𝔪𝔲𝔩𝔱𝔦𝔣𝔞𝔫𝔡𝔬𝔪 𝔦𝔪𝔞𝔤𝔦𝔫𝔢𝔰

9) Ezra

Summary: you and ezra take a bit of time to yourselves before a hard day's work the next morning.

Warnings: none

A/N: excerpt is from The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (The Four Fists) pages 166-167

     He looked down at you as you nuzzled the side of your face against the fabric of his worn shirt. Your legs were sloppily intertwined and your arms were wrapped tightly around his torso. He could feel every inch of your body against his, warmth exuding from you beneath the heat-retaining blanket
     "You warm enough?" He asked you softly, expecting your reply to be muddled with grogginess.
     "Mm-hm," You hummed quietly. A small smile tugged at the corner of your lips as he gently brushed a few loose strands of hair from your face.
     "Good. Get some sleep, my sweet gem. You look like you need it and we have yet another achingly long day ahead of us."
     "Ezra?" He gave a soft hum of acknowledgment, so you continued. "Can you keep talking to me? I like listening to you."
     "Flower," He chuckled, "whatever could I possibly talk about? You've heard each and every story of my wary travels, there isn't much else to this lonely old prospector."
     "I wouldn't mind hearing one of them again," You answered sheepishly. "I just like the sound of your voice."
     "Perhaps I could read to you instead, hm?" When you nodded in response, he reached for the short stack of battered paperback copies on the cluttered desk. Nearly all of them had been found at small rest-stops and deteriorating ports, but they were something to pass the time between jobs. Ezra was still building dexterity in his left arm after the loss of his right, so jobs were few and far between for the moment anyway.
     "Okay," You say contentedly. "Whatever you wanna do."
     He reached over, grabbing the book from the top of the stack. The spine was faded and creased to the point that you could hardly see the title or author, pages wrinkled from being dog-eared dozens of times over the years. Flipping open to the currently marked page, Ezra started from where he must have left off last time. "He sailed home on the wings of desperate excitement, quite resolved to fan this spark of romance, no matter how big the blaze or who was burned. At the time he considered that his thoughts were unselfishly of her; in a later perspective he knew that she had meant no more than the white screen in a motion picture: it was just Samuel- blind, desirous. Next day at Taine's, when they met for lunch, Samuel dropped all pretense and made frank love to her. He had no plans, no definite intentions-"
     You looked up at Ezra, reaching up to stroke his scruffy jaw sleepily and losing yourself in the deep cadence of his voice. He smiled slightly, but otherwise showed no reaction and continued reading.
     "-except to kiss her lips again, to hold her in his arms and feel that she was very little and pathetic and lovable... He took her home, and this time they kissed until both their hearts beat high- words and phrases formed on his lips."
     Drifting in and out of consciousness, his voice stayed at the forefront of your focus. Despite your attempt to stay awake, to continue to relish the soothing hum of his voice, it slowly lulled you to sleep.
     After noticing that you had dozed only a few moments later, he smiled and closed the book. Once it was back in its place on the desk, he let his arm fall comfortably around you, grunting as he settled down for the night. A soft kiss was pressed to the crown of your head and he murmured, "Goodnight, flower. May the sweetest dreams run rampant in that pretty little head of yours."