Kisses of Fire (boyxboy)

Extra: Happy Birthday

At three in the morning, Cooper randomly woke up, the only light coming from the moon shining through his window.

Checking his phone for the time, he was surprised to see a text sent five minutes ago from River saying happy birthday with a heart. He was confused as to how he knew it was his birthday; Cooper never mentioned it to him. Still staring at the screen, he thought about replying but chose not to and turned on his back. For what felt like the millionth time that night or now morning, he stared up at the ceiling, thinking of their argument. He knew his eyes were red and puffy, but at this point, he didn't have any more tears left or cared enough to cry.

He'd admit River hurt him a lot, but there was another reason he cried so much. Saying he liked River out loud was the first time he admitted it to himself, and instead of feeling like the weight was off his shoulders, it felt as if 200 more pounds were added. He knew it was wrong, and the rejection felt like a sign confirming it.

The fact was simple; he didn't want to be gay. He couldn't be; for one, it's weird. Two, it's not right, and three, he likes girls. If he never met River, he would probably be in love with Riley right now instead of forgetting they're together. He didn't even know anyone who was gay; he knew of students who were but didn't talk to any of them or go anywhere near them.

Feeling restless again, he turned over and fell back to sleep.

...

His parents let him sleep in, but once it got closer to the afternoon, they woke him up, not wanting him to waste his birthday in bed. No matter how much he wanted to, he reminded himself that no one knew what was going on, so he had to act like everything was okay.

He washed up and groggily walked out to the kitchen, where his mom was looking at baby photos of him at the breakfast table.

"Good morning!" She said, coming up to him and kissing him on the cheek.

Saying it back, he took a seat next to her and took a photo, looking at it. It was him and his parents with the biggest smile on their faces. Cooper had his arms around his dad, who was balancing him on his hip while wrapping an arm around his mom's waist. They looked like a perfect, happy family.

"I love that photo." His mom said, making him tear his eyes away from it. He smiled and put it down, looking at the others.

Grabbing another one from one of his birthdays, he glanced around. "Where's dad?"

"He's at the store buying groceries for tonight." She paused, looking at a photo of him on his first day of school before clearing her throat and looking at him cautiously. "Are you okay? Did something happen yesterday?"

"What do you mean?" He knew exactly what she meant.

Putting the photo she had in her hand down, she smiled softly. "You just seemed really bothered about something."

"Everything's alright." He shrugged, picking up another photo. It must have been back when his parents were dated and he wondered if they ever had problems. Curious, he looked at her, putting the photo down. "Did you and dad ever break up?"

Flipping through a photo album, she kept her eyes locked on what he guessed was a photo and smiled. "We did once. We were both going through a very rough patch, and we felt it wasn't the right time."

Crossing his arms on the table, he leaned, wanting to know more. "What happened?"

Paying more attention to her son, she mirrored him. "Well, for one, my mother didn't like him. She wanted me to go to NYU, and when I told her I was going to school in Austin, she was upset. She claimed it was too far and people from Texas were a joke, so fast forward to when we started dating, she was livid. That's why I didn't tell her about him until a year later."