Work Text:
“Is there anything you can’t do?”
Only a slight smile graced my lips, because I couldn’t afford to move. Not that Gregorio could see it. I was turned towards the wall, highly concentrated on the work before me. A very small brush lay lightly in my hand, the tip sparkling with a golden colour, which I distributed evenly on the outside of a twisted wooden surface.
“Your colleague is a very good teacher,” I answered as soon as I was finished applying the paint, and turned to face Gregorio.
“Nonsense! He explained it once. He didn’t even demonstrate the procedure!”
“Yet you trusted me enough to start working on your decorations immediately,” I shrugged. “What does that tell me about you?”
Gregorio laughed. “Nothing good. I suppose I simply know how talented you are with your fingers.”
“If you want me to finish the work, I suggest you stop this right now.”
From my vantage point on the scaffolding, about three foot above Gregorio’s head, I observed our surroundings in the cathedral. It was late afternoon on a warm spring day. People had better things to do than visiting church. Not me, though. After a few weeks in Milan, I decided I had become too lazy. I didn’t want to (or could) return to my work at the moment, so I needed something else to do. The night before, Gregorio had suggested I join him in a restoration effort of a few wood carvings in the depths of the church.
“What if I don’t want to stop?” he grinned, his eyes sparkling, even behind his glasses.
“Come up here, I want to show you something.”
Gregorio put down the objects he had been carrying and climbed the side of the wooden structure. As he settled in beside me, legs also dangling from the platform, he pressed the length of his body to mine and then a quick kiss to my cheek.
“Look on the top of this flower. There are two initials and a small heart carved into it.”
I indicated the place with the tip of a brush. Gregorio eyed the small indentation with a sense of wonder in his eyes.
“S.L. I wonder who the artist was in love with,” he mused. “That’s quite a precious discovery, Mycroft.”
“I thought you might like it,” I smiled and put my hand on his, which was now resting on my knee.
“You think I should make it stand out? This part is also supposed to be golden, but I think I can employ some artistic freedom.”
“That’s a marvelous idea.”
I dipped the brush into the golden paint and carefully applied another layer to the surface of the wood. The thin paint dried fast in the warm air and it didn’t take long until I could line the initials with a darker, almost black colour. They wouldn’t be visible from the ground, but I felt it was the right thing to do.
“There, I’m done,” I announced and dipped the brushes into the cleaning liquid to preserve the fine hairs. After I had cleaned them and carefully closed the small paint jars to prevent it from drying out, I turned back to Gregorio, who had patiently waited for me to complete my work.
“You don’t have to do this, you know?” he said.
“You’re letting me stay for free… not even mentioning everything else you’re doing for me. Including the fact that you didn’t send me away after I reappeared at your doorstep weeks after I so rudely left.”
“I’m known to take advantage of opportunities,” Gregorio laughed. “You are too delicious to send away.”
I took a quick look around, but still no one had entered the church, so I decided to take the chance. I leaned in, wrapped my arms around Gregorio and pressed my lips to his. He yielded easily, melting into my embrace. We traded gentle attentions in the serene atmosphere of the cathedral, until he detached himself from me with a content sigh.
“I wish you could stay forever,” Gregorio whispered as he leaned in to kiss my neck.
I turned my head to allow him better access, softly moaning as he bit my skin.
“I’m sorry,” I responded equally quiet. “You know–”
“Shhh, please,” Gregorio cut me off and held tightly onto the cloth of my shirt. “I shouldn’t have asked. Allow me to fool myself a little longer?”
“Alright. Well, come on, I think we better retire before we desecrate the cathedral.”
Gregorio smiled pressed a final kiss to my lips before disentangling himself and jumping down to the ground with all the grace of a large cat. I grabbed his hand and joined him on the floor. We walked out of the cathedral together, not holding hands, but a little too close to be entirely proper.