separation//[t.j.]

hallo-day? birth-ween?

halloween; riley's birthday

i flipped the orange pancake and heard a knock at the door. i rushed to open it for tyler and he was holding a gift.

"am i early? is he still sleeping?" tyler greeted me. i chuckled.

"yeah, you can go wake him up. i was literally just about to but i'm making breakfast." i replied. tyler took his shoes off and went to riley's room as i went back to the pancakes.

riley wanted a halloween themed breakfast for his birthday, which was easy to follow through with. we planned to eat breakfast and let him open his presents, and then watch whatever horror movie he wanted before we went trick or treating.

riley and tyler refused to tell me what riley was going to be for halloween, which bugged me slightly. God only knew what the two of them were up to. they told me that i was going to "love" it but for some reason i doubted that.

"happy birthday, my 15 year old son!" i greeted riley when he and tyler walked into the kitchen. i flipped the last pancake onto the plate and looked at riley. his faded blue hair was messy and he was smiling.

"good morning, mom. wow, this all smells great." riley replied.

"lucky for you, i just flipped the last pancake so you can dig in. after that, you can open presents and then we can watch whatever movie you picked. then, i say we get ready and go trick or treating."

"sounds good to me." riley nodded, grabbing a pancake. i set the rest of the food on the table while riley and tyler sat down. i grabbed two red bulls and sat down with my family, before sliding one of the red bulls to tyler.

"thanks, beautiful." tyler thanked me. i hid my blushing face while riley giggled. i just shook my head.

we ate breakfast and then tyler and i did the dishes together, me washing and him drying. after that, we went to the living room to let riley open his presents.

"who's do you want to open first?" tyler asked. i then quickly butted in.

"i think he should open yours first." i said. tyler shrugged.

"yours, i guess." riley then decided with a chuckle. tyler then slid him a tall rectangular box. i then realized i had no clue what he got him.

riley tore at the wrapping paper and looked up at tyler with a sarcastic smile.

"a box? you shouldn't have. thank you, kind father." he said. tyler chuckled in response.

"open the box, kid." he told him. so riley did so.

in the box was a light blue electric guitar. i didn't know what kind, because i wasn't exactly familiarized with types of guitars, but riley seemed ecstatic.

"a guitar?! i've been wanting one, thanks dad." riley smiled. tyler smiled back.

"you mentioned when we were at one of the shows that you wanted to learn how to play. i figured i could teach you with your own." he replied. riley tackled tyler with a hug and tyler hugged back. i just smiled at the two.

"ready for mine?" i asked after a few moments. riley let go of his father and sat down next to me.

"yup!" he said.

i handed him his present and he took it. he unwrapped it and when he realized what it was, he looked at me and smiled.

"an iphone 12 pro max! thanks, mom." he stated, happily.

"you shattered your phone last week at one of the shows. i figured you might want a new one." i replied. he nodded with a smile.

"thank you. both of you." riley thanked us.