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"When is my dear brother joining us, Greg?"
As they did once a week, they met at the pub, the Holmes brothers, John and Greg. Tonight, Mycroft was running a little late.
Greg put down his beer and replied, "In a few minutes."
"This is about time!"
John interjected, "Sherlock, don't be impatient, you said it yourself, Mycroft is the British government, it's understandable that his work keeps him busy."
"Hmph! I'm not impatient. I'm not looking forward to seeing that goofy smile on his face. I swear, I've never seen my brother be smitten like that."
Greg looked at Sherlock in puzzlement, "What do you mean?"
"Don't tell me you haven't noticed. As soon as you're in the room my brother starts smiling. Smiling. I'm not talking about that stilted smile he plasters on his lips like a well-fitting mask, no I'm talking about a goofy, completely idiotic smile."
Greg wanted to argue that Mycroft had plenty of smiles for him that weren't stilted, but he had never noticed the one Sherlock was talking about. Seeing his baffled look, Sherlock sighed, "He smiles like that when he thinks you're not looking at him. Oh look he's gone into the pub, watch closely, you'll see!"
Greg did not turn to the door on his left, but peeked at Mycroft's arrival out of the corner of his eye.
He saw him looking for them first, then his gaze when he spotted them, and then he saw it, the moment Mycroft laid eyes on him, the smile that Sherlock spoke of.
He vaguely heard Sherlock whisper, "I told you so! It's tiring to be right all the time."
Only to Greg there was nothing goofy or idiotic about that smile. He just saw joy in it. And to know that it was him, Greg, who put that smile on Mycroft's lips, it was an indescribable feeling.
He couldn't help but turn completely to Mycroft and he saw the smile turn into something more formal.
His Mycroft, always so bashful when it was about showing his emotions.
He thought about it again later in the evening when he joined Mycroft in their room and saw him smile. With the same joy, but without a veil, because it was just the two of them.
Making Mycroft smile.
Greg thought that he has never done something so amazing before, just by being him. Greg feels himself melting at the sensation.
He slid under the comforters beside him, Mycroft opening his arm so Greg could put his head on his shoulder.
After a few seconds of silence, Greg asked, "May I tell you something?" asked Greg.
"I'm listening" Mycroft took Greg's hand that was resting on his chest and pressed a kiss into the palm.
"I like the way you smile," Greg said. He could feel Mycroft's lips curl against his palm.
"Just the way I smile?" Mycroft pressed a soft kiss to Greg's wrist and he could feel the smile on his skin again.
Greg swallowed both from emotion and from sensations caused by Mycroft's kisses, "The way you smile because of me or for me. You don't know what state you're putting me in."
Mycroft lifted his head to look Greg in the eye, and another smile appeared on his lips, literally a smile of adoration, "Tell me."
"When...when you smile, I fall apart." Greg shook his head because he was embarrassed and continued, "Sorry, I can't think of any other words."
he hid his face in the crook of Mycroft's shoulder, feeling so ridiculous.
He felt Mycroft kiss him on the hair then whisper, "It's the same for me, you know."
Greg raised his head to look at Mycroft and they both smiled at each other in the same way.
Sherlock would surely have said they were smiling like two idiots in love, but it didn't matter to the two men.
Because each of them knew that they were the reason for the other's smile.