Archive of Our Own ^beta

Mrs. Hudson had known from the first day that there was something between Sherlock and John, she pushed and pushed in the gentlest ways she could think of but they never would admit it. She found that John would protest so intently while Sherlock would just let it go. He didn't really have an interest in confirming or denying those feelings, but John was extremely set on making sure that no one had anything to say about their relationship status. Many years of friendship, a fake death, an almost real death, and a divorce later John was back living with Sherlock. Mrs. Hudson was sure that this time they would see exactly what they had before it all happened.

At first Lestrade wasn't so sure that the papers were correct in their assumptions about John and Sherlock. After a while it he started to notice that the way they looked at each other wasn't quite the same as he was looked at his mates. They would do anything for each other- they had almost died for each other, they've stepped in the way of danger- they had in essence done everything they could do to keep the other safe. Lestrade didn't have the same type of intelligence as Sherlock possessed but he knew that something had happened that night with the cabbie. He had an inkling that John shot the cabbie and if that were true then that would mean that both John and Sherlock had killed someone else for each other.

Mycroft was known to goad Sherlock when it came to his ever growing fondness for John and the normal domesticity that he brought with him. Even the first time he met John, Mycroft had snuck in a jab at the obviousness that was *John and Sherlock*. He had grown fond of the type of person that John had made Sherlock, though he would never admit it.

Molly tried not to think too hard on the fact that John had the closest thing to a romantic involvement that a person could have with Sherlock.

John, on the other hand, thought all the time about how he had the closest thing to a romantic relationship a person could have with Sherlock. At first his protests that he and Sherlock were not *together* were because he was solidly sure of his heterosexuality and he hadn't yet let himself realize what he had at Baker street. After the divorce he realized that he wanted Sherlock, no matter his gender. He tried to think of a way to bring it up, but in the end it was clear that Sherlock wanted nothing more than just a platonic flatmate. His current protests were not because he couldn't bring himself to admit his feelings, they were because it meant that he had to acknowledge that everyone else sees it. It meant he wasn't delusional, what he saw between them existed. Sherlock wasn't interested in anyone, let alone John, and John just had to accept that what they had would be enough. It had to be enough because it is all that he would get.

Sherlock continued on in a state of Sherlockness, oblivious to what everyone around him knew.