G/T Adventures

A Study in Romance (Johnlock, BBC)

Sherlock drummed his fingers on the wooden table of the diner just next door below 221B, wearing his trenchcoat and scarf. His scarf was wrapped rather firmly around his neck, and despite the heating of the diner he planned on keeping it on through this horrible endeavor.

What was he thinking? He should never have bothered to come. This was something he'd never thought he'd do even once in his life. The sheer idea of it sent chills down his spine, but he knew it had to be done. It was unthinkable, it was ridiculous, it was-

"A date?" John asked with a rather shocked expression, gazing wide-eyed at the detective standing before him.

Sherlock fumbled with the phone in his hand, desperately attempting to avoid eye contact with his flatmate that had been recently turned boyfriend. "Yes, a date, didn't you hear me? Isn't that what couples do? Go out, get dinner? You said this all before with Sarah. Now I'm saying it to you. Do you want to go on a date? With me?"

"Sherlock, I mean, I'd love to it's just not something I expected you-"

"Great. Meet me downstairs at Speedy's in exactly two hours. I expect you to be exactly three minutes and thirty-five seconds late, as you tend to be for any event. I will try to be patient but if you could rush through picking out what jacket you need that would be wonderful." And with that, he turned on his heels and exited the main room of their flat, leaving John with his mouth agape and questions in his mind. 

This was just as he said, exactly two hours ago. John was expected to arrive in about two minutes and twenty-eight seconds. Each second seemed like an hour to the consulting detective. 

"I can feel your heart racing, Sherlock," a soft female voice whispered from his scarf, a tiny red-head poking her green eyes out just enough to gaze at him from the side. "It's adorable, you two are simply precious."

"Silence. I didn't bring you along to make comments, Justice, I brought you along to assist me."

"You shouldn't need me to assist you!" Justice whispered in a whiney tone. "You are Sherlock Holmes, you're good at everything!"

"Everything except human interaction. Oh, and showing sympathy, sentiment, emotion-"

"Alright, alright, shut up," she giggled. 

Very shortly after Sherlock had forced the words 'Would you like to go on a date with me' out, he rushed to hunt down the Borrower that lived in the flat with them. He and John had found her only a month ago, but she'd quickly wormed her way into their lives and did her best to assist when they needed her on cases. This, to Sherlock, was the biggest case he felt he'd ever work on.

The bell of the door jingled as it was pushed open, and John stepped inside with a rather nervous expression on his face. 

Sherlock immediately took notice of the change in his appearance from earlier. The doctor was clean-shaven, done just a half-hour ago. He had a bit of product in his hair to get it to remain in place, and his hair was slicked back just enough to be considered date-worthy. And here Sherlock was, still in his trenchcoat and scarf. 

Justice touched Sherlock's neck just enough to get his pulse, and she had to stifle a giggle when she felt his heartrate spike. 

"What do I say? He's coming over," Sherlock whispered, his voice holding just a touch of what some people consider panic. 

"Compliment him! He got all done up, say something about it!" Justice whispered harshly, peeking out of the scarf just to see where John was without being noticed.

Sherlock thought quickly as John sat down. "You look like you took more time on your appearance than usual. Much better than how you normally look."

John glanced at Sherlock and furrowed his brows, a faint smile cracking on his lips. It was hard to tell what he was thinking. "At least I tried. Take off your coat, and scarf. There's heating in here, surely you of all people can't be cold."

Sherlock immediately felt like he'd already done something wrong and lifted a hand to ruffle his black curls. "Ah, well, I...I am. I believe it's possible I am catching a cold."

"Sherlock, let's be serious here for a moment. Why did you bother asking me on a date? Is this one of your tricks?"

The detective swallowed loudly, shifting his hand to nudge his scarf as if to ask for help from the Borrower.

Justice took only a moment to think. "Say no, you dumbass!" 

"No, you dumbass," Sherlock mumbled to John, only pausing and placing a hand over his face. "I mean-"

John watched Sherlock with a curious expression, his smile turning into a slight grin. "Sherlock Holmes, are you nervous?"

"No, I mean...yes? No." Sherlock fumbled over his words, mentally cursing himself for the way he was acting. This was ridiculous. He was going to say something else stupid, which is why he brought the Borrower along to assist him. 

Shaking his head with a chuckle, John stood from the chair. "I need to use the bathroom, I'll be right back. Hopefully, by then you'll stop acting strange."

Watching John as he walked from the room to the public use toilet, he growled in frustration. "Justice, what the hell am I supposed to say? To do?"

"Sherlock...I think you should stop asking me what to do and start just doing what you think you should do." She spoke quietly, hoping he'd understand.

"What I think I should do is call the whole thing off. I have never been more desperate to be shot in my life." 

"You are Sherlock Holmes. The great detective with a brilliant, no, extraordinary mind, the ability to read anyone like an open book, and yet you think you need advice for this? You don't! Just be yourself. Be you. Don't look for advice, just be...be Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson."

"Be...myself?" Sherlock muttered, his thick eyebrows furrowing as he thought about what she said. Usually, people want him to be as little like himself as possible. "Be Sherlock Holmes."

"Yes, now, shush and don't expect me to help anymore. Just be you." Justice whispered harshly as John returned a few minutes later.

Sherlock looked to John, taking a deep breath and reached across the table to rest his hand over John's. "John. I can assure you, this is not a trick. Forgive me for before, I had quite a bit on my mind. I think I'm over that now."

John gazed at their hands, before taking his free one and placing it now over Sherlock's. "Yeah, no, of course. Of course, I forgive you."

Justice felt Sherlock's tense shoulders relax beneath her, and the Borrower chose to stay silent the rest of the date, listening to her two companions chat and sound like how they normally would without her interference. 

When the date was over, Sherlock was the first to head back to 221B where he placed Justice down in an inconspicuous location to make it look like she had never even left the flat. When John entered, she smiled broadly at the doctor and rested her hands on her hips. 

"How did the date go?" She asked cheerfully, cocking her head to the side and trying to seem curious despite knowing how well it had actually gone.

John looked to the Borrower as he hung up his dark-colored jacket and chuckled. "I think it went quite well, once he stopped asking you for assistance."

Justice felt her heart leap into her throat. "I-I don't know..."

"Oh, please. I'm not stupid, despite what Sherlock thinks about me sometimes. But, thank you. It was nice of you to want to help him. I think he has parts of it down, but, maybe help him out with his compliments a bit more." John knelt down to the floor, using the tip of his finger to ruffle the younger woman's hair. 

Still smiling, Justice closed her eyes and giggled. "I can do that. He needs that, doesn't he?"

John glanced over to the kitchen, where Sherlock was already busy with one of his 'Strange' experiments. "Just a tad."