Chapter Text
Sherlock watched John walk down the dark streets of London after the conversation he had with the Beta Mycroft brought to take charge while John was gone. He growled at the sound of the door opening, hating that someone other than John and Mrs. Hudson (with the rare exception of Mycroft, but that was only because John knew to make it quick) was entering his apartment without his permission. It felt like a trespasser was waltzing into his territory and he was helpless to stop it from happening. All of his hard work that he has been doing for the past weeks would be tainted the moment the Beta walks in.
“Good morning Sherlock.” The Beta greeted.
Sherlock felt his body become rigid making him growl more at the intruder. He didn’t move away from the window as he could still see John walking farther and farther away, until he took a turn and was gone.
“Not happy to see me, are you?” The Beta asked, “Sad that John left to take a break from you?”
Sherlock whipped his head at that comment and snarled at her. She doesn’t get the right to make such comment especially for some Beta who gets rejected from Alphas
“Do shut up, buckteeth. No matter how many oral surgeries you get to fix your horribly crooked teeth, no Beta and certainly not an Alpha like John will ever take a liking to you if you have enormous teeth that stick out of your mouth.” Sherlock snapped easily deducing one of the Beta’s biggest insecurities and utilizing it as a weapon for him to stab her with.
The Beta’s eyes went wide, and she quickly sat down in John’s seat and stayed quiet.
Great, now she’s going to make it stink like her too Sherlock thought disgustingly.
For the past two week, Sherlock has been making this entire apartment smell only like him and John, so that anyone who comes in here and sniffs it knows that they were in a courting relationship. Even though John couldn’t smell their pheromones mixing together in the apartment, it would sure keep unwanted advances from coming at them. Especially John who is oblivious to Sherlock’s tactics since he flocks to whatever pretty Beta who bats their eyes at him.
That one memory of John coming home smelling like sex and an unfamiliar Beta scent has never made Sherlock so angry before in his entire life. Not only did they get into a huge fight, which John blames him for starting, but Sherlock also refused to talk and even acknowledge John’s presence for a whole week. It wasn’t until John said he was acting like a brat and made him lunch that he apologized for smelling like the Beta and promised to take a shower before coming back.
The promise John said did not satisfy Sherlock at all. The moment Sherlock saw John, he knew John was different from other Alphas and he was right. John was strong, skilled, determined, and dimwitted at times, but in a cute manner, but most importantly he didn’t hold Sherlock to the expectation of being an Omega society expects. Sherlock is allowed to be himself and doesn’t have to pretend to be something he is certainly not.
He never scolded him for being outspoken, for fighting other Alphas, or his unhealthy obsession with murder cases and usually allows him to get away for being bratty at times. John didn’t question anything about him or made rude remarks and was by his side the moment he took the job. All these things are what make John such a good mate in Sherlocks eyes.
Needing to be alone and not smelling the stench of the Beta, Sherlock went to his room and locked the door. He crawled into his nest and took out clothes items he had stolen from John and nuzzled into them smelling his musty scent. Sandalwood and leather have become such a comforting scent to him over the past months. A stab of pain hit Sherlock in the chest and covered himself in John’s clothes wishing he was here with him.
John ended up going back to his old apartment that he used to live in before Sherlock. It had become a safe haven for him to just clear his mind from Sherlock when he started to become too big of a pain. He had collapsed on the bed and closed his eyes, still feeling the lull of needing to sleep. A stab of guilt continued to claw at his chest as he kept feeling like he was betraying Sherlock by agreeing to help Clara with her heat.
Stop it John told himself annoyingly hoping the feeling of guilt would go away. But his mind keeps going back to imagining a look of hurt and betrayal on Sherlock’s face when John either tells him or Sherlock figures it out.
Deciding he’s not going to get any sleep with this feeling he leaves. He ends up at a small café a block away from his old apartment eating breakfast and checking his phone for any messages. Surprisingly no one has called or texted him, especially Sherlock. By this time Sherlock would demand him to come back or text him something to pick up from the store, but so far nothing. John can’t help but be a bit concerned about that. It was unusual for Sherlock to not text him when John wasn’t with him. John checked the time and decided that it was finally time to go back. Paid his bill and brought back something for Sherlock to eat, knowing that he would probably be hungry as it was nearing lunch.
Deciding to take the long way back to the apartment, John thought about how he was going to tell Sherlock about needing to take the week off next month. He can’t very well lie as Sherlock could see right through it, but at the same time he didn’t think he should tell him out right incase it started another big fight. But in the end John that would be inevitable. For some reason Sherlock is strangely possessive of him.
Once he reached the apartment, John texted Lucy telling her that he was back and not a minute later Lucy came rushing downstairs with tears in her eyes. Surprised to see her in tears, John reached out put his hand on her shoulder.
“Lucy, hey what happened? What did Sherlock say? Are you alright?” John asked, rubbing her shoulders.
Lucy rubbed her eyes and nodded her head and John could tell she’s trying her best to hold back from sobbing. Sherlock must have said something pretty nasty to make Lucy this upset. Another thing John is going to have to tell Sherlock to stop doing.
“Hey, it’s going to be alright Lucy. Whatever Sherlock said to you isn’t true okay? Sometimes he says those things when he feels the need to be a brat. Don’t take him too seriously. God knows I stopped after a few weeks.” John said trying to lighten the mood as he offered a comforting hug to Lucy who immediately hugged him back. He let Lucy cry it out, feeling her shoulders shake with tears and hearing her hiccup every once in a while.
“I’m so sorry John,” Lucy said between her heavy breathing, “I’m so sorry.” She kept repeating.
John looked down at her seeing her look at him with such sadness.
“Lucey, there is no need to be sorry towards me. You did nothing wrong.” John reassured her.
Lucey only shook her head and took a step back. “I-I let my anger and pain get the best of me John. I-I can’t believe I did that an-and what is Mycroft going to do once he finds out! I can’t lose this job John because Mycroft would make sure no one ever hires me again!” Lucy explained panickily.
John furrowed his brows together, not liking the feeling of dread forming in the pit of his stomach. “Lucy what did you do?”
“I-I slapped. I know I shouldn’t, but he just kept going on and on and I just wanted him to stop that I snapped and slapped him. I tried to apologize to him, I really did but he locked himself in his bedroom and wouldn’t come out.” Lucy explained.
John blinked before feeling a rage inside of him snap.
“What were you thinking?!” John yelled feeling a growl rip through his chest, “How could you hurt him Lucy? You’re his fucking bodyguard when I’m not on duty! I trusted you to keep him safe, not hurt him!” John had never felt this type of anger snap inside of him before at the thought of someone hurting Sherlock. At the same time, he felt guilt. He allowed Sherlock to get hurt all because he walked away. It was the same feeling he felt the first time he left when their apartment got bombed. It seemed like every time John walks away from Sherlock he ends up getting hurt.
Taking a deep breath in, John tried to control his anger, reminding himself that anger isn’t going to solve anything. He looked at Lucy who was still in tears.
“Look, I’m not going to tell Mycroft what happened, okay? And I’ll convince Sherlock to not tell as well. But I don’t think you should be alone with Sherlock anymore. So, when I take my break, bring someone else with you okay?” John said.
Lucy just nodded her head and went to the car to drive away.
John took a deep sigh in and went upstairs to his apartment. Walking into the apartment, he saw nothing seemed to have changed. Sherlock’s experiments were still on the table and nothing seems to be broken.
John walked to the front of Sherlock’s door and knocked twice waiting for a response.
“Go away!” Sherlocked yelled.
John frowned at the tone. Sherlock usually never sounds that angry. Annoyed most of the time, but never like this.
“Sherlock, it’s me. Can you come out please?” John asked.
“Go away John!” Sherlock yelled again.
“Sherlock please come out. Lucy told me what happened, and I just want to make sure you’re alright. I’ll even let you scent me.” John said hoping that will convince him. John waited for a few minutes until he heard the sound of the door unlocking and took a step back.
Sherlock ripped the door open and immediately his eyes zeroed in on the bright red claw marks across Sherlock’s cheek. John let out a possessive growled when he saw the smeared blood and welts. He gently cupped Sherlock’s face making sure to not irritate the wound. Upon a closer inspection it seemed that the claw marks weren’t that deep.
But the need to suddenly rip Lucy’s head from her body came at him full force. A rage that terrified John.
“Fucking Lucy,” John growled out, “She didn’t tell me she made you bleed.” John gently brushed his thumb over a mark feeling the dry cracks of blood. Suddenly he felt strong hands shove him back against a wall. Looking up John saw Sherlock look furious.
“Why do you smell like her?!” he growled.
“Huh?” John asked trying to take a step closer, only for Sherlock to shove him back again.
“Why do you smell like her?! Did you fuck her out there!” Sherlock snarled.
“What? No! I comforted her when she came storming down in tears.” John said, but Sherlock only scoffed at his explanation.
“Oh, please John, I see the way you look at her. I know you want her!” he snapped.
“I don’t want her! I mean maybe in the beginning, but not anymore when she hurt you.” John defended himself.
Sherlock stopped his growl and slumped his shoulders, suddenly looking very small and vulnerable.
“You stink of her scent. I want it gone.” He said looking at John with what John could describe as pleading.
John felt him nod at Sherlock’s request.
“Of course. Give me a second to shower and then I’ll clean your wound okay? I brought you your favorite food from the café you liked. It’s on the coffee table.” John offered and lead Sherlock to the living room while he went upstairs to get a change of clothes and made his way to the bathroom.
After quickly showering off Lucy’s scent, John put on a white tee shirt and grey sweatpants. He dried his hair off with a towel and left to go to the living room. He found Sherlock sulking on the couch, barely looking at his food. John has never seen Sherlock look so down before.
Knowing what might cheer him up, he kneeled before Sherlock and took the container of food out of his hands and placed them back on the coffee table. He brought Sherlock’s wrist up to his nose and rubbed against them smelling nothing but faint chemicals. He heard Sherlock gasp as he continued to way up to Sherlock’s neck and rubbed his nose against his scent gland. He immediately felt Sherlock wrap his arms around his neck and brought his own nose against his neck.
John brought one hand up to Sherlock’s neck and began to massage it while the other rubbing soothing circles on his back. He heard Sherlock whine in distress at first but soon become whines and moans of comfort. John let his mind escape for a little, letting the sensation of having Sherlock in his arms take over and pressed his nose deeper in Sherlock and soon he felt his lips press against the scent glands. Without a thought, he licked over it, hearing a hitch in gasp and continued to lap over it adding a few nips when Sherlock pressed his body closer to John’s.
“John.” Sherlocked moaned rubbing his cheek against his causing John to snap out of this trance. Slowly he pulled away only to have Sherlock whine and try to pull him back against his warmth. Sherlock’s cheeks were flushed, and his eyes were dilated. Feeling uncertain now, John pulled back even more and sat on the couch with Sherlock who immediately pressed himself into John’s side. John cleared his throat and wrapped his arm around Sherlock.
“Feeling better?” he asked softly.
Sherlock pressed his face further into his check and nodded his head.
“Much.” Sherlock whispered.
They sat there tangled together on the couch with John feeling an array of conflicted emotions.