TOKEN

Oneshot

Historically, your birthday had never exactly been great. As a child, all of your school friends were off at summer camps or on vacations with family. You'd gotten used to the disappointment. No one was ever available to celebrate with you other than your aunts and uncles and a few cousins.

At least back then, your grandmother would hand you a birthday card with $20 in it, but now that you were an adult, that had stopped. Which you found hilarious because as a broke grad student at MIT struggling to pay Boston rent, you needed that $20 now more than ever.

This birthday, you were one of the few people on campus for the summer semester. You were trying to haul ass through this program and get your Masters as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, that meant that none of your friends were either and you had no one to celebrate with.

Your professor droned on in the front of the class and you scrolled aimlessly through your Facebook. You'd received the standard amount of "Happy Birthday" messages from people you hadn't seen in years, but you were still bummed.

Other people had their rooms filled with giant metallic balloons on their birthday, or one of their friends would go through the effort of making a compilation video. Some people got those giant sparkling candles or Sephora gift cards. A surprise party was completely out of the question as there was no one to plan it and no one to attend.

It always seemed to happen to someone else. You wondered if you'd ever get to feel special.

Did that make you selfish?

Maybe.

But it was your fucking birthday. You deserved to have fun!

You snapped out of your daydream of a large and lavish party when your classmates all pushed up from their chairs and began to pack away their laptops and books. You slowly gathered your things and resolved that you'd just go get some ice cream at the corner store and have a movie night in. You'd even take a Lyft to treat yourself.

You felt your phone buzz in your pocket and you fished it out.

Your eyes widened when you saw a message from Erik Stevens on the screen.

"Yo. It's your birthday!"

You'd met Erik at a few overly cramped apartment parties and had been completely enamored with him. Who fucking wasn't?

You ran in the same circles, but had never truly hung out just yet. Every time he ran in to you, he'd thrown his hands up and yelled, "Y/N! Finally, the party can start!"

He found you funny and engaging. He always smiled at you in the hallway and wrapped you in those tight, one armed hugs. You found yourself gravitating towards him every time you saw him... being a slightly bolder, funnier version of yourself. You loved to make him laugh and catch his gold canines as his chubby cheeks pulled up in a smile.

No one ever remembered your birthday. You found yourself grinning as you tapped a response.

"Yeah it is, haha!"

The three dots bounced on your screen immediately.

"You doing anything tonight? We've gotta celebrate."

You hesitated for a moment, debating whether or not to tell him about your pathetic plans. You elected to punt.

"What do you have in mind?"

The three dots didn't return, and your heart sunk a bit. But you knew getting your hopes up was dumb. You were about to shove your phone back in your pocket when it vibrated again.

"Meet me at Roxy's at 6:30."

That wasn't a lot of time. You began to power walk down the street to your apartment so you could get dressed up. Your heart was racing and your cheeks already hurt from smiling.