SHERLOCK HOLMES:

I am beginning to think of him in the possessive. My blogger. My soldier. My doctor. My flatmate. My friend. I study my possession as I pull him out the door behind me, and slip my arm around his shoulder. From now on John will be kissed frequently in the rain behind skips as we wait for a suspect to make his next move. When we are at crime scenes and he looks at me in awe and says "brilliant" I will sneak my hand up to the nape of his neck and rest it their gently for a moment before moving on to my next deduction. When I say "come along John" and he follows with his usual dogged determination, I will occasionally stop to catch him if it is not urgent, and press him briefly to my chest before dashing off again.

John is the exception and he is mine. No one has mattered before John, and no one but John will do.

"Sherlock". The tone of John's voice is disapproving, and he brushes my hand off his opposite shoulder.

I scowl at this. "If you are mine, how am I supposed to concentrate on anything if you're pretending to be not-mine? Are you going to schedule when you kiss me now because you don't want to be gay in public?"

"No, no, Sherlock, that's not it. It's all fine…"

Right. I sling my arm around his shoulders again.

"But…"

"Oh God." I roll my eyes.

"Look, I follow you around enough already. I am your yes man, to a certain extent, your protector. I make sure you don't die while you use your large quantities of grey matter to make sure other people don't."

"Yes, and if we occasionally kiss and I act a little possessive, how is that going to affect the rest of it?"

"Because, you mad, intellectual git, if you kiss me, and essentially cling to me, that makes me the most important person in the world to you. That makes me a target. If I'm a target, I can't protect you."

"You're already the most important person in the world to me; you started being that when you shot the mad cabbie. The dangerous people pick up on it instantaneously. You were already Moriarty's target, and you caught Miss Adler's attention. And, both of us know the stupid people are easy to have arrested and put in jail. So, if the dangerous people have figured it out and the stupid people are not a threat, I think we're okay." I pause. "And I do not 'cling'. You're too short to cling to anyway."

I pull John closer, and he momentarily grimaces like he's drowning. He fits neatly under my arm. "It's also just a little undignified," he mutters.

A thought occurs to me. "Are you going to want to get married? It would make financial sense but I really don't care for those kinds of social institutions."

"SHERLOCK" My blogger looks to be on the verge of hyperventilation. "I KISSED YOU LESS THAN TEN MINUTES AGO".

Two business men stop in their tracks before hurrying onward, a teenage girl of about 16 turns to look at us and squeals, and an elderly lady turns around in a full circle to confront us with an adoring look on her face. "Oh that's wonderful dear. It's so lovely that people are open-minded now. Not like in my day!" She pats John's cheek, winks at me with a murmured 'oh, he's a looker', and hobbles on.

It looks like John might be getting a headache. Time to hail a cab.