Thankfully, it was only four days later when Jim walked into his office to see three brand new desktops sat on his desk, where the broken ones had previously been. They were shiny and the boxes had been placed by the site of the desk. Jim couldn't help smiling. God, they were gorgeous.

As he approaches them, something catches his eye. On the middle monitor was a green sticky note, with a messy scrawl on that was also sort of professional. Jim had no idea how the writing was both a disaster and perfect.

'Goodmorning, James ;) -SH'

Jim growls, mumbling a curse under his breath as he peels the note off and screws it up, no longer admiring the script. He falls down on his swirly chair, lifting his arms high and aiming for the bin. He throws the balled up sticky note with a flick of his wrist and.. misses.

With another grumbled curse, Jim stands and retrieves the ball of paper before placing it in the bin.

When Jim returns to his seat he spots a bundle of paperwork stuffed under one of his keyboards. How in Earth did he not spot them previously?

"Must be blind" Jim laughs to himself.

He then pulls them out and smiles when he sees that they're the receipts for the new monitors. His perfect, shiny, pretty, new monitors.

Jim was about to fold them up and put them all into his folder when a figure sat at the bottom on the page catches his eye.

£14,999.

Frowning, he checks over the paperwork, thinking that Sherlock got ripped off or that it was a mistake somehow. It soon comes to light, however, (after twenty minutes of checking and re-checking) that Sherlock had brought a new updated model of the monitor and desktop.

Jim pauses. He's not quite sure what to do.

Surely, Sherlock knew how much he spent and knew that these monitors were different. Even any idiot could see those things and Sherlock was far from an idiot.

Much like four days prior, Jim finds himself walking down the stairs and entering the lab.

Seeing as Sherlock didn't practically live here like Molly and Jim, he was no where in sight when Jim entered the lab. Jim's shoulders slump, supposing he shouldn't have assumed the man would be here.

He'd hoped to thank the man and give him back the extra money or something. As annoying as Sherlock is, Jim didn't want to take any money from him.

It's a lot for the computers as it is. Then Sherlock goes and pay nearly £3,000 more then he needed to! God, what kind of idiot repays by more needed too, thousands more than needed? And three days early too!

Jim had to thank him. Or yell at him. Something.

Groaning, Jim rests his head against the wall, tempted to pull back and start banging his forehead into the plaster. Maybe it would help. He could imagine he was headbutting Sherlock or something.

The door opens then and two voices reach Jim's ears. He quickly steps away from the wall to explain himself, panicked, but when he sees that it's Sherlock and John, Jim let's out a breath, glad it wasn't someone he didn't know. That would be awkward.

'Hey, don't mind me. I'm just awkwardly waiting for the guy that likes to shoot my computers.'

Yeah, that sounds fun. Not.

"James..." Sherlock trails off, a smile twitching at his lips. "Come to see me again? So soon?"

John sends them a weird look but neither seem to notice.

Benice. Benice. Don'thithim. Jim chants to himself, sucking in a deep breath.

Jim huffs "Shut up, Sherlock. I came to thank you, actually, so maybe stop being an arse for two seconds and let me"

What happened to be nice? There's no hope for him if he can't even follow his own instructions correctly. Jesus.

Sherlock just laughs at that. "For someone with brand new computers, three days before the deadline might I add, you're in a bad mood"

Jim doesn't comment on that and simply shoves the receipt into Sherlock's hands. Sherlock looks down at it, small smile widening into a pleased smirk. He looks up after a moment and raises an eyebrow.

"Problem?"

Jim forces himself to stay calm and not slap away that smug look. Oh, how Jim dreamed of slapping that stupid (oddly beautiful) face.

"Yes, Sherlock. Problem." Jim stresses the word "You went and spent three thousand pounds more then you needed too!"

Sherlock chuckles and shrugs. Jim suddenly get the impulsive urge to grip his shoulders and shake him until he sees sense. It certainly wasn't the first time Jim wanted to physically try to get through to the man. Shouting did nothing. Maybe a good slap would give everyone some peace. 

"Well, I've destroyed your computers before and not replaced them. I technically owe you far more" Sherlock removes his coat and hangs it up as he speaks.

Jim opens his mouth to argue back but finds he can't.

It's true. Sherlock has destroyed many of his computers and this is the first time he's replaced them. Ever.

Damn it. Sherlock was right again!

Jim drags a hand down his face, sighing. Today had already been a long, long day. He'd cut himself shaving, stepped on a pin, had to search for his favourite beanie, got yelled at by his neighbour for something he didn't do and he also got caught in the rain on the way into work.

He wanted to crawl back into bed and curl into a ball. Yeah, it was one of thosedays.

"Okay. Well, in that case, thank you. Seriously. I've wanted the new model for a while now" Jim smiles, genuinely, allowing the stress of the day to melt away. It's the first time he's given Sherlock a true smile.

Despite it being one of those days he can't stop the bubble of excitement that is brewing in his chest. He was a bit (massively) nerdy when it came to computers. He loved them, very dearly.

So yes, Sherlock buying Jim the latest model of the computers he works with definitely earn the detective a gold star next to his name in Jim's good books. It just about made up for the frowny face Jim had mentally stamped all over his name previously in his bad books.

Sherlock offers a smile back and for a moment Jim is knocked back by how beautiful that real smile is. Jim quickly snaps himself out of those thoughts.

Thankful for computers, acceptable. Thinking Sherlock was beautiful, really not acceptable.

He smiles quickly again before raising his hand in a wave as he heads for the door.

A brief moment of what looked like panic crosses Sherlock's face. It's gone as quick as it came and Jim doesn't get the chance to analyse it. Not that he would look into Sherlock's facial expressions or feelings much, anyway.

With a slight shrug Jim leaves the room, his step gaining a bounce to it as he thinks of all the new programmes and updates waiting for him on the monitors upstairs. He was half tempted to try and take the stairs two at a time...

Just as his hand settles on the banister, he hears a shout from behind him.

"Jim!"

Jim turns, surprised to find Doctor Watson chasing after him in a hurry. Jim raises an eyebrow when the man stops before him (breathing fine, amazingly).

"Yes, Doctor Watson?" Jim asks, suddenly finding it ten times easier to be nice.

Sherlock brought out the worst in him. It was a fact. A proven fact.

"Sherlock needs you" John smiles. "And call me John. Doctor Watson sounds so formal"

Jim nods. "Okay.. John. Um. Sorry, but I'm really not interested in whatever Sherlock has to say--"

John holds his hands up in defence. "He's insufferable at times, I know. But he said to tell you it's about a computer"

Jim perks up immediately and begins his way back towards the lab. "Did he say what the problem was?"

John laughs. "He said you'd do that. He wasn't kidding when he said you loved computers, was he?"

John smiles, genuinely curious, but Jim isn't stupid and he can see the confusion in the doctor's eyes. Confusion about who Jim was to Sherlock. Apparently, Sherlock doesn't just talk about people and John had that older, protective brother aura about him.

Jim didn't know what to make of that fact. The detective liked to annoy him, sure, but talking about him once he'd left the room? Jim didn't see that one coming at all. He hoped Sherlock hadn't said anything to make John too weary. Frankly, Jim could see John being scary if he was angry.

"He certainly wasn't. Computers are my area, without them I'd just be a socially awkward man who lives a lonely life" Jim answers.

And there it was. That look of pity. The one that showed people thought that of him, with or without the computers. Jim didn't understand why it was so unbelievable that he honestly was happy with them as his company and not people.

Computers were his area. People were not.

The silence lingers over them until they enter the lab. Sherlock is sat at a microscope but looks up when they enter.

He nods at John, who moves over to Sherlock's jacket and begins to text someone. Jim raises an eyebrow but Sherlock was now ignoring the doctor and focused completely on Jim.

"I need your assistance" Sherlock murmurs, undoubtfully not used to admitting he needs help.

That's kinda cute, Jim thinks before mentally shoving those thoughts off a cliff and sending a blazing car after them just to make sure they weren't ever coming back up that cliff.

"With?" Jim asks, eyebrow raising again and tone clearly snappier.

He had no idea how Sherlock managed to squish his calm and kind nature with just his presence. It was beyond irritating. God, people must think that they're a married couple or something with the way they bicker at times.

No. No! NomorethoughtsofyouandSherlock. Shh.

"My laptop's poorly" Sherlock pouts.

Jim's eyes linger on Sherlock's lips a moment longer than necessary before he frowns at Sherlock's whiny, childish tone. When had he become so... playful?

In the corner, John was sending the detective some very odd looks indeed. It seems no one ever knew what went on in Sherlock's head. Jim was sure that Sherlock liked it exactly that way.

'Aloneprotectshim'Mollyhadoncesaid. 'Atleast, hethinksitdoes'

Jim couldn't really argue that being alone wasn't always lonely. To some people, it was nice. A relief. Familiar. Jim had always been that way. He liked having his space to himself and that was that.

"And what do you want me to do?" Jim asks.

Sherlock stands. "We're off home now, come with us and take a look at it for me"

Jim swears they'e just got here but... A peek into Sherlock Holmes' life and home? Yes, please.

He may get annoyed by the man far too easily but that didn't mean Jim wasn't curious about the remarkable genius that is Sherlock bloody Holmes.

Jim appears to visibly ponder the question before he nods and sighs, hiding his excitement about this adventure. "I guess. Yeah, fine"