Chapter 7
John and Sherlock spent the rest of the holidays curled up in each others arms. Sherlock was no romantic, but he really did care for John and tried his best to show it. Little did John know that Sherlock had a struggle of his own to deal with, that was until a few weeks into the new term.
Sherlock had been getting more and more withdrawn since they'd started school again, and they'd been seeing less and less of each other. It got to the point where Sherlock was shaking frantically in the common room, terrifying John "Sherlock?! Sherlock?! What's wrong?!"
"I need...I can't" Sherlock couldn't articulate what he wanted "my locker, John, get me to my locker"
"Locker, why? I think you need to see the nurse first"
"John, please, for me" Sherlock looked desperate, and John couldn't refuse him, besides they were both as smart as any mum with a first aid kit anyway. So he grabbed Sherlock's arm and guided him through the corridors, hoping they didn't come accross any teachers, until they reached their destination. Sherlock immediately, grabbed a toy skull out of his locker and opened it, revealing a tiny clear bag of white powder.
"Sherlock what is that?" John was pretty sure he knew the answer but didn't want to believe it.
"You see but you don't observe" Sherlock mumbled as he emptied the bag and snorted a line, after which he instantly relaxed as John stood there stunned.
"What the hell, Sherlock?!"
"Please not now" he groaned as he slouched on the floor against the lockers
"Yes now, because it seemed that on no other occasion it was relevant to bring up the issue that you have a drug problem!" Sherlock instantly got up to calm his boyfriend
"Ssshh not here" he insisted as he grabbed John's waist to stop him walking away, but then relaxed a little "let's, let's just go out, and grab a coffee" he asked softly.
They had just sat down with their drinks when John began his onslaught of questions "When did this begin?"
"Few years ago, I can't remember exactly when"
"Why did you start?"
"Because I thought I'd just try it, I read that it's a stimulant, thought it might help me focus on my experiments and cases, and not on the other stuff, and it sort of worked"
"Why didn't you tell me?" that was the question John really wanted answered, he'd always been completely honest with Sherlock, and he thought the same courtesy had been extended to him, no, just another layer in the Sherlock puzzle.
"Because I had stopped, I began to quit as soon as things at Doyle's got really bad, but when I moved here, it was just another thing that I didn't want anything more to do with"
"So why did you start again?"
"Christmas. It was horrible John, you know that, I was constantly on edge, I just needed to relax, it's how I used to deal with it so...I thought I could control it just taking a small amount, then reducing my intake again, apparently not"
There was nothing more to say, John wished he could just bring Sherlock into his arms, but they were out in public, and now was not the time for anymore stress or potential criticism.