if_inconvenient | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Sherlock does not want to be at school today. For once in his life he is something less than indifferent to the occasional stare and snicker, the looks of familiar contempt from those who have been around long enough to get used to him. His mood has been fluctuating wildly between rage and despair since yesterday morning. He knows his self-control is good enough to keep him from reacting to any taunts with violence, but nothing will stop him from wanting to. Which is unsettling in itself.

He has a duty, though, one that cannot be ignored. And if he is going to show up at school again, he may as well do the job properly. He is on time for every class before lunch, polite if not friendly when circumstances call for conversation, crisply dressed—in trousers, thank you; he does not think he could bear the reactions to another skirt. The only signs that anything is wrong are the dark circles under his eyes and the tension that stands in sharp contrast to his usual indolence.

At noon on the dot he is in the cafeteria waiting for Bella Swan.

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It is in point of fact the first thing he has eaten all day. Somewhere around the second apple slice, he discovers something resembling an appetite.

Bella tries not to devour her own share with unseemly haste. She mostly succeeds.

"So," he says when he has finished his portion. "Shall I call Tony now?"

"Yes."

Bella washes hers down with the last of her milk.

"Go ahead."

After acquiring her phone, he dials—directly to Tony's number, and not through Jarvis.

It would be rather anticlimactic if, after all this, Tony's phone was off.

Nope.

Three rings, and a somewhat confused: "...Hi?"

"Hello, Tony."

"Sherry!"

He relaxes.

"Sherry, why does call display say your name is Bella Swan?"

"Because I am borrowing Bella Swan's phone," he says dryly.

"You? Borrowing a cellphone? From a girl? Are you gonna borrow her—"

"For the love of God," he interrupts, laughing, "I forbid you to finish that sentence."

Talking to Tony seems to drain all the stress right out of him. He is relaxed, happy, fond.

Bella, having taken the opportunity to clear away the dishes from their snack, smiles wryly to herself. She fully expects a lecture from Jessica tomorrow about how it looks for Bella to shack up with Sherlock in her truck during lunch. (Even if no one saw them, Jessica will know somehow. It's what she does.) People have so much difficulty with the idea that a girl and a boy can just be friends.

Dishes disposed of, she goes back to sit at the table.

"Yeah, yeah, tell it to the judge. Seriously though, are you into her?"

"She is my friend," Sherlock says with great dignity—and then adds brightly: "I have two now; aren't you proud?"

"...I love you," he says, because nothing else is going to cut it.

He closes his eyes and smiles.

"I love you, too."

. . . for a second or two, Bella feels as though she should really be in another room. There is something intensely personal in the way Sherlock says those words.

What Tony hears in it is a little different. His teasing grin fades.

"So what are you calling about, really?"

Sherlock straightens a little on the couch.

"I mentioned yesterday that your nocturnal visitor was making the rounds. Well, it threatened her father to me. When I gave her the Sunnydale short version of events, she asked if you wouldn't mind talking to her about your encounter."

"'Cause she doesn't know about vampires and shit," Tony fills in, "and you don't wanna look like a whackjob. Well, she asked to talk to me instead of calling up the nuthouse, so I think you're doing pretty good so far. Sure, put her on."

"I don't want to—" he starts.

"Yeah, I know exactly what you don't want to. Sherry, it's fine. We're all a little fucked up about this. I'm okay to talk to this chick if you're okay to ask me."

He closes his eyes again, briefly, and exhales a soft, relieved sigh.

"Thank you, Tony," he says, and holds out the phone to Bella.

She takes it.

"Hello, Tony. I'm Bella Swan."

He sounds fondly amused when he says: "Yeah, so I heard."