"Captain John Watson, M.D. We meet at last."
John looked at the man in front of him and shook his head a little. "You are bloody tall. Lanky bastard. So are you going to invite me in or am I going to have to stand in the hallway all afternoon?" He asks with an arched eyebrow, adjusting his hold on his bag. He hopes that Sherlock can't tell that his heart is pounding in his chest, even though outwardly he is able to remain calm.
"Come in, then." Sherlock says, stepping out of the way to stride quickly back to the kitchen area, his dressing gown billowing out behind him.
The flat itself looks more like a loft, one wall almost all windows, slanted a bit since they are on the top floor. Thick beams dot the room, holding the ceiling up presumably. Furniture is a little sparse, a leather couch, chair, and a high backed cloth chair all sit arranged around a fireplace opposite the glass wall, and beyond that is the kitchen with a large work bench currently holding a microscope and various beakers, some empty, some with liquid in them. Papers and books are strewn around the room on almost every surface, and a laptop sits open on a desk which sits in front of the windows. Two doors on the far wall are presumably bedrooms, though at this distance John can't tell.
Closing the door behind him, John leaves his bags beside it before he walks into the room while unbuttoning the jacket of his fatigues. It's warm in the apartment but not hot, which John finds comforting.
"I don't suppose you have any tea, do you? It's been a while since I had a good cuppa." John ask distractedly as he looks around, removing his jacket and laying it over the high-backed chair, which leaves him in just his tan t-shirt, ID tags hanging around his neck. He is still a little cold that way, but he is trying to force acclimation to London winter again, in the short time he'll be there.
Since he is distracted by looking at the flat, he doesn't notice Sherlock until the younger man is definitely in his personal space which startles him when he does notice. "Blimey, you are quiet when you want to be. You startled me." He accuses a little until he sees that Sherlock is holding a mug of tea in each hand and holding one out to him.
"I would have thought a military man such as yourself would be more aware of his surroundings, especially in an unfamiliar place. Honestly I could have come up with a knife and stabbed you and you would not have known I was coming." Sherlock says with a slightly condescending tone of disapproval. "Tea." He prompts as he holds it out toward John again.
"I've been on a plane and in airports for over 12 hours, Sherlock. I'm a bit tired and not as sharp as I usually am. Besides, if you wanted to kill me, there is very little I could do to prevent it. You're too clever for me, and you know it." The soldier says with amusement, rolling his head around a little to work out the kinks before he accepts the tea. Without even thinking about it, John takes a drink, then he stares down at it, noticing the cloudy liquid and frowning, "How did you know how I like my tea?" He asks, confused as he looks up at the brunette.
Seeming slightly sheepish or embarrassed, Sherlock looms away and then clears his throat. "You spilled some on one of your letters. I was bored, so I cut off a piece that did not have writing on it and analyzed it, determined that you prefer Earl Grey, with a little bit of milk. It took some time to work out the exact ratio, but the experiments did distract me enough to get me past a difficult few days." He confesses thoughtfully, eyes unfocused for a moment before he sips his own tea and motions, "That is the guest bedroom, you can use while you are here. Bathroom is the door all the way to the right." He says casually as he steps back toward the kitchen.
Before he can get too far, John reaches out with his free hand to catch the detective by the arm, stopping his forward progress. "Wait. So you're telling me that, in order to get past a night where presumably you had stronger drug cravings, you analyzed a tea stain on one of my letters and reproduced it?" The blonde asks, trying to wrap his head around the insanity of this man, yet also feeling strangely happy that he could, in an odd way, help this brilliant man to fight the last vestiges of his addiction.
"Are your ears still plugged from your flight? I believe I did just say that. You know I hate repeating myself, John." Sherlock says in a bored, slightly frustrated tone as he looks at the older man. "Go. Go and get some rest. We have plenty of time to chat." He says, though there's a certain sarcastic tone to 'chat'. "Do you like the violin? I like to play the violin when I'm thinking." Once again he changes the subject rapidly as his mind skips from one thing to another.
John chuckles a little, and then he shakes his head for a few moments. "Right. Of course." He nods and releases the taller man's arm. "As long as you play well, I don't mind the violin, Sherlock." He says before he sighs a little. "You're right, I need some bloody rest." He says as he looks around the flat again for a few moments. "Right. Bedroom." He says in a sort of distracted way, looking at Sherlock and then shaking his head before he grabs his things and walks to the bedroom, closing the door behind him.
Watching his doctor go, Sherlock considers his previous actions for a moment, trying to make sure that he didn't do anything too bad in the last half an hour. Deciding that John has just had a long, rigorous day, and that he's just a bit out of sorts, the detective turns and brings their mugs back to the sink. Which causes him to take a second look around, do up some dishes and try and work out some of his manic energy. He doesn't want to admit it, but having John come here has made him quite nervous, and now that the soldier is here, all that nervousness that wound up inside of him has to release somehow. After a bit of cleaning, he finally settles down with his violin, standing by the large expanse of windows, in the growing darkness, and beginning a rather haunting melody, not wanting to wake John with something more energetic.
And another one. I wrote a chapter today (the next one), that I'm really interested to see what you guys think of, so you get a few extra chapters this week. :) And sorry about the inconsistency in the last chapter about the cane/umbrella. I've gone back and fixed it so it's all umbrellas. I think, at least. Hope you all enjoy!
Reviews/Comments welcome!