It was the next day when, almost identically to a few days ago, John walked down the stairs of 221B in his dressing gown, ready to make his morning coffee. And just like the other day, there he was. Sherlock was sitting at the kitchen table, resting his chin on his hands as he pressed them palm to palm. "Everything alright?" John said as he put the kettle on. "D'you want some tea?" Sherlock didn't move or say a word. "I'll take that as a no, then" John said, although he may as well have been talking to himself. "How's the evidence going? Got anything good?" The only sound was that of the kettle boiling. "Sherlock? I get that you're all mysterious and don't talk alot but it's pretty rude to just outright ignore me. I mean for god sak-"
"There is no evidence. It was a mistake. The teapot. The box at our door. Turned out to actually be a mistake, with the address label coming off as the parcel was handled in the post office. I have wasted 5 days that could've been spent on other cases finding evidence for something that was worth nothing." Sherlock said this in one breath as if he'd been ready to say it for hours. The kettle had finished boiling so the room was now completely silent, as John looked at the back of Sherlock's head. "Oh. Well...I mean it happens to everyone, it's fine to mess up every now and th-"
"I don't mess up, John. It's not something I do. I have never messed up. I always know what to do, it's why people come to me. I've failed." John was speechless. This didn't sound like Sherlock at all. He never spoke this way about... well anything. "How could I have been so stupid? Of course it wasn't a clue."
"Come on Sherlock, you're not stupid. You just had one minor fall back. It's fine." John couldn't believe what was happening right now. He had to comfort the man. Sherlock Holmes was doubting himself and John had to comfort him. Sherlock moved his hands from their original position to ruffle his hair as he stood up and looked at John. "Well what am I supposed to do now? This is completely ridiculous."
"You'll always have another case. Infact a few have been collecting over the last few days, so you've got the privilege of picking one that looks good. I've put them up on your laptop, you can go have a look." Sherlock piered round at his laptop then back at John. "I've failed." John didn't know whether he felt sorry for the man or whether he was just getting on his nerves. Before he had the chance to decide Sherlock had basically flopped into John's arms, and John didn't know what to think at that point. He thought that maybe Sherlock had taken something, because this was certainly not how he would react if he were sober. But at the front of his mind he hoped that Mrs. Hudson wouldn't walk in at that moment - it would definitely be difficult to explain himself out of that one.