so far my longest proper Sherlock fic. and Johnlock fic :D and I guess this is my third in general with these two addicting characters...
it was prompted in Sherlockiand FanFiction Friday and maybe if I can I will post this there.
to you all about to read this, have fun!
The adventure of the amusement park
Sherlock was not too pleased with the case. It had not been hard enough to point out that the person had just been killed because her safety harness had not been properly placed. And since the machines operator was responsible for checking that everyone was safely seated it was obvious that he had left hers open on purpose. Reason being that she had dumped him just a week before and had been now in the park with her new girlfriend. And apparently it had been too much for the man's pride to have his ex turn into lesbian.
Sherlock did not quite understand the man's logic, but that was the usual case with things that were dealing with sentiment. But he had anyways solved the case, so he did not need to admit to anyone that he could not understand the full motive. Especially since everyone else seemed to comprehend it just fine and he was not going to give Donovan another reason to call him a Freak. He was occasionally worried that her talks would indeed make John leave.
Most of the time he set such worries aside because it was clear to him that John was his. Even though John was denying their connection most of the times.
A smile tried to tug his lips when he recalled the incident in Darthmoore where John had not bothered to tell the innkeepers that they weren't a couple.
He glanced at John who looked back at him with a tilt of his head
"What is it Sherlock?"
He shook his head and turned to Lestrade
"If that's all, we will be going then"
"Yes, we can manage to rest. The killer spilled his beans right away when you pointed us to him. Thanks for your help" the DI said and grinned at him. He snorted and rolled his eyes.
"Next time, try using your own brains first and not bothering me with such easy cases"
Donovan opened her mouth to snap back but John stepped in front of him and pushed him backwards. He frowned down at John who just shook his head before calling over his shoulder
"Yes great, if all is done we'll leave now" John said and Lestrade waved his hand back.
They walked away from the twister machine and John moved to walk beside him
"What do you say, now when the police got us in for free, we have some fun?"
He looked at John
"What kind of fun do you think we could find here? The machines all look dreadfully similar to each other, crafted so one's inner ear would get disoriented."
"Rides" John said.
"What?" he asked with a frown.
"They are called rides. Not machines"
he snorted
"What difference does it make? They are still machines even if in this context they would be called rides. Which by the way makes no sense since.."
John sighed deeply
"Yes, okay. I just thought it would have been fun. I haven't been in amusement park since before my parents died."
they walked on in silence. He felt rather bad because he heard the longing in John's voice. He didn't quite understand why it was so easy to hear the different feelings from John's voice when he rarely managed similar feat with other people.
But that just goes to show that John was unique.
So he looked around, hoping to see something even mildly entertaining. Then he saw a booth which had water pistols in it.
"Come" he said and grabbing John's arm pulled him along. They stopped in front of the booth.
John eyed it
"You want to try this?"
He grinned
"I'm curious to see which one of us wins"
John looked at him, eyes narrowing. Then John smirked
"I will show you how it's done"
Before John had time to do it, he pulled his wallet out and paid the booth holder. Then they grabbed the pistols, glanced at each others and aimed at the clowns mouth. The goal was to fill the water balloon on top of the clown's head.
"Damn" he muttered, his pistol was not shooting straight. But John was doing well. Realizing his downfall he pointed the pistol at John and squirted water onto his face.
"Hey!" John exclaimed, stepping aside and wiping the water from his face. There was that glint in the blue eyes when John pointed the pistol at him and shot the rest of the water onto him. He tried to avoid it the best he could but it still hit his ear and hair.
The booth holder glared them and told them to leave. Which they did.
"John, it's running down my collar" he complained and John just laughed at him. He gave him a dirty look which only made John smirk happily back. Then the blue eyes scanned the surroundings.
"What shall we do next? Or are you hungry, should we eat something?"
He saw the concerned flash in his flatmate's eyes. It kept surprising him how much John cared about him, how much time he used trying to ensure that he ate enough.
"I don't care." he said. Then his eyes landed on a cotton candy seller "Oh, I haven't had that since I was a kid!" he said and rushed to the stand. He bought one cone and showed proudly his treat to John. He had to blink when John just started laughing. He felt humiliated and was just about to throw the cone away when John grabbed his wrist.
"No, please, I am sorry" John wiped his eyes dry with his other hand "You just have no idea how adorable you looked"
He stared blankly at John who slowly turned into the same faint pink color as the candy cotton. Seeing his flatmate embarrassed made them even so he just offered the cone to him
"You can have some too" he said gallantly. John lifted an eyebrow and smiled a bit but pulled a piece from the candy anyway.
They munched it together until a gush of wind threw his lock right into the cotton candy ball he had been about to put into his mouth. And of course the lock got all sticky and he couldn't remove the sugar from his hair.
He grunted in annoyance and John looked at him.
"Don't touch it" John ordered "I go buy a water bottle, don't let it touch the rest of your hair"
"How can I not touch it and keep it separated at the same time?" he complained annoyed and John rolled his eyes
"Figure something. You are the genius, remember?"
He didn't bother to answer to that. So instead he just threw the rest of the candy away and sat on the nearby bench to wait for John. He was holding the lock with two fingers, pulling it outwards so it would not stick to his forehead either.
Finally John came back
"Okay, so don't move and I'll try to wash it off"
"I can do it myself" he snapped back. John just snorted at him.
"Yes, of course. Lean forward so the water doesn't fall into your lap"
With a glare he did as he was told. Staring at John who was already fully focused on his task. He liked seeing John putting his total focus onto something. It made him feel strange and warm when the focus was on him. As cheesy as it was, he could feel his heart jump a beat when John called him extraordinary, magnificent or similar.
"John.." escaped from his mouth. The blue eyes turned to him
"Yes?"
"...Nothing" he said and turned his eyes to the people milling around them. There were some looking at them with a frown and some who were smiling a little.
"There. I think I got it off" John finally said and stepped back. He straightened his back and felt the wet curl cling to his forehead. He touched a finger to it and then licked the finger. It did not taste sweet.
"Yes. I agree. Thank you" he said and stood up, only then looking at John again. Who was staring at him, eyes dark. "John?" he asked. The doctor blinked and pulled his shoulders back. He knew the stance. It was the one that John used when he did not want him to know what he had been thinking and tried to hide behind the military stance.
He tilted his head to the side and thought. He had not done anything that should make John like that. He had only... he rubbed his fingers together and then he realized
"Oh!" he said and John looked away. He pressed his hands together and placed them in front of his lips. John had reacted to him licking his finger. This was good. He had all this time thought that John was serious with his straightness but... he lowered his hands. And smiled at John who was still standing in front of him rigidly.
"You can pick what we do next" he said nonchalantly. John looked at him, the tension leaking away
"Really? Okay then" John turned around, looking at all the 'rides' around them."There" John said and pointed at haunted house.
"Fine" he said. They walked to the counter and John paid their ride. They sat into the cart, the safety bar dropped down and when he tried it did not move.
And then they were off. There were giant spiders glowing in the dark and one dropped from the roof right in front of them.
"They are raising these in the Baskerville" he said to John, leaning closer to his ear to be heard over the weird laughing that bounced around. John looked at him
"They are not real" John stated. He lifted an eyebrow and leaned back in his seat.
"Are they not? They are just well trained. Surely if they can make them glow in the dark they can make them have bigger brains too." he paused "I can hardly wait when they start testing on humans again, to raise the human intelligence"
John swatted him on the arm
"Shut up, that is not true nor funny"
He grinned but didn't say anything else. By then they were moving again. It was rather boring. Headless bodies, bodiless heads and ghosts and skeletons.
When the ride was over they got out of the cart he glanced at John
"Had fun?"
John shook his head
"Somehow, it was nothing like in my childhood. Your stories were the scariest part of it. This used to be my favorite ride" John said and glanced back at the haunted house. Then he shrugged and they walked on. He kindly refrained from pointing out that it was foolish to think that you would have the same reaction to a thing as you had had when you were little.
They tried to find something else interesting to do and then John's eyes landed onto a man selling big balloons. John rushed there and came back with deep red balloon.
"Here, hold this" John said.
"Why?" he asked and pulled his hands behind his back
"Because I want to take a picture of you in the amusement park with a red balloon on your hand"
they stared at each others a long while. John's eyes were pleading and he could feel his own stubbornness giving up. He let out a long-suffering sigh
"Fine. But you are not putting it on your blog, is that clear?"
"Of course not" John said calmingly. When he was already moving his hand towards the balloon he stopped.
"And you can't show it to anyone" he added
"I was only going to show it to Mrs. Hudson to show that you indeed were in here with me"
He narrowed his eyes
"I wouldn't need to have the balloon for that." he glared the balloon "and definitely it wouldn't need to be red"
"Just ignore it, and stand still"
How could he ignore a stupid balloon that he had to hold onto so that it would not just float away? Then he looked up at the ball. Filled with helium.
"You done yet?" he asked.
"Don't move" John just ordered again and played with his phone. "There. That's a good one."
"Finally" he groaned and pulled the balloon down, released the string from it and held the balloon closed. "This is how you have fun with balloons" he said and breathed in the helium "See? Much funnier than holding onto a stupid string and walking around."
He was glad of his memory because John's expression was priceless. Something he never wanted to forget. It was so stunned, his eyes were unnaturally wide and his jaw was slack. He started laughing. And hearing it John started laughing too
"You.. you sound like a squirrel!" John gasped between laughs. He frowned
"I don't think squirrels have any reason to sound like they are on helium..."
John shook his head and cut him off
"A movie reference" John added. He nodded
"Ah. That makes more sense"
John calmed down a bit and reached for the balloon
"Let me try"
It was fun. He could honestly admit that breathing helium, sounding foolish and laughing hard with John was fun.
They were both tired and their stomachs' hurt from all the laughing. He let go of the ball and let it run out. Then he put it into a trash.
He cleared his throat.
"Shall we go home now or do you still want to do something?" he asked, looking at John from the corner of his eyes. He had deliberately got them as close to the love tunnel as he could manage. He wanted to see John's reaction to it.
And to his satisfaction John's eyes lingered on it, and even better was the tongue that peeked from his mouth, moistening his lips. Then John hurriedly turned his head away. Was there a faint blush on his cheeks?
He clasped his hands together
"What is that?" he asked and pointed to the water and giant plastic swan ride "Why are there huge swans there?" he looked at John, who really was blushing now.
"It's.. um it's a love tunnel. I don't know why there is swans though. I guess they are thought to be romantic"
he lifted an eyebrow
"You don't know something about romance? I thought that with all the women you swoon you would be an expert"
John gave him a dirty look
"I think it's time to go home" John clipped.
"No wait, I want to try that" he said and grabbed John's arm when he was about to turn away. John looked him in the eyes
"Sherlock" why did John have to be able to say his name like that? He would probably behave a bit better if he didn't like the little shiver John made run down his spine with that word. It was a warning, and it was delivered with fondness. John cared and that was why he was trying to make him stop before going too far. "It's made for couples. You can imagine what happens in the dark tunnel when two people who like each others are alone"
He frowned
"They are not alone. There is only few meters before the next boat. And the tunnel clearly has lights too."
"Atmosphere light. Like candle in a restaurant?" John tried to explain. He turned his head to the side, glancing at the 'love-tunnel' again before looking John again. Of course he knew what it was about.
"And since we have had that too, why can't we go there?"
John opened and closed his mouth a few times.
"Because... Sherlock, we shouldn't have the candle either. Because we are not on a date. We weren't on a date" John corrected.
"Ah. So if we would be on a date, you would go there with me?"
"Sherlock!" John exclaimed, then glanced around and leaned closer "Why would we go on a date? I know full well you are married to your work and are not interested"
He smiled a little
"I noticed that you didn't say anything about yourself"
"That's just... it's..." John looked him in the eyed fell silent. He saw how John's throat moved with a swallow. "It doesn't matter" John finished after a while. He leaned closer too, close to John ear, speaking in his normal low tones again
"And what if I told you it matters?" he asked then pulled back a bit. John just looked at him, his pupils dilating. He held still, letting John's eyes roam his face, letting him see what there was to see.
"I'm not good with sentiment John" he said quietly and John nodded
"Right"
Then John cleared his throat, stepped back and changing their hold so that now John was holding on to his arm pulled him along
"Sod this." he heard John mutter and he followed smiling when John dragged him to the love tunnel.
They paid up and climbed into the awaiting swan. He could tell John was nervous. He was not sure if it would help but he had seen it done in crappy telly, so he reached his hand over and placed it on top of John's. For a moment John stared the hand unmoving, then still staring the hand turned his hand around and entwined their fingers and breathed out.
He squeezed the fingers and finally John looked at him. They were floating towards the tunnel and John said huskily, blue eyes sparkling with amusement
"People will talk"
He huffed
"They already do"
John chuckled a bit at that and moved a bit closer to him.
He swallowed with dry throat. Why was he getting nervous? But seeing the tunnel getting closer he realized what he was actually planning to do and it unnerved him a bit. He didn't know how these things really work.
He looked at John who had squeezed his hand
"We don't have to do anything" his dear blogger reassured him. He shook his head ruefully
"I'm not worried" he denied sharply. John smiled at him fondly
"Of course not."
the tunnel swallowed them and he turned his head to John, who was already facing him
"Besides, I will help you if you need counseling from the 'romance expert'"
he laughed breathlessly and then his breath was snatched away when John leaned in and brushed their lips together.
It wasn't more than just a touch and then John was already pulling back. But he was having none of that, he wanted more, he needed to know more. He wanted everything. So he used his free hand to keep John's head still, burying his long fingers into the short blond strands and pressed their lips together again, hoping that John would help him with the next move.
And with a sigh John opened his mouth and he mimicked it, opening his mouth too. Then there was John's tongue too. He jumped a bit and pulled back, and John smiled at him. He smiled back a bit shyly. John brushed his locks from his forehead, traced a finger behind his ear and then buried the whole hand among his locks before kissing him again. This time he wasn't surprised by the tongue and let his touch it a bit. John hummed agreement and he tried it again. John tilted his head a bit and deepened the kiss. He could feel something coiling in his stomach and a strange sound escaped from his throat. Hearing it John pushed in some more and he felt a tongue tracing all around his mouth.
He wanted to taste more of John so he pushed back and after a moment John allowed him access to his mouth. He breathed in deep. He could smell John. He could taste nothing but John. He tugged at John's hair and licked John's palate. It got John groan.
Suddenly they were outdoors again and they pulled apart, blinking and trying to see clearly again. He wasn't sure how John was doing but his own heart was beating fast and he had had no idea that his eyes had been closed. Finally he focused his gaze to John who was looking thoughtful
"You know" John started. Then after a pause"I have no idea what to say"
He chuckled
"How about saying it's time to go home?"
John looked at him. Then he smiled brightly
"That sounds about right. Except..."
"Dinner?"
"Starving"
the ride was over and they got out of the swan. Then they headed to the exit.
"Angelo's?" John asked.
"Obviously" he hummed. There they could have a candle lit dinner again. And this time mean it. He smiled to himself. He was eager to get to know what all would be different, how much better things would be. And then he could prove Mycroft wrong, that caring was an advantage. He was certain it was with the right person. He looked at John and smiled, and John smiled back, looking a bit puzzled but still content.
I'm happy. anyone else happy?
