Ficlet - Pay No Attention To The Man Behind The Curtain
Title: Pay No Attention To The Man Behind The Curtain
Pairing: John, Sherlock, Mycroft
W/C: ~650
Rating: R for cursing.
Summary: A continuation to the conversation after John is ‘kidnapped’. Spoilers to A Study In Pink.
“You don’t seem very afraid”, said the mysterious stranger who’d had him picked up in a car and brought to this abandoned spot. Umbrella Guy, John had figured he’d call him in his head.
“You don’t seem very frightening”, John replied, and he was telling the truth.
He’d gotten as far as having the man admit he was Sherlock’s enemy. What the buggering fuck? No one has enemies. But if anyone did, John guessed it would be his new flatmate.
“In his mind certainly. If you were to ask him he'd probably say his archenemy. He does love to be dramatic.”
“Well thank God you’re above all that”, John responded, his sarcasm not the least bit veiled.
After a few minutes, things became more clear. Umbrella Guy wanted him to spy on Sherlock, report back to him, and was willing to pay some unspecified amount of money in return. John refused immediately, of course. How ridiculous. This had to be a joke. It was like something out of a Bond film.
Until Umbrella Guy made a remark about the intermittent tremor in his left hand, which his therapist explained as post-traumatic stress from the war. He got no answer regarding how the creep knew that. What he did get, though, was an incredibly insightful remark.
“You're under stress right now and your hand is perfectly steady. You're not haunted by the war, Dr. Watson. You miss it.”
After his clearly rebuffed advances toward the woman who accompanied him back to Baker Street, he slowly climbed the steps and had a conversation with Sherlock, explaining what happened. It shouldn’t have been a surprise that Sherlock knew exactly what kind of conversation he’d had with Umbrella Guy. Including the fact that he’d thought John should have at least considered the offer.
Still, though, even though Sherlock seemed reluctant to elaborate, John felt he was entitled to some kind of explanation.
“He is, indeed, what some would refer to as an enemy. But not in the traditional sense.”
“What the hell is that even supposed to mean?”
“Look, just forget about it, all right? You told him no, we’ll run into him again at some point, he’s not going to stay away, he never does.”
“Forget about it? Forget about being abducted from a public street and presented with veiled threats from a stranger who knows more about me than anyone ought to? Seriously?”
“He’s no threat, John, I assure you. As was once said in a film I was subjected to as a child, ‘pay no attention to the man behind the curtain’. That’s all he is, a man with more power than he ought to have only because he can create illusions.”
By the end of the night, after a fake drugs bust (and honestly, the kidnapping had been less of a shock than the revelation that Sherlock had possibly once been a junkie), a wild chase based on GPS, a weapons discharge that John hadn’t expected would ever happen in London, and Sherlock’s obvious attempt to keep the police from suspecting that John had been the one who’d discharged his completely illegal weapon, he honestly had kind of forgotten about the earlier kidnapping.
Until they saw Umbrella Guy again.
His brother? For God’s sake, this situation was getting so much more complicated than John had ever imagined. When asked if he could imagine the Christmas dinners, John literally shook and honestly answered in the negative.
Still, for some reason, he found himself stifling a giggle as they walked away from the crime scene.
The man behind the curtain. Or behind the British government, depending on which brother was to be believed. John figured the truth lie about halfway between. He agreed going for dim sum was just a fine way to end the evening, having already determined he wasn’t going to throw himself into the Thames. Yet.
Pairing: John, Sherlock, Mycroft
W/C: ~650
Rating: R for cursing.
Summary: A continuation to the conversation after John is ‘kidnapped’. Spoilers to A Study In Pink.
“You don’t seem very afraid”, said the mysterious stranger who’d had him picked up in a car and brought to this abandoned spot. Umbrella Guy, John had figured he’d call him in his head.
“You don’t seem very frightening”, John replied, and he was telling the truth.
He’d gotten as far as having the man admit he was Sherlock’s enemy. What the buggering fuck? No one has enemies. But if anyone did, John guessed it would be his new flatmate.
“In his mind certainly. If you were to ask him he'd probably say his archenemy. He does love to be dramatic.”
“Well thank God you’re above all that”, John responded, his sarcasm not the least bit veiled.
After a few minutes, things became more clear. Umbrella Guy wanted him to spy on Sherlock, report back to him, and was willing to pay some unspecified amount of money in return. John refused immediately, of course. How ridiculous. This had to be a joke. It was like something out of a Bond film.
Until Umbrella Guy made a remark about the intermittent tremor in his left hand, which his therapist explained as post-traumatic stress from the war. He got no answer regarding how the creep knew that. What he did get, though, was an incredibly insightful remark.
“You're under stress right now and your hand is perfectly steady. You're not haunted by the war, Dr. Watson. You miss it.”
After his clearly rebuffed advances toward the woman who accompanied him back to Baker Street, he slowly climbed the steps and had a conversation with Sherlock, explaining what happened. It shouldn’t have been a surprise that Sherlock knew exactly what kind of conversation he’d had with Umbrella Guy. Including the fact that he’d thought John should have at least considered the offer.
Still, though, even though Sherlock seemed reluctant to elaborate, John felt he was entitled to some kind of explanation.
“He is, indeed, what some would refer to as an enemy. But not in the traditional sense.”
“What the hell is that even supposed to mean?”
“Look, just forget about it, all right? You told him no, we’ll run into him again at some point, he’s not going to stay away, he never does.”
“Forget about it? Forget about being abducted from a public street and presented with veiled threats from a stranger who knows more about me than anyone ought to? Seriously?”
“He’s no threat, John, I assure you. As was once said in a film I was subjected to as a child, ‘pay no attention to the man behind the curtain’. That’s all he is, a man with more power than he ought to have only because he can create illusions.”
By the end of the night, after a fake drugs bust (and honestly, the kidnapping had been less of a shock than the revelation that Sherlock had possibly once been a junkie), a wild chase based on GPS, a weapons discharge that John hadn’t expected would ever happen in London, and Sherlock’s obvious attempt to keep the police from suspecting that John had been the one who’d discharged his completely illegal weapon, he honestly had kind of forgotten about the earlier kidnapping.
Until they saw Umbrella Guy again.
His brother? For God’s sake, this situation was getting so much more complicated than John had ever imagined. When asked if he could imagine the Christmas dinners, John literally shook and honestly answered in the negative.
Still, for some reason, he found himself stifling a giggle as they walked away from the crime scene.
The man behind the curtain. Or behind the British government, depending on which brother was to be believed. John figured the truth lie about halfway between. He agreed going for dim sum was just a fine way to end the evening, having already determined he wasn’t going to throw himself into the Thames. Yet.