As predicted the cab ride home passed in an eerily awkward silence. Jim sat as close to the door and as far away from Sherlock as possible for the entire time, ignoring his body's demands that he sleep. Sherlock would look at him, he could feel it. He hated the way it made him blush and just ignores it, feigning innocence.
The moment Jim steps into his flat the clock had just ticked passed half past three in the morning. He collapsed onto his scruffy little sofa that he desperately needs to replace. Exhausted.
It didn't take long for Sebastian to find him passed out with an arm uncomfortably tucked behind his head, utterly dead to the world. The poor man had to go to work in about four or five hours as well.
Feeling sorry for him, Sebastian carries his sleeping friend to the bed and makes sure he's comfortable. Jim releases a content sigh and Sebastian slides into the bed beside him with a smile.
7:30am. Jim's alarm scares the life out of him but does it's job of waking the two sleepy men up.
"Arghh, turn it off!" Sebastian whines, burying his head under his pillow.
Jim laughs a bit but it transforms into a yawn half way through. He stretches his arm out and hits the button, silencing the evil alarm clock.
"C'mon Sebby, you're coming into work with me today," Jim grins, sitting up in the bed.
He'd asked permission from his boss before Sebastian even arrived and was told that his friend was more than welcome to come in for a few days during the week (even though Sebastian was going home tomorrow). Molly had been overjoyed with the news. She was so enthusiastic about it, you'd think Jim told her that he was getting hitched.
"Um.. No." comes the deadpan reply from under the covers.
"Um.. Yes." Jim replies, voice far more amused than Sebastian's.
"Arghhhh!" The man roars again, trying to push himself further down into the bed.
Such a drama queen, Jim thinks with an eye roll. Then again, he was the same most of the time. Then on top of that, Sebastian had always been a pain in the arse to wake up. He'd kick and scream and even cry when they were younger and he really didn't want to wake up. Now he just kicks and screams. It's a horrible experience that Jim wouldn't wish on his worst enemies.
"Groan all you like, you're coming with me" Jim chuckles.
He then swings his legs to the side, resting his feet on the ground, making sure that he took a good quarter of the cover with him as he did. He did love to annoy Sebastian so.
Jim stands then, grinning at the thought of irritating his best friend. He keeps hold of the cover on his hips, dragging the duvet with him to the door so Sebastian was left with none, laying on the bed in just his boxers.
Sebastian curls in on himself, refusing to get up despite Jim's effort.
"For fuck's sake, Seb!" Jim huffs, but you can tell his amused. One of Sebastian's eyes open to look at his friend, who immediately begins to pout in the only irresistible way he knows how. "Pleeease, Sebby?"
Sebastian gives a long sigh before replying. "Fine..."
Jim grins triumphantly and turns to go get ready for work. First stop was the shower.
Before Jim knew it, hours had passed. The day before seemed so distant and unreal...
Molly and Sebastian had been introduced and seemed to be getting on like a house on fire. It was great, knowing his two best friends got along with each other. Possessive friends got on Jim's nerves.
Lunch had just arrived and, naturally, Jim and Molly take Sebastian to Cindy's for lunch. Lunch at Cindy's was their thing now and it was amazing how Sebastian fit into the routine so well.
They all sit at a table in the corner, Molly was laughing at something Sebastian had said. Jim smiles at them both.
"It's on me today" He tells them.
Molly tries to object but he convinces her and takes their orders before heading towards the counter. A quick scan of the menu board and Jim had decided what he wanted and rounded the price it would be to the closest pound for he knew what to get ready.
They came here so often that it wouldn't be long before they had the menu (prices and all) memorised and the staff knew their names.
"Hi, Jim!" The overly friendly, but still kinda cute, cashier beams.
Jim briefly wonders if they could read his mind before he gives their order. A quick glance at the boy's name tag, 'Jeff' apparently, and Jim asks "How much is that then, Jeff?"
The boy looks confused, a frown slowly taking over his features. "Jeff...?" It's then his eyes light up, remembering something, and he looks down at the badge of his shirt. "Oh no, I lost my actual one. My name is Alex."
"Oh! Well, nice to meet you then, Alex.."
Alex chuckles before he starts to ring all the items up.
Jim's gut twists, both in excitement and in nervousness, when he hears a familiar voice from behind him.
"A chocolate muffin and a black coffee too, please"
Alex raises an eyebrow at Jim, asking if he should add the order. Jim gives a single nod and glances at Sherlock when he steps beside him. He's smirking and Jim is half tempted to slap him again. More than anything else though, Jim wanted to run away.
Sherlock turns and looks straight at him while they wait for their orders.
"You look tired," He sounds almost concerned...
Jim shakes away that thought. One kiss didn't mean anything. Besides, the slap that Jim gave him after should have got the message across. Jim couldn't help but wonder.. What if he hasn't stopped Sherlock and slapped him? What if he just continued kissing him? What was Sherlock aiming for with the kiss?
It didn't take a genius to figure out that Sherlock didn't go around kissing people randomly.
"I am tired," Jim answers after a brief pause. "No thanks to you"
Sherlock casts his eyes down towards his feet, no longer making eye contact. "I.. apologise. Things didn't go quite to plan."
The apology was mumbled but Jim hears it none the less and no smirks. He wishes he had a camera to capture this with of Sherlock, apologising and looking down like a guilty child who stole all the cookies. That's a picture he'd have to frame.
Sherlock shifts, uncomfortable under Jim's gaze (that makes Jim grin more), but he winces as his leg moves. It's then Jim remembers that the other man had stitches in his leg and should be on crutches.
"You idiot, where are your crutches?" Jim huffs for the second time today.
He's surrounded by idiotic men. Sometimes, he wonders why he's even gay. How he can be attracted to such an idiotic and plain stupid gender... Although, they are very very pretty.
Not the time for fantasies, Jim...
With that in mind, Jim turns his attention to Sherlock again.
"I don't need them. My leg-"
"Is quite obviously hurting," Jim interrupts what was no doubt going to be the words 'is fine'
Sherlock raises his head, apparent guilt forgotten, and he glares at Jim. The man just smiles back though, not fazed by having those icy eyes turn so cold on him.
Sherlock goes to say something but Jim cuts in before he can.
"Don't argue. You know I'm right."
He'd have said more too, but their orders arrived at the hatch just then. You could get people to bring over your orders but Jim preferred to carry it himself, never trusting people and always hating how he wasn't sure whether to make conversation with them when they got to the table or not. He was so awkward at times.
Sherlock picks up one of the trays, which had his and Molly's lunch on, while Jim took the other, which had his and Sebastian's lunch on.
Neither Molly or Sebastian seemed surprised to see Sherlock. They'd probably seen him come in and approach Jim. Molly's eyes immediately go to Sherlock's leg where, other than a tiny limp, there are no signs he'd been injured. Jim had told them both all about yesterday, minus the kiss.
Telling people made it more real so he wasn't going to breathe a word.
Sherlock takes the free seat, between Molly and Sebastian. He was across from Jim and smirks when he looks up to see Jim. With gritted teeth, Jim starts eating his roll.
"Sherlock, you've got a fat lip..." Molly says, trailing off worriedly.
Sherlock raises a hand to his bottom lip, prodding it gently. "Oh. That'll be where John punched me. He got worried when I didn't get home until five in the morning. He stayed up waiting for me, apparently."
"You two sound like a married couple," Sebastian laughs. Sherlock makes a sour face at that, clearly not liking the idea.
"No. John treats Sherlock more like a child," Molly disagrees. "It's like John is a big protective older brother."
Sherlock snorts. "Yeah, because I need another one of those."
That makes Molly laugh.
Jim wasn't really paying all that much attention to what they were all saying, not really, he was focused on something Sherlock had said.
Five in the morning? Jim was back an hour and a half before that, and it was only about ten minutes to Baker Street from where he lives. So that means that Sherlock didn't go straight home.
Where did he go?
Curiosity was eating away at Jim but he didn't say a word, just continued with his lunch.
They all walk back to Bart's when they were done eating. Sherlock was questioning Molly about a corpse, giving Jim a weird sense of déjà vu. The last time Sherlock was with them at Cindy's, he flirted with Molly a bit to get her to roll a dead guy out.
He did the same today, giving Jim an odd feeling. He felt sick.
Sebastian seems to notice something was off because he wraps an around Jim's shoulders as they walk. Jim gives the taller man a thankful smile before he snuggles closer, basking in the comforting feel of being hugged by his best friend.
Jim can feel eyes on him, but he doesn't care. He was happy that Sebastian pushed the sick feeling away, made him forget it.
Just before they are all about to step into Bart's, a hand encloses around his wrist and Jim is twirled out of Sebastian's embrace. He comes face to face with an angry looking Sherlock.
Sebastian stops and puts a hand on Jim's arm, asking a silent question. Jim swears he heard a growl from Sherlock. He ignores that for the moment and nods to his friend. Once Sebastian has disappeared, Jim turns back to Sherlock.
"Were you just.. growling at Sebastian?" After asking that, Jim feels a bit stupid. Why the hell would Sherlock growl? He's not an animal.
Surprisingly, Sherlock answers with a sneer of "yes" before he grips Jim's wrist harder and tugs him towards the side of the building.
There was a small alley down the back and Sherlock walks them almost all the way to the end, Jim struggling all the way but powerless against the other's grip. Jim is let go of when Sherlock stops and he immediately back himself against the wall, leaning on it for support.
"What the fuck is your problem?!" Jim shouts, rubbing his sore wrist.
Sherlock glares at him, looking an angry as Jim felt. "What's my problem? You were the one who, yesterday, started the whole 'Sherlock's gorgeous' thing. Then you kissed me back. Then you slapped me. And you say I have a problem when this whole time you've had a boyfriend!"
Before the last comment, Jim was standing straighter and preparing to throw comments back to Sherlock's angry words. They all die on his tongue he realises that Sherlock is very very jealous of who he assumes is Jim's boyfriend.
As much as Jim would have liked to say that he replied in a mature way, correcting Sherlock's mistake, reality was far from that. The moment it clicked that Sherlock thought Jim was with Sebastian, Jim was laughing harder than he had in a long time.
He was laughing so much that he felt tears well in the corner of his eyes.
"He..." Jim tries but can't get the words out because he's laughing so much.
Sherlock frowns, unsure whether to be confused or angry. "What?"
"Sebastian.. He isn't my boyfriend" Jim manages to get then words out between laughs.
His laughter is cut off, however, when Sherlock suddenly pins him against the wall and stares at him, their lips just inches away from one another's. Jim swallows, not sure he wanted to know where this was going.
He tries to move out of his grip but can't. Sherlock's too strong.
"I like you, James..." Sherlock says, voice almost vulnerable.
"I.. My name is Jim..."
"Can I kiss you?" Sherlock asks, his lips moving just that bit closer.
Jim has no idea what to say. He doesn't know if he even wants Sherlock to kiss him. Sherlock annoys him, destroy his computers and drags him into dangerous situations. But yes, Jim does still want those soft lips back on his own.
This is Sherlock though. All they do is argue with each other and make the other want to pull their hair out. Nothing good would come from a kiss.
"Let me go..." Jim whispers, pushing his pinned wrist forward.
Sherlock presses his lips into a small line but nods and backs off. He watches Jim as he walks away.