Disclaimer: Don't own the characters, plot etc.
There are other incidents like this, but they are few and far between. Times when John manages to deduce who committed the crime before Sherlock, when John gets angry and Sherlock can feel a dark loathing simmering beneath the surface. And then there is the time when John tells Sherlock he is bored.
"Sherlock, I'm bored."
Sherlock looks up sharply from a petri dish of rare bacteria. "What?"
John is standing by the window, staring out at a sleepy London. "We need a good murder."
Sherlock snorts, although he can feel his heart thudding painfully in his chest. "You're the one who's supposed to be berating me when I say that."
John continues as if he doesn't even hear Sherlock. "Wouldn't it be funny if I went and committed a murder, then you could solve it. You and I, playing cat and mouse across London."
This is sounding too familiar to the Great Game and Sherlock is so terrified that John is going to finally realize who he is. The past five months have been complete heaven in comparison to what was before the fall and Sherlock knows he can't, won't, go back to that.
John clenches his hands. "The world is too mundane. People are too stupid. I only feel alive when I'm on a case with you, and even then," he hesitates. "Even then, the murderers are too predictable. You need a real opponent, someone really exciting to stimulate that massive intellect of yours."
It says a lot about Sherlock control when he keeps voice level despite the turmoil raging inside of him, and the fear clawing through each of his veins, throbbing with the beat of his heart. "But people would die."
"That's what people do," Jim Moriarty laughs in his head.
But John just grins at him and winks, "I knew you weren't a sociopath." He turns on the telly and sprawls out on the couch. Sherlock lets his heart slow down and comes and sits on the couch next to John, their shoulders touching. John laughs as Sherlock deduces through reality TV shows, crime shows, and movies. And soon they're leaning into each other, John nodding off sleepily against Sherlock. Sherlock carefully takes a mental picture of this moment and frames it in his mind palace.
Okay it gets really exciting in the nest chapter I promise :) Please review!