Flash Fiction Friday Challenge: Stronger Together
He was used to being alone. Despite growing up with a brother, he had almost always been alone. Sometimes, being so clever was such a bind. Not that he missed people, god, no, that was something he definitely did not miss! They were…always in the way, noisily thinking. Being distracting. He was definitely better off alone.
He'd been alone for a quite a while now. Several months in fact. He was used to going out and about, sitting in the crowds and feeling like he was the only person there. He was invisible, moving though London as a shadow. He needed someone, something, to ground him, to keep him here. To give him a reason to live.
The meeting was…weird. The man had an obvious military bearing, and there was an air of…fatigue about him? Obviously Mike had brought his old friend – John Watson, he introduced him as – because of the conversation they had had this morning. He needed a flatmate if he was to make the rent, not that he wanted one. But practicalities, for once, overruled his taciturn nature.
The look of shock on the man's face as he read him and left was priceless. That never grew old, and he was chuckling to himself as he waltzed down the stairs. He never could resist using his abilities – showing off his peers used to say , but what was the use of such abilities if one didn't use them?
There was no getting away from the fact that the man that Mike introduced him to was…odd. Yeah, odd. And intriguing. For the first time in a long time there was something interesting going on here, and despite the abrupt nature of the man, Watson was curious.
The first thing he did on getting home was to look him up. And didn't that just add to the mystery? He claimed he could identify a software designer by his tie and an airline pilot by his left thumb. Before he could change his mind the next morning he was out and there.
221b Baker Street. Inconspicuous. Innocuous.
Perfect.
That first time, getting to know each other as they chased leads and ideas, was an eye-opener to Sherlock. He hadn't had anyone share his enthusiasm for the chase, for the danger, before and he found that he liked it. In turn it made him work harder, better. He wanted to impress.
John couldn't help verbalising the praise out of sheer astonishment. His weird flatmate was astonishing amazing. As had his ability to read people, especially himself. Holmes had given him a reason to live…the game was on.
And if on occasion Sherlock got a bit too much, too over-the-top, too impersonal, then John was there to pull him up, remind him how to behave around people. John pushed his skills from what was quintessentially a hobby into a fully paid profession. Sherlock inadvertently taught John new skills.
They fed off each other, pushing and pushing each other to be better.
Alone, they had been managing.
Together they were stronger.