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He must have done something wrong. Something had been forgotten or misplaced due to his own foolishness and stupidity. That had to be why Mycroft was fuming at him.
He'd seen it before with all his previous partners. It starts with them coming home angry one night and then it leads to fights and later on a rather messy breakup. With such a consistent history of romantic ineptitude the only connecting item Greg could find was himself.
It had to have been him. He was forgetful far too often and socially inept at the worst of times. That would be reason enough for some to be angry with him, but being a DI added more onto the pile. Getting into any relationship what so ever was a miracle, but finding that Mycroft Holmes liked him was nothing short of god favoring him. Greg hadn't been to church in a while, but after being asked to a first date he though it necessary to pray in thanks.
But he was who he was and that meant any hope for a longstanding relationship should have been abandoned long ago. Anyone with five functioning brain cells would have told him to stop trying to find love at all. Honestly that would have been the smart thing to do, but Greg knew he was weak in that regard. He craved attention like a bratty little kid and it was unbecoming of a grown man. He should have been able to get over his issues, but instead he went into relationship after relationship where he was overbearing and an absolute nuisance to be around.
When Mycroft asked him out to a second date shortly after their first one concluded he would have been wise to decline it early on so he could hold onto the pleasant memories before the feelings between them deteriorated.
Being the fool in someone else's story wasn't nice, it stung like the laughter of your classmates back in primary school, but he kept going for some reason. He powered through it and tried to keep on going but happiness wasn't something meant for him. There were times when Greg could almost fool himself into believing it, but the moments never lasted long enough for him to hold on tight to that feeling he desired.
So he tried to stay out of the way so he could minimize the collateral damage to those around him. If he was nice, polite, and not a burden maybe someone could overlook all the flaws that made him up and even pretend to love him, if just for a little bit.
It didn't need to be much just a little acknowledgement and a hug and he could manage for a while. A DI was supposed to be a strong leader, but all he could ever do was fuck something up. He came on too strong and tended to hover over others who showed him affection because he was so desperate for even the tiniest shred of it.
Greg though he had learned how to be a better partner. He made a list in his head of things to remember to help him:
1)Don't initiate conversation its grating on others.
2) Don't stand so close to others or you'll look like a stalker.
3) End physical contact before you want to because if you linger it looks desperate.
4) Be attentive but not overbearing, people don't want you to intrude on them.
5) Don't talk about yourself. People have their own issues that are more important than you or your problems.
6) And most importantly, dont apologize whenever you fuck something up but you don't know exactly what it is. People just get more angry if you apologize and you can't even name what it is you did wrong, even if you know you did something but you just can't place it
He thought he'd finally gotten it down but he'd started to slip into old habits when he became comfortable, and it must have come off as overbearing. Usually that alone didn't enrage someone, but he could have been doing it for longer than he realized and finally Mycroft snapped after all this time. After that it just took that one little thing to set someone off.
When he came into the house Mycroft was stomping past the Greg in the kitchen as he made his way to the stairs. He couldn't even look at his housemate so it must have been something more substantial if he refused to even acknowledge his existence.
Since moving into the posh manor Greg rarely touched anything that wasn't a door or a dish. Maybe he left a streak on the floor or chipped a plate he was using and Mycroft just noticed it that morning. Any single item in the house was worth more than him, so ruining it was a grave mistake. He was placing dishes in the drying rack after cleaning them. He had sped through the rest so he could look in the cupboards to see if one was broken.
There wasn't a single scratch on any of the dishes he found, but maybe a little itlte chip missing caused it to lose all its value so Mycroft chucked it into the bin. Going through the trash would only create a bigger mess that would likely put Mycroft in a worse mood, but he desperately wanted to look through it and find confirmation of his mistake. If he knew what he did wrong then he could apologize vehemently and hope that maybe Mycorft would at least give him the night to gather his things before kicking him out of the house.
It would have been nice to share one last meal together but he had already eaten his own dinner and Mycroft would have had a salad back at the office since he came home so late tonight.
The man never even came back down the stairs. Eventually he would need to sleep before his shift tomorrow so Greg walked to the living room so Mycorft could be alone for the night.
The couch wasn't made to be slept on. Jury was still out if it was even intended to be sat on, but sleep was certainly not the intended purpose. While he may not have been exiled from the bedroom, Greg wanted to avoid a confrontation with Mycroft so his best bet was to sleep out here for the night and hope that when mycorft left for work he would overlook Greg's unconscious body.
It was cold on the floor and pretty uncomfortable but at least he had changed into gym shorts and a plain shirt when he got home earlier, so sleeping would be less uncomfortable. Even if the couch was made for sleeping he didn't want to leave a depression in it for tomorrow.
The hardwood was going to leave his back aching in the morning if he ever did manage to sleep, but his mind was running so wild that he didnt expect a decent rest anyways.
"Gregory are you coming to bed?" Mycroft called down from the bedroom.
Greg didn't expect to be welcome in there but it was better to just go with the other's desires until he made a mistake and it all fell apart. Getting up off the floor his back ached already, but he managed the walk up the stairs and stopped at the threshold to the bedroom. He should enter the room but he didn't.
He couldn't do it. He could take that last step into the bedroom. Even just touching the carpet with his dirty feet would be like tearing it to shreds and removing all tangible value from it.
It wasn't right for him to destroy it like that. Each footfall would be money down the drain and he didn't want to ruin someone else's property like that.
Tears were building up in his eyes. They hadn't made their decent yet, but they would the moment Greg blinked.
"Gregory are you coming to bed?" Mycorf sounded annoyed, the exact thing Greg was trying to avoid.
"I.....I-I cant."
"What do you meant you can't?"
"I d-don't want to ruin the carpet."
"You're not a dog Gregory I fail to see how you could ruin the carpet."
"But I'm filthy, and it's so nice and expensive. I'll ruin it just by touching it."
Mycroft finally rolled over to face him. "How are you filthy if you've been home for...oh." He climbed out of bed and walked over to where his love was standing in the doorway as he trembled. It was the first time he'd actually looked at the other man the whole night and he regretted it immediately. It shouldn't have taken this long to notice his distress. "What's got you all worked up, love."
"I don't want to upset you, and I...oh shit sorry." The tears were falling now and they landed squarely on the carpet in front of him. "I'm staining the carpet aren't I."
"Dont worry about something like that, its just water."
"But it's worth more than me, and it's more important than me."
"Gregory, stop!" Mycroft shouted. Greg remained perfectly silent and clenched his jaw after that. "I don't know what's gotten you in this tizzy but whatever it is I want you to tell me so I can stop it okay. There's no need to feel bad or apologize, but I need you to talk to me. I can deduce many things but there is only so much I can infer from what I see." They were in a full hug now with the newest tears leaving wet marks on Mycroft's pajamas.
"I don't want to bother you, that's all. You came home angry so I thought I did something wrong and it had you annoyed all day, but it's not your fault if that's the case, I know I'm a fuck up most of the time."
"You didn't do anything wrong love. Its just work, that's all. You could never annoy me no matter what you do, and even if you did I would still love you all the same."
"Why?" Greg whispered.
"Becuase I love you. Clearly I haven't made that obvious enough but now I know I need to do it more. Come to bed so I could hold you, darling."
"Alrighy."
The first steps onto the carpet didn't feel like the end of the world and nuzzling into the sheets he felt the feeling of love he always desired.