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WARNINGS: contains abuse and mentions of non-explicit rape.
John woke up in the same lonely flat he fell asleep in. He blinked a few times before realizing he had his work clothes still on and that it was still slightly dark outside. Tiredly, John's eyes travelled over to the alarm clock beside his bed, 6:27am. He sighed deeply; he never really got any decent sleep even though he was always exhausted.
The bed creaked as John sat up trying his best to unruffle his shirt, which he soon realized was impossible because it was creased beyond repair. Yawning, John climbed out of bed and stretched. Mornings weren't his best time of day if he was honest; he was constantly grumpy, reason why Sarah gave him late night shifts.
All he really wanted was a hot shower and then to crawl back into bed and sleep until his next shift, which is exactly what he would do. As he approached the shower, his thoughts went back to that Sherlock bloke – he knew he'd been avoiding thinking about him, it would just stir his thoughts. Such a handsome man, how could anybody ever think to hurt him?
In a way, it angered John. It angered him to know that people out in the world get treated by shit by the ones they love, and even though it's never happened to him, he could only imagine how vulgar it must feel. Seeing the bruises on Sherlock's chest churned his anger, thinking about them also churned his anger and he wished he would stop thinking about it, but he just couldn't.
He should have said something, he should have helped and maybe he could have helped? Or maybe it was nothing. John was probably wrong, Sherlock might have actually fallen and his boyfriend was just unsure of how to deal with it.
Maybe...Just maybe. John sighed and laid back into bed, clean and tired. He set his alarm for 4pm and drifted back into a dark sleep.
"Hey, hey, babe, wake up." Joel's voice pulled Sherlock out of his sleep. He blinked and looked up at the face looked down at him.
"What is it?" Sherlock asked rubbing his eyes then flinching in pain as he tried to move his right arm.
"That." Joel laughed, "I thought I'd bring you some of those painkillers so you don't wake up later in too much pain."
Sherlock smiled lightly and shut his eyes, feeling suddenly very comfortable in the bed. "I'll be down in a minute."
"I brought them up, you bullock." Joel knelt beside Sherlock and held out two white tablets and a glass of water. Sherlock smiled again and sat up slightly, taking both tablets into his mouth and swallowing them down with the water.
"Thank you." He leaned in and planted a soft kiss on Joel's lips and lay back down. Joel smiled eagerly and stood again.
"I've been looking- at some support groups online, you know." He looked around the room, avoiding eye contact. "I'll be downstairs, just call me if you need me, babe." He walked to the bedroom door, but before he left he peered back around the door, "I love you."
Sherlock smirked and lifted a hand to lie lazily over his forehead, "I love you too." And he drifted back into a sleep.
Only, it was a few hours before he awoke again to the sound of glass being smashed. He carefully shuffled out of bed and to the bedroom door, wary of the sounds coming from downstairs. "Joel?" He called stepping into the kitchen, suddenly jumping back as another smash of glass was heard.
Then, Joel was in his face. "I told you to call me if you needed anything, what are you doing out of bed?" He was slightly out of breath, his eyes were bloodshot. Sherlock stared at him for a moment, calculating, before Joel spoke again, "don't do that thing you do, just don't."
"What are you doing?" Sherlock asked pushing past him to look into the kitchen. He was far from surprised when he saw glass littering the kitchen floor. "What happened in here?"
He turned back to Joel who was clenching and unclenching his fists – aggravated – Sherlock looked over his features while waiting for an answer.
"I just-well, you know. I just lost it." Joel ran his fingers through his hair, "I'm sorry."
Sherlock looked more than stunned at the confession and apology. "No, no it's fine. Did something happen?" He asked scanning the room.
The phone had been lunged at the wall causing a crack in the plaster – sister must have called to talk.
"It was Beth." Joel admitted. Sherlock could hear how ashamed he was.
Beth was Joel's eldest sister. She knew what was going on in their relationship too, but she blamed Sherlock for a majority of it, said he deserved it. Sherlock wasn't fond of her, neither was Joel, she was always telling Joel to leave Sherlock and find someone with 'more backbone'. The main reason Beth would have called is because she wanted to lecture Joel, again, oh why he should abandon Sherlock.
"'Course you probably already knew that." Joel scoffed, "with your brilliant mind and all."
"Yes." Sherlock regarded how Joel's fists were shaking. Before he could say anything, his back was against the kitchen counter and Joel was leaning over him.
"Why don't we," he kissed Sherlock deeply on the lips, "go to bed?"
Sherlock didn't need to think twice before his answer, by the way Joel was acting, obviously he was taking his anger out by sex. That would not go down well, especially with Sherlock's injury. "I don't think that's a good idea."
Joel frowned, "why not?"
Sherlock ushered towards his chest and Joel sniggered, "I'll be gentle of course."
"I said no."
"Oh for God's sake." Joel sighed and pushed himself away from Sherlock. He ran his fingers through his hair and pulled, "you're so fucking selfish."
Sherlock could immediately tell this was going to cause problems, but in no way was he fit enough to engage in sexual activity. If Joel was going to force himself on him, then so be it, Sherlock would go down fighting. "How the hell am I selfish?"
"You put yourself on display and I'm suddenly not allowed to touch!" Joel gestured to Sherlock's naked chest.
"Well, it was far too painful to put a t-shirt on." Sherlock remarked quietly looking out the kitchen window.
"Oh, what was that?" Joel stormed up to Sherlock, "suddenly it's my fault you're frigid?"
"Yes, actually." Sherlock sneered and pushed Joel backwards, darting for the hallway when Joel swore loudly. Two hands wrapped around Sherlock's arm and pulled him backwards forcefully, Sherlock hissed in pain.
"Where do you think you're going, huh?" Joel snarled pushing Sherlock against the wall. "Don't fucking walk away from me."
Sherlock could only feel severe pain as his body was pushed against the wall and Joel's heavy body. He tried pushing Joel off him but received a backhand slap. He knew exactly what was going to happen and he knew the only way he could deal with it was if he went to his mind palace; locked himself away until he was sure it was all over.
And that's exactly what he did.