—Come on—Mr. Holmes whined, pacing around John's living room. —Just open me a door!—
John kept his eyes riveted on his book. Mr. Holmes was generally harmless, as far as hallucinations went, but John wasn't going to encourage him to keep visiting. His attempts at ignoring Mr. Holmes rarely lasted long. The man was not a thing to be ignored; he swooped around the flat with his ridiculous height and his ridiculous hair and his ridiculous coat tails flapping about behind him as if they were entirely independent, sentient beings.
—You've not blinked for over a minute— Mr. Holmes snorted. John blinked; his eyes were rather dry. —I know you can see me. And hear me. The immediate solution to both of these problems is right over there.— He jabbed a finger at the door. —I'm fathoms away from wanting to spend another session trapped in your boring apartment watching you read discards from the library or cradling your head between your knees. My mind requires stimulation-—
John closed his eyes. The last thing he needed was Mrs. Hudson to hear him chatting with a hallucination of a blatant weirdo, or to see him prop open a door outside only to come back in, or interacting in any way with this man that no one could see. Harry would get concerned the instant Mrs. Hudson gave her weekly report, and his sessions with the blank-faced psychiatrist would increase, most likely to once a week.
—-which is, of course, why your brain is clearly too afflicted for you to see that the only reasonable course of action in this situation is to open the door.—
"Mrs. Hudson!" John wailed. "A cup of tea, please!" She tottled in instantly, a fond smile twisting up on one side.
"I'm not your housekeeper," she reminded him, moving into the kitchen.
—I'm not your housekeeper— Mr. Holmes mimicked in a falsetto, turning so he could pace back towards John again, and then he saw the open door and beamed. –Good. Excellent!— He disappeared through the door before Mrs. Hudson had finished filling the kettle.
"Thank you, Mrs. Hudson!" John called, very much not watching Mr. Holmes fly out the door.
