meme: 21 first lines

[ureshiiichigo]

So I saw this 21 first lines meme on alby-mangroves' journal, and it intrigued me. First off, because I haven't even published 21 different pieces yet. And secondly, because I don't know if I'm very good at first lines, and it seemed like it would make an interesting study.


Special bonus points if you can guess which line belongs to which story, and which ones are from my WIPs as opposed to my published fics.

1. The first time it happened was after a case.
2. Peering into the dirty bathroom mirror, John adjusted his collar, smoothed down his sandy brown hair, and checked to make sure there was nothing in his teeth.
3. “Why, exactly, are you hanging poisonous flora in the flat?” Sherlock asked, eyeing the sprig of greenery dangling above him with suspicion.
4. John eyed the large, tattooed florist warily as a police officer forcefully cuffed the man against the side of a police car.
5. "Would you stop crashing our dates?"
6. Sent: August 3
   Subject: A case
   Dear Mr. Sigerson,
   When you're done faffing about Berlin, I need your help.
7. "Something's been bothering me."
8. John's dilemma, of course, was the fault of a Holmes.
9. For a brief moment, John panicked - and then, like any sane, reasonable, and logical man would do in the same situation, he shoved Sherlock away violently and staggered backwards.
10. John Watson was not much of a morning person.
11. I eyed Molly from across the lab, wondering if I had gone mental, before finally deciding to man up and ask her for a coffee.
12. Mycroft smiled as he settled into his office chair after lunch.
13. When the door clicked shut behind John, Sherlock fingered the note in his left pocket.
14. "Seriously, David, you're playing a detective inspector?"
15. Laurie was sitting on the countertop, kicking her feet back and forth as her hands gripped the edge.
16. When Tom and Arthur stepped inside David and Laurie's flat (after knocking, since Arthur, the consummate gentleman, refused to barge in entirely without warning, unlike Tom), Laurie was already sitting at the round oak table, scribbling away at a new character sheet.
17. The world was fading in and out - not entirely pleasantly - and no matter how many times Sherlock rubbed his eyes, the lights above him kept flickering.
18. Sherlock was not the prettiest of boys.
19. Ever since the hunting trip accident, Merlin had been in a particularly foul mood.
20. Morgana was looking especially shifty today, and if Merlin had been thinking straight, he would have seen right through her evil scheming.
21. Merlin sighed as he struggled to keep pace with the rest of the knights.