Title: Devious
Rating: PG
Pairing: Sherlock/John, mention of past Sarah/John and Sarah/OC
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Summary: Written to fill a prompt that I can no longer find on the sherlockbbc_fic kink meme. Basically, matchmaker Sarah telling Sherlock to ask John out already!

Sarah stands outside 221B Baker Street and watches the shadows pass in front of the lightened second-floor windows. A tall, dark figure followed by a smaller, squarer one that she knows is John. She is to meet him in ten minutes at the Thai restaurant he recommended last week. She leans against the bricks in the alleyway opposite his flat and phones him.

"John, I'm running late, I'll be there in fifteen. Will you be a dear and get us a table? I've heard the place is packed of a Friday night."

That last is true enough and John assents, as she knows he will. A few minutes later he opens the door to the flat, hails a cab and is off. Sarah waits for a moment, steeling herself, and then crosses the busy street. She doesn't knock, doesn't want to risk that Sherlock won't open the door to her. His brusqueness at their first meeting had settled into a cold disliking that, while understandable, was a bit hard to take. She hoped this conversation would remedy that but she had spent the last half-hour shivering in the alleyway, worrying about how it could go wrong.

She ascended the stairs quickly, going from memory, though she'd only been there once before. She was rewarded with Sherlock, still in the act of sitting up from a doss on the ratty sofa. He was wrapped in a thin blue robe, feet bare, threadbare tee shirt on backwards. His pale eyes narrowed as he caught sight of her.

"John's not here," he said and flounced back into the sofa cushions like a romantic heroine or a silent film actress. "He's out on your date." Sherlock said the word acidly.

"Yes, I know," Sarah said, edging into the room. "I called him."

Sherlock's lips thinned. "Devious," he pronounced.

Sarah took the judgment in stride because yes, it had been. "It was you I wanted to talk to."

Sherlock flung a dramatic hand up to cover his eyes. However, he didn't immediately tell her to leave, so Sarah took it as a good sign. She sat in the chair with the Union Jack pillow and leaned forward.

"We're not, you know," she said casually. "Dating. John and I. I mean, I do love him but it's not like that, not anymore." It had been, of course, for a few weeks. He'd been the first after her ex-husband to make her feel good about herself and she appreciated that. But it was Jason all over again, although instead of being in love with his job, John was in love with his flatmate.

"Look, I'm only telling you this because I suspect that you love him as well." He flinched a bit at that and Sarah wondered how John could be so blind, how he could not see that Sherlock Holmes adored him. "So, word of advice. Make your move, before someone else does."

Sherlock levered himself up from his reclining pose, pinning her with a look that went right down to her bones, weighing, calculating, deducing. Finally, he looked away and Sarah chuffed out a relieved little breath. She stood up, not bothering with a goodbye because she knew from John that Sherlock hated idle chatter. She was at the door when his low voice stopped her.

"And what? He's meant to change his sexuality just for me?"

She spoke carefully. "I think you might be surprised at how much John is willing to negotiate when he wants something."

Sherlock moved so quickly that Sarah only managed a quick step back before he'd pressed her into the wall, towering above her with his impossible high and how could such a slim man be so physically imposing?

"He's done it before?"

Sarah pursed her lips and remained resolutely silent. John had told her about it in confidence and when he'd been slightly drunk and it would be wrong of her to divulge it without his consent. "You should ask him," she said finally, when silence and then a cold glare did not make Sherlock back off.

Sherlock huffed, "Fine." He backed off enough for Sarah to slide away from him and down the stairs. She's seen the small smile he gave her though, seen the little glint in his eye that promised he would ask John about it and not stop until he got the answer he wanted, as well. Sarah grinned at the closed front door of 221B and pulled out her mobile.

"John? Sorry but I'm not feeling well. No, no need to come over, I'll just sleep it off and be fine in the morning. Why don't you order something for you and Sherlock? I hear the food is fabulous."