Notes/Pairings: Ezra/Vin, Chris.

Summary: A series of interconnected drabbles.

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Into the Morning Sun

It had been there from the start, that look in Vin's eyes, or at least he assumed it had. How had he missed it? 

"I..." Ezra stuttered, his usual capacity for speech deserting him. The blue eyes inches from his own twinkled merrily at him as their owner reached up and casually rubbed him on the shoulder. 

"You think about it, Ez," Vin said. "You know where to find me when you're ready." Then the irascible tracker sauntered off as if he hadn't a care in the world. 

Ezra just stood there outside the saloon, blinking into the morning sun. 

What was he supposed to do now?

**********

Choices

What was he supposed to do?

What was the right choice here?

Ezra had been running the last conversation he'd had with Vin Tanner over and over in his head for days now and still he'd come to no satisfactory
conclusion.

Vin Tanner wanted him. As a lover.

And he wanted Vin.

That was the problem. Relationships like those weren't normal. They weren't allowed.

But he wanted Vin.

It was a new sensation for him, wanting someone, someone wanting him. And that someone being a man? That was also new.

He'd taken more than his share of early morning patrols, trying to catch some time alone to figure this out. If it could work. If it should work. He'd catch sight of Vin occasionally, even though he was going out of his way to avoid the tracker.

He just didn't know what to do.

**********

Indecision

I watch him out of the corner of my eye, as I've been doing for days now, and wonder again if I made a mistake in bringing it all out into the open. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything. Then again, if I hadn't said anything, things might be infinitely worse.

I just know I couldn't have gone on the way it was before, hungering after him and saying nothing. It wasn't healthy, and it had been tearing me apart from the inside.

Unfortunately, it seems that my telling Ezra my feelings for him has done the same to him. My announcement is eating him up inside. He hasn't been eating properly all week and there are well-hidden circles under his eyes.

I don't think the others have noticed much, though Nathan's commented a time or two about Ezra taking his morning patrols. And mine. I don't think any of them realize how many he's been taking.

So. I'm back to regretting what I said, not for my sake, but for his.

Now what? Its not like I can take back what I said.

And I'm still not sure I want to.

**********

Release

In the end, the decision was taken away from him. Or at least his confusion was. Vin had respected the space he had set around himself and stayed away, and Ezra had continued to let that one unexpected conversation to eat away at the peace he had found in Four Corners.

Until him.

He nearly bumped into Chris on the boardwalk as he walked towards Mrs. Potter’s store, intent on purchasing more bullets for his derringer. Once the seven had settled here, she had started carrying a small amount of the hard to find ammunition just for him.

He staggered to a halt, looked up at the man in black. “Mr. Larabee.” He fell back on politeness, distancing himself from all of the seven, not just Vin, in his confusion.

“Let’s go, Ezra.”

“I’m afraid I cannot, Sir,” Ezra stated. He gestured towards the general store. “I need to…”

“No you don’t.” Chris held up a box of his derringer bullets.

Ezra stared back and forth, between Chris and the box, puzzled. He found himself at a loss for words.

“Let’s go,” Chris said again, and Ezra went.

“I have morning patrol.” Ezra tried again, once they were underway and his voice had come back to him.

Chris grinned that aggravating grin of his. “I know.”

Ezra’s horse was already saddled; apparently Chris had been planning the encounter on the boardwalk and had taken morning patrol into consideration.

Ezra frowned. He hated not being able to read his compatriots, and lately he had been completely off his game.

“It has to stop, Ezra,” Chris stated once they’d left the town. “You’re distracted. Someone’s going to get hurt.”
Ezra sighed. “Yes, I know. I’ll rectify the situation immediately.”

“Don’t think you’re reading the situation right at all, Ezra.”

Ezra glanced over at Chris, who studied the neck of his horse intently. Finally Chris met his gaze.

“Vin likes you, you like Vin, that much is obvious,” Chris began.

“I don’t…” he started, but Chris held up a hand, forestalling Ezra’s immediate disagreement.

“Let me finish. You two are discrete, the townsfolk won’t notice. The rest of us, we’re not blind, nor bigoted. Not even Nathan.” He paused. “You can trust us, Ezra.”

Ezra just stared, frozen in shock. Chaucer followed Chris’ horse because he wanted to, for Ezra was incapable of steering him at the moment.

“I…” he started.

Chris just smiled and pulled to a halt. “Go talk to Vin, Ezra. I’ll take patrol this morning.”

And before he knew what he was doing, Ezra had turned around and headed back towards town. Towards Vin, heart lighter, even through it’s pounding.

He was halfway home before he realized he had never retrieved his bullets from Chris.