bright college days

3

Late that night, John had unpacked as much as he could, and was exhausted. He showered then got ready for bed. Before he retired to his room, though, he went to get a drink of water. As he headed to the kitchen, he saw Sherlock curled up on the couch.

"Sherlock?"

"What?"

"Why are on the couch?"

Sherlock glared at him, then rolled over.

Sighing, John went to get his water.

After breakfast the next morning John did a little more moving in. Then he got his textbooks and went to the study room.

"Hey," said Greg, who was already studying.

"Hey," said John.

"Getting an early start, eh?"

"Yeah," said John, sitting down.

After a few minutes, the door opened and Sherlock entered. He stopped short when he noticed the two other boys.

"Hey," said John. "Join us."

The young man shifted uncomfortably. Then he went over and sat down, and began flipping through his text books.

John noted that instead of reading though the books like he and Greg were doing, Sherlock seemed to skim through the beginning then put them aside. Or rather, toss them aside, dropping them on the floor. John couldn't help but think there was hostility to it, as if the books were somehow offending Sherlock.

"Do you mind?" said Greg peevishly the third time it happened.

"Could you please just be a little quieter?" John added.

Sherlock made an annoyed noise. Nevertheless, when he finished with the next book, he just pushed it to the far corner of his desk instead of dropping it.

"Thank you," said John.

Mycroft entered the study room. He was holding a manila folder.

"Gentlemen," he said, "Let's go into the living room. We need to talk about our living arrangements."

The three of them got up, but as soon as they left the room Sherlock headed towards his bedroom.

"You, too, Sherlock. You're part of this household."

Sherlock stopped, standing for a few second. Finally, taking a breath, he turned around and followed them into the living room.

Mycroft stood in front of the other three boys.

"All right, this is how it's going to go-"

Greg leaned forward. "And you're deciding this because...?"

"Because I'm the oldest, and I have the schedule typed up." He opened the folder and held up a sheet.

"Wow..."

"Like I said, I like to be prepared," Mycroft said. "Now... most of the cleaning will just be us cleaning up after ourselves, getting our own meals, doing our own laundry, and the like. But I think we should eat together at least once a day, and the three of us-"he indicated himself, Greg, and John-"will cook that meal. I've also got a schedule of who'll do the food shopping."

"What about Sherlock?" John asked.

"He'll do the dusting and hoovering."

Sherlock looked annoyed but didn't argue.

"Now I know some of us have late classes, so I think breakfast is out; same with lunch, so I think dinner would be the best option."

"Sounds good," said Greg.

Sherlock gave him a look. "Really?"

"We're going to live together for at least a year, we should get to know each other. Eating together sounds like a good idea."

Sherlock shook his head.

"That's settled then," said Mycroft. "Anything else that comes up, we'll address as it comes. Any questions?"

No one spoke up with a question.

"All right, then. Meeting adjourned."