Work Text:
Before John Watson came into his life the only thing Sherlock Holmes ever worked hard at was solving cases. Nothing else mattered but getting the answers to the mysteries, not people, not feelings, nothing. Then John Watson, ex-army doctor, not boring, all around BAMF, kind, strong, caring John came into his life and everything changed.
At first there was just friendship between them and he admits, John put more effort into it than he did, but somewhere along the line feelings deepened, the relationship became a romantic one and Sherlock realized more work on his part was required.
He had to think of John’s feelings before he said something harsh. He had to consider how it would affect John before he ran headlong into danger. He had to take better care of himself physically by eating and sleeping more. There were an endless amount of things that he used to think were trivial and useless and he didn't want cluttering his mind palace before John that now were important and relevant and had rooms just for them.
Yes, a relationship was hard work, harder than any mystery he had ever tried to solve but worth every ounce of energy he spent because what he got in return was unmeasurable.