"Sorry," he calls after her.

Bell sits at the kitchen table and fidgets and says, "He'll be up in a few minutes and says we can start without him."

"You are uncomfortable," Sherlock observes.

"I told him we had something awkward to tell him but that I'd rather say it with you in the room and he just offhandedly guessed that we had sex," Bell says. "I told him that wasn't it."

"That does sound upsetting."

"A little. Caught me completely off guard. I'll be fine."

"All right. Lunch is in an edible state," she adds.

"Ooh. Where are plates?"

Sherlock indicates a cupboard. She fetches the forks herself.

Bell takes down three plates, and finds glasses too and sets those out. All the while she appreciatively sniffs the air.

"I am pleased you think so," says Sherlock.

Om nom nom. Bell eats steadily and happy and with pleased little noises.

Sherlock regards her with benevolent pride, in between also eating.

"How'd you go about learning to cook?" Bell asks her.

"Research and experimentation," says Sherlock.

"Lunch," Sherlock confirms.

"It's really good. You probably already knew that," says Bell. She briefly wonders if the awkward announcement will put Tony off his food, then determines that to be a rationalization. "Milliways does holidays sometimes, did you know? There is one that you should avoid. The decorations are red and pink and white and lacy, and there's a symbol that looks like this -" She puts her fork down to form it with her hands. "And part of the festivities is drugging people with... I don't know, love-darts? And we got stung and fell in drug-induced love and had to sleep it off but at least I realized what was going on. And there's no good way to explain that to you but the alternative was not telling you at all which seemed like a bad idea."

"That sounds... cute yet horrifying," says Tony. "Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah. It wore off," says Bell.

He glances at Sherlock.

Sherlock shrugs.

"I suppose it might have been cute, seen from the outside?" Bell muses. "But mostly horrifying. I burst into tears at one point. So yeah." She eats more risotto. Risotto is delicious.