"Oh look who's here, our little bundle of sob story."

John was greeted by the sardonic retort of Moran whose smile would've been on the border of pleasant if not for his downright rude commentary.

"And I see our favourite attention hogger is as snobby as before." John crossed his arms and scowled.

"Prickly like a little hedgehog, are we?"

John rolled his eyes, "I'm not here for you anyways, I'm here to see Sherlock."

"Hey John."

John's attention was turned to his right where Sherlock was sitting and scrolling through his phone. His face was decorated by bruises and cuts with a black eye and a square white bandage stuck on his prominently swollen cheek.

"I thought I deserved a little more attention for being late to class just to check in on you." John sighed smiling a little sadly as he made his way to the armchair where Sherlock sat.

"Hmm, well if I was less worthy to you than science class I'd be absolutely heart broken." Sherlock rolled his eyes before attempting to crack a small smile but failed miserably wincing from the bruises on his face. "It's not like you actually enjoy science."

"You're only partly right, I just don't like the unit we're in right now. Don't get me wrong, I love nature and all but ecology is downright miserable when you are going to stand in the middle of a park in the pouring rain." John grumbled remembering their "fieldtrip" for science next week Wednesday. "And plus, we've only known each other for three days counting today. You should be surprised to find out that you're worth more than being punctuate for science class especially for getting me into a week of detention."

Sherlock shrugged. "Unlikely friendships can form quickly. Your parents become your parents from the moment you're born, maybe we became friends the moment we started talking."

"Mr. Roylott was definitely pleased with you, wasn't he?" John smiled muttering sarcastically at Sherlock's weird metaphor.

"No, I actually scored a 60 last semester for my overall grade. I seem to owe him the most money judging by the looks he gave me." Sherlock answered earnestly scrunching his eyebrows to remember his life under the tyrannical reign of the English teacher.

John couldn't help but burst into laughter under Sherlock's confused glance.

"As much as I love talking with you, I wouldn't want to miss science entirely. If I go now, I'm sure Ms. Hooper would be forgiving enough to give me a pass." John announced as he glanced at his watch stating that he was five minutes late for science.

"I guess I won't keep you then, see you this afternoon." Sherlock sighed taking his phone out curling into the armchair again like an oversized black cat.

"Don't get me wrong but I wish we weren't seeing each other this afternoon." John sighed and left with a little wave of hand to Sherlock who was too busy reading whatever fascinating thing that was on his screen and a scowl to Moran who just grinned at him like the Cheshire cat. Unsettling yet entrancing.

John could just see the girls falling head over heels for this positively mesmerizing illusion. But on the inside there was a beast that thirsted for something to fill a gaping hole.

After a little explaining and a promise to be more punctuate, Ms. Hooper let him off the hook and continued with the different biomes in her nervous voice that always made her seem like she'll pass out from anxiety.

Science seemed to fly past in contrast to the usual drawl. John winced slightly as the bell rang liberating the kids from school but signalling the beginning of John's problems.

He quickly phoned his mom to tell her that he was going to take the public bus home and that she didn't need to worry about him before heading off to the principle's office.

Sherlock was already in there with his face as colourful as ever and Moran sat there without a scratch, his cronies probably did all the dirty work for him.

John couldn't help but feel shame and anger swelling up in his chest. If he had just been more trusting...

"It's fine, John."

Sherlock had placed a hand on John's arm making him look down at Sherlock and exhaling deeply before noticing his own clenching and unclenching hand. That must've gave his thoughts away.

"It's true though, if you hadn't run away for your own sake Sherlock might've suffered less. You're no different than the people who just sat there and watched."

John's head whipped around seeing Moran's smug face. Great, now he's got two mind readers on him now.

"Shut up Moran, if it weren't for you and your pack of idiots none of us would be here right now." Sherlock hissed just as the door opened silencing all of them.

What John presumed to be the principle was a tall, well built man with gelled hair and polished, black leather shoes. His green eyes wore an intelligent gleam as he surveyed the three students.

"Now, let's begin, shall we? I presume that we all understand why we're here?" The principle took his seat behind his office bureau.

"Why aren't the others here?" John asked surprised at the absence of the rest of Moran's gang.

"Sally Donovan and Scott Anderson have been picked up by their parents. I believe Mr. Moran here can represent them well enough." The principle answered folding his hands in front of his chin. "Can I have a full account of the event that took place after maths this morning?"

"Sir, me and my friends were just paying your nephew here a visit. We never thought that he was incapable of taking a friendly teasing." Moran sighed as if truly hurt by Sherlock's actions. "Sir, I believe that your judgement will be as objective as possible."

Mr. Holmes glanced at Sherlock before looking back at Moran his green eyes gleaming with a cold politeness. "Mr. Moran, actions speak louder than words. You may trust that I will be completely objective in my judgments. I see all of you as my students and when I see one student covered in bruises and cuts and the other without a scratch. Do you understand what I see? I see bullying and this school will tolerate none of that. No matter the position that your father holds in the military."

John was delighted to see Moran's mask of being a victim show a crack when a flash of a scowl passed his face and something that even John could see was quite easily noticed by Sherlock and Mr. Holmes.

"Sherlock, what do you say?" He turned his piercing green eyes to Sherlock who sat up a bit straighter.

"Moran and his "friends" came to pay me a visit. We got into a bit of a disagreement and I tried to get to Moran but Anderson stopped me. We fought until Mr. Brook broke us up. That's the facts plain and clear." Sherlock explained looking sincerely at Mr. Holmes.

"They weren't paying Sherlock a "visit", they were name calling him and yesterday, they were trying to beat him up." John spoke up. "And today they succeeded."

Mr. Holmes closed his eyes.

"Mr. Moran, you will be suspended for two weeks for bullying. If we catch even a wisp of you terrorizing the students of Sherringford secondary it'll turn to a month and if it still doesn't stop." Mr. Holmes' eyes flew open. "Then it might just be permanent."

Moran nodded stiffly before storming out of the office looking absolutely livid.

"And Sherlock, you will be suspended for a week for attacking other students. Violence should never be the answer to anything. Do you understand?" Mr. Holmes looked to Sherlock, his eyes slightly... disappointed.

"Yes sir, I understand." Sherlock muttered sighing quietly.

"Good, run along now. I'll have to deal with a very angry officer very soon."

With that, Sherlock left with John following close behind leaving a very troubled yet determined principle behind.

"Well, that went well." John muttered sarcastically as they made it out of the school.

"I'll consider it a week off. Nothing wrong with that." Sherlock shrugged not bothered by the fact that he was just suspended for a week. "Plus, there would hardly be any catching up for me."

"No, it's not that that bothers me. It's the fact that you were suspended at all. Why can't they just see that you were just fighting back and defending yourself??" John exclaimed exasperated at Sherlock's indifference.

"Rumours would start if I wasn't "punished" at all." Sherlock pointed out coolly. "One of the drawbacks of having your uncle as the principle."

They were approaching the bus stop and John was about to wave goodbye to Sherlock before Sherlock suddenly grabbed his arms as if anticipating his goodbye.

"Wait, John you have permission to go home a little later than usual, right?" John nodded with a slightly confused look. "Would you like to come over?"

"Um, well I mean I don't want to trouble your parents..."

"I insist, plus my parents won't even be home. My mom's giving lectures in the afternoon and my dad is on a business trip. Mycroft is taking Eurus on a school fieldtrip and won't be back until six thirty. We'll have the house all to ourselves." Sherlock proposed before cracking a small grin. "I'll buy you hot chocolate."

"Promise?"

"Of course, come on then, it's already four and it'll take fifteen minutes to walk to my house." Sherlock started leading the way opposite of the bus station towards a little convenience store.

Five minutes later, they stepped out into the nippy winter air with the bell tinkling behind them as the door closed together.

"Right, and how in the world do you have this much money?" John asked with a suspicious glance towards Sherlock her sipped his hot chocolate while holding a packet of ginger nuts in hand. "I do hope that you didn't break into a bank just to impress me."

"No, no nothing of the sort." Sherlock grinned. "You'll see later, I have a job."

John finished the last bite of his ginger nuts before handing the rest of the package to Sherlock who, despite his attempts to seem nonchalant failed miserably with his eyes lighting up in joy at the sight of the entire package within his grasp.

They walked while chatting about nothing important, but mostly Sherlock giving John a full analysis of their fellow peers.

"So, about your job, what is it exactly that you do? I bet it has something to do with that ability of yours." The sight of the front door of Sherlock's front door seemed to allow John to finally voice the question that's been floating around his mind for ages.

"Well, take a guess. It does have something to with the "ability" of mine that you were referring to." Sherlock answered as he opened the door.

"I'd say some sort of consultant given the abilities that you possess. But a consultant for what, I can't imagine." John thought out loud." People come to you with their problems, you observe, listen and deduce your way to solving their problem."

Sherlock stared at him for a second before clapping his hands together and his eyes grew wide with glee.

"Oh, my dear Watson, you may not be the most luminous of lights but as a conductor, you are unbeatable!" He exclaimed literally waltzing into the house forgetting to take his shoes off and the key that was still in his door was completely abandoned.

"Slow down, Sherlock, I have no idea what you're rambling on about." John sighed as he took the abandoned keys out of the door, took off his shoes and closed the door behind him.

"You see, right now, my work as a private detective is extremely boring. Finding some misplaced lunch money is about as interesting as my job gets. But as a consulting detective, I would be able to work on cases from the yard. Oh, this is just lovely, you've helped me invent a new job. Me, Sherlock Holmes, a consulting detective, the only consulting detective. Has a nice ring to it don't you think?" Sherlock explained smiling like a fool as he took off his shoes and threw them back to the front of the house.

"Hmm, well, I'm not sure if the Met would appreciate your help. There's not exactly a degree you can get for becoming a "consulting detective"." John answered thoughtfully as he put Sherlock's shoes nicely besides his as if on instinct.

"Oh, don't worry, I'll convince them somehow. Of course, I'm still a private detective right now, but as soon as I graduate uni, I'll start my own career as a consulting detective." Sherlock waved the doubt off leading John upstairs into his room.

His bed wasn't made but aside from that the room was quite neat which by no mean means clean in this context. Dust was gathering everywhere and a cobweb could be seen in the top right corner of Sherlock's room.

"I'm sure you could do with some dusting..." John commented as he checked out the periodic tables and little specimens hung here and there on the wall. But what caught his eyes the most was the skull on his desk and the violin siting by the legs of the table.

"Dust, is elegant. I use it to keep track of the coming and goings of my family members within my room. It's like a surveillance camera but less technological and impossible to erase." Sherlock stated as he went to the window to let open the curtains.

"Well, of course unless your mother dusts for you." John muttered but nevertheless deeply attracted by the human skull. "Hey, Sherlock, is this... real?"

"Oh yes, he's been an invaluable companion over the years." Sherlock picked the skull up seemingly to check on it before placing it back down. "Don't worry, my aunt works at a museum, apparently, they had a spare skull. Most lovely birthday I could recall." He sighed contently before plopping down by his desk at the window and pulled out the other spare chair gesturing for John to sit in it.

"Right, onto business." Sherlock announced pulling out a thick file with loose paper sticking out at all sides. "I'm hiring you as my PA."