Sunlight filtered through shutters as the scent of vanilla cake mingled with balloons in the house. Felix’s family moved around the living room, murmuring about decorations and arrangements. Amongst it all, you stood near the table, adjusting the uneven banner that read 'Welcome Home!'

When Felix finally stepped through the door, his presence was smaller than you remembered; lanky frame now wrapped in a hoodie a size too big, probably as a result of the cancer treatment. But his smile, the boyish one you fell in love with.. he didn’t lose that.

“You didn’t have to do all this,” Felix mutters in a raspy voice but he just gets drowned out by the party.