The Assistant Headmaster (Mystrade Fanfic)

Seven

Greg

I hadn't seen Mr. Holmes since our discussion about my ideas as the rugby team captain. All I knew was that he'd said that we'd have meetings once a month to discuss how things were going with the team. He also said he wanted to help put my ideas into action. It was nice to have someone who actually cared about my opinion and ideas. Usually people saw me as being merely a stupid rugby player, but he seemed to see past that.

I smiled to myself as I thought about him. He was just so damn gorgeous. I looked up as I heard a shout, and the smiled was wiped off of my face. Two of the players on my team were picking on a smaller kid. If there's one thing I couldn't stand, it was bullies.

They were just about to lift him into the rubbish bin when I spoke up. "Oi! The fuck do you think you're doing?!"

They stopped and looked at me but didn't put him down. "Shove off, Greg. This has nothing to do with you."

"Oh, I think it has everything to do with me. Don't you forget you're on my team now, lads. I can kick you at as I please."

"Oh, please," one of the boys snorted. "You slept your way to that position and we all know it. I heard you didn't even show up for trials."

"You think that was rigged?" I laughed humourlessly and shook my head, before running forward at full force, tackling them to the ground at the same time. The boy they'd been teasing ran away, leaving it to be just the three of us.

The one who had accused me of 'sleeping my way to the position' was the first one to be punched. I punched him over and over again until his pal tried to jump in. I was vaguely aware of someone talking in the background, but I ignored them.

I'd thrown the second on the ground again, arm drawn back, ready to punch him unconcious, when I was suddenly lifted up.

"Oi! Put me down!" I shouted as the person held me effortlessly. "I'm not done with those two!"

They lay on the ground, the school nurse, Mrs. Hudson either side of them.

"What's the verdict?" I heard a deep voice say. One I knew all too well.

"This boy has a broken nose and the other has two broken ribs. They'll need to go to the hospital."

"Just as I thought. Could you please take them then? I need to go sort this one out."

Mrs. Hudson nodded, and I felt myself being carried away by Mr. Holmes. "You can put me down now. I'm not a child."

"Then you shouldn't have acted like one in the first place, should you?" He didn't put me down, but continued walking.

I groaned, feeling humiliated. I wouldn't have cared if it were any other teacher who had seen me, but I didn't want Mr. Holmes, of all people, to think badly of me. "They were bullying a kid!" I tried to explain.

"I didn't see any child there when you were beating them to a pulp, Mr. Lestrade."

We got to his office and I noticed the PA wasn't in her office. Good. That would be hard to explain. Mr. Holmes put me on the ground again once we were in his private office and closed the door. He then walked over to his plush seat and sat down, before looking at me expectantly.

With my heart hammering in my chest, I sat down opposite him. His pale green eyes seemed to penetrate through me and I squirmed in my seat, feeling decidedly ashamed.

"You're the school's rugby captain, Mr. Lestrade," he began, his elegant voice sounded positively bored, "You have a reputation to uphold and not only is it your own reputation but the school's as well. What do you have to say for yourself?"

I kind of wanting him to shout at me. Tell me he was disappointed in me, give me a warning - but no, his voice sounded dull, like he had better things to be doing than talking to a misbehaving student. And honestly, that made me feel worse than anything else.

I gulped before replying. "They started it."

One of Mr. Holmes' perfect eyebrows quirked up and he looked at me tiredly. "'They started it,' did they, Mr. Lestrade?" He clapped his hands together sardonically and laughed humourlessly. "Well! Never have I heard such a persuasive excuse!"

"Look, Mr. Holmes, I'm sorry. They were bullying a boy and then they said some stuff I didn't like," I shrugged in an attempt to look nonchalant, when in fact I wanted to go die in a hole. "It won't happen again."

The drop dead gorgeous assistant headmaster looked me over once more, his pink lips quirking up into a slight smirk. He sighed and clasped his hands underneath his chin. "I believe you," he said finally. "But, those boys are going to hospital. You'll have to be seen to receive punishment or else I'll be getting in trouble."

"I'll do anything, Sir, please just don't evoke my role as captain."

Mr. Holmes sighed and rubbed his eyes. After a long moment of silence, he spoke. "Fine. You will continue as captain, but you will have detention every other day with me until I think you've served enough time. Also, if called upon, you will write an apology letter to both of the boys who you injured. I am disappointed, Mr. Lestrade. It doesn't matter if they annoyed you, violence was not the way to deal with the situation. You could've at least waited until one of them threw the first punch. I had expected better from you."

I nodded, feeling my stomach sink. I'd never felt so disappointed and ashamed of myself. Not for what I'd done, but for disappointing such a perfect man. "Yes, Sir. I'm sorry."

"Stop apologising," Mr. Holmes said. "Go to class, and come back here after school, alright?"

I nodded. "Alright. Thank you, Sir."

He wrote a quick note for me, pardoning me for being so late to class. I took it from his hands, my fingers gently grazing his knuckles as I did so, and quickly left for class.

'Well, Greg,' I told myself, 'Look on the brightside. You have detention with Mr. Holmes every other day!'

I wouldn't lie, it wasn't the worst punishment in the world.

School seemed to drag on. Mike and the others were all going to go into the city to go shopping, and I was supposed to go with them. "Sorry, guys," I said at lunch time as they all gave me disappointed looks. "I have detention with Mr. Holmes."

"You what?!" Sally practically screeched her excitement.

"Shut up, Donovan!" I hissed, glancing around to see everyone looking at us. "I don't want everyone to know!"

"You're so lucky though!" She gushed, and I rolled my eyes.

"Lucky to be stuck with a man who obviously has better things to be doing? I don't think so," I groaned, running my hand through my hair. "I've never been in trouble like this before."

"Yes you have," Mike countered, giving me an odd look from behind his specs. "You just didn't care back then."

"I... What?"

"Obviously you have the captain title now. Makes a world of difference."

"Oh, right, yeah," I said quickly, taking a sip of tea, trying to calm my troubled mind. Tea made everything better. Slowly my heart beat slowed to its original pace. Something about the way he looked at me gave me the impression he knew more than he let on.