A/N: Happens sometime after The Blind Banker. This was something I thought up recently so don't blame me if it seems a little weird.
It was right after that bank case that John first encountered the American. John was a little mad at Sherlock giving him a cold shoulder since the case, even though he knew that it was partly his fault, after all it seemed to Sherlock that John thought of him only as a colleague rather than a friend.
Both of them got into an argument and then, John stormed out of the house. He was walking along the streets when he suddenly heard a gunshot from somewhere and he immediately took out his pocket knife in reflex and looked around, only to find a man bleeding out with no one else in sight.
John immediately rushed towards the man, who was bleeding very badly and did a once over on him to check for any other injuries before cursing and taking out his phone to call an ambulance, only to find out that his phone was out of service and no one else was in sight.
Sighing, John tried to drag the man to at least the pathway so that he could do some basic cleaning of the wound when he suddenly noticed someone was standing behind him and tensed, discreetly reaching for his knife.
"Relax. I am not here to hurt anyone. I was with the man who is currently hurt and came here when I found him in this state" the man stated calmly. "Ah! I am not going to hurt him, just checking the severity of the wound. I was an army doctor so I can check your friend up. Sadly the hospitals are far away and he might bleed out before we make it there." John said and looked around.
He then spotted something that might help. "Do you mind carrying your friend over to that tailor shop there? He needs some urgent stitches and while I do have an emergency kit on me, I am out of twines to stich it up." John explained and the man nodded and effortlessly carried the man to the tailor shop that was currently closed for lunch.
"Um... excuse me... can I you know... my friend is hurt and that kind doctor over there has agreed to help me but we need some things from here... do you mind?" the man asked, pointing over at his friend and couch with his head and the people immediately set to work on helping the man to the couch.
"Can I please have some clean cloth, thread, needle and hot water? Thank you" John said as he received the things immediately. He then set to work on his patient, gently clearing off the blood around the gunshot wound before extracting the bullet with a pair of tweezers and patching it up before working on the other wounds.
After he finished treating him, he came over to the friend. "You are very lucky Mr..." "Barton" "Mr. Barton that your friend only had an injury that just missed his collar bone. And he is also suffering from a minor concussion and I would suggest him to rest for three days before he even thinks of getting up." John said.
"Thank you for helping my friend Mr..." "Watson" "Mr. Watson. We must be leaving now as my other friends would be searching for us. A pleasure meeting you and I hope we will meet again." Barton said and shook John's hand before proceeding to carry his friend outside after thanking the shop owners.
"Oh! And Mr. Barton, I would suggest that you take care of your ear after you reach safety. It might help." John pointed out and waved at the receding figures and sighed. He had noticed that Barton fellow fingering his ear as if he couldn't hear anything properly and hence, pointing it out.
John then headed towards the flat again, longing for a shower, not noticing the fact that he had successfully operated with his still nerve damaged hand until he reached 221B. The first thing he noticed was that Sherlock was not at home and he didn't mind it that much. After all, no one knows what he is planning on doing.
But the thing that shocked John was that Sherlock had come back with a grocery bag and a takeout with him as that man never did any shopping. "Ah John! Nice to see that you've come back. I wanted to apologise to you about my behaviour for the pas few days and hence, this." Sherlock said, gesturing to the bags.
"I am the one that should be saying sorry Sherlock. I hadn't meant it that way and I didn't mean to offend you." John said. "And now, lets dig in. I think we have a lot to catch up in this short gap we've had now... don't we?" Sherlock inquired and John laughed, the tension finally leaving.
The second time he had met that American was when he had been in search for his brother. Turns out that John had been adopted after they decided that they didn't want twins. And now, he was searching for a man named Phil Coulson, the only living relative he had left.
It was an accident actually. He was just going to meet Mycroft on some issue when he bumped into him. They both fell down with a huge thud, groaning. "Sorry" they both said, rubbing their heads.
The man then helped John picking up his file when he spotted something that intrigued him greatly. "Excuse me sir... can you tell me what your name might be?" he asked. "I am John Watson sir. Though I doubt it is my last name... is your friend Mr. Barton by any chance? I didn't catch your name" John replied.
"Oh! Where are my manners. I am Phil Coulson and yes, Barton is my friend... So you are the one who treated me uh? I've been searching for the doctor who stitched me up in a tailor shop. Barton has been praising you endlessly on that. Good for a cup of coffee?" Phil asked.
"Always ok for a good cup of tea. I know one nearby. Shall we?" John asked and soon they were at a café, getting to know each other. "Is it ok if I ask you as to why you were there?" Phil asked curiously.
"Um... seems like the Watsons had adopted me and so I've been searching for my birth parents ever since. Turns out they died in an accident and had a son named Phil... I wonder..." John trailed off as he stared at Coulson. "Why were you there Phil?" he asked.
"For a similar reason to yours. My father left a letter telling me about a twin that they gave up for adoption called John..." their eyes widened in realisation at the same time and exclaimed softly "You are my brother!" at each other and started chuckling at the fate that joined them.
"Nice to know that I saved my brother from bleeding to death in a tailor shop." John said. "And thank god for the accidental bumping else we wouldn't have even met" Phil said. "Look at the time. Its time I go or else the director is gonna be pissed. Meet you later?" Phil asked.
"Your choice on when. Call me and I will try my best to be there, depends on Sherlock though. You can never guess what he will do. Until then" John said as the two of them stood up. "Until then." Phil agreed and shook hands before parting ways.
The next time they met, Barton was with them and the 3 of them hit off very well, Sherlock thought that he had dates whenever he met up with his brother and John didn't mind that. Life had been peaceful but it couldn't be like that for a long time right? 'Cause danger is always round the corner.
A/N: A small filler chapter before another big one. What do you think about Watson and Coulson being brothers? Finally brought in Clint and Phil, like I was wanting to do for a long time. The next chapter will be from The Great Game obviously. I know that the tailor scene is a little unnecessary but I couldn't leave the idea. Hope you all liked it! All comments and criticism accepted and appreciated.
Thank you all for reading!
Rasnak signing off :) ;)
UPDATED ON 6 AUGUST 2018