Undertones - Just a cute little whimsy. I liked the idea of their secret looks and nudges, it needed poking around a bit.
DISCLAIMER: Not mine, but I like to borrow. Thanks Sir A.C.D and Messrs Moftiss.
There are many undertones to their conversations. Developed and honed over the years to almost absolute perfection. There is no way they could have survived what they have without them. John often wonders if he should try and write them down somewhere, but they are so many and some so subtle that it would most likely be impossible.
One of the most controversial is the 'play along with me, John' tone, when Sherlock is instantly adopting an alternate persona to mislead a witness, or wheedle a stubborn clue out of an unsuspecting suspect, or just flat out lying to keep the pair of them out of trouble. John is not particularly fond of it, although it often leads to an entertaining few minutes, because frankly he does not like lying. Especially not when the other person may well have just suffered a distressing trauma. But he can't deny Sherlock's acting often finds a treasure in the most unlikely hiding place.
There is the 'seriously, you're saying this now?' tone, when Sherlock is happy about the wrong thing, or slightly less than tactful about his pleasure, or is about to land John in a great big steaming pile of something he doesn't want to be in. It is easily ignored, but sometimes is just what Sherlock needs to set him an acceptable path again.
The 'significant!' tone, when either one of them is missing a clue is one of the most useful. Sometimes it just takes a repeat of the evidence in this tone and John will understand or Sherlock can solve the whole damn mystery. John's version is more gentle and often more tentative, as though he finds it hard to believe there could possibly be anything he has spotted that the other has missed. Sherlock's is clearer and harsher and can be accompanied by annoyance.
There is the good old 'you are pissing me right off you great prat' tone. This is most often used by John to little effect, but occasionally utilised by Sherlock.
And the rarest but possibly most important, 'you know I want to say thank you, but there are people listening' one. This is one of John's favourites to hear. Sometimes he uses it too, when Sherlock has done something good he'd rather not show, or someone is listening and would take the piss. If he never heard this tone he would have left 221B long ago. Sherlock likes to appear an ungrateful berk, but to John this tone completely belies that impression.
These are just a few select commonly used tones. Of course, there are innumerable more, all of them understood and employed in everyday conversation. Greg Lestrade is sometimes included in these secret conversations, although he is less than fluent and is more often than not left behind somewhat. Once the language of vocal tones was thoroughly explored and exploited John and Sherlock began to add physical contact to the dictionary. As time has passed these have become more and more common. The conversations of touch can be misconstrued by some, but are usually ignored or not even noticed. John and Sherlock are so consistently stood close together that a momentary union between limbs is easily missed.
A nudge of one's knee into the side of the other's often translates as 'pay attention – vital evidence,' but with greater force instead could form 'shut the fuck up, now, before we die'.
Elbow nudges are reassurances, possibly 'go on, you're right'. They can sometimes extend further into urgencies, 'go for it, like now!', or perhaps simply into a congratulations and encouragement to continue, 'I get it, keep going.'
A hand in the small of the back means, quite literally 'I've got your back'. Very useful for serious and less serious situations. The level of pressure can range between defending each other in arguments to defending each other in a fist or gun fight. Once Sherlock even had John's back while he was attempting to chat up a woman at the pub. Luckily the assurance of Sherlock's presence was missed by the woman, or she would probably have got the wrong idea about them.
A few times at crime scenes it has been witnessed that John will kick a gentle foot out against Sherlock's shod toes. It can be taken to be an admonition, perhaps a hint he is distressing somebody with his closeness to something he shouldn't be (most usually a corpse), but can occasionally just mean 'get off the floor, it's filthy'. Just once it was seen to be reversed, with both parties standing, but this time it meant 'help me get out of here, I'm suffering from those fumes I accidentally inhaled earlier and I don't want to contaminate the crime scene with my projectile vomiting'. And of course John understood and stepped up to make an excuse to get Sherlock outside for a minute.
This discreet type of communication comes in useful not only in life threatening situations, but also in everyday domestic settings. Sometimes a whole day can pass with both of them in the flat and only one or two words are spoken (and not only because Sherlock is antisocial, although that does add to it).
The graze of a finger down the outside of the other's hand turns into 'tea?' to either party, when Sherlock is in the midst of an uninterruptable experiment, or when John is typing or on the phone. The answer is generally fittingly silent also; a nod or a shake of the head. Obviously, it is usually John who is offering, but occasionally he gets a welcome surprise from his flatmate.
On a quiet evening when watching television a gentle reaching kick from a foot to a thigh translates to 'this is crap, turn it over'. While a hand slapped down on the arm of a chair or sofa is 'don't touch that remote; I put this on for a reason'.
And later a tired palm lowered to rest on the hair of the other could be 'I'm going to bed,' or alternatively if fingertips make contact with a scalp it adds 'you should go to bed too' on the end.
Their tones and brushes are often completely at odds with the words that come out of their mouths. Sometimes John and Sherlock don't even need to actually say anything to each other, just a quirked eyebrow or twitched lip or even maybe a flared nostril can be enough to convey the meaning. It is a puzzle to others and they often themselves wonder how they can immediately understand each other. But it works, and as John often says, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
I'm toying with the idea of a series expanding on this idea. Can't get those little niggling ideas out of my head! We'll see if it goes anywhere.
Please review, you know I love it!