Mycroft rolled on himself, unable to sleep. He took a look at the clock on his bedside table. 3:44 AM. He was to be up in less than three hours and still had had no sleep, his mind always wandering back to what had happened in the afternoon and to his brother.
After John had been discovered in the warehouse, he had been transported to a nearby hospital where he still was, the doctors refusing to see him travel more with the severe physical damage he had endured. Knowing that they both had work to attend the next morning the auburn and his partner had travelled back to London in the evening while Sherlock stayed beside his flatmate in the hospital. In any normal circumstances, the official would never had agreed to leave him alone in a place he couldn't have a constant watch on, especially when in bad mood as he was but he had seen the look he and John had exchange when the latter had woken up.
The official rolled on himself once again until he encountered the warm body of his husband. The detective was fast asleep, snoring gently and the elder Holmes sank his head in his boyfriend's neck, relieved with the slow and regular heartbeat of the man and finally falling asleep when the policeman moved in his sleep and unconsciously wrapped his arm around the auburn's shoulder.
"Are you sure about that love ?" Mycroft wondered, once again, anxiously.
"You've already asked me this question about seventeen time in the last two days." chuckled Gregory before stepping out of the car. "I've been thinking about this for years, I'm quite sure of what I want yes."
"But I don't want you to suffer ..." the official pouted, resting his hand on the other man's hip to prevent him from leaving.
"Myc' ... I'm going to be fine !" the yarder reassured him. "Now let me go or I'm going to be late. I'll see you tonight, have a good afternoon."
The policeman gently lift his husband's hand away and winked to him before disappearing in the crowded street. He was expected at four in a nearby tattoo shop but despite being dropped as close as possible by the driver, he still arrived a few minutes late.
"Greg Lestrade, I was expected a four. Sorry for being late." he introduced himself at the girl behind the front desk.
"Don't worry. Jena is nearly ready, she'll come to have you in about five minutes or so." smiled the young lady. "You can have a seat in the couch right there if you want."
The detective did as he was suggested and grabbed a magazine that was displayed on a coffee table nearby but was unable to concentrate on the words. Now that he was there he was starting to feel anxious and he hoped the Jena would quickly be ready to have him into the tattoo room or he was afraid he would run away. He wasn't soft for the pain but he had to admit that the perspective of suffering laid on a table during two hours was making him quite anxious.
Thankfully a young, purple-headed woman came to fetch him only a few minutes after he had sat down and brought him to a small but nice and comfortable room. She offered him a tea while he was taking his shirt off. He sat down in the old fashion dentist chair. The woman grabbed a couple of books and sat down on a stool nearby him.
"So, you said you wanted an octopus on your chest's side, am I right ?" she wondered.
"Yes. Something quite big actually, around 7 or 8 inches I think." confirmed Greg, wondering if he shouldn't start by a smallest piece on a less painful zone, but too late to change.
"Cool. So have you got an idea of the design yet or do you want to have a look to what we have in the books." nodded the tattoo artist. "I don't think we have that many octopuses but it could be a start."
"Well, I was thinking about something like this." the policeman suggested, showing her a picture on his phone. A couple of weeks ago, he had asked Sarah and her great artistic sense if she could design him something and the result was over all his expectation.
"Yeah, that looks great actually !" the woman smiled. "You want it exactly this way or is there anything you want to change ?"
"Well, I was wondering if there would be any possibility to include the letters M, A, J, L and S anywhere by chance ?" requested the yarder shyly.
"Yes sure. Maybe we could make the octopus carry a roll of parchment with the letters on it ?" suggested the artist.
"That looks good to me." accepted the inspector, drinking a sip of his tea.
"All right, so I'll start by copying the drawing on your skin with a pen than we will start the proper tattoo alright ?" explained the young woman. "So you have 10 painless minutes to run away if you want and then stuck in the chair for two hours !"
Both of them laughed genuinely, Greg maybe a little more anxiously than usually and the girl grabbed a blue pen and asked the yarder to raise his right arm and place it behind his head before starting to copy the drawing on his side.
Two and a half hours later, the detective stepped out of the shop, not feeling his chest's side anymore, but genuinely happy with the way things had turned out to look. Mycroft had asked him to call him as soon as he was finished so he would come to pick him up, but the policeman thought it would be great to surprise his husband and was fancying the forty minutes walk back to the Holmes Mansion. The air was cold but the sky was clear and will soon be pitch dark, a weather and moment of the day the DI appreciated more than everything and despite the weird gait his painful side was giving he was feeling properly dapper. On his way back home, he stopped by a florist and bought a bouquet of white roses and just before arriving in front of the house's front door, ran a hand in his grey hair to try to comb it nicely.
As soon as he entered the mansion, Mycroft popped a head through the living room's door, apparently anxious then relieved.
"Why didn't you called me ? I was worried ..." he complained, unable to look really cross at the sight of the roses and of the perfect smile of his boyfriend.
"I fancied a walk." simply answered the inspector before placing a loving kiss on his partner lips to shush him up.
"Is that for me ?" asked the official, gesturing toward the flowers, when they broke the kiss.
"No, it's for Alden when he come back next week-end." chuckled the older man. "Of course it is for you honey."
"Oh, very funny, Gregory Hugh Alan Lestrade ... So, how does it look ?" wondered the elder Holmes, accepting the flower with a fond smile.
"Do you want to see ?" proposed the detective.
"No, think I'm going to avoid looking at it until the end of my days." retorted the auburn, deadpan.
"Alright." replied the policeman before taking out his coat and making his way to the stairs.
"Oh come on, no ... Please ..." finally begged the elder Holmes, following his partner.
"You'll have to fend for yourself then." the inspector chuckled, letting his boyfriend tackle him against staircase's railing and kiss him fiercely in the neck.
They made their way to their bedroom, Mycroft's finger rubbing against the other man's hips through the fabric of his shirt, the piece of fabric quickly discarded on the floor as soon as they entered the room. The elder Holmes took a step back to admire the new drawing that was now to be part of his lover forever than place a feather-weight kiss on it, making sure not to apply too much pressure not to make the yarder suffer uselessly. He then ran his lips against his boyfriend's soft skin until he encountered one of his nipples.
"So, do you like it ?" the detective wondered softly, his fingers running through the younger man's hair.
As a unique answer, the auburn moaned a little and pushed the policeman down on the bed before sitting on top of him, a knee on each side of his partner's body and ran his nose against the sensitive skin of the man's neck, placing little kisses now and then until he reached the yarder's lips. Gregory deduced that it was probably his way of approving the pattern and moaning at the divine feeling of the younger man's kisses, he managed to take of the waist band and white shirt the official was wearing, unveiling the soft and warm pale skin and pressed his own torso against the other man's chest, incredibly turned on by the soft peck the auburn was covering his face with.
Feeling himself in a playful mood, Mycroft was having much fun teasing his lover and in a successful attempt to frustrate him a little more, he moved from just a few inches until he was sat directly on the inspector's private parts and no more on his stomach. Greg's entire body shivered and he moaned what seemed like a curse or an insult but the elder Holmes didn't cared and focus back on his lover's chest until himself wasn't able to wait more and then only released his boyfriend's body by rolling on the side and letting the DI to take both of their trousers and pants off.
The policeman awoken later that night to the soft feeling of his partner's fingers running gently over the line of his new tattoo. Not moving to make sure that the official wouldn't stop, he let his mind wander until he realised that Mycroft had stopped his caresses and was now looking at him, leaned on his arm, a soft and fond smile on his face.
"Hello sleeping beauty ..." he whispered before placing a soft kiss on the DI's forehead.
"Don't stop what you was doing with your fingers. It's feeling good." asked the yarder, kissing his boyfriend back.
"Isn't ... that ... even ... better ?" the official wondered, placing a tender peck on the tattoo between every word.
"Hmm... You've always been a resourceful man ..." chuckled Gregory, running his hand against the soft skin of his husband's back.