(i)

Sherlock arrived early to his music lesson, adjusting the strap of his violin case against the back of his seat before settling down in his seat. Only a few people in his year opted to take music so he often had to wait a while before anyone else came in.

He started to wipe the smudges off of the grey fabric of his violin case, having little effect on them but still trying to do it nevertheless.

He looked up from what he was doing when his teacher walked in. He told them to go up to the lecture theatre because their year was having a presentation.

They never had a presentation.

But Sherlock followed, taking his precious violin case with him as he had become accustomed to never letting it out of his sight. Over the past 6 years it had become like an extra limb to him- reminding him that no matter what, he always had music to keep him company.

He walked into the hall, hearing the muttered "freak" as he walked past the 'popular bench' specifically for the boys in the football team. He was used to their teasing by now, having to listen to it first when he was in primary school and more recently when he joined the local private school.

Sherlock finally reached the usual spot where he sat with Molly and Harry, placing his violin under his seat so that he could prop his feat along the edge. The first thing he noticed was that there were no girls in the room. Maybe they were late? No, they couldn't be late, not every single girl in his year.

5 minutes later and he was none the wiser. He tried deducing everything in the room so that he could understand what was happening but everything was so blank, so plain. He went through everything that Mycroft taught him.

Observe- don't overlook the smaller things as they could tell you more about the situation than the bigger ones. Intuition- trust it no matter what because it is always right. Listen- understand that the things that aren't mentioned in the conversation may be the things that tell you what is happening. Facts- evidence will help to support your theory.

But there was nothing. Absolutely nothing and that annoyed him, annoyed him more than he would care to admit as he could ALWAYS deduce a situation. But this time he couldn't.

"Now boys, you might all be wondering what you are doing here but anyone who has an older brother will probably know exactly what is happening." Mr Harris, the head teacher, announced.

Yes, Sherlock had an older brother but he had no idea what on earth was going on. His brother had never told him about the presentation that happened in year 8.

"Now this is Nurse Adams and he is going to talk about the changes that are happening to your body and give you a brief summary about sexual health."

Oh God...Sherlock remembered that once, at his junior school, they had a small talk about puberty. All he remembered was his teacher (a rather old, smelly man) saying that they their bodies were changing so that had to use deodorant... he wasn't really sure if the teacher was trained to give the talk because it was so bad.

"Now, I know that you may find talking about this subject awkward but it is really necessary to talk about these things. Firstly we are going to cover puberty. Does anyone know what puberty is?" Nurse Adams asked the students, unaware that he was talking to them like they were babies when they were in fact 12 and 13 year olds. It looked like it was not only annoying Sherlock, but most of the boys in his year as they were either sniggering or falling asleep.

After briefly thinking about what to do, Sherlock decided not to fully listen to the conversation as he had much better things to do with his time. Although in the back of his head, he kept a log of what the nurse was saying, filing away the information as he thought that it may be useful for him in the future.

He thought back to the experiment that he started last night. The experiment was very complicated for someone of his age to complete but Sherlock was used to doing things that people his age weren't meant to do. He kept thinking about a prediction for the experiment but concluding that the results may vary. However his mind kept focusing on some of the words that the nurse was saying...

Rapid Growth

Self Conscious

Aggressive

Risky Behaviour: Smoking, Drinking, Sex

Voice Breaking

Sweat

Increase in hair growth

Shaving

Muscle growth

Increase in genital size

For his age, Sherlock was small but when he was younger, he was average height, not really tall for his age but at the same time not small. However when he reached 12, some of the girls were taller than he was and now that he was 13, all the girls were taller than him and some of the boys were towering over him.

It was obvious that he was a late bloomer (well that's what his aunt said) because his parents weren't small so his theoretically he should be tall. As well, when changing for sports, Sherlock heard most of the boys talking about their rapid muscle growth but Sherlock really didn't have any obvious muscle growth. He wasn't a very vain person but he felt conscious of his lack of growth. Was he a freak like the other boys said...

When the nurse managed to capture Sherlock's attention again, he was doing a question and answer session. Most of the questions were very typical.

Why do I get an erection?

Why had my voice gone weird?

When will these changes happen to me?

Do I think about Girls too much?...

"It is total normal to think about girls during puberty. You feel this way because the hormones in your body are becoming active so you might start to have intense feelings about girls. If it is just one girl that you keep thinking about then you may just have a little crush on her. You either act on it or ask her out or you just let it pass. So, no, you don't think about girls too much." Nurse Adams replied, fiddling around with the leaflets were on the table.

In Sherlock's mind, girls weren't particularly interesting but at the same time he didn't really think boys were any better. Girls just ran around laughing and gossiping whilst boys fought and played football. Harry, Molly and John were the only people that didn't fit into that category but he still wouldn't say that he found any of them particularly attractive.

Recently Molly and Harry spent most of their time Sherlock's house, helping with experiments or simply doing homework but John had gradually drifted away. When they first got back from their holiday two years ago, John and Sherlock had spent a lot of time together mostly talking about the Harry Potter book but eventually talking about other subjects that they both enjoyed. However, after a few months John would make excuses as to why he couldn't come round. Homework. Football practice. Family dinners. And then it came to a stop all together.

When Sherlock asked Mycroft why John wasn't able to come anymore he just said he was growing up so he wouldn't want to play with little boys any more.

Just because John didn't want to hang out with Sherlock didn't mean that Sherlock didn't want to hang out with John or that he didn't like him anymore. Rather the opposite. He would love it if John came round but he had been informed that he couldn't force people to be his friend...

The next thing that brought Sherlock out of his mind palace was a leaflet being handed to him.

Growing up.

Sherlock flicked through the small booklet that was specifically made for teenage boys. All in all, the booklet was very good and meant that he didn't have to retain any of the information that Nurse Adams just gave to them as he could easily read the booklet if he needed any information.

The nurse began talking again but this time about sex.

Even more reason not to listen. He heard enough about that when Mycroft came home with Lestrade. Its best to say that what was heard, was not pleasant.

He used to think that getting Mycroft and Lestrade together would be a good thing, he was wrong. If they weren't fighting, they were having sex. If they weren't having sex, they were fighting. It was a never ending cycle. They only came back to the manor in the holiday and only for a couple of days but it was beginning to drive Sherlock insane...

"Now I am going to show you some pictures. Some of you might not like to look at them so if you are squeamish then you might want to turn away." Nurse Adams announced, hitting a button on the remote control for the projector.

Now, Sherlock wasn't squeamish at all. He often did post mortems on dead birds or dead squirrels or sometimes even dead rabbits if he was lucky but Sherlock thought that those pictures were horrific enough to induce nightmares in any sane person.

STI's...

Pictures of sexually transmitted infections...and boys being boys, they all made gagging and vomiting noises making Sherlock realise how stupidly immature his year was. Of course he didn't think that the pictures were nice or even relatively normal but he would never be as immature as some of the boys in his year.

The moral of the story (well pictures) was to always have regular check-ups with your doctor and to always use a condom. Not the worst advice ever given to a bunch of hormonal teenagers.

Luckily after an hour and a half of sitting in that room and listening to the Nurse go on and on, they were able to escape and have their lunch leaving most of them traumatised for life.

(ii)

The next time that Sherlock came into any situation concerning sex was when he was 13 and a quarter. Mycroft was home from university and he was doing very well. Acing all his tests and handing all his assessments in on time. For once his parents were happy.

He had come home from violin practice early as he had performed all three of his exam pieces to his teacher perfectly therefore ensuring that he could get home sooner than planned. When he arrived home at 7 o'clock, none of the lights in his house were on. His parents weren't home.

Sherlock turned on some of the lights, slung his coat and his schoolbag in the clock room and placed his violin case on the kitchen counter. He walked over to the fridge, open the door and looked around, trying to find something edible for him to eat. He decided on a plain yogurt because it was not too filling and took the edge off of his hunger.

He then walked through to the living room wanting to watch a documentary that he recorded the previous night. He pressed the light switch on, finding that it was only on a dim setting so he turned the dimmer switch up so he could make his way around the furniture.

But furniture was not the only think that he had to weave his way through. Clothes, all over the floor and a pair of naked bodies lying on sofa.

"Bloody hell." Sherlock shrieked, turning around as he immediately realised what was happening right in front of him. The bodies were looking around, trying to something to cover themselves up with.

"Shit." Greg said as he twisted his body around to look at Sherlock once he had managed to cover them both up with a blanket.

Mycroft sat up, looking over Greg's shoulder to see Sherlock. "Sherlock, go and sit in the kitchen and wait for me."

Sherlock nodded once before turning around with his yogurt in his hand and returned to the kitchen. While he was walking back he heard a mumbled voice say "At least it wasn't your parents who walked in on us."

He waited ten minutes, watching the wind blow the leaves across his lawn and the sun shine down on the lone swing at the end of back garden. His yogurt just sat on the kitchen counter, as alone as the swing was in his back garden. After what he had just witnessed, he didn't think that he would be able to eat his yogurt without throwing up, let alone his dinner. Sherlock heard muttered voices from the hall, announcing that soon enough his brother would be with him and try to explain what the hell just happened.

"Sherlock." Mycroft greeted, taking the bar stool next to him. "Are you going to eat that?"

Sherlock looked at his brother briefly before returning his attention to the garden. "No."

Mycroft picked up the pot and spoon and started to eat it. He finished it in under a minute, standing up to put it in the bed before sitting back down. Silence.

"Are you going to explain what the hell just happened?" Sherlock asked after the silence got too much for him to handle.

"I think you know what you just saw." Mycroft replied, giving Sherlock his 'stupid' look. He sighed before explaining further. "When two people like each other..."

"Yeah I know about that. I don't need another sex talk especially from you."

"Are you going to stop being all stroppy?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I just saw you having sex with your boyfriend on the couch that I have to sit on."

"And are you interested in boys?"Mycroft suddenly asked.

Sherlock gaped at Mycroft. He wasn't expecting such an abrupt question from his brother. In all honesty, he had thought about it but he wasn't really sure. If anything he thought that he could be asexual. Neither girls nor guys interested him. "I don't know. I haven't really thought about it." He lied effortlessly. "Why are you asking me about that anyway?"

"I just wanted to know."

"It's none of your business."

"I just wanted to make sure that if you were interested on boys, you would be able to get the right information about it so that you don't get into a... tricky situation."

"Oh... ok." Sherlock said as he bit back the panic that was rising through him. He really wasn't comfortable talking about his sexuality with his brother.

"Exactly."

Sherlock blinked rapidly in a few seconds of silence before stumbling into a response. "Well I don't know... but when the nurse came into school to talk to us about... sex, he only explained about a girl and guy doing... it. I know the basics but I think that I want... no need to know about it in case anything... happens."

"Ok." Mycroft started, fiddling with his mobile which he had just taken out of his trouser pocket. "Well, there's a good website that you should look at. It tells you all the necessary information and if you have any questions then you can come to me... or Greg if you feel more comfortable talking to him."

His brother just said that he could talk to him (or Greg).

He actually offered to give him advice without calling him stupid.

He wanted to help him.

After Sherlock had managed to overcome his shock he remembered that his brother was probably expecting him to reply so he quickly said "Ok", looked at Mycroft again in disbelief before returning his attention back to the garden.

Suddenly after minutes of silence, Sherlock asked "Why were you doing it with Greg in the living room?"

Mycroft, who was looking at his phone at the time, turned his attention back to Sherlock. "What do you mean?" he asked, locking his phone so that he could return it back to his pocket.

"After last time, why did you start to... do it in the living room where anyone could walk in... I thought you didn't want anyone to know about your relationship with Greg."

Mycroft had to think a bit before replying. He didn't want his younger brother to hear about his sexual habits. "We don't. We... just got carried away and before we knew it we were... doing it in the living room."

Sherlock scoffed once before stating "That's stupid."

"How is it stupid?"

Sherlock raised his eyebrows at Mycroft. "Don't you have enough self control to at least manage to get to the bedroom before tearing each others' clothes off."

"We have self control—"

"Well obviously you don't, otherwise you wouldn't be at it on the sofa in the living room." Sherlock interrupted.

"Sherlock, I really don't want to have this conversation with you. You're too young and too stupid to understand—"

Of course he would call him stupid, he always did just because he was older than him and therefore had more time on earth to learn things.

"I am not stupid, Mycroft."

"You are."

"Am not."

"Sherlock, stop arguing and listen. Greg and I are taking the necessary steps to prevent anyone from knowing about us. All I ask is that you delete everything you just saw happen in the living room, alright?"

"But-"

"No buts. Just do what I say."

Finally Sherlock muttered a quiet "Ok" before getting up of the bar stool and walking up the stairs, to get to his room.

(iii)

"Sherlock, what on earth are you doing?" Sherlock's father asked as he peered into Sherlock's room while on his way downstairs.

Sherlock looked up from what he was doing, putting everything that he had in his hands down on the desk so that he could show his father what he was doing. "I am doing an investigation to see how much semen, well water, can fit into different brands of condoms before bursting. I am also investigating whether using a flavoured or studded condom changes the result."

Mr. Holmes looked at Sherlock in shock, trying to understand several things at once. "Sherlock, where did you get those from?"

He sighed once before returning his attention to his experiment. "Some of them were in the top drawer of Mycroft's bedside table. The rest I bought online using Mycroft's credit card."

"I told you not to use Mycroft's card again."Mr. Holmes complained.

Sherlock glanced at his father as he said "I know father but this is important."

"And why is it so important that you can't use your own money to buy the... condoms."Mr. Holmes asked, hesitating on the last word as he didn't expect to ever be having this conversation with his youngest son. Mycroft, possibly but Sherlock? Never.

It's not that Mr Holmes thought that his youngest son was unattractive, no quite the opposite but Sherlock did not have the best social skills in order to get a girl to like him, unlike Mycroft. When Mycroft wanted to, he could really be very persuasive.

"Well... I couldn't be bothered to get my debit card from my wallet that's in my coat pocket downstairs. It was much easier to use Mycroft's card that was in my sock drawer." Sherlock replied, taking the wrapper between his teeth and using them to tear it open.

"Uhm...ok, and why was Mycroft's credit card in your sock drawer?"

Sherlock took the condom, which had been taken out of its wrapper and started to fill it with water. "Because I used it a few days ago to buy some lubricant so that I could see which lubricant, when spread over a smooth surface, makes a human's feet slide over it the easiest."

His father looked even more shocked, if that was even possible.

"God... I think I need to talk to your mother about this."Mr Holmes replied quickly, closing the bedroom door and continuing to go back down the stairs.

Mrs Homes, after hours of wondering about his youngest son, she managed to choose the one time when they were together as a family to have a proper talk about his recent behaviour. She was worried about what her husband told earlier that day but Sherlock was taking the right precautions, if he wished to part take in... sexual relations then she really needed to stop being overprotective. He was a little bit young to be thinking about that though... he had only just turned 15...

"Darling, your father told me about your experiment. The one involving..."

"The condoms." Sherlock filled in.

Mrs Homes sighed before continuing "Yes, the condoms and well... I just wondered why you would be needing to do that kind of experiment."

Sherlock put down the knife and fork that he was using to mush all his food up as he did not wish to eat while conducting his experiment. "Well... I just did it because it said online that when the time was right you needed to find the right condom for you so I thought that if I found out which brand is the strongest then it would prepare me for that moment."

"And do you think that moment might be soon?" Mrs Holmes asked, putting her cutlery down in the centre of her plate as she had finished her food.

"Hell no."

"Don't talk to your mother like that." Mr. Homes shouted, attempting to stop his teenage son from being so rude. He glared at his son, knife and fork being held out in front of him, pointing towards Sherlock, a subconscious attempt of a threat.

"Uhm... sorry." Sherlock muttered, stopping for a moment after his father shouted but started to pick at his food again, as soon as he had apoligised.

"Thank you."Mrs Holmes praised, deciding not to tell her son to stop playing with his food. It was obvious that he did not want to eat anything. "So... do you have all the necessary things for when that moment comes."

"Of course he has the necessary equipment. He has 10 boxes of condoms and 7 bottles of lube sitting on his desk." Mr. Holmes voiced in from the end of the table, shovelling another forkful of food into his mouth.

She smiled at her husband, giving him the 'I-know-that-dear-but-I-was-just-making-sure' look. "Yes, well... do you know what to do when the time comes?"

"Did you not read the letter that I brought home last year... well, the letter that was emailed to you because I didn't bring it home for you to sign..." Sherlock asked, rudely, realising his mistake before apologising again. "Sorry mother... well we had a nurse come in to talk to us about it. It was very... informative."

Mrs Holmes smiled at her son. He was slowly learning how to use his manners and was learning more about life. "That's good darling. So we don't need to go through it all with you."

"No."

"Good."

"Good."

"Well, you'd better start getting ready for bed soon as you have school in the morning." Mr Holmes commented, hoping that for once his son might actually try and get some sleep.

"Alright father."Sherlock replied before standing up and returning to his room to finish his experiment. Hopefully he would finish by the morning...