Work Text:
Prompt: Gift wrapping
Sherlock woke to the sound of stomping coming from downstairs. He heard a plastic bag being set down before his roommate called upstairs for him.
“Sherlock, can you bring Mrs. Hudson's gift to our room and hide it in the closet?” Sherlock huffed out a tired breath. He had not slept in days after finishing a case, and it was finally getting to him. Not that he was about to admit that. “Sherlock?”
“Yes, John. I will hold on.” He quickly sat up and went down the stairs to meet John. Once the bag was upstairs and placed in a corner next to all the other gifts, (minus their gifts for each other) and John was out of his winter jacket, they met in the kitchen.
“Is that all? Would you like me to help you wrap as well?” Sherlock asked in an overly sweet tone. As soon as he said it though, he regretted it. John grinned and went up behind the detective, wrapping his arms around his waist.
“Actually, yes. That would be great thank you.” He groaned, Sherlock wasn’t even sure he knew how to wrap gifts nicely and properly, let alone nice and proper enough to be willing to give away to his friends.
“We don’t have a tree.” He argued. “How are you going to place gifts under a tree if you do not have one?” John took away his arms and went upstairs, coming back down soon after with a big box and a stand.
“Actually...” The blonde grinned. “We do have a tree!” He hit the box and pointed to it, making Sherlock wonder why he ever offered to wrap gifts. Even as a joke.
~
The tree was up, the lights were strung in a loop around it, and the few ornaments John had found in his closet were on it as well. The only thing missing was the gifts. John looked over at Sherlock.
“Now, for the wrapping” He smiled warmly at the tree, then at the annoyed man standing next to him. “Or do you not know how?” Sherlock stayed quiet. “Does the great detective Sherlock Holmes need me to help him with his wrappings?” He teased, nudging him with his elbow.
“The standard training given to detectives does not include wrapping Christmas gifts, so if you’re implying that I should know that right now-”
“Sherlock just say you don’t know how to wrap things.”
“I don’t know how to wrap things please great lord and savior John Watson will you teach me?” He interrupted and looked down at John with mocking eyes.
“Yes, I will thank you.” Sherlock frowned, his attempt at steering John away being wasted.
He brushed past Sherlock to fetch his paper and gifts, buried into one of their kitchen cabinets. One look back to the living room proved he wasn’t even that upset. His usual chair had to be moved to make the tree more visible. He had complained non-stop while they were moving it, but now he was sat contentedly watching the houses outside their window. As often as people attempted to try and deter him from ever going near Sherlock, John finds living with him relatively easy most days. Whether it was that he had simply gotten used to the dark-haired menace or the dark-haired menace had gotten used to him, he wasn’t exactly sure.
“John get back here so we can get this over with and I can continue with my case.” Sherlock groaned from his place sat comfortably huddled into a ball on his chair. He let his head fall onto the back, looking at John upside down.
“Yeah, yeah, I'm coming hold on.” He treaded over the experiment Sherlock had going on the floor and let all his stuff fall onto the floor in front of his boyfriend. “And you don’t have a case going right now, you just want me to leave you alone so you can sleep.”
“Correct! Great deduction John, how clever.” he muttered, glaring at the pile of gifts laid in front of him. John ignored his little quip and started his little mini lesson on gift wrapping.
“Right. Now, do you have any idea how to go about this? Like any at all?” Sherlock mumbled something incoherent and shuffled his toes at the paper. “I’ll take that as a no.”
John took the wrapping paper and made room on the floor below Sherlock’s feet to unravel it. It was red and green, technically complementary but he was sure the man above him was judging his choice of Christmas colours nonetheless.
“First of all, I find it easier to unravel it upside down, so that it doesn’t curl up on you.” He demonstrated by flipping it around and pressing down where the paper ended so the curly part went away. “See?” Sherlock just looked unamused at him, as if saying right yes I'm not a child.
He fetched the box labeled for Mrs. Hudson and laid it on the paper exactly on the edge. Then he rolled it three times and cut about an inch away from where the box was. The blonde looked up at Sherlock, asking with his eyes whether he understood why he cut it an inch away.
“Yes, John I'm not an imbecile continue.” Sherlock huffed, crossing his arms, and burying them behind his legs. He continued with his lesson, even inviting Sherlock onto the floor for the last part where the actual “wrapping” part came into play.
Without John’s help, Sherlock was clueless. He was also stubbornly refusing to ask for help, and John could tell he was getting restless despite his massive lack of sleep.
“You know what? I’m going to go set the fireplace, I will be back in a minute do not kill yourself while I'm gone, please.”
“I could hardly find a way to kill myself with wrapping paper, John.”
He scoffed and walked off to find the lighter he had hidden from Sherlock when he started burning pig toenails for an experiment.
~
This was stupid, Sherlock regretted ever making a joke about helping. Now he was stuck with a mass of gifts and wrapping paper and un-sticky tape. At least the gift isn't visible through the paper. He was too busy sulking to notice John come up behind him, placing a little blue bow atop his head. John bent down and took a quick selfie, giggling to himself at Sherlock’s look of bewilderment. He himself had a red bow balancing on his head. He peered over at the culprit, ripping the bow off his head and stalking over to look at the photo himself.
“What is that? I look like a deer in headlights, it’s awful!”
“Mmmhm, no you look great. If your gift-wrapping career is ending so soon, I figured you should become the gift.”
“A gift to who, I'm not exactly anyone’s ideal Christmas surprise.”
“Don’t worry, you’re my ideal surprise.” The blonde twisted his head to the side and placed a soft kiss to Sherlock cheek. “And I am totally putting this picture on our wall by the stairs.”
“You are totally not-” John shoved the red bow into his mouth.
“Go finish wrapping your gift correctly and I'll consider only placing the photo in my room.”