"Christ, I bloody hate you sometimes," John expelled as he threw open the flat door and stomped angrily out onto the landing. He slammed the door behind him and walked down the stairs a few steps before sinking down onto them. He sat, breathing rapidly for a few moments, while trying to calm himself.
Mrs Hudson's door cracked open on the ground level, startling John. He looked up to see her emerging with a cup of tea in each hand and a comforting smile on her face.
"I'm sorry to have disturbed you, Mrs Hudson," John said apologetically as she walked up the stairs towards him. He stood and took the mug she extended out to him. She settled herself on the step John's feet were resting on and patted the step behind her with her free hand.
"It's no trouble at all, dear," she said before taking a dainty sip of her cuppa.
John sat, carful to keep his mug level, and sighed.
"So, what's he done now?" Mrs Hudson asked kindly.
"Oh, nothing too particular, just been his ignorant, arrogant self."
"You can't expect him to change for you, dear. You'll just end up disappointed."
"I know, and I don't, it's just that, sometimes, the times he knows he's doing it, the times that he's aware that the things he's saying are hurting people, I can't take it... Especially when he does it to me."
"Do you feel you should be exempt from it, John?" Mrs Hudson asked. "Because it seems to me that, in truth, you signed up for an extra ration of it, quite willingly, in reality." They sat quietly after that, simply drinking their tea, although a great deal of thinking was being done on John's part.
After draining the last gulp of tea from his mug, John said, "I guess I just wish he'd apologize afterward, when he saw how much he'd upset me, but he won't. I know apologizing is not part of his character."
"You're wrong in that," Mrs Hudson replied. "He does apologize, he just doesn't do it anywhere near as directly as you or I would." As she finished speaking, Mrs Hudson stood, wincing as her bad hip protested.
"Oh, goodness!" John exclaimed as he rushed to stand and help Mrs Hudson down the stairs. "I should have realised the stairs would be uncomfortable for you."
"Not to worry, dear," she said, patting John's cheek with her free hand before taking back her mug from him. "I'm fairly certain Sherlock heard every word of that conversation and that's for the best, really."