Fic: Homeless (prompt fill) - 1/3

[anarion]

And another prompt fill, this time for morganstuart. I don't really have a title, so if you have any suggestions, let me know. :)

Title: Homeless
Words: 1633
Rating: PG
Warnings: none
Pairings : Sherlock/John gen or pre-slash
Beta: none
Disclaimer: Sadly the characters are not mine and no money is made (that would be sooo cool!).

Summary: Fill for this Make Me A Monday prompt:
To help Sherlock get the information he needs to solve a case, John and Lestrade spend a long, cold, and unexpectedly dangerous weekend undercover on the streets posing as part of Sherlock's "homeless network." No pairing, any pairing, whatever.
Make it as dark, dangerous, and/or angsty as you like.





Wednesday

The newspapers were all over it.

The 'Homeless-Killer' was in all headlines since he killed his fifth victim on Monday. It was always a Monday.

Lestrade had already called them in after the third, but this time even Sherlock was at a loss.

All the bodies were found in rubbish skips, evidence was hard to find between all the rubbish and Anderson was close to a nervous breakdown.

They had gathered at the police station that afternoon to go over the case again: Lestrade, Donovan, Anderson, Sherlock, John and three other police men.

Sherlock was irritated with himself and he and Anderson had already gotten into a shouting match three times. Everybody was on the edge.

"Ok, let's see. We have five dead people, three men and two women. What did they have in common except the fact that they were homeless?"

"Maybe they were they just picked at random?"

"Maybe it has something to do with the places where they were killed?"

"Yeah, sure. And the victims just walked in by accident?"

Lestrade, who had listened to his people brainstorming for a while, suddenly slammed his hands on the table, knocking over two cups of coffee in the process and making Anderson jump.

"That's it. We are getting nowhere here. Sherlock, have you heard anything from your homeless network?"

"No. They are afraid and not talking."

John cleared his throat. "We need someone on the inside."

All heads swung around and everybody was staring at him. Lestrade raised an eyebrow. Sherlock grinned.

"Excellent idea, John."

"Then why didn't you have it?"

"Shut up, Anderson."

"Not helping, both of you. John, explain, please."

"We need to know what connects these people except the fact that they were sleeping rough. But getting information out of them will be impossible for any of us. The homeless might trust Sherlock to some degree but as he said before they are not willing to talk to him in this case. Therefore we need someone on the inside, someone who is homeless but knows what kind of questions to ask without raising suspicion."

"You mean a mole?"

"Yes."

There was silence for a few seconds then everyone started talking at the same time until Lestrade slammed his hands on the table a second time and shouted that they all should shut the hell up.

"Thank you. Now, I really like the idea, I think it could work. The problem is that homeless people often can smell a police officer from ten feet away."

"The Freak should do it."

"Actually I can't do it. I run the homeless network, which means money, therefore I am well known to them. Despite the common believe that all homeless people are drunks or drug addicts, most of them have a very keen eye. Disguise can only do so much; they are used to looking out for more than my face, they look out for my silhouette, my way of moving. And even if I did disguise myself completely, so that even John would not recognize me, how would I maintain it for three or more days on the streets, with no facilities to freshen it up?”

"I will do it." John said quietly. Sherlock's head snapped around, but John ignored him.



Thursday

Sherlock had been pacing their living room for the last twenty minutes.

"John, I don't want you to do it. It could be dangerous."

John just smiled at him and Sherlock realized the stupidity of his last sentence.

“I meant...” he stopped. He couldn’t say what he actually meant: I hate for you to be in danger when I’m not there to protect you.

But of course John understood it anyway.

“I know.” His voice went soft. “I will be fine. And I won’t be in danger. Because you made Lestrade go with me. Remember?”

That would be one of John's favourite memories for a while: After everybody left, the three of them were going over some final details of the plan. First Sherlock just demanded that Lestrade would accompany John, then he tried to force him by threatening to expose all of Lestrade's darkest secrets and finally he just said "Please," in an almost broken voice.

Lestrade nearly dropped his cup over this, but he looked into Sherlock's eyes and whatever he saw there made him agree to go with John.

John marvelled at the friendship between those two, because he was pretty sure that either would try to deny it if asked.

Sherlock's huff brought him back to the present.

"Look, Sherlock, I'll be fine. I promise. Lestrade will be there and you will watch over me with the help of Mycroft's CCTV system. We will find the killer and from Monday on we will work on cases together again."

Sherlock somehow managed to look like a pouting 7-year-old. John grinned to himself and went back to preparing his undercover experience.

He looked at the stack of things Sherlock got from a shelter by trading old sleeping bags, blankets and coats for new ones. The people there shook their heads at him, but they were used to him and his strange behaviour and - above all - they wanted the new things.

John felt not really comfortable because he had not shaved or showered since yesterday and he knew it would not get better once he changed into the worn-off and dirty clothes and shoes. He tried to ignore the fact that it would only get worse over the next few days.

But he had been dirty and worn out and cold and miserable before, he knew he could do it again.

He knelt down and started to pack his things into the old army bag pack Sherlock found for him. Mrs Hudson came up the stairs and watched them both for a while: John packing and Sherlock staring at him intently from the sofa.

Her chatter and Sherlock's occasional answer washed over John who suddenly felt that he would miss his home and the other two occupants fiercely while he was away, even if it was only for a few days.

Sherlock abruptly raised his head and said, "It is time."

A second later the doorbell rang.

~°~

The unmarked police car brought John, Sherlock, Lestrade and Sally Donovan to a little train station outside of London. Here John and Lestrade changed into their new outfits and waited for a cargo train that would take them back into London – while they were dodging the fare, of course.

Sherlock was unusually quiet, so John listened to Sally and Lestrade.

"I feel strangely naked without my warrant card…"

"I wish you could take a gun."

"Have you ever seen a homeless with a gun?"

"You could hide it."

John took a step forward and interrupted them.

"I won't let any harm come to him."

Sally snorted at that, but before John could react, Sherlock swirled in and snarled at her.

"John is well trained in unarmed combat. And he has a knife tied to his left leg, shortly above the ankle. Lestrade is as safe as he could be."

"Of course you noticed the knife." John grinned.

"Of course I did." Finally a small smile lifted the corners of his mouth. John had to suppress a sudden urge to hug him.

Sally cleared her throat and straightened up, getting herself back into police mode.

"The train will be here soon. Remember: You cannot have contact with any of us; you are on your own. Freak, this applies to you as well. No contact to the homeless network for the time being."

Everybody nodded, Sherlock rather reluctant, but this was more due to the fact that he hated agreeing with Donovan. She made eye contact with the two fake homeless and went on.

"If you need to get a message to us, go to the St. Mungo's emergency shelter on 48 Rushworth Street in Southwark. The doctor there will get it to me. But it would be better to avoid the shelter altogether, because none of the victims had been to any shelter in the last few weeks as far as we know."

They all knew this of course, but it was always good to go over the facts one last time.

"And last: Stay together. No stupid risks. Be careful. Be safe."
Sally Donovan gave a sharp nod to both of the men and walked over to the police car.

"She is not good at farewells. Neither am I. See you soon, Sherlock." Lestrade grabbed his bag and started walking towards the tracks.

"I am not good at farewells either. Please be careful. Don't forget to eat or sleep. Look after Mrs Hudson, she worries too much. And no drugs, I need you to stay clear-headed to watch over me."

Sherlock's eyebrow showed that he clearly saw through John's manoeuvre, but he said nothing. He just looked at John for a moment, then turned around to follow Sally.

John felt a sharp pain somewhere in his chest; he had hoped for some, well to be honest any, words from Sherlock that he could take with him. He should have known better.

Then Sherlock suddenly turned around again, took off his scarf and stepped closer to tie it around John’s neck. His fingers grazed John’s skin and when he raised his gaze he found himself pinned down by Sherlock’s eyes.

“I want that back in exactly the same condition, so you better take care that it doesn’t get damaged in any way. Do you understand?”

Despite the harshness in his voice, Sherlock’s eyes were soft and vulnerable. John’s throat was suddenly very dry and he could only nod.

But something warm was unfurling in his chest while he watched Sherlock twirl around and walk away.

He picked up his bag and followed Lestrade.


Next chapter


---------------------------
AN: This turned out to be longer than expected, so I am splitting it into three parts.



.

Comments

[morganstuart.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm loving this! It's very touching that Lestrade won't be bullied or forced into going undercover, but he'll go if Sherlock just asks.

John marvelled at the friendship between those two, because he was pretty sure that either would try to deny it if asked.

YES! This. It's lovely.

I also really appreciate the parallel you draw between Sally's concern for Lestrade and Sherlock's concern for John, which is spot-on characterization, IMHO.

And it's especially endearing that Sherlock wants Lestrade along so that John's protected, but yet Sherlock's also eager to point out John's combat-readiness to Sally to prove that Lestrade will be safe because of John. (The knife strapped to his leg is a lovely detail. Such a BAMF, our John.)

I can't wait to see how these two brave men work together when they're on their own on the streets.

This is off to a fantastic start. Thank you so much! I'm eagerly anticipating more. :D

[anarion.livejournal.com]

Yay! I am sooo glad you like it! :D

Am busy writing on the second part, should be up on Monday.

[selinabln.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I really like this. What a great start. And the scarf scene, I can so picture Sherlock actually doing this.

[anarion.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the lovely comment!

Glad the scarf scene worked, I thought a lot about how he could show John that he cared without being to OOC. :)

[chrisampopina.livejournal.com]

Very interesting!!!

[anarion.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :)

[verityburns.livejournal.com]

Oh, really well done! I thought you conveyed their care for each other beautifully... although John - these urges to hug Sherlock... I'm not sure it's a good idea to suppress them really. Could be bad for you. I think these are the sort of urges you should really just go with... ;D

[anarion.livejournal.com]

Sorry to disappoint you, but John will be hugging someone else for a while first... o.O

[omletlove.livejournal.com]

I so love the way you've done the guys here- Sherlock and Lestrade, Sherlock and John, and Sally and Lestrade- so spot on how they all care for one another in their non-explicit ways. I love all your work, but this might just be my favorite so far.

[anarion.livejournal.com]

ooh, that comment had me flailing and squeeing! Thank you so much! <3

[omletlove.livejournal.com]

Hah well that doesn't quite make us even for all the times you've made me squee and flail, so I'll keep working on it..

[ellie_hell.livejournal.com]

I can't believe it's been this long since I read something you wrote. I blame the evil fic I'm writing. Here, you can kick it if you want.

This is such an interesting story! As much as I will never tire of reading about Sherlock receiving a blowjob , it's great to read something I have never seen in another story before. I was quite scared towards the end when it seemed as though Sherlock was leaving, but then he turned around and OH MY GOD THE SCARF! This goodbye went from heartbreaking to perfect with just that one line: Then Sherlock suddenly turned around again, took off his scarf and stepped closer to tie it around John’s neck. His fingers grazed John’s skin and when he raised his gaze he found himself pinned down by Sherlock’s eyes.

Oh yeah, Sherlock, act all cold and unbothered, we all saw what you did there *pinches his cheek*.

Isn't Omlet lovely? *points at commenter above me*

[anarion.livejournal.com]

Honestly? How many fics are you handling at the same time? There is my fave 'This man's heart', then the arranged marriage story (Pull of one magnet), then at least one thing on the kinkmeme (that thing with the infidelity. Called 'His lips tremble'?). Anything else? ;D
I just know that there are at least 10 entries from you on my reading list. *lol*

So which one should I kick?

[ellie_hell.livejournal.com]

Well, the arranged marriage one is finished, I only need to play with it a little because there's always a comma that's not in the right place. This story is like my adult child.

This Man's Heart is like my teenager; there's a lot of straightening up to do, a lot of editing, and depending on the poll I'll post on Monday with the next chapter, there may be two more chapters to write. It still demands quite a bit of attention.

And the "anonymous" one on the meme is still a toddler. It wants to run in every directions, it never does what I want, it's always in the front of my mind, I must constantly stop what I'm doing to take notes, I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night to write down an idea, people are begging me to see more of it, and I don't see the day when I'll be done working on it.

Thankfully, there's nothing else. Yet.

So yeah, kick the baby.

[ellie_hell.livejournal.com]

God, who says "kick the baby"? I'm sorry about that, and if you're looking for me, I'll be booking a long, warm stay in hell.

[anarion.livejournal.com]

Hahaha, what? Kick the baby??? *dies laughing*

[veniachan.livejournal.com]

"That would be one of John's favourite memories for a while: After everybody left, the three of them were going over some final details of the plan. First Sherlock just demanded that Lestrade would accompany John, then he tried to force him by threatening to expose all of Lestrade's darkest secrets and finally he just said "Please," in an almost broken voice."
*melted away* I just love this three together <3

“I want that back in exactly the same condition, so you better take care that it doesn’t get damaged in any way. Do you understand?”
Of course, you're speaking about the scarf, Sherlock, we all know it ;)

I love this fic! And as much I love the three of them together, it's so good to have John and Lestrade on their one! I think they'll have a great time- under the circumstances :D And while both of them can take care of himself, they're just better if they have to protect someone ;)