He still held Cooper’s injured hand in his, though, as tenderly as he would a newborn. “Do you remember when you broke your wrist in second grade and didn’t tell anyone? Just came downstairs the next day with a bunch of socks taped around it. Your mom asked what happened and you said, ‘I fixed myself.’”

Ed laughed. “We all thought it was another one of your games you played in your head, and it took until that night, when you wouldn’t take it off to shower, to realize your whole goddamn hand was swinging by a thread. Christ, she was angry at you. Complained all week about it. I said, well, at least we never have to worry about him being too dependent, and she got angry at me, too. ‘He shouldn’t be afraid to show us when he’s hurt,’ that’s what she said. ‘His own parents. If he doesn’t even trust us to help him now, what about when he’s grown and scarier things happen? Will we even know he’s okay? Will anyone?’”

Cooper felt an unexpected tightening in his throat at the reminder that there was a time when his mother had once speculated what he’d be like as an adult, what their continued relationship would look like, and that ultimately she never got to find out.

Ed also seemed to need to take a breath. “When I saw you walk up before, you looked so...grown up. I know you’ve been grown up for a long time. Longer than maybe you should have had to be, I don’t know, but you look more settled in your skin now. Confident. Relaxed.”

Ed smoothed his hand over Cooper’s brace gently, then picked a tiny bit of fuzz out of the exposed Velcro. “I just think your mom would be really, really happy that you found someone you trust enough to see beneath the socks, you know what I’m saying?”

“Yeah,” Cooper said, voice a little rough. “Okay.”

Ed patted his arm, giving them both a moment. “Anyway, all I wanted to say before was that Dean told me you’re freaking out about the wedding and what other people will think or want to happen.”

“Did he,” Cooper said, narrowing his eyes at an unsuspecting Dean petting the python’s back with two gentle fingers and laughing at something Park was saying. Judas.

“Don’t go getting mad at your brother now. He just told me so I’d back off, and he’s right. I’m sorry I’ve been making you feel like this has anything to do with anyone but you and Oliver. You just do whatever feels right and ignore what anyone else wants, including me. People will think what they think regardless, and that doesn’t mean they have any kind of special insight into who you are or what your relationship is, all right?”