Today was August 12th, and as Shinpachi woke up in his room, it occurred to him that today was his birthday. Oh god no, I hope sis doesn't try to make breakfast. He clambered out of bed, and peered down the hall. No sight of Tae Shimura yet. Shinpachi tip-toed down the hallway into the kitchen, praying to every god of food and kitchen deity that he would not have to eat the offending dark matter today. Upon reaching the kitchen, he discovered it was quiet. “That's odd...” the surprised glasses boy murmured to nobody. Shinpachi gave a sigh and smiled. Otae was probably just sleeping. She must have overworked herself again. With that, he rolled up his sleeves and got to work making breakfast.

When he got to work that morning, Gin-san and Kagura were bickering as usual.

“OI Kagura! What the hell is wrong with you. When I tell you to go buy toilet paper, I MEAN more than one roll!”

“Shut up you stupid old man! What would you know about a lady's sensibilities! It's embarrassing to do your stupid shopping!”

On and on they fought. Shinpachi could already feel the headache coming in. “YOU IDIOTS WOULD YOU SHUT UP!!” he yelled. They instantly got quiet.

“Oh Patsuan! When did you get here? Good timing! Listen, I need you to go..”

“LISTEN to people when they are TALKING to you, you stupid natural-perm! Kagura, go back to the store and buy more toilet paper. Also, here's the shopping list for today. Just give it to old-man Takeshi down by the dango store and he'll fill up the basket with all of our groceries.” With one last glare directed at Gintoki, Kagura took the list and left with Sadaharu. This left the extremely annoyed glasses man alone with an extremely in trouble Gin-san. Gintoki braced himself for the oncoming verbal onslaught, but Shinpachi just passed by him and started to put on his apron. With a huff, he began cleaning up the main room. Gin glanced back at Patsuan, but he didn't seem to budge in his anger today. With a shrug, he walked towards the desk and started talking.

“I got a call today from one of those contractors who needed an extra hand. I'll be back some time in the afternoon, so don't bother making lunch for me. If I don't come back by evening, don't bother waiting up, just lock the doors and leave the key in it's usual place. Bye Patsuan~!” Gin left with a small wave of his hand.

Shinpachi heard the shutters close, and started frowning. He had hoped that at least his own boyfriend would remember his birthday. Maybe it was too much even to expect that. His frown deepened as he dusted angrily.

Just outside the door, Gintoki apologized inwardly to Shinpachi as he rushed down the steps and ran off towards the Shimura household. When he finally got there, he found Otae, Kagura, Otose, Catherine and Tama decorating the house with streamers and balloons.

“Ara! Gin-san, you're late!” Otae scolded.

“Believe me, I couldn't have gotten here any faster.” Gin admonished.

“Well I hope you weren't doing anything to make my little brother cry...” Shimura Tae went into demon mode. Gintoki, scared for his life, assured the evil girl. With a forced smile, she accepted and started barking out orders.

A hour or two passed before Shinpachi grew restless. He had already finished cleaning the house, and Kagura hadn't come back with the groceries yet. Shinpachi was sure that she had probably forgotten all about her chores and had gone off to play somewhere. With a sigh, locked the house and started walking towards Takeshi's grocery store. I guess if you want something done, you have to do it yourself! While walking down the street, he spotted Yamazaki going the opposite direction.

“Yamazaki-san!” he called out. Said person noticed and started walking towards him.

“Hello Shinpachi-kun! What's up?” Shinpachi smiled. Finally, a normal person to talk to.

“I was just on my way to get groceries.” He noticed the bandages around the Shinsengumi spy's hands. “Yamazaki-san, your hands! How did you get hurt?”

Yamazaki blushed a little bit at that remark. “Uh.. it's nothing.. um hey, it's your birthday today right? Happy Birthday! How about I treat you to some dango? But wait, you might not be free....” left off quietly. Shinpachi laughed a little at his friend's nervousness. At least someone had remembered. That made him happy.

“Sure why not, that sounds like a good idea! There's a place that serves some really good dango right where I'm heading.”

The afternoon had passed by amiably, and Shinpachi had actually had a fun time. He didn't remember ever being able to enjoy food comfortably, without having to fight for it. Yamazaki was a surprisingly good conversationalist. When Shinpachi finally came back to the Yorozuya, he found that Kagura was back, lounging in the living room watching T.V.

“Kagura! Did you go off to play with your friends again during chores..” Shinpachi gritted his teeth. He didn't want to be angry on his own birthday, so calmed down and put the groceries in the refridgerator. Kagura kept munching on her sukonbu.

“Shinpachi, do ya think that Gin-chan will be back in time for dinner?” she asked. He wondered about the answer.

“Hmnn, probably not, that bastard is probably off drinking or playing pachinko or something. Hey Kagura, since he won't be back, let's go have dinner at my house! Sis is probably hungry too.”

Kagura smirked. The plan had gone perfectly! Shinpachi would be in for a surprise...

Back at the Shimura household, the decorations were done, and the cake was ready (bought from a bakery store of course!). Somehow, Sacchan and Hattori had gotten roped into taking care of preparing the feast while the Shinsengumi (sans Yamazaki) were forced to take care of wrapping the presents. In the end, because Kondo was inept with wrapping, and Okita was rigging all the presents with deadly weapons that would trigger upon opening, it was all left to Hijikata to wrap the damn things.

“Bastards” he muttered. Upon orders from Otae, nobody was to arrest Katsura or Elizabeth because they were guests at the party and had been generous enough to provide lots of Bargain Dash as bribes presents for Shin-chan. Otose and Catherine were setting up drinks while Tama supervised. Miraculously, nothing had gone wrong. All the preparations had gone off without a hitch, and Yamazaki was arriving with some more booze to stock the party. Tae was sitting in the front when she heard a large thud outside the wall.

“Ow! Kagura-chan, what was that for?” Oh no, that was the signal!

“Everyone! Hide! Shin-chan is here!” Everyone heeded the signal, and gathered into the main room, closing the doors to the room and shutting off the lights.

Shinpachi approached the door to the dojo, and thought it odd that it would be closed on such a hot day on this. He opened the door warily.

“SURPRISE” The lights turned on and everyone jumped out. In shock, Shinpachi staggered back, only to hit something warm behind him. He turned back to find Gintoki. “Happy Birthday Patsuan!” Shinpachi smiled warmly.

The party involved a lot of drinking, eating, and playing Shogun, but Shinpachi wouldn't have had it any other way. During the middle, even Tsukuyo visited with Seita and Hinowa to wish him a Happy Birthday.

Shinpachi was nearly drunk when Gintoki came over and sat down next to him.

“Hey Gin-san~” Shinpachi drawled. Gin chuckled as he draped an arm over his shoulder.

“What is it?”

“I... I'm sorry. I thought you had forgotten my birthday and...” Gin turned Shinpachi's face towards him and immediately kissed him. Sacchan went ballistic in the background, but that was okay, he would always belong to Shinpachi anyways.

Gin pulled away and grinned. “How did you like my present?”

Patsuan blushed, but then smiled.