Truth behind EXodus drug trials comes out!
High humidity for the next week, expect rain and thunderstorms.
Ezekiel had finally gotten up the courage, or maybe just the strength, to bring Liam with him when he went shopping for the house. There was not much on the list since Noah had gotten a lot of stuff late last week, but there were still some essentials they needed, especially with another person in the house.
Fortunately, everything Ezekiel had heard about kids running off in the store did not seem to apply to Liam. Liam stayed as close to Ezekiel's side as he could, one hand holding the cart and the other clutching Ezekiel's wrist. He did not look frightened, but he observed everything and everyone with quick eyes and a slightly wrinkled nose. It seemed like Liam was bothered by the cacophony of smells rather than the fact that he was in a new place with a bunch of strangers. As they wove their way through the store, Liam's grip slowly loosened, and soon he was walking with just one hand resting lightly on the side of the cart. He started to stare more at the food options than the people in the aisles, and he even ventured to leave just his fingertips on the cart to get closer to the label on a jar of pickles. Then he reached out and touched it. The brush of his fingers was so gentle that it should not have disturbed the jar at all, but someone had not done their job well because the jar tipped off the shelf as if Liam had given it a shove.
Ezekiel reached out, but it was as if he was in slow motion while the rest of the world continued at its normal speed. He closed his eyes when the jar hit the floor, shattering so loudly he was sure half the store heard it. He inhaled shakily and blew out his breath through tight lips and carefully guided Liam away from the glass shards. "Don't walk there." He rubbed his aching eyes with his free hand. "This is why we let Papa touch the glass things, okay?"
Liam nodded, his wide blue eyes fixed on Ezekiel, and timidly resumed holding onto Ezekiel's hand and wrist. He had probably noticed the spike of anxiety in Ezekiel's pheromones.
"Okay." Ezekiel breathed in and out again, making sure to control his frustration even though he was near tears. "Papa needs to go find someone to clean this up." He turned to walk down to the other end of the aisle and promptly tripped over his own feet. Fuck, he silently cursed as he fell.
But a hand grabbed his arm and another grabbed his waist. "Woah, you okay?"
Ezekiel quickly righted himself and stepped back from the stranger. "I'm so sorry. Please be careful, there's glass there."
"I see that," the man replied, dark eyes soft behind wire-frame glasses. He blinked slowly as their eyes met. "Kiel?"
Ezekiel instinctively took another step back.
The man reached out and grabbed his elbow. "Careful, there's glass."
The soothing tone triggered a memory, a good one. Ezekiel looked up at the man in front of him. "Jimin?" It had to be Jimin. He looked almost exactly the same as he had in high school, just a little older and wiser. And who else besides Jimin would know Ezekiel's nickname?
"I thought I recognized you," Jimin replied with that gentle smile of his. "I wasn't quite sure though. I mean, it's been almost fouteen years since we last saw each other?"
"Closer to thirteen, but yeah." Ezekiel remembered the glass and took a few steps away from it. "Agh, I need to go find a manager or somebody I can tell about this mess and pay for it."
"Don't worry about it. I'll do it." Jimin still acted like a sweet golden retriever willing to do anything to win Ezekiel's favor. Couldn't he see how different Ezekiel was? Couldn't he see the child clinging to Ezekiel's arm, not to mention the one rounding his stomach? Wouldn't anyone naturally assume Ezekiel was married, even without a ring?
"Jimin—"
"No," he insisted. "You look exhausted. You sit down here." He guided Ezekiel a little further away from the spill and helped him sit down on the floor. "I'll go find someone and come back. You just rest here." Then he hurried off.
Ezekiel sighed, leaning his head back against the shelf. His hand pet Liam's hair as the boy, clearly aware of the stress of the situation, sat with him and rested his head on Ezekiel's chest.
Jimin came back a couple minutes later with a manager who waved aside all of Ezekiel's apologies and quickly cleaned up the mess. Jimin smiled, as if to say I told you so, and helped him up from the floor. "I really hope you didn't drive here," he said after he helped scan all the groceries. He might have even paid too; Ezekiel was too tired to tell.
"No, I'm not that dumb. I know when I'm sleep-deprived. A friend dropped me off. I'm supposed to text him when I'm done. They don't live far."
Jimin made a sound of acknowledgment. "Why don't you text them from my car and let them know I'm bringing you back? I don't want you waiting, not in this condition."
Ezekiel clenched his fists, though he had no right to get angry. "Who do you think I am, Jimin?"
Jimin raised a light brown eyebrow. Light hair had always suited him better. "Um, you're Kiel, my best friend from high school. Who else would you be?"
Ezekiel had never wanted to cry so much in his life. Why was he like this? "Why are you being so nice to me? Can't you see I have a kid and I'm knocked up?"
Jimin did not even flinch. "Yes, but I don't see a wedding ring, and I read the news."
Ezekiel wanted to close his eyes and melt into an abyss of shame. "So you know everything then."
"Everything the press aired out without your consent? Yeah." Jimin actually looked pissed. "You're my friend, Kiel, and you'd been missing for thirteen years. When you showed up in the news, I wanted to know everything that had happened. And now that I know, I feel like I failed you."
Ezekiel let out a small, humorless laugh. "Failed me? How would you even do that?"
"They shared everything, but I didn't have to read it." Jimin shook his head. "I shouldn't have read it. But I did, and here we are. Will you let me drive you home now?"
Ezekiel sighed. He was too tired to fight Jimin's thoughtful stubbornness. "Fine." He let Jimin take the arm Liam was not hanging onto and lead him out to a very nice SUV. He made sure Liam got buckled in the backseat before he got into the passenger side and tucked his feet in quickly so Jimin could shut the door.
Jimin jogged around to the other side, got in, and started the car. He looked over, probably to check that Ezekiel had fastened the seat belt, and then carefully backed up out of the parking space. He nodded toward the screen in the dash. "You can put in the address."
Ezekiel nodded and did it, his finger surprisingly steady as he typed out the name of the street. He hit go and sat back, pulling out his phone and texting Camille that a friend was driving him home.
Camille fired back a text almost immediately. Did you get kidnapped?
No, Ezekiel typed back. I have a friend. I met him at the store. I'm not in any danger. He hoped. He trusted Jimin, or at least he wanted to. And it looked like Jimin was taking him home, based on the blue route that wiggled across the screen, so perhaps his trust truly was not misplaced this time.
Jimin glanced over at him, his expression wavering near worry. "You okay?"
Ezekiel met his gaze. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"Your face got all pinched," Jimin replied, his eyes going back to the road. "And I saw your son flinch in the backseat." He glanced over again. "Can he sense pheromonal shifts?"
Ezekiel nodded. "There's no official diagnosis yet, but I've seen it a few times now. He can tell." He sighed. "I just texted my friend that you were driving me home, and the first thing he asked was if I got kidnapped."
Jimin gave a grim smile as he made a turn. "Considering your past, I'd say that's a fair question."
"Yeah," Ezekiel admitted. "And I myself am wondering just a little bit if his concern is valid. It's you, so I shouldn't be afraid, but I am."
"Again, that's fair. We were best friends, but people do change. I'm not saying I've changed for the worse, but change is a reality. You don't know if you can still depend on me the way you used to. I can say you can a million times, but you won't believe it until you see it in action over and over again."
That made Ezekiel feel like the world's worst person. "Jimin, I–"
"It doesn't bother me," Jimin interrupted calmly. "You went through something horrible. It's reasonable that you mistrust people, including me." He leaned forward slightly to look across Ezekiel. "Is the house on the right, or is the maps app lying to me?"
Ezekiel smiled at the question. "It's not lying. Three houses up."
Jimin nodded and drove up, pulling into the driveway and parking. "Let's get you and Liam inside first. I can bring the groceries in after you sit or lay down somewhere." He slid out of the driver's seat, helping Liam out first and then holding out his hand to assist Ezekiel.
Ezekiel accepted the help, placing his hand in the warmth of Jimin's palm, and held on once his feet touched the ground, feeling a little unsteady. He let Jimin lead him inside, making sure he had a hold of Liam's hand as well.
Camille appeared the moment the door opened, his eyes going wide when he say Jimin. "You're–"
Jimin held up a finger to his lips in a quieting gesture. "He's exhausted. Where's the best place for him to lay down and rest?"
Camille pointed to the hall off the kitchen. "Bedroom. First door on the left." He motioned to Liam, who let go of Ezekiel's hand without protest.
Before Ezekiel could fathom how strange that was, Jimin put a guiding arm around him and helped him to the bedroom, to his bed. Jimin let him down onto the mattress slowly and eased his shoes off before placing his feet on the mattress, pulling up the sheets and arranging the pillows so Ezekiel felt like he was in the softest of nests. "I'll bring everything inside now, okay?"
Ezekiel nodded, his eyes fighting to flutter shut. He was so comfortable, and he was so tired. "Can you come back?" Why the hell had he just asked that? What sort of psycho asked that?
But Jimin nodded with a tiny smile curving his lips. "Let me bring the groceries in, and then I'll come right back." He looked like he wanted to pull gently at a platinum strand of Ezekiel's hair like he had back in high school when the two of them had parted ways for a class or at the end of the day. But he left without touching Ezekiel.
Ezekiel hid his nose in one of the pillows and fisted his hands in the sheets underneath his chin. He blinked slowly, trying not to fall asleep. What if Liam needed him?
"Sh." Jimin was back, the bed dipping as he sat near Ezekiel's knees. "Liam is fine."
Had Ezekiel asked the question out loud?
"Liam is with Camille. Camille's got him. He's fine."
Ezekiel struggled to sit up, a sudden horror grabbing him by the throat. "But Camille isn't always fine! What if he hurts Liam?"
Jimin put his hands on Ezekiel's shoulders and firmly pushed him back down onto the mattress. "Kiel, Liam is fine. He's doing some math problems. Camille is just keeping an eye on him. You can rest." He brushed the back of his hand across Ezekiel's forehead, clearing the hair away from his eyes. "You need to rest. Please."
Ezekiel sniffled and scrubbed at his cheeks to dry his tears. He curled back up, clutching a pillow to his chest like he was a first grader with a stuffed animal. "Okay." He had never sounded more like a petulant toddler in all his life. He was pretty sure that he had been one of his parents' best-behaved kids, since they had joked to their neighbors and extended family that Ezekiel had been born with manners. He had never been anything but polite, and he had quickly learned that to say no to his parents was to say no to a god and that smiting quickly followed. But he had always been able to act like a child in front of Jimin, and he had never been scared of Jimin's reaction.
Jimin's hand continued to comb Ezekiel's hair away from his eyes. He began humming softly, the sound as familiar as his touch. Whenever Ezekiel had been having a particularly rough day in high school or some PTSD from his childhood had kicked in out of nowhere, Jimin had taken to talking him down in Korean and then humming a little lullaby.
It should have been childish, but it comforted Ezekiel every time. And it comforted him now, until he fell asleep.