Kaito sighed, laying his head on the table with his arms as a pillow and making sure everyone in the room (meaning the furniture) knew exactly how much he detested this situation.

If Shinichi were here, he would tell him how much of an idiot he was being and (in some roundabout way–or maybe just in Kaito's mind) that Kaito should hurry up and stop pouting. Shinichi... The thief sighed again as the cloud of depression hanging above him darkened.

Five months. It'd been five months since he'd last seen his boyfriend. All he had heard from Ran–she had come over in search of her best friend when this whole thing had started–was that, during their trip to Tropical Land, Shinichi had run off, and that was the last she'd seen of him.

He'd been worried sick until he got a call about a week later. After chewing out the stupid detective, he'd gotten a vague "on a case" (which he later found out was exactly what Ran had been told, too) before the call abruptly ended.

Now, Kaito would attest to the fact that he sometimes acted stupid, but he was far from an idiot. It was obvious that there was more to it then the 'just a case' bull Shinichi tried to convince him of, a suspicion that had been confirmed during a call when Shinichi's absense passed the two month marker. Though Kaito countinued to act ignorant whenever he'd gotten one of Shinichi's (seldom) calls, their last conversation had been—

"Kaito?" His mother called out, abruptly cutting off his train of thought and causing the metaphorical rain cloluods to disappear in the light of Kaito's Poker Face. "Evveryone's waiting for you downstairs. Are you coming?"

Some elated, energetic response left his lips as he all but bounced downstairs–only slightly exaggerating his now suddenly happy mood.

He couldn't let Shinichi's absense ruin his birthday, now could he?

His mother always knew just how to cheer him up without really trying. She had made sure to get his favorite cake, and the party games and jokes (mostly at Hakuba's expense) had done a lot to cheer him up. It had taken his mind off the problem that was his boyfriend almost entirely.

Well, it had been working, anyway...

Now, several hours later, he was sneaking into the secret foom behind his father's painting, unable to fall asleep when left to his thoughts.

He absently slipped his arm through the white sleeves, fixing his tie and placing the infamous top hat on his head. It was when he put on this suit that he really felt his father's presence the most. If he was still alive, what kind of advice would he give his son?

As he grabbed practially empty file he had on Shinichi, hoping to find a clue the the worn papers, Kaito's mind wandered to a week prior.

Shinichi had called him up some random afternoon. They'd talked about normal stuff for quite a while, actually. Then he'd brought up his birthday.

"You're going to come, though, right?" He'd asked innocently. He waited, huge grin on his face, one which faltered when the silence on the other end continued.

Shinichi quickly caught himself. "Kaito, I can't. I'm in the middle of an important case." Kaito could hear the lie–it's not like it wasn't glaringly obvious with that sort of tone–but just the knowledge made his chest hurt; that Shinichi would blow him off. On his birthday.

The silence that followed stretched on long enough to be considered awkward. "That's fine, Shinichi." Kaito finally said once he could get enough 'cheer' in his voice. "I know how important your detective work is to you." He really hoped that hadn't sounded as bitter to the detective as it had to him.

"Kaito..." No such luck.

"I have to go." And just like that, the conversation ended. He only realized too late that he didn't have any way to call the detective back.

Kaito paused his mental recall to frown as he reached the last page, finsing no clues and nothing that he didn't already know.

Forcing himself to focus as he flipped back to the first page was probably why he didn't notice the 'door' open. He did, however, hear it click shut. Looking up, he was startled by the nervous figure standing in front of his father's picture.

His first thought was to gape; how hard he known about this room. How had he known about him?! The second... well, he never got there. Brain functions had officially shut down in favor of him mentally panicing.

The form of one Edogawa Conan stepped closer, determination trampling on the anxiousness he was currently feeling. It wasn't every day you tell your boyfriend you'd been clubbed and shrunk by an evil organization dressed in monotone colors.

The meeting so far had worked in Shinichi's favor, as Kaito hadn't moved an inch since the little critic had entered. He would have found the carefully blank Poker Face more amusing if it wasn't making his heart beat faster with nervousness.

The shrunken detective walked forward, stopping directly in front of his thief boyfriend, plucking the forgotten manila folder from his graps and dropping a package unceremoniously into the still upturned hands.

Shinichi removed the hat next, almost laughing at the fact that Kaito was still staring at the spot by the door and wondering what the thief must be thinking. With the hand that wasn't still holding the hat (and the roses that happened to be the rest of his present), he lifted Kaito's head to meet his gaze.

He didn't speak until he knew for sure that he had the wide-eyed magician's attention in full. "Happy birthday, Kaito." He leaned in to peck his startled boyfriend on the lips. "And... I'm sorry. For not saying anything."

There was a definite plunk that may have been the present, but Shinichi didn't have time to check as he was tackled and nearly suffocated by the death grip of a certain magician thief. "Shin-chan~!" The face-splitting grin adorning the happy teen's features was a good sign. And, hey, if Shinichi was just as happy, then that was fine, too.

Owari~!