"Okay, before we go in there, I want to talk to you." Cailen told Ezekiel, pulling on the boy's hand to get him to come to a stop.
Ezekiel turned and blinked up at him curiously, if not a little impatiently.
"Ash- Dad, is still a bit tired, love. He can get a bit... grumpy, okay? I don't want you to think it has anything to do with you. It's all the medication he's taking. He might be sleeping, or he might randomly fall asleep, but I don't want you to think it had anything to do with you. He asked to see you, alright? He wants to see you, no matter how grumpy or tired he may seem." Cailen explained softly, running his fingers through Ezekiel's now short hair.
Cailen missed the longer hair and how it was easier to play with but the shorter hair did look better on him, not so messy.
"Okay, should I still give him my picture?" Ezekiel asked, sounding a bit worried that the picture might upset him.
"Of course, he'll love it." Cailen assured and then he was guiding Ezekiel into the room.
The room was dark which probably meant Asher was sleeping and a nurse had come by and turned off the lights.
The two of them slowly crept into the room, not wanting to wake Asher if he was sleeping, which by the look of it, he was.
Cailen led Ezekiel to the right side, not wanting to risk bumping into any of Asher's burns.
Ezekiel climbed up into one of the chairs beside the bed, his picture still held in his hands and getting crumpled slightly.
Cailen was surprised he was being so quiet, like he truly didn't want to wake Asher. He was expecting Ezekiel to try and wake him up the second he got in here.
"He looks better." Ezekiel said quietly, smiling up at Cailen.
Cailen suddenly remembered the last time Ezekiel saw him, Asher was throwing up in a bucket.
"Yeah, a bit, love." Cailen agreed, sitting beside him.
"Do you have to work?" Ezekiel asked, keeping his voice low.
"No, not tonight." Cailen told him.
He had gotten a nurse to take the other half of his shift. He didn't want to have to leave Ezekiel here with Asher in case Asher couldn't handle having him in the room for long.
He didn't know how well behaved Ezekiel would be, although he seemed pretty well behaved now.
They'd have to wait till Asher woke up, though.
"We should have brought Batman!" Ezekiel said a bit more loudly, soon flinching at the volume of his voice. "We could have watched it together." He said in a much quieter tone but Asher must have heard him before and stirred beside them.
Cailen had never thought to bring any movies or anything. There was a television in the room for Asher, though Asher was probably sick of watching it and probably couldn't stay awake long enough to watch much of anything.
"Dad?" Ezekiel asked quietly, his eyes now trained on Asher tilting his head.
Asher didn't move for a moment, not seeming to have heard Ezekiel, or not realizing he should respond to that name.
"Dad?" Ezekiel repeated and this time, Asher opened his eyes, little slits at first, but once he seemed to spot Ezekiel, they opened completely, a smile forming on his lips.
Asher lifted his head and tried to sit up but he struggled a bit with only having one useful arm at the moment.
"Zeke, you're here." Asher croaked out, his voice dry and raspy.
Cailen immediately reached for the glass of water and handed it to Asher for him to take a sip. When he was done, Cailen set it back on the table and nodded when Asher sent him a thankful smile, then he just sat back down and let the two catch up, just watching them interact.
"Your hair," Asher mumbled, his eyes raking over the lack of loose locks on top of Ezekiel's head.
"Papa made me get a haircut so I could have ice cream." Ezekiel grumbled.
Cailen couldn't help but smile because he remembered Ezekiel grumbling about having to get a haircut but that he would because he really wanted the ice cream.
"I like it, very handsome." Asher smiled sleepily.
"Papa let me come see you." Ezekiel explained and if Asher noticed the 'Papa' part, he didn't show it.
"Yeah, he told me he was going to bring you." Asher smiled even more, leaning his head back against his pillow but keeping his eyes on Ezekiel.
"And I made you a picture!" Ezekiel said excitedly, waving his piece of paper out infront of him, shuffling to the edge of his seat.
Cailen instinctively reached up, hovering a hand over his shoulder in case he slipped.
He didn't, and Asher was able to reach out and grab the paper from him, a curious look on his face.
"I hope you like it. I worked all day on it." Ezekiel explained, turning a bit shy.
"And just when did you draw this picture?" Cailen suddenly asked, realizing he was supposed to be in school all day and if he was in school, when did he have the time to spend 'all day' drawing a picture.
Ezekiel didn't answer. Instead, he just smiled innocently over his shoulder at Cailen and turned back around to watch Asher.
Cailen let it go for now, making a mental note to talk to Ezekiel about actually paying attention in school.
"Dadman?" Asher asked, turning to Ezekiel once he had looked the picture over. "Who's Dadman?" Asher looked from Ezekiel to Cailen but Cailen just glanced away because this wasn't for him to explain.
"You are. Because you're my Dad and you save people, like Batman." Ezekiel said simply, maybe a hint of shyness to his voice like he's realized this is the first time he's referring to Asher as 'Dad' to his face.
Asher blinked at Ezekiel, his brow furrowing for a moment as he processed what Ezekiel had just said.
Eventually, his eyes made it back to Cailen's, Cailen smiling at him and nodding his head because he could tell Asher was trying to ask if that had really just been said.
"Zeke..." Asher whispered, looking back to the boy who was sitting on the edge of his seat, waiting for a review on his picture.
"Dad..." Ezekiel mimicked, giggling slightly.
A noise escaped Asher's mouth, something between a laugh and a sob and Cailen could see his eyes getting shiny, something he would definitely be blaming on the medication.
Cailen wouldn't tell him that he had been torn between crying and laughing as well when Ezekiel first called him 'Dad', when Ezekiel first accepted them as a part of his life.
"Do you like the drawing, Ash?" Cailen asked around a small lump in his throat, stopping to clear his throat and compose himself before he started crying too.
It was different experiencing it with Asher there as well and it had those emotions stirring in him again.
"I- I love it." Asher choked out, setting the drawing on his lap so he could wipe at his eyes. "Thank you, buddy. It's amazing." Asher praised, looking to Ezekiel.
Ezekiel grinned at his father and shuffled off his seat, hopping to the floor and then trying to climb up beside Asher.
Asher shuffled over a bit and Cailen stood, slipping his hands under Ezekiel's arms to help him up on the bed where he gently leaned down to give Asher a half hug.
Asher used his one good arm and wrapped it around Ezekiel's back, hugging the boy close.
Asher peeked over his shoulder to smile at Cailen and when Ezekiel pulled away, Asher reached to Cailen's hand to hold onto it, sending a message they couldn't really talk about right now.
This is what they had wanted since they adopted Ezekiel, to be accepted fully into Ezekiel's life and they had finally got it.
Ezekiel settled down beside Asher, curling up against his side and resting his head on Asher's chest as Asher continued to hold onto Cailen's hand.
Cailen settled back into Ezekiel's previous chair since it was closer, kicking off his shoes and setting them up at the end of the bed and leaning back in the chair.
He was exhausted, to be honest. For the past little while, he's basically been a single parent working a full time job and he was starting to really feel it.
He wouldn't be surprised if he passed out here in the chair before it was time to leave.
He didn't know how single mothers did this, and lots of them had three or four children, never mind just one.
"Hey," Asher whispered, squeezing Cailen's hand.
Cailen glanced at him, sending him a tired smile.
"Take a nap, I'll stay awake."
Cailen knew he shouldn't, he knew Asher couldn't really make himself stay awake if he got tired enough but the idea was very tempting.
"You're surgery is on Monday." Cailen said instead.
Asher nodded at this, a nurse having already reminded him no doubt.
"And Physio starts on Friday." Cailen mumbled, that napping idea sounding more and more appealing.
"Yes, Nurse Cailen. Now, sleep." Asher instructed, his thumb stroking along Cailen's knuckles.
"Sleep, Papa. I'll take care of Dad." Ezekiel assured.
Cailen watched a smile creep over Asher's lips, Cailen knowing exactly what the cause of that smile was.
"Alright, just a short nap. Wake me up in a little bit, okay?" Cailen said to the both of them because chances are Asher was going to fall asleep before he could remember to wake Cailen.
"Okay." They both chimed.
Soon, Cailen was closing his eyes and falling asleep to the sounds of Asher and Ezekiel discussing what kind of missions 'Dadman' would go on if he were a real superhero.