"So Touchingly Loyal" - Pet!John (Sherlock Holmes/John Watson MD)

John looked at the man’s hands as he wrapped a red bow around his neck. “Are you my new owner?” he asked hopeful, but wary.

“No John, your owner is going to come home soon,” he said with a smirk that didn’t promise anything good. “But this is going to be your new home,” he muttered and the pet looked around curiously.

“It’s quite messy,” he commented honestly, making Mycroft laugh loudly. “Oh, he’s going to love you.”

Sherlock had just finished solving a case and was returning back to Baker Street rather triumphantly. It was his birthday and his brother Mycroft had promised him a special treat would be waiting when he returned home.

He was a little sceptical, given the history between the two of them, but never the less jogged quickly upstairs to the flat and eagerly burst through the door.

John’s head snapped up as he heard the sound of footsteps approach the door they came in from. By the time someone came in the room John’s heart was already beating fast in his throat, his tail wagging slightly, hesitant. The most beautiful human being he had ever seen walked in, smelling of sweat and war, and John couldn’t help but smile expectantly at him.

Sherlock stepped in the room, removing his coat and scarf and throwing them down on the sofa. He instantly spotted his new pet beaming at him from the armchair and headed over to him, grinning. “Well,” he muttered. “Mycroft said you were cute.” He stroked the pet’s head and tickled under his chin. “Do you have a name?”

John’s tail started wagging like crazy when the beautiful man walked closer and grinned at him, his cheeks burning red in happiness as his head was stroked. He leaned towards the touch, loving the attention. He surely wasn’t used to this. “I am John,” he said with a grin. “I am your present,” he said, puffing his chest a bit.

“John…John,” Sherlock repeated the name aloud, thoughtfully playing around with John’s tail. “Well John,” he said finally. “Do you know how to make tea and coffee?”

John looked entranced as his owner’s pale fingers played with his tail. “Yes,” he replied proudly. “I like tea! And I like making tea!” he said and then he realised this could be an exam. He swallowed hard and looked up sheepishly. “I can do a lot of things,” he muttered, suddenly scared the man was checking whether it would be worth it to keep him. John really wanted to stay.

Sherlock frowned at the sudden coyness of his new pet. “It’s OK John,” he said kindly and offered him a warm smile, looking into his eyes. “Hmm, your last owner didn’t treat you too good. Well I’m not the politest person in the world but I’ll never intentionally hurt you,” he said honestly, wondering why it was so easy to open up his heart to John. “But I guess maybe we could start with a cup of coffee. Black two sugars please.”

John’s cheeks burned red as Sherlock talked about his last owner. “How do you – “ he stopped, frowning, knowing very well he was not allowed to talk badly about humans. “I am a bad pet,” he said then, his ears flattening against his head.

“I can be a good pet!”

He beamed when he was asked to prepare coffee, and he jumped quickly at the chance to prove himself.

Sherlock sat down in the armchair feeling it all warm from where John had been curled up on it, and he watched smiling as John bounded into the kitchen and began to make the coffee. “Can you cook?” he called, suddenly realising he was bloody hungry. He’d been working on this case for two days and hadn’t had anything.

John gaped when he saw the mess in the kitchen, but he managed to find a cup he washed quickly and filled with coffee and two sugars. The kettle boiled when he heard the man talk again, he mixed the coffee quickly and brought it to the other room. “I can, yes,” he said, and smiled a bit sheepishly. “I can do all kinds of things, I am used to staying at home to help,” he explained.

Sherlock took the coffee with a grateful nod of the head and had a small sip. “Lovely,” he remarked and placed it down on the table. “I don’t eat very much,” he explained, “especially not when I’m working, but I normally just order takeaways or put things in the microwave. It’ll be nice to have someone to cook for me.” He grinned at John and patted him on the back.

“I can also go to the supermarket if you need me to, I was well trained,” he muttered, his tail agingg slightly. He actually really liked going out. He licked his lips nervously as the man talked about his habits. “Does it mean…does it mean you’ll keep me?” He asked, hopeful. It wouldn’t be the first time John would get returned, and he knew with his age it was rather unlikely that he’d get adopted permanently. He really didn’t want to go back to the shop.

“Yes,” Sherlock said slowly, “yes I’ll keep you. I’ve been after a companion for sometime and…” He looked John up and down, beckoning him to come closer. “You’ll do very nicely. “ Sherlock reached out to stroke his new pet. “I hate going to the shops so that will be one of your tasks…and I may even take you to work with me although I’m yet to decide about that.”

John felt himself blush under the man’s piercing gaze, but he forgot about embarrassment when he agreed to keep him. His tail started to wag. “Yes master,” he muttered and walked closer, sitting by Sherlock and leaning into the touch, his eyes fluttering with pleasure.

His tails started to wag again when the man mentioned work. “Really? That would be amazing!” he exclaimed, nuzzling the man’s shoulder affectionately, taking in his unique scent.

Sherlock laughed and tickled under John’s ears, already growing rather fond of him. Mycroft really had excelled himself this time, he thought, what a wonderful gift. “So, we need to find you somewhere to sleep John, don’t we?” he wondered aloud. “There is a spare room upstairs but it’s full of junk at the moment and would need clearing out. I know,” he announced, jumping up out of his seat. “We can make you a little bed on the floor at the end of mine, I’ll put some cushions out.”

John smiled sheepishly when his new owner started to talk about sleeping arrangements. “I don’t need much,” he muttered, leaning almost desperately towards the hand by his ear, it felt extremely good. “But master might prefer not to have me in his room, I often have nightmares,” he admitted.

“Very well,” Sherlock nodded. “You can sleep in here if you like, but don’t worry about disturbing me. I’m up most of the night doing experiments. I hope you don’t mind the violin by the way?” He pointed absent mindedly to the discarded instrument on the desk. “But perhaps right now you could go to the shops for me and choose some ingredients to make a meal.”

John’s tail slowly wagged to a stop when the man seemed to opt for him to sleep in the living room. He knew he couldn’t complain and he wasn’t going to, but he felt gutted at the idea of being alone at night, his nightmares always scared him. He nodded though, knowing his new master needed his sleep and it would only cause embarrassment if they shared a room.

The question surprised him, not a lot of humans cared about pets opinions. It pleased him to know his master could be thoughtful, even though at the moment he didn’t know how sincere it was.

“I like music,” he said with a grin and then nodded excitedly. “I can do that,” he exclaimed, his tail starting to move again. It was a very exciting day for John.

Sherlock smiled and stood up, ruffling John’s hair affectionately. “Good boy,” he praised before heading towards the kitchen. He sat down at the table and dragged over his microscope, then dug into his pocket and brought out his card which he handed to John. “Here, you can get the shopping on this. My pin is 2801. Think you can remember that?”

John smiled happily at the compliment, his tail wagging like crazy. “Yes master,” he muttered, already thinking about what he could make that would impress him. He took the card and laughed a bit at the question. “Of course, I am not stupid,” he exclaimed and rolled his eyes, realising too late he was being disrespectful. His ears flattened on his head then, “I mean…yes master,” he stammered to correct himself.

Sherlock smirked, amused by the pet’s insolence, and fascinated by it too. So John had opinions, thoughts, a mind of his own. Interesting. And better than having one of those dull pets that just obeyed blindly. “It’s quite all right John,” he muttered. “Just be on your way, and try not to take too long.”

John looked curiously at the debit card. “Mister S Holmes,” he read out loud, wagging his tail. “Master Holmes,” he repeated, trying to memorise how he should call him. He moved closer and softly rubbed his head on the man’s shoulder in greeting. “I will be back as soon as possible,” he exclaimed.

“Great,” Sherlock mumbled and tapped John’s bottom, gently pulling on his tail. Then he turned his attention back to the microscope and began to inspect some slides, part of a fun little project he was working on analysing 74 different types of flower pollen.

John blushed, a soft whimper escaping his lips as Sherlock pulled his tail. “It’s sensitive,” he protested with an embarrassed chuckle.

He came back an hour later with a bag of groceries and his ears flattened to his head. “Stupid machines,” he mumbled, red in the face. “Had to change store,” he explained. “Will cook quickly,” he promised, going to his master and rubbing his face against his shoulder in greeting again, happy to see him.