This is my first work in D/s universe which I have fallen in love with and it is my own view of it, so the story could work, I hope you'll like it. Yes, I know that the cheekbone-y bastard should theoretically deduce John is a dom from one look, but it is the point of the story, so... ;).

The paths of life are complicated and one decision, one moment, one discussion can change everything. There are so many in this tale that could be mentioned as interesting or having impact, but this was certainly the most important one:

Mike Stamford and Molly Hooper were having a nice chat over coffee when the topic turned to a certain cheekboned consulting detective.

"It's interesting, isn't it," said Mike and sipped his coffee "that he acts so..." he waved his other hand "... dominant, when he is a sub."

"A sub?!" Molly laughed. "Sherlock isn't a sub! He's a dom!" she said with one hundred percent certainty.

"He is?" Mike sipped again. "Why did I think..." he frowned. Why did he think otherwise, really? Didn't he have a conversation about it with somebody? Wasn't it even with Sherlock himself? No, of course not. Of course Sherlock was a dom! "Yeah, thanks, that explains a lot, and will prevent some misunderstandings in the future for sure." He smiled.

Molly smiled at him as well. Sherlock as a sub! What a funny thought!

This is a world of dominants and submissives. People are born with a D/s gender that cannot be changed. Submissives are born with a need to obey, to do what they are told by their doms and be praised for it - or punished when they misbehave. The needs of subs are much more important to fulfill than the ones of doms. If a sub decided to be a hermit, then they would still need to go into town every two or three weeks to be dominated, otherwise they would go crazy.

But of course, there are such things as microorders. The subs and doms living and working in a town theoretically wouldn't need a D/s gender partner because they would get enough microorders there: 'Bring me a coffee, will you?' / 'I need you to rewrite the recordings.' / 'Please sir, show me your driver's license.' But - although much of the academic research out there has been written about the non-necessity of the D/s partner - the truth is that microorders only partially worked. And not always. For one thing, they needed to be followed through with and acknowledged. And even if the dom or sub could get a temporary satisfaction from the giving orders/obeying, there were still the important parts of punishment and sex missing.

But, a sub working in a healthy environment with tasks to fulfill could go months before needing to submit to a dom (they would not be as happy as they could be, but it would work). A dom could manage years. Another branch of academic research was dedicated to the reason why and there were no truly clear results. But the world worked like this: it was not difficult to find a sub if you were a dom. But it was bloody hard to find a dom when you were an unpopular sub.

Unpopular may sound harsh. But there were actually lists for unpopular doms and unpopular subs managed by the government. Truthfully, the dom list was almost empty, because what one sub could see as a flaw (too sadistic, too cuddly, too controlling, not controlling enough,... ) others would see as a perfect match. The sub list was not so empty, because doms wanted to be obeyed, to see their collar around the sub's neck, to be addressed respectfully in public. And some subs were just... difficult.

There were many things the D/s dynamics influenced, one of which was flat sharing. The best combination was sub/sub. They would not try to control each other and would be comfortable with cleaning, cooking, and caring about the flat and the flatmate. Of course, it was not always perfect, but in general it was the best. A worse combination was dom/dom. Both were used to being obeyed. It usually included a lot of yelling, one trying to dominate the other, and hard compromises. It was not ideal, but still better than by far the worst combination, of a dom and a sub (provided that they were not in a D/s relationship). Not mentioning the jealousy of their D/s partners, it would end with the dom's ordering of the sub and the sub's obeying. One study even proved that it is not possible for a dom and a sub to live together for long and not end up a real D/s relationship, or at least an unofficial one.

When John Watson asked who would want him as a flatmate, he meant much more than wanting a dom for sharing a flat. He meant him, his leg, his nightmares. But Mike Stamford didn't really think about it, and said that he was second person to say that to him today. Why not introduce those two, really? Two doms could live together if they tried. Well, John will have to try for the both of them, but who knows, it could work.

Sherlock Holmes as brilliant as he was, sometimes assumed that people were smarter than he accused them of. He had had a conversation with Mike about his D/s status so he assumed when he talked about his flatmate problems, Mike would understand that that was being included. That's why when he was presented with John Watson, potential flatmate returning from Afghanistan or Iraq with a psychosomatic limp, he supposed that Mike had brought him a sub and didn't even try to deduce John's D/s aspects (why would he, really, for one it's boring and for two it would just remind him of his own problems).

Well, if he had, things would be different and... much less interesting.

My greatest thanks to Osprey Emblem for beta-reading! :)

The story which made me fall in love with D/s universe is Shames and Prases, which can be found on archiveofourown website.

If you didn't read it, do, my story will never ever be remotely so good.

Please leave a comment! (Or mail me). They are really inspiring!