John decided just to sit across from Sherlock at lunch one day. He was texting someone and hardly noticed John's presence.
"Hello." John said evenly. Sherlock looked over his phone lazily and then back to it.
"I'm not going to read you your fortune." Sherlock said flippantly.
"What?" John frowned. "I was just… sitting down is all."
"You watch me all the time." Sherlock said, sliding his phone in his jacket pocket. For a high school junior, Sherlock dressed very nicely. "I notice you. You're not being subtle."
"It didn't bother me that you noticed." John shrugged. "I figured you would notice anyway."
Sherlock's forehead creased in the tiniest of frowns before brushing it off. "Well what do you want. You must be here for a reason."
"No reason. I just wanted to sit here."
"You have other friends."
"They won't miss me."
"So you consider them friends, then?"
"I don't have a better word for them." John admitted. "Why are you interested in my definition of friends?"
"Because they aren't really your friends, are they, Waston?"
"Why are you concerned with my lack of friends, Holmes?" John said.
"Because it doesn't make sense why you're over here. Why I intrigue you. You have plenty of options—and yet you choose to be friendless, like I do. Why would you seek me out?"
John shrugged and stared Sherlock in the eye.
"Gut feeling." John replied. Sherlock rolled his eyes and leaned back against the wall.
"Human intuition guiding actions again—yes certainly, nothing could go wrong—"
"Oh, I was almost certain that things would go wrong from the get go." John said. "You seem irritating. Self-righteous, smug and over-confident to the point of arrogance."
"Most of those were synonyms."
"However—" John cut him off. "You also seem brilliant and shut off. As though you're hiding something or holding some part of you back. And for some reason I want to see that side."
"And what makes you worthy, John Watson?" Sherlock crossed his arms. John stood.
"I'm not entirely certain I am, your grace." He smirked. "But you fascinate me. And I know I fascinate you because while you were noticing me noticing you… I was noticing you noticing me." John slung his bag over his shoulder. "And by the way, I used all of those synonyms because they were necessary. You seem really pretentious, Sherlock, you do."
"Well I am." He said, unable to hide the smallest of smiles. John's eyebrows raised.
"Was that a smile I saw?" John smirked. "Thought it would shatter that face."
Sherlock's face smoothed again. "Don't mistake my amusement in your foolishness for anything but what it is." Sherlock's face hardened. "I don't understand the intent of this conversation."
John smiled and shrugged as he shifted his bag to a more comfortable position. "Neither do I. And I think that's the point."
It was two weeks before John and Sherlock spoke again. John had made a point of not looking at him, not regarding him from across the cafeteria, even when he had an inkling that it was safe to do so. He could feel Sherlock's eyes on him, though. Sometimes he could feel the chill from Sherlock's eyes rest on the back of his neck. He would have to steel himself to not look at him, and resort to smirking at the papers in front of him. They had three classes together. English, History and Chemistry. Sherlock took elective biology and several other sciences. He was known as something of a protegee to the teachers of the science department. History, however, was not Sherlock's strong suit. He completely blew it off as a waste of his time.
"It's a complete waste of time." Sherlock muttered to himself one day as Mr. Prescott gave a lecture on Roman culture. "Who cares about these people?"
John was always seated near Sherlock in class because others complained about being close to Sherlock to the teacher, saying that they all had a problem with him. John never complained, and so in all three of the classes he had with Sherlock, he sat the closest to him.
"Sherlock, I don't understand." Mr. Prescott said once he gave back essays. "You excel at History. Why do you hate it so much?"
"No, I don't excel at it, I memorize it for the time that it's needed, prattle it back to you and then delete it almost immediately afterwards. It's all just dates and memories. We're looking back at people who did important things instead of doing important things ourselves." Sherlock huffed. "What more am I to learn of the past when there is plenty of future to be created?"
John couldn't help but to look back at Sherlock. Mr. Prescott had no response for Sherlock but clenched his jaw and walked on. John met Sherlock's eyes for a moment and saw the restless being that lay behind his cold, careless mask.
John blinked a few times before smiling a tiny bit and turning around. He couldn't recognize the specific emotion that played on Sherlock's face, but he knew that it was something… childish. Something very innocent and vulnerable. In a second it had gone, but that didn't change that it had been there in the first place.
The bell rang for class to be dismissed and John left without another word.
In so many High School!AUs John is always the one who chases mindlessly after Sherlock. And while it's not completely OOC, I just like to see John being the one chased. or something. Yes, so... they meet!
I'm going to post three chapters for today and then try and post one chapter a week. Let's see how that goes. Review if you like it and review if you don't!
or something