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The early morning in the North Carolina town was cool for the time of year, not too hot to be unbearable, but not too cold to be uncomfortable. For Ezra, it was perfect weather.
He wasn't always up this early, at least not willingly, but now that he was graduated and free for the foreseeable future, he figured he'd do some of the things he'd always wanted to do. Which, today included sitting out on the back deck of his mother's house to watch the sunrise.
The house sat right along the edge of a forrest, early morning fog filling the morning air as it drifted from the tree line into the sizable back yard. Ezra pulled the blanket he wrapped himself in tighter to himself as a breeze of cool air blew past. Looking up, he could see the sky becoming lighter as the sun began to rise from the trees. Rays of sun pushed through the fog, making what looked like spotlights shine on the grass.
It was nice, he listened to the songs of the birds that carried through the air, as if telling the surrounding area "the sun is up! Good morning everyone!" Before, perhaps as a freshman in high school, he would have complained about being awake so early in the day, protesting his mother's gentle prodding to wake up in order to not be late.
Speaking of his mother, the back door of the house slid open, and he turned his head to see her step out onto the deck with him.
Diane wasn't his birth mother, she had adopted him when he was about 7 or 8, the same time as his sister Mikayla at about 6. Despite looking nothing alike, and knowing for as long as he could remember that they weren't blood related, Ezra always considered her his mother. Her usually long dark hair was pulled up into a very messy bun, most likely messy from sleep, both her blue and orange colored eyes held sleep in them still, and she pulled her thin robe tighter to her. She must have just barely woken up, from the looks of it.
"Morning, Mom," Ezra greeted with too cheery of a voice for the early morning. Her face scrunched up groggily at the tone, and he couldn't help the small laugh at the action as she closed the sliding door behind her.
"Since when were you a morning person, kid?" She complained as she moved to sit in the deck chair next to him, sleep still evident in her voice.
"Am I not allowed to enjoy the sunrise?" He asked innocently, resting the back of his head against the back of the chair he was sitting in.
His mother rolled her eyes, followed by a yawn that she didn't attempt to cover with her hand, "Not when you were always so difficult to wake up for school."
He laughed lightly, "Whatever you say, Mom."
Comfortable silence fell between the two of them as the sun continued to rise over the trees. Minutes had passed before the silence broke. "Are you sure you're going to be okay with all of us gone?"
Ezra sighed, not out of annoyance, but just because he knew the question was going to come up. His mother had planned a camping trip for the summer, and she'd be taking his younger sisters out for about a week or two for the road trip. He was obviously invited to come along with them, but he had opted to stay at home. It was a good opportunity for him to try and get a handle on trying out living on his own, he had told her.
"Yes Mom, I'm sure," He looked over at her, seeing the worried expression on her face. He tried to sooth the concern by giving her a gentle smile, "I'm 18, I'm not a little kid anymore, I can take care of myself. And I know I can just call you or go stay with the Atkins-Gale's if anything goes wrong."
Diane released a breath she had been holding, "I know you're not a kid, but you're still my kid. I'm not going to stop worrying about you because you went and grew up on me," She reached out to ruffle his hair, and he let her, a chuckle rumbling through his chest as she did.
When she sat back down, and as he smoothed over his hair to keep it from tangling, she checked her watch, and she sighed. "I might as well go start getting your sisters up and ready to go. Finn's just as bad as you were in the mornings."
He rolled his eyes playfully, "Wonder where she got it from, cause it sure wasn't me."
Diane reached over again to flick his head lightly, more of a tease than actually trying to hurt him. Their dynamic was full of those sorts of actions, "Haha, very funny," she headed for the back door, looking back for just a moment. "Just come say goodbye before we leave, Mikayla will riot if you don't."
Ezra smiled brightly at her, "Of course, Mom. Love you."
"Love you too, kid," She stepped into the darkened house and closed the door behind her. He watched her walk away from the door until he couldn't see her anymore, disappearing into the depths of the house, then turned back to the forrest behind the backyard. He sat there for a moment longer before finally getting up, letting the blanket fall back into the chair he had been sitting in. He stretched his arms out, letting his wings appear in order to stretch out as well, the black feathered appendage taking up some of the space around him. He sighed in satisfaction from the stretch, folding his wings behind his back before moving to collect his blanket before entering the house.
Hours later in the day, Ezra woke to the sound of the doorbell.
He was the only one in the house now, his mother and three sisters having left for their trip hours ago. He had fallen asleep on the couch after they left, tiredness catching up to him from waking up early that day.
Checking his phone, he saw it was a little after 5 in the afternoon. Huh. He'd slept longer than he thought he was going to. At least there were no little girls rousing him from sleep demanding he play with them. He loved his two little sisters, one just barely over 8 and the other around 6, but the quiet that filled the house was a nice change.
He was pulled from his thoughts as the doorbell rang again. He wiped sleep from his eyes as he pulled the blanket off himself in order to get up, standing and stretching for a moment before moving to the front door.
Ezra expected to see Mr. Atkins or Mrs. Gale at the door to check on him, he wouldn't put it past his mother to ask her friends to do that for her, but it wasn't the gentle giant that was Mr. Atkins or the warm Mrs. Gale standing on the porch.
Instead, he saw a boy, roughly a year younger than him, blonde hair a mess a top his head, his t-shirt and jeans roughed up, his cloudy, pale blue eyes watery with tears that threatened to spill, the boy's pale skin blotchy with red and pink, his set of white-feathered wings folded along his back, but the feathers were puffed up and messy. A hand clutched a small backpack strapped to his back, looking much too small to be a high schooler's back pack. Poor kid wasn't even wearing shoes, only clad in mix matched socks.
"M-Mika?" The boy stammered out when he didn't say anything once the door opened, his voice small and timid.
It took a second, but Ezra recognized the boy, the way his watery eyes refused to stay focused on anything was a dead give away. He'd seen the boy at school, only a year younger than him, Mikayla's age. He'd seen him come over to the house multiple times throughout the past three years.
Zira Grant, his sister's best friend.
"Uh, she's not home, Zira," Ezra spoke finally, and immediately noticed the boy flinching slightly when he spoke. Clearly he wasn't expecting him. His heart fell at seeing the poor boy in the state he was in. "She left on a road trip with Mom, did she not tell you?"
Zira bit his lip, but he caught the small whimper that escaped him. "D-Don' 'member... I still come in?" He sounded hesitant as he brought his free hand to his shirt collar in order to pull the fabric to his mouth, chewing on it nervously, still small and timid. Something about the way he was speaking made him seem younger than he was.
"Yeah, sure, come on in," Ezra didn't hesitate to open the door and held his arm out for the boy. Zira reached his hand out, shirt collar still in his mouth, expecting to use the door frame to guide himself inside, but instead found Ezra's arm. His hand backed away, but he remained patient as he watched Zira hesitate a moment before he accepted the offer of guidance.
Slowly, Ezra lead Zira inside the house. He was sure the boy had been inside enough times to know his way around just fine, hell, he had a reputation around school for being the blind kid who didn't need help, but something told him that in the state the kid was in, there was no way he was getting around by himself.
Together they walked further into the house, after closing the front door. He lead him towards the living room and helped him sit down on the couch. Zira set his backpack down on the ground, being very gentle with it, and practically curled up into the cushions of the couch as his wings vanished from behind him. Ezra decided to sit down beside him, leaving a bit of space between them so the poor kid didn't feel uncomfortable.
Despite the fact that he was his sister's best friend, Ezra and him never really hung out by themselves. Usually if they were together, it was with Mikayla, or even if they were alone, their interactions were brief. He still considered him a friend, but it was only because they had a mutual friend so to say.
"Where' Mika?" Zira broke the silence after a moment, his head turned in Ezra's general direction. He didn't like the lingering timidness in his voice, how small it sounded.
He decided patiences would be the way to go. "She went with our other sisters and mom on a trip, they're gonna be gone for a few days, Zira."
"Mika gone?" Zira whined nervously, his hands fidgeting in his lap. Out of instinct, he nodded his head in response, but then remembered he couldn't see the movement.
"Yes, but she'll be back in a couple of days," He said gently as he noticed the couple of tears that fell down his cheeks.
Zira quickly reached a hand to wipe the tears away messily, sniffling slightly. "Call? Call Mika?" He asked quickly, near pleading.
The thought of "doesn't he have his own phone?" crossed his mind, but he very quickly shut down that idea. The boy clearly wasn't in the right state of mind to be making his own phone calls. "Sure, Zira, I can call her. Will you be okay if I leave for a minute to call her."
Ezra instantly regretted the question as Zira quickly nodded his head before he could even finish asking the question. His heart fell once more. "Mhm, I 'an be good," Zira forced out.
He chose not to push the issue he had with that statement, every bone in his body wanting to wrap the boy in a comforting hug to wash away the fear that brought him to the house in the first place.
"I'll be right back," he said instead, standing to walk into the kitchen as he pulled out his phone. As he rang up his mother's number, he kept an eye on Zira sitting on the couch. The boy had pretty much stayed in the same spot on the couch, only moving to pull his backpack off the floor and pull what looks to be a small, stuffed zebra and clutched it close to his chest.
Eventually, the phone stopped ringing, and Diane's voice came through the line. "Everything okay, Ezra? We've only been gone for a couple hours." His mother sounds immediately concerned and worried, her voice slightly muffled, to which he assumes its from the phone call running through the car's sound system rather than the actual phone. They must still be driving.
"Yeah, I'm okay. I just need to talk to Mikayla really quick if that's okay," He kept his voice quieter as to not disturb the slight peace that Zira had in the living room. The kid still looked scared, but the stuffed animal in his arms seemed to be helping.
Muffled conversations could be heard through the line, and Ezra waiting patiently as Diane seemingly disconnected her phone from the car in order to hand it to Mikayla. "Ez, what's up?"
"Hey, so I don't want to alarm you or mom-"
"I think you've already done that." Mikayla held a teasing tone as she interrupted him.
He rolled his eyes and kept going, "I'm being serious here, Mikayla. Something's up with your best friend."
"Oh, shit, wait," All sense of humor left her voice, immediately replaced with concern, "Is he okay, is he with you right now?"
"He is. He's currently sitting on the couch. He's only asked for you, I thought you told him you were going out of town this week?"
He heard her sigh, and pause. "What happened?"
Ezra used his free hand to run it through his hair, still keeping an eye on Zira, who was once again chewing on the collar of his shirt. "Honestly, no idea. He hasn't said a word other than asking for you and why you were gone, and even then his vocabulary was limited. He's not even wearing shoes, Mikayla. I know I'm not his best friend, but even I haven't seen him like this, I don't like how timid and small he seems."
"Ezra," she started hesitantly, lowering her voice slightly, which he assumed was to keep Diane from hearing what she was saying, "do you want me to tell Mom to turn around and head home? Helping him might be... a challenge for you since you don't know. You haven't seen him like this, but I have."
"No, you guys deserve to be on your trip. Whatever it is I'm sure I can handle it. Just tell me what's going on," he insisted, crossing his free arm over his body.
There was silence for a moment, before Mikayla started explaining. "You remember Tessa Brooks, right?"
"Who could forget Tessa Brooks," He mumbled. Of course he remembered her, Tessa had been the one rich girl at their school who always got her way. And her way consisted of the mistreatment of one Zira Grant. Everyone knew their relationship was rough, but no one wanted to help him out. No one except for Mikayla, that is. Everyone else ignored the way Tessa hurt him, but Mikayla had taken it upon herself to be the one to help him handle her until he was ready enough to leave her.
"She has a habit of using him until he's absolutely broken. The only way he knows how to cope is through something called Little Space, are you familiar with that?"
Looking over Zira again, he could see it. The boy sat more hunched and curled up on himself, cuddling the stuffed animal much like a kid would. The small tone of his voice and limited speech should have been a dead give away. Even his timid energy was mixed with something childlike.
"Yeah, I am. I can see it."
"Yeah. I usually help take care of him when he gets all small. There's a box of stuff up in my room that we call his 'Little Gear'," there was a pause, letting him take in all of the information for a moment before, "Let me talk to him while you go grab the stuff. If you seriously want to help him on your own, you're gonna need it."
Ezra nodded before he headed back into the living room, then remembered she couldn't see the nod through the phone, "Yeah, hold on one second." He made sure to keep his footsteps pronounced enough for Zira to know he was there before he crouched down in front of the boy. "Zee? Mika wants to talk to you, is that okay?" He kept his tone soft, much like when he would play or take care of Finn or Isla when she was a little younger.
Zira visibly perked up at the idea of talking to Mikayla, letting one hand fall away from his stuffed animal to hold his hand out. He didn't hesitate to hand him the phone. "Mika?" Zira spoke into the phone, his shirt collar falling from his mouth.
Standing, Ezra quietly left the room to let Mikayla do what she needed to do as he went upstairs. Pushing the door to his sister's room open, he quickly got to work on locating the box of this 'Little Gear'. Since all three of his sister's shared a room, it was hard to find, since little kid's stuff that was left behind was everywhere. But he did find a light blue box tucked away under Mikayla's bed that was labeled "Zira".
Sure enough, once he pulled it out and pulled off the lid, everything inside was neatly organized, most likely by Mikayla for easier access. He found at least two blankets, a thin one and a thicker one folded and squished to the side. There was two or three stuffed animals sitting at the bottom, as well as what looked like a few fidget toys. Pushing the stuffed animals and toys aside, he saw some soft, light colored pajamas folded neatly that sat at the bottom of the box.
Ezra pulled the box all the way out, popping the lid back on, and easily lifted it to carry it downstairs. Once he reached the bottom step, he found Zira still sitting where he had been since he arrived, though now he was no longer on the phone, the device put to the side next to him. Mikayla must have hung up once she was done talking to Zira.
"Hey Zee," He pronounced his footsteps again as he approached, setting the box down on the couch next to him as he sat down in order to keep some space between them. "I've got your stuff from Mika's room, wanna get into something more comfortable?" He offered, pulling the lid off for him.
At the sound of the lid coming off, Zira perked up a little more, leaning over as he lifted a hand to rummage through the box, taking his time to feel over everything inside as if he was making sure everything was still there. Ezra let him take his time before he pulled out the sets of pajamas from the bottom. He gingerly felt over each one before picking out a long sleeve shirt and some pants, holding out the other two sets of clothes, which he took from him gently.
"You can go change, Zee. Do you want help?" He offered, to which the boy shook his head as he stood, carefully making his way to the downstairs bathroom once he pulled one or two more things out of the box.
Ezra watched him carefully as he went, but he seemed okay enough to navigate the familiar home on his own. He waited on the couch, taking his phone back, as the boy changed, only taking a handful of minutes before coming back out, dressed in a slightly oversized, light pink long-sleeved shirt and pale blue sweat pants, the zebra stuffed animal he had before still clutched in his arms along side a bunny plush, which he cradled with care. He was a little surprised to see what looked like a pacifier in his mouth, but he got over it just as fast. Whatever Zira wanted to feel better, he wasn't there to judge, he was there to make him feel better.
Zira carefully made his way back to the couch, freeing a hand for a moment to feel for the box again, pulling out the thinner of the two blankets. Ezra watched as he tucked it along side his two stuffed animals before he moved to sit on the couch again.
"Is there anything I can do for you, Zee?" Ezra asked gently, staying where he was on the couch. The boy already looked so much better, much more comfortable, but if he had to take up the role of caregiver, then so be it. At the end of the day, he considered Zira a friend.
Silence filled the room as Zira hesitated a moment before he lifted a hand to make a grabbing motion towards him. "'uddle?" He mumbled around the pacifier. Ezra couldn't help but smile slightly, a small sense of pride filling him. Despite his vulnerable state, Zira seemed to trust him to help him, even without his best friend there.
"Of course, are you okay with me touching you then?" He asked as he moved the box off the couch and onto the floor. Zira nodded his head, handing him the blanket he had been clutching onto. Getting the hint, Ezra shuffled over on the couch so he was sitting next to him, taking the blanket and wrapped it around his shoulders before gently wrapping an arm over him.
Without much hesitation, Zira curled into his side, nuzzling his head against his chest. Ezra put his other arm around him, keeping him close as he let the boy get comfortable. He watched as Zira's eyes blinked for a moment before the fluttered closed, a huff of contentment escaping him.
Ezra held the Little close to him, humming a soft lullaby he usually sang for Finn, content with the knowledge that he trusted him enough to let him see him in such a vulnerable state. Soon enough, soft snores escaped him, slightly filling the silence in the air.
Sweet Awiti, what had that girl done to the poor boy?
Forcing the thought away, he just leaned his head back and let his eyes close as he tried to drift off to sleep along side the sleeping Little in his arms. He would protect him, he wouldn't let that girl anywhere near Zira, not if he could help it.