Don't be smart, Sherlock. I'm the smart one.

His brother never missed the chance to remind him about it, and he hated him for that.

There were times when he wanted Mycroft to magically disappear, never to be seen again. Since that wasn't possible, he went for the next best thing – hiding away in his mind palace, pretending he was a pirate sailing the seven seas.

A life of daring and adventures, that was what he wanted for himself. And in his mind he always pictured his arch-enemy as his brother Mycroft wearing the outfit of a Royal Navy officer.

It felt odd though, a pirate captain without a crew – or a first mate at the very least.

He had to wait some thirty years before he eventually found himself one.