An Audience of One

No one understands Sherlock as well as John does, no one has bothered to try. Lestrade tolerates him, because he recognizes Sherlock's singular talents, and understands not only how helpful such talents are when applied to criminal investigation, but also how lucky it is that Sherlock is on the side of the good guys.

There is his brother, Mycroft Holmes, who shares a similar ability of observation, who is the obvious choice in Sherlock's life to be the one who understands his younger brother's affinity of deductive reasoning. But instead, Mycroft has distorted his ability to truly see Sherlock for who Sherlock is by interjecting his personal concerns for his younger sibling.

Only John seems to see Sherlock for who he is. John is the first person to call Sherlock out on how his inability to interact well with people caused him more trouble than was good for him. The former Army Surgeon is the first to see there is in fact a method to the man's madness and that beyond his grey eyes was a singular mind that could blossom into something spectacular if it was shown encouragement instead of the ridicule and scorn that Sherlock normally receives.

Most importantly, John never gives Sherlock a reason to think that he considers Sherlock's deductions as anything less than genius. The near constant state of awe Sherlock found in John's eyes and admiration he heard in the blonde's voice made Sherlock better at his job, because it made him want to make more clever deductions in order to impress John and feel vindicated with his work.

Sherlock knew what he'd been talking about when he told John genius was always looking for an audience to impress. And John was his; his audience of one.


Again another story whose title comes from the last line. LOL I will work on not doing that any more.