This was inspired by a prompt I read on LJ - unfortunately, I can't find it anymore; I can't actually remember what it was. It is not based on the prompt or a fill; just something that came to my mind. Sorry if I bent (book) canon.

Rated K.


Wedding Vows

"Why?" The voice sounded bored and uninterested, as if he wasn't even really listening. But then, when was he?

"Because... well... never mind why, just do it for me, okay? I need someone to stand before me and listen to it, saying it to a mirror or empty room doesn't work. Besides, you're my best man; it's your job to help me with that."

John was standing next to Sherlock, hands on hips, while the detective sat, quite unimpressed and not even looking up, at the desk, typing away on his laptop.

"I'm hardly the right person to evaluate such a speech, John," his friend replied, voice still having the same absent-minded tone.

"I don't ask you to evaluate; I only ask you to listen. Come on, Sherlock, I thought we were friends!" At that, the detective looked up, then slowly turned his head to the side where John was standing. Just as slow he stood, and followed John to the middle of the room. For a moment they looked at each other, then the detective nodded.

"When we first met, I wasn't the most appealing man on Earth. Probably not even in the room. I was a lonely and miserable soul, and really not the best company to anyone."

/ There were too many people in the room, and he really didn't want anything but turn on his heels and walk back out. Maybe he wouldn't even make the effort to turn. Everything was cheery and happy and colorful, and it didn't match his mood in the slightest. But Mike had thought it a good idea, and he really needed to meet other people again; he been a loner for too long. /

"But you just smiled at me, you winked and gave me your number, and you made it clear that you wouldn't let me go again."

/ She was the literal, and very cliched, presence to light up the room. She turned when he strode the room, walking nowhere in particular, and gave him a challenging look before she began to smile. Oh, that smile. A smirk actually, a deeply meaningful smirk that only pulled up one corner of her mouth, and yet shifted her whole expression. It reminded him of someone, but he couldn't remember who. She greeted him with "Hey there, handsome." out of the blue, winked, and then pulled out a piece of paper she thrust into his hand. "I expect you to call me, and don't you dare not to." With that, she turned back to the people she had been talking to. /

"I didn't actually need our first date to know that I wouldn't let you go again either. I believed you to be an enchantress, because it had to be a spell you had me under, right from the beginning. Until I realized it was the spell they call love."

/ Her apartment was in the suburbs of London, a nice neighborhood, and not the cheapest either. She was not one of the poorer of the city; she did well in her job and came from a rather influential, wealthy family. He immediately felt at home in her flat, though she wasn't very much on the side of tidiness. Not that he wasn't used to that. /

"I still don't know how I deserve you, but you made, and make, my life better. You took a misanthrope and gave him the most amazing rollercoaster life, you taught him to laugh again, to love again."

/ They raced the streets of the city, chasing each other, running high on adrenaline, before coming home and making love out of excitement. They made the silliest things, took the most amazing journeys, and met the most extraordinary people. They had the time of their lives, a never-ending adventure, and before long they knew they had to have this till the very end. When he fell to his knee once their cabin of the London Eye reached its highest position, she didn't even need to hear the question to yell Yes at the top of her lungs. /

"Whatever happens, I want to be at your side, because without you, my life will be forever incomplete. I love you."

John's eyes had been glued to the piece of paper in his hands, eager to read it all out correctly so he could memorize it at the same time. But as he spoke the last words, he lifted his head to face the man standing before him, the man who served as a substitute for the woman he loved, as a stand-in for the one person he would hold this speech to at the church the following day.

And then in the moment his eyes met Sherlock's, everything he had said, everything he remembered of his time together with his soon-to-be wife was overlaid by memories of a whole different kind, memories of a life many years ago, of excitement and madness and danger and so much fun. It crashed down on him, everything he had sought and found, but suddenly he couldn't distinguish anymore with whom.

"I love you," passed his lips again, without him realizing he had even drawn breath to talk, or opened his mouth.

FIN