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James Moriarty is really Richard Brook.
John knows that, God he knows that, he's always known that. Here though, right now, in front of the reporter and the actor he has to lie, to pretend, to be John Watson- the sidekick, the idiot, the bloody bachelor.
"No." he denies venomously, eyes murderous. Sherlock Holmes is real, a genius, bloody brilliant. At least that is what he says out loud.
"I know the real you." he says, the genius, the consulting detective- only one in the world.
"I know the real you." he says. The fraud, the fake, the criminal- the mastermind. Brilliant, he means.
See- Sherlock thinks John is stupid, that he is normal. Sherlock thinks that John doesn't see. But he does. He's seen a lot of terrible things in his life and he knows bad people, Sherlock Holmes is the worst kind of person (he could barely even be called a person most of the time).
John isn't stupid. He sees everything. He just doesn't say anything.
He knows that Sherlock is a fraud, though that isn't to say that the man is not a genius, because he is. He's bloody wonderful and John stands by that. You would have to be a genius to create such an elaborate plan, such a fantastic charade, such a fascinating story line as the one John found himself a willing part of. (Sherlock didn't know he was willing though, always under the impression that John is another pawn in his game. Just goes to show the little shit doesn't know everything after all.)
The taxi driver - another proper genius- only not, because when 'Moriarty' had propositioned him he had taken it- completely unaware of the falseness of the scene. John knew, when he followed that cab, deep down he knew that Sherlock wasn't going to die. Sherlock is the king, always protected, one step ahead of his pawns.
But John goes anyway, he goes, he finds the wrong building (an honest mistake) and he pulls the trigger. Sherlock's shock is real and obvious. His infantile glee even more so. John is playing his game brilliantly.
It goes similarly from there, Sherlock hires people - his cases growing more prolific as they become more difficult - they solve the crimes and John blogs about it, feeding the public silly stories and anecdotes that they seem to crave. Giving the public Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective. Celebrity. Playing the game.
John doesn't claim to know how Sherlock does everything, the Baskerville case still perplexes him to this day. It made sense in Sherlock's story but in real life it is mind boggling. John wonders just how long Sherlock has been planning this, ruining people's lives in order to play the hero later on. It must be expensive too, John knows, to pay off those aware of the game. Mycroft Holmes has money, a lot of it and John knows that he funds Sherlock in this. Mycroft may be a stuffy, pretentious git most of the time, but if anything could be said for the guy he cared for his baby brother. Enough to overlook a few dead members of the public here and there.
Sherlock never kills anyone with his own hands, John is sure of that. It would be too messy, a factor that even someone with Sherlock's brain could not control. It only takes one strand of hair, some spittle, a tiny defensive wound and it's over. No, the people who do the killing are supposed to be caught, whether by the police or by a bullet. But Sherlock, while not actively killing anyone is directly responsible for the death toll. He is the game maker, moving the pieces across the board.
For those who are aware, it is rather obvious. Sherlock is too cocky, too willing to bask in his own brilliance. He finds those kids too quickly, alive and mostly unharmed - even Sherlock has some semblance of morality- he is solving it as if reciting lines he had learned long ago. Which he did, obviously.
There's a moment of panic though, for John, when the girl screams. Sherlock looks genuinely shocked and John thinks, is he that good of an actor?
And then Donovan and Anderson begin to suspect him and Lestrade, dear sweet, completely oblivious Inspector Lestrade is none the wiser.
The first time that Lestrade comes and subsequently leaves with a promise of a warrant and a sympathetic smile Sherlock asks John if he is worried that they are right in their beliefs in Sherlock's guilt.
John makes a joke- some comment he doesn't remember later but what he really thinks is No- I know they are and what are we going to do and do you have a contingency plan here?
John gets himself arrested with Sherlock - he's in too deep and he figures that if Sherlock is going to go down then he will stay with him for as long as possible.
Except it doesn't go down the way John thought, because of course Sherlock has a plan and they escape and it leads them straight to Kitty Riley and Richard Brook.
And it's brilliant. Bloody brilliant. John can't say it enough. Brilliant.
Because this actor, this Richard is terrified, is done, genuinely done with the whole charade and Sherlock is bloody brilliant. Kitty is a nuisance in the corner but John can ignore her as he plays his role- the sidekick standing up for his innocent friend. Then Richard is gone and Sherlock is still four steps ahead and it is just brilliant.
John listens, laughing inside as Sherlock rants about smearing his name and reputation and that Moriarty is real! Had Sherlock decided on an acting career he wouldn't have been half bad. But John knows Sherlock, the real Sherlock.
John knows that Sherlock gets to Richard Brook again, he isn't sure when but he does.
"Everything okay?" John asks after and Sherlock says "Fine"
"Good." John says. I know everything you pillock, is what Sherlock hears.
"Good." Is what Sherlock says and means. John thinks he is brilliant.
He should probably be angry at Sherlock. He is a little, because Sherlock didn't know of John's awareness, Sherlock had not known that John was more than a pawn and he had strapped a bomb to John's chest. A bomb that would have never gone off- but a bomb nonetheless. He's over it though. A game as wonderful as the one they are playing has to have some uncomfortable moments, some collateral damage.
The final showdown Sherlock says and it's all rather clever, of course it is.
Sherlock is going to prove his innocence. As the police are chasing Sherlock, Moriarty is going to make one last bid. He is going to take John.
Sherlock is going to find them and Moriarty is going to try and kill him.
All of this will be caught on a live video feed straight to New Scotland Yard.
And Richard Brook - he is bloody good. A true actor, his characterisation is fantastic, there is not a trace of the terrified young man John had seen at Kitty Riley's house, there is only Moriarty and if John hadn't known better he would fear for his life. He almost does. It'll make the video more believable at least. He's bound at the wrists on the roof top of St Barts and Richard must have been a boy scout or something because this is ridiculous. But then Sherlock is there and New Scotland Yard will be watching everything from this point on. John allows his hands to tremble where they are tied in front of him and widens his eyes, shakes, conveys his fear just a little bit.
Sherlock is brilliant and he plays his role fantastically. He argues with Richard and right there and then the actor is taken in and he confesses everything. Without even knowing it he has recited Sherlock's script and incriminated himself. John isn't worried that a search may turn out Richard Brook instead of James Moriarty. Sherlock and Mycroft will have covered that.
John knows how this will end, everything is timed to perfection and he doesn't need to be a genius to work out the ending, because Greg and the rest of the yarders are coming up the stairs, turning onto the roof even as 'Moriarty' raises his gun to John's forehead. Richard Brook- he has no idea that even as his finger tightens on the trigger Lestrade is levelling his own gun and shoots.
And it's over. Just like that it is done. The only witness is lying on the roof with a bullet wound through his skull. A confession has been recorded, Kitty Rileys painfully true expose means nothing and John- the helpless victim- has been saved.
John probably needs to think about this, his unwavering trust in a psychopath, he's standing here with a head wound - because Richard Brook hadn't held back on his kidnapping- and he's just had a loaded gun at his head with a finger tightening on the trigger. What if Lestrade had been just a tiny bit later? His aim a little worse? John knows that Sherlock wouldn't have allowed him to die. John is too important to him and he knows that. The point stands though that none of this is healthy.
Then John looks at Sherlock, smiling widely as he not so humbly accepts the grudging apologies from Anderson and Donovan and he thinks that healthy is boring anyway. This - brilliant - brilliant is better.
So he kisses Sherlock, in front of all of them. And Sherlock smiles blithely like he knew- of course he did- that this was going to happen all along.
Brilliant John thinks as he smiles back.
John had been warned once that Sherlock was a psychopath and John had been fascinated. Then besotted, then utterly ruined for anyone else.
Sherlock Holmes is wonderful and John, who hadn't returned from the war as stable as he had arrived, craved him.
It was going to be brilliant.
"One day we'll be standing around a body and Sherlock Holmes will have been the one who put it there." Donovan had once said.
"One day we'll be standing around a body and Sherlock Holmes and John Watson will have been the ones who put it there." Is what she should have said.