Hey guys! Just a short fic about Sherlock's birthday (today, January 6th). This accidentally got just a little bit angsty near the middle but it's balanced out by the ending. I hope you enjoy and please review to let me know what you think!

He'd forgotten.
His only friend in the world had forgotten.

Sherlock pretended to be deep in thought so as not to let his emotions betray him and show John that, no, he wasn't okay.

How could John have forgotten that it was his birthday? Okay, so John didn't have a mind palace, but Sherlock had hoped that he wouldn't forget. Not because he wanted a present or a party, oh no, but simply because he was silently desperate for John to care about him as much as he did about John.

He was convinced his John didn't think Sherlock cared about him as much as he actually did thanks to the Fall. Sherlock never revealed the total impact the Fall had had on him emotionally. Yes, emotionally. Sentiment and other such nonsense. He couldn't help it though. John was always the exception. As he hunted down Moriarty's vast criminal web, Mycroft occasionally contacted him with reports of John's spiralling depression and, just two weeks before Sherlock completed his dismantling of the network, Mycroft informed him that John had attempted to commit suicide by jumping off of Bart's rooftop. Fortunately, Mycroft's men had intervened before John was able to plunge into the cool relief of oblivion from his severely troubled and entirely depressed existence. Existence, because John was merely existing from one day to the next, he wasn't living. Not really.

And with each day that passed, Sherlock longed to be back in the comfort of Baker Street more and more, pounding the battlefields that are the streets of London in pursuit of a criminal, but most of all, Sherlock longed to be back with the army doctor. As he himself had once told John, he really was lost without his blogger.

"Sherlock."
John's voice sliced into the silent air and removed Sherlock from his contemplations. To others he may have merely raised an eyebrow to indicate that he was listening, but his John deserved more than that.
"Yes, my clean shaven doctor?"
John snorted at that remark before continuing.
"I haven't forgotten about your birthday you git so stop sulking".
Sherlock spluttered in indignation, ready to refute that statement, but a warm glow was building in his chest.

John had remembered.

"I got you a present."
A smile lit up Sherlock's face and John gained courage from the total happiness he induced in the normally indifferent man. John swallowed his nerves before he went on. Sherlock stared at him in shock and panic as John produced a small black box from behind his back.
"Don't look so scared, I'm not proposing here Sherlock".
Sherlock visibly relaxed and took the box from John's outstretched hand. As he opened the box, there was indeed a ring, a plain, silver band. Unsure as to what the ring symbolised, Sherlock looked at John inquisitively.
"It's an eternity ring," John supplied, "read the engraving".

Sherlock did as John instructed and inspected the tiny engraving on the inside of the ring.

"Sherlock and John. Together forever. The consulting detective and his clean shaven doctor".

Sherlock looked up at John with tears in his eyes. As John enveloped the genius in a hug, Sherlock knew. In that moment, Sherlock knew that his beloved blogger cared for him just as much as he cared for John, and this, Sherlock decided, was his best birthday ever.

Thanks for reading! Please review and check out my other stories :) *shameless plugging*