Sweet Little Birds (BxB Romance, Completed)

Bonus Chapter: Trick or Treat

Putting down his full backpack on the floor of his boyfriend's room, Robin shed the weight of an intense school week. Midterms were coming up. So he had approximately a million pages to read and a trillion essays to write. Plus he had a presentation where he was to suggest methods for his research project in front of the whole Psychology department. Professor Royce, or John as Robin had agreed to call the man who had taken him in when they were at home, had assured him it was just a formality but he was still nervous, as his scholarship hung on him being able to perform the project to perfection.

"Long day, cutie?" Tyler asked from the bed, where he lay browsing on his computer. Blond curls peeked out the top of an oversized orange hoodie, that Robin was quite sure actually belonged to Lance. Tyler wasn't always the best at sorting laundry, or remembering which clothing items belonged to him. Often he just seemed to go for what was closest. Which sometimes resulted in Robin waking up and not finding his own clothes if Tyler had left for school before him.

Perhaps a shared closet would be the best solution. Although that still wouldn't stop Tyler from stealing his roommate/cousin's clothes.

"It's fine," Robin said, and he meant it. Because as long as he got to come home to Tyler at the end of the day, everything was fine. "I probably will have to study quite a bit this weekend though, for midterms and all that."

Putting the computer away on the bedside table, which was overloaded with dirty socks, used plates, and paper napkins--perhaps Robin should encourage a room cleaning soon--Tyler leaned over to greet his boyfriend with a kiss. As a trail of soft pecks was placed around Robin's lips and cheeks, all thoughts of schoolwork melted away.

"I probably should study as well..." Tyler mumbled while leaning his head on Robin's shoulder and entangling their fingers. "Who knew Physical Education would involve so much studying? I need to know all these bones for Anatomy class and how to calculate calorie intake for another class... It's too much for my head."

Robin quietly wondered if his boyfriend had thought that switching his major from Geology to Physical Education, with the goal to become a PE teacher, would allow him to switch from written exams to physical tests as well. Running around a track a few laps seemed like the kind of test that would fit his boyfriend's restless nature better, prosthetic limb or not.

"I'll help you," Robin assured his boyfriend with a kiss on blond curls, as the orange hoodie flopped back. "I think I remember the bones and all that quite well from Advanced Biology in high school. We can study together." He nodded toward the computer on the bedside table. "Can you show me what you were reading about?"

"Oh..." Tyler grabbed the computer, causing an avalanche of trash to slide off the table where it had rested. "I wasn't studying. I was looking at Halloween costumes."

Robin sighed, realizing how lost in studies his brain had been. "I had completely forgotten it's Halloween this weekend. But do we even need costumes if we're just going to study?"

Although Halloween fun sounded much more appealing than studies at the moment. Perhaps a few hours away from his books wouldn't hurt.

Tyler gave his boyfriend an astounded look. "We need costumes to go trick-or-treating, Robby," he said in a serious tone. "We won't get any candy if we're not dressed the part."

Of course, Robin should have realized what was the motivator here. Although he had to admit he didn't quite know how trick-or-treating worked as that was another experience his mother had robbed him of. If she was in a good mood, she'd let him go over to Des' house to play for the evening, where his friend had reveled in painting his face to look like a cat or bat or whatever other animal struck her fancy.

"We're both twenty years old..." Robin stroked some hoodie-static hair away from Tyler's face. "Are you sure people will take kindly to use going trick-or-treating?"

"We're not going alone, dummy, we're going with my sister." Tyler rubbed their noses together before placing a quick kiss on Robin's lips. "Did I forget to tell you I promised Emmie we're taking her to Port Vale's Halloween event downtown? There will be a haunted house, a costume contest, and plenty of candy!"

"You may have failed to mention that," Robin mumbled. "But it sounds... fun." It also sounded crowded and loud, which were things Robin wasn't too keen on. But experiencing such an event through Emmie's eyes would perhaps make up for himself missing out on such thrills when he was her age.

"I'll hold your hand if you're scared," Tyler assured him. "Of the haunted house, I mean." The firm squeeze of his hand and light nod told Robin that Tyler knew full well that the haunted house wasn't what scared Robin the most, but he wanted to give Robin an out without calling attention to his social fears. "And just tell me if you need to step away for a moment to breathe or something."

Robin nodded, grateful that Tyler would be with him the whole time. Everything was much less scary with Tyler beside him.

"So what costumes are you looking at?" he asked, knowing that Tyler probably was planning a fancy couple's costume for them. Robin hoped for something that wouldn't make him stand out from the crowd too much.

"I want to be a pirate!" Tyler exclaimed, showcasing several tabs of pirate costumes, each one gaudier than the one before it. "I mean... I already got the pegleg, kind of." He nodded toward his prosthetic leg, which was leaning against the bed frame. "I figured I could wrap it in cardboard or something to make it look more pegleggy. I'll be the piratest pirate of them all!"

"That sounds like a great plan," Robin said, knowing full well that he'll get involved in the craft project of creating the pegleg. "You'll look super cool. So what do you want me to dress as then? A parrot?"

He was really hoping that wasn't the case. Dressing in colorful feathers didn't seem like a good way to blend in.

Tyler shook his head. "You're way too hot to be a parrot, Robby. I asked Emmie if she wanted to be one though. She said no. Quite loudly. She wanted to be Elsa."

"Of course."

"I managed to convince her to be a mermaid instead after showing her the trailer for the new Little Mermaid movie. Donna is helping her make a costume."

"So you're a pirate and she's a mermaid, then what am I?" Robin was getting a bit impatient to get an answer to this question.

"I just figured we would both be pirates." Tyler pressed a kiss to Robin's cheek. "Gay pirates! Like in Our Flag Means Death. You can be the hot one and I'll be the prissy one. It'll be perfect."

Robin didn't have the heart to tell Tyler that the prissy one didn't have a pegleg. Such details weren't important. What was important was Tyler looking at him like he was a hot broody pirate instead of a tired and anxious student.

Author's Note: I can never help myself from writing a scene for the boys for major holidays :). I hope you enjoyed reading it as well. As there are some current pop culture references in there, I may remove this scene eventually, to not date the story (since I never actually state which year it takes place).

Happy Halloween everyone!