Dangerous (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 44

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.