Little Ezra || agere (ON HOLD)

T W E L V E

𝑬𝒁𝑹𝑨

I woke up feeling worse than I had before I fell asleep on Trey's chest. So much worse, in fact, that I could barely even open my eyes. Once I was able to get them open, I realized I was no longer in the living room nor was I in my room.

I managed to sit up slowly, whining at the way my head began pounding once I did, and looked around. The room I was in being Amanda's, but neither her or Trey were anywhere to be found.

My first instinct was to get up and go look for one of them, but my body felt too weak, so I did the next best thing.

I laid back down, cuddling into the fluffy blanket that was wrapped around me, and closed my eyes. I must have fallen asleep, because when I woke up, Trey was sitting on the bed next to me, rubbing my back softly.

Wait.

When did I turn onto my stomach?

"Hey, baby" He whispered softly, realizing that I was now awake. I didn't respond, only moved so I was laying with my head in his lap. I still didn't feel like talking, my throat was hurting too bad. In this moment, all I wanted was for him to hold me.

Trey began massaging my scalp gently, it was helping with my headache. I glanced around the room a little bit, once again wondering why I was in Amanda's room instead of my own. With what little strength I had in me, I managed to work up the energy to ask Trey why we were in here.

I winced at my own voice, sounding raspier and deeper than usual. He told me I had requested to lay in here instead, which I do not remember doing.

A few minutes later, Amanda walked in the room, holding a sippy cup with hot tea, and a regular mug, that being empty. "Is he big?" She asked Trey softly, as if I wasn't right here. I smiled slightly realizing she probably thought I was asleep because of how I was laying on Trey's lap.

"He's big" I told her, surprising myself with the sudden urge to want to talk. She nodded, smiling, and pour the tea into the mug. I sat up slowly, with the help of Trey, taking the mug from her.

The first sip of the tea, I almost moaned at the flavor. It was my favorite tea, peppermint. I grinned at her, mouthing a thank you, not wanting to potentially make my throat hurt any worse by talking.

"I'm gonna need you to drink this, Ez"

Amanda held a small medicine cup in her hand, containing what I knew was most likely NyQuil from its green color.

"No," I pointed at her seriously. She knows how much I hate the taste of cough medicines, why couldn't she have gotten the pills.

"You gotta take it if you wanna feel better, babe" Trey said from beside me, rubbing my back gently. My eyes fluttered shut at the action.

Everything he's been doing since I got sick has been so soothing and calming. Especially the way he treats me even when I'm big.

"It doesn't taste good" I said quietly, slowly, hoping to preserve my throat just a bit. "Come on, you can do it" He encouraged. I took another sip of the tea, ignoring Trey, hoping they would leave me alone about drinking the medicine.

"What happened to that brave boy from the other day? Hmm?" He grabbed my chin, making me turn my head towards him. I smiled a little, remembering when Trey had helped me down the stairs when I was little that day.

"I was little," I tilted my head slightly. "But you were still being brave" Trey said softly, his thumb caressing my cheek gently. I couldn't help the way I leaned into his touch slightly. "I guess," I whispered, closing my eyes, enjoying this moment.

I was soon snapped out of my trance by Amanda, snapping her fingers behind me. "Excuse me, I'm still here" She rolled her eyes playfully.

"And I'm having a heartfelt moment with my caregiver" I sassed back, my voice sound slightly better than before and my throat not as sore.

Trey's thumb stopped moving against my cheek, causing me to open my eyes, worried I had said something wrong.

"W-What?"

There was shock all over his face, but I wasn't sure why, what had I said wrong?

"Nothing" He shook his head, relieving me slightly. "It's just," He paused, a smile flashed on his face for barely even a second. "You called me your caregiver"

And then worry washed over me again. Was he not my caregiver? Have I been calling him daddy for nothing? So many thoughts were running through my head now, my overthinking running wild.

"Are.. Are you n-not?" I questioned, hurt lacing my voice. Tears began forming in my eyes.

"No! Ezzy, no!" Trey's eyes widened and he pulled me towards him, the tea in my hand spilling a little bit, prompting Amanda to take it from me. "I'll give you two a minute" She got up and began walking towards the door. "Medicines on the nightstand" She told us, but I never took my eyes off of Trey.

"I didn't mean it like that" He whispered, pulling me into his lap. It will never going to matter whether I I'm big or small, I'm always going to love it in this spot. "You never officially agreed to me being your caregiver Ez, that's all"

Trey was rubbing my arms soothingly, attempting to get me to calm down as tears were threatening to fall from my eyes. "It just caught me off guard a little bit, you calling me that" He told me honestly, but that didn't stop the tears from eventually spilling over.

"I-I'm sorry" I whispered, tears falling rapidly down my cheeks. "Hey, bubba, you have nothing to be sorry for" He whipped my face. "I'm the one who should be sorry" "I shouldn't have reacted that way" He continued on.

Eventually he smiled. "I love being your caregiver, Ezra" His voice calm and soothing. "And I'm sorry that the way I reacted caused you to doubt that" He apologized. I nodded, trying to get myself to stop crying.

I wasn't even crying because of his reaction anymore. I was crying because I was mad at myself. I couldn't believe I let myself think he was anything other than a caregiver to me with the way he treats me.

Before I knew it, my head was pressed to Trey's shoulder as he rubbed my back and hummed to me softly. This was helping to calm me down. After a few minutes had passed, I stopped crying, but I refused to move.

"Can you drink the medicine now?"

"No!" I giggled at the suddenness of his question, but I ended up giving in just because I knew it needed to be done. But also because Trey wasn't going to give up until I drank it.

After that, he called Amanda back into the room, who praised me for drinking the medicine, causing me to smile. We all ended up cuddling up in Amanda's bed, me sandwiched between the two of them, and watched a movie till we fell asleep.

This is honestly the happiest I've been in a while. I'm so happy Trey joined us like this.

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