Flatmates and Dragons
Nov. 12th, 2010 08:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prettybirdy979
Titles: Flatmates and Dragons
Setting: BBC! Sherlock
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings: John, Sherlock
Genre/Warnings: Angst, Drama, Supernatural
Summary: Looking after your sister's pet can be hard. Looking after your sister's magical pet, well... Seventh in the Witch Verse.
Written as part of NaNoWriMo... And for a prompt from fanfiction.net by HadesLordoftheDead. Betaed by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
grinnyp Thanks!
Prompts for the series are great for this! =D
I've written most of the prompts, but they all need to be betaed. I'll post them ASAP. =D
Serires starts Here
‘John, why is there a cat carrier in the middle of the room?’ Sherlock was standing in the doorway to the flat staring at the cat carrier, trying to puzzle it out.
‘Because Cat’s here and that’s how I got him here.’ John walked in from the kitchen, smirking and holding two cups of tea.
‘And whose cat is it?’
John raised an eyebrow. ‘How do you know it belongs to someone else? It could be mine. Anyway...’
‘Possible, but you’re not a cat person.’ Sherlock cut in.
John got side-tracked by this statement. ‘How do you know I’m a dog person?’
‘There was a dog at the last crime scene that you liked. And you hated Connie Prince’s cat, though that could have just been that particular cat.’
‘How…never mind. Yes Cat is Harry’s. I’m looking after him while she’s away.’
‘Paris.’ Sherlock stated, then frowned as something John had said registered with him. ‘Why are you using a capital ‘C’ when referring to the cat?’
‘I’m not even going to ask how you knew that.’ John collapsed in his chair.
‘You haven’t answered my question.’
‘What? Oh… I’m using a capital because Cat is his name.’
‘A cat called Cat. How dull.’ Sherlock flopped down on the sofa facing John.
John looked up at Sherlock frowning. He concentrated for a second, clearly rerunning the conversation in his head. ‘Sherlock…when did I say Cat was a cat?’
‘You implied it.’ Sherlock sat up.
‘Yes, but I didn’t mean to.’
‘So Cat is a dog then. Slightly more ironic name then, but still dull.’ Satisfied, Sherlock went to lie down again where he saw John’s smirk.
‘Wrong?’ he asked.
‘Wrong.’ John confirmed. ‘Cat isn’t a dog. Cat is a...’
Just then there was a bump from the stairwell. Seconds later a very unhappy, sky blue dragon walked out into the living room. It was about the size of a cat, which explained the use of the cat carrier, with wide bright green eyes and sharp looking golden claws. It had a pair of small wings folded by its side and when it opened its mouth, Sherlock could see sharp white teeth.
‘...dragon.’ John finished. ‘Cat, what did you do to yourself?’ The little dragon huffed, and rustled its…his wings and walked over to John’s chair. He looked up at John with wide eyes, giving him a low whine when he didn’t move.
‘No, you’re not getting any sympathy from me. It’s not my fault you tried to fly when you know your wings aren’t strong enough to fly.’ The dragon huffed again and turned his glaze to Sherlock.
‘Don’t try for sympathy from him Cat. I already told you the rules.’
Sherlock had had enough of being left out of this strange conversation. ‘Explain. Now.’
‘Cat is my sister’s dragon. She adopted him after Clara left and someone left his egg on her doorstep. I agreed to look after him while she’s in Paris. After all, it’s not like she could drop him off at a pet sitter for the week.’
‘He understands you.’
‘He understands us. He speaks English…well a version of it. It can get a little garbled sometimes.’
Sherlock was taken aback. ‘He speaks…English?’
‘Yes, but not often. You can get the basic idea of what he would be saying from his body language.’
The little dragon was now standing in front of Sherlock, looking up at him with big eyes. John’s right, it’s quite clear what he wants. Sherlock reached a hand down and picked up the dragon.
Cat made a satisfied noise, which quickly turned into a noise of complaint when Sherlock began to examine him from all angles. He turned his head to look back at John who had a long-suffering smile on his face. It quickly became genuine at whatever the little dragon said.
‘Sherlock, I don’t think Cat likes being manhandled like that.’
Sherlock held the dragon out in front of him and looked him in the eyes. They stared at another for a moment, and then Cat suddenly lashed out and sunk his teeth into Sherlock’s hand. Instead of dropping Cat as was expected, Sherlock held on tighter, ignoring the pain in his hand. Cat continued to stare at him, respect growing in his eyes as Sherlock’s hand began to bleed.
‘Cat! Let go of Sherlock.’ John ordered, when it became clear Sherlock wasn’t letting go. Cat ignored him, choosing to sink his teeth in deeper. Sherlock winced slightly but just held on tighter, refusing to let the little dragon win.
‘CAT!’ This time there was something extra in John’s voice, a layer of magic that even Sherlock found hard not to obey. Cat growled but removed his teeth from Sherlock’s hand. Smiling, Sherlock let Cat go, causing him to drop to the ground with a squeak. In a pile on the ground, Cat looked up and glared at Sherlock. John flinched slightly at something, most likely whatever the little dragon was saying.
‘Cat, you are in a lot of trouble. You know better than to bite people! And you!’ John turned on Sherlock ready to chew him out when he spotted the blood running down Sherlock’s hand. Grimacing, he grabbed Sherlock’s hand and ran his own glowing one over it, healing the wound.
Sherlock gave him a slight smile in thanks.
‘Just don’t experiment on him.’ John said softly. ‘I know I let you experiment on me and I’m quite happy to, but he’s only a baby and well…he doesn’t really understand.’ John looked pleadingly at Sherlock.
‘Fine.’ Sherlock answered, flexing his healed hand. ‘But you’re the one who’s going to have to hide him from everyone.’ With that, he pushed past John and headed for his room.
John’s eyes widened as he realised exactly what he had gotten himself into. ‘Sherlock, you have to help me. Sherlock!’
********
There was an understanding soon reached between Sherlock and Cat. Each ignored the fact that the other one existed and no one got hurt. It was a bumpy truce, founded on hours of John complaining about the petty tricks and actions they committed on each other, including Cat ruining Sherlock’s experiments and Sherlock ruining Cat’s dinner in revenge.
This bumpy truce went out the window the day John disappeared.
John had gone to work early that day, leaving Sherlock and Cat alone. Luckily, Cat wasn’t an early riser and Sherlock had already slept enough that week so they didn’t have anything to do with another until about midday when Cat dragged himself out of bed, grumpy and hungry.
Of course John had left food for his breakfast or lunch, whichever happened first but it required Sherlock to serve it. And Sherlock had no plans to help ‘the creature’ as he had dubbed it.
Even when the creature decided to attach its teeth to his leg. Repeatedly, and in different locations but never breaking the skin having learnt his lesson last time. Sherlock was used to ignoring his body’s needs and demands and would have continued to ignore Cat if the creature hadn’t decided to try a new plan of attack; namely, threatening to urinate in the chemical experiment on the kitchen table.
‘You wouldn’t dare.’ Sherlock stated, and then double checked his opponent. ‘No wait, you would, you already have. You know John wants us to get along and would illogically take your side.’ He stood up with a huff. ‘Fine, I’ll get you your food.’ He grabbed the plastic container John had indicated but then stared at it, unsure of the next step. He looked over at the dragon on the table. ‘Well?’
Cat nodded his head at the microwave. Sherlock opened it up, put the container in and closed the door. He then hesitated not quite sure what number to put in. Cat chirped three times. ‘Of course.’ Sherlock set it for three minutes and pressed start. Tapping his fingers against the bench he ran his mind over his latest case, a small problem from Mycroft while the microwave ran. His eyes widened as his mind suddenly figured out the solution.
As soon as it was finished he threw the container down before Cat, barely stopping to take the lid off, before he was running over the case files and smiling when it confirmed his thoughts.
Brother in France with lover. Lover took files while they were last visiting and your man only just missed them. Why was this hard? SH
Evidence? Mycroft.
The handbag in the last family photo. It’s too bulky. Search their hotel and you’ll find the plans. SH
Of course. How’s ‘Cat’? Mycroft.
You can’t have him. SH
Sherlock looked up from his mobile to find Cat sitting on John’s chair staring at him. He was just getting in a staring completion with the creature when the front door slammed and footsteps came up the stairs. Sherlock knew they weren’t John’s and quickly indicated for Cat to go upstairs. Cat, grumbling, complied knowing what would happen if he didn’t.
Lestrade didn’t bother knocking but burst into the flat, frantically looking around. He looked slightly surprised to see Sherlock sitting there.
‘Where?’ Sherlock asked, deducing from his harried appearance that it was a murder.
‘Where’s Dr. Watson?’ Lestrade ignored Sherlock’s question.
‘At work.’ Sherlock said with distain, confused by the question.
‘No he’s not.’
‘He’s not?’
‘It’s why I’m here. He didn’t show up for work today. They tried calling him and got an odd message. When they couldn’t get you, remembering what happened last time you two went missing, Sarah called me.’
‘What’s the message? And why did you give Sarah your number?’ Sherlock fired at the confused policeman.
‘Umm…when you two got blown up, I met her at the hospital. I gave her my number then so she could contact me directly if something happened.’
‘And the message?’
Lestrade pulled out his phone and dialled John’s number. He put it on speaker and the two listened as it rang out. Sherlock looked over the D.I’s shoulder and saw Cat hiding behind John’s chair with only his tail visible.
Then John’s voice came over the speaker as his voicemail picked up. One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish. Not a rhyme but just in time. Can you find the witch? Or will you lose your pet, my pretty.*Beep*
Sherlock blinked as Lestrade hung up. ‘That doesn’t appear to make sense. Meaning it’s a message, most likely to me, shown by the use of the ‘pet’ name Moriarty used to describe John when we last met. John is distressed, but hiding it well, probably under Moriarty’s orders.’
‘How could you tell?’
‘I know John. “One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish”… what could that mean?’
‘I know it…it’s a children’s book. I read it to my children at night. It’s by Dr Seuss.’ At Sherlock’s blank look Lestrade continued. ‘A famous children’s author. John was right about how much you don’t know, wasn’t he? So...what are we looking for? What does he mean by witch?’
‘A children’s author… hmm.’ Sherlock ignored the inspector and grabbed his phone and googled the book. He mouthed the words of the book to himself as he thought over it.
The ‘witch’ reference is obvious, he’s letting me know he knows what John is. The time bit is to state there’s a time limit, but he’s not telling us what. Hmm... where can you see a whole lot of people who have come a long way... Airport. Easy. Now, where is John?
Cat gave a soft, sad chirp causing Lestrade to look around. ‘What was that?’
‘What was what?’
‘…Nothing.’
‘Well, Moriarty is going after an airport. Hadn’t you better go and protect them all?’
‘Oh come on Sherlock. How on Earth do you know that?’
‘The poem from the book. It describes a wide variety of fish, which Moriarty clearly means to stand in for people. The only place to be sure to see a variety of people who “have come a long, long way” is the airport.’
Lestrade looked torn for a moment, then turned on his heels and rushed out, leaving Sherlock alone to try and figure out where John fit into all this.
I can help you. A soft voice spoke in Sherlock’s mind. If Sherlock had been a normal person he would have jumped, but instead he just tightened his grip on his phone. He quickly deduced this was the method of speaking that John had referred to.
‘How?’
I can find Master. I can smell where he went.
‘I could get a dog to do as much. It would be much less conspicuous.’
Dog? Dog is silly. Would dog be able to follow the scent where ever scent went, no matter what goes over scent? I can follow scent…you just need to help me hide.
Sherlock smiled. ‘That, I can do.’
********
Won’t people notice your bulky coat?
‘No, people are idiots who see but don’t observe. Now you’re sounding like John. Just get in, and don’t move.’
Cat huffed and climbed inside Sherlock’s coat. Sherlock did it up around himself; hiding the dragon but making him seem twice his size. I’m going to have to make sure no-one I know sees me. Even they couldn’t fail to see this. Unless…he quickly pulled on a hat, swooped down to hide his height and grabbed a different coat, slightly more used. He was now unrecognisable.
He calculated the chances of Mrs. Hudson seeing him if he went out the front door, realised it was high and opted for the window instead. Cat gave a small noise of complaint as they landed but otherwise didn’t move.
He moved along the street quickly, blending into the crowd. Cat was silent as they walked along John’s route to work. Suddenly he huffed and shifted his weight to the right, the signal to go in that direction. Sherlock turned down the alley to his right and halfway down found the indicators of a fight. He stopped to examine the scene but Cat spoke up.
Don’t stop. Keep going! I still can follow Master.
‘He was knocked out and dragged into a car. How can you still follow him? He isn’t leaving a scent anymore.’
I’m not following his scent. I’m following Master’s magic. No one can hide Master’s magic, not even if they use a screamer.
‘Scream… of course, a car.’
Cat shifted slightly, and Sherlock continued. They followed a series of twisting turns and doubling back, many of which went along streets without cameras.
Finally, they came across a quiet street with no visible cameras. Cat had been getting more and more excited as they went along and Sherlock knew without him speaking that John was somewhere in the area. Most likely in the house with the two guards, hiding in both the darkness of the street and front garden.
Now, what?
Sherlock smiled. ‘We go get what they stole from us.’
*******
Moriarty had prepared for everything. He had enough snipers there to start a war, with armed thugs to back them up. There were protection charms all around, to stop ‘evil’ magic getting in and a few anti-magic charms to keep ‘good’ magic getting out.
What he didn’t predict or prepare for was an angry little dragon who wanted his master back and a sociopath who was quite willing to let him kill to do it. And even helped plan his attack.
********
‘I know what you are Johnny Boy. So don’t think that’s going to help.’ John looked up at Jim his eyes filled with rage. Jim had sent ten men to abduct him on his way to work and while John had managed to injure all of them and subdue three, he had not been able to stop the kidnapping. So now he was tied to a chair with a horrible tasting gag in his mouth and a pounding head that was making concentrating hard.
‘See this?’ Jim held a piece of metal in front of John’s face and it took a moment for him to focus on it. He shivered when he recognised it. It was an anti-magic charm, straight from the middle ages when they burned people for their magic. It had been heavily cursed, John could feel the evil magic rolling off it without touching it.
‘See, I knew you would know what it was. Do you know what it is, Sherlock?’ Jim turned around to face Sherlock, who had John’s gun out and was pointing it at Jim.
‘I would ask you how you knew I was here but that would be obvious.’
Jim smiled. ‘Very good, Sherlock. Though I must wonder how you got past all my little friends…I expected you to be dragged in.’
Sherlock just cocked the gun.
‘Aww, Sherlock. Don’t be like that. We’ve only just started the game and here you are. You cheated and skipped ahead to the end. And you know what happens to cheaters…’
I don’t. Master, what happens to cheaters?
Moriarty froze momentarily as Cat’s voice sounded in everyone’s mind. Sherlock took advantage of that moment and used it to fire the gun directly though Moriarty’s head.
‘Game over.’ Sherlock stated, calm and collected. ‘I win.’ Dropping the gun, he moved over to John and pulled the gag out of his mouth while untying the knots. John looked up at him, awe and joy in his eyes. Cat was running in circles around the pair yelling I found Master, Master is safe! and occasionally stopping to sniff Moriarty’s body.
‘Sherlock…’ John started then stopped, unsure of how to continue.
‘I know. We have to call Lestrade, make sure none of Moriarty’s plans continue, and help round up his “gang”.’ Sherlock said in a tone that suggested exactly how boring he found all those activities.
‘Thank you.’ John said softly as Sherlock freed his last tied-up limb. They shared a moment of relief before Cat chose that moment to throw himself at John’s lap.
Master! He also succeeded in knocking the chair, John and himself to the ground while also hitting Sherlock’s legs with his tail, causing a stunned Sherlock to follow them down.
Laughing at the twin expressions on Sherlock’s and Cat’s faces John set about fixing up the mess they were in.
********
Harry was due to come back today. It had been a month since she had left Cat with them and really, even Sherlock had begun to dread this day. Cat had become a part of the craziness that was 221B Baker St and it was hard to imagine the place without him.
John had been busy all day, packing every last one of Cat’s things, a task made more difficult by Cat unpacking them whenever he wasn’t looking. Cat had gotten the hang of flying and every time John went to berate him he would flap either out of John’s reach or hide behind Sherlock who was more than willing to protect him from John if it meant he stayed. After all, he wasn’t likely to come back when he was old enough to experiment on... at least that’s the reason Sherlock told himself to justify protecting Cat.
A knock at the door came at about three o’clock and John stood to let Harry in. Sherlock eyed her a little wearily, remembering that she had attempted to blow him up last time they met.
Harry, however, only had eyes for Cat. ‘Cat! How is my little baby-poo?’
Cat just huffed, and flapped up so he was sitting on the bookshelf.
‘He can fly? He can fly!’ she turned on John. ‘You never mentioned he had learnt to fly!’
‘It’s only just happened. You wouldn’t have gotten my message until after you got home.’
Harry stared at her brother for a second, then frowning she grabbed Cat’s things and called him. ‘Come on Cat, time to go. Get into the carrier; I’ve got so much to tell you!’
Won’t go. I like it here with Master.
Harry looked shocked at Cat’s statement while John and Sherlock hid gleeful smiles.
‘What do you mean you won’t go?! Cat, get in there.’ As Harry spoke, Sherlock noted the extra layer to her voice, the commanding magic that John had only used on Cat when there was immediate danger. Cat whined, his head pulled back as far as possible as his feet moved of their own violation towards the cat carrier.
‘Harry!’ John’s spoke, his eyes firmly on Cat. ‘What are you doing?’
‘Teaching him right and wrong. He has to know when I tell him to do something, he does it. You’ve spoiled him.’ Harry had a disappointed note to her voice.
‘No, but you’ve abused him. Harry, Mum and Dad taught us better than this. You know the rules! Magic is never to be used to control another.’
‘You’ve done it. You’ve controlled people with your powers.’ Harry’s voice was low and angry.
‘Only to save a life.’ John’s voice was just sad. ‘And I won’t let you take Cat if this is how you’re going to treat him.’
‘He’s mine!’ The pile of papers behind Harry exploded and Sherlock found himself grabbing Cat from the cat carrier and heading for the relative safety of the kitchen. Cat gave him a grateful look, glad to be out of the line of fire.
‘No, he’s himself. Harry, you know all about dragons. They belong to no one, answer only to those they respect and care for. Cat is a baby, but as he grows if you continue to treat him like this he will kill you.’
‘He wouldn’t dare.’
John sighed. He closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them there was a steely determination present. ‘I’m sorry.’ He said.
‘For what?’ Harry asked confused.
John didn’t answer, rather he started to mutter quickly under his breath. Harry’s eyes widened as she realised what he was doing. With a shout, John finished the spell he was saying and raised his hand at Harry. She disappeared in a cloud of gold smoke and John staggered, his skin now pale and clammy. Sherlock dropped Cat and only just made it into the room in time to catch John as he fainted.
Minutes later John came around. Sherlock had managed to get him lying on the sofa and was now sitting in John’s chair, Cat in his lap.
‘What did you do?’
‘Sent her home.’
‘Teleportation?’
‘Yes.’ John sat up, the colour slowly returning to his cheeks.
‘And you fainted because?’
‘Because I used too much of my magic. There’s a reason I’ve never used teleportation for us, it takes a lot of energy simply to move across the room. Getting Harry across London…well you saw what it took.’
Don’t do that again, Master. You smelt weird.
John smiled a small smile at the little dragon’s word. ‘I’ll try not to.’
‘You will not.’ Sherlock said with absolute certainty.
********
And that was that. Cat became a permanent resident at 221B Baker Street, forcing John to reveal his existence to Mrs Hudson. Sherlock wasn’t sure how John managed to hide his status as a witch, but once the shock of seeing a real life dragon was over Mrs. Hudson accepted John’s explanation of Cat being a genetic mutation without question. She even agreed to look after Cat when John and Sherlock were out and began to teach him how to cook, saying that someone up there had to learn.
Not that Cat ever figured out the microwave.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-11-12 10:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-12 10:23 am (UTC)I want one too. =D
no subject
Date: 2010-11-12 12:28 pm (UTC)Sherlock and Cat are so cute. :D
no subject
Date: 2010-11-12 12:34 pm (UTC)Thanks for commenting.
no subject
Date: 2010-11-12 07:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-13 01:18 pm (UTC)Thanks for the comment.
no subject
Date: 2010-11-14 10:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-13 05:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-13 01:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-13 06:01 am (UTC)What he didn’t predict or prepare for was an angry little dragon who wanted his master back and a sociopath who was quite willing to let him kill to do it. And even helped plan his attack.
Lmao! That paragraph is made of WIN! Seriously. And I bet that Mycroft is getting jealous of Sherlock. *giggles*
The tumble that everyone took was just cute~ Now I wish I could see the looks on both Sherlock's and Cat's faces.
Okay, question: Since Cat's a baby dragon when he's the size of a cat, what's his size when he's fully grown? I can just about imagine all the trouble they'll get into if they have to relocate Cat (though I think Mycroft would be more than happy to help solve their problem XD).
Update soon~
no subject
Date: 2010-11-13 01:23 pm (UTC)Thanks! I'm sure he is. He did want to 'borrow' Cat, as mentioned in the texts.
Same. Sadly my drawing ability would not do justice to the image of that I see im my head...
Not sure... I don't think John has thought of that (meaning I haven't thought of it. Sherlock has though, he thinks of everything) (he would be...so long as he got to 'borrow' Cat sometimes)
Update going up in a few minutes. =D
Thanks for the comment!
no subject
Date: 2010-11-14 01:20 am (UTC)Now, an interesting question would be why did he want to 'borrow' Cat.
Sadly my drawing abilities are not that great as well >_<
I might give it a go after the exams. But a fair warning, don't bet on it or anything. I may not even draw it. Don't know what will happen.(Sherlock indeed would have thought of almost everything.)
*scampers off to read*
no subject
Date: 2010-11-14 01:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-14 10:41 am (UTC)...And now I want to write Moriarty's deductions about John from his P.O.V. Thanks. =)
Not sure... Mycroft is very secretive... =D
That's cool. They're probably far better them mine..
(He does things like that. =))
I always see it as Cat jumping at John sorta sidewards but from the front so diagonally and the chair overbalancing and falling backwards/to the other side so John ends up on his side a dragon on top of him. And as this happens, Cat's tail sweeps Sherlock's legs sidewards as he is standing in front of John so he ends up facing John on his side.
They both have looks of complete surprise on their face-like 'how on earth did this happen and when did it happen?'
Make sense?
no subject
Date: 2010-11-14 03:05 pm (UTC)Indeed Mycroft is secretive...
Don't think so (aren't we all harsher critics of ourselves?)
(Indeed XD)
Makes sense. No idea if I can draw it though *pouts*
no subject
Date: 2010-11-16 09:36 am (UTC)(We are... But I know my artwork really isn't that good)
(XD)
Don't worry. I'm sure whatever you come up with will be awesome if you draw anything. =D
no subject
Date: 2010-11-16 01:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-18 11:11 am (UTC)