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Birthdays were a big deal in the Kudo household.
Yukiko loved parties, for one thing. And she also loved her family; meaning every birthday was a huge endeavor.
Shinichi and Kaito were born on May 4th (a date Shinichi loved immensely due to its significance in the Sherlock Holmes lore), and because it was two birthdays in one, the resulting party tended to be huge.
But as the twins passed 25 years old, they were less and less interested in celebrating their birthday. Shinichi simply didn't like parties or large gatherings, and Kaito was often so busy with his hobbies and magic shows that he completely forgot his birthday entirely.
But this May, he had an entire month off of everything; no clubs, no hobby meets, and no magic tours. It was a rare occurrence, and before he could complain about having nothing to do, he recalled his birthday.
Well, he recalled Shinichi's birthday in particular. Despite being born on the same day, Kaito often thought of May 4th as being Shinichi's day, not his.
And he was okay with that! Kaito often preferred that Shinichi was having a good day, because it didn't take much to make Kaito happy while Shinichi could have his whole day ruined if one single thing was out of place.
So, he began to prepare a little party at home, just for the family. Kaito asked Ran to distract Shinichi during the day of, which she agreed to.
Kaito had a week to prepare, and he knew that would be more than enough time.
"The biggest issue is finding a gift..."
"A gift for what?" Kona asked, with Ai at his side. They were 5 now, and had gotten good at sneaking around without meaning to.
"I'm looking for a gift from Shin-chan." He said, opening his sitting position a bit for the twins to climb up and sit with him. "Honestly, he's not really a material person, so it's pretty hard to shop for him."
"Why not get him something Holmes related?"
Kaito shrugged. "Even a Holmes freak like him would get tired of the same gifts every year, so I'm gonna look for something more personal."
Ai and Kona seemed to be lost in thought, wondering what they should get for him as well. Perhaps they had also been thinking of something Holmes related.
"How about we take a trip to the mall tomorrow, the three of us. Shin-chan is gonna be busy with work, so we don't have to worry about him finding anything out."
"Why can't he find out?"
"Well this has to be a surprise! If he finds out what we're gonna do ahead of time, then it wouldn't be as effective."
The twins quickly got excited at the prospect.
A secret, just between them!
—
At the mall, Kaito let the twins run around to pick what they wanted to give Shinichi.
"Stay within sight!" he called to them, before sitting down on a bench. They were young, but they didn't need constant monitoring. Besides, if anything happened, Ai would be the first one to fight back.
He already had an idea of what he was going to give Shinichi, probably a new suit for work (he still wore his high-school uniform for everything)
Kaito leant back on the bench, glancing to the side and noticing a jewelry store.
That reminds me, I wanted to buy some new cufflinks for my North America tour.
Kaito made sure the twins were still within eye line and walked over to the store, looking at the display cases.
There were necklaces, rings, and other jewelry glittering under the display light. His eyes lazily scanned over all of them, noticing which gems were real and which were synthetic, which were priced correctly or priced way too high.
One thing that caught his eye was a brooch; it was shaped like a clover and had real emeralds embedded in the leaflets. It was beautiful, and he thought about buying it.
Eh, let me focus on Shin's stuff first.
Kaito left the jewelry store just in time for the twin to walk up to him with lots of bags in their arms.
"Hey, what's all this? I thought you were just going to get one gift each?"
"We found stuff for Shin-nii and for you!"
"Yeah? Can I see what you got for me?"
Kona immediately hugged his bags to his chest. Apparently he was the one holding Kaito's gifts. "It won't be a surprise if you see it now!"
Fair enough.
Kaito stood up straight. "Let's go to the suit store so I can get a few things for Shin-chan."
"Okay!"
—
On the day of, Ran managed to keep Shinichi busy until the Kudos were done setting up the surprise party.
When Kaito sent her the text saying it's okay to come back, she gave them an ETA and brought Shinichi over.
They shut off all the lights and got into their hiding places, and when Shinichi opened the front door, they all jumped out to greet him.
"Happy birthday!"
Shinichi, who wasn't exactly surprised but was a little flustered, sheepishly scratching the back of his head.
"I thought we were beyond surprise parties?"
Kaito walked up and put a hand on the other's shoulder, smiling. "You're never too old for a party, especially in this family."
"You should open the presents first!"
"We worked hard to pick them out!"
Kona and Ai tugged on Shinichi's pant legs, pointing towards the table with the presents.
"Mama made your favorite lemon pie too!"
"And a chocolate cake for Kai-nii!"
"Okay, let's go do the presents first."
The little twins ran towards the table, leaving Kaito and Shinichi alone near the entrance.
Kaito turned to follow after them when Shinichi grabbed his wrist, putting a small black box into his hand.
"...
"What's this?"
"It's your birthday too, so this is my gift to you."
Kaito opened the box, coming face to face with the clover brooch he had seen at the mall a few days ago. He'd almost entirely forgotten about it.
"I saw it while at the mall the other day, and it seemed like something you would like." Shinichi shrugged, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
"Happy birthday, Kaito."
Kaito snorted softly, closing the box and tucking it into his pocket.
"Happy birthday, Shinichi!"
—
As the party was winding down, Kaito and Shinichi sat together in the kotatsu in their living room. Their younger siblings were already asleep as it was past their bedtime, so Yusaku put them to bed while Yukiko cleaned the kitchen.
“Another year goes by, and we’re a whole year older! What’s your plan for the time until our next birthday?”
“Eh?” Shinichi looked up from the puzzle he was working on, a gift from Sonoko, and looked at Kaito as if he were an idiot. “It’s not like it’s New Years, why do I need to make a resolution?”
“It’s basically like New Years for us! Our year doesn’t change until our birthday rolls around, so I like to make goals to reach before the next one.” Kaito leaned his chin on his hand, grinning over at the other. “So? Any goals?”
Shinichi scoffed, looking back down at the puzzle. “I don’t have any short-term goals! I’m gonna live every day exactly the same as I always do, and if something happens that forces me to change, then I’ll deal with that in the moment.”
Kaito shook his head. He always knew his brother was extremely rigid in his thinking, so there was no harm done.
“What about you?” Shinichi asked, not looking up, “Got any goals for your ‘new year’?”
He blinked, before looking up at the ceiling fan overhead. “No goals per se, but I just hope that my strength lasts until next year again.”
Shinichi paused, before looking over at him again. He knew Kaito was referring to being Kid, but neither said it outloud.
“... Don’t we all..”