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Sherlock paced the length of the small living room, hands clenched into fists behind his back. Face set in a frown, he debated various possibilities of convincing William to hand over his role in their mission to someone else.
As if sensing his thoughts, or perhaps accurately deducing them, William called out from their shared bedroom, “I hope you don’t try to talk me out of this, Sherly.”
Groaning at being caught out without even being seen, Sherlock shot back, “You really don’t have to do this, Liam.”
“Well, it was me or one of the women at the agency. I much prefer going in myself instead of subjecting one of them to danger. They are highly capable, yes, but unfortunately, the women with combat training are stationed elsewhere at the moment.”
A mistake that was being currently corrected.
William knew that the ladies were strong and determined, but the mission involved a human trafficking ring and he didn’t want to risk sending in an untrained person, man or woman.
That was why Sherlock and William were on the mission, with Billy and a few people from the agency as backup.
Checking himself in the mirror one last time, William nodded in satisfaction at his appearance and left the bedroom. Sherlock stopped pacing when he heard the sound of the door opening and turned around, eyes widening when he got a good look at his partner.
William was dressed in a fancy but modest dress in white and shades of red, accentuating his slender figure. Long golden hair flowed down his back, loose with a few thin braids interspersed with tiny rubies. It was clearly a wig and not quite the same shade as his natural hair but it was close enough.
There was minimal make-up on William’s face, just enough to hide the scar over his eye and some lipstick. Smiling when Sherlock’s eyes zeroed in on his mouth, he reminded him, “I spent a long time on my make-up, Sherly. You’re sleeping on the couch for a month if you ruin it.”
Pouting at the ultimatum, Sherlock sighed. “Spoilsport. You can’t dress up so prettily and not expect me to touch, Liam.”
“Do I really look that good?” William blinked in surprise, looking down at himself. He knew that he had an appealing appearance but didn’t expect that to translate well into women’s clothing.
Incredulous, Sherlock exclaimed, “Are you kidding me?! You could give a lot of women a run for their money!”
“Ah, then I’ll play my part of distraction just fine.”
Resisting the urge to shake his seemingly oblivious lover, Sherlock said, “I swear, if one person dares to look at you wrong…”
William patted the other man’s cheek gently and assured him, “There are multiple knives hidden in the folds of my dress and a gun strapped to my thigh. I will be perfectly fine, Sherly. Now, where’s your tie?”
Sherlock Holmes could say that homicidal urges were not strangers to him, but he had never felt them so strongly before.
His narrowed eyes were fixed on the table where ‘Lia’ was seated, the blond currently being hounded by a crowd of men asking for a dance.
Seeing his attention focussed elsewhere, his conversation partner, a sleazy man with greedy eyes named Martin, chuckled, “Quite the jealous lover, aren’t you, Mr. Miller?”
Oh, right, Miller was the alias Sherlock and William were using.
Sherlock scowled; he didn’t really want to talk to the man but he was one of their targets and he had to keep him busy while Billy and a couple of others dressed as servants snooped around the mansion.
“I’m not jealous,” he corrected, frowning deepening when he saw William’s smile twitching at the corners.
Martin’s smile widened and a strange light entered his eyes as he leant in with a conspiratorial smirk, “Then how about I buy your wife for a night or two?”
Sherlock stared in disbelief. “Say that again?”
“In this group, we sometimes buy each other’s wives for a night or two,” Martin explained, turning to look at ‘Lia’ and licking his lips. “She is quite lovely and I would very much like a taste. Name your price, Mr. Miller.”
“How about your blood on my fist?”
The words were drenched in sheer fury, Martin going white and backtracking when he noticed that Sherlock looked ready to maul him. Trying to hide his fear behind a shaky smile, he said, “I was just joking! A lip of the tongue, you understand?”
“Like hell, you bastard,” Sherlock snarled, barely restraining himself from beating the man up. “Look at my lover the wrong way again and I’ll gouge your useless eyes out.”
With that last threat, the dark-haired man turned on his man and marched his way over to William, everyone in his path scattering the instant they saw his face.
William looked up with concern when Sherlock stopped in front of him; the latter’s hands were clenched into fists and he was grinding his teeth together so hard William swore he could hear them. A quick glance in the direction Sherlock had come from gave him a general idea of the situation and he got to his feet, taking his lover’s hands into his.
“Dance with me, Sherly,” William said, manoeuvring them into a slow waltz. He wasn’t surprised when Sherlock sighed and dropped his head onto the blond’s shoulder. “What did Mr. Martin say that has you so out of sorts?”
“I’m pretty sure you already guessed it, but he wanted to, I don’t know, ‘buy’ a night with you? Disgusting pervert.”
“Ah.”
William grimaced, more than aware of some of the questionable activities wealthy men and women partook in.
“I’m sure my honour is intact thanks to your capable wit,” he told Sherlock as he was spun around, a teasing smile wiping away his earlier dark expression. “In addition, Billy is signalling that we’ve accomplished our objective. Let us take our leave now, shall we?”
The mission ended with a raid at one of the hideouts the criminals were using to imprison the people they had kidnapped.
When William looked away from tying up a man he had knocked out, he saw Sherlock striding in with a satisfied smirk and bloody knuckles.
He sighed.
“Martin, I presume?”
“Yep. Went white the second he saw me.”
“If you had looked as murderous as last night, that was an acceptable reaction,” William said dryly, shaking his head.
If he had to turn his head to hide his smile, it was for William to know and Sherlock to deduce.