Thirty-Six Questions to Fall in Love

Tea Time

Sherlock and John shared their life stories. Sherlock briefly described his childhood at Musgrave Hall with his parents, Mycroft, and Redbeard.

"He must have... I don't remember." Sherlock looked around, trying to jog his memory.

"What, Sherlock?"

"I think he fell down a well one night. I remember searching for Redbeard but I never found him again."

He continued talking about his first case. Carl Powers and the Missing Trainers was what John imagined naming the blogpost while Sherlock recounted the story. Then, Sherlock told him about his time studying chemistry at the University, his rocky relationships with his family, and his difficulty with people.

"I suppose the only people that don't completely despise me are you and Lestrade."

"And Molly?' John added.

Sherlock just rolled his eyes. They were sitting in front of the fireplace sipping on tea. It was raining out so they decided to just stay in for the night and continue with the experiment. John glanced out the window and the tiny drops of rain were trickling down the window. It was warm and he took another sip of tea, coating his throat in sweet notes of earthiness and crispy apple.

Finally Sherlock admitted it, "And I suppose Molly doesn't despise me either."

"She doesn't, Sherlock. You're not as bad as you make yourself out to be, just-"

"If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any one quality or ability, what would it be?"

John glared at him for a minute, knowing full well that he was just avoiding conversation. "You forgot that I haven't shared my life story yet."

"Oh. I forgot."

John told him about his family, his interest in studying medicine, and his time in Afghanistan. Sherlock listened and sipped his tea. He didn't mind listening; usually when people talked it was useless information and just nonsense that had no real meaning. But this time around, something was different... He actually enjoyed listening to John. He liked getting to know him in a way other than observing and interpreting. This time he wasn't spending his time trying to figure out what clues on John's coat might indicate hidden secrets or a mysterious past, he listened to the words John spoke. He wanted to know him in a way that he had never known anybody before.

"Then I ran into Mike at the park and he brought me to St. Bart's," John told Sherlock.

"And we met."

"And we met," John agreed.

They looked at each other for a minute and it was as if they were seeing each other again for the first time. Then they both quickly looked away and moved their focus to the crackling fireplace. Sherlock got up and grabbed a plate of chips and turkey. They started munching on it and scrolled through to see the next question.

"If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any one quality or ability, what would it be?" Sherlock asked.

"Well, definitely your deduction abilities." John smiled. "I'd do anything to see the absolute shock on people's faces when you deduce them. It's priceless, and definitely the coolest ability I could think of."

Sherlock paused. "Thank you, John."

"Of course."

"I would perhaps want the ability to know exactly what emotions people are feeling. I- I spend a lot of time on cases trying to get information from people. Their fragile emotions always waste so much time, they start crying or screaming at me for no reason. Perhaps if I had the ability to know their emotions, I could say things that further the investigation instead of upsetting them."

"That's interesting. We both want abilities that the other person has. Maybe that's why we make a good team."

"Yes, perhaps that's it."