chriscalledmesweetie

Five times the hedgehog was an endangered species, and one time the hedgehog was John.

“It’s Hedgehog Day!”

John blinked himself awake, his eyes gradually focusing on Sherlock’s excited face.

“Hurry up, John. We don’t want to miss the keynote address.”

John smiled indulgently up at his friend. Although this trip to the Day of the Hedgehog conference was ostensibly for a case, Sherlock’s avid interest in the spiky little creatures was clearly the motivating factor behind his agreeing to take on a client whom he would otherwise have dismissed as boring.

John had always thought of hedgehogs as being quite common, so he was surprised to learn that in recent years their population had declined so dramatically that they were now listed among Britain’s ten most endangered species. Hence this conference — a joint venture between the British Hedgehog Preservation Society and the People’s Trust for Endangered Species. It promised “a full day jam packed with fascinating talks by experts and scientists, as well as trade stands selling all the hedgehoggery you could think of and plenty of opportunity to mix with fellow hedgehog fans!”

It delivered all of this, plus a chance for Sherlock to show off his brilliance by solving the case before lunch, leaving them plenty of time to enjoy the “hedgehoggery.” John had to admit that he was having rather a good time. The event’s host — Hugh Warwick, author of A Prickly Affair — was funny and engaging, the hedgehogs were undeniably cute, and Sherlock’s enthusiasm was endearing.

Maybe a bit too endearing…

“It’s Hedgehog Day!”

John blinked himself awake, his eyes gradually focusing on Sherlock’s excited face.

“Nope. Hedgehog day comes but once a year. Sorry.”

“Hurry up, John. We don’t want to miss the keynote address.”

“Sherlock, are you feeling okay?”

“I’d be feeling better if you’d get out of bed and put some clothes on, so we could go listen to Dr. Morris.”

John looked at his friend quizzically. “Did you delete the past 24 hours?”

“Of course not. Mrs. Hudson brought up tea and scones, you typed up your latest blog entry while I finished my experiment with the gall bladders, we caught the 12:43 train from Euston to Telford, arrived here at the International Centre, you acted surprised that they’d put us together in a double room, although you’re the one who booked the reservations, we went out to The Dragon’s Den for reasonably good Chinese, walked around the town centre, came back here, you went to bed, and I stayed up researching hedgehogs. Fascinating creatures. Now come on!”

“Sherlock, that was Friday. Yesterday we attended the conference. It’s over.”

Now it was Sherlock’s turn to look concerned. “John, yesterday was Friday. Today is Saturday. If you don’t believe me, check your phone.”

Read the rest on AO3.