Work Text:
“...hey Kanan? Can I, uh...meditate with you? For a while?”
The man is unresponsive for a moment before nodding, and Ezra sucks in a breath, closing the remaining meter between them in a few steps and sitting cross-legged beside his master. He exhales slowly, trying to calm his racing heart.
“You’ll be fine, Ezra. Kanan’s been fine with me, after all. And he’s closer to you than he is to me, both in Jedi stuff and normal people stuff. You’ll be fine.”
He nods to himself at the memory of Sabine’s words, allowing them to bolster his confidence before slipping into a meditative trance. He’ll need all the calm he can get.
When he feels ready, Ezra allows himself to slip out just as easily, and cracks open an eye in time to see Kanan shift in his spot as he stops actively meditating, too.
“So, kid. What’s on your mind?”
Ezra swallows, hard. He wasn’t expecting Kanan to cut to the chase, not this quickly. He taps out a rhythm on his thigh to some song he’s long forgotten the name of before inhaling sharply.
“You know how Sabine….Doesn’t like boys?”
Kanan nods, brow furrowed. “Yeah.”
“And...and she likes girls?”
His master nods again, silent this time.
Ezra inhales sharply once more, swallowing. “Well, I mean, I kinda...people are just, when they’re not being stupid I mean, they’re really cool? Like everyone is. Not the Imps, ugh, they’re all crusty and mean but like just...ordinary people are really pretty? But a lot of people are really pretty? And I think I– I don’t think I like girls, or not just girls I mean, like I like boys but I like them too, like along with girls? And like I just, uh, I just really like both and I hope that’s okay and Sabine said it would be and like she said to talk to you and ask or whatever if I had questions because she said you could help and I just—“
“Ezra.”
He shuts his mouth at the quiet, but firm, interruption. Kanan places a hand over his own, and Ezra realizes he’s been tapping the rhythm at an even faster speed for the entirety of his rambling.
“You know I don’t care, right? That you’re fine however you are? All I care about is your wellbeing, kid. Not who you love.”
Ezra swallows, hard. Then:
“And...and that’s okay? You’re okay if I stay, even if– if I’m indecisive and I just like beautiful people too much and—“
The mantra driven into his mind since his days on the street, since his days before he realized how he felt, vanishes as Kanan pulls him into a tight hug. It’s been years since he’s had a reprieve from the words, he thinks. “I don’t know where you heard that, but they’re wrong,” the man whispers. “They’re wrong, okay? You’re not bad, or selfish, or anything. You just love people, and you love ‘em a lot. And that’s never a bad thing. This galaxy needs more light in it, kiddo. And if you’ve got the potential for it, then share it.”
He nods, head leaning against Kanan's side. “I’m...thank you,” he whispers, voice breaking. Sure, Sabine had assured him it would go fine, but a part of him had still—foolishly—believed that he would be abandoned, kicked to the gutter like the street rat he’d been once.
But this time, he’s been brought home.