· N E R D ·

t w e n t y - s i x

"SURPRISE!"

Evan jumps from the sudden shouting and Lui laughs; Jonathan squeezes Evan's hand in reassurance as Lui closes the door behind the three of them.

Since both Evan and Jonathan's birthdays are in May, the guys decided to throw them a little surprise party. It was mostly Ryan's idea because he still felt guilty for what the two had gone through with Luke.

It was a party nonetheless. There was a lot of food and drinks (admittedly, a little alcohol too), simple children's party games, other party games, music, and most importantly, cake (and friends, I guess).

"Before we start anything," Lui spoke up, "I need to establish a rule. NO RUINING MY APARTMENT! I'm a poor college kid, you're poor college kids, so keep it as clean as possible. Got it?!"

"Why are you looking right at me?!" David complained.

Lui smirked. "You know why."

"ALRIGHT," Tyler interrupted, "moving on, are we gonna play this Twister game or not?"

"Yeah!"

• · • · •

Needless to say, there were some injuries from the game, but was that really a surprise considering who the people playing were?

Evan didn't play, so he got to laugh at them until he actually got up to help. He concluded that they all just had bruises, nothing broken or fractured (thank goodness).

"Wow, that went great," Brian said as he held his side.

Scotty cracked his back and sarcastically agreed. "Oh yeah, splendid. I just love it when Nogla donkey-kicks my spine."

"Blame Tyler," David complained. "He tickled me!"

Tyler wheezed. "Yeah, but I didn't think you'd kick Scotty!"

Ryan finished putting the game away as Lui changed the song. Then the two went to check on the food, along with Jonathan, of course. Everyone else wanted to play another game and, to nobody's surprise, Uno was the chosen one. Evan decided to jump in as well because he loved the game to no end.

• · • · •

"Ding, ding, children! Food is ready!" Jonathan shouted at the same time Tyler threw his cards down and stood up.

"NOGLA, YOU IRISH CUNT! STOP PLUS-FOURING ME!"

Evan grabbed Tyler's sleeve and whispered something that was inaudible to Jonathan, yet got Tyler to sit down.

That was when Lui came running out of the kitchen and screamed, "FOOD!"

This caught everyone's attention and a stampede formed.

Dinner was served.

• · • · •

"Here, Jonathan. These are from me."

The two birthday boys had already received and opened gifts from their friends, so now they were opening gifts from each others.

Inside the perfectly wrapped box was a set of cookbooks by Jonathan's favorite cook: Gordon Ramsay.

"Oh my God, Evan, are you serious?" Jonathan was speechless. "I don't even know what to—"

Evan smiled. "Then don't say anything, just cook me something sometime."

"You cheeky bastard," Marcel grinned. "Getting him cookbooks just so he'll cook for you."

"What can I say? I love food."

Everyone laughed, then Jonathan handed Evan his gift. It was also a box, but this one was way smaller. It was short and thin.

Removing the lid slowly, Evan tilted his head in confusion at first. There were two white strips with printed text on them. It wasn't until he read one of them that he understood. He stood up and looked down at Jonathan with tears in his eyes.

"Are you serious?"

Jonathan smirked. "Don't say anything, just go with me."

Their friends were eager to know what was in the box. "What is it, Evan? What'd he get you?"

The nerd pulled out the two plane tickets and held them up to his friends. "They're plane tickets to Germany," he cried.

Everyone went, "Aww," as Jonathan got up and pulled Evan into a hug, which had him crying in his shirt. It didn't bother the American — to him, it was totally worth it.

"Happy birthday, Evan," he whispered, kissing his forehead. "I hope the happiness you feel right now stays with you forever. You deserve it."

Evan wiped his eyes with his sweater sleeves and exhaled in an attempt to fix his breathing. "Well, if you stay with me forever, it will."