if_inconvenient | (no subject)

"Any time."

Cal pauses, then,

"Tony really buys into his shit, huh?"

(He almost said something else, but decided against it.

He's just paranoid these days, that's all.)

"Yes," he confirms. "Tony does. And I... I have never been sure. Nor have I ever been able to convince Tony of my doubts."

Cal can understand that a little better.

It sucks to find out that someone you thought was basically okay, maybe even used to like when you were younger, turns out to be a fucking creep.

Cal has a bias of his own when it comes to that.

"Well," he says. "Now you know."

"Yes. Now I do."

He looks pensive.

(Never theorize in advance of your data.)

Cal sighs a little himself.

"C'mon," he says, "let's go watch the movie." He's not any more interested than Sherlock probably is at this point, but he doesn't know what else to offer. At least it's something else to think about.

(If it had been real, Sherlock would have noticed anyway, right?)

"Let's," Sherlock agrees, not very enthusiastically.

A newly showered Tony comes hurtling down the stairs in cleaner, nicer clothing with not a speck of grease in sight. Yes, he still slides down the banister. Yes, he had it reinforced to be sure it would to take his weight. He's a dumb teenage genius engineer, okay?

"Hi guys, bye guys," he says, breezing past them on his way to the basement.

Somehow, Cal doesn't think Tony is paying them very close attention, so he doesn't put a ton of effort into the brief acknowledging response.

Sherlock smiles a little despite himself. He does love Tony. Even more than Obie pretends to.

After about three seconds, the sound of Tony descending the stairs reverses. He pokes his head out of the stairwell.

"Sherry, could you—?" he starts, and then shakes his head. "No, you know what, you're busy. I'll order pizza."

He disappears again, and this time he doesn't return.

Cal glances over at Sherlock.

He is not going to push the movie thing if Sherlock's really not interested.

A brief dose of Tony has done wonders for his mood.

"Tony often prevails upon me to cook when Obadiah visits," he explains, "because he is laughably bad at it himself. But, as he so astutely pointed out, I am busy. Shall we?"

Cal's own mood eases a little in response to Sherlock's visibly lightened one. He smiles a bit, the first real smile he's had to offer since Obadiah showed up.

"Okay."

He leads the way back into the living room.

The rest of the movie passes uneventfully; when Tony and Obadiah emerge from the garage, they take the elevator and thereby avoid going anywhere near this living room. Whether or not that is on purpose, and whose purpose if so, is left as an exercise for the reader.

"That was surprisingly enjoyable," Sherlock comments as the credits roll. He is still sitting in his economical upright way, but he seems at ease—even, perhaps, relaxed.

Cal has been doing a certain amount of fidgeting (still not used to watching movies sober), but mostly he's been sitting with one foot drawn up and his hands clasped around his knee, watching the movie with more seriousness than he usually does. He smiles when Sherlock delivers his verdict, though.

"Good," he says. "See, it's good for you to just hang out sometimes."

"I am not sure of this conclusion," he says gravely. "Further experiments may be required."

Cal laughs.

"That could be arranged."

For science.

He cracks a grin. "I am pleased to hear it."

"Well, that's what they say to do in science class, right?"

At least, they did back when Cal still bothered to attend regularly.

"Often enough that even I heard it," he agrees.

"So that's what we'll do."

Cal lets his foot slide off the couch, leading to a faint popping sound as his knee adjusts to being straightened out.

"A plan I fully support."

Which, Cal thinks, qualifies as early indications of success, which means he wins. He's not sure what else he can contribute here, but he will get Sherlock doing normal things on a regular basis if it kills him.

Well. Taking Sherlock's side against creepy jerks. He can do that too. (His expression shifts slightly as this thought crosses his mind, turning a shade more reflective.)

Sherlock raises his eyebrows.

Cal blinks at him.

"What?"