Chapter Text
"Alright,Sherlock." John positioned himself in his seat as usual and through furrowed eyebrows looked at Sherlock,in a pose that says 'i am totally gonna interrogate you right now'
"Yes John?"
"I'm going to get straight into the point.. what's in the box."
"What?" Sherlock put down his tea he was drinking and looked at John as he talked.
"You know,the box. And don't act dumb with me I know full well you know what I'm talking about!"
"Well,no? No I don't know. There's many boxes in the world and our flat has a few,so you must specify."
"A small red,wooden box with a golden lock on it. Sound familiar?"
Sherlock made an imitation of a thinking face before blankly denying it.
"Hm,you carried it with us when I said we're going on a case while Mrs Hudson dusted our flat for a bit." John wasn't taken by the act and knew Sherlock was hiding something yet went slow to not rush any accusations at him.
"Never heard of it. Only thing I took was a gun but you knew that already." Sherlock slightly chuckled to himself before he reached his hand over to grab his cup of tea.
"Sherlock,my man,I know you know that I know. But what's in the box."
"I already told you John,I don't know! What box?! We don't have any red box in this building that I know of!" Sherlock waved his arms as if to show he wasn't hiding anything but accidently spilt some of the tea on the floor as he was doing so.
John got up from his seat and headed away to take a small breather and give Sherlock some space before pestering him about that wooden piece of junk and Sherlock just had it,he took off to his room and didn't come out for the whole of the afternoon. Watson did worry for a bit but came to the conclusion he was either going to bed early (as if) or just annoyed at the repetitive question and might actually not know what was going on. So he went to sleep a while after that ordeal.
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(Sorry for lots of dialogue here)
Next morning they were having their small breakfast together and it seemed like both were ignoring what had happened the day before. Both ate in silence and didn't muster a word. The patch of tea Holmes spilt yesterday was cleaned up too,he must've gotten up somewhere after John went to sleep to clean it up.
The room was filled with a ring of a phone and Sherlock gladly picked it up,
"Uhuh... Yeah,.. ofcourse ofcourse... What time?.... We'll be right there."
"Soo..?" John took another bite of the toast he was eating as it's crumbs fell on him, "Is it a case? When do we head out?"
"Oh it's wonderful, John! First of its a double suicide and then it's a tangled web of who the suspect could be! Oh it's wonderful. Although slight problem,it's not in London and we need to take maybe a day or two detour to get there,solve it,and return. I'd probably would rather stay but there's a great amount of money involved in the case!"
"Sounds interesting,and the money is the reward?"
"No John! The money is what was stolen and some more which could be stolen! I'm talking about millions. Oh,and the reward is the knowledge you did something good and also put yourself to the test."
"So when are we leaving?"
"Oh Lestrade will be here to pick us up in 7 minutes."
"SEVEN MINUTES?!"
"Yes? Did I not make it clear? 420 seconds,7 minutes."
Sherlock looked like he was in no rush and that slightly worried Watson.
"Sherlock we need to pack some stuff! Did you say it was a 3 day case?"
"Give or take like another 2 or 6 days."
"6 days?!?! That's basically a week! Sherlock why are you not getting ready?" John had already jumped out his chair and made a dash towards his room and already headed to where his bag was last.
"Oh just a change of clothes will be fine,I'm sure it's not that important. It's not like we're going on a vacation. Maybe some insect repellent and a gun, too. Let's not forget about a mirror this time." Sherlock sat back on his chair in a relaxed state while John was already stuffing things with haste to tag along with him.
"You're wanting to bring only one change of clothes and a mirror?! Out of all things,why a mirror??" His voice was barely heard from the other room but still enough to get Sherlock's lovely reply.
"Well,mr.i know it better than the detective, you never know when it's gonna come in handy! And remember our last case? You got 'everything,just incase' that we could need but forgot a mirror! And guess what I used to solve the case?"
"A car mirror."
"A car mirror!!"
John rolled his eyes and put his bag under his arm and hurriedly walked into the living room, "c'mon,chop chop! Don't got all day."
"Yeah,only 3 minutes."
"I packed all that in 4 minutes?!" John was slightly taken aback.
"Is that good or bad timing? Don't get you sometimes."
"It doesn't matter! Go get your stuff ready, Sherlock!"
"Alright,alright,no need to shout."
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While in the car,John kept awkwardly glancing at the bag Sherlock kept in his lap. He felt it was just a change of clothes and whatnot but he was confused on why he chose to keep it with him and not in the (quite empty) trunk,not even in the middle of him and John but in his arms,as if shielding it.
"Why are you holding your bag? You can put it down in-between us,you know that,right?" His tone was slightly concerned but assertive.
"I know it just makes me feel better in the car,safer I suppose haha."
John didn't quite like the answer but wasn't in the mood to argue right know,also knowing how there was a long 1 hour and a bit left before they get to their destination and it'd be very awkward to get into an argument right now.
While trapped in his thoughts and also the views that were passing by,he was interrupted by a very laboured breath from his friend. He knew Lestrade was keeping his eye on the road and so didn't feel quite like talking for most the ride so he knew it could only be Sherlock.
"Are.. are you alright?" He turned his head fully to see him leaning one arm against the empty seat Infront of him,and one clutched even harder against his bag. When he didn't get a reaction,he layed a hand on his shoulder and slightly shook it,repeating himself again. This time he got a very pained breath saying not very comforting validations of his state.
His face was scrunched and burried inside his arm and John wouldn't have noticed if it wasn't for the bumpy road dislodging his face from his arm when he saw the pained expression.
"Holy shit Sherlock,are you sure?! You.. don't look that well,need us to stop the car?" John's worrying only increased when Sherlock completely stopped leaning against the seat and curled over himself and his bag.
"Y-yeah yeah,I'm alright. Don't worry about me i'm- i'm just car sss- sick." His words came out all in one breath and it didn't calm Watson at all.
"Do you maybe want me to stop the car so you can go in the front seat? I heard it's better for people who get car sick." Lestrade looked back with compassion before immediately looking back onto the road.
"No it's okay, I'll be fine. Just maybe avoid pot holes and-" he took a small break after they immediately hit a pretty big sized pothole, "and any bumps in the road,alright?"
"Yoouuu got it!" Lestrade saluted his head while keeping an even more stern eye on the road and swerving his car to avoid them.