"Shin-chaaaan~" A voice drifted down into his fluffy, cloudy dreamland from somewhere beyond his consciousness as Shinichi clung to the white puffs floating around him. He didn't want to leave the warm comfort for anything.

"Shin-chaaaaaaaaan~" The voice continued to echo through his mindscape, dragging him slowly from the clutches of sleep to the cold embrace of the waking world. Irritated, the detective slowly sat up on the couch of his library, eyes bleary and half-shut, hair ruffled in several directions as his gaze focused on his boyfriend.

Kuroba Kaito's messy hair and beaming smile would normally have been a very welcome sight to the teen in the rising moments, but Kaito was also usually asleep during those moments. Shinichi was by no means a morning person, but he was awake far sooner than his other half due to the extra late nights the thief tended to take, so it was more than a small surprise to not only see Kaito up and awakening him from his semi-regular sleeping spot (he tended to fall asleep while reading), but to see him there with breakfast for the both of them on the trays.

Sleepy as he was, irritation began to well up within him. He ignored it, however, knowing exactly why it was there and began eating the traditional breakfast in order to appease his boyfriend. The meal was mediocre at best, and Shinichi made no large comment while eating it.

The two of them spent their day as they usually did on holiday - wandering about town and heading into the park, Kaito throwing his usual weekend magic show despite it being a Thursday and throwing a few extra tricks here and there as if to dazzle the audience. In seconds, they had drawn a huge crowd and Shinichi was placed in his usual position of assistant before long.

Shinichi spent no little time expressing his annoyance at that particular fact, but didn't really fight it when Kaito asked him to help out with some tricks.

When Kaito had finished and the crowd dispersed, they headed out to lunch, chatting about meaningless things as they simply enjoyed each other's company. At least, until the argument about Holmes and Lupin started up again. By the end of it, they were barely talking besides a few exchanged words.

They then retreated to the high school soccer field, letting the both of them cool off for a while. They both let their tempers simmer down and before long Kaito was happily cheering Shinichi on as he joined the recreational game with several friends. They were enjoying themselves for a few hours before the scream rang through the woods nearby.

Predictably, Shinichi shot off in the scream's direction and was quick to check the discovered scene of the crime while Kaito called the long-familiar number of Division One's inspector. The crime was very simple and it took merely minutes for Shinichi's deductions to lead them right to the culprit and the paperwork took only an hour after that.

Kaito had a somewhat sour mood for a while after that, but he didn't comment when Shinichi leaned his head on his shoulder as they were sitting in the Police Department's lobby, awaiting their final dismissal. Shinichi was too tired from all that had happened in the day for Kaito to bother with pestering him just then.

The two walked home, Kaito blabbering on about some obscure magician he'd seen on TV recently that seemed to be up-and-coming, before quickly leading the detective through the house and onto the balcony that stuck out of the roof of the backside of the house, overlooking the neighborhood. The two gazed out over the darkening sky in silence, slowly watching the stars emerge from beneath the haze of the sunlight.

"You know, It's been three whole years since we got together. I wanted to ask...are you happy with me, Shinichi?"

Shinichi started at the use of his given name, so used to hearing the nickname that the magician had stuck him with since day one, and stared at the side of Kaito's face while he pondered the question. Kaito didn't look back at him, too busy staring off into the stars...or maybe he was avoiding his gaze.

The detective took several moments observing his lover, only just then able to see Kaito's hands clearly since that morning...and Shinichi had to wonder if they had been hidden from him on purpose. There were several band-aids over the magician's fingers, and a few burn marks here and there on his hands and arms that were visible. Thinking back on the day, he realized that Kaito had served him home-cooked fish for breakfast.

The implications led to other discoveries. Obviously Kaito had been nervous of the item while cooking, leading to a few cuts and maybe a few burns...but some of those burns were in places that could have only been the result of doing less-than-perfectly practiced tricks. As the observations continued, Shinichi felt more and more like he was useless as a detective. He hadn't noticed any of these all day, and he still called himself a detective?

But, his mind supplied, Kaito still believes in you. He still follows you and admires you and...he loves you. Don't you deserve to give him a proper answer?

Kaito looked to be getting nervous with the silence, so Shinichi let a slow, true smile cover his face before replying. It was true after all. "I'm very happy Kaito. You've made me happier than I have been in a long, long time. Nothing could ever change what I feel for you."

Kaito finally returned his gaze, happy tears leaking from his eyes. Off in the distance, there was a brief flare and a whistle, followed by a bright explosion of light and a bang. Shinichi turned toward it, and in the next moment there was a series of fireworks so close together that the whole sky seemed to light up with a rainbow of brilliant colors. Dazzled, Shinichi took a moment to register the clearing of a throat beside him.

Turning back, he spotted Kaito on one knee, holding up a jewelry box to him in a classic pose that only meant one thing. Shinichi gasped as Kaito opened the box, revealing a gold band decorated with swirling designs and a single, inlaid blue sapphire. "Will you marry me?"

Shinichi was in such shock, his mind had almost completely shut down. After he got it rebooted, the smile turned into an absolute beaming, tears leaking from his own eyes as he held out his left hand to the man kneeling before him, "Yes."

Kaito beamed back and placed the ring carefully on Shinichi's finger before standing and pulling the detective against him, whispering in his ear even as the colors continued to dazzle the sky.

"Happy Birthday, Shin-chan."

And the reasons behind all of Kaito's actions came into focus with that one statement, sending Shinichi into one of the most emotional moments he'd had in his entire life. For once, the one doing the hug was the calm, rational one.

Shinichi squeezed Kaito close, a few more tears leaking from his eyes as he took in his fiancee's scent. "Thank you, Kaito. For everything."

Kaito smiled and slowly wrapped his own arms around Shinichi, and they stood there in the embrace for what seemed to be an eternity, the sky lighting with an endless stream of brilliant colors one after the other behind them, entirely unnoticed by the two. Love had a way of shrinking the awareness of the world from you.

A/N: Happy Birthday, Shinichi!