Sherlock spoke to the cabbie in Parsi, telling him the name of the hotel that they were staying at, with a perfect accent, which did surprise the driver. He drove them off.

He turned back towards John. "We should grow beards. It will make us blend in more. And I will teach you a few basic words in Parsi, it will go far to at least try to speak to them in their own language. They will appreciate it." That, and he was pretty sure that John with a beard would look..

NO.. NO, he couldn't' think that way. John was his boss and nothing more than that. He was terribly, terribly straight.