if_inconvenient | (no subject)

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He has not spoken to Cal in six days.

It is a ridiculous measurement. Plenty of more important things have happened since then. Tony is now CEO of Stark Industries. Virginia Potts has, with some reservations, accepted a position as his personal assistant. She is already proving invaluable. The media seem to believe that the only interesting thing Obadiah Stane ever did was die, and Tony has indulged in several bouts of cathartic rage on the subject.

And yet.

He has not spoken to Cal in six days.

Every moment he has to spare, away from the minutiae of making Tony's job easier as best he can, finds Sherlock on the couch in his workroom playing the violin. He throws himself into the most challenging pieces he can find, and as soon as he has perfected every note he moves on immediately to the next.

But he doesn't keep count of how many new solos he has mastered this way. Another count entirely occupies that part of his attention.

He has not spoken to Cal in six days.

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A quiet laugh escapes.

"Fuck, I missed you."

And he did. Underneath everything else, in these last few days, he missed Sherlock a lot.

"I missed you too," Sherlock admits.

Tension eases out of Cal's stance, and he starts feeling (and looking) more at home again, the way he's come to feel in this house.

"So is there anything else I need to know?" he asks wryly.

As a matter of fact...

Sherlock laughs.

". . . oh my god," Cal says.

"Le me rephrase that. Is there anything else I want to know?"

Cheerfully: "No."

Although now he is infinitely curious as to what Cal just imagined.

Anything that makes Sherlock laugh like that after Cal asks that question is clearly something Cal doesn't want to know.

"Good," he says decisively.

"I might point out, however, that if the last six days are any indication, you didn't want to hear this either."

Cal hadn't expected that, which is possibly why he answers, without thinking,

"You could have told me sooner."

- he hadn't meant to say that.

There was no point in saying that.

"I had enough trouble telling you when I did," he answers candidly.

"Yeah," Cal says immediately, "I know, I - forget I said that."

"Oh, no. But I'll forgive you for it."

"- okay. That works too, I guess."

(He's not wrong, though, is he? Not entirely. Sherlock could have told him sooner.

Even if there isn't any point in thinking like that. It's still true.)

He raises his eyebrows.

Cal just shakes his head.

In which case he shrugs, letting it go.

Cal glances away again, just briefly this time.

"Okay," he says. "Uh. Good that's settled."

"Yes."

". . . how's Tony doing?"

When in doubt, change the subject.

"Handling the company as though he was built to."

...Their conversation about parents who have children for unhealthy reasons is another one of those things that needs reinterpreting, isn't it.

Cal's expression does indeed turn a bit wry at Sherlock's choice of words, mainly because it sounds distinctly as though Sherlock is letting Cal know that he knows exactly what Cal is doing.

"That's good," he says. "I mean, I hadn't heard anything about it blowing up yet, so I figured as much."

"He's had a few people trouble him over his age and inexperience, but he troubles them right back, and they desist when they observe his results."

Cal smirks at the image of Tony "troubling" a group of self-important businessmen.

"Yeah, I'll bet he does," he says. "That's good. He needs to build a good reputation as fast as he can."

He'll need it when his first mistake is inevitably blown all of out of proportion.

"From what I hear, the entire Research and Development department would riot if anyone made a serious effort to depose him."

Cal laughs a little.

"Can't have that."