It was well past eleven when he got home.

Karina's voice had been beautiful, as always, but he might have had too much to drink. His head was spinning a bit, and he felt a little fuzzy. Antonio always called him a sombre drunk, so he tried to smile, but it ended up as more of a grimace when he knocked his elblow on the wall when he was putting his keys in the door.

Stepping into his house, he toed off his shoes and unbuttoned his vest, hanging it on the rack by the door, along with his hat.

"I'm home." he said softly, though there was no one to hear him, obviously. Sparing a glance to the pictures on the far wall before plopping down on the chair, he smiled a little bittersweetly at the picture of him and his family.

This house was so empty. Yes, he'd cleaned yesterday when he'd gotten home, but even with all of the bottles lying around, there wasn't really much difference. Without the bottles, it was just a little less pathetic to still be living here.

He calmly stretched out on the couch, his shirt riding up a bit, and checked his phone. When the message came up that said that there was no one who had contacted him, he sighed. Running his fingers through his hair, he frowned and yawned, wincing when he stretched the burn on his cheek.

"Opening your face mask in the middle of a burning building isn't smart, Kotetsu." a voice in his head reprimanded him. He curled into the couch, squishing a pillow to his stomach because he suddenly felt like sleeping, or crying. Maybe both.

"I know."

It had sounded awfully like Tomoe.

"Here, it's your birthday present. Happy Birthday, Bunny."

"...You know I wasn't serious about wanting this, right?" the jewel that the theif had stolen glinted in the setting sunlight.

Kotetsu blinked owlishly at him. "Not that. The prisoner, stupid. I know that it's points you want."

"Happy Birthday..." before he turned away from him, Kotetsu managed to catch a glimpse of a smile on his partner's face. "Honestly, how embarassing."

Kotetsu had to admit that the "Good Luck Mode" that Dr. Saito had installed in their suits was definately cool looking, even if it was mainly for show. But, watching Bunny limp away with his oversized leg and dangling the criminal NEXT by the back of his hand, knowing that he'd managed to put a smile on his face for his birthday-That was deinitely cooler.

The small button stared him in the face. Pushing it, he could hear the faint rining beyond the door, as well as some shuffling. Kotetsu shifted the package in his arms, careful not to flatten it.

When the door finally opened, revealing a rather miffed Bunny who looked like he'd been woken from a particulairly good nap, he grinned and brandished the present he was holding. "Hey!"

Barnaby brought his perfectly manicured hand up to the brigde of his nose and pinched. "What are you doing here? It's almost ten."

Wow, he actually had been napping. That was actually kind of cute. "Well, for the record, it's eleven thirty, but hey, whatever." Barnaby scowled and almost closed the door on him, but he stuck his foot in the way. "I brought cake?"

"...You're not going to go away, are you?" Bunny grumped.

"No." He replied cheerfully. "I brought booze, too."

Bunny was grumbling domething uninteligable, but walked away from his door, leaving it open. Well, that was probably as good an invitation in as he was going to get. Tiger followed him earnestly, shutting the door with his foot. He happily waltzed furthur into his partners apartment...

...And almost dropped everything he was holding.

"Jesus, Bunny! Do you have some kind of aversion to furniture or something?"

The blonde turned around. "What kind of question is that?" he snapped, before wandering furthur into his house in the dark and coming back with a plate and a knife.

He set them down on the table in front of the only other piece of furniture in hte entire place, a expensive looking red leather couch. "Oh, I also have a present for you." the blonde raised an eyebrow, and looked like he was going to object, but Kotetsu interrupted. "No, you don't get to throw it away, it's not just from me, it's from everyone." he still looked skeptical, and Kotetsu sighed. "They'll lynch me. Here."

Bunny made some kind of half-choked "eurgh" noise as the violently pink bunny hit him in the face, and promptly looked absolutely murderous.

"Hey, don't look at me like that, man. It was Nathan's idea." Kotetsu laughed, and dodged the plush that was promptly thrown right back at him. It landed somewhere on the floor behind him. "Anyway, come here and have a piece of this cake, will you? I had to stand in line for an hour to get it for you."

Sighing, the slonde sighed and bit out "If there is absolutely anything else involving bunnies in this godforsaken plan of yours, I'm kicking you out." before he sat down. The cake was placed on the table carefully, and he raised an eyebrow. "It's small."

Kotetsu had the good grace to flush. "Well, it's not like there's fifty of us here. Besides, unlike you, I have other people I have to support, so my cake budget isn't exactly massive."

"Other people?" Barnaby sounded...genuinely curious.

"I send money to my mother, older brother, and nine year old kid regulairly. My mom's retired, so they need all the help they can get." Kotetsu was opening a beer already, and Barnaby just kind of looked at him. "...What?"

Barnaby cut himself a small piece of the cake (chocolate with strawberries, he noticed. The old man had some taste after all). "...You really are an old man aren't you?"

Kotetsu spluttered, and nearly spat his beer everywhere. "W-What the hell? That's kind of rude to say to the guy who just came all the way here in the middle of the night to bring you cake, Bunny."

That earned him a scowl. "Barnaby." He corrected automatically, before relaxing a little. "You have a child, old man? Just how old are you?"

He grumbled, a little childishly, and sipped his drink. "36." at his partners susequent choke on the cake, he looked a little offended. "How old are you, then, that that's so old?"

"I'm only 24."

"...That's only twelve years."

Barnaby raised an eyebrow, but decided against saying anything. He took another bite of the cake and motioned to the other's left hand. "And what about your wife?" Kotetsu winced, and put down his drink, placing his elbows on his knees.

"I guess she'd be sneaking up on thirty-eight, now. Her birthday would be a couple months from now."

"She's older than you?"

Kotetsu looked at him, expression unreadable, and picked up his drink again. "She was, Bunny. I buried her five years ago."

The blonde flinched, and looked away. "...I'm sorry."

"No, it's not a big deal." He paused, drinking deeply before putting the empty can down. Kotetsu stood, stertched and said, "Well, anyway, I have to go home. It's getting kind of late, and I want to catch at least a little sleep before tomorrow." He walked back tot he door, stepping back into his shoes, and calling "Happy Birthday, Bunny." before leaving, shutting the door gently behind him.

Barnaby stayed behind, staring at the door.