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Hamish sat on the couch in the sitting room of his parents’ flat and fought the urge to check his phone. He was home from university for a few days on break and he wanted nothing more than to text Mia to see if she could hang out, but she had stopped speaking to him while they were still in secondary school and he didn’t know why. It was nice to see his parents again, but there was only so much Hamish could do in his childhood flat, and he was starting to go stir-crazy.
John and Sherlock had been talking about retiring to the country somewhere to keep bees for what felt like ages now, but they were still at 221b and Hamish had a feeling they would stay there until his father couldn't walk anymore. John had mentioned something about Sherlock still consulting for the MET occasionally over dinner the previous night, but Hamish hadn't really been paying attention, which is why he was so badly startled when Mia Donovan strode into the flat like she owned the place.
"Mr. Holmes? Are you in? I could really use your help examining these crime scene photos..." Her sentence trailed off as her gaze found Hamish. "...Oh, uh, hey, Hamish. Home for the break, I see..?"
Hamish nodded, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "Y-yea. I'm here for a few days. You, uh, looking for Father?"
"Yea, is he here?"
"No, he and Dad are out. They've been gone since I woke up, actually," he admitted, breaking their eye contact to stare at the skull still resting on the mantle. "D-do you consult him often?"
Mia shifted her weight onto her other leg. "Only on the really difficult cases. I hate bothering him, but there really is no one quite like him." She leaned against the door-frame and crossed her arms. "So how's university? Are you still the smartest one in the room?"
"N-not always," Hamish laughed nervously. "And it's sort of lonely, if I'm completely honest."
Mia frowned. "That's a reversible condition though, junior. You know how to make friends; it's not that hard..."
"No, it's just maintaining those friendships that's difficult," Hamish muttered, eyes darkening. "But I suppose you'd know all about that, wouldn't you?"
"It's a mutual thing, Hamish," Mia spat, suddenly furious. "It takes effort from both parties. I don't have time to stand here and take this from you. Tell your father to call me when he gets back." She turned and started down the stairs.
"Mia, wait!" Hamish hurried after her. "Are we going to talk about this or not?"
"Talk about what, exactly?"
"About what happened between us! Because something definitely happened, and we haven't been the same since."
Mia whirled around on the front porch of 221 to stare incredulously at him. "Nothing 'happened,' Hamish, we just grew up."
"No, you started pulling away our last year of secondary school," Hamish insisted, following Mia as she began to walk down the street. "You stopped talking to me and blocked my number on your phone. You wouldn't even say 'hi' to my dad, Mia..." He grabbed her arm. "We were best friends. I just want to know what I did to make you hate me."
Mia looked at him hard, like she couldn't quite believe what she was hearing. "I didn't hate you," she whispered, blinking several times as if to fight off tears. "I loved you."
"Then why did you pull away?"
"I was letting you go."
Hamish frowned in confusion.
"You had your whole life in front of you, and I was letting you go," Mia continued, voice low. "You were going to go off to university, and I was staying in London and I thought… You were going off to bigger and better things and I didn’t want… I didn’t want to hold you back. I knew I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if you… if you didn’t pursue something because of me, because you wanted to be near me. I didn’t want you to resent me.” She glared at him, tears finally falling down her cheeks. “So I didn’t pull away, Hamish. I let you go. And you let me.”
Hamish stared. “I… I didn’t… You wanted nothing to do with me, Mia! I thought I had done something horribly wrong, and I couldn’t even turn to my best friend for help because she was the one who wouldn’t speak to me! I was miserable, and you’re telling me it was for my own good?”
“Well it was, wasn’t it?” Mia shot back, face twisting. “You’re at university now, being successful and smart and working for a degree that will take you somewhere. And just look at you, junior; I’m sure you could have any girl you wanted now. Isn’t that better than being stuck in London with your parents and a girlfriend who’s nothing more than an intern at her mum’s office?”
“I wanted you,” Hamish said softly. “I don’t want ‘any girl;’ I’ve never wanted ‘any girl.’ It’s always been you, Mia. It still is.”
Mia laughed, high and hysterical. “You say that now, but just wait. You won’t even last this whole break. Two days from now you’ll be begging to go back to university, where you can be surrounded by people who can match your intelligence. You’d hate it here, Hamish; now that you know what it’s like out there. It’s not the same.”
“I would’ve liked to make that decision for myself, instead of having you make it for me!”
“If I had left it to you, you would have chosen wrong, and you would hate me for it,” Mia hissed. “I was trying to save both of us from the resentment and bitterness that would have torn us apart.”
“You don’t know that that’s what would have happened!” Hamish insisted. “We may have been able to work it out! But you didn’t even give us that option!”
“There was no option. I did you a favor, Hamish Watson-Holmes. I saved you from me.”
Hamish shook his head. “I didn’t need to be saved…”
“You did, though. Can’t you see? I’m nothing. I’m nobody. I’m not clever or pretty or successful. Hell, I still live with my mum! I work as a temporary intern with the MET where I do nothing more than file paperwork. I’m not a cop; I’m not even close to becoming one. I bring crime scene photos to your father so I have an excuse to hear about how you’re doing. You’re off learning about things and getting ready to save the world, and I’m stuck in the same flat, staring at the same spot on my ceiling and wishing I could get you out of my head. It’s pathetic, Hamish, and you are so much better off without me.”
“No, Mia, I’m not.”
It was Mia’s turn to frown in confusion.
“I’m miserable at university. My classes are alright, but I have no one outside of them to talk to. I go to class and I do my course-work and I sit around doing nothing because nobody asks me to do anything. I can’t tell you how many times I picked up my phone to call you, only to remember that you weren’t speaking to me and I didn’t know why. I don’t have friends out there, I don’t have family, and I can’t even call my best friend for advice or a laugh or just to hear your voice because you wanted to make things easier for me.” Hamish was getting really worked up, pacing back and forth. “So don’t tell me I needed to be saved then, because I didn’t. I need to be saved now. You didn’t let me go, you took yourself away, Mia. But you know what? It didn’t work. Because you’re still the first person I think of when someone asks me about my childhood. You’re still the first number on my phone. When I’ve had a bad day, you’re the only person I want to talk to. I don’t worry about how my parents’ are doing, but I’m constantly thinking about you. You are the most important person in my life, Mia Donovan, and I still love you.”
Mia stared at Hamish in shocked silence for several seconds before launching herself at him and slamming him against the wall. She kissed him soundly, pressing him into the bricks. Hamish made a startled whining sound that got lost between them. It was a desperate, sad sort of kiss, and it felt like saying goodbye all over again.
When she finally pulled back, Mia was crying again, but she found Hamish’s gaze and held it. “Hamish Watson-Holmes, you are an idiot,” she managed to choke out. “And I love you too.”
Hamish shook his head, blinking back tears of his own. “We’re both idiots,” he murmured before bringing his hands up to cup Mia’s face. This time, he initiated the kiss, barely brushing his lips against hers in a tentative, questioning gesture. When she moved to deepen the kiss, he hummed out a laugh and flipped them around so Mia was the one pressed against the wall. Hamish leaned into her and tilted his head, making her whimper.
“God, I missed you, junior,” Mia panted after Hamish had released her lips in favor of kissing up and down her neck. “Don’t let me do something like that ever again.”
“Never,” Hamish promised, nuzzling at her ear and making her shiver. “I am never letting you get away from me again. You’re stuck with me forever.”
Their lips found each other again, and they probably would have continued to make out had a small cough not interrupted them.
“Erm, I’m not going to have to call your mum about indecent exposure, am I?”
Hamish and Mia jumped apart as if cold water had been thrown on them. “DAD?!”
“Doctor Watson!” Mia yelped.
John smiled wryly. “Yes, hello. It’s nice to see you, Mia. I’m glad you and Hamish have made up. Now can we please move the celebrations inside? You’re causing a bit of a scene…”
Hamish flushed. “R-right. Inside…”
Mia giggled and grabbed Hamish’s hand, practically dragging him down the half-block to the front door of 221. John followed at a reasonable distance, shaking his head.
‘h and mia have made up. caught them snogging outside the flat. looks like the bet is back on. – JW’
‘You really need a new hobby, John. Placing bets on our son’s love life cannot be a normal parent thing to do. – SH’
‘when have we ever been concerned about normal, love? – JW’
‘A fair point. Will they be joining us for dinner? – SH’
‘probably. pick up extra egg rolls on your way home, just in case. – JW’