Highland Cathedral snippet
A/N. This is a scene I started writing for my fic 'Highland Cathedral', but it didn't really fit anywhere in it, so I'm publishing it separately.
Timeline: In chapter 2 of 'Highland Cathedral' Nightingale and Peter do a witness interview with a teacher named Mrs. O'Connor. She's quite nervous during the interview, which Peter thinks is either because it's (presumably) her first time being questioned by the police, or she has something to hide. But what if there was another reason for the teacher's nervousness?
"Hey, boss? I think Mrs. O'Connor fancied you a bit," I told Nightingale over tea back at the Folly, unable to keep the grin off my face.
"You think so?" he said mildly, refusing to take the bait. "Well, I'm afraid I'd have to disappoint her."
"Because-" I just about managed to bite my tongue and not blurt out, Because you're gay? I mean, I'm not homophobic, or at least try not to be. It's just that outright asking them if they're gay is something I'd only do to a close friend and certainly not to my boss. Even if said boss and I share a house and spend a lot more time together than your average Constable and Chief Inspector. Scratch that, especially because we share a house and spend a lot more time together than your average DC and DCI.
"Because she's married, of course." Nightingale shook his head at me before taking a sip from his tea. "I'm almost afraid to ask where your mind went just now."
To the first time we met, that icy cold winter night in Covent Garden, I thought. To seeing Nightingale in all his bespoke suit and handmade shoes glory, and thinking he was just a slightly ethnic younger boyfriend short of a walking gay cliché. And his first words to me ("Hello, what are you up to?") could've been taken as a pickup line under the circumstances... "Oh, nowhere important, guv," I said quickly when I noticed that he was still looking at me inquisitively.
