gosherlocked:

meta-lock:

sarahthecoat:

just-sort-of-happened:

In BB, we see that Sherlock is not blind to his attractions, like Sebastian, but he is mute.  Like Ariel from little Mermaid he has given up his voice in order to be close to the guy he likes.

He sends what he thinks are obvious hints to John and John does not understand them.

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Lends him his bank card.

“Take my card”.

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Introduces him as, ‘friend’, after only one case together.  This is the same guy that will say he has no friends in HoB.

“This is my friend, John Watson”.

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Revisits an earlier conversation where John was worried.  Since John doesn’t understand that he interrupted him asking for money to take a job for him to make him money, he brings up the conversation that was cut short.  Though he must know what, ‘those letters’, were as they looked like this:  "Overdue" in big red letters.

“What about this morning?”

“Those letters you were looking at”.  ‘Bills’.

“He was being threatened”.  ’…and not by the gas company’.

So, John is stressed about the bills.  Sherlock has brought this up.  Now, the, ‘what were those letters’, bit is an excuse to ask John about his problems.  He obviously knows what the problem is but he’s giving John a chance to talk about what’s on his mind.

Also at Van Coon’s Sherlock feels out John’s ability to read between the lines:

“Those symbols at the bank, the graffiti”

“Why were they put there?”

‘Some sort of code?’

“Obviously”.

“Why were they painted?”

“If you wanted to communicate, why not use email?”

‘Maybe he wasn’t answering’.

“Oh, good, you follow”.

‘mmm, no’.

(The theme here is when there’s no way to communicate, you use code.  This refers to Sherlock the man and the show, as well).

“what kind of message would everyone try to avoid?” (in the text, a death threat, in the subtext, a message that someone is interested in you.  Fear of falling in love.  Because death = falling in love, on this show).

*undertands neither text nor subtext, here*

Sherlock switches to conversation about the bills.

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Sherlock trusts him to do his own leg of the investigation:

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Tells him to go on a date with him instead of Sarah:

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Saves him from Shan.  Comforts Sarah:

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We see that he has no voice throughout the show but it’s made into a neat visual, here.  This is a line he paints there: his silence is self-imposed.This clue is for us from the showrunners:

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Finally, he uses the cypher paint used to express how he feels now that John is around: 

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By the beginning of GG, he’s had enough of throwing out clues and feeling like his feelings aren’t reciprocated: hence, the shooting.

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P.S. Sherlock is especially silent with Sebastian in this bathroom scene.  He lets John do most of the talking and when he tells him off, Sherlock lets him have the last word.  Very telling: a man who doesn’t know Lestrade’s first name after untold years of friendship, calls this man, ‘Seb’, here.  And one who, according to John, always has the last word, lets this man have it.  Sherlock is only unable to speak when it comes to telling someone that he has romantic feelings for them.

what a treat to revisit your back catalog and find this gem!

This is great. I want to think more on it

This is beautiful. @ebaeschnbliah