I am not lonely [Mystrade]

CHAPTER 57 : Freckles

"Look at this Gregory ! Isn't it magnificent ?" exclaimed joyfully the auburn, gesturing toward what looks like a giant sundial.
"Yes, it's ... fascinating ?" replied the detective, smiling, unsure of the answer he was supposed to give. They had been strolling around Jaipur's Jantar Mantar, a place reuniting nineteen architectural astronomical instruments and Mycroft was like a kid in a toy shop, over excited by what he had called "the most incredible example of astronomical instruments in the world" and for which the policeman was slightly less interested. However, he still found it interesting and he wasn't going to complain after all the effort the official had put in organising this trip to India, himself as he precised earlier, a trip Greg had always dreamt of, never taking the time to fulfil his wish.
"Fascinating ? That's the best you can give dear ?" laughed the tall man. "It's the largest stone sundial ever built and it's precise at a couple of seconds ! That's not fantastic, that's pure genius !"
"I'm sure there was a crying need of that surely." teased the yarder.
"Oh shut up, you don't understand the beauty of this." retorted the elder Holmes in a smirk.
The sun was high in the sky and the temperature was becoming barely tolerable so the two men finally decided to exit the observatories and look for a place to have lunch before carrying on with the visit of the city in the afternoon. They stopped by a little restaurant in a nearby street that seemed to offer what they were looking for and not to be crowded with tourists. Nodding at what seemed to be the restaurant owner, the auburn led his partner to a table near to an air-conditioner and sat, glad to rest his legs after an entire morning of walking around, something he wasn't used to as he avoided as much as possible doing leg work.
"Hello sirs !"the owner greeted them once they were settled. "Lunch ?"
"Yes please." Mycroft accepted with a smile.
"Today we have some dhal, lamb curry, Bajre ki roti, that's a sort of millet bread, and side dishes. Is that good for you ?" the Indian man informed them.
"Perfect. May we have mineral water to please ?"requested the auburn before the man disappeared.
"So, what are we doing this afternoon ?" wondered Greg after a few minutes of silence during which both of them simply enjoyed the feeling of the cool air on their skin.
"I was thinking about walking around abit in the centre near the City Hall and Wind Palace before going to the Birla Mandir temple for dawn. One told me that it's even more beautiful in the last ray of sunshine ..."
"That seems appealing to me ..." nodded the detective while the restaurant owner was back with two large partitioned plates and displayed it before each man wishing them to enjoy their meal.

The elder Holmes slipped on a clean white shirt and buttoned it up, appreciating the effect of the fresh clothes on his body, feeling tired of his day but not in the same way that he usually does when coming back home from work. It was a good tiredness, something that made him happy and comfortable.
He stepped out of the bathroom, finding his partner curled up in one of the room's armchair reading one of the auburn's Hemingway novels. Unnoticed, he quietly walked to the older man and placed a soft kiss on his forehead.
"Do you like it ?" he asked, nodding toward the book.
"Yes. I've never read anything by Hemingway but I'm starting to think that I may have missed something." answered the detective, looking up to the official, a little smile illuminating his face.
"When you'll be finish with this one, I strongly recommend you A Moveable Feast." Mycroft smiled back. "My own very favourite."
The yarder closed the book and ran a gentle finger on his boyfriend's cheek before standing up. "Shall we go ?" he wondered, putting the book down on the nearby coffee table. The auburn nodded before taking his lover's hand and leading out of the room to a nearby restaurant they had noticed when coming back at the hotel a couple of hours earlier.
They had the most amazing afternoon, lingering around the centre of the city, visiting the markets and filling themselves with the colours and smells of the products plastered on the stalls before seeing the last ray of sunshine colouring the white marble of the Birla Mandir temple, feeling privileged to witness such a moment. When coming back at their hotel they had took advantage of the pool to refresh themselves of the day, taking advantage of the upcoming night and the disappearance of the sun to finally enjoy a bearable temperature.
They were sat at a table on the rooftop of the restaurant, enjoying an incredible view over the entire city when the auburn caught a little smirk on the lips of his husband who was looking at him, amused. "What is making you laugh ?" he asked the Greg.
"You are turning brown dear." explained the yarder."I've never remarked you've got that many freckles actually ..."
"I suppose I will then be completely unable to lie to the PM when seeing him next week, saying that I had been busy and that's why I had to turn down his dinner invitation then ..." chuckled the officialbefore drinking a gulp of his white wine.
"I'm afraid you wont yeah ..." replied the policeman with a wink. It was the first time he was seeing his boyfriend tanned, something that probably never had happened in the Holmes family since several generations, and he couldn't help finding him sexier than ever, the delicate brown of his skin making his blue eyes looking even more intense and the freckles spread over his nose and cheeks matching his hair colour.

"At least Anthea will stop asking me if I'm sick every time she sees me ..." spiritualized Mycroft, looking as his hands and arms to admire the result of his first day under the sun since a long time. The detective seized one of those hands, drawing little circles on top of it with his thumb, unable to take his eyes off his lover'sface.
Fortunately, the starring game was interrupted by the waiter who was coming back with their dishes. The man displayed the white china plates in front of the couple before pouring them more wine from the bottle in the ice bucket near the table. Gregory could hear the sound of the city down in the street behind the soft jazz music broadcasted by a couple of speakers fixed on the wall a couple of tables behind him and added to the warm wind, the smells, the cuisine and the presence of the man he was in love with he wondered how the night could possibly be spent in a better way, a thought his partner was apparently sharing if he interpreted correctly the look he was glancing at him and the delicate and unconscious way he had of bitting his lower lips when their eyes crossed.
"I didn't knew Rudolf had a cottage in Cornwall." the detective remarked after a few minutes of silence.
"Oh, it's quite recent actually, couple of years or so I reckon. He had one in Hampshire before but apparently his doctor told him that seaside could do him some good so he sold the other one and buy the new one. Never been there myself tho ..." his husband explained in a smile.
"I suppose he is less in London now then ?" wondered the yarder, not having seen the old man since a while.
"No." the official chuckled. "That was the goal of course, but he belongs to London. He've lived there his all life and after a couple of days he already misses the clubs and the spirit of the city. You'll need to kill him to retain him far from the place during more than a couple of weeks."
"Really ? I wouldn't have guessed that ..." the inspector laughed. "I mean,your parents lived all their life in London and still, they moved away quite happily since some time no ?"
"Yes. Well my parents..." grouched the auburn. "My parents haven't got the same ...spirit ... than Rudy. He is a social person, he genuinely likes the clubs because he meet people there when Father like it because it's a place of power. Since he had retired, he had no more power so no need to socialise. That's the difference. Rudy needs London when it was London who needed my father like it needs me now."
"Hmm, right... Have I told you Molly had invited us for dinner next Sunday ?" the DI replied quickly, trying to change the subject, seeing that it was upsetting his boyfriend.
"No." denied the elder Holmes, forcing himself to smile, determined not to let a clumsy question ruin his so far perfect day and evening. "Is there a special occasion to celebrate ?"
"I don't know ..." Greg stated with a little pout. "She haven't told me but from what I'm aware it's neither her birthday, neither Christmas nor New Year ... Maybe just a simple friendly dinner ?"
"Yes, maybe ..." retorted the younger man, seeming doubtful. He couldn't say why but he doubted the post-mortem would have taken the precaution of inviting one of her closer friends more than two weeks before the date if it was just for a casual dinner.
"You don't look convinced." Greg noted, chuckling.
"No, it's just ... unusual, you know, that Molly invite us." the auburn answered quickly. "But it's pleasant."
"You are a terrible liar Mycroft Holmes." laughed his husband. "What makes you think that it could be something else than just a diner ?"
"I don't know, I just ... have the instinct there is something." the official defended himself.
"The instinct ? The Iceman is trusting instinct ? You disappoint me Myc'..." retorted the DI, now laughing so hardly that the woman sitting behind him glanced an indiscreet look over her shoulder, wondering what was happening.
"Don't call me like that Gregory ." the auburn complained. "Yes I don't know, I just think it's weird she invited you that much in advance if it's just to have a pizza at her place. But maybe I'm wrong ..."
"Well whatever, I told her we will go so I suppose we will find out if you are right." the policeman concluded, catching his breath after nearly chocking of laughing to hard.
"I hope you have accepted. It's been a very long time we haven't seen her." the official remarked, drinking a gulp of his wine.
"Well, I've seen him quite a lot when I was investigating on the attacks last month, but I have to admit that I was rarely in the mood for a dinner after spending a couple of hours working with her." chuckled the DI. "I think if you want to have dinner with a post-mortem, you definitely need to avoid them for at least a week before."