It was Friday morning and Sherlock was getting dressed. He decided that John needed more clothes...well he did as well, but he wasn't going to admit to it. He had done up the buttons on his long sleeve top and had his trousers on as well, when he decided he should wake John up. He clambered out of his room, whilst holding onto his belt. He had lost a lot of weight, but was improving. He could put the belt on a bit later. Tentatively he knocked on his bedroom door. He knew social circumstances meant that people needed privacy and their own space. After a couple of seconds he pushed the door open and saw John sat up in his pyjamas, on his bed.
"I thought we'd go...shopping...today. We both need new things and, after all, I have just nicked Mycroft's credit card..." John nodded and laughed silently, before Sherlock continued, "...I'll be right back, I've just got to go to the bathroom." John nodded and looked up to Sherlock, properly. As Sherlock walked out of the door, he missed John's horrified face.
When Sherlock came back to John's room, he saw that John was not in it.
"John!" He yelled as he went downstairs. John may have gotten peckish, Sherlock thought. When he reached the front room, the sight left him terrified. The sight of this would make an imprint in his mind palace, no matter how hard he would try and get rid of it. John had his back facing Sherlock and his pyjama top had been pulled off. Scars littered his back, however Sherlock had seen this all before. John's body was tense and he appeared to be in a lot of pain, but just like a true soldier tried not to show it.
"John?" Sherlock asked, hesitantly, as he moved towards the front of him.
"I'm sorry. Please forgive me, I didn't mean to do anything."
Sherlock knelt down and put his hands on John's face, wiping away the tears. Sherlock showed a confused look and John looked down to his trousers. This was like a slap in the face as a realisation dawned on Sherlock. The belt! His brain screamed. John had a numerous amount of belt marks on his back. He thought Sherlock was going to hit him or punish him with it.
Sherlock then suddenly embraced John. John tensed, but then leant into it.
"I will never do that to you. Do you understand? I will never do anything like that to you." Tears coursed down both cheeks of father and son.
"What-what if I do something-something bad, really bad?" John's voice cracked throughout most of that.
"I will punish you, but not like this. Never like this, maybe cleaning out the fridge? Then I'm sure you would never do a single thing wrong." John chuckled slightly. "How about we get changed, and I look at your shoulder?" John nodded and they walked upstairs together, just as Sherlock received a message.
He peered at it, as he helped John upstairs.
'As John is a child and you probably don't know what they need...' Sherlock scoffed, but kept reading. 'I have invited a Miss Hooper to attend this outing with you. And don't think that I don't know where my credit card has gone.'-M.H
A/N: I have updated this as soon as I could have. I hope you enjoy. Thank you for reading! :)