He has an ambivalent relationship with the Tube. The invention is genius, of course, but sometimes there are too many people who can’t seem to comprehend how to behave. Especially when embarking or disembarking the carriages. Grown ups suddenly seem to have left their common sense behind on the platform or inside the train.
“Mind the gap,” the familiar voice tells them all.
At least, this announcement seems to register in everyone. To this day, Sherlock has never encountered anyone who has seriously miscalculated entering or leaving the train. He knows it occurs obviously; people are idiots after all.
What he has experienced in abundance, however, are morons trying to get on the train while others are trying to get off. Simultaneously. It’s evident than neither of these human beings have any clue about logistics. Or physics for that matter.
Because of this, he avoids the Tube like the plague in the rush hours, not to mention in the summer when hordes of dim-witted tourists are invading the city.
Sherlock is aware that not every place on the planet have underground transportation systems like London has, which the forementioned tourists prove on an hourly basis, but surely one should expect people to do their research before travelling to a large city. They don’t even know how to place themselves on the escalators, for goodness’ sake! There are signs which inform them to stand on the right so that people like Sherlock, who’s always in a hurry, can leap up the moving device on the left side. Sometimes, he wonders if they’re all illiterate.
***
“Watch your step!”
“Are you talking to me?”
Sherlock is genuinely puzzled. Nobody ever tells him to mind where he’s going. He never stands still long enough.
“Yes, you moron!”
And then, Sherlock finds himself manhandled to the side by a strong but small man with blue eyes, blond hair, tanned skin, and an abandoned cane that lies some feet away on the platform.
“You were about to step right into – “
“Afghanistan or Iraq?”
“What?”
“You heard me.”
***
“Oil spill. Watch…”
Sherlock’s arms flail in an attempt to regain his balance when his shoe slips on the spilled oil, but just before he falls, strong arms catch him.
“I’ve got you,” John murmurs close to Sherlock’s ear.
His face flushes as if he’s suddenly been exposed to a roaring fire. Before he’s able to catalogue how his body responds to being held by John, his equilibrium is restored, and John retreats.
“Thank you,” Sherlock mutters.
He’s mortified to find himself in such an undignified situation, witnessed by his capable flatmate who more often than not, praises Sherlock’s agility. This calamity will certainly put a stop to that.
“Are you alright?” John asks quietly.
“Of course,” Sherlock says with false self-confidence.
***
“Fucking idiot!”
“Indeed.”
“Did he just try to walk straight through me?”
“So it seems.”
“I fear for humanity, Sherlock. Truly.”
Sherlock hums in agreement and relishes the fact that they are pressed tightly together in a packed carriage. The man who moments earlier tried to disembark the train, clearly needed glasses. Granted, John isn’t as tall as Sherlock, but he isn’t small as a child either. John had tried to prevent the collision from happening, but the train was simply too crowded to move more than an inch. Sherlock on his part, had been too preoccupied with his phone to stop the stupid man. However, he quite enjoys having John plastered to his side after the incident, so there’s that.
A jolt makes a woman lose her balance, and to steady herself, she takes a small step toward John. Her high heel lands heavily on John’s foot, who cries out in pain.
“Watch your step!” Sherlock scolds the unlucky woman, who apologises with pink cheeks and a nervous laughter.
“It’s fine, Sherlock,” John mumbles, though his grimace tells another story.
“Are you hurt?”
“It’ll probably bruise, but nothing’s broken,” John assures him.
Sherlock looks sceptically down at him and manhandles John to stand closer to the side of the door where no one can reach him.
“Oi! I’m not a puppet you can just – “
“Shut up, John. I need my blogger and doctor unscathed.”
John starts to giggle once he’s finished rolling his eyes. This always leads to one thing – Sherlock joins him. It is impossible to stay imperious and aloof when he hears John’s laughter, which is extremely contagious.
“You madman,” John grins once he’s composed himself.
“You call me such lovely things, John.” Sherlock says softly, quietly.
John inhales sharply and meets Sherlock’s gaze. The silent conversation that takes place, is impossible for the other passengers to decipher, but the sparks that fly like fireworks through the train, does indeed register. Not on the Richter scale, but close.
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[#FFF361 Watch Your Step ]
Where are your characters going? What are they watching out for? Are they avoiding people in a crowd? Carefully traversing a dangerous path? Or simply trying to not get wet from all the puddles? And if they do misstep...how bad are the consequences? It's time for you to go write and let us know! Let your ideas flow!!
Meelo vaulted across the dining hall to slam into her for a hug. It took all of her combat training to keep from falling backwards and breaking her back over the duffle bag slung over her shoulder.
“Meelo, we’ve talked about this. I’m getting too old to catch you like that.”
Rather than reply, Meelo went running off down the hall toward his father’s study.
She greeted Pema and the girls, even getting a red bean bun fresh from the steamer. Pema’s side-eye wasn’t even really very aggravated.
She was beginning to turn around when Pema warned, “Watch your step, Meelo! Don’t crowd up behind people like that.”
Kya looked behind herself to see her nephew managing to keep his grumbling almost under control.
He looked up at her. “Dad says he’s in the middle of something. Can you go find Lin down the hidden stairs? He says to bring her back up here for dinner.”
Kya shrugged. “I can do that. I haven been down that way in a long time.”
Meelo snapped his fingers. “Oh yeah. Dad said you should watch your step. He said those stairs got broken a while back and he never got them fixed.”
She looked up to see Pema’s face fall from a smile into sadness. When their eyes met, Kya knew just when those stairs got ‘broken.’
With a calming breath, she patted Meelo on the shoulder, nodded to Pema, and went off to find Lin.
Outside, the late afternoon was beautiful. The breeze was light, and the scudding clouds overhead gave a dappled quality to the sunlight. She looked around and made sure none of the children or acolytes were paying any attention when she hopped over a fence and oriented herself to find the stairs Bumi and Izumi had originally laid out so many years before.
Once Lin had started bending, she had worked over the years to shore up the stairs and make them sturdier and safer. Su had contributed some decorative motifs when she was small, but by the time Kya left to travel, Su was already not coming to the Island very often.
And then, she gathered, it had been how Lin and Tenzin had escaped from their duties or other unwanted attention.
But when she reached the first stair, it looked fresh and clean.
In fact, there was a yellow lily that had clearly been recently cut laying there.
Kya picked it up. There was no note, nothing to indicate why the flower was there. She argued with herself, but decided to hold on to it. She glanced further along the winding stone stairs, and thought she spotted another.
By the time she got to the bottom of the stairs, she was holding more flowers than she could count. Pink, blue, yellow, red… she didn’t even know the names of several of them.
But they smelled wonderful, and she was having a nice time rearranging them the more she gathered on the walk down.
Once she reached the bottom of the staircase near the shoreline, the line of flowers meandered away past a rocky outcropping.
And at the top, Lin sat with one knee bent in front of herself, her arms wrapped around her leg. She was gazing away to the horizon, apparently oblivious to Kya’s approach.
It took her breath away, looking up at her. Lin’s hair was looser than usual, and longer than Kya typically got to see it (out in public anyway). The yellowing rays of the sun illuminated her left side, nearly making her glow against a bank of storm clouds far off to the east.
Kya walked a little further toward the water, hoping to cross Lin’s line of sight, even if it meant leaving some of the flowers on the ground a little longer.
The smile on Lin’s face was so soft, yet so distinct. Kya felt her heart race when Lin turned her face to meet her eyes.
“You’re early.”
Kya chuckled.
“Only by a few hours. You look awfully prepared to me. Were all these,” she lifted the spontaneous bouquet in her arms, “all for me?”
Lin inclined her head, still smiling. She shifted to her right, opening some space. She waved her left hand over that face of the rock, spilling a set of stairs down to the sand.
“Care to join me? Just leave the flowers and watch your step.”
Kya leaned in to take another lungful of the flowers’ perfume before finding a spot where they weren’t likely to get swept away if the tide came in. She kept her right hand on the rock’s face as she toed her way up to meet Lin.
When she was at eye level, Lin leaned over for a kiss.
The relief of it swayed her until Lin reached over and grabbed her left elbow, helping her edge closer and take a seat. Once Kya was settled, they linked their hands and turned back to watch the waves in the distance.
“You fixed the stairs,” Kya ventured.
Lin squeezed her hand.
“I should have a long time ago.” Her thumb rubbed against Kya’s hand. “They never complained, never asked. They just let the trees grow, and these kids never found them.” She blew an amused scoff.
Kya leaned over to steal another kiss. “Meelo might start asking questions about the ‘hidden stairs,’ after tonight.”
Lin’s smile turned a little sharp.
“Who do you think helped me set out all those flowers?”
Kya blinked. “Really?”
Lin dropped her hand long enough to lean over to the other side of the rock. When she straightened, there was a small red box in her hand. She twisted it until a latch was visible.
She extended it to Kya, her face a mix of relaxed and intense. She extended the box, clearly inviting Kya to open it. Inside was a pair of silver earrings with red jewels.
“A bit off your usual blues, I know. But I made them from some red jade Poppy left for me.”
Kya reached out and swapped them for the ones she had been wearing.
The change in Lin’s expression told her how they looked.
“Watch your step, Beifong, or I’ll be expecting gifts like this all the time.”
Lin’s smile brightened further. She reached around the box and lifted a tab, revealing a ring.
[I just wanna write silly little stories]
Pls note: My fics might be a tad self-indulgent | I use personal experience to influence my writing | a lot of my fics may contain heavier topics (but I don't think they would be dark fics) | I do try to make sure everything is tagged properly.
Jack Abbot
Dismissed | Dismissed Pt. 2
Eavesdrop
I'm Not Who I Was Before
Kwei
I Won't Leave You | I Won't Leave You: Piece Together | I Won't Leave You: Watch Your Step | I Won't Leave You: Sibling Behavior |
I'm 33. This blog occasionally contains adult-oriented content, including gore.
I write as a hobby. I welcome fanart, fanfiction, roleplaying asks, and collaborative worldbuilding. Just tag me so I can see! :)
My AO3 page
Tip me on Ko-fi if you want to!
Published works:
Magnanimous Moonrise & Savage Sunset definitive edition: available in ebook and paperback.
Transmission Received: A short story in The Whumpboratory
Bonnie and Guy: A novella in the 12MOW series! (Semi-finalist for the Small Spec Book Award in science fiction!!!)
Sanctuary: A short story in High Stakes and Bloody Business
$500/lb: A short story in It Comes From the Sea (free)
Coming Soon: Desperate Daybreak, the sequel to MMSS
Coming Soon: "The Gamble" and "It Can Still Play Card Games," two short stories in Cosmic Consequences
Coming Soon: Whirlpool Galaxy Tours, a short story in Wish You Were Here
Coming Soon: Chase, a short story in DOOMSCROLL
Currently ongoing:
Watch Your Step - An entomologist finds an injured fairy while out in the field. (The tag for posts about this story is #Watch Your Step)
Click the readmore for more!
Magnanimous Moonrise & Savage Sunset (old version) - A story about a vampire and a vampire hunter, told from dualing perspectives. (caution: graphic) (The tag for posts about this story is #MMSS) (This story is complete and has been polished into a published novel available through @thewhumpyprintingpress, link here.)
Desperate Daybreak - The direct sequel to Magnanimous Moonrise & Savage Sunset. (The tag for posts about this story is still #MMSS) (complete)
The Castle - In which a powerful vampire kidnaps a vampire hunter. (On hiatus)
Two Sides of the Same Coin (A Baldur's Gate 3 fanfiction) (complete)
K+J fanfic - here and here. This is fanfiction of someone else's whump series (caution: graphic) [complete]
K+J x MMSS - Crossover between my vampire story and K+J [on hold]
Good Omens fanfiction: I am no longer active in the good omens fandom, but all my fanfiction can be found on my blog under #my good omens fanfiction, or on my AO3 for easier reading. My longest and most elaborate, OC-heavy series is Your Own Side. Most of my GOmens fanfiction was written using book canon, before the TV show came out.
PS: i have been on tumblr for a WHILE (like since circa 2015) and this blog has gone through many phases. If you happen to stumble across any of my old posts that are not properly tagged, or contain something problematic or offensive, please send me a private DM so I can address it.
