2009

"The TA position really had me thinking about teaching." Ezra explained to Oscar as they walked down the main street of their hometown at Christmas, nearly five months post-Anthony.

He was not his best after the Incident, which was something he believed deserved a capital letter and perhaps a few trademarks after it. It half haunted his dreams at night, and when he allowed his mind to wander, he remembered Anthony saying how he didn't need him.

Which, Ezra knew, had always been absolutely true. Anthony hadn't needed him, but he was pretty sure he was wanted around most of the time. But maybe he had just become a bit too much of a fuddy dud for the smooth, cool ginger he adored so much. Perhaps, in his time away in London, Anthony had come to realize that Ezra wasn't the sort of person he wanted to spend his time with. And the time they were together, in a party filled with people Ezra only passively knew, only solidified that. Plus there was the awful bit about how he probably regretted that drunken snog in Deidre's kitchen, and thought Ezra following him had been a clingy, desperate thing.

It had haunted him for a reason, after all. That Ezra had said the wrong thing, did the wrong thing, made it so blatantly obvious he loved him without saying the words that Anthony lashed out in as hurtful a way as he could manage to get Ezra off his back.

It worked, of course it worked. Because Anthony had never needed him, it had always been the other way around.

Still, Anthony had apologized, and Ezra forgave him because how could he not? And he'd kept it brief and to the point, just like Anthony had. He didn't write the paragraphs and paragraphs he desperately wanted to to explain everything. To let Anthony know the door was always open, so to speak, because how could it not be after everything?

He had wondered if he did the right thing, not including the fact that he decided, in those last few months, not to continue at Oxford after all. He wouldn't have put the real reason, it would be too much to say the city haunted him now. While the school still held it's wonderful link to his father, and the honor of continuing a Fell tradition, everywhere else was tainted, either by memories of Anthony or even that of the man whose company he was in now.

And, he rationalized, a doctorate in English wasn't likely to get him very far in life, perhaps as a professor in a university, or as a writer or editor, though that had no appeal. Especially not with that being the field Eliza was heading into.

He didn't, despite wanting to, tell Anthony how he thought on his suggestion and decided to go into teaching after all. Ezra didn't think he really wanted to hear it, or cared to for that matter. But it was Anthony, as well as his mother, that influenced Ezra to gain his qualified teacher status. It was the latter that convinced him to move back home and gain it there.

"That's good." Oscar agreed, "probably easier to find work that way than something strictly in academia."

"That's very true." Ezra agreed. "And how are you? How have you been?" he asked as they stopped at a red light.

Around them snow fell, though not heavily. In the distance, Ezra could hear the faint sounds of Christmas carols being pumped out of a store front speaker. The town was decorated in that just slightly tacky way so many were, but there still felt like there was something missing from the scene.

"I've been alright." Oscar shrugged. "Been on a few horrible dates, recently. One bloke rambled on about Thatcher for an hour. Which, I suppose, political major. Except, I had asked him how his salmon was, and that somehow led to her."

Ezra chuckled as they began to cross the road.

"How about you? Aside from the school change. How've you… been?"

He knew what it was, that question. It was a very polite way of Oscar asking how he'd been since the thing with Anthony.

Because he was there. Somehow in those first few days, when he was only really half aware of what was going on, he'd called Oscar. They'd run into each other Christmas last, and when Oscar had realized he wasn't quite over Ezra, they parted ways with an understanding that they would try friendship again later on.

Later on apparently was when Anthony left, and Ezra hadn't known what to do about it or himself.

"It… helps and hinders being back here." Ezra said, gesturing about. "Hinders only because I'm nearly always afraid of running into him, or his family. Because I'm not sure I could handle seeing him right now, not if he didn't want to see me. And his family? I don't know what he told them, or what they might say. His father would be pleased, I know that."

"And the helps?" Oscar asked when Ezra didn't speak after a moment.

They stopped outside the cafe they were heading to, and Ezra took a deep breath of cool air to steady himself.

"It helps because this town has more good memories than bad, even if they all have Anthony in them. Here… it doesn't feel so awful to still love him. Here I can almost pretend that nothing else happened, that we simply went to different schools and grew apart like so many others do."

Oscar put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. "You know I'm willing to listen whenever you need to talk, right?"

"Of course." Ezra replied, putting his hand over Oscar's. "And allow me to say, I'm so pleased we were able to be friends again. I don't know what I would have done if it weren't for you."

"You would have had Gabriel." Oscar replied with a smirk as he pulled his hand away. "And we both know how much Gabriel would love to be there for you."

"Oh hush," Ezra said as Oscar opened the door. "I'd really rather not think on it."

~C~

2010

The beauty, AJ realized, of being given a flat last year, despite not really wanting one, was that he could avoid going back home during the holidays.

He didn't want to go back only to discover Ezra stayed in Oxford. Or worse, that he invited Gabriel home over the holidays. He didn't want to run into Eliza and see her scorn, because he knew she would have some. He didn't know how Ezra felt in the aftermath of everything, because being forgiven didn't mean all was forgotten, and every time AJ thought about that night, he felt himself sink a little deeper into the pit of self-loathing.

Which is probably why he was laying in bed in the early hours of the new year with one of his friends, naked, sharing a joint post-sex. Not that the sex, joint, or friend was bad, but it wasn't what AJ had wanted to do for new year's eve.

But Bea wasn't so bad. He'd met them when he switched to horticulture, which was something James hadn't known about, but since AJ wasn't around "that fairy" boy anymore, he had some leeway to decide what he wanted to do after the last school year.

Bea was either the good sort of bad people, or the bad sort of good people. They showed so little emotion that AJ wasn't sure they had any, not until the plant they'd been tending had a spot on its leaf, and Bea tore it a new one. It was bonding over their shared belief that the plant would respond better to threats that made them friends. Nothing more, though. AJ couldn't say he was particularly attracted to Bea on a grand scale, and Bea had no interest in him beyond a quick shag now and again.

But, at a stretch, they were friends. And friends, it turned out, wasn't something AJ had a lot of.

They touched his bicycle tattoo, a requisition made a few months ago.

"Why a bike?" They asked.

AJ turned his head to look at them. "Bicycle. Bi."

"Bit inaccurate." They smirked.

He shrugged. "Well, suppose it is these days. Have sworn off blokes and all."

Bea arched a brow. "I'm not a girl." They replied.

AJ smirked. "Not a bloke either, are you?"

They chuckled at that, Bea handing AJ the joint.

He took a hit, blowing out the smoke out above their heads. "So, talked to James." He said, "He's pissed I won't intern with him."

"Not surprising." Bea replied. "But then, he doesn't know you aren't taking business anymore."

"Don't fucking need the rest of it. I don't need a damn bachelors or anything. I talked to a guy at the bank, I just need to prove I have the knowledge and skills to run a business, provide a plan, et cetra, and I can get a loan. Good credit and all, thank you mummy."

"Your mum gave you a credit card?" Bea asked, taking the joint back.

"No, she backed me so I could get one." AJ frowned. "James is the one that keeps trying to serve me shit on silver platter. 'Oh, you can have your education paid for, but where I can keep an eye on you, and as long as you don't fuck boys. Oh you can have your inheritance, just keep your dick out of another man."

"Or don't let one put theirs in you." Bea pointed out, their hands smacking AJ's chest in the process of gesturing to emphasize their point.

"Right?" AJ said, his head feeling pleasantly light. "Which is fine, because men are… stupid. And I want nothing to do with them again."

Bea stared at him a moment. "Is this because of that Ezra guy you went on about one time?"

AJ went sad so quickly, his head spung. "He was beautiful. And smart, and wonderful. And I, like a fucking idiot, told him I didn't need him. Because some other bloke got to him first. My best fucking friend, and I said 'I don't need you'. Like, what the hell was I thinking?"

"That you don't need him." Bea replied. "Because you don't. He's just a guy. Best friend or not. And really, you said you snogged him and then he went off with someone else? Yeah, he was-"

"Don't." AJ shook his head. "Don't say anything bad about him, alright? Man's an angel. Bloody fucking angel."

"You're stoned." Bea remarked dryly.

"So are you," AJ retorted, gesturing for the joint. Instead of handing it over, Bea put it to his lips. He took a hit, and then they did as well, setting it aside in the ashtray.

"Wanna go again?" Bea asked.

AJ shrugged. "Why not."

~A~

"Sometimes I wonder if coming back here was been a mistake." Ezra confessed to his mother as he helped her make dinner.

"It's only placement," She reminded him, placing a hand briefly on his arm before resuming her task.

He glanced at her, and felt his heart twist. She still wasn't old, he didn't think she could ever be properly old in his mind. But Cynthia Fell looked her near-seventy years. Her hair was white, fine streaks of silver, and her hands and face had more lines than Ezra could ever recall. She had aged far more rapidly in the ten years since his father died, but somehow he hadn't noticed until now. Now that he was with her everyday again, he could see how some tasks were getting more difficult for her. Not that she was incapable, but she was slower than she had been.

It made him realize that time with her would be limited. Another twenty or thirty years.

"In a couple months you can see if the secondary across town is hiring, and if they aren't would covering a maternity leave in your old school be so terrible?"

"It wouldn't be easy," he replied. "All the ones who were there when I was remember me from back then. And more than that, they remember who my friend was. And they ask about him, and I…."

"You just say what I told you to say, that you lost touch after you left secondary. It happens."

"But I can't." Ezra said to her, allowing his emotion out. All the hurt, frustration, anger and heartache. He was always safe to do that with his mum. "I can't because I… hate myself for admitting it, even a year after it happened. But when I think about him, I still think of how much I love him. Because I do, terribly. Even if he broke my heart. Even… even though I said something I didn't mean and ruined everything."

"Ezra, honey, you didn't." Cynthia tried to assure.

"Oh, but I did." Ezra smiled sadly. "I could have done so many things. Tried harder, gone to him to patch things up. But I didn't, and now…."

"Now, you move on." His mother said firmly. "Maybe you love him for the rest of your life, maybe you don't. Maybe you meet someone and forget him, or maybe you meet him again later on and things click. Until then, find ways to be happy." Cynthia smiled warmly. "Don't sit around and wait for a man, love. I didn't. I went out and lived my life, and the right man found me. Yours will find you, too."

2011

~C~

There had been a flaw in Anthony's plan, one he hadn't foreseen.

"Why!?" He demanded of an impassive James, sat sprawled in the middle of the sofa in their new London town house as if it were a throne.

Erica sat fuming in a chair off to the side, her eyes glaring at James and her mouth screwed up tight.

James shrugged. "Think of the lifestyle you lead." He replied calmly.

AJ looked at between his mum and James, trying to get a hint. "What the hell does that mean?" He asked. "I did everything you asked of me. Everything. I left a school I liked, and then I moved off campus like you wanted, and took the courses you wanted me to take. The only thing I didn't do was continue on with a bachelors, and that was with your blessing. So forgive me, but what the actual fuck ."

"You have come home with tattoos. You're seen in the company of less than reputable people-"

"Gay people, you mean." Anthony interjected.

"You're disrespectful!" James snapped, then smoothed his collared shirt and straightened up. "You left a perfectly stable program, for a perfectly stable job to go work with plants."

"Horticulture would be more stable than playing with figures. How many of your colleagues have gone bankrupt over the years?" AJ countered.

"Only the stupid ones." James retorted. "Which, if this is the way you want to go, you probably would have been one of them anyway."

AJ huffed, scrubbing a hand down his face. "So, what am I supposed to do, then?"

"Do something worthy of it, and I'll hand you your trust fund." James replied. "In the meantime, maybe find honest work. Perhaps some hard labor will smarten you up. You were never one to get your hands dirty."

AJ grit his teeth and nodded, giving a little sniff. "Alright." He said, already having a few prospects in mind. "See what I can do."

Turning on his heel, AJ walked out of the living room and out to the foyer. He roughly sat down on the bench to pull on his boots, glancing up as Erica came in after him. He shook his head, got up, and left the town house.

Erica followed.

"Hey," She started, trying to keep pace with him.

"Don't," AJ snapped, but without any real heat behind it. "Just… don't."

"Anthony," Erica tried again, and Anthony stopped, turning to face her.

"You know, I realize it's been a couple years, but I still… you know the whole reason Ezra said what he did to me was because he knew the conditions James put on … everything. He knew what would happen, and I snapped at him and got pissy because I thought he said what he did because of a date with Gabriel and the fact that I… you know, it doesn't matter. But here I am, having lost my best friend, and still not getting what I was constantly promised for as long as I can remember. Happy bloody birthday me." He pulled at his hair, the strands a lot longer than James probably would have liked. They were reaching past his shoulder now, and a small part of him wondered if maybe he'd have gotten a haircut, he wouldn't have been denied what he was told was his.

Erica took his hands out of his hair and held on to them. "I'm sorry." She said. "I know you were really hoping to get the business going. If you want, I can talk to Tony-"

"No," AJ cut her off right away. "No, he… he already did enough for me, for this." He grinned, chuckling dryly. "Said Chrissy got her car when she was seventeen, and he was about eight years over due."

Erica blinked. "He got you a car?"

"Well, a sport utility thing. Thought it would be handy for someone working with plants and what not. Which, I thought was funny, but now that it looks like I might just have to find work in a greenhouse or something somewhere."

"I'll keep an ear out for something," Erica said with a sympathetic look.

"Yeah, sure. Okay mum." He rolled his eyes. "You let me know if all your doctor or nurse co-workers suddenly need someone to watch their plants."

"Would that really be so bad?" She asked.

"Yes." AJ retorted. "I would rather keep working as a bloody barista than work on the Garden of some pompous asshole."

Erica snorted.

"What?" he asked.

"Did it occur to you, at all, that that could very well be what you would end up doing with a career in horticulture?"

"No," he retorted glumly. "Because my plan had been to open my own nursery. I had a bloody business plan done up."

"I know," Erica assured.

But AJ didn't feel assured. He felt a lot of things, and none of them were good. He hugged his mum, told her he wasn't sure he still wanted to do dinner that night, and walked back to his flat.

Buck up, a voice in his head that sounded strangely like a very specific blonde told him. It's not like you didn't expect this on some level. And just think of the experience you could gain. After all, no one said you had to still work in London .

The first place AJ thought of was Oxford, but what were the chances he'd still be there after two years? Probably slim, even if he did really pursue the academic route, he likely would have traveled somewhere else for it. Like Edinburgh. Or the states.

~A~

"Cancer." Ezra repeated.

Had to. He couldn't wrap his mind around what his mother was telling them. He looked to Eliza, and found her also quite incredulous. She turned to him as well, and reflected back at him was the fear slowly sinking in. The understanding, the implications.

She was less than a year away from seventy.

"We're going to start treatments very soon." She assured them. "It… it wasn't caught as early as it might have been, but-"

"We told you." Eliza half snapped. "Time, and time again we told you to go to the doctor. You've been feeling like shit for months! Before Ez even moved out! We've been telling you-"

"Liza," Ezra tried to sooth, but Eliza smacked his hands away.

"No! No!" She hollered at him. "No, you should've… you're the one here, and you… and, you, mum, you…"

Then she burst into sobs. Uncontrollable wailing sobs that Ezra wasn't sure came strictly from the news. Frustration, too, was likely a big factor. They had been telling her for quite some time to go for a check up, that at her age she really shouldn't be missing them. It was a fainting spell a couple weeks ago sending Cynthia to the hospital that likely finally made her get a diagnosis.

It might have been a little bit of guilt that had Eliza break. Shea went from university straight into the workforce, taking up a job in a paper in Tadfield where they needed a copy editor just as she was graduating. She never came back home like he had, and probably didn't call as often as Ezra did, despite only living a short bus ride away.

He could also understand her yelling at him, because he moved out into his own, small flat to be closer to the job he gained after his placement. Where he wouldn't see people wearing the uniform he had once donned, and didn't need to hear about that boy with the funny eyes.

But, Ezra supposed, Eliza may have just experienced the same sort of holiday depression that followed many who lost that wonderful feeling or romance and wonder December brought as a child. She'd probably stuffed it down, and put a lid on it, only to have the terrible news break the carefully constructed facade of cheer that she thought she could finally loosen up on now that the worst had passed.

It was the day after Christmas, the tree still in the corner of the Fell family home's living room. The damn thing sparkled and twinkled like they should hold on to that cheer from the day before despite the darkness now clouding over them. They had the days before to celebrate and make merry, and then his mother broke the news to them today.

Merry bloody Christmas.

2012

Ezra had gone with his mother to her first chemo treatment, but she hadn't wanted him in the room. Just there to drive her home afterward. Which he would, despite how he really didn't enjoy driving. But he couldn't very well allow his elderly mother to drive herself if she was feeling ill, and Eliza returned to Tadfield just a short time after Christmas.

"We can have a weekend away," Gabriel insisted over the phone as Ezra sat outside in the hospital cafeteria, sipping a tea and people watching until it was time to go back up and see his mum. "Maybe we can go to London?"

"I'm not sure that's going to be a good idea." Ezra replied with a sigh. "For one, mum might need me here."

"She's already telling you you need to get out of that town." Gabriel replied quickly. "She doesn't want you hanging about on her account."

"Yes, I'm aware of that, thank you." Ezra replied a touch sharply. He sighed. "But she doesn't know how she's truly going to feel afterward. And while I appreciate that there will be a home nurse around for when I can't be, I really just want to be around when I can."

Gabriel hummed in understanding.

"And, really, it helps when I'm there, I think, because then she gets to talk about the trip she wants us to take."

"Us, as in…?" Gabriel asked instantly, and Ezra rolled his eyes because who did Gabriel think he meant?

"She, Eliza, and I," Ezra replied, shaking his head. As he did, something - or rather someone - caught his eye. Ezra's heart skipped a beat when he spotted a head of perfectly coiffed ginger hair in the exact shade of a particular man he once knew. He swallowed, because it couldn't possibly be him. He forced himself to continue speaking to Gabriel while keeping his eye on the man.

"She had been saving up for it for ages, but kept putting it off." Ezra explained. "Now that there may be a…." He trailed off when the ginger turned his head, his features lean, sharp. "May… be…." Ezra slowly stood up as he really took in the form.

Tall, lithe, ginger, that jaw line. Ezra's heart was positively pounding, as hope and fear and doubt all warred within him, the desire to run after him and shout fighting hard against the desire to stand still. He could hear Gabriel on the phone, voice growing farther away as Ezra's arm slowly dropped to the side.

"Anthony," Ezra's mouth moved without his permission, and his voice formed the sound that made its way across the cafeteria, just loud enough to be heard.

And stop a doctor heading for the ginger's table in his tracks. And the ginger, who had been standing up, looked around, too.

With his blue eyes. Blue eyes in Anthony's face, except it wasn't Anthony at all. He was far too young to be him, like looking at a ghost from the past that someone didn't get quite right.

"Ezra!" Gabriel's voice came loud, and he immediately snapped the phone back to his ear and turned around, marching out of the cafeteria.

"Sorry, sorry." Ezra said, his voice shaking. "I just… I just thought… he looked so much like him."

"You alright, sunshine?"

"Yes." Ezra choked out, barely able to keep himself from bursting into tears at the absolute crushing disappointment of it not being who he thought. Or hoped. "Yes, I'm fine. Sorry… what were we talking about?"

~C~

"This is exactly what I said I wouldn't do," AJ grumbled to himself as he carried his bag up to the large, white estate house with an American flag fluttering over the door.

He ended up working two jobs since his twenty-fifth birthday just over a year ago, his original one a barista, and the second in a little nursery just outside of Soho in London. In the year, he interviewed for many other, more lucrative jobs, even going so far as to fall back on his business degree and try and get a foot in the door with a firm as a last resort.

He learned a lot of the experience, both of himself and of others. For one, he learned that many people will want him to look a certain way, change what he could, and AJ learned there was only so much of that he would take. He would not cut his hair, but he was willing to pull it back in a low ponytail or a braid. More extreme would be a bun, but there comes a certain point in which it's too much weight in one spot on the back of his head. For another, people were assholes, but since he couldn't take his literal eyes out because they were deemed too unprofessional, he learned the art of colored contacts for work.

He also learned that blue made his eyes look green, green like hazel, and that he really shouldn't have wasted his money and had gone with brown from the get go.

It was after figuring all this out that his old horticulture teacher got in touch with him and told him there was a job he might be interested in. It helped being the favorite of his year when the older man told him about the American diplomat looking for a live-in Gardener to tend the estate. Preferably someone without a family as the house was small, and single since there was nothing around the estate, and the constant coming and going of a commuting spouse would be a hassle for the secret service.

AJ was told to park what felt like a mile away from the house, but was actually more like a hundred meters. Staff parking, he had been told when handed his security badge.

He went up to the front door, eyeing the secret service guys standing stoically nearby as he ran the bell. Perfectly normal, men in black suits and sunglasses standing around looking all cool.

Maybe he should get sunglasses. Might mean working around outside without the damn contacts if they were dark enough.

The front door opened to an older gentleman looking like he was so beyond tired that he hadn't been merely tired since the nineties. Somewhere in the house a child was screaming, and a woman with a thick Scottish brogue was telling him to do something that nearly sounded like "put the knife down."

"Can I help you?" The man asked.

"I'm Anthony Crowley, the new gardener." He replied.

"I have it, Tom," An American woman asked.

A petite woman with deep brown hair and lovely brown eyes appeared beside the butler, relieving him of standing by the door. She was in a dress, one AJ thought was a bit warm for this time of year, but maybe where she came from it was warmer.

"Sorry about… everything." She said, waving behind her. "TJ's a bit of a wild one." She said with a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

"TJ." He said. "I tend to go by AJ."

"Oh, well." She said, fluttering her hands in a weirdly familiar way. "I'm Harriet. Thad's away right now, but he usually is. He said you'd be by the week. Come on in, it's easier cutting through the house than going around the back." She said, stepping aside and letting AJ in.

For some reason when the large door closed behind him, AJ got the weirdest feeling that something had clicked into place for him, even if this job was nowhere near the dream he thought it would be.

It's destiny, that voice that sounded like Ezra flashed across his mind. This is where you're meant to be.

~A~

"This is a terrible idea," Ezra was saying to Eliza on the phone as he walked through the London evening to the bistro where he was meeting his blind date.

"Look, you haven't been on a date in a year, and what's more, you've never had more than a first date in four years. Just shut up and go, I'm certainly not going to talk you out of it. If you had really wanted someone to do that, you would have called Gabriel."

"I suppose." Ezra agreed reluctantly. "I'm just… not sure. I haven't actually met the man."

"Sorta the idea behind a blind date, Ez." She quipped back.

He paused, seeing the bistro around the corner, a flutter of nerves coursing through him.

"We both know he's going to take one look at me and promptly turn around and leave. Unless he got here first, and then he's going to take one look at me and find a way to excuse himself."

"Don't be hard on yourself." Eliza replied, then after a beat asked, "You're not wearing the coat, are you?"

Ezra was nearly offended. "It's a tip-top condition antique!" He countered. "Quite stylish, even today."

"Oh god," Eliza grumbled. "He's going to take one look at you and think you're some sorta wacko professor. You're doomed to be single for the rest of your life."

"I didn't have time to change between work and catching the train." He grumbled. "Otherwise, maybe, I might have reconsidered the look."

"You could have changed your whole look for the day." Eliza reminded him.

"Yes, but that would have likely caused questions." He sighed. "And let's face it, Eliza. Even if I came in the best fitting suit available, I'm not… fit." He hated that word. Hated all the implications around it. He could admit he had a handsome face in a distinguished sort of way, but everything else had gone a little softer and a bit rounder in the last few years. And he hadn't exactly been much to look at beforehand.

"If he doesn't like you for you, he's not worth your time, and we both know that. So, buck up! Hike up your sock garters, and march in there."

"I'm not wearing sock garters." Ezra grumbled as he started moving.

"Really? Because they would work very well with the rest of your ancient attire."

"Goodnight, Eliza." He said before hanging up, hearing her affectionate laugh before the phone flipped closed.

Straightening his jacket, and then his bow tie, Ezra continued onward.

He wondered how much his well meaning coworker told this man about him. Did they say Ezra was a bit old fashioned? A bit soft? A bit too passionate about literature and food? Or were they leaving it all for a surprise.

Ezra walked in, lamenting internally that this place really was absolutely perfect for a first date. It was dimly lit enough to be romantic, but not so much that you couldn't see. The tables were well spaced, and the food smelled divine. The hum of light conversation floated around him, weaving its way through the string music.

"Ezra." A man called, and he turned toward the voice.

A lovely looking man with long-ish dark hair and brilliant eyes waved him over, and he smiled in return, offering a little wave before he ventured over.

"Richard," He greeted. "Pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise." He replied. "I wish I could say I'd heard so much about you, but if I'm to be honest, all I heard about you was that you were gay, handsome, but a bit anachronistic."

Ezra's smile turned sheepish. "Well, if I'm to be honest as well, I only heard you were handsome and gay, and why don't I just give you a chance because I seemed lonely."

Richard laughed, gestured to the seat across from him, and took his own.

"So," Richard began. "I suppose the easiest place to start would be, what do you do for fun?"

"Oh," Ezra blushed. "Admittedly not much of what anyone would call fun. I tend to read."

"I'm guessing classics?"

"Anything, or nearly so. Though I admit the classics are my favorite. At the moment I'm going through a bit of a Wilde phase."

Richard chuckled as Ezra smirked, and then said, "I admit that, while I'm sure I should be a fan of Wilde, to some degree, I'm actually terribly fond of the Bronte sisters."

"Do you have a favorite?"

"Well," Richard replied, and so it began.

The evening was lovely, really. They had a lot in common, and chatted about it through the appetizers, main course, and then dessert. After one more pot of tea, when it was late enough that Ezra had really better think about getting the train back home, they left the bistro together, side by side.

"I had a lovely time." Ezra said, wringing his hands.

"So did I," Richard replied, sounding very surprised.

They walked a few more steps, when Ezra reached out a hand and stopped him. "I feel, though, that because we had a wonderful evening, I should be very honest with you."

"Alright." Richard nodded, seeming unperturbed.

"I like you." Ezra began. "But I find myself… lacking attraction to you. I do hope you're not offended."

"No," Richard said, sounding relieved. "No I… feel the same way." He said with a light hearted chuckle."And I was really hoping… see I have this mate. And he's wonderful and gorgeous, but I'm just not attracted to him, and he… is very attracted to me."

"Oh, I do know what you mean. I also have a friend who is very much like that." Ezra replied quickly. "I've known him for, oh, eight years now, and he… still asks me out on a date at least once a year."

"Oh, really?" Richard asked sympathetically.

"Like clockwork. See there was… well, there were a couple instances where, about this time of year, I had a break up of sorts, and both times he was quite the eager beaver, trying to swoop in and… I don't know."

"Twice? It's happened twice and he still hasn't gotten the hint?"

"One can't blame him for being dedicated, I suppose. I mean, the second break up of sorts… I was never actually with the man I 'split' from. We were just…. But the first? I had been with that man for four years."

"Four years? What happened?"

"Oh, we just wanted different things. And, really, different peo- OH!" He said quite suddenly. "I know you probably don't want to hear this, but I do know someone you might want to meet. My ex, Oscar."

"Your ex?" Richard replied.

"Yes," Ezra said, placing an assuring hand on Richard's arm. "We were friends prior to our romantic entanglement, and while it took some time we've become great friends again. We were very young when we got together, you see, and we learned a lot about ourselves since. Oh, I do think you two would get on quite well."

Richard stared at Ezra a moment before sighing. "How about you, me, and this Oscar get together for some drinks sometime." And then with a smirk, added, "you could meet my friend David."

"The one who pines for you?" Ezra asked.

"One in the same."

"Seems a bit unfair, I'm not introducing you to Gabriel." Ezra countered with a grin.

"Bring him along, too. More the merrier. Perhaps, with luck, David and he will be the two to get on. Mind, that would leave you a bit of a fifth wheel."

"I can manage, my dear fellow."

Richard laughed. "Alright, next week, that pub," he said, pointing to the place across the street. "The four or five of us will meet up, and see how it goes."

"Wonderful. You have my number still?"

"I do," Richard nodded.

"Excellent. We'll keep in touch then." Ezra said, offering his hand for a shake. Richard accepted, and they parted ways.

The first thing Ezra wanted to do was tell Anthony about it.

What he did was open his messages to Oscar, and began to send him the invitation for the following week.