Unfortunately, school is set to start again on Monday, so the boys spend as much time together as they can before then. They don't spend the night together again, which they didn't like, and by Monday they're both eager to see each other.
They get to school and everyone is shockingly happy back from break. Harper greets Mycroft with a huge hug, and even the other girls are happy to see him. Well, not Hilary. Hilary hugs Greg and kisses his cheek, but barely says anything to Mycroft. The guys are nice, too, and all of them ask Mycroft to thank his mother for letting them help out over break. Mycroft thanks them, though, and is very happy that, for once, he's really excited about starting a new term.
The first period bell rings and Greg and Mycroft walk together. It's weird, though, because other than gym, they hadn't had a class together. This is a real class, though. Not gym. So they're very happy about it.
The teacher for their class actually assigns seats. The desks are lined up in rows across the room, and she places each student in alphabetical order. Luckily, there are enough student in between H and L that Greg and Mycroft are in the row next to each other, Greg one seat about Mycroft. Greg glances back at his boyfriend, and Mycroft bashfully looks away.
Mrs. Jacobs, their teacher, hands out their first reading books for the term. They're starting with poetry, so the kids all get different Shakespeare books. Mycroft gets A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Greg gets Twelfth Night. Most of the students groan when they get their book, but Mycroft happily flips through it. He hasn't read much Shakespeare, but that's one he's actually read.
Mrs. Jacobs says the students will be in discussions with the other students who got the same book as them, and Mycroft groans when he glances over two rows and notices that Hilary got A Midsummer Night's Dream, as well. He's just thankful he won't be alone with her.
Finally, as class is about to end, Mrs. Jacobs gives each student a flyer about the winter formal. Most of the students (the girls) happily take it, all chatting with each other about it, but the boys slump in their seats as they take the flyer. The theme for the dance is simply winter romance, and it's one week from Friday.
The bell rings and the students file out, Mycroft leaving quickly and Greg having to jog to catch up with him.
"So," Greg starts as he catches Mycroft. He holds the flyer up and waves it.
"Oh dear," Mycroft says, stopping at his locker. "If that was you asking me to go, you are really not going to have a date that night."
Greg laughs. "Ok. But if I ask? Will you say yes?"
Mycroft grins and shrugs, then closes his locker and leaves.
Mycroft sees Harper three times that day, and that makes Mycroft happy. They sit together in each class, and they talk about different things. Mycroft asks if she's going to take Kelly to the dance, and Harper says she will. This makes Mycroft confident in going with Greg.
Mycroft doesn't start piano again for another week, so after school he goes home to Sherlock. Greg promised he'd hang out with Sam more (after barely seeing him at all over break) so their plan to be apart that evening worked out fine.
Mycroft makes spaghetti for dinner, even though Sherlock wholeheartedly begs him not to, and the brothers sit at the dining table to eat.
"Sherlock," Mycroft starts, "Your birthday is in two days—"
"Is it?" Sherlock sarcastically asks.
Mycroft glares at him. "I was going to ask what you want, but if you're just going to be a—"
"No, no! Sorry!" Sherlock tries.
Mycroft smiles. "I'm joking. What do you want?"
"Uhm…" Sherlock glances at Mycroft, as if he's afraid to say it.
"Oh god. What do you want?" Mycroft asks, scared.
"I just…I want to have a party."
"A party?"
Sherlock nods. "Like with games and cake and stuff."
Mycroft just looks at him. "Why?"
Sherlock shrugs.
"Who would we invite, Sherlock?"
"My friends."
Mycroft looks confused. "Like, the kids from violin?"
Sherlock viciously shakes his head. "No! Like Sam and Jaimee and Harper and Greg."
Mycroft slowly smiles. "You want to invite all of them?"
Sherlock nods, but frowns. "You don't think they'd come?"
"No, no! I think they'd come. Is that really what you want?"
Sherlock nods.
"Ok. How is Saturday?"
Sherlock smiles and nods again.
"We'll figure out the cake and games, ok? I'll print out some invitations and hand them out tomorrow."
"Can I deliver them?"
"Uhm…well, Sherlock, it's a bit difficult, because—"
Sherlock looks disappointed.
Mycroft sighs. "I'll tell you what. You can come to school with me tomorrow morning and pass them out to everyone who is there. But if they aren't there, I'll give them one. Ok?"
Sherlock nods hard with excitement. "Ok, Myc!"
Mycroft smiles and pats Sherlock's head.
After dinner, as promised, Mycroft prints out enough invitations for his friends. He figures he'd invite Hannah and Hailey too, but he doesn't print one out for Hilary. He doesn't want her at his home, and it's not like it's a party for their friends.
He prints out pirate themed invitations and writes on the invitation that it's a pirate themed party. Sherlock makes Mycroft add that they must R.S.V.P, so that Sherlock can be prepared for how many people he needs to make pirate swords for. Mycroft just smiles and goes with everything he wants.
Before he goes to bed, Mycroft sends all of his friends a text to tell them to be at school at 7:40 if they can, that way Sherlock can hand deliver all of the invitations. He doesn't tell them why, but they all agree anyway.
The next morning, Sherlock wakes Mycroft up before his alarm even goes off. Sherlock is polite about it, unlike usual. All he does is slip into Mycroft's bed and stare at him for five minutes.
Sleeping Mycroft senses his presence –and the freezing cold feet digging into his shin.
"What?" Mycroft asks, eyes still closed.
"I want to go to your school now."
"Sherlock, the school isn't even open. Nobody's there."
"What time do they get there?"
"About 7:30. We have quite a while yet."
Sherlock sighs. "What do I do until then?"
Mycroft finally opens his eyes. "You have breakfast."
Sherlock groans. "I'm not even hungry!"
"I'll let you have a Pop Tart."
Sherlock smiles wide. "Ok!"
Mycroft smiles at him and pulls himself out of bed.
Sherlock bugs Mycroft about leaving for school, so when they finally do leave, Sherlock is so excited that he doesn't shut up the entire way to the city. He talks about everything he can think of, and Mycroft's sure he's never seen Sherlock this happy.
After a while, Sherlock grows silent. "Are you sure they'll come, Myc?" he quietly asks.
Mycroft looks at Sherlock and notices his eyes slightly more moist than they usually are. Mycroft wraps an arm around him. "Yes, I'm positive they'll come. Unless they have something more important to do Saturday."
"What makes you think they'll come?"
"Sherlock, who could resist a pirate party?!"
Sherlock smiles down at the invitations on his lap. "Ok. If you say so."
"I do," Mycroft says, kissing the top of his head.
They get to the school and Greg is already there waiting. He opens the car door, assuming Mycroft would step out, but it's Sherlock.
"Hi, Greg!"
Greg nearly jumps. "Sherlock? What are you doing?"
Sherlock holds up his invitations. "Having a party!"
Greg smiles and helps Sherlock out of the car, then Mycroft. Before Greg can kiss Mycroft, Sherlock grabs his hand and pulls him to the school.
They get into the building and head for Mycroft's locker, and Jaimee and Lars are already there.
Jaimee smiles as he sees Greg leading Sherlock. "Hey, Sherlock!"
Sherlock smiles up at Mycroft, happy that he was the first Jaimee greeted.
"What's up, bud?" Jaimee asks, kneeling in front of Sherlock.
Sherlock happily hands him an invitation.
"Oh? What's this?" Jaimee takes it and tears it open.
Sherlock hands one to Lars.
"What?!" Jaimee excitedly shouts. "A pirate party?!"
Sherlock smiles and nods.
"For your ninth birthday?! Boy, I thought for sure you were going to be thirty!"
Sherlock giggles.
"And you want me to go?! And Lars?"
Sherlock looks up at Lars and nods.
Jaimee covers his mouth as if he's telling Sherlock a secret. "This guy is terrible at party games. If we have teams, you have to be on my team!"
Sherlock laughs.
"He's on my team!" Greg cries.
"Hey!" Mycroft says.
Sherlock laughs at everyone's fuss.
"You'll be on my team?" Jaimee asks.
Sherlock nods.
Jaimee holds his hand up and Sherlock gives him a high-five. "Alright! Of course I'd love to go, man. Can I get a hug?" Jaimee holds his arms out.
Sherlock smiles and hugs him, then Jaimee stands and Lars demands a hug. Sherlock just smiles with the biggest smile Mycroft's ever seen on him.
Sherlock hands out the rest of the invitations, everyone making as big a deal of it as Jaimee. He meets Hannah and Hailey for the first time, and luckily Hilary is nowhere to be found, so she doesn't bother them. Sherlock is very happy to get each of the invitations delivered, except Sam's. Hannah takes Sam's for him, and Sherlock makes her pinky swear three times that she'll deliver it. After that, Mycroft takes Sherlock back to the car and says goodbye to his little brother.
When Mycroft gets back, his friends are still standing around with Greg at his locker.
"You guys will really come?" Mycroft asks. "This is all he wanted. And he was really nervous about coming here, but if you guys can't, then—"
Harper stops him. "Dude, of course we're going to go. You have to let us know what kinds of things he likes, so we can get gifts accordingly."
"Oh, he doesn't really need anyth—"
"What are you, the birthday police?" Jaimee jokes. "Just tell us what he likes!"
Mycroft laughs and lists things Sherlock enjoys, like cartoons and X-Box and instruments and science things and television. They all R.S.V.P right then, and when the bell rings, they pat Mycroft's shoulder and tell him thanks for inviting them.
On Sherlock's actual birthday, which is two days later, Marie takes him, Mycroft, and Greg out to dinner at a fancy restaurant in the city. It's so fancy that they have to dress up, and even though Sherlock hates dressing up, he does it that day because it's his birthday. Though he is happy for his birthday, he is more eager about the party on Saturday. That makes Mycroft happy, too.
Mycroft orders a cake for Saturday (chocolate on chocolate) and Greg agrees to pick it and pizzas up on his way from the city. Mycroft buys all the pirate decorations a party store had, including items for gift bags, like eye patches and pirate hoop earrings. He buys decorations for the house like streamers and pirate decorations, including Jolly Roger flags everywhere. Finally, he finds a few party game ideas online.
Sherlock wakes him up early on Saturday. Since guests aren't set to arrive until noon, Mycroft makes Sherlock go back to sleep for two hours before they get out of Mycroft's bed and start getting ready.
Though he really doesn't want to, Sherlock takes a bath when Mycroft tells him. When he gets out, he puts on the pirate costume that Greg had gotten him for his birthday. It's a captain costume, complete with large boots and a large hat, much like Captain Barbossa from Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean. He's so happy to wear it, and Mycroft's extremely happy to see Sherlock so happy.
They hang the decorations all over the house, but mostly in the living room. Sherlock hangs one of the games on the wall (pin the eye patch on the pirate) and decides to test it for half an hour after he hangs it.
Greg arrives at eleven o'clock, and Sherlock runs to him as soon as he opens the door.
"Greg! Greg!" Sherlock shouts.
Greg is so startled he nearly drops the cake, but he luckily holds on and smiles at Sherlock. "Hey, pal. How are you?"
"Happy!" Sherlock shouts, running away, leading Greg to the kitchen.
Greg sets the cake down on the island and kisses Mycroft while Sherlock runs out of the room to check on the decorations.
Mycroft smiles and kisses Greg again. "Do you want to stay over tonight?" he asks, wrapping his arms around Greg's neck.
"Yes, of course!"
Mycroft kisses him one more time, and right then Sherlock enters the room. He makes a mock-vomiting sound and leaves the room again. Greg and Mycroft laugh, then Greg goes back to the car to get the pizzas.
The doorbell rings exactly at noon, and Sherlock runs to open the door. It's Sam and Hannah, and Sherlock attacks Sam in a hug.
"Oh?" Sam is startled at first, but he hugs Sherlock back.
"Sorry," Mycroft says, "He's just very excited."
Sam pats his head as Sherlock pulls away. "Well, this is exciting, Mycroft!"
Sherlock grins at Mycroft. "Yeah, Mycroft!"
Sherlock tells Hannah it's nice to see her again, and then he takes the couple to the living room where he left the swords he made. They're all rolls of things they had laying around in the recycling, some leftover wrapping paper rolls from Christmas, some two paper towel rolls put together. He cut holes in them and placed a toilet paper roll through the hole, to separate the 'handle' from the 'blade', and painted each one silver with different color of handles. Sam chooses the longest one, and Hannah chooses a shorter one. They pretend to fight as the doorbell rings and Sherlock leaves to answer.
The next person to arrive is Harper, and not to everyone's surprise, Kelly.
"Sherlock, this is Kelly. I hope you don't mind, she loves pirates! She really wanted to see your party."
"It's ok!" Sherlock smiles, happy that more people than expected are there. "I made extra swords!"
Harper hugs him and thanks him, and Sherlock shakes Kelly's hand. "Are you two a couple?" Sherlock asks.
"Yeah, we are," Harper says with a smile.
"Cool!" Sherlock says, leading them to the living room.
Soon, everyone's arrived and swords are distributed. Sherlock gives everyone a gift bag, so everyone puts on the eye patches and earrings. Everyone plays around with the swords, and Sherlock decides they need to play Pin the Eye Patch on the Pirate before they eat.
Sherlock blindfolds everyone before they get their turn, and he makes them spin in five circles before they can try. Sherlock finds that the absolute funniest part of the game is when Conner pins (tapes) the eye patch to Hailey's mouth. He nearly falls over with laughter, and Mycroft has to make him take a time out to use the toilet before they can continue. Everyone thinks it's all so funny, but they all think the best part is that Sherlock is so happy.
Greg moves all of the gifts everyone brought to the kitchen island so they can eat in the living room and use the coffee table. Everyone gets pizza, and they all sit around the sofas talking mostly to Sherlock and asking him questions. They ask about things he likes and all of his interests. He tells them about science and math and reading, and that Greg is going to teach him about stars. That brings up the fact that Greg knows a lot about stars, so then they all start revealing their random interests. They all have a great time eating.
After lunch, they play another game. Mycroft got the smaller traffic cones that are usually used for sports and things, along with rings that fit around them. All the game is that they toss the rings at the cones, and if they make it, they get a point. It's a simple game, but it's a huge hit. They all get so into the game that they're shouting and whining when they're losing. At the end of the game, they try to tell Sherlock that he won, but he had been keeping score and says that Greg won.
"Of course Greg won!" Jaimee says, "He's your best friend!"
Sherlock smiles.
"No, wait! He's my best friend!" Sam says.
"Sherlock, you can be my best friend," Harper says, pulling Sherlock to her.
Sherlock laughs. He innocently says, "How about you can be my best girl friend and Greg will be my best boy friend?! And Sam, we can share Greg!"
"Greg is my best boyfriend," Mycroft mutters.
Everyone laughs and Greg kisses his cheek.
The next 'game' Sherlock decides is that everyone just draw their best pirate. Everyone thinks this sounds great, so Sherlock gets his box of art supplies (crayons, markers, pencils, water colors, and glitters) and everyone sits around to draw. They chat lightly through the whole thing, as they had while eating.
Suddenly, Jaimee sighs and takes his phone out of his pocket, then places it on the table. "Has Hilary been bugging anyone else?"
"God, I thought it was just me," Harper says.
"She's sent me three texts since I got here an hour ago," Conner adds.
"She couldn't come?" Hailey asks.
"Uhm…" Mycroft says, "I didn't invite her."
"You didn't?" Harper asks.
"No. I don't like her, I don't want her here in my home."
They all shrug and nod in understanding, knowing that is a fair reason not to invite someone. Not even Hailey, her best friend, says anything to that. They all just ignore her messages and eventually she stops sending them.
Sherlock looks through and grades all of their pictures. Hannah, who is an actual artist, gets first place and Sherlock hangs hers in his bedroom because he thinks it's so awesome. She did a simple sketch of Sherlock as a pirate, but she's such a good artist that the sketch looks just like him and he loves it. Everyone tells her it's amazing, and she bashfully thanks everyone.
Sherlock decides they need cake next, so Greg and Mycroft go to the kitchen to get the cake and plates and utensils. Greg returns with the cake first, so he sets it down on the coffee table and Sherlock eyes it.
"Taste it," Jaimee whispers to Sherlock, "It's your cake."
Sherlock licks his lips and barely sticks the tip of his finger in the chocolate, then licks his finger.
"No, no, more than that!" Jaimee says.
Sherlock sticks more of his finger in, this time chocolate actually coming off the cake. He sucks on his finger and makes a happy noise. "You try," he tells Jaimee.
Jaimee sticks his finger in to taste it, and he agrees with Sherlock that it's amazing.
The third time, Sherlock sticks three of his fingers in so far that actual cake comes with the frosting. Jaimee laughs as Sherlock sticks his fingers in his mouth.
"What are you doing?!" Mycroft cries as he catches Sherlock do it.
"Jaimee told me to!" Sherlock shouts, his fingers still covered in chocolate and spit.
Everyone laughs.
"Thanks, Sherlock!" Jaimee pretends to scold.
Sherlock just smiles at him and continues licking his fingers.
They sing Happy Birthday to him and the cake is cut and distributed. Sherlock decides that he'll have cake later, so he asks Greg to get the gifts so he can open them. Greg gets them and Sherlock happily opens them.
Everyone got him a gift, of course, and he gets a ton of cool things. Jaimee got him a piano book of Disney songs, Hannah got him an art supply kit, Sam got him a football, and Harper got him a kid's chemistry set, and Lars got him a Nerf gun. Everyone else gets him cool little things that he does like, but those were the five that he secretly enjoyed the most (he'll tell Mycroft later after everyone leaves).
After gifts, they have a scavenger hunt around the house that Mycroft and Greg made up. They get clues for where the hunt leads them, and in each place they're led, there's a gold coin waiting for them. The rule is that whoever has the most gold coins in twenty minutes is the winner.
They do teams for this game, so Sherlock takes Jaimee and leads him around. Of course Sherlock figures them out simple, but everyone still takes their time and intentionally lets him find the gold coins first. He and Jaimee end up finding all of them in eighteen minutes, and the second best team found five less than them in the full twenty. This time, Sherlock can't prove that they let him win, so he and Jaimee triumphantly gloat about their win.
Everyone hangs out a while longer, but by 3:30, they all begin to leave. Sherlock asks them to return sometime, and of course they all agree. They thank him for having such an awesome party and wish him a happy late birthday, and Sherlock hugs everyone and thanks them for coming.
Sherlock falls asleep not long after everyone leaves, and Greg and Mycroft clean up.
"This was a successful party!" Greg says as he covers the leftover cake.
"Yes, it was. This was all he wanted."
"Where's your mother?" Greg curiously asks.
Mycroft shrugs.
Greg rubs his back. "I'm sorry, love."
Mycroft looks at him. "It's ok. It's not about her, I'm just glad Sherlock is happy."
"I don't think I've seen him so happy," Greg says.
"I haven't either. I just wish he had friends his own age, you know?"
"Don't worry. One day he will. He'll be fine."
Mycroft sighs. "Hopefully."
Greg kisses his cheek and hugs him tight. "Don't worry."
Mycroft hugs back. "Thank you. And thanks for today, and for everything."
Greg pulls back a bit to hold Mycroft's head in his hands. "Don't thank me. I love you, I want to do everything I can for you, and Sherlock. I'm happy to help in whatever way possible."
Mycroft half smiles. "Well, still. Thank you for that."
Greg kisses him deeply, "I love you," he says as he pulls away.
"I love you too."
Greg goes back to putting the cake away. He dips his finger into it as he covers the last bit. "Mmm," he says, "I want to eat this off of you."
Mycroft grins. "Maybe later," he teases.
Greg groans and smiles. He kisses Mycroft one more time and continues cleaning up the house after their epic pirate party.
*Sherlock's birthday! Yay! Hope you guys enjoy. I feel like I love little Sherlock more than I love the two main characters, so. Thanks for reading! Please review!