To Another Interesting Year
"You know what I realised?"
Sherlock glanced up from his laptop. "What's that?"
John carried his glass of scotch back to his chair, glancing at Sherlock along the way. "We have really sucky New Years."
Sherlock tilted his head slightly. He glanced between the clock, John, the TV, and the opened alcohol in the kitchen. "... I'm sorry, I thought we were having a fine time of it."
John scoffed. "Oh, yeah, a bottle of scotch and New Years Eve. Another year alone."
Sherlock quirked an eyebrow, looking back at his laptop.
"I wasn't talking about you," John replied.
"Of course not." Sherlock typed away at his website, responding to some of the less tedious potential cases in his inbox. "I'm here. Been sitting here. On my laptop," he said, popping the 'p'. "With you. In the same room."
"Don't try to be coy, it doesn't suit you," John replied, twisting around to grin at him.
"I see." Sherlock gave it approximately a half second of thought before squinting at the misguided attempt at spelling in the latest message he was reading. If a client couldn't bother with personal grammar, they hardly were worth his time. He mashed the delete button and read through the next message.
"I mean, it's not like I don't enjoy your never-ending silence while scowling at people's comments," John was saying, "but, I don't know. It's just... yeah, boring."
"And what would you rather be doing?" Sherlock asked absently, typing again. "Oh, let me guess. You're one of those people who would rather be at one of the many parties, drowning the year's sorrows in mixed drinks and snogging women at midnight."
John sighed. "Well, a girlfriend wouldn't be bad."
"Ugh." Sherlock closed his laptop, whisking to his feet. "I will never understand your adoration to watching grown adults make fools of themselves by becoming inebriated and sucking someone else's face off."
John laughed, which he apparenetly tried to turn into a scoff. "Okay, so you don't enjoy watching Scotland Yard or any other person's idiotic attempts to try and solve a case?"
"No, it makes my brain hurt." Sherlock ruffled his hair and headed into the kitchen.
"Of course it does." John turned back to the television, which had just announced the countdown for two minutes. "Well... it was a good year," he said absently.
"Yes," Sherlock agreed. He hesitated briefly once he was in the kitchen, glancing between the kettle and the scotch. He didn't like alcohol, but John liked it, John thought it was 'festive', and it was New Year's...
He sighed and reached for a glass.
"Good cases, good company," John continued.
Sherlock rolled his eyes.
"I've got a job that calls me in when they need temps, money's good..." John trailed off. "Yeah, I mean, it could definitely be worse."
Sherlock carried his drink to the sitting room, leaning against the armrest of John's chair. There was some grand festival on the telly to announce the countdown. "Who are you trying to convince?" he asked, glancing down at John.
John shrugged. "Both of us."
"I know I had a good year; I don't need convincing."
"Well, thank you, Sherlock." He shook his head mockingly, lips curled up at the corners. "You are just charming."
"Thank you," Sherlock replied smartly, smiling into his glass.
They both looked back at the TV as the ten second countdown wound down. Three, two, one-
"Well, here's to another one," John said.
Sherlock nodded. "Indeed," he said, holding his glass out to John.
"Ah, cheers."
Sherlock swallowed his scotch in three gulps, struggling not to make a face as it burned the entire way down his throat.
"I didn't think you liked scotch."
Sherlock coughed slightly. "... I don't."
John laughed. "Look at you."
"I can put on an air of normality... every once in awhile," Sherlock said, pushing himself to his feet again. He set his glass down on the table, exchanging it out for something that was less detrimental to his mental acuity.
He pulled the string on the party popper and had the intense pleasure of watching John nearly fly out of his chair in surprise.
Sherlock grinned at him through the puff of smoke and the settling confetti.
"... Clot," John said, grabbing the pillow to throw at him.
Sherlock laughed, ducking out of the way. "Happy New Year, John."
"Mmm-hmm," John muttered. It was amazing how much humour was in the simple vocalisation. "You wait, Sherlock. You wait."
Sherlock smiled as he went to get some tea. He had a feeling it was going to be an interesting year. Thankfully, interesting was one of his favourite things to begin with.
I know it's been the new year in England for about five hours, but it's only just about where I'm at, so here's my contribution for the Sherlock fandom. Happy New Year, all! You guys all mean so much to me, and I look forward to another lovely year with you all! Here's to a good one, and plenty of Sherlock to go around!
I do not own Sherlock. Thanks for reading!
