It had been an interesting day for sure yesterday. Sitting down in the saloon Vin spotted the latest arrival into the small town. The large man seemed like just another drifter, clothes worn and dusty, face a tough tanned leather from the sun. Very blue eyes shone from the weathered face and a suprisingly full black beard edged along his chin like a sculpted feature. Vin wouldn't have been suprised if the man had turned out to maybe a gold digger, or maybe even a bounty hunter, which had made him stay away from the guy at first. He couldn't have been more surprised over finding out that the darkhaired man actually was an old aquaintance of Ezra's. He was even a friend of the Southern gambler.
Not that Vin was that surprised that Ezra had friends, in fact the two of them had a way of getting really friendly lately, as it was. But his favourite cardsharp also had a way of avoiding talking about his past at all. If he had known the older man was coming into town, Vin had a sneaking suspicion Ezra would have headed for the hills a long time ago.
But he hadn't known, and the six others were treated to a very entertaining sight as Jake McMurphy, as his name was, merely picked the stunned gambler up off his feet and hugged him so tight that Vin was starting to feel jealous. Ezra was his and his alone to hug, thank you very much. As Ezra, unnaturally speechless, got around to fussing about his clothes and demanding to be let down, Vin had also noticed that he'd had the time to hug McMurphy back just as fiercely. So Vin knew that this guy meant a lot to Ezra, and that made him curious.
So here he was alone, and McMurphy had just sat down for breakfast. JD was at the jail, Chris had gone out on patrol, Buck tagging along for the morning, Josiah was at his church and Nathan... Nathan had as far as Vin knew, been called out in the middle of the night to treat some poor, unlucky suitor who had climbed up to a young maiden's window and then managed to fall down. And land in a patch of cactus. The wrong end first. The tall healer hadn't been back before early morning, muttering about idiotic people and stupid catci and then gone to his room. Vin sure wasn't going to disturb him in the nearest hours unless he had a truly good reason.
And Ezra... Well, he wasn't expected in quite a while yet. Vin smiled, stretching a little in his chair. After a late card game and an even later patrol, Ezra hadn't been back to his room more than a few hours before Nathan's return. Upon finding a certain longhaired Texan in his bed things had progressed naturally and things hadn't involved sleep before the sun was poking it fingers into the nighttime sky. An hour earlier Vin had gotten up, washed up and dressed. He had located Ezra underneath the blankets, stealing a good morning kiss before he left. He still wasn't sure if the gambler had actually woken up or just kissed him back in his sleep. It had been a great kiss nonetheless.
Seizing the moment Vin picked up his cup of strong coffee and headed over to McMurphy's table.
The older man had a small mountain of eggs and bacon resting on a plate in front of him, a matching mug to Vin's coffee was on one side, a smaller plate of biscuits on the other.
"'Morning," Vin started.
"Vin!" McMurphy greeted him, waving his fork at him. "Sit down, son, you had breakfast yet?"
Vin nodded. "About an half an hour ago, just finishing up my coffee." He sat down on the opposite end of the table as McMurphy nodded.
"Most important meal of the day, you know." The fork started waving again. "But you try telling that to Ez. Of course by the time he likes to get up, it's called lunch."
Smiling over the use of the nickname, Vin saw his opportunity. McMurphy didn't seem to mind talking about his relationship with Ezra at all. Vin settled back.
"So," he smiled. "Have you know Ez for a long time then?"
McMurphy made a mighty dent in the eggs. "I've known him for years, son. Even travelled a bit with his ma and him. I tell you," this time the fork was directed steadily at Vin. "The smartest thing he ever did was leaving her and setting out on his own. Lord knows she had done it enough times to him. Better off without, that's what I say."
Nodding again, Vin agreed. He had only met Maude Standish twice. And that was in his opinion, after he'd heard some of the unrevised version of Ezra's childhood, two times too many. But McMurphy wasn't finished. He put the fork down now, swallowing the eggs with some coffee. Then he stared hard at Vin.
"I have to say... I was surprised to find him settled down like this here. Always thought the boy was a wanderer. But I'm happy, really happy, all things considering..."
"Considering?" Vin frowned. "What do you mean?"
"I mean that for the last years that boy has been trying really hard to kill himself. He just hasn't found anyone yet to do it for him."
At the look on Vin's face, he winced at the pale, shocked expression.
"Let me rephrase that. I don't know if Ez even knows, or knew, what he was trying to do. He was constantly picking fights, getting in over his head, coming up with neckbreaking solutions to stuff. Only thing that kept him alive, inspite of himself, is that he's good. Good with his words and good with his guns. Don't get me wrong, I was very happy to find him here yesterday, but I was a bit surprised too. In all honesty, I had feared that he was dead."
He got up so fast that he knocked his chair over. It was left forgotten as Vin stood, trembling.
"I... I gotta go. I just...I just need to..." He saw McMurphy's knowing eyes and the smile starting from those blue eyes before he bolted.
Climbing the stairs, Vin had half a mind to check that nobody was looking in his direction. Hurrying, half-way running he reached the destined door and let himself in. A sudden feeling clenched his throat as he saw the supine figure on the bed, impossibly twisted up in the blankets. Not wasting another second he kicked off his boots on the way, discarding his coat in a chair before climbing onto the bed. His heart didn't stop pounding before he was laying on his side, Ezra gathered up into his arms and he was holding the smaller man tight to him.
"I thought you'd gone to eat," a sleepy voice drifted up to him as the feeling of Ezra relaxing into his body took some of the tension out of Vin's own muscles.
"Yeah," he whispered back, luxuriating in the feel of soft hair tickling his chin. "I just... Christ, I'm so glad that you're still here."
"What?" A sleepy Ezra was about the only time the word 'what' hadn't three syllables at least and was a complete sentence.
"Nothing," Vin whispered, pressing a kiss into the auburn hair. "You just sleep, Ez, it's early yet. I'll be right here."
Ezra wasn't complaining, he merely burrowed a little bit closer, never questioning Vin's motives. He might be, when he was fully awake and more concerned about people finding out. Vin knew he should be too. But at this moment he found he couldn't. Everything that was important was right here, right in this bed. That was all that mattered. And that, he found, didn't surprise him in the least.
The End
