A/N: This was supposed to be a 3 paragraph, 200 words length drabble for the "100 ways to say I love you" callenge (Let's omit the fact that the last time I did that challenge the fic died in the second chap). It somehow spiraled down to this. I'm still doing the challenge but most definitely NOT over 300 words per prompt (I mean I can't write 100k of coai fanfiction, can I?). Also I'll probably post in a non-chronological order.

Prompt: 9. "I saved a piece for you."

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"What are you doing here?" Shiho glares at the man leaning on her doorway, and a pair of squinted blue eyes stare back at her in a most judgmental fashion

Shinichi's lips purse into something between a grimace and a pout. Rolling his shoulders, he doesn't wait for an invitation to come in, instead kicks his shoes off and follows her inside before closing the door behind them.

"It's my birthday, damn you. At least try to be nice to me just for today."

She checks her watch, unfazed. "Sorry to break it out to you but your birthday was eighteen minutes ago."

He snorts humorlessly, "Yeah, and you said you'd come. Which you didn't."

"I didn't say that." She clarifies, head tilting to the side as her brows arch meaningfully. "I said I'd consider it."

"Oh, right." Shinichi deadpans in sheer bitterness, flopping down into the worn out sofa in the living room. "Because you are so busy of late. Such a socialite. Too occupied in your whatever schedule to care for old friends. To even squeeze fifteen minutes of your time to wish me a happy birthday."

She doesn't say anything back, and they stare at each other silently for a long couple of seconds.

He finally gives up, "Here, I saved a piece for you. Happy birthday to me, I guess." Shinichi adds bitterly.

Her heart squeezes at the sight of the triangular piece of cake carefully packed in a transparent plastic container, yet her arms stay tightly wrapped around her chest. "You shouldn't have. I don't like strawberries." She lies.

He curses under his breath, this time really offended. "Don't be an a— don't' be rude!" He pauses, internally debating whether to lecture her or plea to her. With Shiho, neither ever seems a viable option. He decides the latter would require less damage control, so he ventures, "Ran made it, she—"

"Oh, wow." Shiho interrupts, feigning surprise and hurrying to fetch the plastic container from his hands. "Why didn't you say so earlier? If sweet, perfect Ran made it, I couldn't possibly let it go to waste. My, that'd be barbaric…"

His brows furrow in confusion as he watches her stab the plastic fork into the cake and stuff her mouth with an overly generous portion of pastry. "What the hell—"

"What?" She challenges, one hand covering half of her mouth as she chews with difficulty. "Isn't this what you want? I'll eat your precious cake, and you can go back to your dearest girlfriend—"

"Stop it," His fingers circle around her wrists, keeping her in place. "You're going to choke. Stop."

"Let go! You're not even supposed to be here." She tries, unsuccessfully, to yank his hands away, but his grasp on her remains firm. "What kind of guy leaves his girlfriend on his birthday to meet another girl at wee hours of the night? Honestly, who does that?"

"God, you're so incredibly aggravating." He sighs with exasperation, hands pulling into his own hair. "Quit it with the girlfriend parade, will you? You're starting to really piss me off."

"Then go back to her, you moron."

Shinichi can't help but scoff. "Yeah, well. The thing is, I don't have a girlfriend to go back to. And at this rate, if you keep ignoring my messages and ditching our dates I'll most probably die alone in a nursing home before my sixtieth birthday."

And she does that thing again. The thing where she just stares back at him saying nothing while a thousand questions run in her head and she voices out none of them. It's frustrating in a maddening way. It drives him up the walls because every time she does that —and she does it all the time— he's left in the dark, deciphering riddles with no clear answers.

After a long pause, Shiho scowls at him with indignation.

"Excuse you, how come I'm suddenly at fault of the many complications in your romantic life?"

Shinichi lets out an elongated, theatrical sigh.

"Because," Gently, the boy takes the half-eaten cake from her hands, almost forcefully removing the plastic fork from her grasp. He carefully places them on the table before shifting back his attention to the girl in front of him. Gaze lowered, his fingers are hesitant when they latch into hers. But she doesn't pull back, and he stares at her tentatively, "It'd be most difficult to ask you to be my girlfriend if you keep —profusely— denying me the opportunity to see you, let alone talk to you." She blinks twice, her eyes flickering between their intertwined hands and his timid smile. "And I know that at least for you, my persuasion skills are a good minus ten, but please bear with me." He takes a deep breath and when he speaks again, his tone is almost solemn, "I really really like you, Miyano Shiho. And I might be horribly mistaken to assume that you might like me too… but if you do, you'd be saving me an awful lot of trouble if you agreed to go out with me. And if you don't, well… can you at least give me a chance to change your mind?"

One, two, three... Shinichi counts down the seconds before her reaction.

"Are you drunk?"

"No, I'm—"Shinichi buries his face on his hands, feeling drained, "I'm not drunk but you're seriously killing me right now."

"So... you like me."

Shinichi shots her an annoyed look through the gaps of his fingers before lowering his hands onto his lap. "I think we've already established that. Your answer?"

She's taken aback. "Eh, that's unfair. You caught me off guard."

"That's not an answer."

"Kudo-kun,"

"Fine. Alright." He concedes, "You don't have to give me your answer yet. Just pick up the phone once in a while. And stop ignoring my messages. And bailing on me."

"You know, if you're going to be a control freak on me I'm going to have to seriously reconsider your offer."

"My bad, I'll make sure to settle our appointments with a two weeks' notice. Happy now?"

"Very funny. Alright. I'll pick up the phone. Can't promise anything further."

"See? It wasn't that hard."

She throws a cushion at his face, which he dodges skillfully. "Shut up, Kudo-kun."

"Oi, be nice. It's my birthday after all!"

"Was. Exactly forty two minutes ago."

"Stingy. You still owe me a birthday present."

"Since when am I under obligation to gift you anything?"

"Worst. Girlfriend. Ever."

"Oh, gee. I'm sorry." She deadpans, placing a hand over her chest, "I didn't know I was up for pre-evaluation. How do I rate in your list?"

"There's no list, you exasperating woman."

"Mhm... sure. Right."

"Never mind." He almost grunts, eyes rolling back.

She muffles a chuckle with the back of her hand, amused at his reaction. Shinichi looks at her dissaprovingly, yet his lips curl up into a resigned smile that makes her heart swell for two seconds.

"My, but it is your birthday. You even brought me cake." From his ex-love interest, not to forget. But she's feeling fuzzy and she'll omit the details for now. "Where are my manners? I haven't even thanked you properly."

Shinichi's brow arch suspiciously as he throws an apprehensive look at her. "Is this a trap...? Why are you being so nice all of a sudden?"

"How rude. I was going to say thank you."

"Oh. Okay." He says awkwardly, "You're welcome."

"...and, Kudo-kun?" Suddenly she's inching closer to him, half-lidded eyes and voice soft. Their fingers graze lightly as she closes the distance between them, and he catches the fragrance of her shampoo —something distinctively flowery and sweet, so sweet— when her hair brushes against his flustering cheek.

"H-Huh!?" Shinichi stutters, fazed at the sudden closeness.

Shiho's lips press gently on his cheek in a chaste kiss before whispering in his ear, "Happy Birthday."

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A/N: Reviews will be extremely appreciated!