So here's the second part! Enjoy!
P.S. it's beta'd by the lovely hollydermovoi over on Tumblr! Many thanks to her!
Another Brick In The Wall: Part Two
Greg got to the closest recreational area, a common room so to speak just when the other inhabitants of Baker House were. He was glad he wasn't late and that the others wouldn't have an extra thing to badger him about. He knew he'd be getting enough of that alone and without a slip-up.
There were about twelve of them there, so there should have been only six rooms taken up. They came in pairs, presumably with their roommate. There was no teacher in sight and that was probably because there were seniors there to do the introductions into the House if you were new or a freshman.
Speaking of which, he was sure he saw a few of them, which made him feel even better; they wouldn't know who he was.
Mycroft was there already, sitting in a high backed chair as the other kids came in and took seats on the floor, couches and other chairs scattered around the mismatched furnished room. Greg stood up in the back, leaning on the doorjamb. He only started to listen when Mycroft spoke, when everyone was presumably there.
"Hello everyone. I am Mycroft Holmes. I'll be running things around here. I'd like to welcome you all to Baker House. There are a few rules, which I am sure you will abide by." He went into a ten-minute lecture about the use of the house and surrounding areas, the curfews for the week and weekends and use of the library and basement stage and lockers.
"Now that we have those preliminary things out of the way, I would like you all to introduce yourselves to each other, starting with the freshman. It would be most desired if you included at least one personal thing about you along with your name, age, class and if you've been in Baker House before." He smiled like a cat, and Greg wanted to groan and die a bit.
The first one to go was a tall boy, presumably a freshman. He was pale with high-cheekbones and blue-grey eyes. His hair was a mess of dark curls and a blue scarf was thrown precariously around his neck. He was laid out on a low couch, his roommate sitting on the end of said couch rolling his eyes.
"My name is Sherlock Holmes, and I'm a freshman. Yes, Holmes. I'm Mycroft's little brother." He flashed a smile that looked sharp but sneaky. "I'm fourteen years old and I like to blow shite up. So. Don't get me angry, because I don't tolerate stupid and won't hesitate to show you just how much." A few people looked shocked. "It's my first time at Baker House, obviously. Freshman," was what he ended with.
Greg tried not to smile. If this prat kept it up, everyone would just ignore him and hate Sherlock instead.
Sherlock's roommate went next after swatting the other boy in the arm. For just having met, they already seemed to be fast-friends. "John Watson, freshman. I'm fifteen. I'm also bunking with this smart-arse," and he pointed to Sherlock, who gaped in feigned hurt. John continued on like he hadn't even seen Sherlock's face. "First time in Baker House, seeing as I'm a freshman and I want to join the army after school." He gave a pleasant smile.
Greg figured that the blonde, blue-eyed boy was all right. He seemed to make the prattish Sherlock shut his obnoxious gob and that was enough in itself for Greg.
A girl went. Her name was Molly Hooper and she was a bit shy, with her mousy brown hair in a ponytail. But she expressed her interest in going into the medical field, but more into the mortician's side of it. A boy, a bit hefty he was too, named Mike was another freshman. He was also into medicine and struck up a conversation with Molly about it. Two other kids, one a dark skinned girl with fluffy hair and the other a thin, tall boy with an annoying face, both juniors, wanted to go into law enforcement. Their names were Sally Donovan and the boy just introduced himself as Anderson.
There was another duo, sophomores as well, that kind of creeped the hell out of Greg. The short boy's name was James, but he insisted everyone call him Jim. He had a skull t-shirt on and smiled too much and was shooting daggers at Sherlock where he lay in the couch, glaring back. The boy standing next to him's name was Sebastian. He didn't speak much besides introducing himself and when he tried to smoke a cigarette, Mycroft sent him outside. There was to be no smoking in the house at all. Greg filed that away for later; he was, unfortunately, a smoker. He was trying to quit though.
Another set of people went, a high-class girl named Irene and John Watson's older sister, Harry. Irene was a junior a bit too into sex, Harry a senior with a drinking issue. There was a girl then, a senior, who popped in to whisper something to Mycroft. From what Greg could gather, her name was Anthea. She had just been reassigned to Baker House and was checking in. She disappeared soon thereafter. That made it thirteen people to the house now. Someone was getting a single room.
It was Greg's turn to speak. Mycroft had introduced himself already in the beginning, and he was all that was left. Unused to so many eyes on him, Greg knew he must be flushed, but he still spoke with a steady voice. Thank God.
"Gregory Lestrade," and he didn't say 'Call me Greg' because he knew some of them would regardless. "Junior. Sorry I didn't jump in with the others." He scratched his neck. "First time in Baker House, oddly enough. Most of you guys that aren't freshman have been here before so…." He cleared his throat. "Um, yeah. Well. A bit into law enforcement too," and he nodded to Donovan and Anderson who smiled a bit at him. "I'm on the football team. And…that's it I guess."
"Is your hair really that color?" Molly asked from where she was sitting on a beanbag next to Mike. She looked over at him with wide-eyes.
Greg felt a spark of embarrassment run through him, but before he could answer, Sherlock said, "Of course it is. Look at where it starts, right at the roots. And you can still see where there are still traces of the brown at the tips. Which means it's recent but not dyed." He rolled his eyes as if Molly had asked the stupidest question.
"Yeah, it is," Greg simply said. He shrugged.
"Fabulous," Jim crowed. "You see Sebby? You couldn't miss a target if it had hair like that." Sebastian shrugged. Greg simply felt unnerved. The fuck? Target?
He wasn't sure if he wanted to know.
"I think it looks disshy," Mycroft said, cutting off the chatter that had started back up. He looked right at Greg, who was flushing for an entirely different reason. "I must confess, I was wondering myself. But I do quite like it." He gave Greg what seemed like a rare smile then turned to the others and said, "Now that the introductions are through, let's have a tour shall we…?"
As Greg followed Mycroft and the others out, he realized something.
For the first time, no one had made fun of him. Not for his hair or his station in society. They'd commented sure, but out of curiosity and, hell, some of them had outright defended him on that front as well.
And someone had actually liked it.
Greg felt an odd sense of belonging to his new housemates. Well most of them. Jim and Sebastian were just downright creepy.
What do you guys think so far? Ok?
Reviews are loved, thanks!