BBC Sherlock imagines

Argument-John

You were walking down the cold streets of London in the early hours of the morning. The ground was wet and puddles were unavoidable so your red heels were destroyed. Make up was running down your face but only from the rain that was plummeting onto you as you forced yourself not to cry.

It was new year and you'd been at a party with your boyfriend, John Watson, when his phone had rung. You hadn't got a look at the caller ID but once he'd hung up, you were pretty sure it was Mycroft on the other line. John placed his phone back into his pocket and looked to you with pleading eyes. "Again?" you asked, already knowing what he was going to say. "I promise I will make it up to you. He really needs me" he explained. "Do you know what? Don't bother. You can just move back in with him and I'm sure you'll live a very happy life together" you said, before turning your back and leaving alone.

And that's where you were now, still a five minute walk from your apartment. John had moved in a couple of days ago but most of his stuff was still in boxes, 'easy enough to move back out again' you thought to yourself.

You then turned the corner onto your street and was soon at your front door. You quickly unlocked it and stepped inside, locking it behind you again. You then went straight to the bathroom and stripped down before jumping into a hot shower. You stood there, letting the water run over you and your thoughts run wild. You counted every single time John had put Sherlock before you, every single time you were ditched on a date because Sherlock was 'upset' and 'might use drugs again'. You decided you'd tortured yourself enough and switched the water off before grabbing a towel and wrapping it around yourself. You walked straight to your bedroom and only just realised how exhausted you were. You flopped down on your bed and the tiredness truly kicked in and almost immediately you were fast asleep...

You jolted awake to a loud banging at your front door. You hadn't realised you'd fallen asleep but after a glance at the clock you realised you can't have been asleep for more than an hour. You climbed out of bed to go and answer the door but as you did so the towel around you slipped, reminding you that you hadn't got dressed. "Hang on" you called out but apparently they didn't hear you as they kept banging. You thought that they might break it down if they tried any harder but you didn't have time to dwell on that as you reached for the nearest clothes. This happened to be underwear, a pair of short pyjama bottoms and your robe but as the banging became more persistent you decided that it would have to do and rushed to the door. You finally unlocked it and pulled it open to see John, stood there, soaking wet with a large, red helium balloon in one hand and a teddy clutched in the other, just as soaked as he was. Your jaw dropped and it took you a few moments to form decipherable words but when you did, all you could say was "What about Sherlock?" He sighed and gestured to his wet clothes and skin and you realised he was still stood in the doorway. You stood aside and let him in and he went to sit on the sofa. You sat down next to him and looked at him expectantly. "Right, yes, um, explain. Right good um" he stammered before taking a deep breath and saying, "(Y/N) I've lost so many people because of the way I treat them as second best. The way I've treated you, in fact. But to be completely honest none of them were huge losses. However, you, you're different, you're special. And there is no way in hell that you are second best. Sherlock can take his drugs, he'll, he can OD if he likes, but you will still always come first. He's my best friend and I'll be there when he needs me, but not if you need me. And I hope that maybe one day, we can be there for him together. Well, what I'm trying to say is that you are more important to me than anything or anyone else ever has been or ever will be. And I want to make this work, I will fight to make this work-if you'll have me?" You blinked at him. You'd never thought about staying with John and helping Sherlock together-yeah he was and arse and he clearly hates you, but maybe that would change in time. And of course you wanted to be in it for the long term. And maybe you were a little dramatic and selfish earlier. You looked into John's eyes, up at the balloon and teddy bear and back at John's blue, desperate eyes. "Of corse I'll have you, idiot" he sighed with relief and went to pull you into a hug and then stopped himself, remembering the rain-soaked clothes. "Any chance I could dry off?" He asked. You jumped up and went and fetched him a towel and grabbed his dressing gown from the bathroom which was one of the first things he'd unpacked. You handed them to him as you walked past and went to the kitchen to make you both a hot cup of tea. When you returned, he was in his robe, his clothes draped of the radiator and he was drying his hair. The ballon was tied around a chair back and the teddy on the floor by the radiator. "Sorry they got a bit wet, I just tried to think of a gesture to show I cared and didn't really think about it to be honest" he admitted. "I love it" you reassured, handing him the mug. He took it quickly, with a grateful "thank you" and wrapped his hands around it to feel the warmth. You placed yours on the coffee table and plopped yourself down next to him. "John, listen. Next time Sherlock needs you, I will be ok with it. But only if I can come too. I want to help and it means that we can still be together" you explained. John looked at you surprised, "Are you sure? I mean Sherlock can be harsh and hurtful and an all round arsehole at the best of times. It's not pleasant and it'll be worse on you" he warned but you didn't care. "I can deal with it. And I'll have you so it'll all be fine" you assured. John smiled at you before nodding his head. "Ok" he said before leaning back against the sofa. "Mind if I stay the night?" he asked as he checked his watch to see it was three in the morning. "You live here don't you?" you replied. "Well, you said... and I didn't know if you wanted to take things back a step" he said, scratching the back of his head. "Of course not" you replied, leaning down against him, nudging into his robe. "Ok" he said as he began to stroke your hair.

After you'd both finished your tea, you took your cups to the sink and the two of you retreated to your bedroom for the night. John checked his phone, presumably to see if Sherlock had text him. "Are you sure he'll be alright. I'm ok with it if you want to go and check on him" you assured. "I'm not going back out in that" he scoffed, gesturing to the window where rain drops were smashing against it hard, "We can go and check on him in the morning. And he'd better pray to god that he's clean else he'll be getting hell from two of us, not just one." You smiled as you lay yourself down and John wrapped his arms around you and you both quickly fell asleep.