Who's Afraid (Of The Big, Bad Wolf)?
Title: Who’s Afraid (Of The Big, Bad Wolf)?
Author/Artist: Inclination
Character/Pairing: Sherlock Holmes, James Moriarty
Fandom: Sherlock
Theme: #7, opposite
Two 100-word drabbles, for 64damn_prompts . In celebrating of my laptop being fixed, and being able to use the internet on it again, rather than my clunky home PC.
Sherlock Holmes grows up afraid of nothing. There’s no point fearing things; fear is not constructive. Fear will get you nowhere. Fear leads to lack of progress, and lack of progress leads to the stagnation of Sherlock’s mind, and that is something Sherlock cannot tolerate. As a child, Sherlock jumps off the highest walls he can find, and allows himself to be stung by bees and burns himself whilst playing with his chemistry test. You can’t learn anything if you’re afraid of being hurt, Sherlock thinks.
‘What a reckless child’, the adults whisper, and Sherlock smiles. At least I know.
James Moriarty grows up afraid of everything. He is the kind of child who sees monsters in the dark, although he knows they’re not there. James hates school, because he knows he’s not like the other children; when the teacher crouches down talks to him, he imagines himself pushing his blue colouring pencil right through her eye. It terrifies him.
James especially hates Carl Powers. He goes to the swimming pool in London, alone on the train. He watches Carl in the water, dying, and somehow doesn’t feel afraid anymore. He feels powerful. James thinks it’s a much better feeling.