The Science of Attraction

A/N: This was meant to be a drabble, but it's gotten a bit out of hand. :S I don't know how many chapters there will be, but I've got the next one done and the one after is started. It's not Beta'd so any mistakes are entirely my own. Reviews are appreciated; I like to know how my work looks to people other than myself.

Disclaimer: They're not mine.

"I've got it! I will finally be able to understand!"

John Watson looked up, the current line of his book promptly forgotten as his taller flatmate bounced into the room on the balls of his feet and leapt onto the couch, landing on his back with a feline grace that John could never, ever attain, not matter how hard he tried.

It took John a minute or two to register the words that Sherlock had yelled as he burst in, but when he found them he was still confused.

"Sorry, what?"

Sherlock looked over at his flatmate before sighing and assuming his 'all humans are idiots' expression before continuing.

"An experiment John, one that has confounded me since my youth."

John was still confused, it was late in the evening, he hadn't had much sleep and Sherlock was moving way too fast with his thoughts.

Well that's just a constant factor, his brain always has about 6 different though trains going at once.

He shook his head to clear it then tried again.

"I still don't understand a word you're going on about. Can you start again?"

Sherlock sat up, his elbows on his knees, and his fingers laced together, his classic thinking position. He fixed his eyes on John as if that would somehow make him understand better.

"Sexuality, John. Although I find relationships tedious, dull and boring, I sometimes wonder whether it's not the relationships themselves, but the content matter that makes them that way."

John stood suddenly, and Sherlock's eyes followed him. He frowned slightly as John went to move.

"Where are you going?"

John stretched as he answered, "I'm getting a cup of tea, so I can try and understand what you're going on about. Do you want one?"

"Coffee please, black, 2 sugars. So you're going to listen to my hypothesis."

"Well I suppose so; I've got nothing better to do with my time."

Sherlock frowned again as John disappeared into the kitchen. It wasn't like him to not question Sherlock's ranting. He chalked it up to a lack of sleep from the case they had just been on and left it.

John leaned against the bench as he waited for the kettle to boil. Trust Sherlock to attempt to figure out his sexuality through an experiment. He insisted on approaching things in such a clinical manner it was no wonder he found relationships tedious.

As John returned from making respective drinks Sherlock sat up, accepting his coffee with a gracious nod. When he was sure John was comfortable he resumed his hypothesis.

"I want to find out find out whether sexuality is based less upon gender or more upon aspects of a personality. It's perfectly acceptable to identify as straight, gay, asexual, pansexual, eccetra. But what if gender is not the defining point of attraction?"

John nodded, the man did have a point.

Sherlock continued, "I have identified as asexual since my teen years, even though I only had limited data to go on at the time."

John spluttered a little at that statement, "What do you mean limited data?"

Sherlock raised an eyebrow, "I experimented, isn't that what teenagers do, or did, or whatever. I had brief and fairly boring intimacies during my time at both high school and college and I was not impressed by either gender, hence, I came to the conclusion that I was asexual."

John's eyebrows shot up as he stared at his flatmate and friend. Sherlock tutted at him, "Now, now, don't be like that. You can't say you haven't been there, done that."

John swallowed, "You're completely right, but still, I didn't really expect to hear that, I just sort of assumed you, uhh..."

"Weren't capable of human emotion? Don't need physical release? Wasn't tempted by racing hormones? Wrong on all counts, though I have maintained my abstinence since then, something I am rather proud of."

Sherlock's tone wasn't mean, but it was pointed, and John swallowed again, "I just wasn't expecting any of that to come out of your mouth that's all."

Sherlock rolled his eyes, "Of course not, am I really that unpredictable?"

John nodded, and the eyes rolled again, "Well then, it is only of late that I've been looking into it again since one or two things have, cropped up, so to speak, and I am of the opinion that maybe those teenage trysts did not work because they were, to speak stereotypically, 'not the ones for me'. Maybe I was looking too vaguely into it by simply experimenting with different genders, maybe I need to go deeper...analyse why they didn't work, what parts went wrong so to speak."

His voice trailed off and John took the chance to look at his watch, it was nearly 10.

"Do you want to continue this in the morning Sherlock, it's nearly 10, and I do actually want some sleep sometime this week."

If Sherlock was listening he didn't make it obvious at all, on the contrary he kept speaking as though John hadn't said a word.

"Don't you understand John; I need your help with an experiment."

John shook his head, it was really too late to even think about what his flatmate was offering.

"Ugh, ask me in the morning Sherlock, I'm not in the right state to answer you right now."

"But you WILL help me?"

"I suppose so; I don't generally have a choice in these matters."

"What are you talking about John, you always have a choice."

"Yeah well, just tell me what it entails then I'll consider."

Sherlock paused. At first John thought he was lost for words, then he realised that he was merely trying to rephrase whatever it was he was going to say.

"I...I can't really tell you that. You see, prior knowledge could affect the data."

John sighed; he really just wanted to go to bed. He could deal with a sexually confused Sherlock in the morning.

"Well, then, give me a basic outline of what you intend to do and I'll decide whether I'll do it."

Sherlock considered the terms, and then started talking rapidly, "Well, I intend to work out what I've missed in terms of attraction and how that affects later intimacies. I've done some preliminary research and I intend to break the experiment into to sections so I can analyse each part in its whole and work out how each part links together. I will also be studying reactions so I can ascertain how each part works."

John nodded, it was a reasonable sounding experiment but still, "Where do I come into it?"

Sherlock looked at him with his 'you really are an idiot' expression, "Why, I'll be testing it all on you of course, seeing as you are my flatmate it can be assumed that our friendship closely resembles what prospective lovers have before they choose to pursue that particular path."

John rubbed his fingers against his temples absent-mindedly. He'd put up with being the guinea pig for a lot of Sherlock's experiments. He still hadn't fully recovered from experiments regarding the residue that hair removal cream left on bodies. His arms had felt weird ever since. 'It could be a crucial point in a case…' Sherlock had defended. He shook his head again; he really was too tired to make a decision right now.

"Look, I'll think about it and tell you in the morning."

Sherlock smiled his Cheshire cat grin in John's direction. John could tell from that smile that the answer would be a yes regardless of his input. He rinsed out his cup and sighed as he walked up the stairs to his bedroom. It was going to be a long few weeks if Sherlock insisted on going through with this.

So, what do you think? Am I in character enough? (It always annoys me when fics are written out of character and I'd hate to do the same)