Paradox of fiction: How people can experience strong emotions from purely fictional things?
Sherlock arrived home to find John curled up on the couch with his laptop, trying extremely hard to blink back the tears in his eyes.
He stopped cold in his tracks when he realized what was going on. "John?" he called hesitantly. Sherlock may have been a genius, but that didn't mean he knew what to do what someone was hurt or crying. Especially if it was John.
"S'okay Sherlock," he sniffed. "Just reading something."
Sherlock frowned. "Something that made you cry?"
John nodded, sniffling again. He wiped his eyes will the back of his hand, which Sherlock wanted to point out did not help at all. But he held his tongue.
"What's it about?" he said instead, inching closer, trying to get a peek at the screen.
John twisted the screen away from him. "Nothing. It's just a story."
"Just a story?" Sherlock parroted. "A fictional story made you cry?"
"Yes," John replied, somewhat put off. "It's very well written and heart breaking."
Sherlock pondered that for a moment. "But it's not real," he insisted.
John sighed, sitting up more and setting his computer on the couch beside him. "That doesn't matter. It doesn't have to be real to make you feel things. That's what a good author does. They can make you feel things purely through their words."
Sherlock mulled over that for a moment before quipping "I guess you're not such a good author then."
John groaned and whipped a pillow at Sherlock.
"Not nice," he scolded.
Sherlock shrugged. "Can I read this story?"
John raised an eyebrow. "Really?" he asked skeptically.
"It would make an interesting experiment," Sherlock noted.
John shrugged. "I suppose it would. Just don't make fun of it okay?" he pleaded, handing Sherlock the laptop.
Sherlock only grunted, heading off to his room to see what made John cry.
Sherlock was very glad for having made the decision to move, because John didn't see the tears that could have possible made their way, uninvited, down his face as he read the story.
He wasn't sure if that made the experiment a success or a failure. He sure wasn't going to ask John.