Title: Morning Surprise
Characters/Pairing: Lestrade/John; Unrequited John/Sherlock, unrequited Lestrade/Sherlock
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to anything.
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Slash, implied sex.
Word Count: 829
Summary: After a night of drinking, John wakes up to a surprise.

Beta:rainbowwizard1 at lj.

A/N: Written for 10iloveyou's hurt/comfort table. Prompt: Coward

Lestrade inhaled deeply as he started to wake up. His head hurt and his body ached. He could feel a warm body on his back and a protective arm that held him close. He slowly turned to see who he was sharing his bed. It turned out to be John Watson.

He cleared his throat to wake up the sleeping doctor. John's voice mumbled,"Five more minutes."

"People always say that, but it rarely is just five more minutes," Lestrade said.

He could feel John's body tense up. John's eyes opened wide.

"Hello, fancy meeting you here," Lestrade said. Lestrade hoped humor would lessen the awkwardness.

"What the hell?" John shouted. He looked at Lestrade and then under the covers." We're naked! We-what-huh?"

Lestrade couldn't contain his laughter. "It's slowly coming back to me. What I can't remember, my body tells me."

John rubbed his temple. "I can't believe we did this."

"Well, excuse me." Lestrade said, insulted.

"It's not [that] I regret whatever happened. It's not that."

"Are you thinking this will hurt Sherlock? I'm pretty certain your misgivings are Sherlock related."

"Yes. I don't know how he would feel about this. My main worry is that he will never let us live it down."

"How would he even know?"

"He's Sherlock, he'd know."

There is truth in John's words and he knows it. Even in his own bed Sherlock finds a way in. "Let him find out."

"What?"

"Maybe jealousy will make him love you?" Lestrade said. Lestrade looked away, his pride a bit hurt. It's not that he loved John, but he couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed that a man he just bedded was thinking of another man.

John sensed this. "Sorry."

Lestrade sighed. "Don't be. If I recall this whole thing came about after you admitted you loved Sherlock. I shouldn't be that surprised you have Sherlock on the brain. I was once in your shoes after all."

"I do love Sherlock." John admitted.

Lestrade winced.

"Even so, he would never be able to do this, enjoy this. I thought maybe I could live without it but, " John looked over at Lestrade and gave him a faint smile." You've proven me wrong."

"Um, glad to be of service."

"Remind me how we got from sharing a drink to sharing a bed?"

"I recall calling you a coward about your feeling towards Sherlock. I'm sorry for that. You were in a bad place, hurting and my words added to it."

The painful scene started coming back to John. He had bumped into Lestrade after having another fight with Sherlock. Sherlock was not an easy man to love and more often than not, there was a lot of heartache when dealing with him. He was even cheated out of what couples do after fighting- the great make up sex.

It's not that John and Sherlock were a couple. John was too cowardly to take their friendship to the next level and Sherlock was not the passionate lover type. Sherlock had mentioned he didn't care for sex. He was not someone who felt sexually attracted to anybody.

John could not say the same for Lestrade. As the drunken haze lifted more and more memories were racing back and John could definitely say Lestrade was the exact opposite of Sherlock when it came to passion.

" It's okay. I think what shocked me the most was finding out I wasn't alone. I don't think I let you finish how you got over him. Any pointers?"

"Sleep with a very attractive bloke," Lestrade joked. "It took time and a lot of reminders of the cold hard facts. Even if you did get him you wouldn't truly have him. You would be like a mistress without the perks of being a mistress."

"Hmm, yeah, drunken me didn't like being compared to a girl."

"Well my drunk arse couldn't remember what the male version of mistress was."

They shared a laugh. John was pleasantly surprised with how comfortable he felt with Lestrade.

Lestrade noticed him start to blush. "What is it?"

" I'm remembering more...of what we did. We exchanged words. Admitted we're both cowards when it came to Sherlock." John's face got redder. "I cried in front of you, like some lovesick teenager. You comforted me. You were very tender. Everything I needed. One thing led to another,"

"And here we are." Lestrade said.

John's stomach grumbled.

"Sounds like you need breakfast."

"Yeah." John agreed, embarrassed.

After they dressed the quietly ate some cereal together. Both unsure of what to say.

"I've got to get going," John said. He did actually have to leave, lives don't save themselves down at the clinic.

Lestrade walked him to the door. John gave him a simple smile and said. " Sleep with an attractive bloke, huh?" John looked Lestrade over. "I'll keep that in mind."

And with that, John left the attractive bloke speechless and walked off to the nearest bus station.