18. Exceptionally
"It's wonderful, absolutely wonderful out there to-day!" John called out as he rushed into the room breathlessly, his face glowing with happiness.
"You were out with Stamford?" Sherlock asked, although Sherlock knew John had been out with the man. He pulled the blanket over his frame more tightly, dragging his previously flexing arm under it in an attempt to hide it.
"Yes, and I was hoping you'd join us," John said, drawing nearer. Sherlock propped up his foot on the table, but it was too late. John saw the case and stared at it with an impassive frown before his face turned completely blank. Sherlock sat with trepidation, knuckles turning white with how fiercely he clutched the blanket to him, hoping John would not make too much of a scene.
Sherlock watched as John walked to his side and knelt to the floor, grabbing his knee to remove it from the table. Sherlock pressed his heel into the wood, and the fierce, angry look John shot him shocked him enough to lower his foot to the ground. Unreadable mask back in place, Sherlock quietly watched John place a calloused hand on the needle and lift it into the air, taking a sanitized napkin from the case to wipe it clean. A tingling sensation ran up Sherlock's spine as he continued his observation of John's methodical cleaning. Finished, John placed it into its groove in the case, doing the same to the bottle holding the chemical drug. He closed the case and walked to the bookcase, Sherlock's eyes following his figure as he placed the case on top of a stack of books. John cross the room and exited out their flat door, went down the stairs, and out the front door, Sherlock barely able to hear the soft closing of the wood.
Sherlock shivered, and he realized the feeling, the emotion, he had felt when watching John handle his drug case was…fear. He had been terrified he'd disappointed John, and he had. He felt the guilt push much more deeply because of his friend's silence, and even with the adrenaline now racing through his veins and allowing his brain to work more efficiently, he covered his face with his hands, a single exceptionally quiet sob escaping his tightly clenched teeth.
Sherlock knew that John would forever hate him, and there was nothing Sherlock could do that would earn back that trust.
A/N: I actually thought of this while watching the Granada Sherlock Holmes series, specifically The Devil's Foot episode, when Jeremy Brett, as Holmes, was using his needle, and Watson comes in as Holmes raises his foot onto the table to hide it, but Watson sees it anyways and just leaves. I thought that, to make Holmes stop, he should have done just what I've written here, so I set it to the BBC version and did it. :)