sherlock chose the place for dinner. it wasn't fancy, but it was nice. they could've walked, but mrs hudson demanded they take a cab because her hip, so they did. sherlock knew the owner of the restaurant, angelo. he had helped him get off a murder charge and now sherlock was welcomed here any time. they sat at at a table, john sitting next to sherlock and mrs hudson sitting across from them.

"you boys seemed to have fun upsatirs," mrs hudson smiled. "what were you doing?"

sherlock and john looked at each other then looked at mrs hudson. "we were testing some theories for john's study." sherlock said quickly.

john nodded. "it was fantastic when we discovered something that worked, ya know?" he smiled at mrs hudson.

"i did read about you in a magazine at the clinic. the trials you're doing, is that what you were testing?"

john nodded as he took a sip of his drink. "sherlock's my intern, since he helped with it the last time i was down here. he fixed the whole thing."

"i only made a few corrections because his math was wrong." sherlock said softly, looking down.

john smiled slightly at the boy and placed a hand on his thigh. "he helped out a lot."

sherlock blushed slightly and sat up straight, clearing his throat.

"i think we should order, don't you?" mrs hudson asked john.

john nodded. "yes." he said then called over the waiter, removing his hand from sherlock's thigh and resting his arm on the back of his chair.

mrs hudson noticed how they acted during dinner. of course she noticed. she thought it was adorable the way john made sherlock smile and laugh and how he showered sherlock in compliments was just so sweet. john was good for sherlock and she hoped he would stick around because sherlock needed someone like him. she was nervous to ask if they were a thing, but john was married, so it confused her so she just left it. but the way they acted was clear that they were more than just friends. john was staying with sherlock and it was clear that he was not sleeping in the spare room because mrs hudson was pretty sure that testing didn't involve the bed creaking.

when they left, they sent mrs hudson in a cab back to the flat while they walked around for a bit. dinner wasn't terrible at all, it went great and sherlock was thankful because mrs hudson normally embarrasses sherlock when he's with a friend.

they walked through the park and there was a lot if other people walking around too, couples more in fact. no one would notice, so john walked closer to sherlock and intertwined his fingers with the boy's. sherlock didn't pull his hand away. he looked down at their hands then blushed, looking back up. he smiled slightly and held john's hand back and john smiled, glancing at sherlock.

"can we stop by the hotel?" john asked. "i want to get my phone from mary."

sherlock nodded. "i'm staying in the lobby though."

"that's fine." john said as he changed their walking direction, going the way of the hotel. when they left the park, sherlock let go of john's hand and walked a little further away from him. john was a bit disappointed about it, but then he shouldn't be seen holding hands with his 'intern'. so they walked side by side to the hotel and sherlock stayed in the lobby while john went to his penthouse. when he walked in, mary was standing in front of the door, leaning against the back of the sofa dressed up in black lingerie with her robe over it.

"was wondering when you'd get back." mary said as she walked over to john.

"i came back for my phone." he said and pushed mary to the side, going to the bedroom. he went over to mary's stuff and started digging through it.

"sex seems to be the problem with our marriage." mary said as she sat on the bed and watched john. "why don't we see if we can fix it?"

"you're the problem with our marriage." john said and found is phone. he grinned and stood up, putting the phone in his pocket. "nothing will fix this marriage now." he said as he went to the bathroom and grabbed his toothbrush.

"well if you divorce me, you get nothing." mary said as she watched john.

john walked out of the bedroom. "that's what you think."

mary got off the bed and ran after him. "what're you doing?" she asked as she saw john go through her wallet.

john took all her credit cards out and cut them up, throwing them into the trash. "saving money." he said. "don't try to contact the bank and get new ones either. you are not allowed to touch anything in my bank account."

mary stared at him. "what am i supposed to do for money then?" she asked.

john shrugged, "get a job, or ask one of those men you fuck for cash, i'm sure they'd love to be a whore's sugar daddy."

"it's not like you're that sugar daddy to that slut you've been fucking," mary grinned as she watched john put his angry face on. "i did some research. apparently your little mistress used to be a stripper and he was busted for drugs many of times. there's reports about him too. i think there's one where an anonymous source said that he was sleeping with the married, dr. watson. should be careful, johnny, he might be carrying a disease."

john went over to mary and pushed her roughly against the wall, putting his forearm against her throat. "you are a lying cunt that i never trusted." john growled, adding pressure to mary's throat, her eyes widening. "sherlock gives it to me way better than you ever did and you know what? i don't care what you tell the media, cause i will tell them that you aren't the hurt wife that you say to be. i will tell them who you have fucked, names and all and i will make sure that no one else trusts you. got it?"

mary nodded, whimpering.

"good." john said and stepped away, storming out of the penthouse. he took the time in the elevator to calm himself down. he successfully did, but when he walked to the lobby he saw sherlock being crowded by a dozen of reports. the anger boiled back up inside of him and he texted his driver, then went over to the crowd and stood behind them, clearing his throat. all the reporters turned to him, putting the cameras in his face. "the accusations made against mr holmes and i, are false. i made him my intern the last time i was here in london, because he had helped with my study and he is continuing to help me with my study. i ask of you to stay of my personal life, and out of mr holmeses personal life. thank you."

he went through the crowd and grabbed sherlock's hand, pulling him through the crowd and out of the hotel and to the car. the went quickly as the reporters chased after them, taking pictures and yelling questions at john. the driver drove off quickly. sherlock sat on the other side of the car, keeping his knees up to his chest. john watched him and sighed sadly. "i'm sorry, i didn't know mary would do that."

"stop." sherlock said softly, looking out the window. "just stop."

john sighed and looked into his lap. he glanced at sherlock before looking out his window.

when they got back to the flat sherlock got out of the car as soon as it stopped and went up to the flat. john got out after sherlock went inside, leaving the door open for john. when john made it up to the flat, he stood in the door way and watched sherlock who was sitting in the blue leather chair, knees pulled to his chest again. john went over and sat in the red chair across from him, watching the boy. "mary said some things, and i want to know if they are true." john said and watched the boy.

"what'd she say?" sherlock asked, closing his eyes as he took a breath in.

"that you, you were a stripper and that you were part of drugs busts. is that true?" john asked softly.

sherlock squeezed his eyes shut tightly, not answering john.

"is it true, sherlock?"

"there's a spare bedroom upstairs that mrs hudson made up, you can sleep up there." sherlock said shakily.

"sherlock." john said.

sherlock completely shut his mind off, getting lost in mind palace. he didn't want john to find out about that. he didn't want john to think of him as some drugged up whore. he only did it to pay for uni because his parents wouldn't. it was just four years. four years that sherlock forgot about until now. he hoped john would under stand that he wasn't ready to talk about it with him yet.

john sighed and got up from the chair, going to sherlock's bedroom and getting his suit case. he carried up to the spare room, laying it on the neatly made bed, opening it back up again and taking out a pair of sweat pants. he undressed then put the sweat pants on, moving the suit case onto the floor then laying down on the bed. he wondered if he should look sherlock up on the internet, but he decided it was best to actually hear if from sherlock than from some lying source on the computer. he sighed and leaned over the edge of the bed, grabbing his trousers and pulling his phone out of the pocket. it was dead so he had to get up and get the charger from his suitcase, plugging it into the wall. he plug the charger into his phone then laid down again, staring at the dimly lit ceiling. his phone started to go off with notifications after a few minutes and i woke john up. he sighed and put on an alarm encase he didn't wake up in time for his first seminar, then turned his phone on do not disturb, falling asleep again.

sherlock pulled himself out of his mind palace, ready to tell john about his past. he went up to the spare room and pushed the door open slowly, hearing john snoring. he closed the door behind him then sat on the end of the bed, watching the man sleep. "john." he said softly, poking his foot.

"hmm?" john hummed, annoyed.

"wake up." sherlock said, poking his calf this time.

john groaned and sat up, turning the bedside lamp on. "what time is it?" he asked, rubbing his face.

"quarter after one." sherlock said. "i want you to sit and listen to what i have to say, then you can speak. got it?"

john nodded, leaning against the head board, watching the boy.

sherlock sighed. "when i was in uni, my parents wouldn't pay for it, so i had to and the only way i could get that much money was to become a stripper, so that's what i did. in my third year, it got more expensive because i took classes that the university didn't offer, so i had to go to a different campus and take them. at that point, i started selling myself to rich men who paid top dollar for me to have at their parties. i never let any of them touch me. i swear. but i did touch them. i gave them what they wanted for more money." sherlock sighed shakily and closed his eyes. "i new it was going to happen, but i went to parties of drug lords that got busted, but i never went to prison because of my brother. i went to multiple of those parties, but i never took any thing, i swear."

john opened his mouth to speak, but sherlock stopped him.

"before you say anything, i am clean. i have monthly check ups and paper work to show you if you don't belive me."

"i do." john said. he nodded, "i do believe you, but i wish you would've told me this at the beginning."

"i thought it would ruin everything." sherlock admitted.

john scooted closer to sherlock and held his hands. "it wouldn't have." he said softly. "but i really wish you would've told me so i didn't have to learn about it from mary."

sherlock sighed, "i know, i'm sorry. did she really tell the press about us?"

john nodded. "i'll call my defense lawyer in the morning to get everything cleared. i'm sorry, i didn't know she would."

"it was bound to come out sooner or later." sherlock said.

they sat in silence for a bit before john pulled sherlock next to him, laying down. sherlock took his jeans off, getting under the duvet with john, nuzzling his chest. john turned the lamp off and held sherlock protectively, kissing the top of his head. "nothing will get out, i promise." john said softly. "promise." he whispered into sherlock's curls, gently playing with them.

sherlock let out a little hum and nodded, falling asleep slowly, john joining him soon after.