By Friday the chatter dies down, and luckily Mycroft's music teacher returns that day. He silently sits and plays the piano like he always does and the girls leave him alone to actually sing like they're supposed to. They don't get a chance to talk to Mycroft, though Hilary looks like she really wants to. Mycroft exits the classroom as soon as the bell rings.

That night, Mycroft has to have dinner with his grandparents, as he does every Friday night. It's not that he doesn't enjoy dinner with his grandparents, it's just that he gets annoyed at how much they favor Sherlock. Of course, his grandparents wouldn't ever say they favor Sherlock, but he is the baby and he gets whatever he wants.

At the dinner table, everyone is silent for a while until Mycroft's grandmother, Martha, says, "So Mycroft, dear, Sherlock tells us you have a love interest."

Mycroft practically throws his fork on his plate. "Sherlock!" he shouts, looking down at his little brother.

"Sorry! Nana asked me, 'What's new?' so I told her!"

"You didn't have to tell her that!"

"Is it true, Mycroft?" Martha asks.

Mycroft stares down at his plate. "Yes, Nana."

"And what is…his…name?" she asks.

"His name is Greg."

Mycroft's mother looks up at him with curious eyes. "The boy that was here the other night?"

"The boy you were terribly rude to? Yes, Mother, that was him."

"Oi!" Mycroft's grandfather, James, looks up from his newspaper and calls across the table. "Do not talk to your mother that way."

"Sorry, Papa," Mycroft says. He looks at his mother, "Sorry, Mother."

Marie, Mycroft's mother, nods and looks back at the newspaper she's reading.

"Is he a nice boy, Mycroft?" Martha asks.

"Yes, he is. He's very nice to everybody all the time."

Martha looks at Sherlock for what the boy has to say.

"He's nice, Nana! He brings me candy and watches movies with me."

Martha smiles. James and Marie continue not paying attention.

"When will we meet this boy, Mycroft? Where is he tonight, you should have invited him."

"Uhm, he's…he's grounded."

Martha's expression doesn't change. "Why?"

Mycroft bites his lip and stares at his plate. "For…fighting at school."

Marie sets her paper down and joins in staring at Mycroft.

"I thought you said he is nice to everybody all the time?" Martha asks.

"He is. He was fighting another boy because…because of me."

Marie stares at her son. "Why?"

"Because the other boy slapped me."

"Mycroft," Marie sighs. "You told me all of that was over. Was it that Dave Cooper again?"

"Yes, Mother. And it was over, more or less. But Greg caught him trying to hurt me, so he and Dave started fighting, and now Greg is suspended."

"Do I need to go talk to anyone?" Marie questions.

"No, Mother. It's fine."

Marie rubs Mycroft's arm. "I need to know when things like this happen, love."

"I know. But it's fine, I promise."

Marie nods and goes back to his paper.

"Will Greg not be coming here tomorrow?" Sherlock asks, his voice sad.

"Not tomorrow, Sherlock. Sorry."

Sherlock frowns down at his plate.

"You had better invite him next week," Martha says.

"Nana, we've only been going out a few days."

"Either way, Mycroft, you've got a new friend and we need to meet him."

Mycroft nods. "Yes, Nana."

After dinner, Mycroft calls Greg to tell him.

"My Nana insists on meeting you," Mycroft says, sitting on his bed unbuttoning his shirt.

"Yeah? Do you want me to?"

Mycroft pulls his shirt off and grabs a sleep shirt out of his drawer. "I guess. If you want to."

"I wouldn't mind," Greg says.

"Hang on," Mycroft mutters, setting his phone down and pulling the t-shirt over his head. He picks his phone up again. "Sherlock's very upset that you're not coming over tomorrow."

Greg chuckles. "Is he? Apologize to him for me."

"I tried, but he pouted all through the end of dinner."

"Heh," Greg continues chuckling, "He may like me more than you do."

"Impossible," Mycroft absentmindedly mutters, now working on undoing his trousers.

"What are you doing?" Greg asks. "You sound distracted."

"I'm getting undressed," Mycroft grunts in frustration at his trousers. "And getting redressed."

Greg sits in his bed and tries very, very, very hard not to picture it. Control, control, control, he thinks to himself. "What do you sleep in?" he asks before he can stop himself. Fuck! he shouts in his head.

Oblivious, Mycroft says, "My bed."

Greg laughs and sighs relief. He chooses not to correct Mycroft. "So, what are you going to do without me tomorrow?"

Mycroft pulls his pajama pants on and sits on his bed. "I had promised Sherlock I'd take him to the zoo," Mycroft answers.

"Oh? That's fun."

"Yeah. What about you? Have you got plans?"

"Yes, I have a big day of helping my father clean out the attic."

"That sounds terrible," Mycroft states.

Greg laughs. "I know. Sam and Hilary are both bothering me to hang out, but I obviously can't."

"Do you hang out with Hilary often?"

"Mmm," Greg thinks that over. "Not really. Usually on Fridays, but obviously not tonight."

"Oh. So, would you be willing to come to my house for dinner next week, or are you going to hang out with her?"

"I'm going to go to your house, of course."

Mycroft smiles. He doesn't know why he feels the need to compete with Hilary, but he does. "Great."

Greg yawns loudly into the phone. "Alright, I've got to go to bed. My dad's waking me up at 6."

"6 o'clock to clean the attic?"

"Yeah. He wants to finish early because I have to have dinner with my grandparents tomorrow night."

"Your dad's parent?"

"No, actually. My mum's."

"Oh…" Mycroft doesn't know what to say to that. "Do you see them much?"

"No. Hardly ever. But they called last week so I'd figure I'd better see them."

"Oh," Mycroft says again. "Well, call me if you want to talk about it."

"I will. Goodnight, Myc."

Mycroft smiles. "Goodnight, Greg."

The next day, Mycroft takes Sherlock to the zoo as promised. He follows his little brother around the entire park, stopping only to see the animals Sherlock gives a damn about (Sherlock's words, not Mycroft's).

Around lunchtime, the boys go to the café to have lunch. Mycroft tells Sherlock to find a table and to sit patiently while he waits in line to buy their food. As he's waiting in the long line, a boy about Mycroft's age walks up behind him and waits in line.

"Hey," the kid says after Mycroft turns around to look for Sherlock.

"Uh, hey," Mycroft awkwardly says. Nobody ever talks to Mycroft in public. His mother once told him that it's because he never gives off friendly vibes, so Mycroft begins to wonder if he seems friendlier because of Greg. He smiles at the thought without realizing it.

The guy actually smiles back. "How's it going?"

"It's going well." Mycroft awkwardly stands sideways as he tries to decide if the conversation is over or not.

Apparently, it's not.

"I'm Jake," the boy says, holding his hand out.

"Mycroft," Mycroft replies, taking Jake's hand and shaking.

"Mycroft? That's a unique name. I've never seen you around, are you from this part of London?"

"Uh, no actually."

Jake nods. "I see. Are you here alone?"

"I've got my little brother," Mycroft answers.

"Yeah? I've got my little sister. Maybe we can set them up for a little play date."

"Uh," Mycroft actually chuckles at the thought of Sherlock attempting playing with someone. "Maybe not," he replies.

"Well," Jake steps forwards towards Mycroft and looks him straight in the eye. "Maybe you and I can have a play date, then."

Mycroft's eyes widen and he really, really wants to laugh. Jake hands him a little slip of paper with his number on it, and luckily at that moment Mycroft's turn in line is called.

"Call me," Jake says as Mycroft turns to leave.

Mycroft just awkwardly smiles and walks up to the counter to order.

When he returns to Sherlock, Sherlock is eyeing him closely.

"What was that?" Sherlock demands.

"What was what?"

"The thing with the boy over there."

Mycroft laughs. "Nothing, Sherlock. He was just talking to me."

"Look, Myc. Just because you have a boyfriend now doesn't mean you have to go talking to everyone!"

"You've been watching far, far too much telly."

"I do not," Sherlock says, settling into his seat and taking his sandwich from Mycroft.

As they're halfway through their lunch, Jake walks by and smiles at Mycroft. "Hey," he mutters as he passes.

Mycroft watches him walk, and as he's a few steps away from their table, Sherlock stands in his chair and shouts, "HE'S NOT INTERESTED!"

Jake turns around and incredibly confused. Mycroft buries his face in his hand and tries really hard not to laugh.

"Sherlock," he grumbles into his hand. "Stand down."

Sherlock practically growls one more time and sits in his seat again.

When Jake disappears, Mycroft starts to laugh. "Sherlock! You can't just shout at people for no reason."

"It wasn't for no reason, Mycroft. He liked you!"

"How would you know?"

"He just did," Sherlock says, taking a bite of his sandwich. "Do you love Greg?" he suddenly asks.

Mycroft chokes on his water. "What?!"

"Do you love Greg?"

"Uhm…well, we haven't really been together that long, Sherlock. So, no…I don't think I love him."

"Well how long will it take?"

"Why are you asking?"

"Because I want you to marry him so he can live with us."

Mycroft laughs. "I'm not going to marry him, Sherlock. I'm only sixteen!"

"Nana married Papa when she was eighteen. Mum married father when she was eighteen. Two more years, ok?"

Mycroft continues to laugh. "Alright, Sherlock. I'll see what I can do."

Sherlock nods and takes a bite of his sandwich.

They continue through the zoo and never see Jake again, luckily. Mycroft thinks if they see him again, Sherlock will attack him like a puppy. Mycroft actually wants to know why Sherlock is so attached to Greg. Of course Greg is a great guy, but Sherlock is so concerned with his relationship with Greg that Mycroft's nervous of what Sherlock will do if they ever break up. Mycroft just hopes they won't need to find out.

On the ride home, Sherlock falls asleep across the backseat of the car. Mycroft knows he hardly slept the night before, so he's glad Sherlock is resting now. He sits staring out the window while stroking Sherlock's dark curls.

For the rest of the weekend, Mycroft thinks about Greg, of course. But ultimately, he tries to figure out how quickly or how slowly you know you love someone. Obviously it's not an answer Google can give, and Mycroft didn't want to ask Greg, so he waits until Monday and he decides to ask Hilary.

"Oh my god, you totally love him!" Hilary squeals.

"Oh, fucking hell, never mind," Mycroft decides he doesn't want to know that badly.

Throughout the day, Mycroft notices that Hilary's friends smile and wave to him each time they see him. Mycroft just smiles back and he feels weird that they're the first people to really pay attention to him without them threatening to beat him up.

After school, as Mycroft's walking out the doors to his car, Harper approaches him with a wide smile.

"Hey!" she nearly shouts approaching him.

"Hey, Harper," he says, "How are you?"

"I'm good! How are you?"

Mycroft slightly smiles at her politeness. "I'm good. Did you have a nice weekend?"

"Yes, it was fantastic! Did you?"

"I did, actually."

"What did you do?" she curiously asks.

"I took my little brother to the zoo."

"Aww," she squeals, "You have a little brother?"

"Yeah, I do. His name is Sherlock, he's almost nine."

"That's so sweet. You're such a nice big brother."

Mycroft smiles. "Thanks," he says. By now they reach his car, so he turns to her with a serious look on his face. "Look, Harper, just because you're friends with Greg doesn't mean you have to pretend to be nice to me, ok? I'm not trying to be rude, you're really nice, but just because you like him, I'm not going, like, talk about him all the time."

Suddenly, Harper bursts into tears.

"Oh my god," Mycroft mutters, placing his hand on her shoulder. "Harper, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be so rude. I just—"

"No, no, it's not you," she says between sniffles. "It's just that…Hilary is such a bitch! And finally there's somebody else in the school who thinks so, so I'm sorry but I just really want to be friends with you!"

This makes Mycroft laugh. "Alright. I'm sorry," he takes her into a loose hug. "She is a bitch," he says.

Harper laughs. She pulls away and wipes her eyes. He pulls his backpack off and takes a container of Kleenex out of the front pocket, then gives it to her. She wipes her eyes again.

"Thanks," she says. "Sorry, I'll let you go. I'll see you tomorrow."

Mycroft thinks for a second about just getting in his car and leaving, but Harper looks so distressed that he decides to skip piano and invite her out for coffee. She nods and gets into the car, and they go to a café a few blocks away.

"So," Mycroft starts after they've ordered their coffee and they find a table. "What brought this on?"

Harper shrugs. "I'm just tired of Hilary. She's awful sometimes. And…look, I'm really sorry about the way they talk about Greg. And I'm also really sorry, but Hilary hates you."

Mycroft chuckles. "I don't mind, Harper. She's not really a threat to me, so she doesn't bother me that much. It does bother me that she talks about Greg like that, but it's ok."

Harper nods. "Does it bother you that they all like Greg?"

Mycroft shakes his head. "Not really. I know he's not going to, like, cheat on me or anything, so I guess I'm…flattered, in a way."

Harper bites her lip. Right then, the waitress brings their coffee and they silently sip for a second. Finally, Harper says, "I don't like Greg."

Mycroft looks at her. "You don't?"

Harper shakes her head. "He's not really my type."

Mycroft nods. "I see," he mutters.

Harper takes a sip of her coffee, then a deep breath. She clears her throat. "No, uhm, he's really not my type."

Mycroft looks at her confused. He slowly nods as if he does understand, but he really doesn't. "Alright…"

Harper sighs and says, "Mycroft, I'm a lesbian."

Mycroft's jaw drops, then he closes his mouth because he doesn't want to seem rude. "Oh," is all he says. "I see."

"The reason I'm telling you is because…well…I've never told anybody. I thought people would judge, and I thought my friends wouldn't be my friends anymore, but then you were confirmed gay so I figured you wouldn't judge, right? I just really needed to get it off my chest."

Mycroft nods as she talks. "Why didn't you just talk to Greg?"

"I didn't want there to be a chance Greg would tell Hilary."

Mycroft nods again. "I appreciate that you feel like you can trust me. And you can, I promise. I won't even tell Greg."

Harper nods. "So," she says. "Can I ask you a personal question?"

Mycroft hesitantly nods.

"When did you…you know…figure it out?"

"Uhm…well, my little brother is homeschooled. So two years ago he had this tutor who would come to work with him. The guy's name was Jeff and he was sixteen at the time. He was really cool and nice, and he was really attractive. I realized that I liked him, but I thought it was just because he was so smart and someone to look up to. But I quickly figured out that I really liked him. Unfortunately, he figured it out too, and quit."

"Wow," Harper says. "That sucks."

"Yeah, it did. But in the end he was an arse, so it doesn't matter."

"Have you liked anyone since? Anyone at school?"

Mycroft shakes his head. "Just Greg."

Harper smiles wide. "That's so sweet."

Mycroft laughs. "And you? How did you figure it out?"

"Well, last summer I was dating this guy, right? And we were…trying to have sex, but for me it wasn't…well, it wasn't working with him."

"Ah," Mycroft says. "Well that could have been for a number of reasons. Maybe you weren't ready to have that connection with anyone, maybe—"

"Oh, no. The connection was fine, it just worked better with his sister."

Mycroft laughs out loud at that. "Oh, I see."

"Yeah. I think I always kind of knew, I just didn't think I would be. They say one in ten people are, I just never thought I'd be one."

Mycroft nods. "Can I ask you a question now?"

Harper nods.

"How did you know you were ready for…for that connection?"

"I don't know. I just started thinking about it more and more, I guess. And since I had the boyfriend, I figured I would just to do it. I never worried about the whole virginity thing, I just kind of wanted to."

"Oh."

"Why? Are you thinking about having sex with Greg?"

"No! We've only been going out a week."

"So? Some people get it on after a few hours."

"Well, I don't just want to 'get it on'."

"Have you thought about having sex before? You know, like with that Jeff guy? Did you think about it then?"

Mycroft shakes his head. "I don't really think about it now. But sometimes…I don't know. Sometimes I think about Greg and it's just…this intense feeling. Sometimes I focus on a part of his body and I just can't help but stare or think about it."

Harper looks confused. "Explain?"

"Well, the other day when you girls were going on about his abs, after that I couldn't really stop thinking about it, too. I went over to his house that afternoon and couldn't stop staring at his torso. Finally he just stood up and lifted his shirt. And I just…I don't know. I think I went brain dead."

"That boy does have some killer abs."

Mycroft laughs. "I thought he wasn't your type."

"Hey! I can appreciate a beautiful body."

"Alright, I understand. Anyway, I just…I don't know. I don't think I'm ready but…"

"But you want to?"

"I don't not want to."

Harper nods. "Well, one day you'll just know. Just don't think too much into it, alright? If you want to, do it. If you don't want to, don't. Don't over think it, don't under think it. Ok?"

Mycroft nods. "Have you ever been in love?"

Harper gets a shy smile. "Yeah, once."

"When?"

"I am right now."

"Really? With who?"

"A girl named Kelly. She goes to another school, but we met at a party. She's great."

Mycroft smiles. "That's nice. How long have you been together?"

"Only a month," Harper says.

"Wow. Isn't it a bit quick to be in love?"

Harper shakes her head. "No, I don't think so. We're young, we know that, but I know I love her and she knows she loves me."

"How do you know?"

"The way I feel. One day I just told her that I love her and there was no question. I really felt it. And I still feel it. That heart pounding, stomach fluttering, palm sweating, mind racing, intense feeling that you get when you're with them. That excitement you feel when you get to see them that day or when you see their name appear on your phone. That's love, you know? I told her I love her after two weeks. It wasn't, like, after we had sex or anything, either. It wasn't like a hormone rush. It was as we were saying goodnight over the phone. I just said it and it felt right. It felt perfect."

Mycroft smiles. "That's amazing. And that's really good for you."

Harper smiles back at him. "Thank you. I'm really glad someone's talking to me about this."

"You can talk to me," Mycroft hesitantly says. "I'm not very good at offering advice, but I'm a good listener."

"Thanks, Mycroft. I really appreciate that. You're really awesome."

Mycroft smiles wide at that. "Thanks," he says.

They continue talking for a few minutes, but Harper's dad calls and tells her to get home as soon as she can.

"Sorry," she says, hanging up her phone. "This has been really, really fun."

"It has," Mycroft agrees. "I'm glad we got to talk. Thank you."

"No, no," Harper says, standing from her seat. "Thank you."

Mycroft follows her out of the café. "I could, uh, give you a ride?"

"It's ok," Harper says. "I like just around the corner. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Of course. Have a good night."

"You too!" Harper stands on her tiptoes to hug Mycroft.

He hugs back and thinks that oddly this is the first hug he's ever received from a girl. They pull apart and smile at each other, then she leaves down the street and he gets into his car.

He calls Greg as soon as he's in his car.

"Hey," Greg answers, "No piano?"

"No. Something came up."

"Oh," Greg replies. "I hope everything is ok."

"Everything is fine. I just called to say…" he trails off before he finishes.

"Say what?"

"I just miss you, that's all."

"I miss you too, Myc. I'll be at school the day after tomorrow."

"I know. I can't wait."

"I can't either," Greg says. Mycroft hears him pull away from the phone and say something to someone else, then he comes back and says, "Hey, I have to go. My dad needs me to help him with something. I'll call you later."

"Alright. Goobye."

"Bye," Greg says, then quickly hangs up.

*Yay-Mycroft has another friend! I like that. So, I was re-reading, and I realized that my timeline doesn't add up right. So, the sex ed classes that the gym class gets are on Wednesdays, which means the fight would have been Thursday, which means Greg's suspension would begin Friday. However, I got mixed up writing and accidentally wrote that the fight was Wednesday and the suspension began Thursday. I'm not going to go back to fix it, so if you guys could ignore it I'd appreciate it. Greg will return back to school on Wednesday, next chapter. Thank you! And I'm sorry! Please review. And Happy Valentine's Day everyone!