It was an early Monday afternoon and John was in chemistry, not paying attention to the teacher. He was distracted by a boy, a clever boy who went by the name of Sherlock Holmes. He didn't talk to anyone, which is what made John all the more interested in him.
"Watson, pay attention" The teacher said as he drew up more equations on the board
John sighed, there was only 2 minutes left of the lesson until lunch, why should he start paying attention now? He continued to stare at Sherlock, who had noticed him and glanced over. The bell went and John left with Mike to get his lunch, but he was still curious.
"Mike, do you know why that boy Sherlock doesn't talk to anyone?" He asked, before taking another mouthful of food. He knew that Mike had managed to speak to him once before, but they had never spoken since.
"Sherlock? He has selective mutism, it's useless trying to get him to talk, so I wouldn't bother" Mike said, shrugging his shoulders as he did.
John stared at Mike "Useless?" He said, retorting slightly. John immediately put his lunchbox back in his bag and slung it over his shoulder, getting up. "I'm going to see if I can talk to him"
John walked away from Mike, thinking about how he had said it would be useless attempting to talk to Sherlock. He walked over to the last table in the hall, where Sherlock was sat alone, doing homework with his untouched lunch out on the table. John stood in front of him, smiling as Sherlock glanced up at him.
"Hi, I'm John, John Watson, we're in the same chemistry class. Can I sit here?" He asked, holding out his hand for Sherlock to shake, which he didn't.
Sherlock looked up at him once more, seeing the hand and staring at it. He was always anxious in these sorts of situations and didn't really feel very comfortable talking to anyone but Mycroft, but he was away at private school. He stared at the boy standing in front of him 'Why is he here? Why does he want to talk to me?' Sherlock thought to himself, nodding for John to sit down and then continuing with his homework.
"I understand that you want to be by yourself, but I want to help you" He said, watching Sherlock closely, noticing his eyes were starting to water. He wrote down his address and his phone number on a piece of paper and giving it to Sherlock.
Sherlock took the paper, trying not to cry. What was happening now was getting too much for him and his anxiety was getting worse. His pen was shaking as he was trying to write and it got to a point where he couldn't write at all. Sherlock took his pen, his homework and his lunch, flung it in his bag and walked away. John realised this was his fault and ran after him, stopping in front of him and hugging him. He didn't know why he was doing that, but he was pretty sure it would help Sherlock to stop crying.
School had ended and John was walking home with Mike. "So, how did it go?" Mike asked, always curious about being in other people's business.
"Well, he started crying, I didn't know what to do so I hugged him and he calmed down" John responded, still a bit concerned about him. John overheard some jeers from boys behind him, calling him gay and taking the mick because he tried to calm down Sherlock. He turned around and confronted them "I was helping him. Call me gay again, I dare you".
Mike pulled John away from the other teenagers and continued to walk home with him, asking once again about Sherlock. "So, did anything else happen?" He asked.
"Well, I gave him my address and my number in case you know, he wanted to see me" John said.
Mike shrugged and left John once he reached his house. John said goodbye and walked to his house and walked through the door when he heard a knock. He turned around and answered it. It was Sherlock, and he handed John a note, asking if he could come in and go somewhere quiet so they could talk.
"Yeah, sure, come in" He said, letting Sherlock inside "We can go up to my room if you want"
Sherlock nodded and followed John upstairs into his bedroom, where he sat on the floor. Sherlock still didn't speak, but patted the floor, indicating for John to sit next to him. He took out his note pad and pen and started writing down what he wanted to say.
The paper read 'Thank you for today, nobody has helped me like that. Please can we spend more time together?' and John laughed softly, responding to the paper "Yes, but you won't be able to talk, will you?" He asked, to which Sherlock shook his head. John smiled at Sherlock "It's okay" he said "We can work you through this, and get you talking to me"
Sherlock nodded and stood up, waving John goodbye and leaving. John went downstairs and he was stopped by his mum. "Who was that John?" She asked him
"Oh, that was Sherlock. He's in my chemistry class" John said "He also has difficulties talking… Selective mutism I think it's called"
"Oh, well he seems like a lovely boy, you should have him over more often" John's mum said, making John laugh slightly.
John went into the kitchen and got a drink before going upstairs, realising that Sherlock had left his notepad here. He was tempted to look through it, but he didn't, he couldn't. He'd only just really met Sherlock and he didn't want to break his trust already, so he put it in his bag to take to him the next day.