3912: Despite his brilliance, Sherlock has never been able to figure out how to solve a Rubik's cube. He prefers instead to dismantle them and put the pieces back in the proper order.
"Have you figured it out yet, Sherlock?" John asked, casually walking into the living room of their shared flat. The detective looked up at him and gave a stiff nod, his brown curls bouncing with the motion.
"Of course. It was the husband. If those idiots would have just taken a closer look at the flat, they would have seen that he-"
"No, not the case." John interrupted. A small smile tugged at the Doctors lips and Sherlock narrowed his eyes at him.
"Well if you're not talking about the case then I'm afraid you'll have to be a bit more specific." he huffed.
"I'm talking about the Rubik's cube, Sherlock. Have you figured it out yet?" John smiled. Sherlock just glared at the coffee table where said object was sitting. John had found the toy in his room earlier while he was going through his desk drawers and he'd given it to Sherlock as a little 'challenge' to work on while he updated the blog. And what a challenge it was. Little did John know, Sherlock had spent all evening trying to solve the thing. He could never get more than one side put together before all the colors got mixed up again. It was dreadful. The detective closed his eyes with an exaggerated sigh.
"No John. I already told you, I have very important things to attend to. And that toy is not one of them." John let out a small laugh and rolled his eyes, turning to grab his coat from the hook by the door.
"Alright Sherlock, whatever you say. I'm going to run to the store real quick. We're out of milk." The detective simply hummed and closed his eyes, resuming his thinking position. "Try not to destroy anything while I'm gone!" John called over his shoulder as the door closed behind him.
Sherlock waited until John got down the stairs. His ears strained to hear to each footstep before the unmistakable thud of the door closing gave him the green light. His eyes snapped open, immediately landing on the Rubik's cube. He snatched the tantalizing object from the table and gripped it tightly.
"There's gotta be a trick to this..." he muttered to himself. The detective turned the shiny plastic toy over in his hands. Sherlock would never admit it, but not being able to solve such a childish puzzle was really starting to get to him. He'd seen kids solve these things in less than a minute. Surely that meant he should be able to solve it in 30 seconds or less, right? He studied the plastic cube for a good five minutes before pulling his feet up and settling back into the couch. "It's just a stupid toy. Simple. I'll have it done in no time." he told himself. The detective sighed and turned the top layer...
"Sherlock, I'm back! Would you mind helping me with these?" John called, closing the door behind him as he entered the flat. Sherlock froze. He hadn't expected John to be back so soon. He looked down at the half built Rubik's cube in his hand. After about 25 minutes of trying to solve it the correct way, Sherlock had given up and resorted to taking it apart and building it up from the middle. Of course, he couldn't let John know that. He frantically gathered the pieces, getting ready to shove them into his pocket. He could hear John's voice getting closer. He scrambled for a piece that had fallen off the table. Sherlock retrieved the fallen piece and looked up, only to be greeted with the sight of John standing right in front of him. He followed John's gaze to the coffee table where the half-assembled Rubik's cube lay.
"Sherlock...?" The detective could hear the smirk in John's voice. Busted. Sherlock huffed and dropped back into the couch behind him, crossing his arms over his chest. John looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"That was a waste of time. I don't know how anyone could find such a tedious object enjoyable. They obviously need to find something more important to do with their time." Sherlock stated defensively. John just shook his head and laughed.
"Agreed." Sherlock continued to glare at the Rubik's cube while John walked to the kitchen to put the groceries away. "Oh and Sherlock," John stopped and looked over his shoulder at the other man. The detective looked back at him. "If you don't like taking it apart like that you can always try just pealing the stickers off and putting them in the proper order." John laughed.
"Shut up, John." Sherlock huffed, casting one last glare towards the unfinished Rubik's cube.