A/N: WARNING for violence.
John spends the entire weekend at Sherlock's house, only leaving once on Saturday to retrieve a set of clothes from his own house. Clement, of course, wants him to be there. He lets John know that he wants John to be there first hand for any developments.
But there are no developments. Lestrade makes it clear that if they're dealing with an abduction, that they need to be prepared for phone calls that may eventually lead to a ransom. But there are no phone calls. There are no reports of Sherlock spotted anywhere in the city, and eventually the country.
Clement makes John go to school on Monday, claiming that he doesn't want John to get into any trouble his last two weeks of school.
John desperately doesn't want to go. He never feels right about being there without Sherlock, but now he knows he'll be unable to focus on anything when Sherlock is out there in the world and nobody knows what's happening to him.
When he gets to school, he immediately regrets it.
Somehow word got out about Sherlock's unknown whereabouts, and as he walks the hall, everyone stares at him.
"Is nothing sacred anymore?" he asks as Olive and Lane join him at his locker.
"I'm sorry," she says, sounding genuine.
"Hey," Lane speaks up. "Is there anything you want us to do? Anything at all, don't hesitate to ask."
"Get me out of here?" John asks.
Lane looks at Olive as if he doesn't know what to do or say.
"I'm sorry," John says. "I just really don't want to be here."
Olive pats his shoulder.
"Thank you though," John adds.
Lane nods.
The three walk to class, dodging gazes and sorrowful eyes. John doesn't want to see that. He doesn't want to see the questioning looks people have, wondering if Sherlock is dead or something. Surely they don't know the whole story, about the murderer and such, but conclusions can be met pretty quickly after hearing that someone is missing and has been for over sixty hours.
The entire morning goes on like this. Nobody dares as him any questions, but they have no problem whispering behind his back. He's no Sherlock, but he's at least bright enough to notice things.
It's no better by lunch, and since every student is crammed into the cafeteria at this time, it's actually worse. He marches through the tables, lunchless because he hasn't been able to eat lately, avoiding stares and eye contact with everyone whose head turns to watch him pass.
John finally makes it to his table of friends and throws himself down on a seat. With these people, he doesn't really mind them looking at him with sorry eyes. Since they're also directly affected by Sherlock's disappearance, their hugs actually make him feel better.
"How're you, mate?" Harvey asks.
Jenna hugs him sideways, her head resting on his shoulder.
John shrugs. "Not great."
"Nothing new?" Duke asks.
John shakes his head.
"Anything we can do?"
John looks around at the people staring at their table. "Get all these people to mind their own fucking business?" he asks, loudly enough for people tables over to hear.
A few people scatter their gaze, blushing as they do, and a few people lean over to whisper something in their neighbor's ear.
John rolls his eyes. "I can't believe nobody else has anything better to do than to stare at me."
"Sorry pal," Brady tells him.
John nods. "Please, guys, can we talk about something else?"
Harvey takes the invitation and starts talking about the football game they had on Saturday. John stops listening, not wishing to actually talk about anything else but wishing for everyone to stop talking about him.
John becomes aware a few minutes later that someone is staring down at him. John slowly looks up, finding the face of Jack, the old friend of Sherlock's bully, Vince.
"So," Jack says, "What's new John?"
John stares at him. "What do you want?"
Jack grins. "Just wanted to let you know that there's probably a long list of people who'd want your faggot boyfriend dead."
John is up in a flash, jumping at Jack and grabbing his shirt collar. John pushes him back until Jack is against a table, then pushes again until Jack is laying back on it. The kids sitting at the table scatter.
"Don't you fucking dare say those words to me, Jack!" He lifts Jack off the table enough to slam him back down. "Don't you fucking dare!"
Jack laughs so he does it again, making sure Jack's head slams harder on the solid table.
"Mr. Watson!" a teacher yells.
Something in John's head tells him to make the smile disappear from Jack's face, but before he can, he's pulled away from the table. He knows Declan is holding him, and he wants to yell at Declan to let him go, but he can't. All he can do is start to cry, as if all the anxiety he'd been holding in while at Sherlock's house is finally pouring out.
Declan's arms wrap around him and John can feel him shaking. He sobs against John, too.
John and Declan are both escorted to the office, where they're both instructed to wait for the counselor. She returns to her office only five minutes later, then the boys take turns with her.
John goes first, wanting to get out of there quickly. She looks genuinely concerned, unlike all the kids in the school who keep staring at him. At the end of their talk, she tells John that he should see a grief counselor. John has to agree for him to be able to leave the office, but he doesn't want to see a counselor.
Of course, the school has to call John's mother after the incident. By the time he gets home that afternoon, to his own home, John's mother has already made an appointment for the next afternoon.
The light in his eyes is bright. It's not a good sign that his eyes are already sensitive.
"How was your nap, Sherlock?"
Sherlock closes his eyes again.
"Open up," Ben demands, prying Sherlock's eyes open with his own fingers.
Sherlock whines, but he holds his eyes open and Ben lets him go.
"It's time we have a chat about what you did."
Sherlock doesn't say anything. Not that there's anything to say. Not that he could form words if he wanted, his mouth is so dry that he can't move his lips.
Ben snaps his fingers and someone rushes into the room. He's got a mask and gloves on, so all Sherlock knows is that it's a man. He goes over to Sherlock and kneels in front of him, tugging Sherlock's hands (that are ziptied in front of him) and slowly inserts an IV to Sherlock's hand. It's to keep him from getting dehydrated. He's probably only been out an hour or so.
"Anyway," Ben says. "I'm very upset Sherlock. Why did you run to that stupid cop friend of yours?"
Sherlock doesn't say anything. It's not like Ben wants a real answer.
"I asked you who I should kill, your boyfriend or that girl."
Sherlock looks at him. Ben isn't the kind of people to pose idle threats. His heart nearly stops.
"You should've seen it, Sherlock. It was some of my best work, I assure you."
Tears sting Sherlock's eyes. The thought of one of them being gone…
"Oh, quit your fucking crying."
A tear falls. Sherlock can't help it.
"I said stop crying!" Ben yells, striking Sherlock across the face.
Sherlock just lets him. He couldn't stop it anyway.
Ben starts to laugh. "That was quite nice actually," he says, pulling back and hitting Sherlock again.
Sherlock cries harder. Realization hits that he's probably going to die here. Die without being able to say goodbye. Die without anybody knowing where he is.
Ben laughs again. He reaches behind him and produces a roll of duct tape.
"So I can't hear your crying," he says, ripping off a piece and pressing it to Sherlock's mouth.
He's so close that Sherlock needs to look away. He closes his eyes and tries to lower his head, but Ben grabs his face and squeezes tight.
"Look at me," Ben says.
Sherlock struggles to open his eyes.
"You've made me very angry, Sherlock. Very angry. I thought we had an agreement. You broke that agreement. What am I to do with you next? And I can't let you go after this, you'd tattle again. There is no scenario where you walk out of here alive, do you understand?"
Sherlock lets out a tiny sob.
"Shut up!" Ben yells, right in Sherlock's face, before standing again. He pulls back a tight fist, then punches Sherlock right in the nose.
"God!" Ben yells. "You make me so fucking angry!"
Thankfully, Ben goes to the door. He snaps his fingers again and the IV guy runs into the room. He goes to Sherlock, and Sherlock feels a pinch in his arm a second later.
The last thing he hears is the door slam shut.