By Monday, Sherlock is still report-less and Clement isn't happy. Sherlock can't go over to John's house for the rest of the week, and he doesn't get any cases. He pouts the entire way to school, and pouts even more when he ignores John so John talks to Declan.
They get to school and to their lockers, John still with them. There's a flier hanging on almost every other locker, Declan's being one.
"What's this?" Declan wonders, picking the paper off.
"Winter Formal?" John observes, reading over Declan's shoulder.
"Oh? What's that?"
Sherlock chimes in. "A pointless social gathering where the boys pretend to be too cool to socialize and the girls go crazy and attempt to be one with each other when boys won't while music plays."
Declan looks confused.
"It's a dance," John clarifies. "Pre-prom dance, really."
Declan nods. "You guys gonna go?"
Sherlock snorts.
"Guess not," John says.
Sherlock looks at him. "What, did you want to?"
John shrugs. "I'd like the option."
"Then go."
John's eyes brighten. "You want to?"
Sherlock shakes his head. "With someone else, I meant."
John looks disappointed.
Declan decides to distract them. "Say, you know who I'll ask?"
"Ellery?" Sherlock questions.
Declan grins widely.
"You like Ellery?" John questions.
Declan shrugs. "Yeah, why?"
"Isn't she a bit..." John taps his chin. "Uhm...weird?"
Declan scowls.
"Sorry, I just...I don't know. She doesn't talk to anyone."
"Neither does Sherlock," Declan argues.
"Yeah, and he's weird."
Sherlock scowls at John.
"Well," Declan says, closing his locker. "Sherlock managed to get you, didn't he? I'm sure Ellery is very kind. And she's adorable and I may love her."
John begins to laugh. "Alright, man. Good luck."
"Thanks. She's in my last period class, so I'm going to talk to her this afternoon."
"Like I said," John tells him. "Good luck."
The entire school day goes by without anyone else mentioning Winter Formal. John doesn't ask Sherlock about it, and not even the couples at lunch talk about it. Nonetheless, John can't help but feel disappointed that he'll miss out on a fun evening with friends because his boyfriend is stubborn.
When school ends, Sherlock tells John that Clement is making him stay after school to work on his research paper. John says that's good, then escorts Sherlock to the library so he can work on a different assignment.
Sherlock sets up at the last table in the library. Not the same hidden table as where he met Perry, because John says he wants to keep an eye on Sherlock.
John sits with his friends at a different table, Declan included.
"So?" John questions as they get settled.
"So?" Declan asks back.
"Did you talk to..." John eyes a table away, where Ellery is sitting alone. "You know?"
Declan looks over to Ellery and shakes his head. "Kennedy wouldn't leave me alone all last period."
"Now's your chance."
Declan bites his lip, then closes his books and stands. He takes a deep breath, then goes over to Ellery's table.
John can still hear Declan, so he eavesdrops.
"Mind if I sit?" he asks, grabbing the chair across from Ellery.
She slowly looks up at him and instantly panics. Declan can tell, because he takes his hand off the chair.
She clears her throat and sits up straight. "G-go ahead..."
Declan smiles and sits down.
John smiles, happy for Declan. His eyes wander back to his boyfriend and he rolls his eyes when he sees Sherlock playing with the Rubik's Cube. He excuses himself from his table and marches over to Sherlock's.
John yanks the toy out of Sherlock's hands without warning.
"Hey!" Sherlock cries.
"Do your paper!"
Sherlock scowls.
"I am not going to last without you for three weeks, so please focus and write your paper."
Sherlock continues to glare at John as he picks up his anatomy book and opens it to a random page.
John nods curtly, then returns to his seat.
Minutes later, the calm atmosphere of the library is interrupted by the entrance of Vince, Perry, and two of their other friends. They sit at their own table, and each pull out their books to work. They're still being loud the entire time, and everyone glares at them.
Sherlock's table is actually out of the way of everyone else's. To pass Sherlock's would take you far out of route of where you need to go, no matter what section of the library you need.
So when Perry gets up and walks past Sherlock's table, it's odd.
"Freak," he mutters, loud enough for John to hear. Sherlock's anatomy book is sticking off the table far enough for Perry to push it to make it drop to the floor.
John moves to stand, but Sherlock waves him away. Perry snickers as he leaves Sherlock to pick up his book.
It's quiet for more minutes. Perry returns to his seat without bothering Sherlock again.
After a while, John needs a new book, so he gets up to retrieve it. He purposefully walks past Sherlock too, except he pinches Sherlock's underarm. Sherlock squirms and yelps in shock, but covers it up with a cough. John laughs and continues through.
Sherlock turns around to watch John walk away, but John disappears from Sherlock's vision. He turns back to his books on time to see Vince get out of his chair.
He tenses as Vince makes his way in Sherlock's direction. Sherlock just stares at his book, hoping Vince will pass, but Vince pauses right next to him. Sherlock slowly blinks his gaze upward.
"I'm not happy that you got me suspended, Freak," he says.
"Oh, I..." Sherlock doesn't know what to say. He surely doesn't want to apologize, so he just stops talking.
Vince does the same as Perry did this time, shoving Sherlock's books to the ground. Sherlock just sighs and bends to pick it up, and when he gets down, Vince lifts his knee to hit Sherlock.
Sherlock immediately snaps up, reaching for his mouth. He knows Vince didn't knee him hard enough to knock out any teeth, but his fingers come away tinged with blood.
Vince nearly shouts. "You stupid little-"
"Hey!" John yells from somewhere behind Sherlock. Sherlock's too shocked to even turn around.
"What do you want, Watson?"
John stomps over, pushing Vince as hard as he can away from Sherlock. Vince braces himself against the table, leaning on it as John presses against him in a threatening way.
"You think it's funny, Vince?" John snarls. "Picking on the kid who isn't going to hit you back? Who isn't even big enough compared to you to knock you down?"
Vince grins. "Yeah, actually, it's quite funny when the freak cries."
"It ends now," John says. "You touch him again, I rip your fucking tongue out."
Vince tries to shove John away, but John doesn't budge. "What's it to you anyway, Watson? This your boyfriend or something?"
"Yeah he is, not that it's any of your business."
Sherlock sits up a little straighter. "John-"
"Shut up, Sherlock," John mutters, not taking his eyes off Vince. "Now, Vince, I think you have something to say to my boyfriend."
Vince snorts. "What, apologize? Fuck no, I'm not-"
John quickly darts at Vince. Vince winces roughly, obviously thinking John is going to punch him, but John grabs his shirt collar instead. Still, Vince is pretty shaken.
"Well?" John nearly shouts.
"John-" Sherlock tries again.
John pries his gaze away from Vince to look at Sherlock. "I said to shut up, my love," he softly says.
Sherlock sinks back again.
John looks at Vince once again and tightens his grip on Vince's shirt collar to be tighter around Vince's neck.
"S-sorry," Vince stammers out.
"Not to me, you arse."
Vince looks at Sherlock. "Sorry."
"Louder!" John shouts, right in his face.
"Sorry!" Vince practically yells.
John lets him go. "Get the fuck out of here and don't you dare touch him again."
Vince quickly runs out of the room, clearly more embarrassed than frightened.
John looks down at Sherlock, who is visibly just as embarrassed as Vince. John ignores it, though. He reaches down and cradles Sherlock's chin with his hand. He leans down and lightly kisses Sherlock's puffy lips.
"Are you ok?"
Sherlock glances around the room at all the people watching. His cheeks heat up and his stomach turns. "I just...I..."
John just nods once, then pulls Sherlock out of his seat. He leads Sherlock through the library, passing the tables of people as they go.
John looks towards Brady and Declan is behind him. "Can someone grab our stuff?"
Both Brady and Declan nod.
Sherlock looks around at all the kids watching them, and to his shock none look judgmental or even all that shocked. The table of girls watch almost fondly and, some would say, sweetly at John.
They get out of the library and John grabs Sherlock's hand. He squeezes tight, as if he's the one who needs comforting.
They finally turn into an empty hallway and John pauses. He turns to Sherlock and grabs Sherlock's face.
"Does it hurt? Do you need to go to the hospital? Should I call your dad?"
"No, no, and no," Sherlock says. "Just a bit shaken up, I guess."
John nods and brushes Sherlock's hair out of his face. "I'm so sorry, love."
"Thank you," Sherlock mutters. "For being there."
John nods, then takes Sherlock in a tight hug. "I hate seeing you hurt."
"I know," Sherlock says.
John pulls back enough to kiss Sherlock again. Their kiss doesn't turn into much though, because Sherlock's mouth is still bloody.
"Come on, let's get out of here."
"But I'll have to go home," Sherlock frowns.
"Let's go to the public library," John says. "You don't need to stay here."
Sherlock nods.
"You go get your mouth cleaned up and I'll get out stuff from the library. Meet you out front in a few minutes."
"Ok, John."
John rubs Sherlock's shoulders. "Are you ok?"
Sherlock nods.
John kisses his cheek, then rushes down the hall.
They meet minutes later, then leave the school.
Sherlock manages to finish a third of his report before they have to leave for dinner. When they arrive, Declan is back, and Clement figures out that John and Sherlock weren't at school.
When they retell the events of the afternoon, Clement's anger at Sherlock subsides.
"I was there, Uncle," Declan confirms. "Vince knee'd him in the face for no reason whatsoever."
Clement nods and sighs. "I'm going to the school tomorrow. I want that kid gone."
After the incident, Sherlock doesn't argue. "I managed to finish a third of my paper," is all he says.
"Good. A third today, a third tomorrow, a third Wednesday and it'll be in by Friday."
Clement excuses himself from the table a minute later, but the boys stay.
"So," John starts. "What happened after we left?"
"Perry and the others followed Vince out. The girls at the table by ours were like, 'Oh I wish John was my boyfriend!'"
John laughs.
"And," Declan continues. "I asked Ellery for her phone number."
"Did you? Well done!"
"She didn't give it to me."
John and Sherlock laugh.
"Why not?"
"She said because she hardly knows me, that she'd rather get to know me better. Which is fine."
"Good luck getting her to go to the dance with you, then."
"I am nervous about that. But I'm just going to ask straight out, no grand gestures or anything. Nothing to freak her out."
"I think that's a good idea," John agrees.
"You two still aren't going?"
John looks at Sherlock. Sherlock shakes his head.
"Guess not," John says.
"That's too bad," Declan says.
The next morning, John's luck changes. They're standing at Sherlock's locker, along with Duke. Duke and Sherlock both complain about their anatomy reports while the other two talk about how easy it was.
As they're about to go to class, Olive shows up with them.
"Hey guys," Olive greets.
"Do you have a case?" Sherlock asks before anyone can greet her back.
"What? No."
Sherlock turns away. "Boring."
John shakes his head and turns to Olive. "What's up?"
"John, uhm..." she is clearly nervous, not a look John's seen on her. "I was wondering if you'd go to Winter Formal with me?"
Sherlock whirls around, stunned. Declan and Duke look at him as if waiting for his reaction.
"Oh, uhm..." John mutters.
"Does she not know..." Duke whispers to Sherlock.
"Of course I know, you clot," Olive says. "I'm not blind. I'm asking because my parents are using it as blackmail. They want me to socialize more, so they say if I go to the dance with an actual date then they'll drop my two month grounding."
"Oh," John mutters. "Well that's-"
"Just pretend to be heterosexual for an evening and I'll owe you big time. And that's why I'm asking you, because obviously being my date won't mean anything. My parents don't have to find out that you're gay."
John bites his lip. He does want to go, and Olive is easy going enough that he'd have a good time.
"Why not ask Duke?" Declan asks.
"I'm already going with Jenny to double date with my brother and Margo."
Olive nods in understanding.
John looks at Sherlock.
"I'll give you some time to think about it," Olive says. "Just let me know on time to ask someone else, if you don't want to..." she glances at Sherlock, "Or can't."
John nods. "Sure," he says. "Thanks for the invite."
Olive politely smiles, then leaves the boys.
Declan closes his locker as soon as Olive leaves. "I'm going...away..." he says, then turns around to leave.
"I'll go with you," Duke says, following Declan.
John takes Declan's place in front of Sherlock and looks up at him. "So?"
Sherlock coldly replies, "I believe you were invited, not me."
"Come on, babe," John tries. "She asked me because she knows I'm with you. You heard her."
"Yes, but-"
"But what? I'm your boyfriend?"
Sherlock nods.
"Then go with me."
"I don't want to."
"Then let me go with Olive and my friends. I could make this decision on my own, I don't need your permission. I just want to know that you're not going to dump me if I take a girl to the dance."
"Of course I'm not going to dump you, John."
"Then I can handle spending the rest of the month making it up to you."
Sherlock looks at him, right in the eye. "You really want to go?"
John nods.
Sherlock sighs. "Alright. Have fun with Olive, then. And I'm going over Friday night after the dance to get her stench off of you."
John grins. "Oh, now I'm really looking forward to this."
Sherlock rolls his eyes and begins to walk down the hall.
Sherlock doesn't know when Clement plans to go to the school to complain about Vince, but he just so happens to be going to the bathroom when Clement exits the office.
"Dad?" Sherlock calls down the hall, going to Clement.
Clement meets him halfway and greets him with a tight hug, kissing his cheek.
"What happened?" Sherlock asks, nervous but comforted by his dad's arms around him.
"Well," Clement starts, pulling away. "Vince's parents joined, as well, and he was expelled."
"Expelled? So…"
"So, he's gone."
Sherlock sighs relief. "That's amazing."
Clement glances down at his shoes.
Sherlock watches his dad and knows he's hiding something. "What?"
"The expulsion is temporary, pending a conference with the other kids who were in the library at the time."
"Ok, so? Everyone saw him do that to me, you heard Declan last night."
"Declan and John aren't allowed to be interviewed. Luckily, neither is Perry and their other friends."
"Alright, well, everyone still saw. Why is this bad?"
Clement places a hand on his shoulder. "Because you're kind of a butthead, son. We need to be prepared if people lie."
"They wouldn't—"
"We just need to be prepared."
Sherlock nods.
"I'm looking into different schools this afternoon."
"What?! No, Dad, I'm not—"
"You are, Sherlock. If Vince stays at this school, you're leaving."
"But Dad—"
"No 'buts', Sherlock. If Vince stays, you aren't."
Sherlock shakes his head. He's about to talk back, but Clement raises his hand.
"Enough. We'll talk later. Come straight home."
Sherlock scowls. "I still need to do my paper."
"You can do it at home."
For the first time, almost ever, Sherlock feels angry at his dad. He just glares.
"I'm sorry, Sherlock. You know this is for the best."
"Just like it was for the best that Mycroft go to New York?"
Clement visibly turns angry. "Drop the attitude, Sherlock. I'm your dad and you're my son, and I want what's best for you. Getting your arse kicked every day isn't what's best for you."
Sherlock doesn't reply.
"I'll see you later," Clement says.
Sherlock just turns around and walks away.
He gets a text not even fifteen minutes later.
From Mycroft Holmes Be nice to Dad. We all want you to be safe. Even John would have to agree.
Sherlock ignores the text and resumes his day.
A/N: badwold92myers kind of asked for Olive to return, and I had planned to bring her back anyway! I liked her, too. Hope you enjoy, and if you're interested I'm recommending my newest story, 30 Day OTP Challenge (NSFW-version). I had writer's block and just decided, what the heck? So please review, they're always appreciated!