Sherlock came running from the garden, his shorts dirty with dust and earth and one of the socks pulled down. He was in such a hurry that he didn't even notice Mycroft as he turned the corner of the house. He bumped right into him, falling to the ground.

Mycroft saw Sherlock picking something up from the ground very carefully before getting up.

"What do you have there?" Mycroft asked, trying to take a look at whatever it was his brother was keeping out of his sight.

"Nothing." Sherlock answered, blushing and hiding his hands even more behind his back, trying to go the way he was headed before hitting Mycroft.

"Don't lie to me." Mycroft said, coming closer. "You will have to show it to me sooner or later."

"No, I won't!" Sherlock shouted.

And, with a quick trick, he pretended to run to Mycroft's left side, just to turn around and run away through his right. Mycroft knew there was no use going after him. Not because he wouldn't catch him – seven years older than Sherlock and with legs much bigger, he could easily outrun his younger brother – but because there was no reason to bother. He had seen perfectly well what Sherlock was carrying as he had run away. A hedgehog. A small, prickly, hedgehog. Mycroft had no idea what Sherlock was going to do with it but he hoped that his brother had the good sense not to hurt it. Luckily their parents were not in the house, so Sherlock had no reason to get in trouble. Plus, Mycroft had more to worry about than Sherlock and a tiny hedgehog like that.

Sherlock stood by the window of his bedroom, looking outside, making sure his brother wasn't coming after him. As he saw Mycroft pacing away he let out a sigh of relief.

"I thought he would take you away from me." Sherlock said, sitting on the floor next to the hedgehog, pulling the sock up and shaking the dust out of his shorts with a hand. The hedgehog was walking close to his feet. Sherlock picked him up again.

"I will take care of you, you know? I will feed you and you can sleep on my bed, if you promise not to hurt me with your pricks." he ran his fingers through the pricks carefully, a delighted smile on his face. "Now, you will have to hide from my parents and from Mycroft. You can play with whatever you want when I am in school and I promise I will walk with you in the garden whenever you feel like it. Okay?"

The hedgehog seemed to be looking at him with its small eyes. Sherlock took its blinking as a yes. He hugged him carefully, with his eyes closed, and smiled. After years of loneliness he had finally found a friend.