Three Idiots and a Ring

Author's Note: In this story Sherlock and John met before "A Study in Pink" and Sherlock was clean before meeting Lestrade or John. Enjoy!

Ever since John had deployed to Afghanistan over a year and a half ago Sherlock had taken to wearing his wedding ring on a chain around his neck. He would finger the symbolic piece of melted gold and be comforted by the fact that his own was being worn in the same fashion over three thousand miles away. The ring itself was plain, just a simple gold wedding band, but every time he would look at it he would see John sitting in his favorite armchair resting his head on the Union Jack pillow while sipping his Tea and admonishing Sherlock for something he had done. He would tell himself every time he thought about those memories that he was becoming sentimental but when it came to John he found that he didn't care.

Shortly after John's deployment Sherlock began consulting with DI Lestrade on police cases. He had worked with the police outside of London before and with Mycroft's position in the British Government it wasn't hard to work out an agreement. So every few days, every other day during the really good weeks, Sherlock would find himself standing over a body at a crime scene rattling off his deductions to the chagrin of Lestrade's assistant Sally Donovan and his useless forensic tech Anderson. After a few weeks of this they had established a semi-productive mutual relationship based off of insults and lots of rotting corpses.

It even managed to keep his mind at bay from missing John too much. He found that the less he dwelled on John's absence the less he hated the loneliness so it made perfect sense to him not to mention his marriage to his colleagues, if he could even call them that. It wasn't that he went out of his way to do so, it was more of a subconscious decision, but it was never brought up so he never felt the need to tell them. It was generally thought of by the crew that he was asexual so it wasn't like he was asked if was going on a date if he was dressed nicely, or if he'd had a late night when he came in disheveled.

The longer into John's deployment time the more often Sherlock would touch the ring. He usually took it off when he left the flat to pursue criminals for fear of it getting lost in a struggle but after the one-year mark he took to wearing it full time just to feel closer to John, although he would always wear it under his shirt. If anyone noticed the chain hanging round his neck no one mentioned it. It wasn't until he was leaning over the body of a homicide victim, almost definitely killed by her brother-in-law, that the jewelry came under scrutiny.

It must have fallen out of his shirt; he wasn't wearing a scarf that day so there was nothing holding it in place against his skin. He was so focused on the corpse that he didn't notice and tuck it back in place like he normally would. It must have glinted in the light because he was pulled out of his musings by Anderson's nasally voice.

"What's that then?"

Anderson's voice drew the attention of Lestrade and Donovan and in less than ten seconds Sherlock felt three pairs of eyes scrutinizing his chest where the ring lay. He casually dropped the ring back under his shirt despite their stares and continued to look at the body.

"What is what Anderson? Please do be specific when asking a question otherwise you're just wasting everyone's time." He scoffed, not yet looking up from the remains.

"That necklace. Mummy get you a present?" He taunted, now angry at being insulted by the consulting detective.

"No, there was a ring on that necklace. Something you want to tell us Sherlock?" Lestrade asked as kindly as he could manage in the circumstances, trying in part to reign in his employees, although Sherlock didn't consider himself as such.

"You're a detective Lestrade why don't you tell me what you think it means?" Sherlock asked, at this point just testing their limits.

"Don't tell me you got hitched." Sally joked, followed by a moment of uncomfortable silence.

"Seriously? Who'd marry you?" She asked disbelievingly.

"His name's John Watson." He answered, staring her down. Immediately the expressions on all three of their faces turned from curious to downright confounded.

"You're…you're gay?" Anderson managed to spit out.

"Yes. How did you not notice? I've been married for three years!" Sherlock stated.

Now that the secret was out he wanted to revel in the fact that they had missed this major side of his life since they had known him. He'd secretly always been a bit smug that they hadn't figured it out. It'd been a running bet between him and John in their letters. John had bet 20 pounds that they would figure it out in under three months, Sherlock had bet 40 that it'd be at least a year.

All three of them stood there for what must have been at least two minutes. Sherlock simply standing with a smug satisfied expression on his face while Lestrade and Donovan stared at him as if he were playing a game, Anderson a few feet away eyeing him as if he'd jump him now that he knew he was gay. Sherlock enjoyed a few more seconds of glorious defeat over the detectives before turning with the swish of his coat and walking out the door, yelling over his shoulder…

"If the brother-in-law wears size ten Louis Vuitton's arrest him."

As he strutted away from the crime scene in search of a cab he knew he would have a lot to tell John in his next letter.