Coping (John/Sebastian)

The first year he spent it at home.
He didn't really want to go out.
He did, of course, he went to work, he paid his social calls with somber punctuality. It was the only thing that kept him sane, to have some sort of fixed schedule.
He wasn't happy, they all knew that, but they never mentioned him.

The second year it went worse.
John didn't know what was the point anyway.
Having a steady girlfriend, working and paying the bills. He tried it.
It just wasn't enough.
Nothing was ever enough.

It wasn't his life.
His life had ended with Sherlock's.

So he started going to the pub.
He couldn't really let himself be an addict.
But he was always there, drinking his beer and observing people.
He imagined what Sherlock would say about them, and he fooled himself to believe that he didn't need anything else.

He didn't socialize, and the only time he did talk to someone, it was only to start a fight.

It was the same that day.
When a tall bloke stupidly picked up a fight with a bigger lad, John's eyes were on him.
He had no idea who was to blame, but the big guy had a friend now, and he didn't think it was fair game.

"Guys, two against one is not nice at all," he intervened.

A big argument had broke out between Sebastian and some other annoying guy, leading to a fight. The other man's friend had decided to join in, only to help him. This only happened to make matters worse.

The taller man's mate was drunk and staggered about carelessly, throwing punches in the completely wrong direction and nearly tripping over his own feet. Sebastian was around the same height as him but taller by inches and found it easy enough to grab him by the collar and fling him across the room into a table where he passed out.

Dealing with the other guy was more of a problem. He was more well built and by the looks of it, didn't like to watch his friend get knocked out unconscious by his actions. He had it coming. It's his own fault for getting involved in the first place.

Before this, some other man in the bar had interrupted, just before Sebastian had grabbed the guy's friend and sent him flying. He hadn't quite heard what he had said and was paying no attention to him but the man trying to practically tear his head off. Other people around them were either leaving or too frightened to get involved. Some attempting to get close enough to pull them both apart but those people happened to get injured for coming too close.

They were both yelling at each other, everyone else in the room inaudible to them. Sebastian insulted the other man and within seconds found himself being pinned to the wall, a hand around his throat and his feet almost off the ground.

John groaned when the tall bloke was pinned to the wall, it looked rather painful, and the big guy was able to keep him off the ground which was impressive to say the least.

"Let him go, you prick," he protested, and walked around him, checking what was the best way to attack. John was a soldier, he knew how to fight.

The man was too focused on his victim to really realize what John was doing, and he gasped loudly when his side was tackled and they both ended on the ground.

"I said. Let. Him. Go," he shouted, punching his face as he straddled his chest. The big guy took a few punches before he was able to push John off.

Sebastian leaned against the wall gasping, rubbing his throat which was rather sore. He was shocked to suddenly see this other stranger attack the man who had been fighting with him and watched as he tackled him to the ground. No one ever stood up for him.

"Move." he sighed, pushing the shorter guy out of the way and grabbing the previous man by the neck and lifting him up in one swift movement before slamming his head numerous times onto the bar counter.

Sebastian grabbed a glass and smashed it across the man's head, immediately throwing him onto the floor and starting to kick him before picking him up again and shoving him towards his unconscious friend. The man looked on the edge of passing out himself.

Sebastian's hands were now bloody and some bits of glass had wedged themselves into his palm. He turned around and reached his hand down to pick the shorter man up, not directly looking at him. He didn't bother thanking him, his manners weren't the nicest thing about him.

John watched amazed as the tall bloke managed to annihilate the big guy. The man was strong, and he had to admit also rather sexy, he frowned at himself, what the hell was he thinking?

He groaned when he was pulled to his feet, noticing right away that the other's hands were injured. He wasn't expecting any gratitude, he hadn't done it for that. He didn't even think about it.

"That was impressive and all, but you are not going any where before I tend to your hands," he said, grabbing the other's wrist and pulling him towards the exit, "Let's go, someone probably called the police by now," he muttered, taking up the First Aid kit the bartender had taken up when they passed the counter.

Sebastian quickly pulled his wrist back, staring at the other man in disbelief. He wouldn't be going anywhere with someone he didn't even know. He didn't even care about his injury, he'd suffered and experienced far worse and compared to them, this was nothing.

"Listen, I don't know who you are, or what you want but I'm completely fine. I don't need help. I can cope for myself thank you very much. So mate, just piss off and leave me alone." he said, exiting through the door and out to the street, hoping he wasn't being followed as he passed into a dark alleyway, trying to get rid of the other man who was trying to help him.

Sebastian was too used to looking after himself and getting into fights that the last thing he wanted to have was someone stalking him, trying to help. I don't need help.

John rolled his eyes, for a moment he wondered if he should just let him go. This was fun though, and John hadn't had any one to look after for a while. He also didn't have anything else to do.

He walked faster until he was by the tall bloke's side and talked to him calmly. "Just stop for a second, I will take the glass out of your hand and then let you go, nothing else, it won't take more than a few minutes..." he tried to convince him.

"Don't be stupid, it's going to hurt like hell tomorrow if you don't take care of it now... and here is good enough, I have a torch, we don't need the light... and we don't need to talk..." he suggested intent.

Sebastian stopped, annoyed and turned round to face the shorter man, wondering why the hell someone would want to follow him after seeing him just beat up two other men. Didn't he understand not to hang around guys like him?

Sebastian would have hurt him for following him but saw that this man really wanted to help him for some reason. Why didn't he go and help the other two unconscious ones in the bar? They were the ones needing help out of all people. Without thinking, Sebastian shoved him into the wall and towered over him, not able to get a proper look at his face since it was dark.

"Like I said before, I don't need your help and I can take care of it when I get home myself. It's not even that bad. Why are you making such a big deal out of it?" he asked, forcefully pinning the man to the wall with his uninjured hand.

John's breath was knocked out of him as he was pushed against the wall, his head bumping against the bricks and spinning for a moment.
"I am a doctor," he said, and then frowned annoyed. "Bloody hell, I am just trying to be helpful, you don't have to be such a prick about it! I don't give a damn if you can go home and ruin your hand farther!"

He didn't struggle, he thought that kicking the person he wanted to help would go against what he had set out to do anyway. "I don't have a clue why I am doing this, okay? But it seemed more interesting than drinking a beer and staring at the wall, alright?"

Sebastian considered this for a moment, shortly releasing him afterwards. He sighed and held his hand out towards the other man, waiting impatiently.

"Here, fine... mend it if you want to so badly." he mumbled, wanting to get it over and done with. "You're practically asking for trouble following me like this. If you weren't so keen on helping me, you would've ended up like one of those pricks back at the bar."

John whimpered when he was let go of, he stretched his neck slightly and took from the pavement the First Aid kit he had dropped.

"Do you mind sitting down for a second?" he asked, his hand dipping in his pocket and coming out with a tiny torch. He took the other's wrist and examined the hand, blue eyes intent, it was still bleeding and it looked rather bad, but he was rather sure there was no need for stitches. The man was lucky.

"It doesn't matter," he said with a shrug. "Maybe I would have had a nice night of sleep if you did that..." he commented, as if he really didn't give a damn, he was trying not to think about the nightmares he still had every other night.

Sebastian stared at him confused, but didn't bother asking what he had meant. He had enough on his mind to think about rather than caring about other people's feelings and opinions.

"Are you done yet?" he asked, leaning his head back on the wall and impatiently drumming his fingers on the ground. Sebastian didn't like the strangeness of someone else fixing his injuries. Jim had always done it but occasionally he'd do it himself and now Sebastian was the only person who could do it after what had happened.

"Why are you helping me?"

"Bloody hell you are annoying, do you have somewhere you need to be that you are in such a hurry?" he asked, taking the tweezers from the kit and starting taking out the glass. He stopped after a second and held the small torch out for Sebastian. "Can you hold this? It would help..."

He sighed at the other's question. "I like helping stupid people apparently," he said, and looked up at him. "Why does it bother you so much? It's not like I am asking you money for it."

"I'm basically in a hurry to get as far away as possible from you, you creep." he scowled and inhaled deeply to control himself. "Look, I'm just in a bad mood and I'm not the nicest person to hang around so don't expect me to be grateful because I'm not."

Sebastian sighed with relief as bits of glass got taken out of his hand and he tried to be as patient as he could which didn't help much. "Don't call me stupid, all right? You'll only make me more annoyed than I already am and I'm trying to be nice. I'm only finding it more difficult if you aggravate me."

Sebastian paused before speaking again, taking more deep breaths to calm himself. "It bothers me because I'm not used to it. I've never been treated this nicely, probably ever in my life. I'm used to violence, not all this gentle handling. It's just weird. Strange."

"I don't know if you noticed, but I am not asking you anything, gratitude, nice words, none of that," he snapped back, his eyes never leaving the palm of his hand though.

He frowned when he noticed something wasn't quite right. "Now, you were rather careless and some pieces of that glass are under the skin, it will hurt, but bear with me, okay? It will feel better after I am done," his blue eyes were intense as he looked up.

"Fine, no one has ever been nice to you, I get it. I am nice though, and I will help you, get over it, will you?" he couldn't even begin to imagine what kind of life this man had, but he felt the loneliness radiating from him, it called out his own. "You can punch me in the face after I am done if it makes you feel better," he joked, he really couldn't stand this gloom.

Sebastian nodded about the glass being under his skin, it didn't bother him at all. He couldn't seem to make himself care about it much.

"Right, you're nice. Whatever." He paused, a grin spreading across his face. "You'll let me punch you? I'd be more than happy to." he half-laughed, wincing as some pieces of glass were taken out without him realising.

"I can tell you would, just use the other hand, will you?" he muttered back, his lips pursing as he concentrated on the task at hand. He was a good doctor, he could do this well. "I am not actually that nice," he confessed with an half shrug. "Nicer than the people you have met before though, that's for sure," he looked at him swiftly. "You have lots of scars... you wouldn't have those if I had treated you..."

He sighed once he was done with the pieces of glass. He took the First Aid kit again and took out the healing gel and bandages. "Almost done," he warned him, looking up for a second.

Sebastian sat still and waited for the other man to finish, he didn't speak much himself and just listened. His hand automatically reached up to a scar that ran down the side of his cheek and that continued down most of his neck at the mention of scars. God knows how many he had. Sebastian had them everywhere.

"Hmm..." he muttered, also relieved when the other mentioned he was almost finished. It was getting late and dark. And alleyways weren't the best places to hover about in when it got dark.

He applied the gel carefully, and then started on the bandage, letting silence fall in between them for a long moment. He wanted to tell the other that he was an impressive fighter, but he was rather sure he knew already.

"My name is John, by the way," he said, "Even though I know you don't care," he added quickly, his hands were moving in a caring way somehow, he couldn't fight what he was after all.

"Will you let me see your other hand? Or you prefer to punch me and go right now?" he asked, looking at him expectant. "The glass was what I was worried about anyway..."

"Sebastian." he mumbled, holding out his other hand for John to examine it. Something about the name reminded him of someone but he couldn't put his finger on it. Lots of people had that name, it was just a coincidence that it sounded familiar.

"I won't punch you." he added, smirking.

John couldn't help the small smile that stretched his lips for a moment when he got the other's hand. "Sebastian," he repeated, taking the torch from that hand and then examining it closely. "Did you break this one recently?" he asked, looking at the bone structure. "You should take care of yourself a bit more," he whispered, even though it was none of his business.

"Well, thank you for that," he muttered, as he started to apply the healing gel. "Unless it just means you will kick me?" he joked again. "I don't like kicks, they are foul play."

Sebastian glanced down at his hand, remembering the accident he had caused upon himself. "Yeah... just over something stupid really." he admitted, lowering his eyes to the ground. Making eye contact was becoming awkward and he wasn't in the mood to talk about how he got each and every scar and injury.

"No, I won't kick you either. Don't do anything stupid and you'll be fine. Although, kicking people can come in handy."

"You don't say," he muttered sarcastic, he could tell the man was one who liked to fight, or maybe he was fighting to forget about something, like John. "I would suggest you lay off it for a while, but I am sure you wouldn't listen," he said, before he started bandaging that hand as well, a bit more lightly than the other one though.

"What does qualify as something stupid?" he asked curiously, noticing the other was avoiding eye contact now, he wondered if he said something wrong.

"Nothing... doesn't matter." he said hastily, still avoiding the other's eyes.

Sebastian shuffled uncomfortably, getting cramps as he sat for longer, waiting on his other hand to be bandaged. He didn't really think his second hand needed bandaged but decided not to complain, although that was all he ever did.

"Why did you help me in the bar if I was the one who started it?" he asked, curious to know why. After all, Sebastian had been the only one out of the three of them to make it out conscious.

There was something incredibly fascinating about the Sebastian's mysterious aura, but it was also extremely irritating. John was rather sure there weren't a lot of people who knew him well, or maybe there were none.

"Why?" he repeated, and shrugged. "I don't think two against one is fair," he said simply, and looked back at the alley. "And I like a good fight..." he looked up at him once he was finished. "It wasn't like you needed my help anyway, but I realized that only after."

He sat back. "All done. Keep them dry and warm, will you?"