"valiant" and "just" are deliberately similar. possible spoilers. title from t. s. eliot's "the wasteland."
mostly focuses on john and sherlock, but includes other characters.
Fed with Copper
heroes don't exist and even if they did, i wouldn't be one, sherlock says maybe too quickly and john can only try and disagree. fifty glimpses into the series. one sentence prompts.
+ quirks
They become friends under twenty-four hours, but it takes months for them to get used to living in the same flat: especially Sherlock's need to experiment on body parts.
+ quarrel
"There are fingers in the drawer!"; "I'm going to save the world!"
+ walk
One of his worst fears is forgetting how to walk.
+ waste/wasteland
He wakes up—again—surprised to find not Afghanistan's desert sand, but London's ugly wallpaper.
+ war
Sherlock does not know what war is like despite calling London a battlefield; John never wants him to know, and so, does not correct him even if he should.
+ balloon
"Anderson is a skinny balloon," Sherlock says dismissively and Lestrade agrees absently; Anderson just scowls.
+ question
"What are you doing?" Sherlock hears John ask him for the 259th time since they first met, just three months ago.
+ sordid
Moriarty places the bomb vest on him and he has to suppress a shudder.
+ smirk
"I don't have a heart, remember?"
+ sarcasm
"Just like I don't have a brain?"
+ wishes
"If wishes were fishes..." Sherlock mutters about his case and does not hear Molly whisper "then I'd be your queen."
+ nowhere
Molly gets deep wanderlust sometimes, but she does not understand why: after all, where would she go?
+ neutral
Sherlock thinks neutrality is a lie: how can one be neutral when everyone has an opinion?
+ jester
John stares at him a long time afterwards before he finally speaks, "Was that a joke?"
+ breaking
The wound is minor, treatable, and yet Sherlock never wants to see John in pain again no matter how small.
+ worry
The worst part of having a flat mate, a partner, a friend, is the constant...not fear, but that feeling that if they aren't fast enough, they won't have a flat mate, a partner, a friend.
+ waltzing
He has never been a dancer—never even stored any information about the sport—so when Moriarty tells him to dance, naturally, Sherlock disobeys.
+ balcony
Sherlock dreams of flying when he sleeps (if he sleeps) and he always wakes on the ground staring up at an audience who claps his performance into oblivion.
+ jewel
"Oh, here's one: a jewelry store had—"; "Boring!"
+ blessing
Most cases he takes are handed on to him in any sort of fashion and Sherlock grasps them eagerly, always has; so, he wonders, why do I need John to grasp them as well?
+ jump
John hates the unknown—despises it; but when Sherlock drags him into case after case, John does not hesitate—he soon learns to love the thrill.
+ serenade
When Sherlock plays the violin, John will sometimes sing along until he falls asleep with music in his dreams.
+ quiet
John quickly understands that quiet does not always mean shut up.
+ sojourn
Sometimes, he just needs a break from Sherlock, just for a little while, and so John goes out on walks with no destination in mind.
+ solitary
Because Sherlock is the same way, John never hears any protest.
+ share
Despite being best friends, there is little that they share with each other.
+ jousting
John enjoys this part of cases the most—when Sherlock speaks with the criminal, getting him or her to squirm with the words he throws at them.
+ near
Sherlock and John work best when they work together.
+ quitting
Lestrade looks at them with a frown on his face; "You two haven't given up on a case before, have you?"
+ stupidity
Sherlock and John stare at each other, a little dumbfounded, before they turn back to Lestrade; "What kind of question is that?" John asks.
+ just
Sherlock has never once contemplated what he does and how he goes about doing it—whether it is right or it is wrong, Sherlock will keep fighting because that is all he has left (and John and Mrs. Hudson and Lestrade, but they are who he fights for).
+ birthday
Harry calls him for the first time in two years, and her only words are, "Did you forget what day it is?"
+ whiskey & rum
Lestrade hates rum, but he never passes up good whiskey.
+ weddings
"So," Lestrade asks John, trying to make polite conversation, "are you married?"
+ wonder
Sherlock's deducing never ceases to amaze him.
+ bias
John wonders why most everyone sees Sherlock as an arse when he really isn't one: just a show-off.
+ natural
Sherlock is a natural show-off and corrects anyone who tells him otherwise.
+ nuance
Sherlock notices everything from a glance, but John knows he cannot understand everything at a glance.
+ virtuous
"I fight for the side of the angels, but that does not mean I am one."
+ soliloquy
John sometimes compares Sherlock to Hamlet and wonders how accurate he is.
+ whimsy
John, despite what he complains otherwise, does not want Sherlock to grow up, truly.
+ horizon
John tries not keep his mind on the past when the present is much more interesting, but when he sleeps, his mind does not take this into effect.
+ valiant
John has never once contemplated what he does and how he goes about doing it—whether it is right or it is wrong, John will keep fighting because that is all he has left (and Sherlock and Mrs. Hudson and Lestrade, but they are who he fights for).
+ victory
They do not understand winning so much as they understand completing.
+ burning
Moriarty promised to burn the heart out of him, and even standing, watching John, on the roof of St. Bart's Sherlock still feels his heart beating.
+ breathing
"I'm a doctor, I'm a doctor..." John moans his friend's wrist limp in his grasp.
+ bane
"Heroes don't exist, and even if they did, I wouldn't be one," Sherlock says, maybe too quickly, and John can only try and disagree.
+ sorrow
(John had felt a heartbeat, but it is not until later (when he opens his eyes) that he realizes it was just a dream: Sherlock isn't coming back.)
+ belief
Lestrade once calls them heroes; John and Sherlock exchange a glance before saying, simultaneously, "Heroes don't exist."
+ defeat
They also do not understand what losing is: Sherlock Holmes and John Watson do not stop until the case is closed and the criminals locked away in prison; this is what they were born to do.