"Should we get creamy or original?" Cailen asked, holding up two different boxes of macaroni and cheese to Ezekiel.
They were in the supermarket picking up some groceries that they found they were in desperate need of after having gone home from Eden's last night.
Cailen had went to go make lunch and discovered they were quite low on food supplies, so they decided to go out for lunch and go grocery shopping afterwards.
Asher was beside him, leaning on the trolley and looking down at Ezekiel as he contemplated the very hard decision.
"Creamy!" Ezekiel finally decided, so Cailen tossed it in the trolley and set the other back on the shelf.
They were moving on down the aisle when they heard Ezekiel's name being called.
Ezekiel turned first, then Asher and Cailen, to see a blonde kid rushing down the aisle after them.
It was Tripp, the kid from Ezekiel's school that apparently never stopped talking.
Cailen glanced at Ezekiel to see the boy sighing in annoyance, but he didn't try to make a run for it and wasn't giving Cailen a pleading look, so maybe, Ezekiel was trying to be patient with the boy.
"Zeke! Wow, your shopping too!" Tripp exclaimed excitedly, coming to stop infront of Ezekiel.
Asher gave Cailen a questioning look but Cailen just shrugged and barely had time to wonder where Tripp's mother or father was before a blonde woman came rushing up behind Tripp, grabbing him by the shoulder.
"Tripp, honestly, are you trying to give me a heart attack?" The woman questioned, giving the boy a stern look that pretty much went ignored before she turned to Asher and Cailen. "Oh, hello. Sorry."
"That's okay." Cailen assured.
"Hello, Cailen." Tripp greeted, turning to Asher but then glancing over at Ezekiel. "Is this your Uncle?" Tripp questioned, looking to Asher again.
Asher gave a small chuckle, the chuckle breaking off into a sort of cough as he looked to Cailen, obviously not knowing what was going on here.
Cailen noticed Asher woke up this morning sounding a bit hoarse and heard him coughing and spitting into the sink as well and was beginning to wonder if maybe, he had caught Ezekiel's cold.
"Actually, Tripp, this is my husband Asher." Cailen introduced.
Cailen saw his mother's eyes widen which Cailen wasn't surprised to see, really.
Older people always seemed to treat the topic of 'Gay marriage' or anything related to it like it was something that shouldn't be discussed so as not to offend anyone.
Tripp on the other hand barely batted an eyelash.
"Oh. That's cool! So you have two Dads?" Tripp questioned, turning to Ezekiel again.
Ezekiel seemed to freeze up, his eyes widening slightly as he seemed to struggle with whether or not he should be correcting Tripp.
"Tripp, we really ought to be going." The mother said hastily.
Whether she sensed Ezekiel's awkwardness, was maybe homophobic, or she really just needed to go, Cailen had no way of knowing, but Ezekiel did ease up a bit as Tripp waved goodbye and followed his mother down the aisle.
Ezekiel turned to Asher and Cailen looking a bit unsure, probably assuming they might be upset that he hadn't said that they were his fathers, and yeah they might be but they still understood, so Cailen plastered on a smile and held out his hand to the boy.
"Come on, I think we need to pick up some cough medicine for Asher." Cailen said, giving Asher a knowing look.
Asher gave him a sheepish smile and ducked his head, following Cailen and Ezekiel down the aisle in the other direction.
"Yeah, I think you got me sick, buddy." Asher informed him.
Ezekiel frowned at this, looking quite upset that he was the reason Asher might be getting sick.
"I'm sorry." Ezekiel apologized.
"It's okay, just promise me you'll sit and watch Batman with me until I fall asleep. Deal?" Asher asked, sending him a soft, tired smile.
"Deal." Ezekiel grinned.
"Honestly, how much Batman can you two watch?" Cailen asked, trying to sound annoyed but he couldn't quite keep the fondness from his voice.
"About as much as you can watch Game of Thrones." Asher replied as they turned the corner.
Cailen scoffed.
"Do you know how long it's been since I've watched Game of Thrones?" Cailen asked, not waiting for an answer. "Years, because we're always watching Batman!" Cailen exclaimed.
He might be exaggerating but they didn't need to know that.
"You love it." Asher said immediately.
"Do not." Cailen shot back, and again, he might be lying but they didn't need to know that either.
*****
Cailen was just finishing making himself some tea, not really paying attention to anything else because it was much too early for him.
Cailen didn't normally get up until Asher came in to wake him before he left for work, but today, Cailen got up with Asher because it wasn't an ordinary day.
Today Asher was going to hand in his resignation for work.
"I'll see you later, love." Asher said, grabbing his jacket from the chair of the kitchen table.
"Yeah, remember Arabella's coming over this evening." Cailen reminded him sleepily, smiling at him over the rim of his tea cup as he leaned against the kitchen counter.
"Oh, right, yeah. Do you need me to pick anything up for dinner?" Asher asked, shuffling over to Cailen and stopping infront of him, his hands instinctively reaching out to meet any part of Cailen they could, settling on his hips.
Cailen shook his head, swallowing his tea, the hot burn of the liquid in his throat waking him slightly.
"No, we've got everything." Cailen explained.
Asher smiled, nodding as he leaned down to peck Cailen's lips in a farewell, but Cailen wasn't ready for him to go.
Cailen had noticed right away when he got up that there was something wrong with Asher. Cailen had thought that maybe it was just the cold he had picked up from Ezekiel but he knew that it wasn't that at all.
It didn't take long to figure it out, once he remembered what day it was. Cailen knew that Asher was probably a little upset at having to quit his job. Cailen could see the disappointment in his eyes, in the sad curve of his mouth and the slight slump of his shoulders.
He felt bad about this but knew there was no going back now, not after having told Ezekiel about Asher's decision, but Cailen still had to ask.
"Are you sure about this?" Cailen asked.
Asher paused for a moment, his eyes meeting Cailen's before they were crinkling at the corners as a sincere small laugh escaped his mouth.
"Really? Now you don't want me to quit?" Asher asked without any trace of sarcasm.
Cailen was fully aware of how stupid that sounded, but firefighting made Asher happy and Cailen wanted him to be happy.
"No, I just- I just know that you love doing this. You love being the hero, you love helping people... you love-"
"I LOVE you, and Zeke." Asher interrupted, pulling Cailen closer by the waist. "I LIKE firefighting. There’s a difference. I'll be fine, Cai. It'll take some getting used to but I'm sure I'll find something that I enjoy even more that doesn't risk my life and take such an emotional toll on everybody." Asher assured, pecking Cailen's lips once again.
Cailen nodded, sipping his tea again before sending Asher a small playful smile.
"I was thinking gym teacher." Cailen told him, smirking when Asher snorted.
"Yeah... I'm barely keeping it together with one child, I don't think twenty of them is going to do me any good." Asher teased. "But I have to go, I wanted to talk to the chief before everyone else got there... but now you've made me late." Asher frowned dramatically as Cailen rolled his eyes.
"Oh, I'm sorry for showing concern." Cailen replied, poking at Asher's side and smirking when he jumped away with a yelp. "Get out of here." Cailen said, the first and only time Cailen thought he'd ever be telling Asher to go to the firehouse.
"Bye, love you." Asher said quickly, leaning in to give Cailen another kiss goodbye before he was hurrying over to the door.
"Oh, and did you take some cough medicine?" Cailen called after him, just remembering that he hadn't actually seen Asher take any.
"Yes, mother, bye!" Asher called back and then he heard the click of the door, telling Cailen that Asher had left.
Cailen rolled his eyes at the comment, shaking his head slightly before pushing himself away from the counter to wake Ezekiel and get him ready for school
*****
"Okay, have a good day at school." Cailen said, bending down to kiss the top of Ezekiel's head.
Again, they were stood outside of Cailen's car that was parked outside the school, kids and parents surrounding them and saying their own farewells.
"It's school, Cailen." Ezekiel reminded him, his tone flat.
Cailen chuckled, ruffling the boy's hair, much to his dismay.
"Alright, try not to get into trouble. Better?" Cailen asked, quirking an eyebrow at the boy.
"I can't make promises." Ezekiel replied with a big grin on his face, surprising Cailen a little.
When did he get so cheeky?
"Just don't throw any books and we'll be good, okay?" Cailen warned, giving Ezekiel a stern look.
"Okay. Bye Cailen!" Ezekiel said, wrapping his arms around Cailen's waist for a moment in farewell before dashing off towards the school.
Cailen watched him, his pace slowing as he approached the school.
Cailen noticed that Ezekiel took a sharp turn away from the door and over to a small group of kids, one of whom Cailen recognized as Tripp.
Cailen drove to work with a smile on his face.