Sherlock takes the weekend slow. Clement doesn't let anyone over to the house besides John, even Olive. Since he didn't get to visit Mycroft, Mycroft takes the weekend to work double so he could take the time off when Sherlock can visit in another month. Because of this, Sherlock doesn't even talk to him until Sunday night when they have a Skype lunch/dinner date.

Mycroft winces when Sherlock's still-swollen and bruised face appears on the screen.

"Dear Brother," Mycroft says. "You look positively—"

"Save it," Sherlock says, his mouth a little bit easier to open since the fight. "I know. I own a mirror."

Mycroft shakes his head. "Has Lestrade called about anything to do with the charges?"

"He's your boyfriend. You, of all people, are allowed to call him by his first name."

"He's Lestrade when he's working for me."

"Kinky."

"Sherlock!"

Sherlock grins. "Anyway," he says. "I haven't talked to him. Dad won't let me. I guess it's up to you or Dad to handle."

"I'll ask about it when I speak with him later."

"You going to Skype with him as soon as we hang up?"

Mycroft glares at Sherlock. "You're not funny."

"I'm not trying to be."

Mycroft rolls his eyes. "Anyway. Are you going back to school tomorrow?"

Sherlock nods. "I have to. I've got an anatomy test."

"That's nice and distracting."

Sherlock shrugs. "John said he'll give me a new case."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"I think so. Olive can help. She's good at deductions."

"Ahh yes. The girl."

Sherlock notes the emphasis Mycroft put on 'the girl', as if implying something. "Why do you say it like that?"

"She is a girl, isn't she?"

"Yes," Sherlock says. "But the tone you used."

"I didn't mean anything by it."

Sherlock glares at him. "Alright."

They continue their meal not talking about anything important, but Sherlock continues to wonder what Mycroft meant in asking about Olive.

The next day, he gets back to school and their friends find him before school starts.

Duke greets him with a tight hug and Dane pats his shoulder.

"Oh, uh…"

"John told us everything that happened," Dane explains. "Duke was worried sick, but John said you couldn't take any calls."

Duke pulls back to hold Sherlock at arms length. "We were so worried!"

"Uh…"

Duke wraps his arms around Sherlock again.

"Let him breathe!" Sherlock hears right before Duke pulls away. Olive's standing right next to Duke, and Lane behind her. She rubs Sherlock's shoulder. "You ok?"

Sherlock nods. "I can open my mouth more, see?" He cracks his mouth open further than he had been able to last week, but it's still not open all the way.

"That's good," Olive says.

"Except I'm allowed to eat real food now."

Their friends laugh.

John arrives a second later, and he discreetly kisses Sherlock twice while they stand around talking. Sherlock happily lets John hold him close, not caring about the few stares they get in the hall.

When they go to class, they run into Lily and Harvey.

"Sherlock!" Lily cries as soon as she sees him. She rushes to him and delicately touches his cheek. "My darling, what happened?"

"I, uh…" he glances at John, mindful of not telling everyone the whole story. "I was in an accident."

Lily frowns deeply as she leans over to kiss his cheek, which he is used to her doing, and Harvey reaches to shake his hand.

"Bad arse look for you, little dude," Harvey says.

This makes Sherlock smile.

Throughout the morning, everyone he talks to on a regular basis asks him about his bruises. He just says he was in an accident, which is enough of an explanation for everyone.

With ten minutes left in his class before lunch, Sherlock gets a note to go to the office. He doesn't know if he's in trouble, or why he would be, but he's nervous nonetheless.

He's sent right into Headmaster Card's office as he arrives.

"Mister Holmes," Card greets. "Please, have a seat."

Sherlock uneasily sits in the chair across.

"You're not in trouble, son. I have a…a favor to ask."

"Sir?"

"Someone's thought it a funny joke to let crickets loose in the library. And we do not know who."

Sherlock cracks a smile. "You want me to figure out who did it?"

Card nods. "Yes. In exchange, I can offer you—"

"I don't require payment, sir."

Card nods. "Do you agree to help?"

"Of course," Sherlock says. "I'm honored."

"Well, after what you and Watson did for Miss Fox, you were an obvious choice."

Sherlock nods, then without noticing tries to adjust his stiff jaw.

Card watches him. "Son, do you mind me asking what happened to your jaw?"

Sherlock stops and just looks at Card.

"Your father said there was some sort of incident. Is it anything I or the school should know about?"

"It's…kind of private, sir."

"I should know about what's going on with my students, son. Did something happen at home?"

"Not…my home." Sherlock sighs. "I was defending John from his father."

Cards nods. "When was this?"

"Thursday. Right after school."

"Is that what the commotion was just past the fence?"

Sherlock nods. "It's taken care of now, sir."

"I should hope so. Some students have a lot of problems after something like this happens. Is there anything I should look out for? I have to call John in for a meeting with the counselor now. As a matter of fact, you should, too."

"I understand, sir. John seems fine, he says he's fine, but…he does this thing where he holds it all in until he can't take it anymore. When we were thirteen and his dad was arrested the last time, he didn't talk about it at all for, like, a week, and then he just lost it at school. He started yelling at our teacher, she had to send us students out of the room. It was so out of character for John; I've known him for ten years, six at that point, and I'd never seen him act that way. Asking him if he's ok isn't enough, so I think it would help a lot for him to see the counselor."

Card takes it all in. He jots down a quick note on the paper in front of him, then asks, "Do you want to see the counselor together?"

Sherlock shakes his head. "He needs to see someone alone."

Card nods. "Thank you, Sherlock. This is all very helpful. If we can prevent John…"

"Having a breakdown," Sherlock joins in.

"Having a breakdown," Card agrees. "Then we need to do everything we can to do that."

Sherlock nods. "Of course, sir."

"As for the crickets. I'd appreciate you looking for clues, or whatever it is you need, after school."

"Yes, sir."

Card stands and extends a hand for Sherlock to shake. "Thank you, Mister Holmes."

"Thank you, sir."

Sherlock meets John in the cafeteria, where he is sitting with Declan and Ellery.

"What's up?" John asks, patting Sherlock's back as he sits down.

"Headmaster Card wants me to find who set crickets loose in the library."

Declan laughs. "I was in there. That was hilarious."

"Did you see anyone do it?" Sherlock asks.

Declan shakes his head. "No, they were in another isle."

"Who was in the library at that time?"

"Let's see…" Declan names the six people who were in the library at the time. Two people he doesn't know, but the other three were Kennedy, Lane, and Wyatt.

"It was Lane," Sherlock announces as he copies down everyone Declan named.

John shakes his head. "No it wasn't!"

"It could have been."

"What?" Declan asks, "You don't like Lane?"

"Lane is so nice!" Ellery adds.

Sherlock glares at them.

"Sherlock looooooves Olive," John teases.

Declan and Ellery laugh while Sherlock looks at him in shock and horror.

"I do not loooooove her!"

John laughs. "I'm kidding, babe."

Sherlock still scowls.

John leans over and rubs his nose on Sherlock's shoulder.

"So Sherlock," Declan starts, "What kind of clues are you going to look for in this case?"

Sherlock shrugs. "First, I'll ask everyone who was there with you. Then, I'll ask the librarian. And…I don't know. I'll find something."

Declan nods in understanding.

They begin to talk about other things, mostly Declan tells them about his trip to New York, but Sherlock just thinks about the crickets.

Their next class after lunch is anatomy, and Sherlock is actually pretty confident about his quiz. He had extra time to study, since he missed it on Friday, and he takes it without second guessing his answers.

Right after the bell rings, his teacher, Mrs. Scott, calls Sherlock back to talk.

"Sherlock," Mrs. Scott says, "I know anatomy isn't your area and I've tried to cut you some slack because of how much you are capable of excelling in other sciences. But I can't continue making excuses for you."

Sherlock just looks at her. "Uh…"

She passes him a piece of paper that reads "PROGRESS REPORT" on the top. On the bottom, there's a big, fat "F".

Sherlock frowns deeply. "I'm failing?"

"I'm sorry, Sherlock. There's nothing I can do."

Sherlock continues frowning. "What can I do?"

"I can offer extra credit assignments, but you have to complete them and get at least C's on all of them to bring your grade up to a C."

Sherlock nods in understanding. "Can I have the work?"

"I can have it for you tomorrow. You have to get that signed by a parent before I can give it to you."

Sherlock sighs.

"I'm sorry, Sherlock."

"It's okay," Sherlock says. "It's my fault."

"It's not your area, I understand. When I was in school, I was terrible at writing. My teacher knew it wasn't a strong place for me so she, too, took it easy on me. Just try a little bit harder, okay?"

Sherlock nods. "Okay. Thank you."

Mrs. Scott gives him a sorry look. "I'll have that work tomorrow."

Sherlock just nods once, then leaves the room.

John's waiting right outside the classroom when he emerges.

"What happened?" John asks.

Sherlock hands over the paper.

"Failing?! How?!"

Sherlock shrugs.

John gives the paper back. "I'm sorry, love. Anything I can do?"

"Tutor me?"

John cracks a smile. "Tutor you?"

"Yes. Is something amusing?"

"It's just…" John chuckles. "Ten years of 'Sherlock can help' and 'Just ask Sherlock', and now you're asking me for help."

Sherlock glares at him.

"I'm sorry, I need to hold this feeling as long as I can."

Sherlock shoves him and stomps away down the hall.

John laughs and trots after him.

After school, Sherlock goes to the library to look for clues. Not all of the crickets are gone, which actually makes him laugh, and the librarian says she didn't see anyone do it.

She does point him towards where she thinks they were let out, and that's back at the secluded table.

Sherlock starts looking around for any sort of clue. He knows fingerprints are a long shot, so he looks for something solid.

What he finds is a crumpled up receipt for three dozen crickets at a pet store.

"Perfect," he says to himself, leaving the area.

As he's walking out, Sherlock just so happens to look up at the ceiling and notice, for the first time, a security camera. He wonders how long it's been there, why he never noticed it, and if it reaches the entirety of the library.

When Sherlock gets out of the library and down to his locker, he finds John standing there talking to Harvey, Lily, and Duke.

"Anything?" John asks as Sherlock approaches.

Sherlock holds up the receipt. "This was left behind."

John takes it. "I know where that is. We can go right now."

"One thing first," Sherlock says. "Has anyone ever noticed the security cameras in the library?"

"Cameras?" everyone repeats.

"Yeah. I just noticed it now. I'm thinking if it's on, it can show us who was in the library."

"Who would be in charge of cameras?" Duke asks.

Harvey snaps his fingers. "I got you, little dude." He suddenly sits on the floor and pulls his laptop out of his backpack.

Lily huffs. "Do we have to do this here?"

Sherlock follows Harvey to the ground and watches with interest.

"Apparently," John tells her.

Harvey's in the school network in minutes, and a minute after that he's hooked to the school security cameras.

"Library?" Harvey asks to be sure.

Sherlock nods, pointing to one camera. "That one."

Harvey gets the camera open and figures out how to look at past footage, so they go back to the hour that Declan has free period in the library.

They fast-forward through the recording to when the kids visible start looking around, as if something odd is happening. There is no audio, but it's pretty clear that that's when the crickets were released.

All of the kids are rushed out of the library by the librarian, and right then is the time that the bell would ring.

"Keep it on," Sherlock instructs.

They continuing watching, and sure enough, a hooded figure walks out from behind the bookshelves and slips out the door, but not before glancing over their shoulder and grinning. It's the side of their face, and they can tell it's a boy.

"Can you crop just his face and make it clearer?"

"What is this, a crime show? No, that's it."

Sherlock rolls his eyes and takes a picture of the screen with his phone.

"Anyone recognize him?"

The others present shake their head.

Sherlock nods and examines the receipt again. "I guess we ask elsewhere."

Sherlock's jaw begins to hurt as they walk home, so he decides that tomorrow would be a good time to visit the pet shop.

"Don't you think your dad is going to make you go home right after school?" John asks.

"Oh," Sherlock sighs. "I forgot about my anatomy grade. I guess I'll just lie."

"Saying?"

"Saying I'm staying at school to complete the assignments and instead go to the pet shop."

"If you say so."

John denies joining them for dinner, saying his mother is home and wants to spend time with him. They part at their joining street corner, sharing a few light kisses before leaving.

Clement's in the den when Sherlock gets home, so he decides it's now or never to discuss his grade in anatomy.

Sherlock lightly knocks on the door, and Clement calls for him to enter.

"What's up, son?"

Sherlock clears his throat. "I, uh, I…"

Clement just watches him.

Sherlock takes the progress report out of his bag and slowly hands it to Clement.

Clement takes his time to read it, then sighs. "Sherlock, Sherlock."

"I know…"

"Failing? How, son?"

Sherlock shrugs.

"It's the cases and John staying over so much, isn't it? I knew all of this was too much for you."

"It's not that!" Sherlock tries. "I just…I hate anatomy. I'm no good at it. I can't remember that stuff like I can remember chemistry. It's not anything else Dad, I promise."

"What are you going to do to get this grade up?"

"Mrs. Scott is collecting extra credit work for me."

"Until the work is done, Sherlock, I'm taking your phone away and you can't spend as much time with your friends."

Sherlock's jaw drops as much as it can. "Dad!"

"You're not arguing your way out of this, Sherlock. This is really, really bad."

Sherlock frowns.

Clement holds his hand up for Sherlock to give his phone over. Sherlock does, but he isn't happy about it.

"This isn't fair."

"Tough."

Sherlock doesn't say anything else, he just gets up and storms out of the room, leaving his backpack there with Clement.

Since he left his bag and homework downstairs, Sherlock decides to take a nap before dinner. He wakes up nearly two hours later still feeling angry, but he goes downstairs to eat with Clement.

Dinner is silent, so Sherlock eats as quickly as possible. He rushes back upstairs as soon as he's done eating to get on Skype and hopefully catch John.

As soon as he signs on, Mycroft pops up.

Sherlock accepts his call, even though he really doesn't want to.

"What do you want?"

"Be nice to Dad."

"I wasn't aware that I was being mean."

"You shouted and it's your fault you're failing. Why didn't you ask for help?"

Sherlock shrugs. "I didn't think I needed it that badly."

"No? F's on all of your tests wasn't enough of an indication?"

"Shut up, Mycroft."

"Be nice to Dad. No cases until your grade is up, plus Dad's only agreed to let you come visit if you get up to a C."

"When can I visit?"

"Three weeks. Plenty of time to do everything you can to get your grade up."

"Fine," Sherlock says. He notices John appear online. "Can I go now?"

Mycroft hangs up before saying anything else.

Sherlock rolls his eyes and calls John.

John looks concerned as his face pops onto the screen. "Hey, where've you been?"

"My dad took my phone away," Sherlock pouts.

"Because of your grade?"

"No, for fun," Sherlock sarcastically says.

John scowls.

Sherlock rubs his face. "I'm sorry, I'm just…"

"Grumpy."

Sherlock frowns at the screen. "I miss you."

"I know," John says. "I miss you, too. Are you still going to be able to go to the pet store tomorrow?"

Sherlock shrugs. "I may have to send Olive."

"Why not me?" John asks, offended.

"Because if I stay at school to work on anatomy, I want you to stay with me."

"Oh," John says, slightly less offended. "Do you still want me to help you?"

"No," Sherlock says, "I just want you to sit there and look cute."

John begins to blush while he slowly cracks a smile.

"Just like that," Sherlock says, grinning.

John rubs the embarrassment off his face.

"I love you," Sherlock says.

"I love you more," John replies.

"Don't start this, Watson."

"What're you going to do about it, Holmes?"

Sherlock laughs. "I'll show you tomorrow. At school."

"Oh yeah? And how are you going to show me?"

"I'm going to kiss you in front of everybody."

"You do that anyway."

"I'll make it a good one."

"You usually do."

Sherlock picks up his laptop and takes it to his bed, resting it on the bed next to his head and laying down facing it.

"Tired?" John asks, watching him fondly.

Sherlock nods and yawns.

"Go to bed, love."

"It's only seven o'clock," Sherlock argues.

John shrugs. "You've got nothing better to do. I'm going to do homework."

"Stay on with me!" Sherlock whines.

"I am! I've just got a few assignments to finish."

Sherlock nods and snuggles deeper into his bed. "It's lonely without you."

"I'll stay over this weekend."

"You had better."

John laughs.

Sherlock watches John do his work without saying anything more. He watches John's beautifully concentrated face; the way John continuously licks his lips, the way John's eyebrows knit together. He loves the look on John's face, and John makes him more relaxed without noticing.

John glances up at his screen to see Sherlock's perfect, sleeping face. He smiles widely and longs so badly to kiss Sherlock goodnight.

"I love you, baby," John says, then exits out of the chat.

Clement goes up to Sherlock's bedroom around nine o'clock to make sure Sherlock isn't still pouting. Instead, he finds Sherlock asleep next to his laptop. This makes him smile, knowing he was sleep Skyping with John (again). He takes Sherlock's laptop back to his desk, then turns off the light and leaves Sherlock to sleep the rest of the night.