"Hi, John," his mother greeted him as he walked back into his house. He still had a silly grin plastered to his face, and he promptly ignored his mother. Mounting the stairs two at a time he raced to his room.

John sat at his desk and opened his laptop. He opened Facebook to find "2 New Messages from Molly Hooper". He opened the chat.

Molly Hooper: Hey John. How's summer so far?

Molly Hooper: Mine's boring :/. Reply soon xx Molly

He clicked into the reply box and began typing a message. Almost instantly after he sent the message, Molly replied.

John Watson: Summer's great. I met someone today.

Molly Hooper: Ooh, who is it?

John began his response, but was interrupted as his mother called him down for dinner. He deleted what he had typed and sent a quick "Sorry, dinner, ttyl."

Seated at the dinner table, he heaped his plate with mashed potatoes and practically drown them in gravy. He knew his mother would ask about his spacey behavior earlier, and he wasn't sure what to tell her so he decided that filling his mouth with food was probably a better option to start with. The "date" with Sherlock wasn't technically going to be a date, and he didn't even know if Sherlock was gay. He probably was, though, with that haircut.

"So, John, you were in a pretty good mood when you came home earlier. Had a lot of fun at your sister's lesson?" John's mother had always been nosy, and this was just the start of it. He knew she would nag him until he told her every detail.

"Yeah. The, uh, her swim instructor was pretty nice. We're gonna hang out this Saturday. He said maybe he can teach me to swim, since you never did." He was being a bit snappy, but only because he knew how she would react.

"Oh, that's nice honey. You know, I was hoping you might have met a girl. Or maybe you could date that Molly girl? I know how much you talk with her. You two would be cute together."

This was exactly the reason John had not come out to anyone besides Molly. His father might be okay with his sexuality, but he most definitely would not be overjoyed. And his mother, well she was mostly just a cross between utterly ignorant and utterly unaccepting. So, John would just continue to say nothing about it and deny it.

"Mom, I told you. Molly's my friend. That's it. End of story. Can I be excused?"

"I still think you two would be cute. If you're going would you clear your dishes? Take Katie's, too, please."

John reluctantly stacked Katie's empty plate onto his and brought them to the sink. He then went back to his room and laid on his bed. This whole Sherlock thing was really messing with his head. He just shouldn't get his hopes up. It's not a date, he told himself. Not a date. Although, really, they would be alone, half-naked, and wet. But it's not a date. He's just going to teach me to swim. In the water. Wearing a skimpy bathing, and it will just be the two of us. Oh, it is so a date.