poeticterms | (no subject)

Oh.

Well.

Sherlock quietly recalculates, and decides that yes, he can let this slip. It's too verifiable to sustain a lie. If Cal figures something out... well, Sherlock has no desire to stand in the way of Cal figuring things out.

"Tony started work on Jarvis when he was eleven," he says, quite casually. "He's received some upgrades since then, of course. Grown up a little, you might say."

". . . oh."

Obviously, Cal knows that Tony, and Sherlock, are very smart, and he's long since noticed that Tony does a lot of stuff with engineering and computers and things. But he's used to being around people who are smarter than him, so he hadn't given it a lot of thought.

- he's thinking about it now.

He raises his eyebrows.

"Huh," is Cal's eloquent conclusion.

Maybe he'll process this more later.

"Yes, I suppose he is a little unbelievable. But his precociousness was always a mainstay of the household."

Childhood is a dangerous topic, but as previously established, he doesn't entirely mind.

Cal is aware once again of how something isn't jiving right here. Of how, when referring to their childhood (right up through their parents' death), Sherlock talks as though Tony is the only one whose existence was even acknowledged.

(The computer must be named after the Jarvis who raised him.)

He's begun to have his doubts about the generally accepted theory that Sherlock's change in identity was a reaction to grief, because there don't seem to be a lot of reasons why Sherlock would grieve for Howard and Maria Stark at all. Maybe it's simpler than that.

Maybe he just didn't want to be the boy whose parents ignored him in favor of his brother. Sherlock Holmes is brilliant, accomplished, his stories still loved a century after they were written. Why not be him instead?

Cal's approach to this is still not to ask. Sherlock will tell him if he wants Cal to know. And if he never wants to talk about it, then - fine. Without Obadiah Stane's intervention, Cal probably never would have told Sherlock about Uncle Grahame, so he's in no position to complain.

So Cal tucks all these thoughts away again as he says,

"I can't even remember what I did when I was eleven." That was almost seven years ago, after all.

"Neither can I," he jokes.

It's literally true, after a fashion—he never was eleven, technically speaking.

"Well, that was when I kissed a girl for the first time," Cal amends.

He was also precocious in some ways.

"But that's about it."

Dryly: "Good heavens, a headstart on Tony. Now that is impressive."

Cal laughs.

"Damn, really? I would've thought he'd've gotten going early there, too."

"There weren't many girls around to kiss until we moved to Sunnydale."

He almost said he, leaving himself out of the picture as usual. But that would have been a little too odd.

"There is a pretty decent supply here," Cal agrees.

Though he does have a talent for finding girls who are kissable and interested in being kissed (and plenty more), so his experience might be a bit skewed.

"Don't tell anyone, but it still took him a year or so to get into his stride."

"My lips are sealed."

. . . Cal looks positively delighted.

"Yes," he confirms, "there is one respect in which you have outshone both of the resident geniuses."

"I win."

Hey, he'll take it where he can get it.

"Though I must point out it is hardly difficult to surpass me in that particular area."

That is not a huge surprise, no. But Cal says anyway,

"Now you're just ruining it for me."

How inconsiderate.

"Nonsense. The magnitude of your accomplishment only increases given that I have never kissed a girl at all."

"I still think we need to find you an Irene."

Yeah, he's totally forgotten her last name.

What? It's been like a month since they watched the movie.

"Really, I am quite content without one."

"Yeah, 'cause you've never had one," Cal reminds him.

You know. In case he forgot.

"Ah, yes, that fact had escaped my attention for a moment," he says dryly.

"I'm just saying," Cal, well, says. "Don't knock it till you've tried it."

"And have you any suggestions for how to remedy this lack?"