Devils in the Details

Chapter Three // Abiding Notion

Will stared over at John. John stared over at Will. Somehow even though they were staring at the other one with only the occassional blink, they both felt completely at ease. Unlike Sherlock's gaze which seemed to strip you of all of your secrets and make you feel completely exposed and in the control of his whims, they both a softer look in their eyes.

The fact of the matter was that even though they both stared and tried to figure out things about the other, they weren't trying to find out everything about the other. There was no need for deductions between them - strangely enough, they could tell by the other's presence that they had quite a bit in common.

When Will had first been asked to come to 221B, he had felt extremely apprehensive over being around these near strangers in a more social enviroment. But now he could see pieces of himself in both Sherlock and John, and that made him feel almost like he belonged there. There was still a definite barrier between him and the famous crime solving duo, but he decided not to acknowledge it.

Sure that he had the proper enviroment to enter his mind palace without distraction, Sherlock began preparing himself. This required a good amount of shifting

Sherlock shut his eyes tight and began to block out the rest of the world. After pressing his palms together, he put his fingertips to rest underneath his chin and raised up his head. He stayed almost perfectly still in that tableau, his only true movement being the gentle riseand fall of his chest that proved he was still alive and breathing.

Will found himself staring unblinkingly at the consulting detective. In the few days they had known one another, he had never experienced this. John was more than used to Sherlock's little ritual, so much so that he hardly even noticed when it happened.

No matter how he looked at the situation, Will couldn't quite figure out what was going on. Yes, sometimes he closed his eyes and visualised things, but it was always provoked so that he could delve into his mind for a reason. This just seemed to be happening randomly.

"Um..." Will said, unable to word his thoughts properly. He just wasn't sure how to react to this new development.

"He's just thinking," John said. "He does it a lot, I'm surprised you haven't seen him doing it before."

"I guess he was always actively working on something whenever we were around one another," Will replied, justifying it in his mind. "Still...why now?"

"No clue," John replied, shrugging it off. "I think it's pretty clear that we can't really understand half of what Sherlock does."

"How is he going to take?"

"Hard to tell, really," John replied. "I've seen him do it for hours, even days on end."

"You make it sound like some sort of medical condition," Will said, letting out a forced laugh.

"Well, I am a doctor, and it's not an impossibility."

"Really?"

"How many people do you know who can just retreat into their minds for hours and hours in a row?"

"No one that I'm aware of," Will admitted.

"You get my point, then," John said.

"So...you're a doctor..."

"But I'm also the sidekick to the consulting detective, as well as a former soldier."

"Soldier?"

"Army doctor, but still soldier."

"Oh," Will said. "Interesting." He assumed that he might as well say his own profession as well at this point. "I'm an FBI profiler. It's...interesting."