"I wanted to," Neil says softly, a blush on his cheeks. "I've...never gotten to plan something like this for someone."

He'd discovered Todd's birthday by accident. Every birthday--and birthday party--for any of his friends had been an affair planned and supervised by their parents, even the ones where they got to go to New York or Philadelphia or Boston. But Gabriel's? He got to plan this, and execute it, and be a whole part of making Gabriel feel loved.

"It's no trouble, anyway."