Title: Making the Connection
Story Summary: A non-chronological collection of short chapters based on one word prompts, includes (pre-)slash for Johnlock & Mystrade
Chapter Summary: John confronts Sherlock about the scene in Sebastian Wilkes' office. Prompt: Wilful
Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Moffat, Gatiss & SACD.
A/N: This prompt came from oneword(dot)com.
Sherlock despised himself for allowing that part of his past to get the better of him. It had only been a second but nevertheless it counted. He had slipped. Why could a single remark by Sebastian Wilkes still wind him up so much? Of course he knew that Sebastian was trying to hurt him – just like old times. However, hat he had succeeded in doing so – yet again – was unacceptable.
It was all the more demeaning because John saw it. He didn't mention it straight afterwards but Sherlock knew that his failure to keep his composure had been noticed by his best friend.
The afternoon after they had solved the case John had typed up the case for his blog, it was a horrible read but it brought in a new client. Well, at first he didn't want to take the case because it didn't sound particularly interesting but then John had pointed out that it would give him a chance to go to Belarus. That same evening his friend brought him the tickets he had bought online for his flight to Minsk the following morning.
Sherlock lay on the couch and held out his hand but John kept the tickets just out of his reach.
"What was that whole business with Sebastian Wilkes about?", John asked.
"He's an old friend of mine from uni, just like you wrote in your blog." It had been hard not to point out how far from the truth that bit of information had been, but he thought it was best that John knew as little as possible about that time of his life. He had changed.
"First of all I've been told that before me you never really had many friends and secondly, friends don't wilfully try to hurt each other." John scowled.
Sherlock turned his head to look John straight in the eye, it made a lie that much more believable if you delivered it straight on. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"I saw how his words hurt you. Don't deny it." John's voice was calm, apparently his face had betrayed him even more in Sebastian's office than he had cared to admit to himself.
Sherlock didn't reply but just glared at John. Losing control and letting people see he was hurt was bad enough, but being confronted about it was even worse.
"Look, I'm not going to interrogate you. I just wanted to let you know that I don't hate you, even though you can be a daft bugger sometimes. I'll never hate you for that brilliant mind of yours and there are quite a few people out there who agree with me." With that John handed him the tickets and shrugged as Sherlock just looked at him, a hint of confusion written on his face. "Actually I think you already knew that. Just wanted to remind you."
His friend left him lying on the couch and went into the kitchen to order dinner for both of them. Sherlock had to admit that it felt quite good not to be hated, especially by a man like John Watson.