Greg woke to the sound of his phone ringing. He sighed and sat upright in bed.
"Lestrade." He answered groggily, still struggling to keep his eyes open.
"Who's that?" Mycroft mumbled from beside him. Greg just shrugged as he listened to the voice on the other line.
"I have you as the contact person for Sherlock Holmes."
"Yeah, that's me." Greg answered, suddenly feeling a lot more awake. What had Sherlock gotten himself into this time?
"Well he's currently being detained in the overnight cells at New Scotland Yard."
"What's he done now?"
"I'm sorry, sir?"
"No, sorry, I'm just waking up. Give me half an hour and I'll be there."
"Yes sir. Thank you."
Greg hung up the phone. He let himself fall backwards in the bed, groaning.
"What's up?" Mycroft slurred from beside him.
"Your bloody brother, that's what." Greg griped, playfully shoving Mycroft's arm.
"Greg'ry, stop it." Mycroft uttered sleepily. It was supposed to be a slow morning for the both of them - they'd organised to have the morning off to spend some time together. They'd stayed up quite late expecting to be able to sleep until at least nine.
Greg sighed and got up. Maybe, if he was quick, he could bail Sherlock out and return home to still have some wonderfully tender morning sex with his boyfriend. That thought seemed to motivate him enough to dress quickly.
"I'll be back in about an hour, Myc. You stay put there." Greg instructed. Mycroft hummed in agreement.
At the Yard, Greg walked up to the desk sergeant and requested the information regarding Sherlock's imprisonment. The young man seemed shocked that Greg was actually Detective Chief Inspector Lestrade. Obviously, Sherlock had just written "Greg Lestrade" on his contact form in the system, and no one made the connection.
"So, what's he done?" Greg asked, sitting himself down with the sergeant.
"He and a Dr John Watson were apprehended for disorderly contact resulting from inebriation."
"John's here too? Blimey, what's gotten into those two? Ah… wait." Greg said, suddenly realising what had happened.
"Sir?"
"Stag night. It must have been John's stag night."
"Right, well… they were taken to a flat by…"
"That's alright, sergeant, I'll take it from here."
"Sir, I can't just let them go."
"I'm not asking you to. I'm going to take them into my custody and reprimand them accordingly. I trust that no charges were filed against them?"
"No, sir. Just the disorderly conduct."
"Great. I'll see to it."
"Yes sir."
Greg smiled to himself. It was nice being important sometimes. But he was rather hurt that he hadn't even been invited to the bachelor party.
I mean, sure, I get that John wants to spend time with Sherlock… oh, it was probably Sherlock's plan. Sherlock didn't want me to intrude on their moment.
Greg grumbled and sighed to himself. He understood Sherlock's motives for excluding him, but still felt annoyed enough to yell at them sadistically while they were hung over. It was a small retribution, but one he felt he deserved.
He called a taxi and watched as the pair of men attempted to clamber in.
"'m sorry." Sherlock mumbled at him before he bent down to sit in the taxi. Greg nodded at him. He was glad to have gotten an apology at least. And he was secretly pleased that their night seemed to not go as well as they planned.
Greg ran his fingers through his hair, and walked back to his car. At least he had a lovely man awaiting him in his bed.
It was lunch time by the time Greg arrived at 221B Baker Street. He wasn't due at work for another hour, but he wanted to go make sure John and Sherlock were alright. He also needed to tell them that Mycroft wasn't attending the wedding.
"Well, you obviously had a pleasant morning." Sherlock stated after a quick glance in his direction. Greg grinned back at him. He wasn't embarrassed that he was having sex with Mycroft.
"Yeah better than you, it seems." Greg responded. Sherlock rolled his eyes.
Greg walked in, greeted John who walked in with a cup of tea and offered him one, and looked about the flat.
"So what's with all the, er, laptops, then?" Greg asked.
"For a case."
"Oh? What case?"
"The one we screwed up last night." John interjected.
"What? You worked a case last night?"
"Yes. We'd come home after being out drinking. I still don't know what happened - I calculated everything precisely!"
"Oh, uh… I may have … slipped a few shots into our drinks." John added nervously. Sherlock glared at him, but then smiled and rolled his eyes.
"Anyway, it doesn't matter. Turns out it was just some sad married bastard out for some fun." John said.
"Oh." Greg said, not sure what to say to that.
"Well, speaking of, before I forget again… Mycroft's not coming to your wedding." Greg addressed John.
"What? Why not?"
"Because this dickhead called him fat." Greg said with a sneer, indicating towards Sherlock with his thumb.
John sighed.
"Sherlock." He stated with a threatening tone that Greg had learnt to mean 'start talking, quickly.'
"What? It's true."
"No, Sherlock, it's not. And it most certainly isn't kind. What made you insult him like that anyway?"
"He wouldn't give me information I needed."
"Is that all? You didn't get some information, so you decided to insult him to his core?"
"I call him out on his weight all the time, he wasn't supposed to take it so seriously. I guess domestic bliss has had an unfortunate effect on his waistline, and he's been upset about it. I didn't expect him to be so hurt."
Greg wanted to set things straight then and there, but knew getting angry wouldn't help. And he sure as hell wasn't about to let Sherlock know the real, or rather, main reason Mycroft wasn't going.
"You've known him all your life, I'm sure you're aware of his eating disorder."
"Wait, what?" John piped up.
"Yeah, he doesn't really talk about it. He has some serious body image/self esteem issues that have gotten to the point of an eating disorder. Made all the worse by him." Greg ranted, flicking his head in Sherlock's direction. Sherlock at least had the decency to look sheepish. John glared at him.
"Apologise to him." He commanded. Sherlock looked like he wanted to argue, but the look Captain Watson gave him made him reconsider. He nodded, but then left to his bedroom to sulk.
Greg looked at John in awe.
"You've got to teach me how to do that."
"Sorry mate, some things only the army can teach you." John laughed.
"Well it was worth a try."
"Hey, listen… I'm sorry that you never got invited to the stag night." John said seriously.
"It's alright, John. Sherlock was no doubt the one to plan it all."
"Yeah, but had I known what he'd planned, I would have asked you to come."
Greg smiled, happy that his friend wanted him around.
"Thanks. I mean yeah, I was a bit upset you didn't invite me at first… but realised that it was all Sherlock's doing and it made sense."
"How so?"
"Well he likes to pretend that we aren't that close so that he feels like he has two separate friends. I don't know if he just wants to feel loved by two different parties, or if he's worried we'll buddy up together and exclude him. Or maybe just he wants you all to himself."
"Is that why he always calls you Gavin or Geoff or Graham around me?"
He laughed hard and sighed.
"Yeah, probably. It was originally just a game we'd play together, kinda like a mate's in-joke. He liked that he was in on the joke for once. And it just became affectionate after that. But yeah, I hadn't really thought of it as him using it to distance me while around you - though it probably makes sense. Sometimes I wonder about that crazy genius brain of his…"
John joined Greg's laughter for a while longer; long enough for Sherlock to appear out of his room and give them both a hateful glare. Which, of course, only made them laugh more. Sherlock rolled his eyes and returned to his room, slamming the door.
"So," John began, "I have been meaning to ask you."
"Hm?" Greg asked, turning his head away from Sherlock's door and in to John's direction.
"Are things with you and Mycroft alright now?"
"Yeah, great really. I mean it was a bit tough at first to get back into the rhythm of things after that issue hanging over our heads… but honestly I think it's been for the better. Myc has been a lot more open to me since, and generally a lot more affectionate and open to taking risks."
"Oh, well, that's good to hear then."
"Yeah. I mean before, I don't know if he would have tried…"
"Greg, do I really want to know?" John quickly interjected.
"Erm…yeah, maybe not." Greg grinned. John cleared his throat.
"So yeah what I really wanted to ask was… are you still going to propose to him? I mean, before Sherlock came back you were pretty fixated on doing it…"
Greg's stomach dropped and he coughed nervously. He hadn't really thought about it that much… unless he was honest with himself, in which case he had thought about it often.
"Um… yeah, yeah I think I am. I mean I wanted to see how things went a little first after Sherlock came back, to really see if he'd actually make the changes he'd promised. And so far he has… I mean, when Sherlock came in and called him fat: he was immediately open with me about it. That just wouldn't have happened before. He's really trying… still. It wasn't just a, you know, 'do it for a week to shut me up', kind of deal."
John clasped his hand over Greg's shoulder and shook it supportively.
"Great to hear it, mate. You both deserve to be happy. I realise that's not always easy, especially with his Royal Grumpiness over there, but I am honestly glad things worked out. For us all, really."
Greg nodded and gave a boyish grin.
"I've been accidentally calling him my fiancé in my head, honestly. It almost slipped twice now."
"Sounds like you'd better ask before you let it slide over breakfast." John chuckled.
"Yeah… I just… I don't know the right time, and I want it to be special, but I don't know how to do that… I mean, I'm not exactly the most romantic guy about." Greg mumbled nervously.
"If it's any help, I think Mycroft appreciates every little thing you do. He's not had a whole lot of experience in these things, and sounds like he never really expected to be treated in this manner… so try not to worry about it being up to standards or anything. Just make it special for you, and it'll be special for him."
"Thanks John. That did help, yeah."
Greg told John he'd better get to work, and so called out a loud 'see ya' to Sherlock. John chuckled and went to resume his final wedding preparations that Mary had instructed him to do, and Greg left the flat for work.