John Watson

"Soldier's Heart, Science's Brain"
Who:  John and Sherlock
What: Sherlock and John have been summoned to dinner with Mummy and Mycroft.

John's not so sure about this.  He looks...well.  He's not sure how he looks.  Though being a vet entitles him to wearing a dress uniform in place of a suit, John has locked that away with the cane.  They are reminders of things he is not.  In the case of the cane, something he never wants to be again.  The uniform, though, is something else entirely.  It represents a longing inside of him to do something more.  To be something great again.

So standing in front of the mirror right now in a gray suit that has been masterfully tailored to him, John's mind is on sand and gun fire and the stuff of nightmares that he misses....  God, he misses it.

Sherlock's shadow across the door gives John pause and the former army doctor moves towards the threshold to see what the other man is up to.  Sherlock is, as always, impeccable.  He cleans up so well.  Makeup hides his bruises.  His hair has been neatly finger curled.  The suit is beyond perfect against his frame.

John leans against the wood, watching him.  Waiting for him to notice.  Sherlock notices everything, all the time, no matter where they are of what they're doing.  John's eyes on him will be picked up in a moment.  John smiles when Sherlock's eyes touch his own in a heated, irrationally intimate moment that steals his breath for a moment.  It's all he's needed to get the thought of war from his head.  Well, that and seeing what Sherlock has in his hands.

"What?!  No experiments now!"