"Oi!"

Sid had been casually leaving the Red Lion after an evening of purely medicinal drinking when some rude prat had thumped into his shoulder going around the corner and having the same rights as anybody else to walk wobbily down the road after a night's drinking, Sid decided to challenge his impertinence.

"Sorry." Grunted the man, who slouched on ahead of him. It was dark, and the man wore a suit and smelled of whiskey. That, and a spice of something else, some fancy aftershave Sid recognised from somewhere. He grinned as he realised who he was talking to.

"Alright Inspector. Going somewhere special?"

Sullivan spun on his heel and treated Sid to his signature scowl. "Home. I've had a long enough day and in case you've forgotten, a lot of it was your fault."

Sid snorted.

"You're a rude bugger, y'know. Only trying to make polite conversation." Sid leaned against the chilly wall of the pub, the three pints of stout making him brave. The whiskey had made Sullivan cross, and he snarled back at Sid.

"If you were in my profession, you'd understand. Where are you going now anyway? To help Father Brown break in to some crime scene?"

"There's no need for that!"

"Well, where are you going?"

Sid puffed out his cheeks and surveyed his opponent.

"Nowhere special. Why do you wanna know anyway?"

Sullivan shrugged. He seemed jittery and on edge, but Sid reckoned that was normal for him. Maybe he should try make a joke, lighten the mood. The man did want an answer after all...

"You planning to make me a better offer or summat?"

Sid had taken in a breath to the laugh, but then he felt the crash of Sullivan's lips on his and his tongue gliding smoothly into his mouth. He flew back in shock, the cold of the crumbling brick wall behind seeping through the thin fabric of his shirt but his front warm, very warm, as Sullivan's slim but strong frame pressed against his own. Shock was an understatement--the man was all over him. He could fingers tugging hard at his hair, a hand cupping the back of his head pushing it forwards, the stubble on his chin rubbing against a clean shaven jaw, tasting the whiskey on his breath, pushing against him with such hunger, such desperation...

Sullivan stopped. He was breathing heavily, hands still tangled in Sid's curls, body still pressed against the other man's. He was gobsmacked by what he had done. His eyes avoided Sid's. He didn't know what to say.

Sid spoke, from somewhere out of the darkness.

"So... My place or yours?"


Hours later, they lay breathless in a tangle of bedsheets and limbs in Sullivan's bedroom. The moonlight filtered through the window over the two men, the bed, the clothes scattered over the floor--they'd been too preoccupied to close the curtains. Once again, Sid broke the silence.

"You alright?"

"Yeah... Fine."

Truthfully, Sullivan was much more than fine. Though still reeling slightly in shock from the completely unexpected result to the ferocious snogging he'd have Sid outside the Red Lion, he couldn't remember the last time he'd felt this good. It had been amazing, there was no other way to describe it.

While he'd always found Sid rather handsome, he hadn't expected him to be...

He couldn't remember the last time he'd lay in bed not worrying about whatever problems he'd face tomorrow.

It felt so good, just being able to let off a bit of steam like that.

"You still awake?"

Sid was talking again.

"Yes." Sullivan said in the same quiet voice as before, suddenly realising how tired he was. "Sid?"

"Yeah?"

"This-this-" Sullivan gestured at the bed, "Can we- y'know?"

"Do it again?"

"Yeah- not tonight though- I mean, it was brilliant, don't get me wrong, but I'm just, exhausted, honestly-"

"Nah, I get it." Sid yawned loudly, "I'm knackered too."

Sullivan fiddled with the seam of the duvet cover, just pulled up far enough to cover himself. "You could stay here for the night, if you like."

Sid yawned again and stretched out like a cat. "Can't. Have to drive Lady F to Halifax tomorrow at eight." He flung the cover off and swung his legs around to the floor. Sullivan grabbed his arm.

"Wait..."

Sid turned around to look at him. He'd never seen the Inspector so calm, but then again, it had been quite the evening for surprises. He'd certainly never expected to be staring at his bare chest and some of his legs, with nothing but a duvet in the way of everything else.

"Can we," Sullivan asked cautiously, running his fingertips tantalisingly over the soft skin of Sid's arm, "Do this again? Like, make it a regular thing?"

Sid looked at him in confusion. "What d'you mean by that?"

"Well," said Sullivan in a careful, cautious, measured voice, still tracing patterns between the freckles on Sid's arm and not meeting his eyes , "We're both men, with certain, needs, and, now that we've found someone with the solution, I mean-it's not like encounters like these are very easy to find in Kembleford... Seems a waste not to try make something of it... Now that we've proved each other to be so... Satisfactory..."

He trailed off, eyes still focused on the bedspread gathered around his knees. "No strings or anything," he added briskly, "Just, you know-"

"Undiscussed sex"

"Yeah, basically. Undiscussed sex."

The silence hung in the air for a minute as Sid sat on the edge of the bed and considered.

"Alright then."

Sullivan's chest leaped.

"Makes sense, I suppose."

He got up off the bed and slowly started pulling on his trousers. "No blabbing it about the village though."

"Course not." Sullivan agreed.

Sid pulled on his vest and snapped a suspender into position. Sullivan resisted the urge to jump for joy.

"Just acting normal in public, right?"

"Precisely."

"And by normal I mean-"

He paused after he shrugged his shirt over his shoulders.

"Ere, you owe me a button."

"What are you taking about?"

"You pulled this off me, and I'm missing one."

"I'll get you one for next time you're here then."

Sid, now fully dressed, nodded in the darkness and headed for the door. Sullivan watched him from amidst the messy bedclothes.

"There's a spare key hanging by the back door," he added, "Take that with you, then you can just come on in if I'm late or something."

"Will do."

Sid paused in the doorway and smirked back at Sullivan, still sitting up in bed watching him intently.

"Guess I'll see you soon then."

"Guess so."

Sullivan listened as the footsteps continued downstairs, and heard the slam of the front door and the turn of a key in the lock. He sat staring at nothing for a minute or two, then fell back among the pillows and burst out laughing in a rare moment of sheer delight.