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The area where the fireworks festival would be held was way prettier than Sherlock imagined. The lights, the stands, the energy of the crowd… It filled him with anticipation. He tugged on his yukata sleeves, unable to stand still. Even though it was Liam’s idea for them to visit Japan as a vacation, Sherlock was just as-maybe even more-excited.
Before they began their vacation (their friends teasingly called it their honeymoon) in Japan, both of them agreed it would do them well to familiarise themselves with the language. At the end of multiple, extensive study sessions they had a basic understanding of Japanese. Neither of them were fluid in any way, shape or form but they could still hold a conversation and get through daily life pretty easily. Their accents were horrendous though.
The first few days they visited all of the tourist spots, did some shopping, bought souvenirs and tried out all the different food. On one of their walks through the busy streets, Liam had noticed a poster advertising the fireworks festival. It wasn’t that much farther than their hotel, so they decided to attend it. Sherlock would say it was lucky they visited at the right season for such festivities, but knowing Liam, he probably planned it all from the start.
After settling on their next activity, Liam said they should probably buy yukata for the festival. Most of the stuff they bought were small and things they could probably find in London if they searched enough or they could just order off of the internet. However, a yukata was different. It was like the ultimate item to remember their trip to Japan and they could wear theirs whenever they wanted to relieve the memories they made. Sherlock thought of all the other things they could do in yukata but didn’t share them just yet, he valued his life thank-you-very-much.
Maybe after the festival.
The yukata they bought were beautiful. Honestly, the only thing that could rival them was how Liam looked wearing one. They settled on a dark blue yukata for Sherlock and a scarlet red one for Liam. The detective also convinced the professor to buy a headpiece along with the yukata. They both knew they were usually for women and if anything, it would fit Sherlock more with his long hair but Liam didn’t argue and just put it in his hair. Under the soft lights of the festival and the night sky, Liam looked simply ethereal.
Sherlock hoped they didn’t look too much like ignorant tourists. The disapproving stares some old ladies gave them made him shiver with fear, he would never admit to it though.
“Well then, shall we join the crowd?” Liam asked, smiling.
“Of course. Let’s go.”
Off they went into the bustling festival site.
Their first location was the little souvenir stall that had little toys for kids. A firework shaped light that kept changing colours caught Liam’s eye. He reached for his wallet to buy it. Sherlock gave him a questioning look. It didn’t seem like something Liam would like but maybe he was wrong.
“For Louis.”
“He isn’t a kid anymore, you know.” Sherlock shook his head. As much as he could understand where Liam was coming from, he could also relate to Louis in this situation and took his side. Mycroft also treated him like a kid sometimes even though Sherlock was a 24-year-old, grown adult with a respectable job. It didn’t get any easier to deal with. Whenever his brother looked at him, he saw a 5-year-old and it got on every single bit of Sherlock’s nerves. They only had each other when they were growing up so it made sense Mycroft saw his little baby brother rather than an adult, same with Louis and Liam, but it was frustrating.
“Do you think I baby him too much? Maybe he wouldn’t like it…” Liam hesitated and Sherlock immediately caved. Sorry, Louis.
“Of course not! I’m sure he would love anything that you give him! Also, didn’t you say he has always liked fireworks?” Sherlock hurriedly cut in.
“He does like them…” Liam said, wistful with a pensive look on his face. After thinking for a few seconds, he looked up at Sherlock and smiled. “Thank you, Sherly. I will make sure to buy it for him and tell him you helped me pick it.”
Although his love’s smile was innocent, Sherlock felt a chill go down his spine. Those red eyes… Liam knew exactly what he was doing when he said- Dangerous. Liam is so dangerous.Sherlock gave him a smirk back, trying to mask his thrill at his boyfriend’s little schemes. He wouldn’t let himself get left behind.
After Liam paid for the toy and put it in their shared backpack that Sherlock insisted on carrying, they moved on to a shooting game stand. Immediately Sherlock’s eyes landed on a pink bunny plushie with droopy ears. He paid the vendor for one round and set his sights on his goal. Liam stopped beside him, giving him a curious look.
Sherlock took the gun that was provided and quickly shot all of the balloons with impressive accuracy. In his free time, he would usually spend time with a guy called Billy, his and Liam’s mutual friend. Billy was interested in competitive shooting and he was damn good at it. Sherlock wasn’t nearly at his level but he learned some things after watching him for so long. He pointed towards the pink bunny as his reward and turned to Liam after getting it, smug. He gave the plushie to his lover, completely proud of himself.
“It reminds me of you.”
Liam laughed cutely (though everything he did was absolutely adorable to Sherlock so he was biassed) at the cheesy line and took the bunny from his hands, shaking his head.
“It was very cliche of you, Sherly, but thank you.” He paused for a second and hugged the bunny as he seemed lost in his thoughts. “Does that mean you see me as a bunny?”
“The cutest bunny to ever exist.” Liam let out a soft giggle as he hit Sherlock’s shoulder with the plushie, then he turned towards the vendor and asked for another round.
“Well then, watch what this ‘bunny’ can do, Mr. Holmes.”
He hugged the plushie with his right arm, held the gun with his left hand and shot all of the balloons in record time. The crowd around them stopped whatever they were doing to watch the show his lover put on, intrigued. The vendor looked shocked at this weird foreigner, wearing a headpiece meant for women and beating his game with complete ease, but then started praising Liam with enthusiasm. The whole thing had brought the crowd’s attention to his stall after all. The blond smiled sweetly and humbly accepted the compliments then pointed towards a white dog plushie with a dark blue collar. The vendor gave him the toy and moved on to the next customer. Sherlock stood there, mouth agape.
When his lover noticed his predicament, he seductively put his pointer finger under his chin and encouraged him to close his mouth. Then he gave him the plushie he won with a smirk on his face. When Sherlock gave him a questioning stare, similar to the one his love gave him before, Liam just smiled,coy, and said,
“It reminded me of you.”
After eating some shaved ice for refreshment’s sake, Sherlock dragged them towards the goldfish scooping game. Even though he made it look like it was his own desire to get a goldfish, it was actually because he could see Liam throw wistful glances at it ever since they stepped foot into the festival.
When they reached the stall, Sherlock immediately asked for the bowl and the poi. He was confident in himself that he could easily catch some goldfish for his lover. He crouched down to the level of the little goldfish pool, readied his tools and gave Liam a smug look.
His boyfriend gave him a coy smile back in response, hiding behind the fan he bought on the way to the shaved ice stand. The intricate fan had immediately grabbed his fancy and he handled it with an amount of elegance that no man Sherlock had ever known had possessed. He looked proud of himself for some reason.
Finally separating his gaze from his lover, he instead focussed on the fish. Liam wanted one, thus he would get one. Or ten. Or as many as Sherlock could get. He raised his poi and went for a fish that seemed a bit doozy compared to the rest.
Only for the fish to swim away from him at the speed of life.
You were sleeping just a second ago, you little-
He went for another one, just to miss again.
Sherlock was starting to get frustrated with these dumb fish. It wasn’t like he wanted to eat them or something, he just wanted to get them a better life. Knowing Liam, he would look up every single little detail on how to take care of goldfish, spend as much money as needed and give these scoundrels a better life than they could ever dream of.
Can goldfish dream?
Wait, no, not the time.
He turned to his lover at the soft, amused giggle. There Liam was, giggling into his yukata sleeve, his other arm wrapped around his waist and holding his-now folded-fan. He was trying to hold back his laughter for the sake of his boyfriend’s pride, which was thoughtful of him, but Sherlock didn’t mind being the fool or getting embarrassed as long as Liam was having fun. Smiling that bright smile of his and lighting up the night.
He turned back to the goldfish and gave them a threatening look. He would get Liam a goldfish no matter what. His eyes landed on a pretty, majestic one and with all of his focus and skill, he caught it. He caught the fish! He put it in the bowl, proud of himself. Then he turned to his blond angel, beaming.
“Liam! Look what I- “
Only for the goldfish to somehow jump out of the bowl back into the pool, taking advantage of his distracted state. Once he realised what happened, Sherlock felt completely defeated. He had lost to a bunch of stupid fish. Liam would never let him live it down. He turned to his boyfriend to give him his best kicked puppy look, only to find him in the midst of a full belly laugh.
He looked ethereal.
His blond hair illuminated by the stall lights looked like a halo, little tears escaped his eyes from laughing so much and his whole body shook with the power of his laughter. He looked so undeniably happy, without a care in the world and Sherlock couldn’t look away. It made it even better to know that he was the cause of that laughter.
He gave his lover a soft smile.
All of the frustration, embarrassment and struggle was worth it, just to his precious person's smile.
“It’s okay, Sherly. I would be grateful even if you didn’t catch anything. It’s you thinking of me that counts.”
Even with such kind words, said in a soft tone by his lovely boyfriend, Sherlock couldn’t help but feel ashamed. He ended up catching a small goldfish that was now in a plastic bag that Liam was holding delicately. He wanted to argue saying he could catch more but at that point, the poi was already broken and people were giving them dirty looks. Even as shameless as he was, he knew that he lost that one. He fought a legendary battle against monstrous goldfish, the fact that he came out alive was enough. Lie to yourself enough and one point you will start to believe it.
With their night coming to a close, they decided to buy some festival food, lay down on a blanket and watch the fireworks. Liam bought Ikayaki while Sherlock went for Takoyaki. They found a secluded area, away from the crowd and laid down their dark blue blanket with red accents. When they finally sat down after hours of walking, the detective let out a relieved sigh.
“That was tiring.”
“It was.” His angel replied with a smile. “But don’t you think it was worth it?”
Before he could reply, the sound of fireworks came. They both turned towards the source, a reflex response, and ended up being mesmerised by the fireworks show. A plethora of different colours decorated the night sky, absolutely gorgeous. Symbolising hope, new beginnings and a prayer for a better future, it was no wonder people liked them so much.
A small gasp of surprise came from the person next to him. Sherlock turned, fireworks forgotten, and the sight he saw was more gorgeous than the entire night sky combined. He gave a gasp of his own, looking at his angel, and mumbled silently, “Beautiful.”
Then he straightened, leaned towards the beauty next to him and spoke up, “Yes. Everything we have gone through. All the things we endured. They were all worth it.” For this. For you. were left unsaid. They didn’t need to be voiced aloud.
Liam turned to him with surprise but his eyes softened at Sherlock’s own expression.
“I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
Then they kissed, all things left unsaid between them could be heard loud and clear where their lips touched. They lost themselves in each other as the fireworks show continued in the background.
To love and be loved in return was the most wonderful thing.