The flames licked out into the living room as Sherlock taunted the fire with more lighter fluid. A door slammed open and John stumbled in, his arms filled with groceries. Sherlock glanced only for a second before entertaining himself once again with the fire in front of him. Things were pretty much just as they usually were in 221B. Once the groceries were put away John re-entered the living room to get a closer look at what the always-bored detective was up to. A groan escaped John's mouth as he watched Sherlock's dangerous source of entertainment.
"No need to fret John, it's completely safe." Just as Sherlock finished his sentence a flame leapt out and singed one of Sherlock's hand. He quickly pulled back but then acted as though nothing had happened. John rolled his eyes and sat down in his armchair.
"I have to leave in a few minutes, I've got a date. Try not to burn down the flat down while I'm gone." John couldn't help but smile to himself. Most people would say that sentence jokingly, with Sherlock however, the sentence was completely serious.
Sherlock quickly glanced over John, of course, he should have seen it before, everything about John screamed date. He couldn't help but feel a slight pang of jealousy as he realized that John would be leaving him for the evening. He answered John with only a grunt and quickly glanced back towards the fire, preventing John from noticing any change in his facial expression.
"I brought you some dinner, please try to eat at least some of it."
Once again John was met with a grunt as the detective continued to play with the fire.
"Well, I'm off then. Be careful Sherlock…please." With that John stood from his chair, pulled on his jacket and glanced back one last time at Sherlock before leaving. The detective stood his ground and refused to turn around. John just nodded silently before leaving the flat, slamming the door a little louder than necessary.
A few minutes passed before Sherlock quietly whispered in John's direction,
"Happy December."
Sherlock didn't quite enjoy the holidays; too much sentiment for his taste, and truly a waste of time. John however loved the holidays so Sherlock did his best to go along with whatever boring, tedious things John wanted. So as soon as John left for his date Sherlock made it his goal to decorate the flat while John was gone. He quickly threw on his jacket and headed out the door into the cool London air, pulling his scarf tight as his breath visibly filled the night air. Sherlock wasn't quite sure of where to buy Christmas decorations so he planned several stops. Sherlock was unsure of the amounts of everything so he decided to buy everything in bulk, from tinsel to fairy lights. Several stores later and Sherlock's arms were beyond full of Christmas. As he stumbled down the sidewalk, arms full, he decided to drop of his purchases before getting his final decoration, the Christmas tree.
Sherlock nearly dumped all of his bags as he entered the flat and noticed someone sitting in John's arm chair. He quickly realized that the person was merely John and not an intruder. This led to a new question, why was John home already? He had barely been gone an hour. It seemed their positions had switched as Sherlock stumbled in with his groceries and John watched the fire dance.
"Home early I see."
John threw Sherlock a glare and then quickly looked back at the fire place.
Sherlock couldn't help but feel his shoulders sag a bit at the angry army doctor. After all he had been through to make John happy and now John was sulking in a chair. Sherlock decided to try again,
"I picked up some groceries."
John quickly snapped back,
"I already got groceries if you had cared to notice."
Sherlock cringed at the biting words and tried once more,
"Not quite the same groceries. I er… got some decorations."
This caught John's attention, he turned around and faced Sherlock, his eyebrows lifting in surprise and slight confusion.
"Decorations for what?"
"Happy December first John."
"Oh my god, I completely forgot the date."
"I just thought maybe you'd want to decorate for Christmas."
John watched as Sherlock stood patiently and waited for a response.
"Yeah Sherlock, I'd like that."
A smile quickly spread across the detectives face as he pulled on his gloves,
"Well we have one last stop before we start, a Christmas tree. Care to join?"
John agreed and soon the two men were on the streets of London, off to find a Christmas tree. Soon they came across a tree lot and Sherlock went straight to work, claiming that he could find the perfect Christmas tree. John told him that any tree was perfect and that sometimes the imperfect trees were perfect, but Sherlock just dismissed John with a wave of his hand. After nearly twenty minutes Sherlock found what he claimed to be the perfect tree. John quickly agree and was amused at how perfect the tree actually was. As they paid for the tree something caught Sherlock's eye.
"What's that?"
John laughed,
"It's mistletoe."
"What's that?"
"A poisonous plant that people hang in their houses as a decoration. It also has a tradition of…"
Sherlock quickly cut John off, too excited hear the rest
"We'll take it!" He grabbed some and paid for it along with the tree. John wasn't sure whether he should tell Sherlock the other part that came with mistletoe.
Once they arrived Sherlock unpacked all of his decorations to show John. He proudly laid them all out on the counter as John watched on with a smile.
"What's so funny?"
"Well you bought quite a lot Sherlock."
"I thought you liked decorations!"
"I do Sherlock. This is very sweet of you."
Sherlock looked away to hide the blush that filled his cheeks at John's compliment.
The tree leaned in the corner and John suggested they start by decorating it first. They started with lights, followed by tinsel and finally ribbon. John grabbed a remaining spool of tinsel and wrapped it around Sherlock's middle as he continued to work on perfect the tree.
"What are you doing John? I am not a tree to be decorated."
John ignored Sherlock and used the tinsel to pull him closer. Inch by inch the detective came closer and closer to John and soon he realized what John was doing. Suddenly everything seemed to change. The dark room only lit by the flickering fire in the corner seemed to heat up and Sherlock was sure he was imagining everything. A few more steps and Sherlock was pulled flush against John. He tried his hardest to distract his thoughts, his body was betraying him and he swore that John had a smirk on his face.
"Sherlock, you interrupted me earlier."
Sherlock's head quickly ran through all their conversations from the night and he couldn't for the life of him remember when he had interrupted John.
"When?"
"You didn't finish letting me tell you tell you the meaning of mistletoe."
"The meaning?"
"The tradition."
"What's the tradition?"
Sherlock wasn't sure where this conversation was going but he wasn't about to ruin the moment. He listened to every word that came out of John's mouth and shuddered at every breath that ran down his neck.
"It's tradition that when two people are standing underneath mistletoe, they must kiss."
"Kiss?" Sherlock's breath caught in his throat. This couldn't possibly be happening. This couldn't possibly be the road John was going down.
Suddenly John turned and pressed Sherlock up to the closed door leading into their flat.
"I took the initiative to hang the mistletoe while you were busy with the tree."
Sherlock looked up and saw the poisonous plant, hanging dauntingly above where he was pressed to the door.
"John."
"Sherlock."
Sherlock was frozen, he was at a loss for words as he stared at the shorter man who was pressing him against the wall.
Suddenly there was a clash of lips as John pressed Sherlock even harder into the door. Sherlock only paused a second before returning the kiss. It was sloppy and needy as each of the men attempted to devour the other's mouth. The kiss deepened and John pressed a knee between Sherlock's thighs. Sherlock could feel John's arousal pressed against him and he couldn't help but gasp. John suddenly pulled away and Sherlock couldn't help but let out a whimper.
"Come on, let's move this to the bedroom, it'll be more comfortable."
Sherlock froze.
"But don't we need the mistletoe?"
"Oh Sherlock, you can be so ignorant about some things. I didn't snog you senseless just because you were standing beneath the mistletoe. Actually if I recall correctly, I'm the one who put you there."
"So you… you actually want this? With me?"
"Of course I do Sherlock. I thought I was making it rather obvious."
"But what about your date?"
"Why do you think I left?"
Sherlock stared at John in surprise and just pointed towards himself,
"Me? Because of me John?"
"Yes Sherlock, because of you. Because I was dumb enough not to admit my love sooner."
"You've loved me before tonight?"
"Yes Sherlock, that's usually how it works. How about we talk about this later. If I recall correctly, we were just in the middle of something."
"Oh right."
And suddenly Sherlock's face changed and his eyes locked onto John's and he stalked in his direction and John laughed and ran towards his bedroom. Sherlock didn't question John's room choice and he followed the doctor.
Suddenly they were on John's bed in a tangle of limbs, each trying to get closer to the other. John unbuttoned Sherlock's shirt carefully as Sherlock pulled off John's jumper. The two worked together until both were completely shed of all their clothing. John rolled on top on Sherlock, taking control and pressing Sherlock into another deep kiss. Sherlock couldn't help but feel as though he was drowning. Everything was so sudden that his mind could barely keep up. Every sensation told his head a million things and he couldn't possibly decode them all at once. Suddenly John was out of focus and Sherlock felt as though he was falling. He quickly grabbed ahold of John and didn't let go.
"Sherlock… Sherlock… Sherlock!"
"What John?"
"You're crying. Are you okay? Do you need me to stop?"
Sherlock suddenly noticed the salty tears that were blurring his vision.
"No John I'm fine. It's just a lot to process."
John nodded and wiped the tears from Sherlock's eyes,
"It's okay. Let yourself go. Give that big brilliant brain of yours a break."
Sherlock blushed at the word brilliant and nodded.
"Okay, I'm fine. You can keep going."
John smiled and slowly bent down to kiss Sherlock's cheek gently. He continued kissing his way down Sherlock's neck, on his chest, to the center of his stomach, and back to Sherlock's lips. John reached into his bedside table and after a few stressed minutes the two men became one. Sherlock held on to John tighter than he ever had before. The sensation was overwhelming but everything that Sherlock had ever wanted. It would take a while for him to adjust. There was a lot of sentiment, trust, and vulnerability involved and all of it was very new to Sherlock. Suddenly the world turned white and Sherlock could no longer find John. His arms tried hard to find the doctor but this time he was sure he was drowning. Suddenly a pair of lips pressed against his pulled him back up and he was able to open his eyes enough to see John still lying on top of him.
"Hey Sherlock, you okay?"
Sherlock just nodded and suddenly he was crying again. Damn sentiment was taking over, he really needed to work on that.
John couldn't help but laugh as Sherlock angrily wiped away the tears. He rolled off Sherlock and laid so that they were face to face. He caressed Sherlock's cheek gently and rubbed his thumb along the detective's sharp cheek bones.
"I love you."
More shocking words. Sherlock couldn't handle this much in one night so he just nodded in response and John understood.
Finally John pulled the covers up and snuggled close to the now very sleepy detective. He stared out the window and smiled,
"It's snowing Sherlock."
Sherlock however was completely lost in his own thoughts and didn't even notice John's comment. After a few more quiet minutes the detective finally spoke,
"Will that happen every time we stand underneath the mistletoe?"
John laughed,
"No. I think that was a special occasion. But I think we could change the rules a bit. As long as no one else is around. When other people are around, it's strictly kissing."
Sherlock nodded his agreement and pulled John closer, resting his chin on the blonde man's head.
"Happy December 1st."
"Happy December 1st Sherlock. Now go to sleep."
The End