Chapter Text
John Watson’s wedding was a month away, and Sherlock Holmes was as involved with the plans as the bride-to-be herself. John found it a bit strange that Sherlock was ignoring visits from clients to work with him and Mary on the wedding specifics, but he was grateful that Sherlock was willing to do all of the tedious planning instead of him, so he stayed quiet about it. He was especially happy that Sherlock said he would compose a waltz, as the dance was the part of the wedding that he was the most nervous about. Knowing that Sherlock would be playing the music comforted him.
He came by 221b to spend some time with Sherlock, as the only times he’d seen him of late had been at wedding planning sessions with Mary.
He came through the door and heard beautiful violin music flooding out of the upstairs apartment. He smiled and walked up, glad that he knew what Sherlock was up to before he walked in the flat. But when he came to the open door, he was surprised to find that Sherlock wasn’t playing the violin. He was dancing, with his hands up as if holding an invisible partner, and waltzing with his back to the door. John watched his graceful movements in the doorway and was grateful that Sherlock hadn’t heard him come up. He had never seen Sherlock dance before. He didn’t even know Sherlock could dance, but of course he was an expert, as usual.
Sherlock spun around and froze as soon as he saw John. A faint blush rose to his cheeks as he went to the speaker to turn off the music.
“Are you practicing dancing for my wedding?”
“Please, I don’t need practice. I’m merely making sure the song I composed for the dance is… well, danceable.”
“Well, it may be danceable for you, but I can’t dance.”
“Have you ever tried?”
“Hm… no I don’t believe so.”
“Would you like me to teach you?”
“Really? I mean, yeah that’d be great, if you’re willing to put up with my awful skills.”
“I’m always willing to put up with your awful skills, John.”
“Wow, thanks.”
“Anytime. So, let’s begin, shall we?”
“Right now?”
“Well, considering that the wedding is in a month and you have absolutely no experience, I think now’s as good a time as ever.”
“Touché.”
“Alright,” Sherlock took John’s hand in his, but John pulled away.
“How do you expect to learn to dance without a partner?” Sherlock asked sternly.
“You’re… not a woman.”
Sherlock feigned shock and then grabbed John’s hand in his and placed John’s other hand on his waist.
John looked everywhere but at Sherlock’s face. Sherlock showed him the basic footing which took a long time for John to get the hang of.
“You’ve got it, John, you don’t need to stare at your feet anymore.”
John looked at Sherlock’s face while they danced and Sherlock kept having to remind himself to exhale.
“Sherlock, can we stop? This is like the twentieth time we’ve gone through the song.”
“And you’re still making mistakes.”
“I’m tired!”
“Fine. Just one more time.”
They made eye contact the entire time. They got through the song with few mistakes from John. Their hands were sweaty, but neither of them took theirs away.
“How was that?” John asked.
“It was very good, John.”
“Wow, an actual compliment?”
“Of course, I always give you compliments.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Yes I do.”
“I can count every time you’ve complimented me on one hand.”
“You keep track of how much I compliment you?”
“I mean… it happens so rarely, it’s not hard keeping track.”
“You kept track of how many times the woman texted me.”
“Um… what?”
“Nothing.”
“No… what are you trying to say?”
“You tend to keep good track of things about me, that’s all.”
“And you don’t keep track of things about me?”
“I keep track of everything, John.”
“Wait, why are we still standing like this?”
John let go of Sherlock’s hand and backed away from him.
“I take it back, John, you don’t keep good track of things about me.”
“Wait so you realized that we were still in our dancing positions and didn’t do anything about it?”
“I wanted to see how long it would take you to realize.”
“Hey, we agreed that you wouldn’t do experiments on me anymore!”
“One, that was hardly an experiment, and two, that was a condition when you lived here, which you don’t anymore. But anyway, that was a very productive lesson and I hereby give you an A in Sherlock’s dance school, your diploma will be in the mail.”
“Wait wait, that’s it? I can’t be ready after just one lesson.”
“No?”
“I can’t possibly remember all that after one time!”
“Oh, sometimes I forget how slow you are. If you want another lesson, I’m going to have to start charging you.”
“Charging me?”
“Well, I have to pay rent somehow now that we don’t split it anymore.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means exactly what it sounds like. Not everything is some cryptic code you have to solve.”
“Everything’s a cryptic code with you.”
“Fine. You’ll just owe me, then.”
“I don’t owe you anything.” The words came out more menacingly than John had intended.
Sherlock’s lips parted slightly and they stared at each other in silence for a moment.
Then John cleared his throat. “Well, I should probably get going.”
“Now? I thought… maybe we could have dinner?”
“I… can’t, I have reservations with Mary tonight.”
“Oh, of course.”
“But maybe tomorrow? I need more lessons, anyway.”
“Okay.”
“Alright, well… have a good night.” He smiled.
Sherlock smiled back and John was out the door.