"Ezra." Kaelis places Lior down on the ground as soon as they get close to him. "This little guy has something to say to you."
Ezra pulls himself out of his thoughts and looks down at Lior, who walks toward him slowly, shy and almost guilty.
'He looks like he's about to cry again. My poor boy.'
Ezra lowers himself to one knee in front of him.
Lior keeps his gaze down.
"What do you want to tell me?" Ezra asks softly, holding himself back from reaching out and pulling him into a tight hug.
His chest feels tight.
Like something inside him is pushing, telling him to stop caring about the fact that Kaelis is watching and just hold his son.
But now—
Now that Ezra has finally let himself acknowledge it, even just inside his own head, that Kaelis is Lior's father… everything feels heavier.
Years of denying it.
Years of pushing the thought away because of the embarrassment, the humiliation, the shame of having been that vulnerable with someone like Kaelis.
