Something in the Water (a johnlock fanfiction)

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Sherlock ran back to his dorm room, dodging teachers in the hallways. He finally reached the door and rushed in, almost slamming the door behind him. His roommate, who was sitting on his bed across the room, raised an eyebrow at him.

"Where have you been?"

"Doesn't matter, Greg." Sherlock laid down on his bed and put his hands up into his thinking position. Greg sighed and went back to reading his book, knowing Sherlock wasn't in the mood for conversation.

Sherlock thought about what would happen tomorrow. He would have to swim, and that horrified him.

~FLASHBACK~

Six year old Sherlock Holmes was excited. He was going to try to swim all by himself today! He ran out of his house and down the street to the community pool. He looked around to see that there were only three other kids there, and they were at the deep end.

'Perfect.' He thought to himself. He reached up to open the gate and stepped in. He wasn't supposed to go to the pool without his parents or Mycroft, but they left him home alone so it was easy to leave the house without getting in trouble. He kicked off his shoes, took off his shirt, then walked over to the steps. He put in one foot and then the other. He continued this slowly until he got in waist deep. He was so focused that he didn't notice the boys at the deep end pointing at him and laughing. They boys got out off the pool and walked along the side towards the little Sherlock,

"Hey freak!" One of the older boys yelled at him,

"What did I say about being within 50 feet of us?" Sherlock jumped when he heard the boy's voice.

"Go away Anderson!" He couldn't get out of the pool without them catching him, so he decided to try to swim away. He tried kicking his legs and moving his arms into a dog paddle, but one of Anderson's friends grabbed him by his hair making a scream escape his mouth. The boys laughed as he pushed Sherlock up and down in the water. The six year old boy screamed and gasped for air, trying to pull away the boy's strong hands. But that just made him yank on his dark curls harder. He was close to give up on breathing when they decided to stop. Anderson pulled him out of the water, grabbing his neck. He brought his face close to his,

"Stay away from us." He growled. He threw Sherlock down to the ground and walked away laughing with his friends not far behind him. The young boy coughed out water and shook in fear. His face grew red as he tried to hold back sobs.

~BACK TO PRESENT~

Sherlock shivered as he replayed those events in his head. He never went swimming again after that, he was traumatized. He would've drowned to death if they didn't stop, only to beat him up the next day. He closed his eyes and tried to tell himself that John wouldn't push him to go farther than he was comfortable with and he would protect Sherlock. He stood up all night, just thinking and listening to the sounds of traffic, insects, and his roommate Greg Lastrade snoring.

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John swam into his underwater cave. Why was Sherlock acting so nervous about swimming? He said it was because people drown all the time, but he couldn't help but wonder if that was really the case. What if something happened to him? He's almost 18 and doesn't know how to swim, so that might be the case. John decided he was going to teach Sherlock how to swim wether he liked it or not, but he wouldn't push anything. He'd only stick with what he was comfortable with at first.

When John started to fall asleep, all he could think about was the other boy. Sherlock's face was all that he could see when he closed his eyes. His dark curly hair, his sharp cheekbones, those beautiful blue eyes, and his tall slender body. John began to blush when he thought about Sherlock's laugh, how he was able to make him laugh. Why did he care so much about that? The merman's eyes snapped opened when he realized what was happening.