A/N: I am so sorry! I forgot to update this! Here, have a bunch of chapters!
"Mycroft?" The teen peeked his head around the corner of the kitchen and waited. John swiveled on his heel and gave him a reassuring smile. "Could you go get Sherlock? Dinner's nearly ready." Mycroft nodded and stepped down the hall, pushing open the bedroom door. Sherlock was standing at the window, staring down at the street.
With an exaggerated sigh, Mycroft walked further into the room and placed his hands on Sherlock's shoulders, craning to see over his head to the street below. "Please tell me you haven't been dropping things on people again." Sherlock grinned and peeked up at Mycroft mutinously, shaking his head.
"Of course not, Mycroft. You told me to stop and I stopped. I'm not deaf." Though he refuted the accusation, his tone seemed to contradict his words, and Mycroft sighed internally. Sherlock always had been hard to keep distracted. Before Mycroft could scold him, Sherlock turned and led his brother out of the room, into the kitchen where John was just beginning to dish up the plates.
"Before you ask, yes, you are eating everything on your plate, no arguments." John gave them his "Stern Captain" look and placed their plates before them. Neither boy fought John as they were clearly starving. They scarfed down the food in minutes.
Surprisingly polite, Sherlock looked up at John for a moment, seemingly calculating, before asking quietly, "May I be excused, John?" Raising an eyebrow, John nodded, giving his little flatmate a reassuring smile and watched as Sherlock launched himself from the chair and down the hall. Mycroft picked at the remaining scraps on his plate, staring at the tabletop in thought. John came up beside him and placed his hand lightly on Mycroft's shoulder.
"You alright, Mycroft?" As if shaken from a deep sleep, Mycroft jerked forward with a start and looked up at John, blinking owlishly.
"Yes, yes. Of course. I'm fine. Here, let me help clean up." He grabbed the empty plates from the table and threw them into the sink, then took a cursory look around the room before sighing and retreating to the sitting room. John watched in confusion but simply took it along with everything else.
It was only their first day together, and already John felt like he might be in over his head. He didn't know how to help the two children he was now responsible for, and he definitely didn't know how to relate to them. Sherlock had been an enigma fully grown and now he was even more confusing. And Mycroft, well, John had never really had many conversations with the man, unless they were about a case or his brother.
But still, he was going to try. John put on his brave face and walked into the sitting room, taking a seat across from Mycroft, who had taken a seat near the window and was staring unseeingly into the London night.
"Mycroft? Are you sure you're alright?" Again, Mycroft froze for a split second before jerking forward, almost like he was coming out of a trance, and looked back at John apologetically.
"Sorry? No, I'm fine. Fine. Just a bit stir-crazy, I suppose."
John mulled that over for a moment. They were children now, it only made sense that they needed stimulation. And being cooped up in the flat all day probably hadn't helped.
"Well, how about this. Tomorrow we can go out, maybe go to a museum or something? Just a little trip to get out of the flat?" Mycroft gave him an obviously strained smile and nodded, though he didn't look too happy about it. He picked up the book he had been scanning earlier and silently wandered into Sherlock's room.
John waited a moment before he heard Sherlock screech in what sounded like excitement, and for a moment, he was frightened what Sherlock might plan to disrupt while they were out. "Finally!" he shouted, and John could hear him jumping around from his chair as he smiled to himself. Well, at least one brother would be happy tomorrow.
Sherlock stuck his head out of the doorway to his bedroom, face slightly cloudy as he glared in John's direction. "I'm still angry about this situation, but kudos for trying to distract us. Won't work, though, I'm afraid," he sighed, winking in John's direction before disappearing back behind the closed door. John just sighed and leaned further down in his armchair. Well, it was worth a try.