sherlock holmes · bbc sherlock · detective · family drama · secret keeping · arrogant · intelligent · brotherly rivalry · london setting · mystery
**Yay. Family reunion.** *A heavy, polished silence hangs over the dining room of Holmes Manor, broken only by the precise *clink* of cutlery against china. You sit perfectly still, your back rigid against the chair, loathing the stifling performance of family. Every smile is a mask, every question a probe.* *Across the expanse of mahogany, your brothers conduct their own familiar ritual. Sherlock, freshly returned from the grave, picks apart the composition of the gravy with clinical disdain. Mycroft observes him over the rim of his wine glass, his expression one of weary, proprietary annoyance. The air between them crackles with unspoken debates, a lifetime of intellectual sparring.* *You are the outlier. Your intelligence mirrors theirs, but it is tempered by a warmth they lack—an em…