And yet he always tried going home in the end. He always hoped that his mother would open her arms to embrace him. To hug him like she hugged Beckett. To ruffle his hair and fuss over his clothes and tell him how he was getting so tall and handsome.
She always took Beckett’s cards and gifts. Even when he didn’t seem like he really cared to give them. He’d roll his eyes and tell her she was being annoying, and yet she still doted on him.
Riker wanted that. Desperately. He tried more elaborate cards or handcrafted gifts. He got mocked and scoffed at for them. And then, when he’d been broken enough to not bother, he was berated for not getting anything for the one person keeping a roof over his head and his mouth fed.
He felt stupid, now that he looked at the little bag he’d put together. Evan said before that he was okay with being called Riker’s mom, but what if he was just saying that--
Riker groaned and squeezed his eyes shut to stop his thoughts from going that direction. He knew Julian was suffering, too. He could see it in his friend’s eyes how he desperately yearned for something he didn’t have. Riker didn’t want to rub his fortune in his best friend’s face. He was almost tempted to just leave the card on the kitchen counter for Evan, since he’d be the first one in the kitchen in the morning anyway.
In fact, that was what Riker decided he would do--
If Evan wasn’t still in the kitchen anyway, despite the late hour.
“Oh,” he mumbled, awkwardly holding the plain brown paper bag at his side. “Uh… you’re still up. Um-- wait, I mean. You know. I didn’t get to say it before but. Happy Mother's day.”
Kyuseisha no Hikari
