Work Text:
“John.”
The army doctor looked up from his newspaper to shoot a glare at his flat mate, who had stolen John’s laptop from his lap and was now staring at the screen with an expression of mild disgust.
“What have you found now, Sherlock? And I swear, if you tell me you’ve gotten another virus so help me, I will break your microscope."
Ignoring John’s threat (he would never follow through with something so extreme), Sherlock gestured to the computer resting on his knees. “Why was this page hidden in your password protected folder?”
“My password protect – Dammit, Sherlock, there’s a reason that folder’s got a password on it! You aren’t supposed to go poking through things people want to keep private, especially if they’re me!”
“You made your point with that password, John,” Sherlock drawled, clearly missing the aforementioned point entirely. “privatemeansstayout, how tedious. Now I ask you again, why was this particular page hidden in your foolishly password protected folder?”
Feeling wary and suddenly vulnerable, John extracted himself from his armchair to read over Sherlock’s shoulder. The detective had pulled up one of John’s “secret” favorites, a page on the popular blogging site tumblr, with a blue background patterned disturbingly similar to the wallpaper in 221B. The content was harmless enough, simply a series of text posts discussing various stories, but it was the title of the blog that caused John to blush and recoil slightly, as if he was suddenly afraid of being too close to his flat mate.
“FuckYeahJohnlockFanfic,” Sherlock read unnecessarily. “What does that even mean? Based on the first few posts I’ve read, it seems to be a collection of reviews of various stories that feature the two of us as a romantic couple. For someone who spends quite a lot of time denying that the two of us are involved, you have a strange choice in reading material, John.”
Sherlock’s tone wasn’t accusatory, but John still felt the need to defend himself; that knowing look in Sherlock’s eye was just too much.
“They’re really well written,” he started, feeling his face heat even more, “the stories, I mean. The girls who run the blog only recommend well-written stories, and I just… I stumbled across the term ‘Johnlock’ on a fan-site and I wanted to see what they were talking about. Some of the stories were really out-there and didn’t sound like us at all, but then I found that blog and, well, I just wanted to keep track of what people are saying about us, is all.” He wisely chose not to mention how profoundly some of the stories had affected him, or how they had led him to start questioning his relationship with his flat mate. Were he and Sherlock merely best friends, or was there something deeper? Maybe the fan-girls were on to something…
“There’s a whole section here dedicated to porn,” Sherlock observed, nose scrunching as he clicked through the blog. “Why would people write things like this, especially about us? I’m above such basic human urges, and you are clearly interested in women, if your string of girlfriends is anything to go by… Where do they get these ideas? And how do they know so much about us; surely you aren’t publishing our sleeping habits on your blog.”
John flinched slightly as he remembered the entry he had posted not five days ago complaining about Sherlock waking him up at 3AM by torturing his violin. “They’re obsessed fans, Sherlock, they do little else. Apparently it’s common practice on the internet to take your favorite characters and pair them together. It happens to celebrities all the time, and we seem to have some very dedicated fans.”
“Obviously. And you’ve taken it upon yourself to keep track of what they’re saying. Very noble, John, but I still don’t understand why you felt like you had to hide it from me.”
‘I’m worried that they might be right about my feelings for you and I don’t want to be disappointed,’ John thought desperately. “I didn’t think you would want to know this was out there,” he said instead, not quite meeting Sherlock’s eyes. “I didn’t want to offend you by showing you what a few crazed fans thought about us.”
Sherlock stared at John for a long minute, clearly trying to analyze his friend. The army doctor shifted uncomfortably.
“I see,” Sherlock said softly, and John felt his heart lurch at the detective’s expression, one of triumph and understanding he typically wore before explaining the latest criminal’s mistakes to the Yard. “Oh John…”
Abruptly, Sherlock closed the laptop with a snap and stood, looming slightly over John, who scrambled back to make room.
“How long have you been ‘keeping track’ of this particular blog? Long enough to start questioning things, I imagine. These fans must write very convincingly to make you start to wonder... And you have started to wonder. Are we more than friends? Could we work as a romantic couple? Are you even straight? Have you always considered me gorgeous, or have these stories influenced your opinion of me?” As he spoke, Sherlock advanced on John until he was cornered next to the fireplace. “Has it ever occurred to you that I was aware of such a blog? I like to keep track of my fans as well, and Alex, Devin and Shoy write such interesting reviews…”
Jon stared at Sherlock, astounded. “Alex and Shoy – you read this stuff as well?!”
“Mmm, and write some. Alex just posted a review of my most recent fic; said we were very ‘in character’ which I thought was rather dull praise when you realize who wrote it…”
“Wha – Sherlock, are you telling me you’ve written about us as a romantic couple?”
The detective grinned slyly. “Why don’t you tell me?” he purred before closing the distance between himself and his flat mate and pressing his lips to John’s.