Intrigue Me | Johnlock Teenlock

3: Studying

"John, take a seat."

I gulped, trying to pull myself together as I walked towards the chair. Sherlock had already pulled it out for me and was stood at the side, waiting. I noticed a pen, calculator and notebook laid out for me to use. How thoughtful. I hurriedly tucked myself in, looking up for my first instruction.

"Do you not want a chair?" I mumbled, looking for anything resembling a stool.

"I'm fine standing." He then leant down to me, his index finger at the top of the page. "How are you with quadratics?"

"They're easy, I have no trouble with those."

"Perfect. We'll start with taking integration."

"Oh, God..."

"Don't be nervous, John. When taking integration on both sides, get..."

He wrote down something that could have made more sense in a foreign language and then placed the pen down for me to take. Naturally, I felt confused and stared at him blankly, desperate for his help.

"What?" He started, not blinking once.

"You're going to have to explain this."

"What's so hard, John?"

He crouched down, leaning over me with our faces just inches apart. He seemed... intimidating. I had never felt so nervous around another guy; Sherlock had a way of stopping me from breathing and leaving me unable to speak. A chocolate curl fell over his forehead and his alluring, blue eyes were now emeralds. My mouth suddenly felt dry and I swallowed quickly.

"I... um, I don't really know. None of it makes much sense." I felt apologetic for this, yet I wasn't sure why.

"You're panicking. Calm down. Read it again, it's not difficult. Just substitute the functions. What's 'e'?"

I repeated the question in my head, taking it value by value.

"X minus one."

"Indeed. So we multiply it by cosine to the power of minus two."

"And 'd'?"

"Find the answer and multiply it by sine multiplied by x."

I did just that, inserting each equation into the calculator. I scribbled the answers and made sure to keep them separate, finally turning to look up at Sherlock.

"And now?"

"Simplify. 'E' to the power of 'x', multiplied by sine 'x', multiplied by 'd' multiplied by 'x' equals...?"

"Oh!" I gasped, the penny finally having dropped. I beamed with pride as I wrote down my answer and soon felt his breath lightly brushing my neck. He read it along with me and patted my shoulder, his way of congratulating me.

"That was, erm, good."

"Thank you. I feel like I get this now."

"The whole thing's simple, really. Just a general substitution, integration and simplification."

"Right. Well, I'll leave you in peace now."

He gripped my arm hurriedly, preventing me from walking away. My eyes were wide as I noticed the close proximity between us.

"Is there anything else you need help with?" He rushed, his grip not loosening at all.

"I don't think so."

"In that case, I have something I'd quite like us to do..."

"Okay..." I replied questioningly, worried about what was going to follow. "What is it?"

"I need you to sneak out with me."

"What?"

"I know from your leg that you played football and from the way you walk that you did athletics training. You also like to lift weights, probably because your brother's fit too. I need you to help me get to the police station to gather evidence; you're agile enough to assist me."

"What? Sherlock, are you being serious?"

"I have never been more serious in my life. You've snuck out of your house enough times- a college won't hurt."

"What about our curfew?"

"We'll be back soon."

I sighed deeply before replying, knowing that I would help him with anything whether I wanted to or not. Whether that be tidying the dorm or... escaping campus to go to a police station?

"Come on then."