Chapter Text
"Sherlock!!!" The childlike voice screeched as footsteps padded down the hall in a flurried fashion. Tiny fists clutching around a small object that had caused such excitement for the little boy. Sherlock had yet to look up from his microscope, his eyes trained on the tiny motions of cells dividing. A slight tugging at his pant leg broke his concentration. He reluctantly pulled his head away from the microscopic spectacle before looking down at his landlady's nephew, his gaze almost clinical, though his eyes betrayed his frustration at being interrupted for the third time that hour.
"What?" He snapped. As usual his venomous tone did nothing to deter the boy's enthusiasm.
"I found something!" The little boy held up his treasure almost reverently, a small bottle tab that was bent into a rather disfigured ball. Upon closer inspection there was also a tiny piece of string lodged between two metal prongs the tab had created after being rolled into said ball, it was frayed. All in all it was aluminium and microfibres that Sherlock had no interest in whatsoever.
"It's a bottle tab." He didn't know why he bothered to elucidate that fact. Pointing out what he saw as obvious never seemed to bother John, it may have even heightened his excitement to a certain extent rather than decrease it. The little boy's facial expressions indicating pride and wonderment upon discovering his new found treasure.
"I know." He said, "Isn't it beautiful?" Something in John's tone stopped him from saying his next thought aloud. Probably a good thing as it may have caused the boy's sunny demeanour crumble with in seconds.
"How is it beautiful?" Sherlock's voice was soft, but a note of confusion weaved it's way through the question.
John took a deep breath, before simply saying, "Because, I found it for you."
He quickly plopped it onto the erratic man's desk, right next to his microscope and an acid burn, then trotted out of the room. An odd bounce in his step. Sherlock watched the child leave, and just for a second, a tiny moment, he wished that perhaps he could have been nicer to John.
A year later his parents were murdered.
And John came to live with Mrs. Hudson.