221B Recs

Title: Learn to Wear Each Other Well
Author: sinuous_curve
Pairing: Mycroft/Lestrade
Length: ~20,000 words
Rating: R
Verse: Sherlock BBC

Reccer's comments: There's nothing quite like a sweet, subtle romance. How two people meet, how they become aware of each other, of that certain something that causes the butterflies and the nervous anticipation. This story brings that to life as it takes us along with Lestrade through random bits of cases, the occasional dealings with Sherlock, and the introduction of Mycroft - who shows up at Scotland Yard one evening to ask about Sherlock - into his life. It's a charming story. (And I have to admit, I am absolutely in love with the author's version of Mycroft!)

An excerpt
Lestrade is acutely aware of how alone they are in the little private room, and how the whole bit seems designed to create intimacy. The lights aren't dim, exactly, but they're turned down to a warm suffusion of golden glow that suggests candlelight. And the table isn't cramped at all, but it's still small. Clearly built for two people to have low conversation.

It's the mix of it all that makes Lestrade take a sip of wine and say, "This isn't about Sherlock at all, is it?"

Mycroft goes very still.

There are things about himself that Lestrade would not have thought any government file could possibly know. Not things he's ashamed of, just things that he has kept close to himself as the years since his divorce slowly marched past. He didn't lie when he said he never put his pride before anything else, but he does tend to keep the important things near.

And yet it doesn't surprise him that Mycroft knows enough to bring him to this place, in possibly the only clumsy and sincere gesture he's made since he first arrived at Lestrade's office.

Mycroft sets down his cutlery and meets Lestrade's eye. "Have I presumed too much?"

Learn to Wear Each Other Well, on LJ
On AO3