Chapter Text
It had been a while since Ryunosuke last heard the detective play his violin. Holmes had to leave it at the pawnbroker for 2 months in a row, unable to afford the rent for his flat which was filled to the rim with other things he could have potentially pawned and probably didn't even need.
It was already past nightfall but the flat was surprisingly empty in people. With Miss Susato having gone back to Japan several months ago and Iris staying the night with Gina - after about an hour of back and forth between her and Sherlock whether she was or wasn't allowed to have a sleepover - it came down to only Ryuunosuke himself and Holmes.
Ryunosuke rubbed his eyes as he tip-toed down the wooden staircase, careful to skip the steps that he had learned by now to creak when stepped on.
The big living room was dark, not a single light was lit and even the fireplace had gone out, the last embers inside the last bit of burnt wood slowly extinguishing.
Sherlock Holmes stood by the window, the light of a streetlamp shedding the only light in the room through it. He had is eyes closed and a soft yet almost sorrowful expression while he gently bowed the violin.
The song that filled the apartment was sad yet so beautiful it could bring tears to one's eyes.
Ryunosuke almost felt bad watching the detective like that, it was as if he was disturbing him in a very personal and intimate moment, though the detective would be the one to blame for that. Only Holmes would be the person to pick such an uncivilised time to practice his musical skills. They were good, even beyond good without a doubt, but at late hours such as these not exactly welcome.
The young lawyer leaned against the handrail of the stairs, not daring to go any lower since he knew the last two steps were the noisiest when it came to creaking, and he was fairly certain he would break something if he tried to stealthily jump over them.
Suddenly, the music stopped and only a quiet recording of the same song played by a full orchestra on the record player remained.
"I know you're there, Mister Naruhodo." Sherlock said, his eyes still closed but now a slight smile played around his lips.
"I- I'm so sorry I didn't mean to intrude, Mister Holmes, you have my word!" the young man blurted out and made an attempt to rush back up the staircase but immediately missed a step and almost introduced his face to the old wood of the stairs, hadn't he still been holding onto the handrail.
"Please, do refrain from breaking your nose or anything worse, my dear friend", Holmes chuckled and took the instrument down, opening his eyes to look at his one man audience that was trying to make a rather ungraceful exit. "I do not mind an eventful night but I would rather not spend it with bringing you to St. Synner's, which might be indeed eventful but comparatively unexciting."
"I will do my best?" Ryunosuke steadied himself and this time slowly tried to find the right steps to go back up to his small office which also functioned as his bedroom.
"Feel free to stay, if you like. I don't mind having an audience."
Of course you don't. The young lawyer rolled his eyes and laughed quietly to himself.
Careful, not to trip again, he stepped the last steps down the staircase, emitting a loud creak from the old wood twice before reaching the bottom.
"Welcome to this exclusive concert, Mister Naruhodo. Please have a seat and don't forget to enjoy yourself while you're here." Sherlock gestured towards the red sofa for Ryunosuke to sit.
At this time of night the detective himself usually claimed this space and ended up sleeping there for at least a bit every other night. Some mornings Ryunosuke would find him with his head hanging upside down off the sofa while his long limbs would be sprawled out so much he could cover two sofas with how much space he was taking up. Not to mention that it was almost impossible to wake him up.
"Isn't it a bit late for this?" Ryunosuke asked, but sat down nevertheless.
"I didn't wake you up, did I?" Holmes already had his violin back on his shoulder, bow at the ready.
"It is around midnight, Mister Holmes. This may come as a surprise to you but usually, people like me sleep at this time." Supressing a yawn, Ryunosuke leaned his back against the armrest, so he could still see Holmes over the edge of the backrest of the sofa.
"My sincerest apologies. I just so happened to find myself utterly restless-"
"So you decided to wake me up so you can have company?"
"Oh not at all, my dear fellow!" Holmes argued and started to gesture his hands around, still holding on to the violin and the bow. "Though I do appreciate that you are so willing stay and listen for a while. Because is that not why you originally creeped down the stairs, lured into this very room by a beautiful melody?"
"How did you know I was there?" The young man was glad it was still dark so Sherlock wouldn't notice his face turning red. He had hit the nail right on the head. Almost a rarity since he usually seemed to specialise in using the right formula but ending up deducing the most unimaginable results.
"Intuition!" came the one worded answer from the detective with absolute conviction.
So it was nothing but a wild guess. He should have known.
"Could you please be so kind as to put the record back to the beginning of the song?" Sherlock straightened himself back up and readied himself again with his instrument, eyes closed and his face relaxed but still concentrated.
Ryunosuke complied, leaning over the sofa to reach for the record player but went still when he realised he had no idea how to use it.
"Mister Naruhodo? Don't tell me you have fallen asleep again, have you?" Holmes opened one eye, only to see Ryunosuke leaning dangerously far over the sofa's armrest, arm reached out for the record player but not touching it.
"I am not quite sure how to operate this", he admitted, pulling his arm back to get up and step infront of the phonograph.
Much to his surprise, Holmes didn't say anything for once and didn't impatiently go to do it himself but instead left Ryunosuke take the time he needed to figure it out himself.
"They certainly can be tricky little things to those unfamiliar with the technology. Of course, it was a breeze for me when I first obtained one of my own." Holmes started blathering after about five seconds of staying unexpectedly quiet so Ryunosuke just turned a deaf ear, trying to focus. But his eager to wander mind had different plans.
He remembered the tiny record player from the McGilded case, memories of the court session still dominantly on his mind at least once or twice a day. The strange morse code that it revealed was throwing him for a loop every time he thought about it and the absolute chaos of emotions he had felt that day was another unwelcome memory. He had gone almost mad with worry over Sherlock, over Gina and Susato leaving the country at the same time to leave him all alone with his troubles.
A warm and gentle touch on his hand snapped Ryunosuke out of his train of thought, his mind returning to the present into the dark living space of Sherlock's apartment.
"Mister Naruhodo? Your body might be physically here but your mind is miles away, is it not?" Sherlock asked quietly and slowly let go of the lawyers hand, leaving a burning feeling on the bit of skin he had touched.
"Just a train of thought, nothing you need to worry about." Ryunosuke shook his head and pushed the dread that had formed as a lump in his throat back down.
Holmes placed a comforting hand on the young man's shoulder though Ryunosuke didn't think it was meant in that way.
"I can almost see how your mind is wondering, my dear fellow. It is written all over your face." Sherlock's face almost had a trace of worry on it when he leaned forward to look Ryunosuke in the eyes who immediately blushed for a reason he didn't exactly know.
The detective showed him how to set up the record player properly though he didn't really pay enough attention while Sherlock talked and talked and talked.
Instead he got to thinking again, about how Kazuma would always say the same thing, that his mind wandered and his thoughts happened to be written all over his face. Ryunosuke wondered how things would have turned out if the incident at the SS Burya never happened - He would have never met Holmes or Iris, nor Gina or Van Zieks even though he wouldn't be upset about not knowing the Reaper. Would he have lived with Kazuma and Susato in a small apartment similar to the one Soseki Natsume had, with no windows and proper heating?
"And there you have it, it is truly uncomplicated if you really think about it." Holmes paused for a second as he looked at Ryunosuke. "And you absolutely did not listen to me a single bit, did you?"
Music started to play again after Sherlock had just set it up again while Ryunosuke was so far gone in his thought he entirely forgot about his surroundings.
"If I may be so bold as to give a little deduction a try to find out what is going on under that dark hair of yours?" The detective offered, placing his hands on his hips.
Ryunosuke sighed, the memory of Kazuma still lingering in his mind. "I'm not really in the mood for a deduction, Mr Holmes."
"Then perhaps a distraction should do the trick? Give me your hand please, Mister Naruhodo." Holmes reached one hand out towards Ryunosuke who very cautiously took it. Immediately Sherlock pulled him with him into the middle of the room, let the lawyer's hand go again and took a step back.
"What are you-" The young man started to ask when Sherlock took a deep bow in front of him, one of his arms to the side while the other way tucked behind his back, way too deep for it to be a japanese courtesy but as a matter of habit, Ryunosuke also bowed in return.
"May I ask you for a dance, my friend?" Sherlock asked and offered Ryunosuke his hand once more.
He hesitated in taking the slender hand that was so daintily held out towards him. "You must simply follow my lead, I can assure you it will come to you naturally. You do have the best teacher at your disposal after all."
Ryunosuke laughed softly at the detective's self flattery and put his hand into Holmes' palm, who pulled him in closer and placed his other hand on the young lawyers back.
"Place your hand on my shoulder, Mister Naruhodo."
When they were so close together, Sherlock seemed to be even taller than usual. Ryunosuke had to truly tilt head back to look at the older man's face, who was looking down at him with a gentle smile tugging on the corners of his mouth.
"I will take one step ahead" the explained and slowly did as he had said, gently pushing Ryunosuke to take one step back. "Then one to the side... and back together."
Ryunosuke tried his best to not step on the detective's toes as he slowly guided him through the waltz. He wanted to look down, so he can see where they were going, starting to lose track of his feet but Sherlock clicked his tongue at him.
"My face is up here, Ryunosuke."
The young man's mind was so occupied with focusing on the right steps into the right direction, the fact that Holmes had called him by his first name passed him by in its entirety.
The detective also glossed over it like it had been nothing, his eyes going back and forth between Ryunosukes face and the room to make sure that they didn't bump into any of the clutter or furniture in the room.
"Now then, you seem to be getting the hang of it fairly quick," Holmes noted after a time of just counting 'one two three, one two three'. "And you're only stepping on my toes half as much as you were at the beginning."
The music stopped and the two men came to a halt in front of Sherlocks messy desk by the window which remained the only light source in the room.
"I've never danced like this before", Ryunosuke admitted, his grip on Holmes slowly loosening.
"I could tell!" Holmes laughed a boisterous laugh. "Just give me your word that you're going to practice this skill a bit more before you ask a young lady out to the ball. We don't want you stepping on her feet like a clumsy little dog."
"Yeah that's..." Ryunosuke looked for the right words, "probably not going to happen anyway."
He was about to take the little break as is cue to make an exit and excuse himself back upstairs into his office but Sherlock didn't let him leave his grasp. Instead, he picked up dancing again with the record player playing the second song on the record.
It's not that Ryunosuke didn't like to dance with Sherlock, there was something elusively calming about it and the more his feet developed a feeling for it, the more it felt like the both of them were gracefully gliding over the wooden floor in the empty apartment. It was the conversations that the young lawyer was afraid of, now taking a turn for the uncomfortable after Holmes had brought up the idea of Ryunosuke courting a young lady.
"Why would you think that it will not happen? A handsome young man like you should have no trouble finding an equally handsome lady, especially here in the capital." Holmes inquired as they both almost seemed to float across the parquet to the sound of the music. It was a similar song to the one before, following the same rhythm of three's, as Ryunosuke noticed, but faster this time and his feet had trouble keeping up with the pace.
"I'm not currently looking to find myself a lady." He answered, hoping that Sherlock would drop the topic already.
"A dashing young man then perhaps?"
Every last bit of colour drained from Ryunosuke's face at that sentence, only to return in full bright a second later when he suddenly found himself almost horizontal to the floor - help up by Sherlock's hand firmly pressing into the space underneath his shoulder blades - with the detective's face a mere inch away from his.
"A correct deduction, I take it?" Holmes' voice was a whisper and Ryunosuke could feel his hot breath against his face. It smelled like tobacco and Iris' personal tea blends. He caught himself wondering if he would taste like it as well.
"May I be so bold, Mister Naruhodo?"
He almost asked the detective what he meant by that, but he knew it couldn't be any more obvious what Holmes was asking permission for.
Ryunosuke barely started to nod and within the blink of an eye, Sherlock had closed the space between them.
At that very moment when they locked lips, every thought Ryunosuke had ever thought dissipated. His head was empty and his brain might have turned into mush but his heart was soaring, drumming against his chest in pure excitement. A wave of heat rolled over his body - but not the uncomfortable kind - and settled in his stomach, giving him a feeling as if he had just swallowed a handful of butterflies.
He must have reacted more surprised than he had thought since he felt Sherlock's lips curve into a soft smile against his, and he heard him chuckle quietly. Ryunosuke tried to return the kiss as much as he could in the awkward position he was in, his arms looking for any way to support his weight and ending up clinging to Holmes' neck for dear life.
"Afraid you might fall, Mister Naruhodo?" Sherlock's whisper sounded amused and it was beyond question that he meant it in more than one way. He pulled away from the kiss, leaving Ryunosuke's lips tingling and wanting to go for seconds.
The young man was pulled back into a vertical position, relieved he wasn't at risk of falling anymore at least in a physical sense. Sherlock just acted like nothing had happened, starting to lead Ryunosuke into another twirl in their waltz but the young lawyer was not having it. Sherlock had led him on, and he was not going to let himself get dropped like it was nothing. He leaned back in for another kiss, having to stand up on tiptoes to even reach the man.
Sherlock seemed surprised that Ryunosuke went for it so boldly, a soft "oh" escaping his lips before they were claimed by another pair, but he didn't back away. His hand on Ryunosuke's back pushed him close against his chest, causing the younger man to gasp slightly but not breaking the kiss, before smoothly sliding down and coming to rest just above Ryunosuke's buttocks.
A gentle tongue flicked across Ryunosukes lips, demanding entry which he carefully granted. His arms wrapped around the detectives neck again as their tongues continued to waltz together, slowly but surely finding their very own rhythm.
He did taste like tabacco and tea. And something else that was uniquely him.
Sherlock's hand snuck up between them, resting on Ryunosuke's chest for a while before giving him a careful yet stern push, not enough to make him fall but enough to send him backwards. Holmes made sure that not for a single second their lips parted, his hand still firmly planted on Ryunosuke's back to keep him close.
The young man had no idea where in the living room he was right now, his mind had been spinning ever since his lips found the detective's for the first time, but he quickly got an idea of it after he was almost roughly shoved against a bookshelf. It knocked the wind out of him in a quiet moan which got swallowed up by Holmes' mouth. Above them he could hear a few books toppling over, and he automatically ducked his head a little - fearing the never ending clutter on Sherlock's shelves might come raining down on them - and broke the kiss with it.
The two men just looked at each other in the dim light of the streetlamp outside the window for a few seconds. Sherlock's blond curls were messed up a bit, probably from Ryunosuke subconsciously burying his hand in them, and he looked at Ryunosuke with some amusement, one eyebrow raised and his now red lips a slight smirk.
"You never cease to surprise me, my dear friend. Who would have thought you to be so insatiable hungry for intimacy?" Sherlock rested his hands on Ryunosuke's waist, for whom the realisation of what really just happened slowly started to sink in and turn into embarrassment.
"I... Wha- I mean... um.." Ryunosuke started to stammer, unable to wrap his head around it, for now just having a witty come back to give the detective. "Who would have thought you know how to stop talking for a solid few minutes?"
"I certainly do know how to keep my mouth shut, I'll have you know", Holmes pretended to sound offended but the playful undertone in his voice gave him away. "When I'm sleeping, for example."
"Which you are currently not."
"How do you know? I might be an avid sleepwalker, waltzing the nights away when no one is looking."
"I am looking though."
"An oversight on my part, I admit." He chuckled and let go of Ryunosuke's waist, reaching for his pipe that he always kept on his person and left the lawyers personal space as he walked over to the window, puffing away.
"Um, Mister Holmes," Ryunosuke gathered his confidence again.
"What is it, my dear fellow?" Against the light from the window, Sherlock was but a silhouette, tall and slender, his light hair shimmering with a faint glowing halo and a bit of light reflecting in his eyes when he turned his head over his shoulder.
"Why did you kiss me?"
"Why did you kiss me again?"
Ryunosuke didn't answer.
"It is perfectly understandable if you would prefer to ignore this has happened and never speak a word of it again." Holmes turned his head to look back out the window. "I won't try anymore advances if you do not want me to."
"I... don't know to be perfectly honest." Ryunosuke admitted and rested his weight against the bookshelf behind him.
"Then let me know when you do. Until then," the detective puffed a ring of smoke towards the window where it then quickly dissipated. "It would be best if you went back to bed, my dear friend."
The young man nodded slowly. "Yes, yes, I probably should."
He plodded carefully through the living room, amazed as to how they managed to not trip over any of the clutter while they were dancing together, and back to the creaky old staircase.
"If you happen to know sooner than expected," Sherlock spoke up again before Ryunosuke entirely disappeared back upstairs, "and your hunger wants you to come back for thirds, you know where to find me."
"Sleepwalking, probably." Ryunosuke smiled to himself and finally returned into his office, his mind still hazy and his heart still fluttery, knowing full well he was not fully sated yet.