Dog Fights

Epilogue

Ezra lets out a deep breath, staring up in wonder as the cold air stings his lungs. It's been so long...

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Leon asks quietly, watching Ezra's awestruck face with a gentle smile. He hadn't moved a muscle since they sat down on the hood of the younger's car.

Snow falls lazily onto Ezra's knitted white hat, settling like sparkling stars on top of his tussled black hair. His eyes shine like a child's as he listens to the silence, irises shimmering a rich gold against the white field around them.

Ezra opens his mouth, taking a moment to find the right words to break the peace. "...I haven't seen snow, in five years." He breathes slowly, unable to look away from the vast gray and white.

Leon had driven Ezra almost an hour and a half outside the city so they could sit on the hood of the car and watch the last of the snow fall, knowing the calm after the first winter storm would intrigue him. He didn't think it would swallow him up as much as it did.

"I forgot it could get so cold outside," Ezra says, laughing to himself as he rubs his hands together and absorbs the scenery. His skin is pale, and almost visibly cold. His eyes, however, are completely alive. 

Leon leans back on his hands, feeling the cold metal of the car hood chill his already red and chapped skin through his gloves. The last six months have been full of ups and downs, adjusting to new lives, but they never had much personal conflict past arguing about what they were having for lunch.

S1 had been moved, and Ezra helped with the transition before spending as much time with Leon as he could. Mahin and Rin continued their job of taking care of new recruits, and Achille moved up to become Amelia's apprentice after Clover never came back. Everyone they met over the course of Orgon's reign stayed in touch with the two of them. They all came to Leon's eighteenth birthday party, even though he didn't look any older.

"I never told you," Ezra says quietly, studying all the broken down barn houses speckling the horizon, "but the Hidden Powers ring, when it was raided, they found Orgon's locations."

Leon furrows his eyebrows, studying Ezra's smiling face. "Locations for what?"

"His rewards for all the fights he'd won that night," Ezra says, making Leon sit up a little straighter. "All the paperwork finally went through last week, and they came up with at least fifteen million on the surface. The court divided it amongst all the unnamed fighters they found in the ring, as well as the gangs that helped crash it. Amelia gave me my cut for the mission."

Leon hesitates, watching as Ezra slides off the hood of the car and into the snow. He kicks it around with his boot for a moment, looking down the long road they had pulled over from before glancing back up to Leon.

"Are you waiting for a dramatic reaction?" Leon teases as he smiles, "how much?"

"Eight hundred sixty thousand." Ezra grins as Leon's eyes widen, unsure of how else to react.

"That much?" Leon asks in disbelief, words coming out as puffs of cold air, "how?"

"S1 received nearly three million, even after a few million had been taken by the court, and donated to organizations that hunt down fighting rings.

"Apparently I was one of the important people that helped with hunting down Hidden Powers, and Amelia felt I should be rewarded," Ezra explains, putting his hands in his pockets as he shrugs, "that and she expects me to share it with you and your family. I told her I planned on doing so anyway."

"You're joking," Leon states, making Ezra grin as he jumps off the car.

"I found a nice country house off the north side of the city," Ezra says, "and since I got all my public records back and sorted I can prove my age and buy it whenever I want. I, technically, turned twenty three last month, but all those fancy business people look at me like I'm crazy since I still have the body of a sixteen year old."

Ezra yelps as Leon tackles him down into the snow, pinning his shoulders as his fluff trimmed hood flies up and covers his mess of curly hair. Ezra smiles wide as he leans down and connects their lips, and though neither of them produce much body heat anymore it still feels warm.

Leon pulls back, laughing before blowing a few stray flecks of snow from Ezra's glasses. His golden eyes shine against the reflection in the glass.

He's happy.

Leon smiles, leaning his forehead on Ezra's as he closes his eyes. "What did I do to deserve you?" he asks quietly, chuckling as Ezra wraps his arms around his chest.

"I think that question should be the other way around," Ezra says through a laugh, pushing up before connecting their smiles once again.

They're happy.