Hear No Evil

[wanderingRenegade]

John doesn't think anything of it when he's introduced to Sherlock Holmes, a 'consulting detective'. Only all of a sudden, they're living together and solving murders and John can't help but notice over time that something about Sherlock is a little... off. Sometimes he slurs his words, or speaks with strange inflection, or doesn't respond to John until he's right in the other man's face. Considering what Sherlock does for a living, John is starting to get concerned.


AKA The adventures of deaf!Sherlock and John Watson, starting from just after the first episode.

 

[Jay Windse]

John did notice Sherlock's apparent deficit after a month or so of knowing the detective. At first he didn't think much of it, and merely thought of it as a speech impediment. Multiple times over he's thought of asking Sherlock's brother Mycroft, but somehow, John didn't believe that would be the best.


Despite his imminent concern for the detective, John merely kept this to himself, learning how to speak to Sherlock; to make sure he can see him, make sure he gets it by the flash in his ever-changing blue eyes.


But John, having experience with medicine, feels a diagnosis hit him in the chest, and he has no idea how he hadn't seen it before.


Sherlock was deaf.


»JW

 

[wanderingRenegade]

Sherlock glanced up at John from his mug of tea. John had been acting oddly all morning, and it was beginning to itch at Sherlock. Normally he would put it up to general John-ness (feelings, phft), but there hadn't been any cases in nearly a week, so there was nothing for John to be getting upset over. Sherlock hadn't even started any new experiments after the incident where he had attempted to grow a microorganism out of a rotten egg. Lets see... He's run his right hand over his shoulder three times since coming down this morning, and he's made tea but hasn't touched it so he's nervous. Bags under his eyes, so whatever he's nervous about didn't start this morning... Body language doesn't indicate fear, so noting life threatening...


"What is it?" He asked, breaking the silence suddenly.

 

[Jay Windse]

John jumped at Sherlock's sudden words, and immediately his brown gaze flickered over to the detective. He glanced away and shrugged, playing it off as if nothing was wrong with him. "Nothing." He tried to get away with the lie, and avoided Sherlock's gaze completely. He cleared his throat and pulled his leg up onto the armchair, trying to seem nonchalant. But he knew he couldn't get away with it. No, not with Sherlock. He knew he'd noticed that John's shoulder had been killing him, because he had rubbed it multiple times. He knew he'd probably noticed John hadn't slept. But that was because it took the doctor all night to finally figure out what was wrong with Sherlock after a whole day's worth of failed attempts at talking to him. He'd had to adjust and repeat himself at least three times each time he said something.


»JW

 

[wanderingRenegade]

Sherlock raised both eyebrows and took as sip of his Tea, focusing mostly on John's lips but making sure he caught any subtle movements.


"You've displayed no less than six signs of nervousness just since sitting down. I can generally tell when people are lying John, it's my job," he said airily. "So what is it, Donovan calling for another drugs bust of the apartment?"

 

[Jay Windse]

John now noticed the way Sherlock's gaze flickered to his lips. He'd only half noticed it before, and even when he did, he chalked it up to wishful thinking. But now he knew why, and he couldn't help but be disappointed. He looked up at Sherlock and sighed. "You're deaf, aren't you?" He asked, though he knew the answer. He wanted to hear the detective say it.


»JW

 

[wanderingRenegade]

Sherlock narrowed his eyes, thinking he might have misread John's lips, then darted his eyes up to meet John's. Nope, that was definitely a 'serious conversation' look. Damn, he thought he'd been so careful. Even Mycroft said most days he could hardly tell at all. It had take years of his brother's coaching, but Sherlock had nearly perfected how to speak like everyone else, and has could read lips at record pace. Well, there was no use in admitting anything, but h might as well see where he'd slipped. up.


"What makes you think so?"


((Signing off for the night after I post for the Destiel RP, so goodnight : ) ))

 

[Jay Windse]

((Alright, I'll see you later then.))


John frowned as he noticed Sherlock dodging the question. "Just answer the question, Sherlock." He said slowly, brown eyes focused intently on Sherlock's. He didn't want to play Sherlock's avoiding games. He needed to know from Sherlock.


Inside, he deeply did feel hurt. Why Sherlock would keep this from him, he had no idea. He had always been honest with Sherlock. Always.


Now he felt a slight sense of betrayal and he couldn't stand the fact that Sherlock didn't tell him this potentially vital piece of information about him.


»JW

 

[wanderingRenegade]

Sherlock ducked his head slightly and looked away, not meeting John's eyes. It was childish to feel guilty, after all, it wasn't like it mattered anymore. Sherlock had fully integrated himself into the hearing world, he could function just as well as anyone else. Why should John know?


After a long pause, he looked back at John. "Yes. Problem?"

 

[Jay Windse]

"No." John said quickly, then turned away, obviously lying. He didn't have a problem with Sherlock being deaf himself. He just had a problem with the fact that Sherlock never told him.


He wondered why.


But maybe Sherlock was a sociopath as he'd stated before. John had never believed it.


Not that he had any reason to now, but what if he was?


»JW

 

[wanderingRenegade]

Sherlock narrowed his eyes, not totally able to read the other man's expression other than John seemed to be upset. Illogical as it was Sherlock hated upsetting John. Annoying him? Yes okay, it was fun on occasion, but not really upsetting. Could he be worried about Sherlock's deafness mucking up cases? It seemed silly to Sherlock, but John might see it differently.


"It doesn't affect my work, so I didn't see fit to mention it. I can speak and read lips just fine, and nearly everything in solving a crime is in sight anyways. It... It doesn't change anything." Sherlock was slightly disgusted by how his voice wavered at the end. It was silly to care so much what John thought.

 

[Jay Windse]

John looked over at Sherlock and whispered, "That isn't it. I just..." He sighed and closed his eyes. "I just don't understand why you didn't tell me. Sherlock, this could be vital for me to know someday. I wish you would've told me." John looked away again and simply sighed, closing his eyes.


»JW

 

[wanderingRenegade]

Sherlock clasped his hands to keep from fidgeting. That was something he hadn't expected... Dammit, Mycroft was so much better at talking to people than Sherlock was. What would his brother do?


"I... Didn't realize it was important. I've done fine this long, I don't mention it to anyone. Mycroft knows, obviously, and Lestrade. I think Anderson and Sally suspect, but neither of them are bright enough to put anything together. It's just not something I tell people, since I learned to lip read well enough."


Well, none of that came out exactly right, but he supposed i

 

[Jay Windse]

"It took me this long, and I'm a fucking doctor." John growled, and clenched his jaw tight.


"I suppose you're a great liar then." John knew the words might be hurtful, but he didn't care. He was still hurt and angry.


Besides, that was basically all Sherlock was doing; lying to fit in. Lying to keep up.


But what made John the angriest was that he'd noticed Sherlock's lip-reading but he'd got so caught up and mistook it for what he wanted-for Sherlock to have some interest in him.


Of course that was bizarre, because John would never, even in an eternity, perk the interest of someone like Sherlock, especially due to their gender situation.


It wasn't exactly allowed to be that way, wasn't exactly accepted, and John would think Sherlock would be influenced by that. He didn't know why; he just knew what he thought.


But of course he'd thought the same of everyone.


At the same time, Sherlock was different. Different in every way.


»JW