Riley rummaged through his dresser and closet, searching for something cute to wear. Not only did he love using fashion to express himself, but he was also genderfluid/bigender. He enjoyed wearing girl clothes that looked adorable, and it seemed like fun just to match each outfit the best that he possibly could as well. He settled on a bubble gum pink sweater dress, a pair of blue jeans and his favorite red Converse at the same time. He managed to smile happily at his reflection, enjoying the girly boy he saw staring back at him.
It didn't take long for him to fluff up his brown hair to make it look nicer. He added a few little pink bows to his hair for extra cuteness. He finally adjusted it how he liked it and headed into the kitchen for breakfast. He took notice of his ignorant father, sitting there reading the paper and drinking coffee. He hoped that his father wouldn't see him and might go on with his life as usual.
"Do you always have to dress like a girl? Because as far as I'm concerned, boys don't wear girls clothes all of the damn time," Carlisle growled at his son after lowering down the paper to look at him.
"But girls are allowed to wear boys clothes all the time. Why can't it be the other way around? Is there some actual reason why?" Riley asked his father, hoping the man might have something.
"In my opinion, it's not proper for a young man to dress like a woman. It's disgusting and degrading to men who actually dress normally," he frowned when Riley let out a huge sigh now. "Anyway, I'm not going to deal with this. I'm going to be late for work," he said after checking his watch, grabbing his things and finally heading off.
"Riley, don't worry about what Dad tells you. You're free to express yourself any way you want. It's a free country after all," Juniper nodded at him, but he disagreed with her a little.
"It's technically not a free country for everyone... there is still so much wrong with America," he shook his head until avoiding her eye contact. "It's even worse for someone like me that's genderfluid and gets stared at for what I'm wearing," he sighed before pouring himself some Apple Jacks and milk now.
"Hm... that's a good point," she nodded at him, having not seen it in that perspective. "I suppose it's just an expression. It just means that you are free to do what you want," she shrugged when he started to eat his usual routine breakfast that morning.
"Think of it whatever you want to," Riley told her after chewing and swallowing his cereal.
"Anyway, are you doing anything in particular today?" Juniper asked him out of sudden curiosity.
"Just what I usually do on the weekends... hanging out with Everest. He doesn't have to work today as he doesn't on Saturdays and Sundays," he chuckled at his older sister who chuckled, finding it cute how much both boys adored one another right now.
After eating his breakfast, Riley headed back to his bedroom to prepare his backpack. He placed in some of his favorite sensory/stim toys, a small plushie, a pair of noise block headphones, some Loop ear plugs and a water tumbler. These were all things that helped him cope with the world around him. He found it much harder to deal with everything without his backpack.
Riley grabbed his phone and sent a text to his best friend, telling him he was on his way. He stuffed it into his back pocket since he didn't want to drop it on accident. It didn't take long for him to reach the docks in Boston, Massachusetts where the two often met every single time. Everest hugged him and couldn't help blushing a little, especially over how adorable he looked.
"So, how was your morning?" Everest asked him, only for Riley to pout and bite his lip. "I take it things didn't go the way you wanted them to?" he frowned at the other man who shook his head with a sigh.
"I mean... it's nothing completely unusual or anything. My dad gave me a hard time about my attire today like he often does," Riley shrugged while avoiding eye contact, which he sometimes felt to be overwhelming.
"Well, I think you look really great today... um... k-kinda cute..." Everest blushed a little more after rubbing the back of his head. "My morning was pretty uneventful to be honest. Just the same old usual routine and such," he said after changing the subject, hoping Riley didn't catch onto his 'cute' remark.
"Sometimes, I wish my dad would learn to understand me better and stuff. I know he's often stressed since he's a brain surgeon and everything, but I feel like he takes out his anger on my purposefully or something like that," Riley sighed, not fully catching onto his best friend calling him cute.
"Yeah... I really wish there was more I could do," Everest frowned, feeling rather helpless to Riley at that very moment. "I hate seeing you deal with this much distress and what not," he rubbed Riley's upper arms in a rather calming way.
"Honestly, just having you as my best and most closest friend is enough," he chuckled, feeling quite calm that Everest was there for him.
"That's good to know," he beamed brightly, seeing how he cherished those words. "So, what do you want to do today? It's such a beautiful day in my opinion," he stared up at the clear blue sky with a happy nod now.
"Hm... let's go visit the park today, seeing how it's such a beautiful day today," Riley giggled and nodded at his best friend.
"Yeah! That sounds like an excellent idea," he agreed when Riley started to squeal.
It didn't take long for the two of them to head to one of the parks in Boston. Riley really didn't care much about where they actually went, just as long as they were together. He loved being able to spend a lot of time with Everest. The two of them were most definitely like two peas in a pod as well, seeing how they both enjoyed each other's company.