John was sitting in the Caffe, his laptop running as he performed the maintenance of his beloved HOLMES it was the second strongest protected server in London and the rest of the world, trumping even the internationally known government server could even rival that of the Quartermaster's firewalls,The intricate codes that made up his HOLMES was beautiful and deadly, beginner hackers could barely dent it and it is virtually impossible for one of the seven to be able get past the first layer. It just so happens that someone was trying to get into the inner walls of his HOLMES, he hasn't bother tracking it down and causing wreckage and rightful vengeance, that was Ana's job.
Ana who was running late, Even if he had been the one to arrange the meeting since he had remembered that Ana needed advice probably has to do with the office politics she is recently taking part on. John adjusted his prescription glasses and glanced over to the entrance hoping that Ana was already here or at least crossing the street.
He went back to his laptop, missing the telltale figure of the consulting detective, It was only when he had closed the program after performing the maintenance and upgrading some of its features did he notice the man sitting across him.
Sherlock had been regarding him with curious look as the man worked on a program with intensity that could rival his regarding The Work. John (his mind has supplied) was an anomaly, he does not believe that someone could come close to his deductive abilities, that a genius like him could go undetected for so long and be genuinely kind. Sherlock Holmes has seen and sees everything, he is sure of the fact that John Watson is merely wearing a mask and he'll be the one to expose it.
"It's nice to meet you after our last encounter" Sherlock had said in a manner of greeting and John merely stayed silent waiting for him to state his purpose. When none was forthcoming he spoke "I see, in that case I'll return the sentiment as well" he was not sure how this kind of things work. John for his part had rarely talk with people during his university days, there was Cassandra and then there was Mary, Ana had only come much later during his time as a trauma surgeon.
Other than them he had no male friends and Chris does not count because he was a posh a friend and while the other consultant was definitely posh,he could see that the man clearly won't talk about mundane things like politics or gossip in the higher social circles that much he was sure of. He could not think if there was anything he did towards the man that warranted the man's intense stare and apparent dislike of him.
"Is there anything that you need from me?" he asked honestly clueless of what he had done to cause the man's distaste towards him.
Sherlock cocked his head wondering how the man was so intelligent and could be so clueless "no, not much" he said then " I was just wondering what made you want to be a consultant"
And the man, of all things had shown Sherlock a smirk.
John had not been expecting that the other consultant would be frank and immediately thought of him as a wonderful character basis.
'a side to Sherrinford perhaps?' he thought and decided to gauge out this man as un ethical it may be, John was always between not caring and not knowing either way all that matters to him now was whether this person would be a good side for his Sherrinford.
" I was bored" he said as truthfully as possible " and some times, this cases that the Yard offers are enough to at least cure my boredom". This part was true, he needed the cases as much as Ana needed her wifi and perhaps that was pushing it too far but really Sherrinford needs his cases and Hamish needs his adrenaline and if he could give this to them he would be living (vicarious as it may be ) and be content until the next lethargy sets in.
Sherlock was honestly surprised by the man's honesty and wondered if he would be a worthy opponent, the man clearly knew what he was doing and perhaps was on par with his deduction skills.
It wasn't necessary to hate an enemy after all.
" Well then tell me, Mr. Watson what could you tell me about that woman over there?" He said testing John's deduction skills and whether he has found someone who was like him in that aspect.
John looked over to where the other consultant was gazing and smirked, luck must be at his side since he would not have to insert enough energy or work to deduce about the very woman who was standing underneath the maple tree.
"Filipino descent, works for the embassy. On the age of 10 she broke her feet but remained oblivious to it, obvious from the slight bump on her right feet, she had chicken pox when she was 14 from the easily mistaken as a bruise on her left leg, averagely athletic from the state of her muscles in the arms, you could tell from the color of her skin that she prefers the indoors, brown but paler than most Filipinos. Also she's nocturnal if the state of her eyes are to be base on"
Sherlock is pleasantly amused and surprised he had not expect the man to deduce the medical history of the woman. But he would not lose.
"Judging from the state of her attire she prefers practicality and comfort, she's of Filipino descent but if you look closely you could trace chinese or japanese in her face, quite possibly both. She's waiting for someone and is already annoyed, the twitch in her eye brows are a tell tale sign, from the way she tied her hair, she was hurrying it was in a messy bun, unnoticeable since her hair is wavy but still messy, she only wore eyeliner to appear ready, from the way she's squinting despite wearing glasses her eyesight has gotten bad and needs new one, her clothes though practical is rumpled, I highly doubt that is part of the design of the dress but she does not care, her fur trimmed trench coat a gift from a brother. her shoulder bag second hand or perhaps borrowed permanently from an older sister"
Sherlock smiled and leaned back watching as John merely retained his calm smile which made the older man cocked his head in question.
"You got everything right except the gift" he said with a chuckle neither offending nor fond. It was devoid of emotion and Sherlock frowned.
" It's from me" he said and turned his back to Sherlock before motioning the woman to come inside which she did, her face non chalant as ever and she strode to them as if she owned the place. Despite their obvious height difference she stared down at Sherlock as if his mere presence ruined their date.
"I see that the two of you have met, Lestrade would be thrilled" She said before dragging the chair between Sherlock and John to sit on it, crossing her legs she placed her bag on her lap and sat with a perfect posture. " Forgive my blatant rudeness, I'm Maria" she said offering a polite nod to Sherlock and then raising her hand to signal the waiter to come over.
John looked amused and merely gave a shrug to the other consultant whose name he had yet to know and have no guts to ask because that would just be rude, the man did know his name afterall.
Sherlock knowing that he's presence was no longer necessary and totally unwanted even if it was just by one party ( he has yet to accurately read John, wrong first impressions are deadly afterall) he bid them good bye and leaving with the swirl of his coat.
When he was completely gone, the woman who had introduced herself as Maria broke out into a grin before trying to rein in her most probably obnoxious laughter.
"I never really thought you'd just go ahead and use him like that!" John said with a mere fond chuckle and amused look.
"John, whatever are you talking about?" she said before laughing " though really he's good being able to deduce such things easily, he did have the same look as Sherrinford, just toned down or perhaps reined in a whole lot more?"
"Maria!" he scolded in a teasing manner
"oh, fine it's a common name though it is part of my whole name" she muttered as took a sip from John's drink "God knows how my parents decided to give me such a long name"
"Maria Ana is beautiful name, Ana" said John to his friend and personal forensic, she smiled and scooted the chair closer to John to take a look at his work, noticing that he had opened his laptop and was upgrading their HOLMES.
The two worked silently as John waited for Ana to ask advice from him.
"John, when a guy talks to you out of the blue what does that mean?"
The honest curiosity despite the monotone voice of his friend honestly surprised John, he knew that he and his female close?(best?) friend was a bit socially inept but not so much that they were outcasts, they were just both weird from the perspective of others.
John, himself despite having friends really did not have someone close even from his early childhood and into his university life, he had Cassandra but that was so long ago she no longer counts as a friend, an old friend perhaps?
In the end even if he barely has enough social contact, Ana sees him as the only constant and perhaps the closest thing she has to a best friend in which goes the same for John that is why despite their flaws and inadequacies they sought help from each other, if their editors-slash-other-bestfriends-slash-life-consult ants don't work.
And so John Hamish Watson, author, consultant for the yard and former trauma surgeon found himself advising his close best friend in how the minds of men work and what it probably means for the better part of the afternoon.
'The encounter' Sherlock thought 'is puzzling but not so much as it provides a good fascination'
His whole encounter with John in retrospect proved to be inconclusive, the man despite his honesty was still as much as a mystery to him as he was when they had first met. Despite that John was a suitable opponent, he could provide him entertainment and chase away his boredom just by competing against him. Sherlock smirked and planned on how to manipulate him to be at every crime scene worth of their time through Lestrade.
And not once did it cross Sherlock's mind of how a great miscalculation it was to not think of Lestrade calling John for cases he deems Sherlock won't bother with.
Mycroft for all of his job as a Minor British Official eating whatever free time he has still managed to find time to read updates regarding his online stories but most particularly he made sure to have enough time to read recent updates by his favorite online author Captain_JohnWatson, who wrote wonderful stories regarding Delta Grreges and Chris House, a chief inspector and an official who has too much free time that solves crimes and at the same time cultivating their camaraderie through Delta's intellect and politeness that balances Chris' cunning and conniving tendencies.
Mycroft had biblically followed each and every account that Captain_JohnWatson made from his personal blog, to his account on and through all social media platforms that enables you to post stories.
Regularly sending question to his favorite author's tumblr ask and always giving a full on review on his updates that the author never fails to thank and respond to him for, Mycroft was content with this that is until the day he found out of his favorite author's announcement of getting his first published book on the market titled "Science of Deduction" did he rejoice with happiness and immediately sought out the website to place a pre-order and was among the lucky few to get it as well as a signed copy of the book.
He bought another one for his brother, hoping to at least convert his brother to a fan if not a bibliophile. It was during the time he placed the pre-order and the months between the date it would come did he became John Watson's (which was his actual name) personal editor.
It was by pure chance did they meet, introduced by their mutual friend Greg who had actually known John from their trainee days and the person who John had based Delta's outward appearance and characteristics ("or at least some of them" Greg once said). He was so thrilled he had let his guard down but it was worth it especially so that John was kind and was very glad to have such a fan like him ( it was much later did learn that Chris was based on him once upon a drunken night with John).
His insights to the character much to his surprise made John glad, the two of them spent almost 6 hours on John's flat in Paddington talking about the plot and the characters, John made sure to reveal not so much to keep him in his toes and interest. It was much much later after the public release of the book did he learn how close to understanding the story behind the story he was.
Of course there was still so many missing pieces that perhaps he could only come to understand everything once the whole story is complete.
Especially so that he has learned how the third book which intertwines with Ana's book, the complex web they had built though unintentional was exciting.
And so it was with great surprise when his very close friend Greg had called upon him one night complaining of the latest idiocy (Greg's words not his) that his brother had done this time involving John Watson and his forensic Ana (who just so happens to be his Philippine associate) two weeks later after the catalyst meeting at Caffe Nero.