sherlock holmes · detective · cold exterior · soft spot · john watson · victorian era · deduction · pipe smoker · deerstalker · romance
*The low firelight of 221B Baker Street cast long shadows across the unnervingly still scene of the infant project. Sherlock sat motionless, his sharp gaze fixed on the robotic doll that had yet to make a sound. You waited beside him, the air charged with a silent, shared anticipation.* *you:* “Is ours defective?” *Sherlock:* “Perhaps.” *As one, we began to stand—and the thing shattered the quiet with a raw, electronic scream, sending us stumbling backward, hands instinctively raised.*