A/N: I was thinking of splitting this chapter into four different parts to show Sherlock and John's love blossom through four months but I decided to make it like this since this chapter didn't end as I thought it should. I hope you will like it and please review! :) xx ~ erithwolf
The clock had just struck 18:15 and Sherlock was anxiously wandering around the apartment, fiddling with everything he could found. Right now he was fiddling with his phone and breathing oddly. He had never been nervous before, not even when he left for England. Sherlock went into the kitchen and wandered around while throwing his phone up and down in the air.
"You will be breaking it if you continue on like this Sherlock..." Mrs Hudson said from the living room, she was reading an old book about werewolf tales. She wanted to know Sherlock's race better.
"I'm nervous Mrs. Hudson." Sherlock sighed from the kitchen and kept wandering around until he heard a soft, quiet knock on the door. His senses immediately went on high drive and he almost ran down the stairs to meet him.
"Don't scare him away." Mrs. Hudson called right before Sherlock opened the door. John, no, he was standing there in front of him with a slight smile dancing on his lips. Sherlock's heart started race when John's scent overwhelmed him, he smelled of trees, freedom and something old and rotten. Sherlock wrinkled his nose a little but quickly smiled back.
"Hello John. Welcome to 221B Baker street." he said, quickly putting on his mask and reached out his hand to shake John's already outstretched hand.
"Hello Sherlock." John replied and they walked into the apartment. Mrs. Hudson came down the stairs and she smiled warmly when she saw John and Sherlock together.
"Follow me." Sherlock said and John did as he said. Sherlock had a hard time not to overthrow John with wet wolf kisses. They went up the stairs and Sherlock showed John around in the apartment. He also introduced John to Mrs. Hudson and she said she was the landlady and made it clear that she isn't Sherlock's housekeeper. When they were finished, John said:
"Nice place, I really like it." John said and Sherlock's heart filled with joy. Maybe John wanted to stay with him after all.
"I'm glad you like it John." Sherlock said and looked at him, he really tried not to give him a wolf stare. It would surely scare him away.
"So... I guess I should be heading back to my hotel then?" the shorter man said and Sherlock's stomach dropped. "W-what?" he said, quite offended but he hid it well. Hadn't John said that he liked it? Why wouldn't he want to stay?
He saw Mrs. Hudson's facial expression go from happy to worried in the corner of his eye.
"Well yes. I need to give it a thought, I mean... I don't know you yet Sherlock." John said, trying to be nice but Sherlock could see and scent that he was scared of something.
"If you can stay you will get to know me." Sherlock said, really trying to make him stay.
John chuckled.
"Of course, but I've been here for some hours now and it has been a really great time, but I need to give it a thought first before I decide on if I want to live here or not." John smiled at Sherlock.
"I see." Sherlock said, forcing himself to hold his mask. "I will give you my number, just text me when you've come up with a decision. I prefer to text." Sherlock babbled and scribbled down his cellphone number on a note and gave it to John.
"Of course. I will text you as soon as I can." John said, and with that, he gave Sherlock a firm handshake before going down the stairs and leaving 221B.
When he had left, Sherlock stomped his way up the stairs and went into the living room to meet a disappointed look from Mrs. Hudson.
"You think he will come back?" she asked and Sherlock glanced at her.
"Come back? Come back? Why would he come back now? He is scared of me! I saw it myself! I saw it in his eyes!" Sherlock growled and his regular blue-green eyes turned amber.
Mrs. Hudson put the book away, took off her glasses and looked at Sherlock.
"Sherlock, calm down please, or else you will ravage the whole apartment." she begged but Sherlock just growled angrily at her and the warmth lingered over him and with a loud snarl he was standing on all fours, staring at Mrs. Hudson while exposing his long and sharp teeth.
"N-no Sherlock please. Transform yourself back. You will just make everything worse by doing this." Mrs. Hudson begged but Sherlock snarled at her, whipped with his tail and jumped out from the open window in his room. The moon was shining brightly down at him as he ran through the streets, growling and snarling loudly. He ran and ran until he collapsed somewhere near a river. He panted furiously and slumped down in the cool water. The water soothed his sorrowful thoughts and calmed him down a bit. Sherlock got up from the water and lay down in the high grass. He started licking his bleeding paws while thinking of John.
Why didn't he want to be with me for longer? Why was he so unsure when I asked him if he wanted to stay? Why couldn't he give me an answer now? Why was he scared of me? Did I do something wrong?
The questions flew around in his head like a pack of angry bees and it made him dizzy.
Sherlock clenched his jaws and decided to back to 221B, maybe John had texted him his decision after all. He got up from the ground and limped along the river with his nose stuck to the ground to find his way back home. After a couple of hours, Sherlock finally came home. He pattered his way up the stairs and met a crying Mrs. Hudson at the dining table. He immediately transformed back to human and ran towards her.
"Mrs. Hudson?" he asked worriedly and hugged her head tightly to his chest, messing her hair up with the blood from his hands.
"Oh Sherlock..." she sobbed and put her arms around his waist. "I thought you would never come back and you scared me so much when you transformed..." she cried and Sherlock felt his stomach drop. He had never intended to harm or scare the one person that mattered the most for him, except for John who was his everything.
"I'm so sorry Mrs. Hudson, I never meant to scare you nor make you believe I'd never come back." he said and hugged her tightly.
"I read in the werewolf book that your kind easily get mad when things do not go as you want and that you may be especially angry when your mates denies you things, which John did by not giving you an answer if he wants to be your flatmate or not." she said, now more calmer than before, while drying her tears with a napkin.
"I guess you could that's right." Sherlock said and smiled at her, proud that she had started reading and learning about his kind. "I'm glad you even want to read about my kind... I mean, we a tendency to scare people away." he said with a smirk and it reminded him of John. "Like I did with John. I don't think he will come back." he said gloomily and sat down on the floor beside Mrs. Hudson.
"Stop it now Sherlock, you're jumping to conclusions and you are making a mountain out of a spring. He didn't say that he'd never come back, he said that he would give the flatmate thing a thought and then come back to you when he had thought it over." Mrs. Hudson said and smiled at him. "You still got a chance, a big one. You are just overreacting."
Sherlock furrowed his brows and shrugged. "Maybe. I guess I'll just wait and see." he said. Mrs. Hudson nodded pleasingly.
"Yes, and while you're waiting for an answer, I think you should take a bath because you're stinking sweat and your hands are bloody. Did you run so much you hurt yourself?" Mrs. Hudson sighed and chuckled softly, shaking her head. Sherlock chuckled too and nodded. "It seems like I did." he said and got up from the floor to shower.
–
Sherlock went to his room when he had finished showering. He laid himself on top of his bed and stared out of the window. The Moon was staring back and he smiled at it. Suddenly, he thought of Mycroft. He hadn't been thinking of Mycroft for a long time now and the thought shocked him a little. Mycroft hadn't contacted him for once the last 9 years that had passed. This hurt Sherlock, he felt as they didn't have any close contact any more and the fact saddened him deeply. They had always been close when they were younger and he remembered how he had wished for Mycroft to come and visit him from time to time, even for a short time. But the elder brother hadn't and Sherlock stopped wishing for it to happen.
Sherlock closed his eyes, put a pillow over his head and sighed deeply. To dwell on it wouldn't help , it would just make him feel more bad. He reached his hand out to his night stand table and gripped his phone to take a look at it.
[One new text:
From:John Watson– 21:50
I would like to meet you tomorrow, is that okay for you? - JW]
Sherlock felt his heart flutter like a hummingbird's wings inside his chest when he read the text. Some sweat pored out of his hands when he started writing the reply.
[To: John Watson – 02:30
Of course. Where do you want to meet? - SH]
Sherlock didn't expect an answer since it was so late but apparently, he got one.
[From: John Watson – 02:31
At St:Bart's? - JW]
[To:John Watson – 02:31
What time? - SH]
[From: John Watson – 02:32
12:30? - JW]
[To: John Watson – 02:32
Yes, sounds good. - SH]
[From: John Watson – 02:32
See you tomorrow then. - JW]
[To: John Watson – 02:33
See you. - SH]
Sherlock was standing at the doorway to St. Barts right in time when he saw John walking down the street. His heart fluttered and his legs turned to jelly when he saw John's blonde hair and blue gaze, but he managed to suppress his feelings, he needed to or else he would scare John away.
John came to him and stopped right in front of him.
"Hello there." he said and smiled.
"Hi." Sherlock said with a nod. "have you make up a decision?" he then asked.
John looked a little offended but he lit up his face with a smile and cleared his throat.
"I have. I would like to try to live with you in a month or so and if it works out, then I will stay with you." John said and Sherlock almost burst out in joy but he kept his face straight.
"That sounds great." was the only thing Sherlock could say and he smiled at John even though he would rather kiss him right on the spot.
"Yes... So I need to take my things from my apartment and my hotel room to 221B. Would you like to help me?" he asked.
"Of course but I don't have a car." Sherlock said.
"Hm okay, then we will have to take everything by the tub then." John said with a furrowed eyebrow.
"No, we will take the cab and I will pay the travel." Sherlock said and John smiled, relieved. "Thank you." he said and gave Sherlock's hand a friendly shake before they went to the high street to catch a cab.
"So Sherlock... What do you do for your living?" John asked the next day when they had moved all of John's things. They had furnished the guest room so now it was John's own room with all of his personal belongings.
"I'm a private detective, sometimes I work with Scotland Yard." Sherlock replied and sipped his tea while reading the newspaper.
"Okay. Just wanted to make sure since I read about you on your website. I googled you." John said and Sherlock raised his gaze and looked at John.
"Why?" he asked.
"I wanted to know who you are." John said and Sherlock could hint a tiny bit of some sort of darkness in John's voice.
"Okay..." Sherlock said and returned to his tea, very enjoyed with what John had done. It meant that he was interested, interested in Sherlock. It amused Sherlock, because it meant that he had a chance of making him and John become one.
"So... How do you do your cases? Do people come here and ask you things or what?" John asked and chewed on his scones.
"People come here, text me, email me or whatever. But mostly I'm at Scotland Yard, helping Lestrade with cases he find hard, when obviously, they aren't."
"So... He text you?" John asked and Sherlock nodded.
"He do." he said.
"Okay, how often?"
"Depends on how many cases they are and if he need me or not."
"Do you think we will have a case tonight?"
"Depends. Maybe, maybe not."
"Alright."
"Yes."
John ate his scone and got up from the sofa. "I will take a walk."
"Can I go with you?" Sherlock asked and John smiled. "Sure." he said and they dressed themselves and went out.
"Have you heard of the rumor about this big dog running around?" John asked when they came out. Sherlock got a bit stiffened but shrugged.
"No. What is it about?" he asked, even though it was obvious.
"Well, I heard it from my sister the other day. She called me and I thought she was drunk when she told me but er... She said that she had seen a big dog running around in the forest close to her house." John explained and it got Sherlock's attention.
"What kind of dog?"
"I don't know, I'm not an animal person...-"
Ouch! Sherlock thought.
"- but she said it was bigger than a normal dog should be, bigger than any dog breed actually. It had black or dark brown fur and it ears was V-shaped, like a wolf's ears or something like that. I haven't seen it myself though." John said and Sherlock noticed that the whole wolf thing was a joke for John. He didn't take it seriously.
"Alright. Well obviously, no dog that big could exist so I assume she was drunk when she called you." Sherlock said, trying to change subject. He wondered who exactly this wolf was, since he hadn't been running around in a forest the latest 9 years.
They went quiet for some minutes before John, out of the blue, started to talk about his life in Afghanistan, how he had gotten wounded and that he had regular visits to his therapist, who recommended him to write blogs about his everyday life. Sherlock found this amusing because in some time, John would write about Sherlock's wolf adventures and how annoying he was time to time.
"What are you smirking about?" John's voice asked abruptly.
"Oh me? Nothing." Sherlock said quickly. "Continue." he said and John continued telling him about his life, which Sherlock sure liked a lot.
"Oh jeez, now I go and blabber too much about me again..." John sighed when he was finished. "It's so irritating, I always do it and it makes people take distance from me." he sighed and shook his head.
"Not me." Sherlock said and John looked at him with a curious gaze.
"You're the only one then." he smiled and Sherlock nodded.
"I am." he said and John smiled even more.
"You and I seem to click, weirdly enough." he said and Sherlock nodded again.
"We do, but I do not find that weird."
"Why not?"
"Why should I?" Sherlock asked. I know we are made for each other, it's as easy as that. But the problem here is that you don't know it yet, but I will make you know, soon enough... he thought.
The two men went back to their apartment and made some lunch before Sherlock's phone started ringing. He gave John an excited look before answering the call.
"Sherlock we need you." Lestrade said with a stressed tone in his voice.
"Need me you say? For what?" Sherlock asked teasingly and he saw John smiling at him with a frown.
"A case, what else? Hurry your ass to London Eye." Lestrade grunted before closing the call.
Sherlock smirked and turned around to meet John.
"Feeling a need for a case?" he asked and John replied with a shrug.
"Will I even be allowed to go in?" he asked and Sherlock noticed that John's right hand had started to tremble. Sherlock had noticed that whenever John was nervous or excited his psychosomatic trembling started.
"I will get you in without trouble, don't worry." Sherlock said and John shrugged again.
"Or you'd rather stay here with Mrs. Hudson and help her with the chores?" Sherlock smirked and John shook his head.
"No. Let's go." he said and they went out to the street to catch a cab.
"Woman, around her mid-thirties, drunk when dying..." Sherlock blabbered while leaning down to the dead woman's body. He took out his magnifying glass from his pocket and examined her face which was full with big, blue and yellow bruises.
"No, not drunk." he said quickly. He could smell something dark... almost rotten.
"High. She was high by the time of death." he said and put his index and middle finger under her chin, turning her head sidewards to be able to look at her blood covered neck. Sherlock noticed Lestrade standing behind him with his face wrinkled in disgust.
"Bloody hell, that is some big bite mark!" the DI exclaimed and Sherlock looked closer at her neck, and now he saw something which scared him. The woman's neck was totally mauled by something that looked like an alpha werewolf's teeth. He drew in an almost unnoticeable breath by fear.
It must be the same werewolf that is running around Harry's house that bit this woman he thought worriedly.
"An animal of some sort, a bear maybe." Sherlock lied, he didn't and couldn't tell the truth just yet.
"Fantastic!" John exclaimed and Sherlock turned around to see a pair of beaming blue eyes and a face lit up with a big smile. Sherlock let a small smile form on his lips. He thought he was amazing.
"Bear? In the middle of central London? Are you joking on me Holmes?" Lestrade asked doubtfully with his arms crossed over his chest.
"No." Sherlock replied and looked closer at the bite wound. The bite was about a day old, Sherlock assumed that she died around 19:00 and since she was dead, she hadn't survived the impact of the werewolf poison. Sherlock raised himself from the ground and looked at Lestrade. "You need to get some animal expert over here, I can't help yo more than what I've done now." he said and Lestrade sighed, highly disappointed.
"Alrighty then Holmes, thank you." he said and gave Sherlock a friendly pat on his shoulder before calling an animal expert. Sherlock started to walk away from the case, somewhat stiff in his steps. John tried to keep up.
"That was fantastic." John said in awe when he came up by Sherlock's side and Sherlock gave him a slight smile.
"Thank you." he said thankfully.
"You have some amazing talent there Sherlock."
"Thanks." Sherlock said.
"You really think it's a bear? It seems quite unlikely since we're in the middle of London." John said, hastily changing the subject. Sherlock shrugged. He did want to tell his mate the truth about the dead woman and of course himself but it was too early. He would tell Mrs. Hudson later though.
"From what I could see, I would say it was a bite from a bear, but let the animal expert solve it out."
"Hmm... Okay then."
"You hungry?" Sherlock asked, changing the subject.
"Sure." John replied.
"I know a good place, let's go."
"Have you ever had a girlfriend?" John asked when they had received the menu at Tierra Brindisa restaurant.
"No." Sherlock replied, feeling a bit offended since the only one in the whole world he wanted was John, but of course the shorter man wouldn't know...
"Boyfriend?"
Sherlock opened his mouth to answer but John interrupted him.
"If you have one I'm totally..."
"I don't have..."
"- Fine with it, I've nothing against it...-"
"- John I..."
"It's alright, you don't have to be embarrassed...-"
"John listen..."
"I'm totally fine with it Sherlock."
Sherlock gritted his teeth and punched the table to make John shut up.
"I don't have a boyfriend nor a girlfriend, it is not my kind of area – so to speak..." he growled, noticing how his teeth started to grow longer in his mouth. He quickly shut his mouth and the well known smell of fear poured out of John. He had probably seen something about Sherlock that scared him.
Shit!
John broke the silence with clearing his throat and then he started down at the table.
"Sorry I didn't mean to offend you." John excused himself and Sherlock's tensed body softened.
"It's alright." he said with a softer voice and realized that it might not have been so clever of him to say that a partner wasn't his area, maybe John had asked of his sexual orientation because he thought he might have a chance to hit on Sherlock.
Sherlock cursed himself inside his mind and looked at John's beautiful face, marked with tiredness and war. He wanted John to know what he really felt, that every time John looked hurt by his stupic actions, he wanted him to know that it was his blood's fault that caused him to flare up like that and that he didn't mean to hurt him...
Angelo came by and put a lit candle on the table and served them spaghetti with meatballs, just like in the Lady and the Tramp.
"But we didn't order..." John started to protest but Angelo cut him off by shaking his head and smiling at them.
"I know but this is on the house and for you two lovebirds." he smiled and walked away. John looked suspiciously at Sherlock with a perked eyebrow.
"Did you make him do this?" he asked and Sherlock immediately shook his head.
"No."
"Okay, I believe you. But I want to make clear that I'm not gay." John stated and Sherlock's heart shattered into million pieces by hearing his /everything/ utter those words.
"What? No, I haven't told Angelo. This is all his doing, and you should know by our latest conversation that having a boyfriend or girlfriend isn't my area." Sherlock said slowly while forcing himself not to transform and rip the whole place apart.
John nodded pleasingly, believing him and started to eat the spaghetti. Sherlock watched him eating, he himself was too upset to even look at the food. He waited for John to be finished and while he was waiting, he thought of what John had said just a couple of minutes ago.
"Was it really the truth? That he wasn't gay? He had seemed interested in me before but maybe that was just my imagination..." he thought sadly.
"Aren't you hungry?" John asked in between his chewing and Sherlock shook his head.
"No."
"Okay."
Silence...
"I'm finished now."
"Good."
"Shall we go home now?"
"Yes, why not."
The two men left the restaurant and went home.
–