Sherlock Gently knocked on the door of 221B Baker Street for the first time in three years. He figured that if he just walked in being all brash and well Sherlock like he'd get a hard punch in the face from a very annoyed John. Sherlock figured that so long as he was clever the only thing he'd receive from John would be a welcome back hug and then they could resume their usual mystery solving escapades.
John stopped drinking his tea and watching an old episode of House to open the door for whatever idiot Mrs. Hudson had let up the stairs this time. It had been three years so John doubted it would be a reporter but he swung the door open cautiously just in case.
Sherlock was glad to see John when he swung that door open, not much had changed inside the flat from what Sherlock could see and John was much the same, his wrinkles had gotten a little deeper and the bags under his eyes a little darker but essentially it was the same old John.
Sherlock was so caught up in taking in his old friend he never saw the fist coming. Its slammed into his face with what felt like the force of a Double Decker bus "you fucking basterd" John roared punching Sherlock again, "get out just go leave how could you do this. It's just cruel Sherlock to cruel I thought you were dead" Johns voice went from a shout to barely a whisper and Sherlock almost flinched at the visible pain in Johns face. "Please let me expla..." Sherlock started but John cut him off with a "I'm going out and you better not be here when I come back." John ended any chance of discussion with that but Sherlock would wait for him to come back, he'd already decided that before the first word even came out of John's mouth. John had waited three years for Sherlock to come back and he was pretty sure he could wait the few hours that it would take for John to return.
John sat in a nameless pub it was only half past six and he was already on his third beer. The brown liquid helped him forget about the massive mess that was waiting for his return, Sherlock; he'd probably be curled up on the sofa already in his favourite dressing gown or playing some unknown tune on the violin just waiting for Johns return. He finished the dregs of his third beer and called the bartender for another one, he was going to get thoroughly pissed before going home to face Sherlock and maybe if he got drunk enough he wouldn't have to face Sherlock at all.
John was drunk Sherlock could tell, well of course Sherlock could tell he was the world's only consulting detective if he couldn't deduce Johns drunkenness then that would probably make him the worlds stupidest consulting detective. When John entered the living room he swung the door open with a bit too much force and stumbled in laughing at himself. Sherlock did not laugh he had wanted to get this talk over quickly so that he could get back to usual life, but no John had spoilt his well laid plans by getting drunk of all things. Any other day Sherlock would have loved a drunken John. Drunk John allowed Sherlock to perform experiments on him, and once even allowed Sherlock to inject him with a strange concoction that Sherlock had hidden away afterwards because of its strange effects.
John grinned at Sherlock "hey Shirley" John watched as Sherlock's head whipped up to look at him
"WHAT?"
"I've decided I get to call you Shirley because you got to pretend to be dead, okay?" John Slurred
"No John it's not okay but you're too drunk at the moment just go to bed and we'll discuss this in the morning"
"NO, I want to talk about this now" John demanded like a petulant child and Sherlock sent him a scathing glare in return for his whining. Sherlock tried to gently push John towards the stairs but he dug in his heels and refused to move "I want to talk about this now Shirley"
"You won't even remember us talking about it and I'll have to go through the hassle of explaining it all over again to you in the morning so Go. To. Bed." John was behaving like a three year old and Sherlock had no tolerance for children who behaved like children let alone men behaving like children. Suddenly Sherlock felt a heavy weight hit his shoulder and he looked down to discover John had collapsed into him, he was sound asleep snoring and all. Sherlock flipped him round and dragged John's dead wait over to the sofa and dumped him there and now all Sherlock had to do was wait for his idiot friend to wake up.
John awoke with a pounding headache and his eyelids refused to open. He just lay there for a second eyes closed resting and trying not to think about Sherlock, who was probably sitting right next to him and staring intently at Johns sleeping face desperately trying to force him awake with his stare. When john opened his eyes it was exactly as he'd imagined there was Sherlock staring intently "can I explain now?" He asked but we both knew that he was going to explain anyway no matter what John told him "yeah sure go for it". Sherlock explained that he had to leave to protect John from Moriarty's second in command, and that he didn't want John to be used as leverage against him or to prevent Sherlock from completely destroying and legacy the consulting criminal had left behind. "So you were busy then huh?" John was smiling now this was his Sherlock and he was back, things could return to normal Sherlock Holmes the consulting and John Watson his Doctor solving crimes together.