Kleptomaniac (A Johnlock Fanfiction) [2015 Wattys Award Winner]

Chapter One

John runs his hands over their spines, feeling the soft, worn plastic bend and crinkle under his thick fingers. They're warm with the air of the rental store, and he's coolly watching a boy scoff at Titanic. Outrageous.

He's behind the action aisle, looking at a movie with a disinterested gaze, and then putting it down almost disgustedly. It's like he's never seen CD's like these before - he's never seen anything so worn with others' touch. He doesn't seem used to touch; his dark eyelashes flutter when he looks around the shop, the whispers sending a belated reaction through him. His curly brown hair shivers against the frame of his cream-white forehead, and John realizes that this boy might just be a tad bit nervous.

He takes deep breaths, and looks around, taking in the smells and sights and sounds, but he doesn't handle the movies in his care like they're real, containing the fantasies of sane and insane screenplay writers alike.

John looks at him, and nearly yells, "Buy the damn movie!" Unfortunately, that would be rather uncouth. The boy picks up a cleanly, hardly used James Bond before pocketing it in his knapsack and sneaking out the entrance. He barely pays John a second glance as he pushes his way through the second pair of metal doors, a smug smile on his face when he sees the shocked expression John holds.

After a second's pause, after a moment of watching him walk away, John puts the movies he's holding down haphazardly on a nearby coffee table and sprints after him. He pushes through the wooden door, leaving the cashier with a confused, almost scared look on his face, and then through the second pair to leave everyone scratching their heads, whispering about "What could have possessed him?" His feet pound hard on the sidewalk, and he ignores the pain in his right leg with the utmost disdain as he shoves his way through the crowd.

"Ow!" a woman yells, hitting John with her bright pink purse. "Watch it, chav!" And then another discontented grumble, and a murmuring of loud contempt, followed with the thief turning to look at the commotion. He starts to move back, but John's only a few feet away.

He almost walks off the curb of the sidewalk into an oncoming cabby when John grabs him by one shoulder and yanks him back with a loud growl and an annoyed yell.

"Who the hell are-"

"I saw you!" John yells. "I fucking saw you!"

The taller boy grins a bit. His look is mesmerizing - his lips are twisted up only slightly into an amused smile, and the boy begins leaning so they're centimeters away and lets out a wink. "I'm certain you did," the boy says. "I've seen quite a few people myself..."

"You..." John pulls him by his collar, down to his face. "Are you always like this?"

He grins even wider, his lips tightening more and more with each extended centimeter. "Always like what?" he laughs. John notices the people are going around them, trying to avoid the debacle as much as possible. They're making a scene.

"That's it," John says. He's got on a dark blue scarf, and John latches onto it with one hand, even though the kid's grinning like a fucking idiot and it's entirely likely that John's making a fit. But this guy... "You're coming with me." He turns away and pulls the boy along, walking briskly back to the rental place.

"I am, am I?" There's a sudden and almost mocking swish as John feels air replace what was previously solid mass, and he turns back around... to see no one.

The boy's scarf falls to the sidewalk as he wipes his blonde hair out of his eyes, turning every which way to pinpoint a mess of curly brown hair, and when he can't find him, John kicks the nearest metal thing and gathers the boy's scarf off the ground.

Fuckin' kleptomaniac.

A/N: THE FIRST CHAAAPAOPPTERPRRRRRTSTTSGGSGZG SO PUMPED GUYS SO PUMPED

this story is basically... a mix of cute and sexy. I'll try to make it as awesome as possible, guys. Also, I couldn't fit it in the description, but my friend and I made the cover (@HereGoes_Nothing) and it turned out fucking fabulously, don't you think? Anyway, PLLLLEEEEEEASE comment, I need your input to complete this story. :) I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH KISSES