In Love with a Lunatic (joshler)

43. One Year

(*Make Believe -Memphis May Fire)
(*cw/tw: mention of su*c*dal ideations)

Wednesday
December 24
Christmas Eve

Tyler sits at the dining table, chatting with Laura, enjoying their coffee and frosted cookies. Josh, Dallon, and Eli are watching a movie with the rest of Josh's family in the living room. It's nearing nine o'clock and Tyler is getting sleepy. He stayed up almost all night wrapping everybody's gifts, and he didn't even finish them. Having to get up early to come to Josh's family's house to celebrate Christmas with them, he called it a night around two in the morning. Having been there all day, Tyler almost opted for taking a nap in Josh's childhood bed, but felt bad for dipping the party halfway.

They spent the morning opening gifts, which surprised Tyler at how many he had gotten, feeling bad that he only got everyone one or two things. After that, Tyler and Laura started cooking dinner, everyone chipping in when asked to. Christmas music played in the kitchen, while different Christmas movies played on Hulu through the living room TV. Around noon, everyone paired up in teams of two for the Dun's yearly Gingerbread House building contest. Tyler and Josh won.

After dinner, Laura and Tyler stayed in while all the guys and Abby went out to play in the snow. While they were outside, the two made Christmas cookies and left them to cool before being decorated.

Once everyone came back in, Laura dished dessert around the table and everyone got a cookie to two to decorate when they finally cooled down enough. Eli had to be cut off after eating his third one. He didn't like that, but calmed down when Abby invited him to play with her toys in the living room.

Laura smiles gently at the brunette man across from her, "How're you doing, sweetheart?"

Tyler nods slowly. "I'm doing okay. Honestly, I just...I'm tired. All the time," he chuckles.

"A five year old will do that to you," Laura nods. "Is he in school?"

"Not yet. His birthday is at the end of September, and the cut-off for kindergarten was like...the first week of September, so he'll start next year."

"Did he go to preschool?"

"Um, kind of? He used to go to daycare and they had, like, a preschool-ish kinda thing there, but he wasn't enrolled in the public school."

"Interesting."

"He's a smart kid. He can read and write, and he even knows a little bit of sign language."

"I noticed he can communicate pretty well for his age," Laura nods. "That's good though, hopefully he keeps it up throughout school."

"Yeah," Tyler agrees.

"Mom, your favorite movie is on," Josh says, peeking his head into the dining room.

"What movie is that?" Tyler asks, copying the woman's move and standing up.

"A Charlie Brown Christmas."

"I've never seen it."

"Really? Oh, it's my favorite. We watched it every year while I was growing up and we still watch it every year here. Come on."

Tyler follows Mama Dun to the living room and sits next to Josh, hooking his arm with the athlete's.

Part way through the show, Tyler glances around the room at everyone watching the television and smiles gently. It's the first time in a long time he feels like he's with real family. The only difference is A Christmas Story isn't playing, but instead, A Charlie Brown Christmas. It's a nice change, if he's being honest. He has a new yearly family movie to watch and a family to watch it with.