It all starts one day, a few pints (John Watson/James Moriarty)

Jim's coming at midday. It's just the two of us now. -JW

He sent the text even though he was very close now, he figured Sherlock would want the information beforehand anyway.

He felt a bit self conscious as he walked up the stairs, knowing Sherlock knew exactly what he had done to Jim the night before.
Some of his thoughts and realizations from their confrontation the day before were still fresh in his mind, still part of those things he would have to deal with eventually.

"I'm home," he shouted before entering the living room, freezing when he saw Sherlock was playing his violin by the window. It was even more embarrassing than he thought. It was a welcome image though, he always felt at home when he saw Sherlock. Because after all Sherlock and the living room of Baker Street... it was where he had found himself.

"Good morning," he said with a shy smile, automatically moving towards the kitchen and putting the kettle on.

Sherlock didn't reply vocally on John's arrival. He just turned in his direction and gave him a little smile, raising his eyebrows for a moment. Then, he closed his eyes and let the music overwhelm him, turning to the window again. The clatter of the kettle on the stove behind his back made him smile even brighter. John was home. Now everything would be alright.

John's smile quickly became less nervous as he saw Sherlock's, if the detective was smiling at him, then maybe things would be alright. He prepared tea for the both of them and in a few minutes he was handing a cup to Sherlock before he moved to his usual seat with his own.

"Not that I don't like you playing... but I think we should get to talking before Jim comes over..." he said before taking his first sip of tea. Ah, so good, he thought sighing.

Sherlock stopped playing and placed his violin and bow in the old position. Settling in his chair, he picked up the mug and blew over it to cool the tea.

"You had a rough night, I see." he said plainly, nodding over to John's direction, piercing him with his icy grey/blue/green eyes.

(( Guys I am at work so I can't do any kind of long reply. But I can read. I'll interfere as soon as I get home! ))

((I have to go to bed too soon... So... Till tomorrow then! What's the time over there? Here it's 22.46 (I can never tell the difference between am and pm :p)))

John blushed furiously at the words, he hated feeling embarrassed, only Sherlock was able to make him feel that way.
"Mm, something like it..." He commented simply, he didn't want to think how deep Sherlock's deductions went.

He looked outside the window. "I don't know why you should make me feel guilty because I have sex with my boyfriend," he protested, unable to sustain his friend's gaze.

((it's one hour difference, it's 22:06 in London now))

"I am not trying to make you feel guilty. I only point out the obvious facts like the bite marks and the red swollen skin of sucking in your neck, the way you did not comb your hair this morning, you smell like sweat, the red tone of your lips which means that they are well-perfused, the way you move around indicates on sore muscles and what would the origin be of those indicates? I would hardly know." Sherlock said in an uninterested, cool tone like he always did with his deductions. In the end, he raised one eyebrow and gazed at John. He took a sip of the tea to cover his irritation up.

"But anyways, the activities you do with your boyfriend have no big influence on this actual moment, though I would recommend you take a shower very soon."
"However, it will have an influence if he is going to live with us."

John felt extremely self-conscious now, Sherlock was enumerating all those things that made the picture of their night of sex quite clear in his head. He was making him feel guilty, and dirty as well.
"You make it sound like something wrong... sex is good, there's nothing dirty or sinful about being a bloody relationship," he pointed out and rubbed his hands on his thighs nervously. "I will take a shower soon, thank you," he hissed annoyed.

"And I am not going to promise it won't happen while he is here..." he sighed, sitting back a bit. "As a matter of fact I hope it happens as often as possible... I had no idea you were such a prude, Sherlock..."

"I am not a prude." Sherlock hissed back. The image of Jim and John having sex in their flat, made him a bit sick, but he disguised it into an other reason. "Sex doesn't alarm me. Only when noises disturb my thinking process."
"Anyways, I am not interested in such a thing as sex. Everything else is transport." He was making statements now. This was right, wasn't it? He was totally behind these things he said. He was. The tiny piece of doubt in his head was worrisome though. He tried to push it away with focusing on Moriarty.

"We'll have the most dangerous person in London in our midst, won't we? When will Majesty arrive?" He exaggerated the royal cynicism. Our Majesty Moriarty. Tsssss...

John looked at Sherlock disbelieving, the detective was clearly not saying everything that went on in his head. So typical of him, to play it up even though he knew nothing about the matter.
It made John angry, especially after the amount of texts he sent him.

"Is that so?" He asked, and just to prove his point he slid very close to Sherlock, his small revenge rather childish and impulsive. "Then why do you look at me like you are disgusted by the idea?" He whispered in his ear, his lips barely brushing the other's earlobe.

He pulled away then, "Jim's coming at midday, as I said already..." He muttered, and crossed his legs. "I figured we should lay a few ground rules..."

Sherlock jumped a little at the irregular feeling of John's hot breath against his sensitive ear. A flash of excitement in his belly made his mind flash blank for a split second, which he tried to temper very abruptly. What was his body doing? And why was his mind not cooperating? Worst thought: why was he not able to think, even for such a small amount of time? He found this all very worrisome. He was glad when he discovered that his voice was as steady as normal when he began to speak again.

"Yes, that is so. And I am not disgus-." What was he saying? "No. Forget what I said. Of course I am disgusted. It's only a distraction of what really matters."

He could not look John in the eye. Instead, he chose to look at his skull. "Yes we do. Let's begin with the easiest one: Don't touch my things." He could not bare to sit anymore so he got up and walked to the mantelpiece, standing next to John's chair.

John watched him move away from him with a smirk, he just wanted to irk the other man, and if it was done with inappropriate touching, well, he was sure Jim would forgive him just this once. Especially because Sherlock didn't get turned on, he just got disgusted and angry.
Or at least that was what he thought.
For a moment he doubted his theory when Sherlock had been about to say he wasn't disgusted by sex, but then he changed his statement and John relaxed back on the chair.
"It seems to me you are so repelled by it that you can't think if I am too close..." he muttered, looking at him move.

Everything was clearer in John's head now, it had been Jim and Sherlock's conversation from the day before that had put a bit of order in his head.
He had been attracted to Sherlock since that first fateful meeting at St. Barts, but he had fought it when he realized Sherlock would only be disgusted by his feelings.
To come out of it and finally get over it, his meeting with Jim had been the most important step.
Now he was in a relatively happy relationship.
Except Jim could be a criminal mastermind and could be out to kill them both, not to mention toy with his feelings along the way.

"I never touch your things... it's more like you touch my things all the time, Sherlock," he pointed out, resting his head over his hand. "And you also burst in my room at any moment without knocking, I suggest you don't do that when Jim is here... you wouldn't like seeing us naked, I imagine..."

"Debatable." The words were out of Sherlock's mouth before he realised what it actually meant in John's ears. Sherlock decided that he should not explain it further and let John start about it again if he must.

"Veracious." Sherlock said at John pointing out his behavior around 221B. He was right, but he surely didn't mind.
"And as I said. Sex doesn't alarm me, nor does nudity. Please pay attention." He sighed. John was the perfect example of what arousing feelings did to one's mind. But then he was reminded of Moriarty, who was clearly of his own caliber. Maybe his 'transport-theory' was incorrect to the truth. But then he had to experiment it, and he could not imagine of someone he could test it with. Except for Molly. Correction: Someone he wanted to test it with.

"Rule two... " Sherlock pouted and frowned. His mind was so terribly clouded with insecurity and doubt, that he recalled the periodic table in his head. Something unchangeable to sooth his mind.

John grew impatient at Sherlock's cryptic replies, and he stood up. "Are you ever going to say what you really think?" he asked, and crossed his arms over his chest as he looked at him.

"Because if you say the problem is not that it disgusts you, there is only one explanation to your behavior yesterday," he said simply and sighed. "Which is that you were jealous," he muttered and frowned. "But of who? Me? You don't like me to give attentions to some other guy? Or is it Moriarty's attention that you don't like to lose?"

He sighed, looking at him. "You see there is a reason I needed to talk to you, and it's not just because Jim is going to live with us..."

He laughed a bit. "It's me who should put rules, Sherlock, not you... because I always act properly..." unless you got him angry, that is. "You, on the other hand, are quite a bit more unpredictable..."

"I don't know what I really think about sex, because I haven't experimented with it yet!" Sherlock hissed, looking John in the eye. Wasn't it obvious? This matter needed a scientific approach.

"Jealous?" Sherlock scoffed and smiled mockingly. "Why should I be? You know I was okay with the women you dated. Why should this be different?"
Because Sherlock was in the competition now, that was.
John had not talked about dating guys, so Sherlock assumed that he was straight with a broader perspective on sex. But now he had a relationship with a guy, Sherlock felt put aside.

"And what is it, John? I don't see the other reason."

"'Properly' is a subjective word. Why don't you make further rules?" Sherlock threw his hands up in the air in an I-quit manner.

"It's a bit late to experiment with sex Sherlock, you should have done so when you were a teenager like every one else," he teased him. He couldn't possibly believe Sherlock was a virgin... how could he be so uninterested? It was completely beyond him.

His cheeks burned red when Sherlock pointed out there was no reason for him to be jealous. He knew. "I was never serious with those girls... maybe this time you can tell I am serious with Jim..." he muttered, and licked his lips slowly. "And he is a man..."

He knew there was no point in trying to understand Sherlock's feelings, but there was no harm in trying to talk about it. "Jim is coming to live with me... if things go well... it might become a permanent thing... we might... we might decide to find an apartment just for the two of us... it's how... relationships proceed naturally... and I am sure if that was to happen you would resent me moving out and spending time with someone else more than with you... it's normal to be jealous between best friends," he said simply with a shrug.

"I am going to make a lot of rules, Sherlock, and you will have to memorize them all. First of all, no poisoning. I know Jim is coming here to prove he isn't Moriarty and you have the duty and right to investigate him, but I won't allow you to mess with him, alright?" he said warningly.

"And why should I have done that thén? I don't think there is a specific time that is better than others..." Sherlock rolled with his eyes. Why would he do it then? "That was the time I discovered my interest in crime and the capacity of my brain. I used to deduce who slept with who over the weekends when I was sixteen. That was the only thing I wanted to have to do with sex. But I can do it right here, right now if I'd like to." Sherlock babbled in a fluent tempo, and he added the last thing just to annoy John and show him the opposite of what he said. "Eitherway, nobody asked me directly."

"Yes, I am aware of the fact that he is a man, John." Sherlock snapped.

Sherlock's eyes narrowed and couldn't stand John's gaze anymore, so he looked at the skull again. John leaving. He didn't want John to leave. He could think better with him around and he was a great friend. He didn't want to lose a friend, did he?
Friendship. Hmmm... He had to be careful with that. Moriarty could easily hurt him through John if he noticed that.

Sherlock made an unwilling face. "No poisoning?" and he rolled his eyes. "Alright. I'll try."

Sherlock directly faced John. "John. He is Moriarty, how desperately you want to ignore that, it's not going to help you. He. Is. Moriarty. and I am going to prove that to you."

"Right here right now, you say? And with who? On your own?" he teased him, and looked at him challenging. "Or maybe you think you could seduce me? Because that would be wonderful to see you try..." Even though he knew that was quite a dangerous ground.

When Sherlock looked away, he felt a bit guilty. "I am not saying I want to move out, but well... it is bound to happen eventually, either because you find someone, or I do..." It was the natural progression of these things.

His jaw clenched at the suggestion Jim was actually Moriarty. "I know, you said that already... and I am not saying it's not true... but I have to trust him until you prove otherwise... I am in love with him, Sherlock... I don't expect you to understand... but it's... it's precious..." he whispered, biting on his lower lip.

"Of course not on my own." John was being silly. Of course it was meant as a joke. Well. Ha-ha. He only saw this as an experiment, he told himself compulsory.
Sherlock narrowed his eyes and gave John a smug smile. He was going to prove John he could. He came closer to John's ear and whispered in his low, baritone voice: "Oh, you know I can."

John had clearly underestimated Sherlock's resolve, he felt he needed to flee as soon as the detective stepped closer with that glint in his eye. Never challenge Sherlock Holmes, he knew that for a fact.
He tried to keep his cool though, ignoring the way the other's low voice made his insides stir.

"You are inexperienced and you think you can seduce someone? It seems a bit far-fetched to me, Sherlock," he replied, keeping his tone as plain as possible.

"Very likely. But you forget I observe like no other. The sight is the best way to adapt your knowledge and you know I am a fast learner." He paused, breathing out of his mouth and leant a little closer, what did not seem possible. He sniffed John's hair. He smelled like... lavender, just like his shampoo. It smelled... nice, Sherlock supposed.
"Teach me." Sherlock rumbled barely audible, almost agains John's ear now.

John looked up at Sherlock, his blue eyes wide in shock at just how close they were and what the detective was implying.
He wanted to protest that he would not have sex without love or that he was already taken, in a relationship, for God's sake, he had just told Sherlock he loved Jim, but for a long moment his brain was a steady line of nothing.
Just nothing.
"W-what?" Was the only thing he could say.

It just wasn't possible, Sherlock would never come on to him, it was preposterous.

"You heard me" Sherlock resisted the urge of rolling his eyes. John was clearly stirred by the situation.
An idea came up in his head. Sherlock put it into practice by stepping closer to John, what made John taking a step back until his back touched the wall. The men were always doing this to the women in the movies. He reached for John's wrist and discretely placed his fingers on his pulse.
"Don't underestimate me. You know I can seduce you." he said in his low voice, close to John's ear.

Yes, John had heard. Very well too.
But that didn't mean it made any sense to him.
Why would Sherlock want to seduce him? True, he had challenged him, but it had been a joke, nothing to take too seriously!
Sherlock always took things seriously though, he should have known that.

He felt the hard wall against his back, his hands moving behind him to touch it, trying to have a bit of support in this.
The soft touch of Sherlock's fingertips on his wrist made chills run up his spine.

"Not underestimating any more," he admitted, hoping Sherlock would be satisfied by it and back down.
It was unfair, really, that Sherlock could be this sexy even though being completely inexperienced.