Sherlock wakes in John's arms jubilant yet exhausted. Lying on dirty sheets wrapped in John's embrace he basks in the enduring euphoria of their lovemaking scarcely able to comprehend the wondrous turn his relationship with John has made in a single long weekend.
John loves him. Him. Sherlock.
The feeling of happiness swelling in his chest feels so natural and right that Sherlock cannot help but smile as he curls around John possessively and falls back into slumber.
"My god you're wonderful" John says quietly sometime later, his breath tickling Sherlock's ear unintentionally waking him.
"You were rather amazing yourself" Sherlock replies sleepily, deciding that he rather enjoys being held.
John tries to kiss him with his eyes half closed. He ends up affectionately kissing the tip of Sherlock's nose instead of his lips.
Sherlock tries to kiss him back but gives up having realised John is asleep again. Closing his eyes to rest temporarily, Sherlock decides he wouldn't be adverse to another round with John at some point in the relatively near future, and makes a note to inform John of that decision later when they are both no longer so sore.
Staring at the bits of John that protrude from the battered duvet, Sherlock notes the harsh red lines of fingernails marks along John's back with pride.
"Can you stay a bit longer or do you have to go back straight away?" He asks torn between showering and staying in bed. John looks at him somewhat uneasily.
"I- I don't have to go back."
"What?" Asks Sherlock surprised by John's words, a million possibilities running through his head none of them good.
"I have the week off. I'm on reading week." John explains.
"Oh." Sherlock replies relaxing in John's hold, incredibly relieved to hear that John hadn't been kicked off his course.
"You know what's funny?" John says tracing a finger over the bite mark on Sherlock's shoulder.
"I'd already packed a bag and was trying to come up with a decent reason to visit you when you called and told me to get my arse down here."
"It's funny how things work out, isn't it?" He says brushing a hand gently through Sherlock's hair.
"I've wanted to do this for so long you know, be with you that is." John adds quickly realizing belatedly how his words must have sounded. He turns slightly pink and Sherlock doesn't know what to say to that. He lets silence rest between them as the sun slowly rises.
"I'm sorry." John tells him abruptly a few minutes later.
"I wasn't as nice as I should have been that first summer. It's just I thought you wanted to get away from me by coming here to study. I thought you had realised how I felt about you when I kissed you because you've always been able to tell when I'm keeping things from you and well… I thought you didn't feel the same. I didn't know how to behave around you so I avoided you as much as possible. I thought that's what you wanted."
Sherlock feels guilt and wonders at how; given his wonderful observational skills he could have been so blind to have misread the situation completely. He'll have to work at that and remember to fit the theory to the facts, not the facts to the theory.
"It's a good thing you're pretty because you can be just as stupid as me when it comes to these things." Sherlock declares leaning over to kiss John deeply.
"What are you thinking of doing once you've finished your dissertation?" John asks fiddling with shower nozzle increasing the hot water.
Sherlock hums thoughtfully listening attentively without out actually taking in a word said by his beloved, his mind otherwise occupied with strangeness of his sudden heat. Rubbing shampoo into John's hair Sherlock cannot help but wonder if Henry had sent him the test results already.
"I mean do you want to travel or…" John trails off somewhat uncertainly. Coming back to the present Sherlock notes that John sounds terribly nervous which was odd considering that the two of them were naked and bathing together.
His fingers momentarily still in John's hair as he tries to see what John is really asking him.
A light bulb flashes metaphorically.
John is trying to ask if he would be interested in moving in with him.
"I've heard London is nice." Sherlock says hoping he hasn't gotten things wrong yet again. "Know of anyone needing a room-mate?"
"Yeah I think I do." John tells him turning around in the bathtub with a smile on his lips. Their discussion doesn't get much further than that as John is kissing him again, but Sherlock finds he doesn't mind a bit.
They've forever to plan a lifetime together after all.
It's not until later having consumed rather a lot of curry from the nearest Indian takeaway that Sherlock remembers having asked Henry to send the results of the tests to his phone. He remembers this when his mobile pokes him in the side as he rests on the sofa.
Fishing his phone from out of the cushions Sherlock turns it back on to discover rather a lot of texts from Henry. He reads through them quickly, curious to discover what Henry has found out.
"What's up, love?" John asks curled up next to him on the sofa equally full.
"It seems we have a mystery on our hands, John." He says grinning like a madman.
With thanks to power0girl for all the help generously provided and who I stupidly forgot to thank earlier.
Also for those who don't know reading week is a bit like a holiday students get, only they're meant to do reading or projects during their time off.