Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who has favourited, followed and reviewed this story so far! Even though I think it could work as one, this story wasn't intended to be a one-shot, and so here's the next chapter!
"No, I didn't."
John simply pointed at the remnants of his own poor, bedraggled armchair, which was still smoking even though the flames had long since been extinguished. How did Sherlock have the gall to deny what he had done when the evidence was in front of his own eyes?
Sherlock rolled his eyes. "Yes John, I'm perfectly aware that your beloved armchair went up in flames," he drawled. "However, you're wrong to insinuate that I set fire to it 'because I was bored'. I was bored, and so I decided to conduct an experiment. This experiment involved using a blow torch on something that I had placed on your chair, and as a result, the flames accidentally set fire to it. I don't deny that my actions inadvertently set fire to your armchair, but you're wrong to insinuate that I did it on purpose, out of spite, or even that I decided to set fire to it simply to relieve my boredom."
John sighed impatiently, waving his arm around in a dismissive gesture. "That's just a mere technicality, Sherlock. The point is that you damaged my chair, and you can't even be bothered to apologise for it! Is there any wonder that I get frustrated when I try to help relieve your boredom so that you don't accidentally harm anything else, - or worse, yourself - but you just throw my efforts back in my face?"
Sherlock frowned. "This is not how I wanted this conversation to go."
"Yeah? Well bloody snap! And before you ask, no, we're not playing a game of that!" John said, raising a hand to silence Sherlock, who had just opened his mouth to respond. The detective wisely closed his mouth again, and the doctor took a few deep, calming breaths before speaking again. "Just out of interest, so that we're clear about it, how exactly did you want this conversation to go?"
"Do I really have to spell it out for you?" asked Sherlock, who looked like he was trying very hard the repress to urge to assume his 'you-really-are-an-idiot' face.
"Yes, apparently you do, and you're not using the 'Scrabble' board to do it, either!" Sherlock huffed in response but did not begin to speak, evidently growing tired of John's jibes regarding games that the childish detective had either agreed or refused to play. "Well, go on then. Explain. Or, I know, we could do something even better. I'll try and deduce you for a change, yeah? Then you can know how it feels."
Sherlock looked at John, really looked at him. All the signs were there - the doctor was begin deadly serious. There was a strange glint in his eye that rather unnerved Sherlock, but he was intrigued to see how much John's powers of deduction had improved since they became flatmates. Seemingly oblivious to Sherlock's confusion, John took the detective's silence as a 'yes', and began to do just what he had said.
