The sun was just starting to sink below the horizon, casting amber ribbons of light across the counters of the Honky Tonk, when Ginji slid onto a stool with a weary sigh. Natsumi popped up from where she'd been stacking glasses behind the counter and gave him a puzzled look.

"Ginji, it's not like you to look so sad. Are you hungry?" She reached into the pocket of her apron and produced a box of pocky. "Strawberry! I know you like this kind..." She waved the box temptingly in front of Ginji's face, but his response was less than enthusiastic.

"I'm not hungry, Natsumi-chan," he mumbled, folding his arms over the counter as he slumped. He sighed, letting his chin sink down to the counter as well until only his eyes were visible between the pillow of his arms and the tuft of his blond hair.

Ginji not hungry? Natsumi gave him a worried expression as she set the box of pocky down on the counter. "Oh, Ginji... since when are you ever not hungry? You've really got me worried now. Where is Ban? What's wrong?"

"I am meeting Ban-chan here," he replied, lifting his face just slightly. "We are going over to sign a lease tonight."

"A lease? You mean, you have a place to stay? That's wonderful news!" Natsumi clasped her hands in front of her and was about to continue her congratulations, but Ginji's expression was still sad and forlorn. "Ginji...?"

"Can I ask you for advice, Natsumi-chan?" he suddenly spoke up again, lifting his head to rest his chin in his hands, elbows now propped on the countertop.

"Of course..." she said hesitantly.

"It's a secret matter, and you really can't tell anyone..." he leaned forward, his voice growing hushed and she nodded with wide eyes. "I don't know what to get Ban-chan for his birthday."

Natsumi blinked in surprise and was about to laugh, but the utter seriousness of Ginji's statement made her reconsider. "Oh...umm... is his birthday soon?"

"Tomorrow!" Ginji wailed loudly and suddenly, and Natsumi jumped. "I've been thinking and thinking, but, you see, it really needs to be something special, and I just can't think of anything at all!"

Crossing her arms over her chest, Natsumi closed her eyes for a moment, thinking. Really, there were only three things she had ever noticed Ban caring about - yen, his car and Ginji. "Maybe you can... do something for his car?" she finally offered helplessly.

"Eh...?" Ginji gave her a very puzzled look and she quickly amended the statement.

"Go driving somewhere special!"

Ginji pondered this for a moment, but really, he wanted to give Ban something tangible. "I've been saving every yen I could hide from him," Ginji explained. "And I..."

He had no time to finish the statement as Ban breezed into the café, cigarette hanging carelessly from his slightly smirking mouth. "Ginji! Are you ready to go?"

Ginji perked up immediately as if nothing had ever been wrong and waved enthusiastically, first at Ban, and then at Natsumi. "See you later, Natsumi-chan!" He turned to follow Ban to the door and then with a second thought, reached back towards the counter to snatch up the box she'd left there. "And thanks for the pocky!"

Ban had left the car running just outside the door, and moments later they were headed several blocks away to their new home. Ginji preferred to leave the paperwork and bargaining to his friend, and stared out the window of the office as the streetlamps slowly came to life. He had less than a day to figure out what to get for Ban.

Upstairs in their 4th floor apartment, Ginji was again staring out the window absently when Ban finally decided to interrupt his apparent moping with an elbow to the ribs. "Ginji! Would you rather be back in the car?"

Ginji blinked, turning to smile at Ban. "No, no...I was just thinking."

The apartment was relatively small, and barely furnished. What constituted as the living room was a ratty old sofa and a single lamp and the bedroom had one double bed, its quilt faded with age. But there was heat and was running water. It wasn't much, but it was more than either of them had had in a very long time. "No thinking," Ban grinned, lightly punching his shoulder. "We should be celebrating!"

"Of course we should," Ginji nodded, unable to help grinning in return. No matter his worries, whenever Ban was around, he couldn't help but feel cheerful. "How are we going to celebrate?"

Ban's grin stretched even wider as he indicated the paper bag he'd set down on the floor by the door. "The reason I was a little late meeting you."

Ginji scrambled to the door, lifting the bag and peering into it gleefully. "Pocky! And...and... what is this, Ban-chan?" he asked as he withdrew the bottle. He could tell immediately that it was alcohol, but he was sure Ban had much more of an idea exactly what kind it was.

Chuckling softly, Ban crossed the room and snatched the bottle out of Ginji's hands. "It'll be good, trust me."

"Of course I trust you, Ban-chan," Ginji nodded, and a few minutes later they were sprawled on the faded quilt, leaning back against the sofa, laughing and munching sticks of pocky. As he glanced over at Ban, watching his friend's easy grin, Ginji was sure he'd never been this happy.

Several hours later, Ginji was afraid he'd have to rescind that thought as he stumbled to the kitchen, turning on the faucet with shaky hands. He leaned his head right under it, letting the water pour down over his heated face as he gulped it down gratefully, stomach churning and room spinning. He stood up, breathing deeply, and walked slowly back to the darkened living room where Ban lay on his side, asleep on the floor.

Ginji flopped down beside him with a sigh, feeling just a bit sorry he'd drank as much of that bottle as he had, and was about to drift off to sleep when he heard Ban's voice. "Ban-chan..." he mumbled sleepily as he rolled towards his friend. "Did you say something?"

There was no reply, and Ginji closed his eyes, once again nearly asleep before the mumbling sound returned. His eyes snapped open again and he peered at his friend, but Ban was most definitely still asleep, his breathing slow and steady. As Ginji watched him, his friend started to mumble again, and suddenly the incoherent bits became words, the words became fragments of sentences...

Ginji listened, an idea forming in his mind, until the mumbling ceased and he drifted off to sleep again himself.

Ban was perched on the couch reading a very thick book when Ginji strolled into the apartment the next evening, a fairly large bag slung over his shoulder. Ban set the book down on the floor and gave him an almost wounded look. "Where have you been? I woke up around noon and you were already gone!"

"Happy Birthday, Ban-chan!" Ginji exclaimed, setting the bag down and leaping onto the sofa to tackle his friend with an enormous hug. Ban's initial expression was replaced by deep surprise as he ruffled Ginji's hair lightly.

"Eh? How'd you even know it was my birthday?" Not that he minded Ginji knowing, but he couldn't recall the topic ever really coming up.

"I saw your license the last time we had to pay the towing ticket," Ginji replied cheerfully as he drew back and reached for the bag on the floor. "I'm sorry I was gone for so long, but I went to get you a present!"

"Present?" Ban echoed doubtfully, but he couldn't help but smile.

Ginji withdrew the plain brown box apologetically, and leaned back against the arm of the sofa after setting it down in Ban's lap. "I'm also sorry I didn't have time to wrap it."

Ban glanced at the box, then at Ginji, and then back to the box. "You didn't have to get me a present."

"Of course I did!" Ginji enthused. "Go on and open it!"

Obligingly Ban slid the lid off the box and pushed aside the piece of white tissue paper. Ginji watched his friend's expression move swiftly from bewildered to embarrassed to confused. "What...?"

"You...you don't like it...?" Ginji's voice was soft and his eyes revealed every bit of hurt from Ban's reaction.

"Of...of course I do!" Ban reassured him and looked down at the contents of the box again. Two large and fluffy white bunny slippers stared up at him, and he had to resist the urge to laugh. "I just wondered...where you'd gotten...such a creative idea."

"It was all thanks to you," Ginji finally smiled again, pleased. "You told me yourself."

"I did?" Ban was growing more puzzled as this conversation continued.

"When you were asleep! Last night!"

Ban stared at Ginji and then narrowed his eyes. "I do not talk in my sleep."

"You did!"

"I do not!"

"Yes you do! You talked about the animals you used to have...when... when you were a kid. I mean, maybe it was a dream, but... you said it, and I listened..." Ginji trailed off at the expression on Ban's face and looked away, instantly deflated. "I... I'm sorry if I offended you..."

Ban let his eyes slide from Ginji's face back to the box again, and then he closed them, thinking. Could his friend be right? There was so much of the past that he simply chose not to think about. It wasn't that he'd ever forgotten any of it...he just had no need to dwell on it now. The white fur was soft underneath his fingers, and for a moment, he thought he heard the echoing of laughter, felt a shaft of sunlight drifting in through a snowy window... "Ginji." Ginji didn't answer, his eyes still focused on the floor, and Ban reached out a hand to touch his arm. "Thank you."

Ginji looked up, surprised at the softness in Ban's eyes, and smiled weakly. Of course, he wouldn't explain, he wouldn't say whether it was true or not, whether he remembered or not... but that was okay with Ginji. It was simply the way they were. "Ban-chan..."

Ban reached to pull one of the slippers from the box, examining it carefully, slowly, before lobbing it suddenly at Ginji's head.

The bunny bounced off of Ginji's nose as he gaped in surprise and Ban laughed loudly. He went to reach for the second one, but Ginji already had a hold of it, leaping off the couch and threatening him with a twinkle in his eyes. "Ban-chan, that was MEAN!"

Laughing again, Ban dove across the room to avoid Ginji's toss, his hands closing around the first slipper. He chucked it over his shoulder at Ginji, but missed again as the second slipper came sailing again to whack him in the back of the head. A few tosses later, the slippers had been discarded in favor of their usual playful wrestling, which, as was almost always the case, ended with Ban pinning Ginji and staring down at him gleefully. "I win."

"You always win," Ginji sulked as Ban laughed, but then suddenly seemed to grow a little more serious.

"...I really do appreciate it..."

Ginji stared up at Ban, the dark hair falling into his face, the deep blue of his eyes... "I... wanted you to have a happy birthday..." he stammered. It was always at moments like this, when the bottom seemed to drop out of their playfulness, that he found himself stranded in his friend's gaze. Ginji didn't mind either... in fact, he actually reveled in these moments.

Ban smiled gently and nodded, his eyes traveling over Ginji's face, his warm brown eyes, his full lips parted as he breathed heavily from their tumbling. He knew he was staring and yet he couldn't help it. "A happy birthday..." he murmured thoughtfully. "Ginji, could I..."

"Ban-chan, would you..." he started at the same moment, but before he could even begin to laugh again, Ban's mouth was pressed firmly against his own, warm, soft and yet completely unyielding. Ginji sighed happily into the kiss, his eyes drifting closed as Ban slipped his tongue between Ginji's lips teasingly.

Ban drew back, laughing softly at the blissful expression on Ginji's face and stopped pinning his hands, but only so that he could slip his hands beneath Ginji's shirt and dance his fingers up his chest. "As much as I appreciate my first present, I can think of a second present I'd enjoy more..."

As Ginji colored a deep shade of red, Ban's laughter could be heard echoing out into the winter night.