Chapter Text
Karl put the microphone away in his bag and stared at Sydney Tusk talking with reporters about the court hearing. He was proud of her being able to speak about the situation in court and to reporters. It must be hard. He made a little huff and turned his head back over to the Holmes brothers before walking to them.
Sherlock sat crossed legged on a ,frankly, filthy bench while Mycroft, who obviously didn’t dare sit on the bench in fear of contracting some sort of infection (or getting his suit dirty), was standing next to Sherlock leaning on his feather design umbrella hook.
Once nearer to then he could hear the conversation happening between the two.
Mycroft rubbed the back of his head and sighed. “Ok last bit, тебе.”
The younger stayed quiet for just a second, mouthing out the words “тебе.”
Mycroft's warm but rare smile was always a lovely thing to see after such a draining and uncomfortable case “Now all together. Я люблю тебе.” Sherlock stared slack-jawed, there was one thing that can bamboozle Sherlock and it’s his own native language “Я…люблю-тебе”
Mycroft was smiling before, he was beaming now “Good job! That was flawless!”
“Great… what does it mean?”
The oldest looked between his two boys and hesitated as he spoke “I'm your friend.”
Karl huffed at his friends and slid on his glasses, his eye were hurting from all the reading he had been doing “Guys it’s time to go home”
Mycroft's smile was gone in a second “I’m sorry but I will have to leave you all early. I have a very important meeting I must conduct, it is not avoidable”
Karl looked up from his phone and giggled a bit “Is the meeting with James Bond - OH MY GOD IT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE!”
“What?”
“YOU'RE M, I'VE SOLVED IT!”
He rolled his eyes and put his umbrella in the crook of his arm. “Tell your father I said hello.”
The two detectives got the bus back to Baker Street and were walking down the street to the front door when Sherlock stopped.
Obviously causing his fellow detective to halt “You okay?”
Sherlock stared forward scanning everything around him before taking off running to his flat.
All the younger detective could do was chase after him desperately.
He reached the flat to find Sherlock practically buzzing like a puppy around John, thanking him for coming home earlier than intended “It’s nothing really sherls! We just packed up faster than Lilith thought we would. Oh and good news she will be ready in time for Easter so-”
Karl stepped forward “You could invite her to Mycrofts. He’s planning a barbecue.”
“Lovely”
After a long while of talking between the three and Mrs Hudson who occasionally came in to join the conversation Karl went home with the realisation that his dad would be home and Karl hadn’t cleaned up the mess blue, raggy and Sphinx left in the living room from their previous game night
That was when Sherlock turned to his doctor and, taking john's hand into his, looked at him with those oh so sad eyes “John I just want to apologise if I was pushy, mean or over dramatic towards you after the whole Mary situation I promise that-”
John softly squeezed Sherlocks hand as he had noticed the tell-tale sign that Sherlock was going to start scratching his arm to the point of bleeding later if it wasn’t set out clearly to him how John felt. “It's fine Sherlock. I-” He hesitated. “I care about you… a lot, and I wouldn’t have survived if you weren’t there for me.”
Sherlock's head filled with words and thoughts and feelings. He desperately tried to find his voice and put together an understandable sentence of appreciation before he remembered a conversation Mycroft and John had about Ukraine, John had effortlessly spoken the language.
“Я люблю тебе!”
John's face flushed red as he hopelessly tried to look anywhere but Sherlock's eyes, letting go of Sherlocks hands in the process.
Said detective, however, became quite stressed “Did I say it wrong?”
John rubbed his moustache, his hand subtly shaking “No but I don’t think it was the words you thought they were.” Sherlock was suddenly trembling like a wet dog or a toddler on the verge of tears “What did I say?”
The doctor hesitated before responding “I love you.” Although being the smartest person in the room Sherlock blinked dumbfounded at his dear doctor “That’s very sweet but I want to know what I said”
“No that IS what you said, you said ‘I love you’ you silly man” He laughed softly as Sherlock stuttered and twitched like a malfunctioning computer “Mycroft said- I- goodnight!”
John stared as his friend fled the scene to his room, he made sure he was out of earshot before whispering to himself “Я теж люблю тебе, Шерлок” (I love you too, Sherlock)
John fell asleep trying to ignore the mental image of Sherlock holding his hands softly and the warm feeling swarming in his chest… It’s probably nothing.