PREFACE

Warnings/Triggers: some strong language use and mentions of blood.

Author's notes: Ugh I am so sorry this took so long to upload! What with the holidays then being thrown straight back into exams and school and shit, I didn't have much time to write at all! But it's here now :3

REVIEWS:

Thank you to all of you that reviewed! It really helped me to actually make sure I continued this :3

Sir Conan Doyle created all the wonderful characters, and the BBC gave them their good looks. I only created the story; the rest belongs to them.

Enjoy!

Chapter 2- Just because.

John sat down in music class, luckily this lesson was with the whole class, so he wouldn't have to face the awkwardness with Mr Holmes yet.

Sherlock looked around the class, they were all just chatting about things Sherlock didn't care for. All except John Watson, he sat there chewing his pen and glancing at his teacher every so often.

Mr Holmes looked at the boy, something was different about him, Sherlock just didn't know what. He sighed before quietening the class and beginning the lesson.

Sherlock looked around at the students as they worked alone on the computers with their headphones on. He liked this, it meant he could watch students without them making noise and he could see what kind of person each one was.

He looked over at John, he seemed to be struggling with the new music software, understandable really. Sherlock pursed his lips a little before going over, he pulled up a chair and sat down next to the student.

"Oh, oh hi sir.." John blinked a bit as he took his headphones off and avoided eye contact.

"Hello John." Sherlock replied as he took the mouse and began to work with the software, he glanced around to check no one was listening before talking quietly "What you heard at lunch yesterday"

"Yes sir" John nodded a bit before adding "It was lovely sir.."

The tall man glanced sideways at him for his comment before looking back at the computer again "No one comes in my room at break, lunch or after school, unless I invite them."

"Oh oh ok sir" John nodded a bit before frowning and blurting out "But your music is lovely, I'm sure people would like to listen"

Mr Holmes sighed a bit "John I don't want people to listen" He finished with the software and just sat back and looked at the boy.

"Why? People would love it" The sandy haired boy was trying to avoid eye contact with his teacher, but it was hard when the man's eyes were boring into him.

"Just.. Because.. Just because." The man frowned, he didn't have to justify his choices to the boy, yet he felt the need to.

"Right ok" John felt the atmosphere go a bit awkward, so he tried to make conversation with the man looking at him "How long have you been here sir?"

Surprised a little by the suddenly chatty conversation, Sherlock replied "Not long.. Since the beginning of this year, so.. It's March so 7 months."

"Oh mhmm" the sandy haired boy nodded "Do they like you? The teachers I mean." John didn't really know why he wanted to find out so much about a teacher, he'd never really been that bothered about others before.

Sherlock chuckled "Not particularly, they think I'm a freak." He let his eyes drop a bit as he thought about it.

"How'd you know that?" John frowned, Mr Holmes wasn't a freak, why would the teachers think that?

"Well they're all smiley smiley when I walk in the staff room, but as I'm leaving, before I'm even made it through the door, they whisper and mutter about me." The teacher shrugged, to be honest, it didn't bother him. He didn't need them, they were all idiots anyway.

"Oh that's not right" The boy frowned again, he never really expected teachers to be like that, he'd always assumed they just got on well, like some teachers friends group or something.

The teacher smiled a bit at the boy's concern and shrugged "I'm not bothered. They can say what they like, most people do."

John smiled sympathetically a bit "Well.. The students say you're grumpy and weird." He added quickly "Well some of them maybe I don't know"

Sherlock raised his eyebrows "Right.. D'you think that?" He tilted his head a bit to the side and looked at his student.

"No sir." John smiled "I think you're fine. In my first lesson with you, you let me call you by your first name, so that's pretty cool."

Mr Holmes nodded a bit "Mhmm.." He still didn't know why he'd allowed John to do that "You can still do that by the way. Oh, and because you didn't guess my name right, I chose for you to learn piano. Ok?"

The teenager sighed, he was hoping for something stupidly easy like the triangle or some shit, oh well, there was nothing he could do about it "And you'll teach me that?"

"Yeah, in our one to one lessons" Sherlock smiled a bit "When we've done all the technical and theory work."

"Sounds good" John smiled, well at least he could spend more intimate time with the teacher. Even though people said he was weird, or an asshole, or whatever, John decided the he wasn't that bad. He thought Mr Holmes was just different, that's all, and some people don't like difference.

Sherlock tried to chat a bit more, he didn't do this often but he felt the need to, and he wanted to actually. "How's it going with friends and.. Things?"

The sandy haired teenager smiled "Alright, there's a few boys that I hang around with, that's all" he nodded a bit "That's all I need really"

"Not looking for.. A partner?" Sherlock chose his words wisely, he knew the boy was gay, but he didn't want to embarrass him in case any of his classmates were listening. Sherlock had been embarrassed enough at his own school to know what that was like.

John looked at the teacher, feeling his cheeks blush a bit "Uhm, not sure really" he looked around the class "I don't even know if they'll accept it"

Mr Holmes nodded a little, he knew what it was like not to be accepted, and how nervous it must make John feel. He smiled a bit, hoping it looked reassuring "I hope they will John, and if not, then they're all idiots and you don't need them." The teacher thought for a second "Well they're all idiots anyway, but you know what I mean"

John chuckled "Yeah I get it sir" the teacher and student both sat in silence just looking at each other for a moment, before the bell rang and they startled a little out of their reveries.

Sherlock jumped up and shook his head a little as the class packed away and he shouted over the noise "I'll see you next lesson, I want the composition complete and in my hands by Monday!" He glanced at John for a moment, then as he looked back at the class he noticed one of the boys being stupid "Stephen, stop being a dick in my classroom!" He had no idea where that came from, he just frowned a little as soon as it left his mouth.

The class stared at him for a second, before laughter spread through them, much to Sherlock's relief. He relaxed a little and smiled, it felt good to hear the students liking him for once. He glanced at John, who was beaming at him, before nodding a little "See you all later."

John sat alone in the classroom, apparently he was early, and Mr Holmes wasn't here yet. He looked around the room, it was just a normal classroom, until you looked at the teacher's desk. It was a complete mess, with sheet music, guitar strings, and jack plugs strewn all over it. It made John smile to see it that way actually, to know that not all teachers were neat and tidy robots with no lives.

Sherlock didn't park his car in the car park, he basically just ditched it in what looked like a space. He grabbed his things from the boot, and ran towards the school; he could feel his coat billowing out behind him as he ran. He ran to the corridor that his classroom was on and burst through the door, panting "John"

The sandy haired teen jumped a bit and looked at his teacher. He blinked as he looked the man up and down, his hair was a mess, his shirt unbuttoned slightly at the top so it revealed some skin, his amazing coat slung on his shoulders a bit lopsided, and his lips were slightly parted as he panted a little from running "Sir?" He knew he shouldn't be thinking it, but god the teacher looked hot.

The tall man shook his head before coming in the room properly and closing the door "Sherlock, I told you to call me Sherlock" he went over to his desk and added even more sheets to his already messy desk.

"Are you ok sir?" John watched as the man took off his coat and slung it on the back of his desk chair and tried to log onto his computer at the same time as organising his papers a little.

"Yes, yes fine" Sherlock shook his head a little, not really paying attention, he knocked over some left over coffee from yesterday, all over a pile of homework sheets "Oh Jesus Christ!"

The short teenager frowned "Would you like some help sir?" He stood up and started walking over to the desk.

"What? No, I'm fine" The curly haired man set the coffee mug back up and started trying to clean the coffee off the sheets, muttering to himself "Ugh seriously, Jesus this is not what I needed today"

John stopped and watched "Sir- Sherlock, uhm.. seriously I can help if you want?" he played with his hands a little, he wanted to help the teacher instead of watching him struggle.

"No I am fine!" Sherlock snapped accidentally as he threw the sheets back down on the desk in exasperation, he grabbed at his hair a little.

John looked down and shuffled back to his seat "Sorry" he sat back down and just watched the teacher a bit, not wanting to upset him any further.

Sherlock sighed deeply as he ran his hand through his hair before grabbing a pile of sheets that some students had left on his desk the other day "Fu-!" He dropped the sheets instantly as he felt a sharp object slice into the palm of his hand.

John couldn't help himself "Sherlock?" He jumped up and went over, glancing at the papers on the floor and the glint of the scissors that had been left inside "Your hand!"

The teacher glared at the injury to his palm, the blood leaking out "It'll be fine" He sighed as he calmed down a little "Just.. sit down and I'll teach your lesson"

The short boy shook his head "No you can't teach at the moment, you're not ok" he pointed at the teacher's hand "Get that sorted out first"

"It'll just stop and heal, it's ok" Sherlock looked at the student stood next to him. His face showed concern, but also a seriousness and determination to sort out the injury.

"No, come on" The short boy walked back to his desk, he went in his bag and dug around a bit before finding a plaster and walking back over to his teacher.

"You carry plasters around?" The tall man looked at the boy with a small smile playing on his lips and a slight furrow to his brow.

The student shrugged a bit "You have to be prepared at all times with a sister like mine" he didn't say anymore, just unwrapped the plaster. He took a tissue from the desk, took the teacher's hand and cleaned the wound, before gently laying the plaster over the cut.

Sherlock looked at his hand "Thank you" he looked back at the boy "Sister like yours?" his mind started to race with different reasons for what John meant.

The sandy haired boy threw the plaster packaging in the bin, he sighed a little before deciding to just tell the truth, there was no going back now that he'd said that "Alcohol"

"Oh" The teacher started to organise his desk a little as John sat back down at his desk "You look after her like that too?" he glanced at the boy in front of him.

"If she staggers back in the house at 2am while mum and dad are asleep and she's got a grazed knee or cut, I don't ask questions, just help" John chewed his lip a little "I'm hardly going to say no, am I?"

Sherlock felt his heart drop a little, though he wasn't sure exactly what for, well he had ideas. It reminded him of when Mycroft found him whacked up on some drug somewhere, and cared for him "No, you're not.." Sherlock also felt his respect for John increase, but at the same time he remembered what else Mycroft had done, and the respect for his brother dropped even further.

"Just gives me a good reason to stay away from that stuff I guess" John smiled pathetically a bit "I just wish she'd see it too" he sniffed a bit and tried a little joke "But she won't will she? So I shouldn't waste my time showing her when I should be studying music for you"

The thin man looked at the boy quietly for a moment, he was seeing more and more of the boy and his life, and he'd hardly been here that long. He shook his head a little "Yeah, speaking of which.. we're studying dynamics today"

The teenager nodded "Yeah, ok" He took his book out as Sherlock grabbed a whiteboard pen and started to write on the board.

Thanks for reading! Sorry again that it took so long! Please review? ;3