It was not to say that Sherlock was a stoic. While he was not one to display emotion when it counted, nor let his emotion overrule reason, there were plenty enough instances of him raging, snapping and mostly being unpleasant to anyone at any given moment. Even in public. Appearances be damned. Especially if he was bored.
It isn't that he is without manners either. He could certainly charm like the devil, should he really need to.
But for all that he was a well-dressed, well-spoken, intelligent man...it was simply that much more difficult for him to express feelings that aren't the superficial ones he makes it easy for other people to see.
His fear and fury over Mrs. Hudson's rough treatment, expressed by almost killing a man by pushing him over a window, multiple times.
His trust and affection for Molly and Greg, maybe not readily apparent, easily dismissible by the often crude way he treats them...however, these are the people Sherlock makes an effort to see first, the moment he comes back. Whom he asks and consults with about matters outside his area of expertise.
And then of course, when words are simply too much...when he plays the violin.
And Sherlock never does anything in halves. Anything he puts his mind to, he excels.
And so he doesn't just play the violin, he makes it sing.
And when he does, one wonders if the reason why Sherlock plays, is because the sound it produces is so much more complex, textured, layered, more eloquent...than any word, any action could express.
He plays the violin to bleed all the emotion out.
It is a happy, cheerful, festive carol during the holidays.
It is a lovely, light, yet charming waltz, for two people he adores.
It is a masterful duet with a family member. And how surprisingly familial Sherlock can be, when around them.
And sometime, a while back, it was a vehicle of grief, over a woman he barely knew. A woman whose phone he kept out of sentiment.
Every now and then, he still plays. And when he does...in these rare moments, even without words (maybe because of it), it is easy to see how very human Sherlock can be.
