Life Before

Disclaimer: This is a purely fan-made piece that is using the world and characters from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and Steven Moffat, Mark Gatiss, and the BBC's Sherlock, and is made entirely for enjoyment. No financial gain has been made in the making of this piece. All situations, plots, and other parts have been constructed by me and are my own creations

Summary: Life was simpler before John

Author's Note: Possible out-of characterness. Un-beta'd and written by a non-British person.

Constructive Criticism is always welcomed

Published: 17 January 2014

Rating: K+

Life, in many ways, was simpler before John H. Watson had come into his life. There was no worrying about so-called social 'niceties' or that his experiments would be thrown out or that he would be lectured over his actions before John. He wasn't some silly internet celebrity, people didn't know how fallible he was (John kept reposting the stories of cases Sherlock hadn't solved, no matter how many times he hacked into the doctor's computer), and he never had to hide from the paparazzi before John had come into his life and disrupted thing so utterly.

Now there were areas in the flat that John had dubbed 'experiment-free zones' and after the fifth time he'd tossed the experiments, Sherlock began to take the shorter man seriously. The kitchen also now had a new, small refrigerator, one that Mrs Hudson had cheerfully backed John up on saying that Sherlock couldn't use it unless, of course, he decided to be helpful and cook something edible. John also insisted that Sherlock fill out paperwork if he wanted John—or John's dog—to be a part of an experiment.

Then there were the problems of John himself, who was far too tidy and thought that reality telly was a valid form of entertainment. Sherlock had heard more adjectives for 'fantastic' than he had known existed since he met John. John brought girlfriends to the flat and expected Sherlock to keep them straight (that only made Sherlock even more determined to delete any information about them) and while he was considerate enough to usually not bring them back to the flat for sex, he still came home smelling like them. He insisted on Sherlock taking unwanted gifts from overly boring and grateful people. He wouldn't let Sherlock deduct whenever and whomever he wanted, regularly telling him to stop it. He cared too much about what people thought in general and really cared about what people thought of Sherlock, which was silly. He let the damn dog up on the couch, yet scolded Sherlock if he put his feet on the coffee table. And—the absolute worst thing—was he put Sherlock on a pedestal.

Oh, he got annoyed frequently with Sherlock and it was a recurring event for him to tell him what a prick/git/show-off/brat/prat Sherlock was, but even then, he looked at Sherlock's ability to deduce things with awe and amazement. He seemed to think that Sherlock's time solving crimes made him some sort of 'good person'.

The absolutely worst and most annoying part of it all was he actually felt unpleasant when John gave him sad, disappointed little looks when he didn't measure up to John's standards. Like he really should have tried harder or he should have known better. He was Sherlock bloody Holmes, the world's only Consulting Detective! He didn't need to feel bad because John was upset with him!

And this didn't address the sentimental problems that John brought or the fact that now Sherlock thought about sex in a less than scientific way.

No, life had been easier and simpler before the good doctor had come into Sherlock's life.

He didn't care that John was going to go and leave him for some trite and inane tart he'd met through a case, he felt nothing over the fact that John was going to be basically throwing away their friendship by going and foolishly getting married, and he wasn't jealous.

Sherlock had managed for most of his life without John; he didn't need him and he wasn't about to start now.

Life was simpler before John. Better.

And if Sherlock repeated that mantra enough, someday, he might even believe it.

x Fin x