Chapter Text
【Moriarty the Patriot】Oops (Sherlock/John & Albert/William)
BGM: Oops
Performers: Little Mix (feat. Charlie Puth) Lyrists: Charles Puth, Michael Caren, Jacob Luttrell
Sherlock was not unfamiliar with being awakened by the sunlight strong enough to penetrate his eyelids. Sometimes he concentrated too much at night and fell asleep without closing the curtains, or sometimes, he overslept on the sofa, so John had to wake him strongly by opening the curtains and nagging in the morning.
However, based solely on the subtle differences in the bedsheet’s materials and the extent of the rebound, Sherlock was sure that he was not at 221B Baker Street. When he frowned and opened his eyes with a drunk feeling, he saw the blond hair as bright as sunlight in the morning.
Sherlock was so close to the person lying next to him that he could count that person’s slender and slightly lifted eyelashes – features so rare among men. Although the beautiful eyes were now closed, Sherlock quickly recognized that this sleeping beauty nearby was Professor William James Moriarty, the second son in the Earl’s household.
Sherlock swallowed and tried to trace how he came onto this bed.
This was Durham University, where William taught. Sherlock and John arrived by train together as they planned to see Professor Charles, who invited them for a visit. Professor Charles, specializing in chemistry and medicine at the university, was an old friend of John. John thought Sherlock might be interested in his research, so he asked Sherlock to come along. Then Sherlock figured he would drop by the young professor he met on the Noahtic cruise.
The memory up to this point was clear as crystal, but no matter how hard Sherlock thought about it again, he still couldn’t remember why he and William slept on the same bed. Sherlock checked himself and William out. The two were well-dressed, so nothing should have happened other than sleeping. However, the fear caused by the fragmented memory could not be ignored. When Sherlock subconsciously tried to step back to maintain a safe distance between the two, he forgot that they were lying on a single bed in a university dormitory.
"Oh my...!" While he didn’t roll off the edge of the bed, Sherlock overestimated his mobility, turned around, and knocked off the glass ink bottle on the bedside table. Even though he tried to be quiet, the chaos still awakened William on the bed.
"Mr. Holmes…?" William's drowsy eyes showed some surprise, but he was relatively calm.
"Liam, do you know when we fell asleep?!"
"Ah, if I overuse my brain, I fall asleep anytime, anywhere. That's why the university chancellor assigned a staff dormitory to me." As William explained, he tilted his head and asked, "Perhaps you were already sleeping on the bed before I lay down?"
William probably had devoted himself entirely to his work, causing the brain’s compulsory rest and completely ignoring what was happening around him. He was working on the problems Sherlock brought to the university dormitory for his advice, because Sherlock had recently studied the degradation rate of drugs. While the problems remained unsolved, Sherlock could only blame himself for bringing them up.
But after all, Sherlock was a detective, so he finally figured out the answer. "That’s right! I tested the drug on myself!"
The new drug's effects were beyond Sherlock’s expectations. He knew its sedative effect beforehand, but he didn’t expect that he couldn't even recall what happened before going to bed; furthermore, it put him in a state of unconsciousness like sleepwalking. The memory of how he tested a drop of the drug on his tongue had also vanished.
Sherlock felt eased, not only because the problem was solved, but more importantly, he's now sure that he and William had just slept in the same bed all night, and nothing else had happened.
"So I'm leaving now!"
"Wait," William looked troubled, asking Sherlock to stay. "Do you want to deal with that first?"
Following William's gaze and looking down, Sherlock found the spilled ink on his trousers. The red ink, spilled over a rather large area, was very conspicuous on the navy-blue suit.
"It's one size smaller, but I think you can somehow wear it." William went to take out his trousers from the closet and handed them to Sherlock for changing.
To avoid the ink spreading further, Sherlock quickly took off his trousers. He bent slightly and felt dizzy, probably due to the drug’s side effects. When he tried to take the trousers from William, he nearly stumbled by his footsteps, so he immediately grabbed William's wrist to stand firm. But then both lost their balance and fell onto the bed.
At this moment, someone outside opened the door, and the scene where Sherlock, with only underwear, lay below William in the bed, was seen by Albert holding the backup key and his company John.
There was only terrifying silence before anyone could react. Earl Moriarty was the first to break the ice, as he was always composed. "Excuse me. We heard a sound like glass cracking, so we borrowed the backup key from the dormitory’s supervisor. It’s good to know that you're fine, William."
"Sorry I made you worry, brother." William climbed off Sherlock and spoke.
"Sherlock, did you cause trouble to others again?!" As the Earl's brother was so well-mannered, John could only assume that Sherlock was the one who caused the chaos in the room.
"John, you came just right!" John's accusations somehow gave Sherlock a sense of intimacy. He felt relieved and said, "Can you get me clothing for changing?"
"What the….." John was so irritated that he rushed to Sherlock, nearly grabbed him by the collar and punched him. Fortunately, Professor Moriarty’s words rescued Sherlock. "Feel free to use this room as long as you like. I should also be responsible for Mr. Holmes' dirty trousers."
As the room’s owner spoke kindly, John, who always took care of Sherlock, responded to Sherlock’s wayward request even though he was not convinced. When he returned from their hotel, a bare-legged Sherlock had almost cleaned up all the ink on the ground.
"You’ve been so helpful, John!" As usual, Sherlock skipped the topics he didn't want to discuss, so John could only ask, "So how on earth did you sleep in Professor Moriarty's room?"
For no reason, John found the person who should stay in the same hotel room with him missing overnight. He arrived at Durham University in the morning and ran into Earl Moriarty, so he came up with the possibility of finding Sherlock in Moriarty's room. John could not accept being fooled without Sherlock’s proper explanation.
"Don't get me wrong; I just asked Liam to help me work on the rate of drug degradation! You know, Liam has an amazing mind….." Sherlock panicked as he felt John's suppressed anger, and his brainless words were cut short.
"Isn't Charles a better person for solving problems in that area?" John questioned the one who made him worry all night. Now that Sherlock had changed his clothes, and it seemed he was not interested in Charles’ research, John didn’t want to make him do anything, so John said, "Then you can keep solving your problems! I have an appointment with Charles to visit his lab. No worries, you don’t need to wait for me to return to the hotel.”
Providing details about his whereabouts, John was satisfied that he demonstrated how a responsible adult should act to Sherlock. Before Sherlock could speak, John had already turned away and left.
William could feel the stress around him when he and Albert left the staff dormitory, went to the library to borrow a few books, and then walked to his office, even though Albert was silent all the way. Then they saw Sherlock in front of William’s office - He was "abandoned" by John and had nowhere to go on campus, so he came here to wait for William.
After listening to Sherlock, William thoughtfully said, "Were you talking about Professor Charles Higgins of the Department of Medicine? I’ve heard of him. He is the eldest son and the heir of the Viscount. Very handsome and brilliant. Always popular among women at social events but had never married. On the surface, it seems he is devoted to chemistry research, but there are rumours that actually he is into men and often entices male students to his private lab for some covert purposes....."
William's seemingly careless words made Sherlock almost mad. Before William could finish, Sherlock had run away in the corridor putting arms on his head and shouting, "John, how could you say no worries——!!!"
William nodded meaningfully and showed a sly smile. When he walked into the office, someone suddenly approached him closely from his back. As the heat on his body spread, he heard a familiar voice: "It seems so many professors at this university are into men?"
The incident with Sherlock was purely accidental, but Albert's jealousy was entirely within William's calculations. He had written a complete script simultaneously as Albert opened the room door. There was a giant smile on his face that Albert could not see, and he added fuel to the fire to make things even more interesting. "Brother, you misunderstood. It wouldn’t have happened if Mr. Holmes did not bring the strange drug. As expected of Mr. Holmes, that drug is so powerful!"
Albert captured the keywords from William and was agitated to ask: "Drug...?"
"Yes, after taking that drug, I felt like losing myself. It was already dawn when my consciousness came back." William turned around and selectively told the facts.
Familiar stories heard from private members' clubs suddenly came to Albert's mind—like how those nasty upper-class men used secret drugs from illegal sources and tricked innocent women into bed. Albert couldn't help but imagine that William became horny under the influence of drugs and reached out to Sherlock, and his beloved brother became Sherlock’s plaything…..No! He yelled loudly in his head. The usual gentle emerald eyes now flashed with angry fire and turned even more bloodily red than William's eyes.
The workload at the intelligence agency was hefty, so Albert could only take time off from London to visit his brothers in Durham occasionally. He did not expect that Sherlock would have ruined his beloved brother during his absence. Albert, who was always composed, almost lost his mind and clenched his fists. His anger made his voice tremble, "I need to talk to Holmes. William, you know where he is, right?"
Of course, William was brilliant enough to predict Sherlock’s whereabouts through simple analysis. "Mr. Holmes must have concluded that Dr. Watson is meeting Charles at the coffee shop on campus. He would disguise himself as a college student to spy on those two. "
Albert immediately asked William to take him to that coffee shop. William couldn't help but secretly enjoy that Albert acted weirdly because he spent a night with Sherlock. It was a lot of fun to see how Brother Albert was jealous, and William decided he needed to reward Sherlock later.