It Seemed Logical

Chapter 2

John listened, his mouth still lightly open, as the detective flawlessly went through his presentation, slides going past at the same fast speed as his own ramblings, with which John struggled to keep up at times.

"You see, John, people tend to view marriage as a way of showing their feelings-" at this point, Sherlock made a face of disgust, imitating Mycroft's when he spoke of sentiment.

"However, it is obvious that the arrangement is nothing else but a legally-bound promise that things will stay the same, that a relationship between two people should not fade in time and both parties involved will stay together 'until death parts them' - which hopefully will take a while, otherwise all that bureocracy would have been for nothing. Now, John, having said that, it seems perfectly reasonable to apply those same principles to the relationship you and I share at the moment: we live together, we work together - well, you work with me, but it is almost the same thing -, we essentially construct our lives around each other, and it would certainly be a complete and utter waste of resources if a female were to come into our perfect balance and welfare. I am obviously referring to one of your counterparts, given the lack of mine, which want to take up more of your attention than what they had been originally allocated in my mental schedule of your time, as dates may interrupt cases or even one of our own personal times out to lunch or dinner." Sherlock finally gasped for air, yet he was instantly ready to carry on his explanation, so John didn't even have time to figure out something to say before his flatmate resumed quickly.

"Moreover, I have noticed that none of these women seem to last more than a couple of weeks, as you are clearly reluctant to lead them on and invest that kind of effort in a relationship, but it also goes against your principles to have one-night-stands" the expression appeared far too vulgar in Sherlock's mouth "to suffice your physical needs, hence the string of girlfriends."

The detective waited for John's usual praise of his brilliant deduction, yet he got nothing, even after staring right at him with his eyebrows raised as in giving him the right to speak. The truth was Sherlock had deduced that a long time ago, but it didn't feel important enough to say it out loud, believing that surely John would already be aware of why his relationships failed time after time.

Realising the doctor wasn't going to say anything - probably out of anger, Sherlock thought as he evaluated his face - he went on to explain the rest of his argument.

"So that brings me to the main objective: securing our lifestyle and relationship to protect it from the annoying threat of your women, as you can only give your undivided attention to either them or me, and it is perfectly clear that I am your choice, as you constantly demonstrate every time you chose a case over a date or risk your life to protect mine, as you have now done-" Sherlock closed his eyes to recall accurately "on as many as five occasions in the past. Six, if you include shooting the cabbie in our very first case together."

They both chuckled slightly when remembering the incident, and the 'lecture' became less formal as the atmosphere turned lighter.

"Having pondered the information over in my head and analysed my requirements, I thought of a plan that would guarantee my needs with the minimal amount of disturbance to our everyday lives, hence arriving to the solid conclusion that marriage was the key, for it ensures your fidelity as well as being the promise that this arrangement of ours - our friendship, our job and our lives altogether - will last for many years to come, which is, without a doubt, the thing I desire the most in this world, and I'm sure you can agree."

The presentation ended with a final slide that showed the advantages and disadvantages of Sherlock's plan, although the column for the disadvantages was empty, and the other one held up to 20 points.

"So," he concluded "to summarise and answer your question of why I got us married, well, it seemed logical."

As silence followed, Sherlock packed away all of his equipment, and sat down in his usual armchair, never breaking eye contact with John. He, on the other hand, was struggling to keep his composure, because, of all the things he had expected to happen while he was away from the flat (which included Sherlock blowing up the kitchen in an experiment) getting married was certainly not one of them.

With a sigh, and wishing to finish the discussion, John sat up and walked to his own chair, opposite Sherlock's, and went on to explain to him about one of those subjects in which he was blissfully ignorant.

"Sherlock, you can't marry someone without their consent, no matter how logical it seems." He really was trying to keep his anger from bubbling up to the surface, realising that his roommate merely didn't understand properly how marriage worked and probably didn't see any fault in his actions. Just like a child, John thought.
He waited for his words to sink into the detective, trying to not let his emotions get the best of him during the process.

"You mean you aren't happy with our current arrangement?" If John hadn't thought Sherlock to be an emotionless machine, he would have said that he sounded almost upset, but he dismissed the idea rapidly, he had never seen him sad about anything - maybe only The Woman's death - but that had been it.

"That's not what I said, Sherlock. I am perfectly happy living here and solving crimes with you and writing them on my blog, but I don't see how that means we're married."

"I told you, back on that first case, that I was married to my work. Coincidentally, you now form part of said job, so I can't think why this should baffle you."