Dual perspective in this chapter. Enjoy x
"I'm sorry, Ezra... I think I misheard you." Stavros smiled, a big toothy smile. He laughed a little. He even did what Colby would define as a dad move — the classic slap on the leg. He stared wide eyed at Ezra, his mouth hanging open in a wide smile. "You know Steven?" He asked.
Ezra was not so jolly. The colour had drained from his face. He'd been unnerved already after Colby punched Steven in the face (his knuckles still stung a little bit, but he didn't think it was the right time to bring it up) but now he was even paler after walking in on Stavros kissing his dad's forehead (he kind of had a feeling they had a thing going on, but he didn't think it was the right time to bring that up either). Ezra's hung loose at his side, he kept his mouth so closed that a vein bulged in his neck and his Adam's apple bobbed repeatedly. It was as if there was an entanglement of words trapped his mouth and if he opened it for even a second, everything would come pouring out.
Colby reached out, he brushed his finger against Ezra's pinky. He wasn't sure if Ezra would want to hold his hand at this time, but it usually worked. Ezra grasped Colby's hand with a sudden strength. Worked as usual.
"Steven and Ezra," Colby spoke as Ezra could not, "are father and son." Despite his better instincts, the dreadful silence compelled him to fill it. His muscles shrivelled up and he shrugged, he smiled and laughed awkwardly just as Stavros was doing. "Haha, awkward!" Stavros and Colby laughed at each other. Taking turns to laugh louder than the other and say a few words: 'how crazy', 'can't believe it', and 'wild'.
The laughing slowly puttered out until the room went back to nothing.
The smile had never quite reached Stavros' eyes. The cracks formed from there, the slow realisation of who he was sitting next to. One small crack, became two, became four, became eight. His smile slowly fell, his eyebrows raised and he whispered something in Greek for himself. The language was lost on Colby, but there was something quite universal about a man expressing how fucked he was no matter what language he said it in.
"Ezra-" Steven suddenly spoke up. Somehow the man in the middle of all of this had disappeared into the background. Colby had noticed this about Steven before. He was like a chameleon. Take your eyes off of him for one moment and Steven would will himself to turn invisible. He would cast down his eyes and sit so perfectly still, you forgot he was there. He placed a mask so flawlessly unemotional on his face that he looked as if he was made of porcelain. It was so strange, impressive to an extent. It should be difficult to look over a man who only ever wore suits and had a regal presence about him most the time.
Ezra's hand slipped from Colby's. He turned and left the room. His footsteps steady and slower than Colby would have expected. He was dazed, Colby knew that, his poor Ezra's head was probably spinning. One thing to get sentimental about his father's past, another to be caught of guard with what he was doing in the present.
"Colby." Steven called out to him. That mask had fell off. It was strange to see Steven so emotional, to see him close to tears. Like seeing the monster under your bed as a kid was nothing but a teddy bear the entire time. He'd seen so scary when Colby was seventeen. "I- I didn't know. I had no idea. I swear."
Colby nodded his head and offered a gentle smile. "I know. I'll tell Ezra. I don't think he's angry—I don't really know if he is, but it doesn't seem like something he would." Colby paused for a moment so that he would stop knotting his words together. "I'll talk to him about it. It'll be fine." Hopefully.
"I'll speak to him." Stavros stood and left the room. His hands kept flexing and unflexing which made the variety of tattoos he had across his hands and arms stretch in odd ways.
"Guess it's just you and me then." Colby tried to say with levity.
"Yes." Steven smiled back, but it faltered immediately. He cast down his eyes and seemed to find solace in tearing apart the blood soaked tissues in his hand.
"Your nose has stopped bleeding." Said Colby.
"It has."
"I'm still sorry about that."
"It's honestly alright, Colby. You're not the first person to punch me, nor did you do it the hardest. Hopefully though, you might be the last to do it."
Colby didn't pry into what Steven meant about not being the first to punch him. Didn't seem appropriate and he knew for a fact that Ezra would tell him at some point. There wasn't such things as secrets between the two of them. Whatever Stavros was saying to Ezra now was between them and only them (until later when Ezra would tell Colby what Stavros said). He decided then to give Stvaros and Ezra time. He sat next to Steven and waited for him to say something.
Eventually, Steven did speak. "I didn't know."
"How did you even meet Stavros?"
"At the club you took me to. What was it called? Birds and bees or something like that."
Colby nodded his head gravely. Ezra was so going to kill him when he found out about that little detail. Great, first he punched Ezra's dad, then he accidentally hooked Ezra's dad up with a hot Greek man. He might as well go get himself a collar because he was going to be in the dog house for a while.
"You like him?" Colby asked.
Steven stopped his tearing of the paper. Colby didn't expect him to reply, assuming that he'd overstepped and they would now have to sit together in an awkward silence until either Stavros and Ezra came back. To Colby's surprise, Steven answered. "I do." He straightened his back and loosened his tie. There was a dried blood speckled underneath his nose and a little on his chin. He kept pulling on his jacket, flicking his pristine collar, adjusting the cufflinks on the end of his sleeves. Over and over he pulled on his formal attire. He took out his phone from his pocket and used the camera to look at the state of his hair. It was a mess compared to its usual slick style. That seemed to be a breaking point for him. He let out a great sigh and fell back against the wall, all his work to fix his appearance to its usual regality all for nought as it crinkled when he leaned back.
"Stavros is a great guy," said Colby. He couldn't really say why he was becoming Stavros' advocate, but it felt the natural thing to do. "He's always been good to Ezra which is really the main thing, isn't it."
Steven laughed. He turned and looked at Colby with a look that could only be called tired. "I've made a lot of mistakes in my life, Colby. You know that, you were there when I made the worst one. I always thought Benny was my second worst, but now when I really think about it, attempting to force you away from Ezra is definitely my second worst." He smiled. A small tug of the lips. "You're very good to him. I can't thank you enough."
Colby felt himself blushing at the compliment. His parents often teased him for being so infatuated with Ezra, but to actually have Ezra's own father acknowledge the love he had for his son was a compliment of the highest pedigree. Yeah, guess Colby was a pretty good fiancé... if he did say so himself.
"Every time I try to do right by Ezra, I only end up hurting him more."
"It's a surprise, that's for sure." Colby agreed. "But, Ezra's not going to hate you for this. Give him some time to wrap his head around all this, then... then we'll see what happens."
So, they stayed together. Colby and Steven. Colby told small stories of what he and Ezra had been up to over the years and in exchange Steven told his own stories of what it was like to raise Ezra. Unsurprisingly, Ezra had always been a very well behaved child and a complete daddy's boy. It explained a lot about him.
The only thing that wasn't explained and Colby couldn't stop thinking about was: who the hell is Benny?
*
"Ezra! Ezra wait, please!"
"Just give me a second, Stavros. I need to think."
The smoking area behind the hospital was thankfully devoid of doctors. He'd always thought it was a contradictory thing to be a doctor or nurse of any kind that smoked. Although any activity that was unhealthy would be ironic for a doctor to do. Ezra focused on these spiralling thoughts to stop him from thinking of other things. He imagined doctors eating mountains of chocolate and drinking only coca-cola to wash it down, he imagined nurses gathering together in a small circle passing whatever hard core drugs he could imagine to each other. Doctors doing things unbecoming. Doctors he admired. His imaginary doctors and nurses had the faces of his coworkers. Doctors he looked up to doing things that they really shouldn't.
"Ezra-"
"You had phone sex with my dad!"
Stavros looked up, Ezra followed his gaze even though his heart was pounding in his ears. A window on the third floor was open.
"Maybe let's lower our voices a bit."
"You had phone sex with my dad." Ezra said much quieter.
"I-I did." Stavros stepped towards him. The breeze of the day wasn't particularly strong or cold, but it was enough to ruffle Stavros' scrubs as it blew against him. "I had no idea. Neither did he by the sound of it. Ezra, I would never do anything to hurt you, you know that."
He did know that. Stavros wasn't known as Ezra's work dad because he constantly went around being a dick. Stavros was a good man, an honest man of humble beginnings. Their dads were so similar in the way they treated them. Stavros seemed to think the same thing.
"If I knew who he was- what he'd done to you, I never would've done anything with him."
"So you regret it?"
Stavros didn't reply.
"I'm trying, Stavros. I'm trying so hard to fix things with him. It was literally only today that he finally told me that he even had a boyfriend at some point and now you two are what? Dating? Hooking up?" Stavros opened his mouth to open, but Ezra didn't let him get the chance. "It doesn't matter. I know you. I know you're not a relationship sort of guy and I can't have my dad going back to his old self because he got his heart broken. Are you going to break his heart?"
Stavros nervously smiled. "How am I supposed to answer that? No one knows what will happen. It is too early to tell something like that. You know, I'm Greek, we have multiple words for love to avoid confusions like this. English speakers throw the word love around so carelessly." He turned slightly and pressed a hand to his face
He knew Stavros. He knew his issues with commitment. "You loved Andreas."
"And look where that got me!" Quickly, he looked back up to the open window. He looked back down once he was sure that no one was eavesdropping. His hand went back to his shoulder and he rubbed what Ezra knew to be a tattoo Stavros deeply regretted. "I understand. It won't change the fact that your dad is interested in men."
"Doesn't have to," said Ezra. "I won't lie. I want my dad to be happy. He's had his own Andreas and if he is going to date a man, I want that guy to commit to him forever."
Stavros seemed to visibly pale at the thought of such a long time. Strange for a man as tan as he was to look pale even for a second. "Then I'll help him find such a person." He forced a smile. Ezra was convinced that Stavros thought himself capable of fake smiling, but he had such a natural glow to him when he smiled genuinely that you could always spot the difference. Anyone could tell the difference between the sun and just a photo of it. "Don't worry. I'll keep the pervs away from him."