Title: the metal man

Characters: Sherlock Holmes, Jim Moriarty, Irene Adler and John Watson.

Summary: The metal man forgot that his heart couldn't beat. Freeverse.

Notes: Well... I'm very new to the Sherlock fandom. Very new. I've just watched six hours of non-stop Sherlock all day, and this happened. Johnlock is canon, and that's all I have to say about the matter. I sincerely hope you enjoy!

"Afghanistan or Iraq?" he asks you.

Sherlock Holmes -

a machine, they tell you.

A man capable of things beyond the capabilities

of a measly, NASA computer.

A metal man,

with a space where his heart used to be.

He doesn't feel, they tell you.

He notices.

He mimics emotions like no one else,

but still; he mimics.

They are not his emotions,

and they never will be, John,

but he's so very good

at pretending.

Still, though, you are captivated.

"Heroes don't exist, and if they did..."

.

"I'll burn the heart out of you," he promises,

and Sherlock is captivated,

because he's never been told

he has a heart before.

Sherlock Holmes, the metal man,

has found a new toy

to play with.

Jim from IT is boring - doe-eyed Molly Hooper

can't know from his eyebrows

that he is gay.

Jim could fool anyone.

Especially Molly Hooper.

James Moriarty is brilliant - dead-eyed Sherlock Holmes

can't know from his underpants

that he is a mastermind.

Moriarty could fool anyone.

Even Sherlock Holmes.

"Every fairy tale needs a good old-fashioned villain."

.

"Let's have dinner," she tells him,

and Sherlock says yes,

because mercy has always been

a funny idea to the man

with the metal heart

and a brain that can out-calculate NASA computers.

She is almost - oh, almost -

as brilliant as him,

and you thought he was captivated -

you thought he was in love.

Maybe he was.

But still, he is just a machine,

programmed to mimic and mime, but never love.

The metal man forgot that

his heart couldn't beat.

"Do you expect me to beg?"

.

You fall in love with the metal man six times -

and you hate him,

held together by fraying wires

and computer parts,

his silver skin shining under the streetlights.

He's a robot, built to serve,

but never to touch, never to feel...

never to love.

He's a plastic manikin, made of metal and dead things,

and he lives to defy expectations.

'A Study in Pink' leaves you breathless.

'The Blind Banker'

leaves you paranoid.

'The Great Game' leaves you relieved.

'A Scandal in Belgravia'

leaves you heartbroken.

'The Hounds of Baskerville' leaves you sorry.

And 'The Reichenbach Fall'

leaves you.

He leaves you, John,

and still, you love him. You loved him.

You love.

And that's what makes you special.

.

Sherlock Holmes,

the metal man,

falls in love three times.

The first is a psychopathic mastermind,

with a flair for dramatics,

and a complex underground criminal system

that specializes in blowing things

UP!

The second is a dominatrix by trade

(and a dominatrix by nature)

who moves to America

- if that's what they're calling Hell these days -

but you're still kept in the dark.

And the third is you, my dear, but you aren't the last.

Boring Dr. Watson,

who went to war and missed it,

and was almost blown up and regretted it,

and who is the first person

the metal man

falls in love with.

And the only person who loves him back.

"... I wouldn't be one of them."