"Hey, Shin-chan, what's—"

"Sorry, Kaito! Not right now."

The enthusiastic magician was left in the dust as his boyfriend quickly walked past him, cradling a rather large box of… something in his arms. Kaito huffed; it had been three weeks since he caught Shinichi lugging those boxes around their shared house (well, it was technically Shinichi's house, but it was more than large enough for the two of them so he figured that the detective wouldn't complain if he stayed twenty four seven to keep him company. Besides, as long as he made it back to Ekoda in time for his own school, he didn't see a problem with it) and he still didn't know what the boxes were for.

When asked about it, Shinichi merely shrugged and said it wasn't anything important. Well, obviously it was important if he kept bothering to carry them every day!

"You're a crappy liar," Kaito told him once, one week ago, crossing his arms and pouting. Shinichi was usually more receptive when his boyfriend was in a bad mood, so he was more likely to spill if he put up a front.

Shinichi merely shrugged, however. "That coming from the master of Poker Faces and disguises? It'd be surprising if you said I did have any merit." And that was the end of that conversation, as the detective said he had something to attend to and left Kaito, quite literally, in the dust.

They really needed to clean that library out more often.

He didn't really want to follow and stalk Shinichi – partly because he knew it was wrong to pry into the other's secrets if he really wasn't comfortable with telling him, and partly because the last time he had tried that, Shinichi walked straight outside and led him in circles around Beika for hours before Kaito finally realized that he was being messed with.

So he started talking to Shinichi's other friends to see if they knew anything about it.

"Sorry, Kaito-kun," Mouri Ran apologized over the phone. It had been two years since the Conan incident, she was now finally internationally recognized as a karate champion, and as such she kept getting calls to go out of area. They never got to see her much anymore, which saddened Kaito a bit – he'd taken a liking to her bright personality. "The last time I talked to Shinichi was over the phone a few days ago, and he didn't say anything out of the ordinary."

"Really?" Kaito sighed, disappointed. One friend down, three to go. "Thanks anyway, Ran-chan."

The next person he called was Hattori Heiji. "Kudou's keepin' secrets again, huh?" The Osakan sounded amused over the line. In the background, Kaito swore he heard the raucous noise of what could only be a kendo tournament. "What is it this time? Someone's been shrunk down into a two year old and needs him to babysit 'em while keeping them out of the public eye? I'd say it was Kudou himself, but obviously not if you keep seeing him as nineteen."

"I think I would know about something like that," Kaito said. He'd known about Conan's predicament, after all – even if Conan himself had never told him. But that wasn't a sort of thing that Shinichi could keep secret, especially from him. Kaito liked to think so, at least. "I mean, the fridge has been cleaned out faster than usual lately, but not so much that there's a third human being living with us. It can't be that."

"Then I dunno," Kaito could practically hear Hattori's shrug, even if he could barely hear the Osakan's voice itself with all the noise going on at his location. "Ask him yourself; he shouldn't hide things from his boyfriend."

"Don't you think I've tried that?" Gave him the pouting treatment, even! But no, Kudou Shinichi had finally grown immune to it, much to Kaito's dismay. "That's why I'm asking you if you've heard anything from him!"

"Nah. Brat's as tight-lipped as ever." Hattori paused on the other end. "But it must be pretty big if he's hiding it from you, of all people. Call me back when you find out what it is, alright? I'm curious now."

"Sure, sure," Kaito sighed and hung up the phone. Two people down, and neither of them had any idea that Shinichi was even acting out of the usual. That left the two people who Shinichi most likely saw on a daily basis—

Haibara Ai and Agasa Hiroshi.

"I don't know what Shinichi's been up to," the portly scientist held a hand up to his chin after setting Kaito down for tea and crackers. "Maybe he's finally taken our advice on exercising? He can't just keep relying on his soccer balls forever, after all… How heavy are those boxes?"

"I don't know, he won't let me touch them," Kaito pouted. He knew that it was because Shinichi was aware that he could figure out the contents of the boxes just by holding them, but come on. Shinichi didn't need to know that!

The little girl had a small yet knowing smirk on her face as she crossed her legs. "I know what Kudou-kun is hiding," she said right before taking a sip of her tea.

Kaito was on her in an instant, hands clasped and looking up desperately. "You do? How'd you find out? Tell me what it is, please!"

Haibara raised an eyebrow. "It's not really my business to say, but I found out because he was being careless one day and I saw the trail. I cornered him, got him to confess, and now I know the truth. He's made me promise not to tell anyone – especially you, Kuroba-kun. But he didn't have to; I would have kept it a secret anyway."

As much as she loved to tease Shinichi, Kaito knew that she was extremely loyal to him for what he's done for her over the course of the Conan incident. But even then… "Is it that big of a secret that you can't even tell me, his boyfriend?"

"You'll find out in due time, I promise. What's today's date?"

"The eighteenth of June…"

"You'll find out in less than a week, if I'm remembering the proper day correctly. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some tests to run on the lab rats. Unless you would like to volunteer for them in their place instead…?"

Kaito was out of there in an instant.

Three days after that incident, the magician found himself back in the study, juggling bright balls high in the air and catching them perfectly as they came down. He hadn't gotten any closer to finding out what Shinichi was hiding from him, and it was driving him insane.

The worst thing was, Shinichi didn't even act like hiding things from him was wrong!

He ate dinner with him as usual, gave him morning and goodnight kisses as usual, avoided taking showers with him as usual… the only thing that hinted at something not usual was those damn boxes! And the thing was, Kaito had never seen the same box twice. The only time he ever saw a specific box was when it was in Shinichi's arms, and once the detective left his eyesight, that box was never seen again.

What in the world was Shinichi doing with those boxes? He couldn't understand, and it was irritating him just thinking about it.

Yesterday, Kaito had even made a stop at the Metropolitan Police Headquarters just to ask the officers who worked there and were just as familiar with Shinichi's presence if they had noticed anything strange with the young detective. It couldn't just be him, could it?

"Kudou-kun's acting weird?" Satou-keiji seemed surprised, and Kaito sighed. "He didn't seem different at all to me when he stopped by yesterday… he was filing the paperwork for Megure-keibu as usual."

"That's right," Takagi-keiji agreed, and Kaito swore he saw the flash of something silver glimmer on his ring finger. A quick glance at Satou-keiji, and he saw something similar decorating her own hand. A smile slid across his face; he knew they could do it. "Shinichi-kun's been dropping by like usual, but he hasn't been acting out of the ordinary. Are you sure you aren't just imagining things?"

Kaito was pretty sure that he wasn't imagining all those boxes.

Less than a week was what Haibara had said. But what Kaito also didn't understand was why she had the right to know and he didn't. Did it have something to do with being trapped as six year old children for months at a time? Did they have some sort of connection that he and Shinichi could never hope to achieve? It was silly, but it was bothering him.

He wasn't going to judge Shinichi based on what was in those boxes – he didn't care about the contents; he just wanted to know why Shinichi was so insistent on hiding from him. If Hattori's theory was correct and he was somehow hiding another human being in the house, then Kaito would help him take care of them, no matter the reason. If Shinichi was lugging around adult magazines or dirty toys, then… well, Kaito would be astonished and eager to use them, but he wouldn't see Shinichi in a different light (well, perhaps in a much better light since he was the one insisting that the detective be more creative in bed, but… well).

He ran a map of the Kudou mansion in his mind. There was always the possibility of looking through the residence himself to find what Shinichi had been stashing, but… for some reason, it just seemed wrong.

"It's not something worth breaking up over," he told himself, and he firmly believed it. But maybe if he threatened Shinichi with it, he would find out? Shinichi was the cautious type, and in the beginning stages of their relationship was always so worried that he was doing something wrong, that he would do something that would cause Kaito to hate him. That could never happen, and while it was fun seeing Shinichi worry so much, he eventually had to sit him down and engrave it into his head that nothing he could do was worth breaking up over.

"Kaito," speak of the devil and he shall come; Shinichi popped his head into the study. Kaito turned to face him. "There's, uh… something I need to show you. I think you'll like it… I hope."

"Really? Does it have something to do with those boxes?" Kaito knew he sounded eager and insistent, but damn it had been bothering him for the past week! He had a right to know, damn the poker face.

Shinichi sighed. "Yes, Kaito. You'll finally find out what was in those boxes."

Kaito blinked. "… Really? No kidding?"

"No kidding. Now hurry up and get over here before I change my mind and take everything back."

Shinichi wouldn't do something like that, especially not after all the work he had obviously put into it. But Kaito was by his side in an instant, juggling balls already safely tucked away in one of the numerous pockets in his jacket. Shinichi had once gotten lost trying to sort all those out. "Alright, show me the way!"

The detective smiled and shook his head before turning around and starting their walk. "I know you've been asking around, trying to figure out what I've been doing."

"Well, yeah," Kaito scoffed, shoving his hands in the pockets of his pants. "I wasn't trying to be secretive about that, unlike a certain someone."

"It was for a good cause!" Shinichi responded hotly. "And besides, I think you'll like it. You've only been bothering me about it for the past half year."

That gave Kaito some pause. Something he'd been bothering Shinichi about for the past six months… the only thing he could think of was insisting they walk together in an adult store to browse the selection, but Shinichi had been very vocally against that and Kaito was pretty sure that he wouldn't suddenly change his mind. Besides, that didn't even explain the boxes, unless he'd bought out the whole store and was transferring everything.

Maybe he should have given Shinichi's parents a call – if Shinichi willingly told anyone about what he was up to, it would be them. But they were so hard to get a hold of that it completely slipped his mind. Not that it mattered now, anyway; he was finally going to find out!

He walked with a bounce in his step, feeling giddy and much happier about the situation than he had for the entire week. "Shinichi," he sang. "I'm not going to appreciate any secrets from now on, okay? Next time you hide something from me, I'm chaining you to the bed and not letting you out until you tell me."

Shinichi rolled his eyes. "Ba'aro. You would have done the same thing for me if our situations were reversed. Only this year, you weren't being very secretive about what you were up to."

This year? Today's date was… Wait a minute, that meant—

"Here," the detective opened the door to one of the spare guest rooms and Kaito was greeted with the sight of two little balls of fluff, one a light grey and the other an autumn brown, tangling over each other, one wrestling the other to the ground as it tried to assert its dominance. "You wouldn't shut up about getting a pet, so I just…"

Oh. Oh.

Kaito felt a wide grin spread across his face as he turned to look gleefully at his boyfriend. "Aw, Shin-chan, you shouldn't have!" He quickly grabbed his detective before Shinichi could make a run for it and tightly wrapped his arms around his thin torso, squeezing tightly.

Shinichi coughed. "R-right, well, happy birthday, Kaito." Caught in an awkward position, the most he could do was pat his boyfriend's back affectionately in return.

They stayed like that for a while until Kaito finally let go and pulled back just to grab Shinichi's collar and pull him back in for a deep, full-on kiss. Shinichi, now finally in familiar territory, wrapped his arms around his boyfriend's neck and let himself get lost in the heated and desirable passion –

-at least until he felt something nip at his pant leg, in which case he reluctantly broke off to see a pair of large eyes belonging to a silver body blinking adorably up at him.

"I kept asking you for a dog, though," Kaito pouted, but leaned over to gently pick up the little kitten and hold it carefully in his arms. "But I guess two cats are fine."

"Cats are not as excitable and active as dogs," Shinichi argued, walking over to pick the other one, the brown one, off the floor. "I'd really rather not risk a dog clawing and tearing through all my limited edition Holmes books, so I decided that I was going to either get you a cat or nothing." Never mind that cats needed much more pampering, Kaito thought amusedly. But he kept that to himself.

"Not even those toys I wanted you to use so much?"

"Not even those!" The detective's ears turned red, and Kaito simply laughed in response. The little kitten in his arms mewed adorably, and the magician lifted his head to see what exactly the contents of those boxes had been used for.

Shinichi had turned one of the spare guest bedrooms into a playroom for the kittens.

They had little toys (not the kind that Kaito was hoping for, but it would serve just as well) strewn about the room, already chewed on by the little balls of fluff. Newspaper articles in the corner, small bowls of cat food and water right next to the litter boxes on the other side of the room. The drapes that used to adorn the windows were now gone, instead allowing the natural sunlight to filter in through the windows and illuminate the room with a healthy glow.

"You're too kind, Shin-chan," Kaito laughed. "I never thought you would put this much effort into keeping the little kittens happy."

"Give me more credit than that," Shinichi sighed. "I was only going to buy one, but then I saw these two together, and… well, I couldn't help myself. Happy birthday; you get to name them both."

Kaito hummed and sat on the floor, allowing the kitten he was holding to paw all over his stomach and eventually curl up into a little ball there. "How about we name one Tantei-chan, and the other Kaitou-chan?"

"No!" Shinichi protested immediately, just as the magician predicted he would.

"Come onnnnn, I like the names," Kaito scratched behind the ears of his kitten and it purred in response. "Isn't that right, Tantei-chan? You like it too, don't you? Tantei-chan~"

Shinichi groaned. "At least give them actual names!"

"Fine, fine…" Kaito carefully plucked the kitten off his stomach and placed it on the ground before he rolled over. The kitten mewed and immediately made its way to nestle in his hair. "I'm not against calling one of them Conan, though. You know, for old times' sake."

He heard Shinichi snort behind him. "As irritating as being Conan was for me… I have to admit, it did eventually change my life for the better. After I stopped being so down about it, that was. Conan wasn't – and still isn't – a persona that I would have liked to live for the remainder of my life, but now that I look back on it… I guess it wasn't so bad."

"Because that's when you got to know me a little better when you were like that, hm," Kaito hummed. "Though I have to admit, I was thanking every god out there that you weren't actually as young as you looked, because I started getting those sort of dreams before I realized you were Kudou Shinichi, and I felt horrified with myself. So I'm glad that you didn't die that night, and that… well, you're you."

"You pervert!" He felt Shinichi stomp down on his lower back, but all Kaito could do in response was laugh – there wasn't enough force in it to actually hurt him. "I should have you arrested for that!"

"Hey, don't arrest me for something I didn't actually do!" The kitten in his hair mewled, and Kaito smiled fondly at it. "Though really, I'm going to call this one Conan. You can name the other one, Shinichi."

Shinichi mumbled, "It's your birthday…"

"And I'm giving you permission to name it! So name it."

It took a few minutes, but his detective eventually mumbled something under his breath that Kaito didn't quite catch. "Sorry, what was that?" He could hear Shinichi's voice speak up again, but he couldn't quite make out the words. "Shin-chan, you have to speak up."

"I said I'm naming it Watson, alright?!"

Laughter bubbled up in Kaito's chest and the magician couldn't help it; he really should have expected something like that. "Hey, I said you could name it; I can't complain. I'm glad you didn't choose to name it Hakuba or something – then we'd have a problem."

Shinichi's feet came into his line of vision before they moved out and was replaced by the detective's face – he had moved to lie down on the floor beside his boyfriend. Kaito immediately pulled him closer, and Shinichi didn't complain. The brown kitten, Watson, had followed Conan's lead and chose to make Shinichi's hair its temporary home as well, curling up in a ball atop the detective's head.

"Hey, Shinichi?"

"Mm?"

"I'm really thankful for this. You could have just gotten me a bouquet of flowers and I would be just as happy."

Shinichi mock gasped. "You mean I could have settled for something cheap and you'd be just as happy as if I'd bought something expensive? Man, I should have gone that route."

Kaito playfully flicked his ear. "You know what I mean, silly detective. But really, thank you. I love you, Shinichi."

"… Yeah, I love you too, stupid thief."

A/N: Happy birthday, Kaito!

I didn't have enough time to draw him an elaborate birthday picture like I did for Conan, so… he got a (literally) fluffy oneshot instead, haha.

I hope this was enjoyable to read; I discarded about five ideas before finally settling on this one… ;;

Please leave a review if you enjoyed it! I'd love to hear from you. C: