Sherlock x Reader

Lust overcomes betrayal

When John found out that Sherlock had been alive all along, he'd taken quite a different approach to it. When Sherlock came back to his flat, you'd catch a glimpse of new bruises forming. You couldn't help finding it funny. It was so like John. It was like he never changed. Although you knew he must have. Two years didn't go by without some aspect of a person changing; look what had happened to you. From what Mrs Hudson said, he even looked different. Before he was confronted by the not-dead sociopath, he somehow found the time to visit Mrs H, ("For the first time in twice as many years!" She'd exclaimed), and you managed to catch a glimpse of him yourself.

Ugh.

He'd really let himself go, hadn't he?

By his depressing aura and dead look in his eyes, you guessed that he was doing mundane work. Probably acting as a general practitioner. That would explain it.

Thankfully, he didn't see you. And you didn't want to see him. You couldn't stop the paranoia from rising up again, terrified that Sherlock would've have secretly caught up with him earlier and told him everything. How would you have been able to handle those looks of hurt and disgust? You wouldn't have.

And, of course, everything worked out to be just fucking fine. Oh, apart from the little mishaps of John nearly being burned alive and the Houses of Parliament nearly being blown out. Just another day in London, right?

But you couldn't think about that today. That was last week's news. John wanted to meet you. Properly. With his new, brilliant, girlfriend. Mary, she was called. What could go wrong?

Oh right, everything.

When you'd arrived at the restaurant that you and John and Mary had agreed to meet at, you were apprehensive but you couldn't stop yourself from feeling happy at meeting an old friend. You were early of course, although the happy couple arrived only a few minutes after you'd sat down and made yourself comfortable. The modest reunion that took place between you and John was just that - modest. A warm greeting and heartfelt embrace was enough to make up for the years that had gone by. But as you tried to make the small talk flow, you noticed that John was looking rather shifty-eyed. Why would he have any reason to be, you wondered. It was you he should have been wary of, treating you with caution and not with such friendliness. Oh god. Oh shit. What if he was wary because he knew? Oh god he knew and he didn't know how to go on now. Oh shit, oh shit, oh fuck-

"______, I don't believe we've ever met before. I'm Mary. Surprisingly enough, I'm actually with this awkward man here."

You were pulled away from the rising paranoia by the shock of this woman's body against yours. How could Mary, a person you'd never met before, act so kindly to such a miserable wreck as yourself? This unexpected kindness brought a tear to your eye and you wiped it away before Mary, or John, could see it. You smiled politely and thanked her for such a warm greeting, confirming that this was indeed your first meeting at the same time. Yet John still looked strange, and kept looking over at the restaurant door. Mary seemed to notice his weird behaviour too. Maybe it wasn't just because of you. After a few minutes, she commented on the absurdity of you all standing there and commanded you, gently, to sit down like ordinary people did. After more looks on John's part, she sighed and said,

"Look ______, we're actually waiting for another person to join us. That's why John has been acting so strangely. I'd assumed he already told you that we were to be joined by a fourth member."