Chapter 11
Sherlock only slept a couple of hours, before his growling stomach woke him up. The first thing he noticed was John curled up against him, the next thing was the distinct lack of fabric between John's hand and his own abdomen. Then he noticed the towel on the floor and remembered. Oh God! He blushed from head to toe.
John was still asleep, his leg pressed between Sherlock's.
The detective's mind was working at top speed. What should he do? Try slipping away and risk waking John? Feign sleep and let John deal with this when he woke up? Both solutions seemed kind of cowardly, and after John had somehow gotten him into expressing his feelings, he didn't want to just take the easy way out. Very slowly, Sherlock disentangled his legs, turned over in John's embrace, lay a hand on his cheek and kissed him.
John hummed and his eyelids flickered before he opened his eyes for a moment. Then he pulled back from the kiss, wrapped his arm tighter around Sherlock and pressed his face into the other man's chest, immediately falling asleep again.
Sherlock chuckled, kissed John on the top of his head, and resigned to not getting something to eat any time soon. Smiling, he let his fingers play with John's hair. Eventually he too fell asleep again.
When John woke up, hours later, Sherlock had ended up on top of him, and he noticed that his own body had not stayed unaware of that fact. He tried to gently push Sherlock off him, but it didn't help much; the detective could be very much like a koala when he was asleep.
Still mostly asleep, Sherlock felt John stir. He moaned a complaint.
John let his head fall back on the pillow and decided not to move too much, as that didn't exactly help matters.
Very slowly Sherlock started to wake up. He was so incredibly comfortable that he never wanted to move again. In the end though, he raised his head slightly so he could look at John. His face split in a happy grin. "Good morning."
"Good morning." John smiled back, even though he felt flustered and was probably blushing.
Sherlock giggled at the look on John's face. "I'm sorry. I was a little too tired last night. I didn't quite think this through."
"Yes, well. Not that I don't like this, but could you get off me?" John asked, wriggling a bit uncomfortably.
"Sorry," Sherlock repeated as he rolled to the side, making sure to stay covered.
"No problem. I'm going to have a shower," John said, getting up.
"Okay," Sherlock pulled the sheet up to his chin, suddenly feeling a little selfconscious. John sure seemed in a hurry to get away.
John gave him a quick kiss and hurried to the bathroom. He sighed as he got under the hot water and slowly started stroking himself.
Sherlock lay in bed and wondered if he'd somehow managed to screw this up again. No, he decided. He was not going to panic this time. John had expressed a wish to be naked together, and though it was quite by accident that Sherlock had taken the first step, he was not going to be embarrassed about it. And besides, John had evidently not minded it. Sherlock wasn't sure why he had fled, but he would try John's approach this time and talk about it, as soon as John came back.
John didn't need very long before he could return to the bedroom, where Sherlock was still lying. "Breakfast?" he asked, while he started putting on his clothes.
"Not yet," Sherlock answered. Then he added: "John. Talk to me."
John frowned and sat down on the bed, still only wearing his pants and undershirt. "What about?"
"Just now, -" Sherlock sat up, not bothering to cover himself up this time - "why were you in such a hurry to get away from me?" He was very careful to not sound hurt, merely interested.
John looked at Sherlock for a moment, then started laughing. "Uhm. Pressing matters? Didn't you feel it against your leg?"
Sherlock smiled. "Yes, but that's happened before. Why run away?"
"It couldn't wait this time," John answered, blushing.
Sherlock just looked at him, for a long time. Then he said: "John, you don't have to run away from me for that. I love you. I want you. All of you."
John swallowed. "Really? I mean... You didn't want to..." He looked at a loss for words.
Now it was Sherlock's turn to blush. "I don't know what I wanted... but... Let's figure it out together."
John smiled widely at him. "Good idea." He leaned over to kiss him
Sighing in relief that this was not going to be another problem, Sherlock pulled John closer as he returned the kiss. John gently stroked Sherlock's shoulders and closed his eyes, still smiling. Sherlock hummed with pleasure at the touch. Then he lay down, pulling John along, so he ended up on top of him.
"Are you, uhm, do you want me to touch you?" John asked breathlessly.
"If you want to." Sherlock's voice was shaking slightly.
John pressed their lips together again, his heart beating fast as his hands wandered down the other man's sides. "Tell me whenever you want me to stop," he whispered against Sherlock's mouth.
Though he was feeling more than a little nervous, Sherlock managed to chuckle. "I'm not made of glass, you know."
"Doesn't matter. Just don't let me make you feel uncomfortable ," John said earnestly, keeping his hands at the height of Sherlock's hips, only softly moving his thumbs over them.
Sherlock sucked on John's lip. Then he whispered: "I doubt I could be uncomfortable with you."
John kissed him again and rolled his hips against Sherlock's. He kept hovering over Sherlock's face for a moment, watching him. "I love you." Then he bent down and started sucking on the side of Sherlock's neck.
Sherlock gasped at the contact and threw his head back, giving John access to even more of his neck.
John kept his mouth locked on the long pale neck, but shifted his hips so he could reach between them and experimentally stroked Sherlock with just his thumb.
For a second Sherlock froze, then he made a sound somewhere between a moan and a whimper as he arched his back, pressing against John, his fingertips digging into his back.
John gasped and pulled away from Sherlock's neck for air. He brushed the fingertips of his right hand over Sherlock's cheek and looked in his eyes as he wrapped his left hand firmly around the other man's cock.
Sherlock's eyes were wide, his breathing quick and shallow, as he pulled John in for a kiss, hardly giving him time to breathe. John answered the kiss hungrily and started stroking him slowly. Sherlock closed his eyes, and gave in to the sensation completely. He could already feel the heat building inside of him. He clung to John, moaning his name over and over. John sped up his hand and wished he hadn't put on his pants before he came back to bed, but he couldn't take the time to get them off now. This was about Sherlock. John still could hardly believe that they were doing this, but clearly they were both enjoying it, according to Sherlock's moans, the sound of which aroused him almost as much as when he had been touching himself under the shower.
Sherlock's world contracted until it was nothing but John's hand and John's body. Then everything expanded and he cried out in ecstasy. John caught his lips and kept stroking him softly through his orgasm, rubbing his own cock against Sherlock's thigh through the fabric of his pants.
As the world swam back into focus, Sherlock felt John's lips on his, and kissed him passionately. He reached down and forced his hand between their bodies so he could cup John's erection through the cloth. John moaned and rocked forward in Sherlock's hand.
The clothes were in the way and the angle awkward, so Sherlock pushed John off him onto the bed and quickly slid his pants down. Through it all he never let his lips leave John's, his tongue probing and teasing.
John was panting into Sherlock's mouth and tried pulling him closer as Sherlock wrapped his fingers around John's cock and experimentally started stroking. John shivered and clung onto Sherlock's shoulders. He felt that this wouldn't take long; just the thought that Sherlock was touching him... He had wanted this for so long.
Sherlock took John's reaction as an encouragement. He tightened his grip and increased the pace as he moved his head down, to nibble gently on John's neck.
"Sherlock," John gasped warningly. Moments later, he was spilling over Sherlock's hand with a loud groan.
After a long lingering kiss, Sherlock pulled back with a smile. "Shower?" he asked.
John laughed breathlessly. "Yeah." He wrapped his arms around Sherlock, with no intention to move just yet.
Sherlock kissed John again. "I love you," he whispered.
"I love you too," John said, resting their foreheads together and stroking Sherlock's shoulder blade. "You are amazing."
"So are you." Sherlock squirmed a little. "I'm sorry if this goes against some kind of etiquette, but I'm starting to feel rather sticky..."
John laughed again. "No, no, it's fine, I'm just lazy. Shower. Come on." He pressed a kiss on Sherlock's cheek and pushed him up.
Relieved that John wasn't offended, Sherlock got to his feet, took his hand and led him to the bathroom. John let the hot water stream and pulled Sherlock into a close hug under it, resting his head against his shoulder.
Sherlock practically wrapped himself around John as he buried his nose in his wet hair.
John stroked his back. "Thank you," he said softly.
"For what?" Sherlock mumbled, still nuzzling the top of John's head contentedly.
"Just. Everything," John shrugged. He kissed Sherlock's shoulder. "You make me happy."
"Good," Sherlock replied.
