A better summary: this story is a mix of The Big Bang Theory, Sherlock and the canon Arthur Conan Doyle stories. However, you don't need to have read the stories or be a fan of Sherlock to understand this story. It does borrow heavily from the story A Study in Scarlet though.

This is self-edited. So my apologies for any grammatical mistakes.

Prologue

"Slow down, Smelly-Pooper!"

A hand reached out to the boy intent on grabbing his hoodie. Instead, Sheldon turned on his heel, running through the maze of bookshelves as fast as the librarians would allow. "There's no running in the library!" the bully shouted in a singsong manner.

I would not run, but you keeping chasing me Sheldon thought, but kept his mouth shut. He had said enough already. Instead of further provoking the bully, he continued to zigzag through rows of reference books, ducking under ladders and hoping over stools. No one protested, most of the librarians used to these behaviors. And the few who would normally intervene were on lunch break.

The six-year-old finally stopped in between two shelves, bending down to take a breath and tie his shoe. Sheldon looked up noting that he was in the 500s. The smaller the number, the deeper he was in the library. As he reached to adjust a book on physics halfway off a shelf, he could hear footsteps drawing closer. Sheldon continued to run, racing past the 400s.

Unfortunately, he was running into a dead end. He turned, going into a set of shelves, and leaned against one as much as possible (there were no gaps to crawl in and hide).

As Sheldon expected, most of the bullies sprinted past his shelf, towards the dead end. But the head bully stayed behind, walking confidently as if he owned the public library. The bully turned his head and saw the gangly kid, his face breaking out into a smile too cruel for someone so young.

"Hey look, I found the nerd," before Sheldon could try to escape, the 6-9 year olds surrounded him.

"Wha-What do you want?" Sheldon stammered, bracing himself for pain.

The bully turned to his friends, and they spoke all at once in whispers. Sheldon couldn't quite hear what they were saying, but he heard the words "hit", "punch" and "slap used multiple times.

After a minute or so the bully turned to look at Sheldon. "We want you to say my name is Sheldon Cooper, and I am a smelly pooper," the bully said smirking. "If not we'll punch you in the face."

That's it? I get to choose between insulting myself and getting punched repeatedly? "Do you promise you won't punch me?" The bully looked confused. Evidently, he did not expect Sheldon to agree his demands. Sheldon repressed a snort. In Sheldon's mind, they had just verified their stupidity.

"Yeah, sure."

"Fine. My name is Sheldon Cooper, and I am a smelly pooper." The bully was clearly unsatisfied with how easy it had been and the smirk faded.

"Nah, I won't let you off that easily," the nine year old said as he grabbed the largest book on the shelf and hit Sheldon on the shoulder with hit. Sheldon yelped, and clutched it, sensing a bruise the next day. The bully tossed the book aside, leaving with his miniature army.

Sheldon carefully picked up the book, flipping it over to the front cover. The History of Forensic Science and Crime it said in black headline-font on scarlet. The little boy pulled up a stool, and began reading.

And thus his timeline changed. Sheldon will still become a physicist in this au, (he does need to pay the bills). I explain a little more next chapter. Also, some characters keep their Big Bang Theory jobs, while others will work in completely different fields for the purpose of plot.

Here's a few of the Sherlock characters, if you watch both shows, try to guess who will be their equivalents in the next chapter:

John Watson = ?

Mike Stanford = ?

Sherlock Holmes = Sheldon

Inspector Lestrade = ?

Mrs Hudson = ?

Thank you for reading!