-Ryland Grayson:
I looked at Vaughn, still slightly thrown off by the fact that he had actually taken his cap off and revealed his ears so openly.
I wasn't expecting that.
Not here. Not like this.
It wasn't that I thought he would hide them forever, but it still felt like a shift I hadn't been prepared for. I'm so proud of him for not hiding it.
And then I noticed Ezra.
Ezra wasn't just looking at Vaughn's ears.
He looked genuinely stunned.
Not the kind of shock where someone is impressed or confused.
It was deeper than that.
Like he couldn't quite process what he was seeing in front of him.
Not "Oh my God, he has ears."
More like—
There's someone else like me.
Or something close to that.
A quiet kind of disbelief.
Julian, on the other hand, broke the silence immediately.
"Yes," he said quickly, almost proudly. "Yes, actually, he is. You are too?"
