AN- Just a quick note to say I am super sorry for taking so long to update, college has been keeping me stupidly busy! So, apologies.

They'd been walking around the shopping centre for what seemed like days now, although according to Amy it had only been 2 hours. Apparently time went incredibly slow in this shopping centre. Sherlock couldn't understand how anyone could find this fun. Clothes shop after clothes shop, shoe shop after shoe shop. It was ridiculous. There was only one book shop in the whole shopping centre and he was willing to bet it was tiny.

"He hasn't complained for ten minutes now should we be worried?"

"Maybe his temper tantrum is over with."

"I don't know, it seems suspicious. What if he's plotting something evil?"

"Like the death of man kind?"

"Yeah."

"I don't need to plot the death of man kind, stupid people do it for me," Sherlock said as an indication that yes he could hear them talking and yes he was aware it was about him. "And I wasn't having a temper tantrum, I'm not five."

"You stamped your foot. Like actually stamped it," Amy pointed out as they began to climb the stairs to the second floor.

"Yeah and you crossed your arms like my little cousin does when he's throwing a tantrum," John added, just managing to dodge the punch Sherlock had aimed at his arm.

"I hate you both," Sherlock muttered darkly. It hadn't really been a temper tantrum, it had just been him getting frustrated at the amount of stupid that one room could hold. Honestly, some of the people hadn't even been able to count to ten. How they were running a successful business he would never know.

"Sure you do, Sherly," Amy said, laughing as they reached the top of the stairs.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Is this the book you're looking for?"

"No."

"Is this the book you're looking for?"

"No."

"Is this the-"

"One more time, Amelia, and I will push you out the window," Sherlock said calmly. She'd been picking up random book sand asking the same question for at least fifteen minutes and it had gone from being annoying to absolutely insufferable.

Amy pouted, placing the book she had been holding back on to the shelf. "I was only trying to help."

"Help by being quiet then."

Amy fell silent, sitting cross legged on the floor as she watched Sherlock and John search the bookshelf in front of them. "Why are we even here?"

"Need a book for our coursework," John explained as Sherlock sighed, turning away from the shelves.

"It's not here, we'll have to look elsewhere." Sherlock said, frustrated at having spent thirty minutes looking for a book that wasn't even here.

"Well great, that was a fun waste of-"

"John?" A voice interrupted, sounding amused. "What on earth are you doing with the freak?"

Amy looked up, glancing over at the voice which belonged to a smug looking guy with brownish hair who must have been around John and Sherlock's age.

John glanced at Sherlock before back to the boy, rubbing the back of his neck as he turned a faint shade of red. "Coursework stuff," he said, stumbling over the first word as he stared at the floor.

"Oh right, I forgot the teacher paired you two up. God, that must suck."

John looked like he was going to agree and so Amy stretched a leg out, kicking him.

Wincing, John glared at Amy and wondering how she'd gotten so strong. "It's not too bad," John said finally, not sure he wanted to face the Scottish girl's rage.

"Not too bad?" Anderson scoffed, raising an eyebrow. "Clearly all this time with him is causing you to go a little insane yourself."

Sherlock, Amy noticed, had not said a word and was just standing perfectly still, facing the bookshelf she was leaning against. He hadn't moved since Anderson had arrived and it sort of reminded Amy of those animal shows she'd watched where the prey would stay perfectly still until the predator went away.

"It's probably spending time with me that's causing the insanity, actually," Amy supplied helpfully, pushing herself up into a standing position and putting herself in front of Sherlock, feeling the need to defend her friend seeing as John was doing a pretty bad job of it.

Anderson turned his gaze to her before smiling. "And you are?"

"Amy. I'm a friend of Sherlock's."

"Don't be ridiculous, Sherlock doesn't have friends," Anderson said, looking at the boy in question before turning back to Amy. "He's not even capable of emotion."

Not capable of emotions? Amy couldn't help but wonder how exactly Sherlock acted in school because the boy she knew was emotional. Okay, maybe not as much as a normal person but he smiled and laughed occasionally. He wasn't a complete robot.

"Well I'm his friend," Amy said with a shrug and then she gestured to John. "He's Sherlock's friend," she continued, ignoring the look of utter terror on the boy's face. "So that's two people, which is pretty good for a 'freak'." Amy put quotation marks around the freak, wondering how Sherlock had gone to school with such an idiot and not murdered him already.

Anderson was just smirking. The stupid prat was smirking and John looked like he was going to faint which couldn't be a good sign. Was this one of John's friends? Because if so she was going to knock some sense into the boy. Possibly with a freaking truck.

"John isn't Sherlock's friend, Amy."

"Anderson just drop it," John practically begged, looking like he was opening a hole would open up in the ground and swallow him.

Anderson simply ignored him though, continuing to talk. "It would appear that our dear John has fooled you, sweetheart, because he's one of the people behind a lot of the pranks we've pulled on Sherlock here."

There was a silence that was almost suffocating and Amy was drawn between killing Anderson or killing John. Either one would suit her fine.

"You are standing beside the man who had the idea to throw water balloons filled with acrylic paint over Holmes. The man who filled up Holmes's bag and shoes with eggs and, John, wasn't it your idea to throw Sherlock's uniform on to the top of the roof when he was getting changed for swimming?"

Sherlock was still perfectly still but Amy could see that he was doing his best to not punch something. His fists were clenched tightly and his breathing was a little heavier, Amy wasn't sure she'd ever seen him so angry.

John was looking incredibly uncomfortable and Amy maybe would have felt sorry for him if it wasn't for the fact that he had bullied Sherlock.

"So those were you, John," Sherlock said, finally moving to look at the shorter man, careful to keep his emotions off his face.

When John didn't say anything, Anderson smirked and walked over, patting John on the shoulder. "Well I'll just let you guys talk this over then. See you round," he said cheerfully before turning and walking away.

He didn't get far, though, because Amy had picked up a book and thrown it at his back before he'd gotten to far and when he'd turned around to see who'd done it,she waved innocently. "Nice meeting you, sweetheart," she called out mockingly, watching as Anderson rolled his eyes, kicking the book towards her before leaving.

John still hadn't said anything and he was carefully avoiding looking at either Sherlock of Amy.

"Well?" Amy said impatiently.

"I did urm … come up with some of the ideas, yeah," John mumbled, still staring at the ground. But then he looked up at Sherlock, as if pleading him to understand. "But everything I planned was so childish compared to what they wanted to do and it's not like it was harmful."

"You humiliated me repeatedly in front of the whole school. Repeatedly."

"But it's not like I joined in when they beat you up-"

"You didn't stop them either."

"Yes but – it's not like – crap Sherlock I'm -" John was stuttering and half finishing sentences, wanting to apologise but not sure how. Simply saying sorry didn't seem like it was going to work and after all what was he expecting. This was never going to end well.

Sherlock just pushed past him, tugging on Amy's arm so she'd follow him. "Don't bother coming round any more, I'll finish our project by myself," he said, not once turning to actually look at John as he spoke.

Amy allowed Sherlock to drag her out of the book store and then was left to try and keep up as he let go of her arm, walking fast through the shopping centre and then out on to the streets, not stopping until he reached a rather large field.

"Fucking hell, could you have walked any faster," Amy said when she finally caught up with him, panting slightly from the effort of having to practically run.

Sherlock didn't reply, instead he started walking again, although this time much slower so that Amy didn't have to run to keep up.

They walked for a while in comfortable silence, finally stopping once they came across an area shaded by a large oak tree.

Sherlock walked over, sitting down so that he was leaning against the tree and shutting his eyes. He felt stupid for getting so upset over this, it wasn't exactly new information that he was bullied at school and he'd only really started accepting that John had liked him for a few days now. It was his own fault, he shouldn't have tried to make friends with the boy. The only person stupid enough to be his friend was Amy, although he did appreciate it all the same.

"You okay?" Amy asked quietly, sitting down beside Sherlock. He was just sort of staring in to the distance and part of her felt she shouldn't disturb him but it was starting to scare her.

"Of course I am, why wouldn't I be."

"Well I mean you now have to do a whole project by yourself, that doesn't seem much fun?" Okay so that wasn't exactly tactful but Amy wasn't sure what to do, it's not like he was going to admit to being hurt by John. Sherlock was far too stubborn for that.

Sherlock managed a small smile, glad Amy decided to make a joke. It was easier than talking about emotions, easier for him at least because he had no idea how to explain how he felt. It was silent again after that, and then Amy rested her head on his shoulder and for once he didn't flinch away.

"You usually hate when I do this," Amy said quietly, her eyes shut.

"Well just this once I'll make an exception, but don't get used to it," he warned, smiling a little.

"I'm a little worried, you're acting too human," Amy teased, still feeling like she should ask how he felt about John but now wasn't the time. If he didn't mention anything she'd eventually bring it up because John may be a complete idiot but she could tell he cared. He just wasn't any good at standing up to his friends, for now at least.

"I guess you're emotions are starting to rub off on me," Sherlock said, nudging her slightly as she giggled.

"You also normally make me leave when your upset," she added on, remembering one time when he'd gotten into a fight. She'd tried to help him afterwards and he'd rather rudely pushed her away and then locked himself in a bathroom for most of the day.

"Maybe I would like the company of a friend right now, even if that friend is crazy."

"I'll take that as a compliment, I think," Amy muttered, glancing up just in time to see Sherlock smile a little, that smile he did when he thought no-one was looking, and Amy felt slightly better because she'd made him smile and sure it didn't fix everything but for just a few minutes he was happy and that was all she could ask for.

"You know, a crazy friend would help me plot the death of my enemies."

"I don't know, what would I get out of it?"

"The satisfaction of ridding the world of stupid people. What if we let them live and I end up working with them."

"Then we can plot their deaths when the time comes to it."

"I'll hold you to that, you know."

"I don't expect any less from you," Amy informed him, reaching her arm up to pat him on the head but when she couldn't reach she just settled with poking him in the stomach instead, allowing him to fall back in to silence and hoping she didn't fall asleep on his shoulder because if she woke up and found herself alone she would probably freak out. Being lost in the middle of London by herself hardly sounded fun, if she was being honest, and she'd already nearly gotten lost once today when Sherlock had decided to run off, she wasn't going to let it happen a second time.