You Left A Mark - A Johnlock Soulmate AU

18

The silence that hung over the men in the cab was uncomfortable. Sherlock knew something was up, John knew Sherlock knew, and Sherlock knew John knew Sherlock knew. However these mind games just created this blanket of tension. They both knew they were supposed to like men, Sherlock personally didn't care. Romance wasn't his thing, yet he was inclined to get John to want to act on this soulmate stuff. John however was terrified, all the memories racing back had him holding back tears. The snide comments about Harry once she had came out, the way his dad was extremely vocal about his homophobia. How he could never tell what his mum thought about it because his dad always seemed to take the reigns. He had a relatively happy childhood, bar the soulmate incidents, but once Harry came out as gay his family life turned upside down.

Sherlock could tell John was thinking but he wanted to know what was going on in the doctor's brain. He had deduced that the premise of the case had shook John to the core, he could see the sympathy for the criminal in John's eyes. But why? Why had this affected John so much? Sherlock was set to get to the bottom of it, that was his plan for the night.

Thankfully the taxi pulled up outside Baker Street, allowing for the men to finally enter the doors of their home. Yet John seemed a bit too eager to leave Sherlock's gaze. He allowed John to lead the way and once the door to Baker Street had closed Sherlock started his questioning.

"You didn't like this case, why?"

Averting eye contact John replied, "I guess the body just shook me, even in war I hadn't seen anything like it."

"I can tell when you're lying John, the world's only consulting detective. It's in the job description."

John seems to chuckle at this statement, however he still refuses to tell Sherlock the truth.

"John I know this case has affected you somehow, just tell me and we can figure it out," Sherlock pleads, he wants to understand why John's upset but he doesn't know why.

"Look Sherlock it just did, alright. I really don't want to get into childhood trauma tonight."

"Wait, what trauma?" Concern seems to drip from Sherlock, John doesn't fail to notice. His gaze softens slightly as he realises how much the detective cares for him. Yet this intrusion of privacy still got on his nerves.

"Over exaggeration Sherlock." John pauses, "Promise." He doesn't know exactly why he felt the need to promise Sherlock, but it felt better seeing the worry disappear from the man's eyes. Sherlock decides to drop the subject, understanding John's attempt to end their conversation.

Later that night, once the worries and tensions from the day had died down, both men were just minding their own business. Sherlock doing his morally ambiguous experiments, and John updating his blog. Nothing is admiss anymore in Baker Street. Tension seems to be a thing of the past as the Baker Street Boys do their own thing.

Yet John's head is going a million miles a minute. He can't drop today's case. It's still bothering him. He plucks up the courage to ask Sherlock a question he knew wouldn't get an answer.

"Did you think they would be a boy?"

"Who?" Sherlock asks, immediately dropping his experiment at the chance to talk to John.

"Your soulmate," the anxiousness can be heard in John's voice, all his worries are coming back. He should've just left this topic alone.

"This again. I mean it never bothered me John. So I never expected it to be anyone, despite having the proof. I just believed once they met me, they'd leave me."

Sherlock's answer tugged on John's heart strings. He now realises how broken this man is, yet how together he seems to have his life. John finally notices the facade that is Sherlock Holmes.

John closes his laptop and heads to the door leading out to his bedroom,

"I'd never leave you," he murmurs as he heads off to bed, mostly hoping Sherlock didn't hear what he said, however, a tiny part of him wanted Sherlock to.

Sherlock heard.

--AN--

Heyyy shorter chapter than last time. Doubt anything will ever be as long as last chapter, apart from the time between uploads. I'm still working on getting up and writing, because I do live this little project and the little community behind it. I never expected one read let alone how ever many this thing has. Anyways engough sappyness, I'm just her to apologise for my terrible uploading skills.

--AN--