Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
When John woke on Christmas morning the sun was already peeking through the cottage window. It promised to be a lovely day. As John stretched Sherlock stirred next to him and John leaned over to kiss his partner on the cheek.
"Good morning, you. Breakfast or presents first?"
Sherlock grunted something unintelligible and buried his face in the pillow.
"All right. I'll be the last to argue with you when you want to sleep for once." John smiled indulgently and then got up to get ready for the day.
Experience had shown that Sherlock wouldn't take that long now to get up as well, so John took a shower, dressed and then went to the kitchen to slowly start making breakfast. While he waited for the coffee he put Sherlock's present under the small tree. They hadn't bought anything at all last year (Sherlock's gift had been not being dead, John's gift was the well-deserved holiday in this very cottage) but he'd decided to buy something for this year.
It actually would be a nice tradition, coming to this cottage for Christmas, John mused.
Looking out the window in the small but cosy living room, John admired the beautiful scenery. Everything was covered in soft snow, glittering in the morning sunlight like small diamonds. It reminded John of the pictures on those idealised Christmas cards. Not that John would ever utter that thought aloud, since Sherlock would only scoff how sentimental it was. Then again, one could argue that them being here was sentimental in itself…
John wondered what gift Sherlock had chosen for him (because he was sure that John had deduced his decision and bought a gift as well). He himself had aimed for something useful but still interesting. He'd looked for obscure science books in one of the second-hand bookshops on Charing Cross Road, and had happened upon a first edition of "About Bees" by F. G. Jenyns and it was just perfect.
If John was honest he didn't really understand what it was about bees in particular that got his partner so excited, but there was no denying it: Sherlock was absolutely fascinated by them, as he'd told John one afternoon (and on many occasions afterwards) and then launched into a passionate lecture on the awesomeness of bees, and how he and John would get a lot of beehives when they finally retired to the country, and "John, think about it, we could have our own honey for breakfast every morning and it will be perfect! We could also sell some, I suppose, and I haven't even mentioned all the other ways we could put the honey to use-" and here John had shut him up with a kiss (a very effective method John had found out over time), because his mind had so helpfully supplied some examples for creative honey use. And since they hadn't had anything else to do they'd taken their inspiration to the bedroom.
John let himself reminisce for a bit when the sound of the shower brought him back to the present. Speak of the Devil… He smiled and laid the table for breakfast.
Sherlock entered the room just as John put the coffee on the table and greeted his partner with a short kiss and a mumbled, "Good morning."
"Morning to you, too. I decided to take the decision out of your hands, so we start with breakfast."
"Acceptable. I think I'll manage to rein in my curiosity for a few minutes longer", Sherlock smiled and put some strawberry jam on his toast.
While they ate they talked about their plans for the day. Since the weather promised to be good they would definitely visit the village. Their plans also included a lot of lounging around at the cottage enjoying their time together and knowing that there were no pressing things to do. John also hoped for an impromptu violin concert in the evening.
After breakfast they moved to the small Christmas tree and exchanged their presents (John had been right after all).
"Open it!" Sherlock urged and looked intensely at his own present.
"Hey, no hurry! See, I'm already working on it!" John laughed and started opening his present, which was flat and square. After tearing away the paper he found a dark blue wool jumper. It felt incredibly soft. God, that man… He swallowed.
"Sherlock, it's… stunning! Thank you so much!"
"I'm glad you like it." Sherlock's gaze flitted between John's face and his own hands, and then he mumbled, "The colour goes with your eyes."
John broke into a huge grin and hugged his partner close. "It's perfect." He then proceeded to pull off the jumper he was wearing and put on the new one. It fit perfectly and he felt fantastic in it.
"I knew you would look good in it," Sherlock said, his voice a little rough, and ran his finger along John's collar.
John laughed and batted his hand away. "None of that now! You haven't even opened your own present! Go on!"
Sherlock started to turn the package in his hands. "It's a book-"
"Really? Brilliant deduction, how could you tell?"
Sherlock mock-glared at John and determinedly ignored his mischievous grin.
"It's a book and you put a lot of thought in selecting it. You wanted it to be something I didn't know I wanted. Something science-related – no, your grin tells me it's not that, you thought about it at first, but you changed your mind. You found something you thought to be even better than that-"
"Sherlock, dear – just open it."
John got a scowl for his trouble, but Sherlock started opening his present nonetheless. And then he stilled when he finally saw the book cover.
"It's not much and you've got a lot of books about bees already, I know, but, well… I immediately thought of you and-"
John didn't get the chance to finish his babbling because his partner silenced him with a hard kiss. When Sherlock pulled back again he had one of the biggest grins on his face that John had ever seen (and definitely never without a thrilling murder to solve).
"It's fantastic! First editions are so much more worthwhile, because they always represent the author's opinion and haven't been tampered with by stupid editors. And this is quite the classic! Thank you!" Another kiss, followed by Sherlock starting to leaf through the book. "Oh! There are handwritten notes in it, too! Fascinating!"
John laughed. "Yeah, when I noticed them I thought you'd have fun, deducing the author and ranting at the things they got wrong."
Sherlock smiled at him, but his gaze was sincere and it took John's breath away. "Really, John, thank you. It's a wonderful gift."
John kissed him lightly on the lips. "As is yours. Seems like a merry little Christmas, indeed."
This caused Sherlock to roll his eyes, laugh, and kiss his partner again. John was longing to see what other delights this Christmas would have in store for him. Perhaps they'd put the village visit on hold until tomorrow.
AN: Thanks a lot to my lovely betas eanor and shyaway for their great work! This fic was written for the "Sherlock" xmas-xchange at Livejournal. I hope my exchange partner enjoyed it - I had a lot of fun writing this fluffy Christmas cheer. :)