Work Text:
"Ruskin. I was thinking of directing a play." The editor-in-chief of the college newspaper, Charles Augustus Milverton said to his voluntary secretary one evening. Of course, he immediately got Ruskin's attention. Whatever he said, it got Ruskin's attention who worshipped his Charles from the bottom of his heart.
"That is a very good idea, Charles." Ruskin noted while he kept brushing the other man's hair who was resting his head on his lap. "What kind of play are you thinking about?"
Milverton closed his eyes and a wide smile appeared on his face.
"A play that can ridicule the damn Sherlock Holmes."
Sherlock Holmes went to the same college as Milverton. He studied criminology and he was well-known as a wannabe detective who took up cases from the fellow students and solved the problems for them just to ease his own boredom. He was eccentric and this was something even the man whom he was dating, one of the Moriarty brothers, Louis couldn't deny. He had a lot of conflicts with Milverton, who was loathed in the college for his slimy behavior and tendency to collect others' dirty secrets and blackmail them to get what he wanted. Sherlock kept making pranks on Milverton, who finally had enough and he wanted to pay the humiliation back.
Through a carefully arranged plan.
"Sherlock Holmes deserved to get ridiculed. He hurt you so many times." Ruskin noted after he thought it through what he heard from the other man. "What do you want to put into the play?"
Milverton's smile maliciously widened.
"I will make his eccentric character into a jerkish caricature and pack his deduction scenes with dirty fart jokes. He will appear smart only because everyone else around him will be written as a complete idiot. His usual disinterest in women will turn into heavy dislike and I will show his childish incompetence through making him unable to take his responsibilities, like paying the rent, seriously." He stopped when he saw the confused look on Ruskin's face. "Do you think that since he is well-liked, this will keep the other students away from the pay completely?" Milverton let out a chuckle and reached out to touch the other man's face. "That is what the romantic subtext will be for. You know, Ruskin, there is one rule that applies to every media. Shipping can sell everything... even if your plot doesn't make any sense and your writing is full of inconsistencies."
"If you say so, Charles." Ruskin replied with a smile, and he hoped that his master's play would be a success, making the spark in Milverton's golden eyes even brighter.
Thanks to Milverton's understanding of good marketing - he was not studying in a similar field without a reason - the play became a huge success without anyone recognizing the purpose behind it, and Ruskin also got his desired prize. He could bathe in the glowing light of his beloved Charles’ gaze whose brilliant idea resulted even in a few spin-offs later on.