Author's Note: Hey guys! I write a fair amount of Mythea so naturally now I have some free time on my hands I asked people on Tumblr if they wanted anything. MJ, as well as people before them, asked for a teenager/school meeting. MJ also suggested that they be the same age. So here it is! I think I got a decent idea together and I think it works for the characters… Also Alice is just the name I use for Anthea now. It's like that in 99% of my stuff. I have OCD, it's incredibly hard for me to change habits! Haha. Please read, review, and most importantly; enjoy!
Disclaimer: Clearly I don't own Sherlock. The show is the baby of Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, while Sherlock Holmes itself is the creation of Arthur Conan Doyle.
A Social Experiment – by Blood-Sucker-1428
Mycroft hated group assignments and partner work more than anything. Being forced to socialise with his fellow students was worse than stabbing yourself in the eye with one of those blunt scalpels used in class for dissections. It didn't matter how many extension class or gifted groups they put him in, all the other kids were always the same. Unfortunately for Mycroft, chemistry contain an infinite amount of experiments and projects that required socialising with at least one other student. Like now. Mycroft did what he always did in these situations. He sat lazily at his desk and waited. He waited for the other students to work it out by themselves and eventually someone would approach him. Generally one of two things happened. Either there were too many people in a friend group and one or two of them would be left out and come to him begrudgingly or someone would decide that they could get an easy high grade by letting Mycroft do all the work. In both situations they'd interact as little as possible, Mycroft would throw something together, and they'd do well. It at least made him liked enough by his fellow peers that he was never hassled. He was tolerate and he had a feeling his brother wouldn't be so lucky. Sherlock wasn't as good at playing nice or striking up a deal.
Ah, there. See. The villagers had decided on their own and were sending forth their sacrifice. It was the new girl. He says new girl as if she hadn't come at the beginning of the year, as if she didn't sit in front of him in literature where he'd sometimes zone out and watch as her dark curls danced on the back of the chair as she moved and laughed with her new friend. She came up to the desk and place her book bag on top of the desk next to Mycroft. He watched silently.
"Hi Mycroft." She smiled politely. He would have been surprised that she even knew his name if not for the fact that one of the other boys in her friend group hadn't recently started deciding that he was 'alright'. It was the end of last year when they still made all the kids in that year do physical education. Mycroft and this blonde boy came to a deal. James would help Mycroft get a passing grade in PE and Mycroft would help him pass English. It worked out well and had eliminated quite a number of issues that had been beginning to for with all the idiot sports scholarship kids. "Do you want to be partners?" The new girl asked. No doubt there had been an uneven amount of friends in her little group and her being the newest was the sacrificial lamb. Mycroft sighed heavily and shrugged.
"I see no issue." He answered. Her brow furrowed but her grin grew. She was thinking he was weird – he could tell.
"Okay, cool." She laughed. The new girl plonked herself down in the seat next to Mycroft. "This is my seat for the rest of the term, then." He faked a smile to appease her and hopefully stop any more conversation for the rest of the lesson.
"So…" The new girl chewed on the top of her pen, looking up thoughtfully at the dirty ceiling. "I was thinking last night," Mycroft stared at his note book, trying not to look at how the chocolate curls gathered around her neck. "Why don't we do something about different cool endothermic and exothermic reactions?" Mycroft looked up in time to see her smiling at him again, crinkling her nose up playfully, creating little creases around her nose. "That might be kind of fun." Mycroft took a deep breath and turned back to his book.
"Let me tell you how this works." He hummed, repeating the same old bored lines. "You're here because your friends didn't want you or because you want an easy grade. You don't need to try and pretend to contribute. I'm quite capable at writing in another's voice if you give me an example of your English work. I'll do all the work. You don't need to pretend to care." He waited for the usual expression of relief or gratitude.
"What?" Mycroft was surprised to hear the girl next to him scoff. He looked over and all traces of the naughty smile were gone. She was looking at him like he was weird again, but not in the good way. "I want to do my own work, thanks."
"No you don't." Mycroft rolled his blue eyes. "No one ever does."
"Don't speak for me." She shut him down. She looked him up and down, an eyebrow quirked in disgust. "I chose to work with you because you're good." She nodded. "And I don't want to carry a group so why would I let you carry us?" She rolled her dark eyes this time. "And maybe I thought you seemed kind of cool in English. Maybe I mistook jerk for funny." Mycroft blinked. He'd lost his voice and was struggling to find something to say.
"You expect me to believe that?" He eventually spat out, smiling sarcastically. She rolled her eyes again like a typical teenager.
"Stop acting like you know me. I've been here half a year. Do you even know my name?" She cocked her head to the side after challenging him. Shit. He had never bothered to learn it. He hadn't even seen it written down before. Mycroft tried to search his memories for all those times in English that he was not paying attention and the teacher called upon another student. Mycroft pursed his lips.
"Anthea…" He could pull that 'A' out. He knew it started with an A. "Or Andrea." The way her face filled with a tired expression told him he got it wrong instantly.
"It's Alice, actually."
They said nothing else to each other for the rest of the lesson.
"Endothermic and exothermic, then." Mycroft muttered to the chair in front of him later that day. Alice whipped her head around and twisted her body so she could see him.
"Oh." She peeped. "Am I worthy of your attention now?" Mycroft gritted his teeth and resisted the urge to scowl out of both annoyance at himself for apparently failing yet another social grace and at her for teasing him.
"If you want to do endothermic and exothermic than we can do that." He was aware that he sounded like he was talking down to her. She seemed to let it slide as her expression softened. She nodded at him.
"Good." She put on a fake polite smile. "Maybe we can actually start on it tomorrow instead of not speaking."
"It would be beneficial if either of us expects to pass."
A pause.
Something flickered in her eyes and she sniffed as her lips pulled upwards. She turned back to her desk leaving Mycroft with the view of chocolate curls once more.
Did she really think he was funny?
There was a shift in the dynamics between Mycroft and Alice from then on. They worked efficiently in class and completed their research far quicker than another other group or pair. At first they only talked when necessary for the sake of the assignment. Then he muttered a sarcastic comment at a rather idiotic question another student asked the teacher and Alice fell into a fit of giggles. From that moment on they'd always make such comments to each other in science. Then it began to invade English. When something stupid happened Mycroft would look up and Alice would turn around in her chair to look at him and they'd share a look. Then… Well… Actual conversations happened.
"Hey Myc!" Alice peeped cheerfully as Mycroft walked up to their desk in science. He dramatically clutched his heart and dropped the bag to the floor.
"For the love of God, do not call me that." He scoffed, running a hand through his hair. Alice's naughty smile appeared on her lips.
"Why?" She laughed. "Don't like it?" Mycroft sneered.
"It's so common." He sat down in his seat. "And boring. Even my family calls me that. If they wanted me to have such a common name why didn't they just name me Michael?" He finished his rant. Alice crinkled her nose.
"Do you want me to call you Michael?" She asked teasingly.
"That depends." Mycroft's tone oozed with venom. "Do you want to be murdered?" Alice laughed, looking away and tucking a curl behind her ear.
"So umm…" Alice's hands busied themselves with the zipper on her pencil case. "Where were you last week?" Mycroft pursed his lips.
"Private tutoring last week. Work that actually extends my learning." He explained, leaving out that Mummy was his tutor. Alice mimed an 'oh' and nodded but she didn't look at him. "I made sure to do my fair share of the assignment while away."
"Oh, no. That's not it." Alice pouted. "I, um. Just missed you."
"Oh."
Silence.
Alice tapped on the desk.
"Is that okay, Mycie?"
"Dear God, stop!"
She laughed again.
Mycroft was stopped walking to his desk in English by Alice nodding at him to get his attention. He stopped in front of her desk. She wore half her hair tied back today and the remainder played nicely around her neck.
"So my friend is away today…" Alice noted as if it should be important in anyway. Mycroft furrowed his brows and nodded. "If you think you could stand it, you can sit next to me today." She finished the thought.
Oh.
She wanted his company outside of science? That was surprised and… not entirely unwanted. Mycroft looked past Alice to his desk.
"I suppose it won't kill me." He sighed. He walked around and took a seat next to Alice. The teacher noticed but made no point to mention it.
The assignment was done and they got the 'A' that neither of them needed but wanted. There was no reason to keep up the charade anymore. Alice could go sit in the middle of the class with her friends again instead of sitting up the front with him. Life could return back to normal.
Yet here she came. The dark haired, quietly funny girl. She took the seat next to Mycroft as if it was nothing. It was like she didn't realise she could go back to her friends now. Mycroft watched her as she unpacked her pencil case and her books almost dumbfounded. Alice was a smart, funny, very likeable girl. She could sit anywhere and charm anyone into being her friend. She didn't need to be here. He couldn't understand. Then she caught him watching and she froze, her hand still in her bag.
"Is…" She blinked. "Is there a problem." Mycroft swallowed his breath and shook his head.
"No." He almost stumbled over a one syllable word – the fool. "There's no problem." Alice went back to unpacking and Mycroft mental screamed at himself for not being more subtle. Alice finally pulled out an old paperback book. The cover was peeling and pages looked like they might be coming away from the spine.
"I went shopping with friends in the city over the weekend…" Alice sounded unsure as she held the book in her hands. "And I found this in a second hand bookstore and I thought you might like it." Nervously she handed over the tattered book. Intelligent Life in the Universe by Carl Sagan and Iosif Shklovsky. Mycroft pursed his lips, quite impressed and… something else he couldn't put a finger on.
"This is outstanding." He breathed. "Thank you, Alice."
"Hey!" Alice laughed. "You know my name now!" She was joking to hide her shyness. It was written all over her face with the slight pinkish tinge.
"Mummy." Mycroft cleared his through. "My mother will absolutely want to read this after me if she hasn't already." Alice's grin grew.
"I'm really glad you like it."
He wished he had something for her.
"Alice." Mycroft called out to the brunette girl as she walked through the school. The morning bell had yet to go and she was approaching her group of friends. She turned around, surprised, and smiled warmly at the awkward genius.
"Hey Mycroft!" She sung. Mycroft awkwardly handed over the book in his hands. Alice softly chuckled at his disposition and took the book gingerly. It was a book of poems by Lord Byron.
"My father, he knows his literature…" Mycroft winced at himself as he tried to explain. "He suggested you might like this." Alice's face fell into an expression that could only be described as the epitome of warmth as she brought the book to her chest.
"You asked you dad?" She crinkled her nose. Mycroft rolled his eyes.
"Yes well, I'm not exactly the most practiced socialiser and gift reciprocation is not something I do outside of the family." He muttered a little bitterly. Alice looked like she might laugh at any second. She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek.
Oh.
Oh.
Mycroft's cheek burst with heat that eventually moved across his face and enveloped his whole body. The site of the kiss was tingling with kinetic energy.
"Thank you, Mycroft." Her voice was light and airy.
"You are very welcome…"
Did she actually like him?
Author's Note: Did you like it? Please let me know by reviewing. I hope that making them teenagers didn't make them incredibly out of character. There's always that worry when making them younger. Thank you so much for spending some of your time reading this! I really hope you enjoyed it and please let me know what you think of it! Thanks!
