Chapter four-Needs
Sherlock awoke to the pounding on the door to the flat. The past few days came to him in a rush as he looked at the huge black furred dog currently sleeping in the living area. John hadn't quite discovered how he changed back from this new form yet but this was the second time that he had made the change. The first was in the tunnel, then he had been white furred, the second was in the flat whilst he was wearing Sherlock's coat turning him black furred.
The insistent pounding started again and he pulled himself from the sofa and opened the door only to see Anderson standing at the door.
"What do you want Anderson?" Sherlock said, in an irritated voice, while stepping outside the door and closing it behind him.
"Lestrade sent me up to give you this case file." He said handing him a thick manila folder.
After taking the folder he made to move back into the flat but Anderson pushed his way inside, obviously wanting to know what Sherlock had sought to hide, causing him to lose his balance and land badly on his wrist.
John was still asleep until he heard Sherlock fall and he woke up angry. The protectiveness that he felt for Sherlock was only amplified in his current form and he growled baring his teeth and took a step toward the idiot that had harmed his friend.
Anderson froze in fear and began to babble unintelligently.
John took another step growling more audibly now. Then it happened. John could smell it before he saw it and he stepped away hastily.
Sherlock saw the stain start on the other man's pants and he moved away just as quickly as John had. Together the two residents of 221B watched as Anderson wet himself. As his pants became saturated with pee a puddle began to form around him and as it got bigger and bigger their eyes got wider and wider. Then a whole minute and a half later the flow stopped and Anderson stood there in his soggy, now dark blue, blue-jeans blushing redder than Rudolph's nose.
Three seconds later the two flatmates shared a glace and began giggling. Then Sherlock grabbed his phone from his trouser pocket and took a photo for blackmail purposes causing Anderson to flush even more.
John gave Sherlock a pointed look and the detective sighed but obeyed. Still chuckling in his deep baritone at Anderson's misfortune, he went into his room and grabbed a pair of tattered pajama bottoms that he was going to experiment on. Then he went over to the bathroom and grabbed an old towel and some carpet cleaner.
Going back into the living room area he found Anderson still in the puddle that he had made. He threw him the pajama bottoms. Anderson quickly removed his socks and shoes then his pants and trousers and put on the offered items.
Then he began scrubbing at the puddle with the towel and the cleaner.
Suddenly John found a bit of humor that caused him to bark out another laugh. Sherlock looked at him. He looked pointedly at Anderson and then back at Sherlock.
'Anderson on his knees scrubbing their floor' he realized remembering the comment that he had made to Sally the first day that John had accompanied Sherlock to a crime scene.
Sherlock laughed again.
A few minutes later Anderson was done and getting up. Sherlock looked over at the stain in the carpet. "Anderson I'm impressed I think this is the first time that I have actually seen you do something well." Anderson scowled but said nothing. Sherlock handed him a plastic bag and the man tossed his wet clothes in and walked out the door.
"Don't tell anyone about what you saw." Sherlock warned the man as he hurried to get away from the flat not even needing to mention the photo again.
When Anderson got downstairs Lestrade did a double take. "What happened to you?" He asked noticing the pajamas and bare feet.
Anderson said nothing.
The next day Lestrade called Sherlock asking him to come to a crime scene.
In the cab John was looking down and being quiet. Quite frankly it was starting to annoy Sherlock.
"John y-"he started to say only to be cut off by John looking at him sadly.
They had begun experimenting with John's ability to change. After the little fiasco with Anderson, John had changed back into his human form only to find that some of the traits from his other form remained. He had blond-gray ears on his head and he had a tail the same blond-gray color. He had been scared that if he made a full transformation he would get stuck again but at the same time he also didn't know how to make the traits go away.
More disturbingly than the physical traits was the fact that some of his reactions to certain things had changed.
Sherlock kind of felt bad about dragging John out now that he could see how self-conscious the man was.
Soon they had arrived at the crime scene and John walked even closer to Sherlock than he usually did. His tail involuntarily tucked itself between his legs and he whimpered almost inaudibly.
Sherlock pretended not to hear and John was grateful for that small courtesy.
Donovan was at the police tape and lifted it so that they could duck underneath.
"Well, well if it isn't the freak and his pet doggy," she said getting a good look at John and his ears and tail. She of course thought that they were fake.
John bit down on the urge to growl but he couldn't stop his ears from flattening on his head.
Sherlock took a step toward the Sargent and said darkly "don't ever call him a pet" the warning was implied and gulped hard and backed away.
"Come on John," he said as he quickly moved on toward the murder victim and John had to jog to catch up aware that his tail was wagging happily.
He also knew that Sherlock had noticed his he saw the tall man's smirk. Feeling playful John walked beside the man and whacked him with his tail on the back of the leg. The look that Sherlock gave him made him bite his lip to contain a giggle.
When they reached the body they both kneeled down. John cringed for a moment he had realized in the cab that his sense of smell was stronger than usual. Once he had adapted he gently examined the body. "She was strangled but the cause of death was poison administered through a needle," he said.
Sherlock saw the mark where the needle had entered and nodded in agreement. Then he began to prattle off about what he saw ending with "… so if the uncle had a membership to the gym across the street he's the murderer."
"Brilliant," John said smiling widely.
Sherlock grinned and impulsively tweaked on of John's doggy ears.
Since the case was solved Lestrade saw this as a good opportunity to see why John had canine ears and a tail.
"What's with the ears and tail?' he asked.
John blushed. "Experiment gone wrong." He said.
Sherlock rolled his eyes and dragged his blogger away.
By the next case that they had, a few days later, John could control the change and could easily morph back and forth at will. He found however that he like his half morphed state because it made him more useful at crime scenes. The only drawback was the fact that his half changed state made him playful and want to cuddle. He had long ago decided that while he was living with Sherlock it was fairly useless to try to have a normal relationship. Most days the only physical contact that he got was when Sherlock hauled him by the hand from place to place.
He didn't mind much because living with Sherlock was fun. But the canine in him wanted to be petted and played with and it was hard to crush those urges but he was successful at doing it and he never let Sherlock see how hard it was for him. He knew that the man would feel guilty even if he didn't show it. But not even John realized the toll denying the more emotional urges was having until they went to the crime scene.
It was the third murder victim of a serial killer and Sherlock immediately started to rattle of facts asking for John's input here and there.
John felt the urge to cuddle the man he crushed it. John felt the need to show how brilliant he thought Sherlock was by physically touching him he crushed that too. John wanted Sherlock to pet him he crushed that feeling too.
Suddenly he felt the world began to gray. He felt unsteady on his feet and his breathing became erratic. He felt tears began to run down his face but he couldn't stop them he couldn't even find the strength to raise a hand and wipe away the salty fluid that ran in rivulets on his cheeks.
"John," he heard someone call to him.
He opened eyes he hadn't even realized that he had closed and saw Sherlock's face above him. Then he became aware that he was being held in his friend's arms. He also saw that the police on the scene had gathered around to see if he was okay.
"People will talk even more now," he said
Sherlock gave a small relived smile at hearing the running joke between the two of them. Using a hand he checked his friend for a temperature. There wasn't one. John just looked ill. Then it hit him like bricks. John had, had less time to socialize and he had been controlling his emotions so that he didn't accidentally change. He also had canine like traits and canines needed attention and touch. John hadn't had an emotional outlet and this happened as a result.
Sherlock had never been good with emotions but he understood the part that they played for most people. But for John he would be willing to try to change so that he could be what he needed. Otherwise John would leave him. He shuddered at the thought. He needed John.
After a pointed look to Lestrade that told the man to get all of his officers away he hesitantly he took a hand and rubbed the base of the dog ears on his friend. John was shocked at first but then he leaned into the touch and began to hum in contentment. When Sherlock stopped John whimpered and thrust his head back under the hand. It was at that moment that Sherlock realized how starved for touch he was.
John pulled himself up and his blue eyes met Sherlock's multi colored ones and he blushed a bit. He still was a bit pale but he was feeling better.
"Sorry," he muttered.
"I should have noticed," Sherlock replied.
John's eyes shot up to him in surprise at that response.
"What else do you require John besides touch? I need my blogger at his best."
"Play." John said quietly
That made sense Sherlock thought to himself. There was a park across from this building. Decided he drug John over to the park. Once they reached a grassy area he petted one of his ears again and he said "You're it." Then he ran coat flying behind him like a cape. John shed his coat and dashed after him laughing.
After a minute he had caught up enough to dive at his friend. He easily tackled him. "You're it," he laughed getting up and dashing away. Only to run smack into Lestrade knocking them both down. Scrambling up he hid behind Donovan so that Sherlock couldn't tag him.
He was giddy, drunk with energy. He stepped away when Sherlock halted in front of Lestrade.
"What's going on," Lestrade asked amused.
"We're playing tag!" John said jumping up down. "Wanna play?"
Donovan, Sherlock, and Lestrade looked at him.
John looked over and saw a few others coming from the crime scene. There we also some kids at the park. "Ooh we could play Medic!" he said bouncing more and more. "Please, Please, Please" he begged. All the officers and Sherlock nodded in stunned agreement.
John bounced over to the teenagers and made some wild gestures and pointed at the group. They nodded. John and the four teens came over. They split into teams of five each. They played for an hour before they were too tired to continue. Panting John made his way to Sherlock and pounced on him and squishing him in a tight 'thank you' hug earning himself a genuine smile from the detective.
John was happy and he thrust his head under Sherlock's hand to be petted. Sherlock took the hint and John's tail happily thumped against him.
A/N Alright this went in a weird direction. So tell me what you think and this might become a slash story but I think I'll wait to see what people want. John is going to be embarrassed next chap but I had to make the playful doggy scene happen it was too fun to pass up. Sherlock feels OOC and for that matter so does John but my excuse for him is that he is part doggy now so yeah.
Mycroft will make another appearance soon too. I just love him and his umbrella they are awesome.
Oh yeah and Medic is like freeze tag but only one person on each team can unfreeze people. It's really fun and I used to play it in school in Gym.