Ethan POV

Tomorrow was Daniel's birthday, and the day he'd be released from the hospital. July 15th. He'd be seventeen.

He'd gotten a lot better. But he still had a long road ahead. The pain in his head would come when he'd get stressed, and occasionally would be completely random and intense.

The doctors had written a prescription for morphine tablets which we'd have to pick up once he was discharged.

They'd recommended rehabilitation centers that were highly rated for Daniel to visit afterwards. But I'd done a lot of research and had other plans.

Daniel was able to stand and walk for a minute or so before his legs would give out, but it was getting better.

As there wasn't much to do at the hospital other than watch tv and go on walks, Daniel had already finished his online classes. The deadline was still a month and a half away, but he'd already gotten his grades back, receiving the highest marks.

I'd made a big deal about it but he just seemed surprised, telling me he'd only ever received the lowest passing grades. He suspected the teachers graded him easily out of pity, but I knew he'd earned it.

Daniel was in his hospital bed and I was sitting next to him while he searched through high schools in the area on his computer. They all seemed dramatically underfunded and unsafe to me. I kept my mouth shut as he went through the pros and cons of each one.

"See, this one's only a ten minute walk from your apartment, but the graduation rate is... holy shit 70 percent? No..." I suppressed a laugh as he kept browsing. "See, Ethan this one has an 80 percent grad rate but it's a twenty minute walk and their mascots are the Indians... that's just racist."

Daniel hung his head back in frustration and let out a groan. I gently took the laptop from his hands and closed it.

"Let's do more of this tomorrow, yeah?" I asked, trying to suppress a smile. He turned to me with a frown on his face,

"Can't I just drop out?" His eyes looked tired and he was starting to stress, which would only give him a bad headache.

"Hey," I said, brushing some strands of hair from his face. He looked back at me and I leaned forward, placing a kiss on his lips. I felt him start to smile and pull me closer to him as my heart picked up before I pulled away. "You are graduating."

He rolled his eyes but his smile stayed, reaching them.

"If you say so."

***

Daniel POV

I woke up at half past six, far too early for my liking. I almost forgot it was my birthday until I grabbed my phone and saw a birthday message Max had sent me at midnight.

I saw Ethan asleep on the empty bed next to mine. Ever since they moved me out of the ICU there was an open bed next to mine, allowing Ethan to sleep on a real bed rather than a chair for once.

I watched him sleep peacefully for a minute before frustratingly trying to fall back asleep. It was boring being awake by myself, there was absolutely nothing to do. A small smile crept to my face as I realized this would be my last morning in the hospital.

After scrolling through my phone for a bit, I felt my stomach rumble, and I hoped the nurses would bring me breakfast soon. How the hell will I go back to the real world after this?

I shook the thought from my head and sat up, seeing my water bottle near the sink on the other side of the room. I glanced at Ethan, before convincing myself I could get it without help. Usually when I walked I'd at least have Ethan to lean on.

Don't think, just go.

I pushed myself off the bed, grabbing it for support before I slowly walked to the sink, swaying on the way. After a few wobbly steps, I made it and gripped the counter strongly, quickly picking up my water bottle.

I turned too quickly though, and I got dizzy. I stood still, trying to regain my confidence but my legs felt weaker and weaker by the second, so I slid down to sit on the floor.

I caught my breath, trying to be quiet so I wouldn't wake Ethan up. My legs hadn't been injured necessarily, I'd just have to retrain that part of my brain.

After a few minutes, I tried getting up, gripping the counter and pulling with all my strength. But my shoulder was still weak from recovering, and my grip slipped, causing me to stumble backwards against a chair which toppled over, making an excessive amount of noise.

I sighed, putting my head in my hands knowing Ethan would certainly wake up from this. I saw him jolt upwards with a confused, sleepy look on his face before looking around and realizing I was out of bed.

"Daniel?" He quickly stood up, looking around. When he saw me on the floor I gave him a small wave, feeling humiliated. "What happened?" He asked, rushing towards me.

"Don't worry, just went to grab my water and was taking a rest." Ethan looked around, before seeing my water bottle on the ground a few feet ahead of him and picking it up for me. He turned back to me and crouched down.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and he pulled me up, his arm was around my waist. He led me to my bed but didn't help me down just yet.

"Guess what day it is..." He said, a large smirk spreading across his face. I rolled my eyes.

"Wednesday." His smirk widened and I pulled my left arm away from his neck so I could see him more clearly.

He pulled my waist closer to him and his lips brushed against mine,

"Your birthday..." He said against my lips, and I groaned. But as he kissed me I felt my heart rate pick up and the familiar feeling of butterflies flooding my stomach. Every time.

I kissed him back, feeling grateful that somebody actually cared this deeply about me and wanting him to know I felt the same way about him. He lay me back down on the bed, pecking me softly on the lips before pulling away with a wide smile on his face.

"And, you can finally get out of here." I gave him a short laugh,

"Sweet, I get to be a cripple in front of the whole world now." Ethans smile didn't falter as he leaned closer to me.

"You know what, I think you're gonna be in a much better mood by the end of the day so I'm just gonna pretend I didn't hear that." He said, lightly tapping my nose. I felt my face heat up but Ethan didn't see as he walked to the doorway and yelled out in the hallway,

"Nurse? Can we get a birthday breakfast up here please? Thank you!" I groaned and leaned back in my bed, covering my face with my hands again.

It turned out, a birthday breakfast was a large pile of waffles with some whipped cream topped with chocolate sauce and a candle that Ethan ordered through an app from iHop.

My eyes widened as I saw him at the doorway— I hadn't had anything unhealthy since I'd woken up.

"No way..." He'd lit the candle and looked behind him before continuing forward. I was mortified when I saw a few nurses and Dr. Martinez trail behind him, starting to cheerfully sing happy birthday to me as if they were waiters at a restaurant. "Oh, god no..." I muttered, shrinking back into bed pulling the blanket over me.

When they finished, Ethan tapped my shoulder and motioned for me to blow out the candle. I did so quickly, too eager to get it over with to even make a wish.

The nurses left after wishing me happy birthday and I devoured the waffles.

"Oh my god how did I live without this for two months?" I asked myself out loud. Ethan laughed, and Dr. Martinez pulled up a chair when I put my plate aside, holding a clipboard.

"So, Daniel. I wish we didn't have to meet under such circumstances, but I'm glad that I'm the one who got to treat you. You've been an inspiration to everyone and your recovery has shown much about your strong-willing character." Okay... Cheesy, but thanks? I guess?

"Well, you're the one who treated me so, thank you for saving my life..." I responded, awkwardly. Dr. Martinez smiled warmly at me before tapping the clipboard with his pen and handing it to me.

"My pleasure." I took the clipboard from him and looked at it as he continued. "All you have to do is sign below and you're free to leave."

I felt a large smile spread across my face as I quickly scribbled my signature on the paper and handed it back to him. He handed me back a folder full of paperwork including prescription information, release form copies and instructions on getting to a rehabilitation center.

"I can take that." Ethan said, and I handed him the folder, eager to get out of bed.

"Let's go!" I said to him, pushing myself off the bed. I felt his hands on me guiding me to the wheelchair, which I happily sat down in, waiting to be taken away.

Ethan took a minute to grab my bags full of school things, get well soon gifts from Max and his friends, and a small one containing my meds.

He pushed me out, waving goodbye to the nurses we'd gotten to know. As soon as the fresh air hit my face I felt ten times lighter. I was back in the real world. I turned to Ethan in my seat,

"Where's your car?" He smiled,

"That piece of junk? Oh it's been gone awhile. Fox is picking us up in his new ride..." I stared at him, my mouth open.

"What? You got rid of it?" He smiled without looking at me.

"I won't really be needing it to be honest." I frowned at him and was about to ask what the hell that meant before I heard a loud honking ahead of us, making me jump in my seat. Ethan cussed.

"Jesus Fox." Fox was leaning out the window of what looked like a new Jeep Wrangler with a huge grin on his face.

"Daniel! My man!" He hopped out of the Jeep, not bothering to open the door and embraced me in a hug from my wheelchair.

I was surprised at his show of affection, but he seemed like an entirely new person.

"Hey, thanks for picking us up!" I said, happily. His positive energy had rubbed off on me a bit.

"Of course dude! Happy birthday! Now, let's get this party started, right?" I frowned at him and looked at Ethan.

"There's no party, right?" I asked. Ethan shook his head firmly.

"Of course not." Fox gave him an exaggerated eye roll which told me everything I needed to know. I sighed and slowly got up out of the wheelchair after Fox opened the door for me. Ethan stood next to me in case I needed any support. I surprised myself when I was able to pull myself into the backseat.

Ethan folded my chair and put it into the trunk, before getting on the other side next to me.

"What so, I'm like the Uber driver? Nobody's sitting up front?" Fox asked, dramatically.

"It's literally a five minute drive Fox." He feigned a look of hurt, before he hit the gas, his expression quickly turning to an ecstatic one. I felt Ethan lace his fingers through mine and a smile involuntarily reached my face.

The breeze flowing through the car put me at ease. Everything was back to normal. No, better than normal... No school, no gangs, no Mason... I felt a sharp pang in my head as my mind reached him and I shook my head, turning my focus back to the breeze and the feeling of Ethan's hand in mine.

We reached their apartment pretty fast, and Fox dashed ahead of us with all of my bags.

"Fucking idiot." Ethan muttered under his breath and started wheeling me towards the elevator. It was pretty clear at this point that they'd thrown me a party of some sort, but I'd act dumb if it made everyone happy.

Ethan wheeled me into the elevator, taking us to the top floor.

"Wow top floor, fancy." I said, looking up at Ethan. He grinned back at me,

"Fancy for us. This is still Oklahoma..." I shrugged and gave a small laugh. We finally got to the top, and Ethan slowly pushed me towards the end of the hallway. He released a breath and opened the door.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" I held back a laugh and tried to act surprised as I saw Fox, Hank, Chase, Max, Angie, Carmen, Leah, and a few others I'd met through Max holding balloons and jumping out from behind random furniture. My face broke out into a large smile,

"Oh my god, you guys." I said, acting shocked. They all started laughing and came by, each giving me big hugs which I managed to get out of my chair for. Instead of sitting back down, I held onto Ethans arm and he led me to the center table and helped me sit. Everyone excitedly took seats around me.

"Presents?" Fox asked, he looked like he was on the edge of his seat. I raised my eyebrows, laughing at him.

"What, already? I really hope you guys didn't spend any money." They all started lightly denying it and I groaned.

"Fine, fine we'll do cake first." Max said, quickly dashing to the fridge and pulling out a large ice cream cake covered in green frosting. I laughed at his sense of urgency.

"I can't believe we're eating cake, its noon." Max shook his head and brought it to the table after lighting the candles, and everyone sang happy birthday for the second time that day. I watched as my friends connected with Ethans roommates and realized how similar we all were, regardless of our different backgrounds. We were just teenagers after all.

We ate, laughed, and caught up, and I'd never felt happier.

***

"Okay, now can we do presents?" Max blurted, halfway through a movie. He looked so impatient, but everybody seemed to be thinking along his lines. They all looked excited and had been exchanging secret grins all afternoon.

We'd had the cake for lunch and were halfway through a movie Max had stolen from work, but nobody seemed to be able to focus. I was leaning against Ethan on the couch who seemed to be the only calm person there.

"Guys, I really don't want presents, you've all already done too much—"

"—Okay, shut up and open Ethan's first," Max said, jumping up and running to the counter grabbing an envelope. I sat up straighter as Max shoved the envelope in my hands.

"Please tell me you didn't spend money." I asked, looking at Ethan with pleading eyes. He raised his eyebrows,

"Did you really expect me to not spend any money on your birthday?" He said with a smile, making me groan and lean back against the couch.

"Ethan, if this is more than twenty-five dollars I will not accept it." He rolled his eyes and leaned forward.

"Just think of it as more of an investment..." I frowned at him, confused at what the hell that could possibly mean.

"Daniel I swear to god, if you don't open that right now I will open it for you." Carmen spoke up from across the room, her hands clasped together in anticipation.

I looked at her, surprised, and saw everyone else with similar body language.

"Holy shit, okay... jeez this is getting weird." I said, a few people laughed and I started fumbling with the envelope. I felt incredibly self conscious with everyone looking at me and could feel my face turning red.

"Oh my god stop looking at me—"

"DANIEL OPEN THE ENVELOPE—" Max shrieked, lunging forward but was pulled back by Angie.

"Okay, okay, god dammit." Ethan laughed and put an arm around me, sending me warm waves of comfort. I leaned back against him and slowly opened the envelope.

A/N
Keep reading, this is a double update ;)