Title: Invitation, Ch. 3

Language: English

Characters: Sherlock / John

Type: Adventure / Romance (perhaps, someday)

I sat next to him in the cab and considered him and his rather (extraordinary) non-judgmental behavior thus far. I looked at him while he searched on his mobile. He noticed my curiosity, and said, "Ok, you've got questions."

It took all that I had to not ask him about the wink. I thought I'd start with the most obvious question first and maybe I'd get a chance to work up to the wink. So: "Yeah, where are we going?"

"Crime scene. Next."

I thought it was time to find out more about him: "Who are you? What do you do?"

"What do you think?"

Hmmm, "I'd say private detective..."

"But?"

"But the police don't go to private detectives."

He smirks, then says, "I'm a consulting detective, the only one in the world. I invented the job."

"What does that mean?"

"It means when the police are out of their depth, which is always, they consult me."

The contempt in his voice is subtle yet profound. Interesting, but I think he must be having me on. I grin and say, "The police don't consult amateurs."

Sherlock then proceeds to prove how right my statement was, in the literal sense. He tells me how he deduced my return from the middle East, the state of my mental and physical health, and my fractured relationship with Harry, even personal information about Harry, and all of this within the first five minutes of our meeting each other yesterday afternoon. He didn't get everything perfectly, but, still, "That. Was amazing."

He is quiet for a moment, then says, "You think so?"

From his reaction, I get the idea that he doesn't hear that very often. In fact, I think he thinks I'm taking the piss. So, credit where credit is due: "Of course it was. It was extraordinary, it was quite extraordinary." He is one of the most interesting people I've ever met. I don't tell him this, though. He'll most likely deduce it. Also, his ego doesn't need that much of a lift.

Still doubtful, he says, "That's not what people usually say."

So I was right, he doesn't hear praise or appreciation very often. I am curious, so I ask, "What do people normally say?"

He grinned both sardonically and somewhat self-deprecatingly and answered, "Piss off."

I could only smile at that. I was right, though. This is proving to be interesting.