John held Sherlock's cold mug of tea and stood there a minute, regarding the lanky detective. He received no reaction and Sherlock didn't seem to even notice the mug was not longer in his hands. 'Okay then.' John sucked in a deep breath and let it out it a huff.
It seemed fair to say that Sherlock needed something other than tea. The doctor in John was protesting that a real meal was more important but he also recognized that Sherlock likely needed water and sugar in him first. Who knows how long it had been since the detective had eaten.
He set a small pot of water on the stove to boil and pulled down a tin of cocoa powder and sat it next to the sugar. He rooted through the cans in the pantry, 'Aha!' and found one can of condensed milk. 'Glad I did some shopping this week.'
John found the vanilla extract, then the half empty bag of marshmallows from where it was stuffed in a drawer. He measured and stirred everything into the pot until the kitchen smelled wonderful. He turned down the burner to the lowest setting and washed out the two mugs of tea he'd made.
John hummed, ladling the hot chocolate into the mugs and pulled the tub of whipped cream out of the fridge to spoon a large dollop into each mug. 'Huh, I haven't done this since Christmas He smiled and found the shaker of ground cinnamon to sprinkle on top and plopped in a few marshmallows.
John carried one mug and a plate of chocolate biscuits over to Sherlock who hadn't moved an inch. He tried again, putting the mug into his hands. Sherlock absently took a sip, then sniffed, and took a bigger sip. He turned to look up at John and it took all of John's willpower not to giggle at the whipped cream on Sherlock's nose.
"John what is this?" Now, John understood that Sherlock's childhood must have been abnormal to say the least, but there's no way it could've been that bad. "...You have had hot chocolate before, right?" John expected Sherlock to get defensive, but he just gave a small shrug. "Father was lactose intolerant, so Mummy always made hot chocolate with no milk or cream. It wasn't very... palatable." Sherlock wrinkled his nose a bit.
Sherlock took another sip and closed his eyes, leaning back a bit in his seat, finally unwinding. "This is good," Sherlock said quietly. John gave a warm smile. "Got some biscuits too..." Sherlock cracked one eye open to peer at him. "...what kind?" He handed the plate to Sherlock. "Chocolate of course. You get upset when I buy anything else."
Sherlock frowned at that but looked down at the drink in his hands. He shoved a biscuit in his mouth and took a big gulp of hot chocolate, then sputtered when he didn't have the biscuit chewed enough first. John patted Sherlock on the back and handed him a paper towel. "You know, you really should chew and swallow before you take a drink."
"Ack!" cough "Really John? I hadn't thought about that." Sherlock laid down the sarcasm, but there was no bite to it. John just shook his head and brought his own mug to the other end of the couch to enjoy it. "So," he pressed, "anything sound good? I'm starving!" Sherlock didn't reply, but he didn't protest. He took another biscuit and finally nodded while nibbling on it.
John would have felt relieved that Sherlock wasn't going to fight him about the 'needs of his transport', but it only worried him more. He looked like a lost child, and it broke John's heart.
It was settled then, they'd just have Sherlock's favorite. "Chinese?" John prompted. Sherlock hummed in response. John went and ordered take out, and when he returned to the living room, Sherlock was draining the last of his hot chocolate, and licked cream off his lips.
John heard Sherlock mumble something, presumably at John but he wouldn't look at him, so he moved closer. "Sorry, what?" Sherlock flicked his gaze up to meet John's eyes. "I said 'thank you'."
That earned him a small laugh from John. "It's just hot chocolate." Sherlock smiled and looked to the side, he seemed a bit embarrassed. "No, it's more than just the hot chocolate, it-it's the..." Sherlock took a steadying breath. "everything. It's all the things that you do for me... thank you, John. Truly."