A Universe of Possibilities - Teenlock/Johnlock/Mystrade

Chapter 6- Moriarty

John and Sherlock's detention was just as Sherlock had predicted it to be: The boys copied the sentence I will keep my mouth shut while Mr. Dixon is talking, while Mr. Dixon himself paced the room and questioned them about why they were sent to Baskerville's.

They had quite a bit of fun with this, both of them claiming to have been arrested for brutally assaulting their previous chemistry teachers. John said he stabbed his in the neck with a pencil. Sherlock topped this with a frighteningly detailed story involving hydrochloric acid and its effects on the human body.

Dixon ended up dismissing them both after a mere hour's work, looking quite unsettled in their presence. The boys returned to their room in fits of laughter, and Sherlock realised that just being with John Watson made him laugh more than he ever had before in his life.

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As the first month of the school year progressed, Sherlock kept waiting for the day when John Watson would grow tired of being around him, but that day never came. Even as Sherlock's reputation worsened with every person he pissed off, John remained by him loyally through every confrontation, most of which seemed to happen at breakfast.

Although their original bully, Viktor, did lay off them once football season began (John had nearly been laughed out of tryouts) many other students who hated Sherlock carried on the morning tradition of dumping John's breakfast on his head.

"Why don't you ever stand up for yourself?" John asked him after the fourth or fifth time this happened. John, as always, had tried to stop them but it always happened that the bullies were a lot bigger than he was.

Sherlock just shrugged, the way he always did to avoid questions he did not choose to answer. "I'm sorry you keep losing your breakfast because of me," he said simply.

John just smirked. "Who needs breakfast? Isn't it the most overrated meal of the day? Cereal propaganda and all that?"

Sherlock smiled back, despite himself.

John stopped buying breakfast after this, officially ending their bullies' favorite tradition. From then on the boys spent their mornings in their dorm, where Sherlock continued to read the Harry Potter books with fascination, and John downloaded the movies on his laptop so that they could watch them together once Sherlock finished the series.

By the last week of September, Sherlock was finally beginning to accept that this school year might be alright after all. Mycroft had gone back to avoiding him, most of the bullies had gotten bored of Sherlock's lack of reaction to their taunts, and he actually had a best friend who liked being around him. If the rest of the year stayed like this, he might've even been able to get used to the constant boredom.

Little did he know, things were about to get interesting.

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"Do you ever eat, Sherlock?" John asked as the two boys sat down for lunch on a Saturday, at their usual table by the window. Or rather, John sat down for lunch while Sherlock simply sat down, once again without a tray.

"When it's convenient," the young genius replied.

"I'm serious, I don't think I've seen you eat one bite of food since I met you. I'm kind of concerned-"

"Don't be," Sherlock cut him off. One benefit of being away from home was that he no longer had Mummy breathing down his neck about his eating habits. He did not need a substitute mother. "I eat in private, when I need to, and no more. I don't need your concern-"

"Well you're going to get it," John insisted. "Like it or not."

Sherlock didn't know what to say to that. He still wasn't used to being around someone who showed so much emotion, and who made him show emotion. He was saved from having to respond, however, when he noticed sounds of commotion coming from out in the courtyard.