Title: Proves the Rules
Characters: Sherlock/John
Rating: R
Word Count: ~500
Notes: Written for Fandom Stocking 2013 for
karmageddonSummary: John has rules he abides by, no matter who pays for his services.
Sherlock let his mind drift, blissfully free of the crushing boredom that had been weighing him down since the end of his last case. His body felt weightless, floating on top of the sheets, warm and comfortable. Only the imprint of a cool hand on his shoulder kept him anchored. A hand?
His eyes snapped open. On the bed beside him lay the dom he’d engaged for the evening. Straw-blond hair, well-muscled, a bit on the short side. John, he called himself. He lay on his side, watching Sherlock, head propped on his right hand, his left pressed to Sherlock’s bare skin.
“I told you the money’s on the table,” Sherlock grumbled. “Why are you still here?”
“We’re not finished.”
“I’m finished.” Sherlock flicked his shoulder in irritation, as he would to shrug off a fly, but John didn’t move his hand. “Get out.”
“Not until you come back down.” He settled his head on the mattress, on the level with Sherlock. “I say when that is.”
“This is unnecessary.” Sherlock shoved his face into a pillow and muttered, “Go away.”
“Part of the package.” John’s voice contained a smile.
“I don’t like it.”
“Do you remember your safeword?”
Sherlock checked the box on the shelf in the cupboard in the back room in the wing of his mind palace where that particular tidbit was stored, long unused. “Yes.”
John’s lack of a response made his point eloquently.
Sherlock could have continued to argue-he had three rebuttals ready-but instead he closed his eyes, savoring the silence in his brain. It had never lasted so long with others as it did after a session with John. Every part of him had gone quiet. He lost track of how long he drifted-a sign in itself of how great an effect this evening’s exertions had had on him-but when he settled into his body again, John’s hand still rested on his skin.
“What do you get out of this?” Sherlock mused aloud.
A chuckle shook the bed. “You do pay me.”
“You could have left half an hour ago and collected the same fee.”
“Dom drop is a thing too, you know.” John’s hand traced down Sherlock’s spine to land at the small of his back. “I’m not actually a sex toy. What I do… It’s not effortless.”
“But you enjoy it.”
“With you? Yes.”
Sherlock grunted into his pillow. “You would say so.”
John shifted closer, until Sherlock could feel the warmth of his breath against his neck. “You don’t usually let one of us stay, after.”
Sherlock acknowledge the observation with a minute shake of his head.
“You’re an exception for me, too.” John settled his arm over Sherlock’s shoulders, and tucked his face against Sherlock’s neck. “Go to sleep.”