flight to the Raleigh border. I’ll hope across and meet them! It will be wonderful. I’ll get to see you and make sure they’re treating you right.”

Ezra resisted the urge to snort. So she hadn’t suddenly changed her mind; just changed tactics. “Mom-“

“I’ll be out there tomorrow, across by eleven am. I can get a cab from the border and check into a motel.”

“Mom-“

“Honey, I’m coming to visit you now. It has been far too long since I saw you!”

Ezra pulled the phone away from his ear and covered the mouthpiece so he could groan. “I could just not tell you my address,” he pointed out.

“Darling, I can find your address on the internet.”

“No, you can’t,” he muttered rebelliously.

“Everything is public now, dear.”

“Mom, I haven’t been married that long. Certainly not long enough to be on the internet.”

She humphed and there was the very faint sound of a computer starting up.

Ezra sighed and waited silently as it booted up and then as she got on the internet.

“Ezra Fidel- oh good, you kept my name.”

“Of course I did.”

“Married into the Zyniph family.” She then rattled off the full address, full fifteen digit zip code and all. “See, easy as pie.”

Ezra stared blankly ahead. God, that was fast. Probably another side effect of the investigation.

“Now, I’ll be there tomorrow. We can all go out to dinner! My treat.”

Ezra resisted the urge to slam his head against the headboard. “I’ll pick you up,” he said instead. “Eleven right?”

“Yes, dear. I’m so excited to see you!”

Ezra glared at the ceiling. “Me too, Mom,” he said instead.

She chattered on a bit, sneaking in more than one comment about the fae. Ezra grunted answers and was grateful when she finally hung up.

He sighed and snapped the phone shut, pocketing it. He stood slowly, more concerned with the soreness of his ass than his thighs, before heading downstairs, moving slowly.

Rylan passed him running up on the stairs. “Two weeks,” he said predatorily, slapping Ezra’s ass as he went by.

Ezra flushed and continued his slow way down. He really needed to learn not to proposition crazy people. Not that Rylan was really that bad.

He made his way to the kitchen, guessing it was his best bet to find someone not in so much of a hurry. Sure enough, Leo and Giovanni were in there, Leo fiddling with the coffeemaker and Giovanni frying bacon.

Ezra wrinkled his nose at the smell but didn’t stop until he was in the room. He cleared his throat.

Leo glanced up and grinned widely, bounding across the room. He stopped just short of crashing into Ezra and hugged him gently, placing a much more enthusiastic kiss on his mouth. “Hiya! You’re up.”
Ezra smiled at him, unable to stay miffed in the face of Leo’s infectious cheerfulness. “I am,” he agreed. He kissed Leo on the cheek and waved at Giovanni.

The seer colored slightly but waved back with an embarrassed smile before hurriedly turning back to the stove.

Ezra turned his attention back to the phookah and took the seat Leo pulled out for him. He handed him back the cellphone.

“How’d it go?”

Groaning, Ezra buried his face in his hands. “She’s coming out to visit.”

“What?”

Ezra peeked out from behind his fingers, to find he had Giovanni’s attention again. “She’s coming out to visit. Tomorrow. Already booked a flight before I called her and everything,” he grumbled. “She wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

Leo snickered. “Sorry, Streaks.”

Ezra sighed. “Me too.”

“Hey, this just means we’re going to get the meet the parents phase out of the-“

A man and a woman came bustling into the room. Ezra stared at them. They were both human and Ezra was pretty sure he had never seen them.

Leo’s relaxed smile became a little forced. He cleared his throat. “We’ll get it out of the way,” he finished with forced cheer. “Ezra, this is Jason Maclevee and Sarah Jordan. They’re two of the people who are searching the house.”

The man nodded at him. The woman sent him a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “You haven’t met his parents yet?”

Ezra stared at her for a moment and then answered over Leo’s attempt at an explanation. “My mom’s prejudiced against the fae and really liked my abusive ex. I wanted to put it off,” he said, trying to be polite. He stood and crossed the room to where Giovanni was staring very hard down at the frying pan of bacon.

“I can finish this,” he murmured to the seer. “If you want to leave. Leo’ll bring some up to you, I’m sure.”

Giovanni nodded with relief and relinquished the spatula. “Thank you,” he murmured. He stood on his tiptoes and placed a very light peck on his cheek.

Leo did the same to him and watched him with ill-disguised gloom as he left the room. He cleared his throat again and turned back to the two HFRC employees. “Would you like coffee?” he asked with stilted politeness.

Jason shook his head but Sarah nodded. “I’ll take some, if it’s not a problem.”

Jason disappeared. Sarah lingered, looking between Ezra and Leo. Ezra ignored her as best he could, but when Leo pressed himself against his side, he wrapped his arm around the phookah’s waist and guided his head to rest against his shoulder. “You’re very tense,” he murmured.

Leo sighed against his neck and stroked his injured ribs. “They’ve been here for days,” he murmured, almost too softly for Ezra to hear. “Constantly underfoot and asking questions about everything. It’s nerve racking.”

Ezra sighed and kissed his temple. “It’ll be okay,” he promised softly. He flipped the bacon and took note of the tense set of Leo’s shoulder and the way his lips pressed so tightly together. He pursed his lips at the bacon. “Was this all for you and Giovanni?” he asked with a more normal tone.

Leo shrugged sharply. “And whoever else wandered in,” he said sullenly.

Ezra sighed and tapped Leo’s shoulder, flipping the most done pieces onto a waiting paper plate. “Why don’t you go bring these up to Giovanni,” he said, pressing the paper plate into Leo’s hands. “Maybe stay up there for awhile and relax?”

Leo sighed and kissed his cheek. “Living room. They’re starting to search upstairs today. Hopefully they’ll finish today,” he muttered.

“Doubtful,” Sarah said.

She shrugged when they both looked at her. “We need to very thorough or the HFRC will just send another trio to do it again. This is a very large house.”

Leo sighed and walked out of the room, moving stiffly, like he was trying his hardest not to stomp.

Ezra sighed and poked at the remaining pieces of bacon before moving to the coffee machine. He filled two mugs. “Cream, sugar?” he asked.

Sarah shrugged. “Both please.”

Ezra got out the cream container and dug around in the cabinets until he found a small bowl he could use for sugar. He dumped some out of the bag and added a tiny spoon before setting both on the table.

Sarah’s eyebrow cocked but she just took it and added a generous amount of cream and sugar. “Thank you.”

Ezra nodded and took a sip of his own coffee which he left black. With as many years of barista experience as he had, adding things to coffee had lost all its shine. He sighed and poked at the bacon again before starting in on the inane chatter he had learned in his host of service jobs. He went through the usual, asking about her day, if she had family, if she enjoyed her job. It was easy and casual and slowly Sarah’s pursed lips relaxed and even stretched into a small smile when talking about her little girl.

“Do you want kids?”

Ezra started and then tried to cover it with a shrug. That was the first time Sarah had done anything but answer the questions Ezra had asked. And it was not a question Ezra had been expecting.

He laughed softly, trying not to sound as nervous as he was. “It’s not- No, not really. I mean, it’s not really possible. All of us are male, and I don’t think any of us are the variety of faerie that can carry children.”

“You’re not sure?”

“It hasn’t come up. Children aren’t really something I’m interested in so I haven’t brought it up at all. I-“ He paused and cleared his throat. “I talked about it with me ex-husband for awhile but that didn’t really work out.”

“Why not?’

Ezra turned to stare at her. “Because he started hitting me,” he said blankly.

“Did he really?” she said in a light tone, sounding more like she was discussing the weather.

Ezra continued to stare for a moment longer before jerking up the hem of his t-shirt. He pulled it up and bunched it under his armpits, showing off the black and blue ribs. The healing had faded some of them but his chest and stomach was a mess of bruises still in a rainbow of colors. He held it up as Sarah’s eyes widened, until all the blood from her face had drained. “Yes,” he muttered before yanking down his shirt.

He shoveled the bacon onto a plate and stormed out, not even considering being polite. Goddamn, but he really couldn’t handle being doubted on this. For years and years, he had denied the abuse to everyone, including himself. The doubt… Other people questioning it had convinced him for awhile that no, it really wasn’t that bad. He didn’t want to go back to that. He didn’t want to go crawling back to Rick. Rick had been good for him for such a short period of time. Even since… he had been chasing a dream.

He sighed and wandered into the living room to find several of the men collected. Leo had Giovanni cradled against his side per usual, but he smiled at Ezra and stretched out his other arm. Ezra smiled slightly and dropped down next to him, laying his head on his shoulder and handing over the bacon.

Rylan grinned wolfishly at him and snatched up a piece.

Ezra smiled at him and settled in before belatedly realizing he had left his coffee sitting in the kitchen. He hesitated for a long moment, thinking of going back there but he really didn’t want to see Sarah again. He sighed and stayed curled against Leo. He could get it later.

Leo finally nudged him after all the other men except for Giovanni collected in the living room had departed. “Would you like to go out today?” Leo asked softly.

Ezra shuddered before he could stop it. He pressed himself closer to Leo’s side and shook his head. “No,” he said softly. Time outside was time where he could run into Rick. Or be confronted by him. Rick had never come inside; he had always been waiting for Ezra.

“I-“ he muttered, searching for a reason. “My ribs still hurt,” he muttered, knowing even as he said it that it was weak; they really didn’t hurt much at all and he had certainly never let injuries like this stop him before.

Guilt spiked sharply when Leo’s face contorted in concern. “Are you okay? Ginger said you should be better by now!”

“I- I’m fine, just sore.” It wouldn’t hold for long, especially because he had to go out tomorrow to pick up his mom, but for the day? Maybe he could relax just for one more day.

He kissed Leo’s temple. “But you should go out if you want to. I’ll probably just laze around, sleep, rest. Do my best to relax.”

Leo still looked concerned. “We’ll stay with you. Maybe we can watch more Mad Men. You like Joan right?”

Ezra nodded. “Yeah, she’s awesome. Go upstairs and get the videos,” he ordered, poking Leo’s side. “Do you want anything?”

“Chocolate milk,” Leo said with a grin. “If that’s okay,” he asked, suddenly looking concerned again.
Ezra smiled at him. “I’m fine. I just want to laze around one more day to make sure.”

Leo’s smile brightened and he patted Ezra’s shoulder. “I’m glad you’re taking care of yourself.”

Ezra shot a questioning look at Giovanni.

“T-Tea?” the empath stuttered. “I- If it’s not too much trouble.”

Ezra smiled and shook his head. “Not at all.” He stood slowly, Leo catching his elbow and giving him a moment of unneeded, but appreciated, support.

Giovanni stood and followed Leo, catching the sleeve of his shirt and linking their arms. Leo readjusted his gait automatically, matching Giovanni’s slightly slower pace.

Ezra smiled wistfully at their retreating backs. They were adorable together.

He stifled his smile and headed back to the kitchen. It had been awhile. Sarah should be gone.

But she wasn’t. She was over the sink, washing out her cup. Ezra frowned but she had already started to turn, alerted by his not particularly stealthy shuffle. Ezra quickly rearranged his face into a smile- albeit a forced one.

She regarded him warily for several seconds before pulling an apologetic face. “Sorry,” she muttered.

“S’okay,” he muttered back.

She sighed. “So you were really kidnapped by your ex husband?”

He nodded, going for the cup of coffee he had left sitting. “Yeah.” He took a sip, grimacing slightly. It had gone cold. He shoved it into the microwave and hit the reheat button.

“Why aren’t you pressing charges?”

Ezra scowled at the machine as it whirred and spun the mug in a slow circle. He shrugged. “I’m fine. It’s hard to prove when there wasn’t a ransom note or proof or a struggle.”

“But there are witnesses, right? Your husband, Malachi, he went and got you back, right?”

“Right,” Ezra muttered. That was the official story. Holly had mentioned that but he hadn’t been paying much attention. It made sense though. They couldn’t say the men had all come and got him; it wasn’t legal for most of them to cross the border. That would be an issue for the HFRC.

“Did you want to come back here?”

“Yes,” Ezra snapped. “I did not want to stay with my fucking psycho ex!”

“Well, yeah, I figured,” she soothed. “I meant did you want to come back here? I’ve gotten initial reports. You’re marriage here hasn’t been all rainbows and unicorns.”

Ezra resisted the urge to scowl and snap at her. He loosened his fingers from their grip on the counter and turned towards her, trying to regain a measure of calm. “Maybe not rainbows and unicorns  but defnitiely sunshine and daisies.”

She snorted and quickly brought the mug up to cover her grin. “You like it here then?” At his nod, she continued. “I suppose you would. Married to six guys…” She shook her head with a sigh. “Your own personal harem. Every girl’s- and gay guy’s,” she added with a shrewd glance at him. “-Dream.”

Ezra let out a surprised snicker and quickly covered it. “It doesn’t really work that way.” It may be a thing he had wished for in the past- A harem sounded nice sometimes; people to have sex with but no emotional ties- but these days… this was better. He said that last part out loud.

“Seriously?”

Ezra shrugged.

“Can I ask you a question?”

Ezra tensed. “What?” he asked warily.

“Your neighbors saw one of your husbands… choke you. In what looked like a heated exchange.”

“Oh that,” Ezra said, waving his hand dismissively. He had thought about this. He had wanted to find a way to bring it up, but hadn’t been sure how. “Rylan has a lot of kinks.”

One of Sarah’s eyebrows quirked upwards but she grinned. “Really? What is that called? Like auto-erotic asphyxiation, right?”

“That’s when you choke yourself. I think it might just be erotic asphyxiation.”

“Really? You’re into that?”

Ezra shrugged. “I was willing to try it at least.”

“In public?”

“That’s a kink too,” Ezra pointed out.

She snorted. “Hot.” She was grinning again, a light flush on her cheeks.

Ezra smiled tentatively at her.

“But your ex husband… I don’t understand how you can keep going back to him.”

Ezra winced and turned back to the microwave, staring at the numbers slowly ticking down. “He…” He shoved a hand through his hair, roughly tugging the strands. “I loved him, years ago,” he muttered. “It was hard to leave him. I- I never quite managed  to stay away. In a way…” The microwave beeped and he yanked open the door and slammed it shut again after grabbing the mug with more force than was strictly necessarily. “I’m kind of glad he kidnapped me. While sober. It… I don’t think I could go back to him now. It was…. A wake up call. Closure. I’ve needed closure for awhile.”

He wrapped a hand cautiously around the coffee mug and picked it up, turning back to Sarah. She was looking down into her empty mug, looking thoughtful.

“More coffee?”

She nodded quickly and he refilled her mug, topping off his own.

“I’m sorry, I just came in here to grab a few drinks…”

She nodded quickly and stood. “I should get back to work. Thanks for the coffee.”

He nodded and she left the room, bringing her coffee with her. Ezra turned towards gathering the drinks, a satisfied smile on his lips.

--

Two thirds through season one, Malachi sauntered into the room, clad only in a pair of low-hanging sweatpants, damp from a recent shower, with a towel thrown over his shoulders.

Ezra averted his eyes as soon as he realized he was staring. It wasn’t very fast.

But Malachi just dropped down next to him and yawned loudly, nudging Giovanni’s foot with his own. The pale seer turned to smile at him.

Ezra tried to ignore the interactions going on in front of him and act natural. It was hard when all he wanted to was climb onto Malachi’s lap and kiss him senseless.

Leo didn’t seem to have the same problem as he giggled at something on the screen and shouted, “Oh, snap!”

Ezra focused for a moment to find Joan and Peggy just separating. Damn, they were his favorite.

Leo glanced up at Ezra and giggled from where he was sprawled on Gio and Ezra’s lap. “’Lachi, I think you’re distracting Streaks, here,” he said, reaching up to tug on a strand of hair.

Ezra scowled at him through his embarrassment and flicked his hair over his shoulder, out of reach.

That just made Leo laugh loudly. “Are you blushing?”

His scowl deepened. “No.”

Leo reached up to poke his cheek. “Liar, liar, pants on fire.”

“Shut up, Bugs.”

Leo pulled a face at him, temporarily distracted. “Bugs?”

“Bugs Bunny,” Malachi supplied. “And it’s cool,” he drawled, leaning back and crossing his legs on the table. “I know I’m a hottie.”

Ezra grinned, cheeks still a little warm and glanced up at him. “Modest too.” He noted the slight flush on his cheeks, and the pleased, slightly smug smile, as well.

“Definitely,” he agreed easily, matching Ezra’s grin. “Where’s Ry?”

“Work,” Leo answered.

“Holly?”

“Same.”

“Dimitri?”

“Him too.”

Giovanni spoke up softly. “I don’t think they wanted to be here why the house was being searched.”

Malachi scowled, levity forgotten “It is kind of a pain,” he muttered. “Want to go out?”

“I suggested it,” Leo said with a hefty sigh. “But Ezra wants to spend another day relaxing.”

Malachi shot him a concerned look that Ezra missed, his eyes firmly back on the screen so he wouldn’t embarrass himself more. But Malachi nudged his shoulder and then cupped his chin to turn his head.

He looked at him searchingly. “You okay?”

Ezra’s blush flared bright again and he ducked, pulling his chin from Malachi’s grasp. “Fine,” he muttered. “I just want to spend another day here before going out.”

“You don’t really seem like the homebody type.”

Ezra sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I know, I know. I like going out. Just…” I’m scared of running into Rick. “Not all the time,” he said instead. He grinned slightly, remembering his old, dumb daydreams. “For awhile, I toyed with the idea of being a house-husband.” Rick had never been rich enough for Ezra not to need to work when they were happy together though, and after, Ezra needed to make rent on his own. “You know, the whole cooking, cleaning shtick during the day and then sex over the dinner table the moment my husband got home.” His smile faded. Actually, for awhile, he had done that, when Rick had just started using regularly. He had really liked it. For a few weeks. Then the abuse had gotten worse. He hadn’t thought of that in awhile though. He shook his head. “I think I would get bored after awhile though.”

Leo was gaping up at him and yanked him down for a enthusiastic kiss. “I wouldn’t,” he declared breathlessly, as soon as he let Ezra go.

Ezra smiled shyly at him.

“You dressed like that,” he waved at the screen, where Betty, the housewife, was in view, in a knee length dress.

“What is with you and cross-dressing?”

Leo continued on, blithely ignoring him. “Or in a little apron and nothing else.”

Ezra rolled his eyes. “Oh my god, you go straight to the porn scenarios, don’t you?”

“Most of us don’t rock the suits, but Dimitri does on a regular basis and Rylan does sometimes. That would be so hot.”

Ezra rolled his eyes and let out an annoyed groan. “Seriously, porn scenarios. Besides, I’m pretty sure I would get bored eventually.”

Leo grinned up at him. “Barefoot in the kitchen? And pr-”

Ezra shoved him off him. “Uh-uh. No pregnancies. Ever.”

Leo laughed from the floor, the sound muffled by the carpet. “It would be such a good look on you,” he said, choking on laughter.

Ezra pulled a horrified face. “Never ever in a million years. Ever.”

Giovanni and Malachi had started snickering as well.

Leo finally patted him on the arm. “I was just kidding,” he assured him. “But seriously, house husband?”

Ezra sighed and shrugged. “Look, all I’ve done since I was, like, sixteen, is hold a series of crappy, almost minimum wage jobs. Hanging out at home seems like a better choice sometimes. But I know myself and I would get bored soon enough so stop with the porn scenarios.”

Leo giggled but Malachi nudged his shoulder. “Just get your GED. It’s not that hard. A quick test and you’ll have a high school diploma.”

Ezra turned to scowl at him. Malachi scowled right back. “Well you hate your minimum wage jobs right? And you don’t want to stay home. You realize that the way to get a better job is to get at least a high school diploma, right? And hey, college, if you want it.”

Ezra turned to scowl at him. “Drop it. I got enough of that from Rick.”

Malachi shrugged. “He may have actually been right about it.”

“He didn’t want me to embarrass him.”

“Fucked up reasons. But still. If you hate your options, do something about it.”

Ezra snorted.

Malachi rolled his eyes and nudged his shoulder. “Ezra, take the fucking test. If you wanna go to college, we’ll pay for it.”

“What?”

Malachi shrugged. “If you’d be happier with a different job, we want you to have that.”

“I-“ he trailed off, staring wide-eyed. “You-“ he stammered.

Leo shifted in his lap. “Ezra?” he asked softly.

“You want me to stay?” Ezra blurted out.

Malachi gave him a weird look. “What?”

“You’re okay with me staying?”

“What?!” Malachi’s eyebrows had shot up. “I- Yeah, I expected you too. Were you- you… not planning on that?”

Ezra stared at him, open mouthed, and then lunged forward to wrap him in a hug, burying his face in the crook of his neck.

“Wow!”

Malachi hugged him back anyway.
 

Ezra held on until Malachi sighed and shifted so he could hold him properly. It pulled Ezra closer, almost half on his lap. Leo grumbled and finally sat up.

It was a ginger hug on Malachi's part, and Ezra let go as soon as he realized that. Malachi was staring down at him in mild confusion. "I mean of we all manage to not fail the investigation, what's the point in throwing you out?" he asked with a grin.

Ezra ducked his head, some of the elation fading away. "Oh," he muttered.

Leo reached over and smacked Malachi's arm lightly.

"Hey! Oh my god guys, I was just joking." He glanced at Ezra then and sighed. "Jesus, E, it was a joke. I assumed you would stay. Leo's in love with you and Holly and Dimitri would be sad, at the very least, to see you go. Were you not planning on staying?"

Ezra stared at his lap as he shrugged half-heartedly. "I didn't want to cause any problems," he murmured.

Malachi snorted. "I think the investigation is the worst that's gonna happen for awhile."

Ezra shrugged.

Malachi snorted and nudged his foot. "Come on, half of this family would be devastated if you disappeared."

Ezra nodded, smiling slightly. Some of them really would be sad if he disappeared. It was nice to have that in mind.

He nudged Malachi's foot back. "You don't mind?" he asked, wanting to be sure.

"Me?" He stared down at him.

Ezra forced himself to meet his gaze and it was Malachi's turn to pull him into a hug- a one-armed, friendly hug, but definitely a hug. "No, of course not, you idiot."

"Oh," Ezra muttered, flushing.

Malachi rolled his eyes and patted his head gently. It stayed in his hair, stroking gently, and his arm stayed tight around Ezra’s waist. Ezra settled in slowly, but ended up curled up against his side. Leo eventually draped himself over both of their laps and Giovanni settled in as well. Ezra finally relaxed and rested his head against Malachi’s shoulder, ignoring his confusion in favor of enjoying the quiet comfort.

But all too soon, it was back to the real word. Malachi shifted under him and cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable.

Ezra flushed and straightened up. "Sorry," he muttered.

Malachi shrugged. "Hey, whatever. Look, just stick around and," he cleared his throat again. "Things will work out."

It took a moment for Ezra to decipher that statement and even then, he wasn't sure if he had it right, but he smiled at Malachi, hoping he did. Malachi smiled back. "Wanna get dinner with me? Have a repeat of last time?"

Ezra's smile faded a little thinking of last time. "How 'bout a second attempt?"

Malachi nodded quickly. "Definitely better than a repeat. Greek?"

Ezra nodded hurriedly and accepted Malachi's hand as he pulled him upright. Leo and Giovanni giggled but settled back down on the couch without any commentary.