Author's Note: Just a quick thank you for all the lovely reviews! You guys are amazing!
John awoke late the next morning, his bones and muscles achy from having spent so much time in his arm chair the night prior. With slow and steady steps, he walked down the stairs and into the main section of his and Sherlock's flat.
The second he entered, however, he noticed the piercing blue eyes that landed on him from across the room. "Sleep much?" The doctor asked, frowning when he realized Sherlock hadn't appeared to have moved at all in the last eight hours or so.
"I accept." Was all the detective said, his hands resting under his chin as he followed the sluggish man with his eyes.
"Hmm?" John asked, stopping in his movements. He looked around himself then as though he might find whatever it was he had clearly missed? "What? Accept.. What, exactly?"
Sherlock rolled his eyes and stood up from his chair- his motions swift and fluid despite his lack of sleep. "Your offer- last night. I accept." He explained with several steps closer to the doctor.
"Oh.." John said quickly, his mouth holding the word for a few moments more as he watched Sherlock approach. "Right, well.. Good, that's... That's good. We're umm... Were good, then.." John added hesitantly, his chin having to tilt up as Sherlock peered down at him.
"Yes.. Very." Sherlock said sharply, his gaze analyzing John's reaction to their close proximity.
John nodded a couple of times before clearing his throat and stepping away from the detective. "Right, umm.. Have you looked through your potential cases yet?" John asked as he worked his way in and around the kitchen, careful to avoid any and all of the experiments Sherlock had left laying around.
"Dull." The detective droned as he followed John into the kitchen and leaned against one of the counters.
John spared Sherlock just a glance as he started working on his morning cuppa. "Will you be catching some shut eye, then?" He asked, his mind clearly more focused on the kettle.
"Boring."
John turned at this, his eyes looking wearily up at his.. Whatever the hell they were now. "Then what is it you have planned for today, exactly? And please don't tell me it involves another attempt at blinding yourself."
Sherlock twisted his face at John's little jab and crossed his arms over his chest defiantly. "Oh, please- it was a small miscalculation."
"Pretty big price to pay for a 'small miscalculation'" John muttered under his breath as he removed the kettle from the stove.
Despite the small voice Sherlock caught the words and twitched briefly at the insult. For a second he opened his mouth to defend himself before falling back and thinking better of it. "John.." He said instead, the word a bit hesitant.
John noticed this and stopped his moving around to look across the kitchen at the detective. "Yes? What is it, Sherlock?" He asked, somewhat concerned that there would be assassins under the floor boards or Moriarty in the stair well.
"Last night.. I thought a lot about what us being together.. Would.. Mean, exactly..." Sherlock said and John felt himself relax if only slightly.
"Right.." John breathed as he set the kettle down and turned to face Sherlock. "What did you have in mind, then?"
Sherlock looked to the floor for a second before taking a deep breath and looking up to meet John's eyes. "I don't like it when you go out on dates."
"I don't like it when you leave heads in the fridge."
"John-"
"Yes, yes, alright, I get it. No more dates." John huffed with several short motions of his open hands as if to say he both understood and was surrendering.
"..I don't want you touching.. Others..." Sherlock said with a nervous, calculating gaze toward John.
John sucked in a shaky breath and let it out with a few nods and a rub at his forehead. "I-.. Alright... Yes, I can agree to that.. But Sherlock, I'm not sure I can-"
"I want to be able to touch you."
"Yes, that- that's where this gets.." John felt his nerves spike and rubbed harder into his skin. "..complicated..." He finishes with an almost painful glance up at Sherlock. He's not sure how the detective will take this.
Sherlock stares back unreadably and John deflates. "Look- Sherlock, I'm not gay, alright? A cock up my ass isn't exactly my idea of a good time." The doctor tries to explain.
Sherlock blinks and leans back a bit further- his hands falling down to rest over the counter ledge. "And yet you claim to want to spend the rest of your life with me?"
John thinks this over for only a second before nodding. "Yes."
"You want to stop having sex so that you can spend the rest of your life with me?"
"Yes."
"A sociopath who keeps heads in the fridge and toes in the microwave?"
"Yes.", John says with a cheeky smile.
"Who solves murders because it's fun and know's nothing of the solar system?"
"A million times, yes, Sherlock! Yes, if I can- the rest of my life with you, always." John says with a laugh, his smile only broadening when Sherlock's own lips start to twitch upward.
"The same-" Sherlock mumbles quickly. "For me.. It's the same..." He adds.
John watches Sherlock as the man looks down a bit uncomfortably as if afraid of his own confession. Smiling, John moves away from the counter and over to the detective. "Alright, let's try this, come on." John says as he stands before Sherlock. He looks defensive, as though he's preparing to be punched.
"What?" Sherlock asks. He's been thrown off by the doctor, something he found John seemed to be able to do rather frequently. It was one of the many ways their relationship managed to stay interesting.
"Kiss me- come on. How do I do this? Do I just- just go for it?" John says quickly as he rolls back and forth a bit on his feet. His hands come out to extend toward Sherlock but make no real move to grab at the other man.
Sherlock laughs at that, the noise low in his throat as he looks over the shorter man with softened eyes. "John, you don't have to-"
"Sherlock- shut up and just do it."
Slowly, Sherlock reaches down and wraps his arms around the shorter man's torso, his head coming down to rest lightly on John's shoulder. "Is this alright..?" He asks into the material of John's jumper.
For a moment the doctor is taken aback by the motion before he catches on and gives a quick laugh of his own. "You're an idiot.." John mumbles back as he copies the motion.
Sherlock doesn't say anything more as he closes his eyes and loses himself in the feel and scent of the doctor. He can easily hear John's quickened heart beat and he has no doubt John can hear the detective's.
"I'm not going to ask you for kisses or sex, John..." Sherlock says quietly. "So long as I can touch you like this.."
John breathes shakily against Sherlock's shoulder and nods his understanding to that. "I don't have a problem with this.." He confesses, the warmth and steady drumming of Sherlock's heart seemingly lulling him back to sleep. "Definitely not a problem.." He adds with a slow roll of his head so that his cheek is pressed up against Sherlock's curls.
Sherlock smiles at this and silently hopes John would let him hold him like that forever. It was peaceful, he found, just as he always imagined it would be- with only John's steady breathing against his neck to think about.
Author's Note: Reviews are appreciated!