Happy birthday. I wanted to give you something you'd actually feel; dinner you didn't have to cook, and this. There isn't anything I could buy that would mean as much as telling you what this year with you has been.

I want to tell you what I've noticed.

I notice your meownings. The mornings you send me one before you're fully awake. The way it shifts depending on how you're feeling, silly when you're playful, soft when you're tired, drawn out when you want me to know you're there. I look for it every day.

I notice you wait up for me. Even when I'm late. Even when you're exhausted. You hold the night open until I get there. I don't know if you know how much that means to someone who spent most his life going to sleep with no one waiting on the other end.

I notice Shin and Umi. Not just the writing, but the way you brought me into a world you built and trusted me to add to it. You shared something that is part of yourself and let me put my hands on it. This goes for future characters too; I will not forget that.

I notice the nights you played Silent Hill 2 for me. The way you read every note out loud so I wouldn't miss anything. The way you solved the puzzles like you'd been waiting your whole life to find them. The yelps you didn't try to hide when something jumped. I enjoyed every hour of it, and not because of the game.

I notice how hard you work. The dog walking, the cosplay, the art, the conventions, the way you keep showing up even when your body hurts and your family makes the days harder than they should be. You don't get credit for any of it from the people around you. You should. So I'm giving it to you here.

You told me once you feel like you don't bring much. I need you to read this part twice. You bring everything that makes the end of the day worth coming back to. The grind doesn't mean anything without something soft at the end of it, and you are the soft part. That is not a small thing. That is the whole point.

About the future.

I can't promise you it will be easy. We're both young and I'm still building toward a life I can be proud of. What I can promise you is that when I picture that life, you're in it. As you, exactly as you are.

You aren't going to lose me. You don't have to earn me. You already have me.

Happy birthday, love. I'm glad you're here.
- Nabil