Chapter one

John and Sherlock fell through the door of 221B. The door had been jammed and pushing on it had caused them to fall face first into the hallway. They landed in a mass of entangled limbs. A soft groan escaped both of their lips. They had spent the past week in Scotland; the weather had been miserable and the case long and tiresome. There had been barely anytime for sleeping and eating between running around after leads.

Now the duo was laid across the hallway flooring tangled together. Sherlock was somehow landed on top of John with his legs over Johns. To the outside eye it would look like a lover's embrace, a hug on the floor, unusual but still an embrace of sorts. There were no words to say in this moment, nothing to rid them of the embarrassment or annoyance.

"You must be the boys of 221B" a female voice teased softly.

Both men repositioned their heads slightly to look at the owner of the voice. Sherlock looking up and John throwing his head backward to look at her upside down, the first thing both men saw was electric blue heels attached to long tan legs. Her legs were bare, her tight grey skirt barely reached mid-thigh. A baggy white top was paired with the skirt, cropped so that a thin line of her stomach was on display. She was pretty, blonde streaked light brown hair pulled into a loose knot at the back of her head. Green eyes shining from beneath mascara coated long lashes, pink lips pulled into an amused smile.

"Who are you?" John asked, sounded ruder than he had meant it. But he was tired and covered by a rather heavy Sherlock Holmes.

"221C, Emma, my boyfriend Tyler should be around somewhere, unpacking hopefully but Miss Hudson may have stolen him again."

Sherlock climbed off of John carefully, not wanting to injure the tired soldier any further. "Sorry" John muttered as he jumped back onto his feet. "I'm John Watson and this is Sherlock Holmes, guess we're neighbours."

"Pleasure" she concluded, with a small nod of her head, pink lips breaking into a smile.

"Babe" a male voice called from the basement flat. A blonde poked his head around the doorway, he was also tanned but not excessively, with blonde hair styled fashionably, the top bit longer and pushed back while the sides and back are cropped short. His brown eyes were shining with vague amusement. "Oh, I didn't realise you'd made some friends" he smiled as he stepped into the hallway and closer his girlfriend.

"Just meeting the neighbours" she clarified, turning slightly to look up at the blonde as he came to rest his head on hers.

"I'm Tyler, Tyler Cooke and you've already met Miss Reagan here." He smirked.

"Yes, we have met briefly" John managed a smile.

Emma bit her lip. "They literally fell through the doorway, probably tired from their trip, we should let them get some rest, and we've still got a lot of unpacking to do."

Sherlock's head snapped around to her, attention completely on her as his interest flared for the first time that day. This girl, Emma, was already a lot more observant than he thought she was going to be. It was refreshing. She noticed him looking at her and ducked her head down slightly to avoid eye contact.

Tyler cleared his throat quietly. "We should let you go; you've probably got a lot to do and well we have hundreds of shoes to unpack."

Emma looked up, eyes widening and mouth dropping in response. She backhanded him gently in a teasing manner. "I do not have hundreds of pairs of shoes and you like my shoes." She twisted out of his grip, picked up one of the boxes and made her way towards the flat door.

"Your shoes are very sexy" he agreed. He picked up two of the boxes and followed her with a smile on his face. "But if you insist on wearing them every day you are going to do yourself an injury, please be careful on the stairs you will break your neck if you are not careful." He turned back to face the two men still stood in the doorway. "Nice to meet you".

John watched as Tyler ducked through the door and down the stairs to his flat. "They seems nice" he commented, glancing at his flatmate.

Sherlock's eyes were fixed on the door to 221C. "Hmmm" he managed in agreement.

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Tyler closed the door behind him, placing the cardboard box on the floor besides the sofa. The whole place was a jumble; the whole room was painted in duck egg blue with a dark wood mantel piece. The sofa was the same shade of brown leather and made for three people. Boxes littered most of the flat, Emma was sat on the sofa with one leg crossed over the other. Her arm was stretched across the back of the sofa.

"They seem like nice people" he commented.

"Do you think Mycroft purposely put us in the flat beneath his brother?" she asked, curiously.

He shrugged. "I doubt it, he rarely sorts these things out himself, and he has people to do that for him."

"How are we going to do this?" She asked. The seriousness coming through in her tone as she spoke, she gestured wildly to the flat.

"You can have the bedroom, I'll have the sofa" he answered.

Emma sighed and picked one of the duck egg and cream pillows, throwing it at his face. It hit him with a satisfying thump. "Not sleeping arrangements you tosser" she snapped, playfully. "You know that we can share a bed, we've done it countless times. I just meant, how is this going to work? Being two new people again, especially after what happened last time."

Tyler sighed and jumped over the back of the couch to sit next to her. "I know this is hard, last time was a fluke, it isn't going to happen again if I can help it. This time we are Tyler Cooke and Emma Reagan, we've been together for the past five years, which is practically true. You work in publishing while I am a banker. We are hopelessly…" he said melodramatically "desperately in love, and this is going to work because there is no place like London, you grew up here didn't you?"

"Yes, I'm a Londoner through and through" she added in a cockney accent that was nothing like her natural accent, which was well spoken due to her middle class upbringing. However she was capable of many wonderful accents.

"There's no place like London" Tyler bellowed out causing Emma to burst out laughing.

"SSHHH! The neighbours will hear you and think we're crazy." She managed. Tyler continued singing loudly while she laughed. After a few more minutes of craziness they settled down and went back to unpacking. The flat was small but nice, there was a small kitchen with a dining room table, the bathroom was connected to the bedroom which was the same size as the longue. It was a dark grey colour, nothing fancy with a double bed, closet and chest of drawers. It was their home for the foreseeable future.