Fic: Needling: Gen
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holmes_minorTitle: Needling
Length: 410
Rating: Gen
Pairing: Holmes/Watson
Notes: Hurt/comfort. Warning for a mention of domestic violence.
Summary: Watson returns to find Holmes tidying the sitting room.
Author's Notes: for the July prompt: Needles.
“I say, Holmes, what’s all this?”
Holmes was tidying the sitting room, the sitting room I’d been asking him to tidy for weeks.
“Just restoring a bit of order,” he replied without looking up. His voice sounded strange, nervous and strained.
“I thought you were about that double murder at the Deveron house. I would’ve cancelled my dinner and gone with you myself, but you insisted—”
“And I was right to insist, Watson. Your old army friend was only in town for one night, and my case, if you generously deign to call it that, was a simple domestic matter made complex by a butler who was fond of detective stories, yours, in particular, by the way, you owe him an autographed copy of your most recent collection in return for his confession. Oh, where was? Yes, he decided that the crime scene he’d stumbled upon was too straightforward, so he added some clues. Irrelevant, unnecessary, and positively maddening clues of no importance!”
“Red herrings!”
“A sea of them.” Holmes sighed heavily and sat down on the rug, letting the papers he was holding spill all around him.
I fell to my knees beside him.
“Whatever is the matter, my dear man?” I asked and brushed his cheek with my hand.
“Do you know what killed Lord and Lady Deveron?”
“Not the butler,” I replied with a smile Holmes did not return.
“Needling.”
“What, pins?”
“Not needles,” said Holmes. The impatience in his tone, I’ll admit, was reassuring. “Needling!” he continued. “Nagging. Tiny rows. Minor squabbles. Each of itself not more a pinprick but compounded over a decade and—” He exhaled. “Lord Deveron had had enough. So had his wife. They each took a loaded revolver, a set of two on the wall, and shot the other. And all over a smudge of blacking on a dress.” He looked around him. “I know you’ve been asking me to do this. I just thought, well, perhaps I should show you a bit of consideration.”
“Holmes.” I took him in my arms and held him tight. “Some people store their resentments for a long time and let them fester and build. I am not one of those people. And I am not unhappy. Far from it. I adore you just the way you are.”
“Does that mean I can stop tidying?”
“No,” I said with a smile. “That means I am going to help you while you tell me about the interfering butler.”
Length: 410
Rating: Gen
Pairing: Holmes/Watson
Notes: Hurt/comfort. Warning for a mention of domestic violence.
Summary: Watson returns to find Holmes tidying the sitting room.
Author's Notes: for the July prompt: Needles.
“I say, Holmes, what’s all this?”
Holmes was tidying the sitting room, the sitting room I’d been asking him to tidy for weeks.
“Just restoring a bit of order,” he replied without looking up. His voice sounded strange, nervous and strained.
“I thought you were about that double murder at the Deveron house. I would’ve cancelled my dinner and gone with you myself, but you insisted—”
“And I was right to insist, Watson. Your old army friend was only in town for one night, and my case, if you generously deign to call it that, was a simple domestic matter made complex by a butler who was fond of detective stories, yours, in particular, by the way, you owe him an autographed copy of your most recent collection in return for his confession. Oh, where was? Yes, he decided that the crime scene he’d stumbled upon was too straightforward, so he added some clues. Irrelevant, unnecessary, and positively maddening clues of no importance!”
“Red herrings!”
“A sea of them.” Holmes sighed heavily and sat down on the rug, letting the papers he was holding spill all around him.
I fell to my knees beside him.
“Whatever is the matter, my dear man?” I asked and brushed his cheek with my hand.
“Do you know what killed Lord and Lady Deveron?”
“Not the butler,” I replied with a smile Holmes did not return.
“Needling.”
“What, pins?”
“Not needles,” said Holmes. The impatience in his tone, I’ll admit, was reassuring. “Needling!” he continued. “Nagging. Tiny rows. Minor squabbles. Each of itself not more a pinprick but compounded over a decade and—” He exhaled. “Lord Deveron had had enough. So had his wife. They each took a loaded revolver, a set of two on the wall, and shot the other. And all over a smudge of blacking on a dress.” He looked around him. “I know you’ve been asking me to do this. I just thought, well, perhaps I should show you a bit of consideration.”
“Holmes.” I took him in my arms and held him tight. “Some people store their resentments for a long time and let them fester and build. I am not one of those people. And I am not unhappy. Far from it. I adore you just the way you are.”
“Does that mean I can stop tidying?”
“No,” I said with a smile. “That means I am going to help you while you tell me about the interfering butler.”
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Date: 2019-07-11 07:19 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2019-07-21 04:46 pm (UTC)I so admire how you've balanced the humour of the butler situation with the tragedy of the murders for such mundane and everyday reasons. And the contrast between the Deverons, and Holmes and Watson is so touching.
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Date: 2019-07-21 05:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-09-01 11:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-09-01 11:02 pm (UTC)