I don't own Sherlock

"It hurts Mykie," little Sherlock whined as his head gave another throb. The information that he was absorbing was just too much to deal with and everything was trying to demand his focus all at once. "Make it stop."

Mycroft frowned. He was smart, a genius in every form of the word, but Sherlock was smarter and Mycroft knew how much of a curse that was. He had saved himself from the headaches by simply deleting whatever he didn't care for, but his brother wasn't able to do that. His brother wanted to save and catalog every little bit of information that he ever came across, but he didn't know how to save it without it overloading his brain. Mycroft did, however, and he could teach Sherlock if he was willing to listen.

"Why don't you store it," Mycroft suggested. He knew to pick his words carefully because any deviation of this statement would have had his brother whining even more, but this caught Sherlock's attention.

"How do I do that?" Sherlock whimpered.

"You have to make a place in your mind to store all the information that you have. Everything that you ever see goes into that place and then you can go back there whenever you want to remember something."

"What place should I use?" Sherlock asked. His curiosity was peaked and he was definitely going to try it, but he wasn't sure what he should use.

"Try something that you really enjoy," Mycroft suggested with a shrug of his shoulders. "Maybe your room."

Sherlock scowled at that. If he used his room, then he would never be able to go in there again without seeing all the information that he was storing. His room would never be his safe haven again. Besides, his room wasn't nearly big enough for everything that he already had to store in it, let alone all the things that he would store in it. No, he needed something bigger. Much bigger.

Mycroft watched with an affectionate gaze as his brother walked off in search of what he would use as his room while muttering under his breath.

It was a week later when Mycroft brought the place up again. He had been very curious about what exactly Sherlock had chosen and, though he was a very patient little boy, he was determined to get exactly what he wanted even if he had to coax it out of his brother.

"How are the headaches?" he asked as a way to start the conversation.

"They stopped coming," Sherlock beamed up at him.

"Oh?" Mycroft raised his brow. "So then you found somewhere to put everything?"

"Yep!" Sherlock grinned. "I made a mind palace."

Mycroft held back a snort. Of course his bother would have to be so dramatic as to make a mind palace. "Whose the king then?" he asked. In the back of his mind he kind of hoped that he would be the king since he and Sherlock were so close, but he didn't really expect that Sherlock would make anyone but himself the king.

"King?" Sherlock asked.

"Of course," Mycroft nodded. "The king lives in the palace doesn't he? And he always protects everything that's under his domain."

"Oh?" Sherlock's eyes widened. He hadn't thought of that. What if someone got into his mind palace and stole all of his knowledge. He couldn't let that happen. "John will be the king then!"

Mycroft really should have known that Sherlock would pick John to be the king. After all, the little dirty blond woolen bear had always been Sherlock's safety blanket. Still, he conceded in his mind, he had the right to be jealous of the little teddy bear that Sherlock always carried around because the thing always seemed to supersede him. And he thought he had more right to be the king of Sherlock's mind palace then the teddy bear because he was certain to stay while the teddy bear would certainly be thrown away once Sherlock had outgrown it.

Still, Sherlock placed his teddy bear on the little thrown in his small palace reverently with the knowledge that the bear would forever protect it.

But then, years later, the bear was ripped right out of his grasp from some of the bullies at school and torn to pieces. Sherlock punched every one of the boys who dared to destroy his bear and then immediately ran home to lock himself in his room where he cried. He wouldn't let anyone in his room even though they all tried at some point or another. Mycroft had even promised him a new teddy bear that would look exactly like John, but it wouldn't be John and Sherlock only wanted John. So he cried and he cried until he finally fell asleep and found himself in his mind palace.

"Why are you crying?" someone asked him and Sherlock looked up in shock to find a man, somewhere in his late thirties or early forties, clad in a woolen jumper with dirty blonde hair. He had the kindest smile that Sherlock had ever seen and he felt safe in the man's presence.

"Someone took my John," Sherlock sobbed to the man as he held his arms out for some sort of comfort.

The man smiled, leaned down, and picked Sherlock up right off the ground, which surprised him since he was getting to big for even his parents to pick up. The strong arms were so comforting, though, and Sherlock would not complain when they were holding him in a strong hug. "Don't worry," the man said. "Your John lives here doesn't he? So he will always be here."

"Really?" Sherlock gasped. He hadn't thought of that. John was his king so he couldn't die just because of some bullies. He was stronger than that.

"Of course," the man nodded.

"Who are you anyway?" Sherlock asked suddenly. He hadn't even thought about why there would be some random man in his mind palace. What if the guy was only there to steal his knowledge? But he felt so safe in his arms.

"Who do you think I am?" the man replied.

Sherlock pulled back with the full intention of deducing the man who held him, he always loved a challenge when it was given to him, but then he noticed what room in his palace they were in. It was the throne room. But only he and John had been able to get in here. Where was John anyway? This man said that John would always live there, but his little bear wasn't sitting on its perch like it should have been. That's when Sherlock noticed that the throne wasn't the small chair that he had placed his little bear on, but was instead a big plush chair made for a grown man. A man like the one who was currently holding Sherlock against him.

"John?" Sherlock asked.

The man grinned and nodded at Sherlock.

"John!" Sherlock yelled excitedly. "I was so worried that I had lost you."

"I'll always be here when you need me Sherlock," John promised. "Don't worry."

"Why did you change?" Sherlock asked him. "Why did you get all big all of a sudden?"

"Because you wanted me to be big enough to protect you," John answered and Sherlock suddenly remembered that moments before the bullies had taken the teddy bear from him he had wished that the bear was a grown man who wouldn't let those bullies taunt him anymore.

"Will you protect me from now on then?" Sherlock asked hopefully.

"I'll protect this," John pointed to Sherlock's head. "After all, I can't let our palace be destroyed."

"You're a great king," Sherlock grinned. "I'm so glad that I picked you to be my king."

John grinned again. "Now I think its time for you to go back. Your family will be worried about you."

"But I don't want to go back," Sherlock whined. John only responded with a kind smile before he put Sherlock back on the floor and went back to his throne where he sat himself comfortably just before Sherlock was shaken awake by his older brother.

Sherlock spent a lot of time in his mind palace after that. No matter what he was doing, whether he was archiving new facts or looking up old ones or just trying to escape the world in general, he was always with John. Most of the time John just trailed behind him with his kind smile. Sometimes John would have to show him to whatever he was looking for if it had been a long time since he had last seen it. Other times, John spoke to Sherlock about everything and anything.

One of the things that surprised Sherlock the most about John was that he didn't know as much as Sherlock. Once, when Sherlock had asked John a question that he thought everyone should know, John had frowned and shook his head because he really didn't know the answer. When Sherlock asked him why he had simply responded that Sherlock hadn't given him that knowledge. When Sherlock had offered to give him everything, John had quickly responded that he was content with the knowledge that he already had and that he wouldn't be able to handle it if Sherlock tried to give everything to him. Then Sherlock asked what knowledge he had given to John and John gave a playful grin as he shook his head and told Sherlock that it was a secret. Sherlock, though not happy about not knowing something, respected John's wishes and never asked again. He knew he would find out in the end anyway.

But then Sherlock goes to college and something happens and Sherlock is introduced to something amazing.

Sherlock's new friend, Victor Trevor, somehow gets his hands on some cocaine and he offers it to Sherlock who takes for pure curiosity's sake. The cocaine is amazing and it makes everything beautiful and clear and Sherlock can think so much better than he is usually able to. He goes to John with the full intent of sharing this amazing experience, but John's not in the throne room so Sherlock has to look around until he finds John in another room that Sherlock can't even remember what it is. The room kind of looks like its crumbling, but Sherlock really can't be sure, and John is dashing this way and that trying to mend cracks and tears.

"John!" Sherlock calls out to his king, but he doesn't get a real answer. "John!" he says again.

"I'm a little busy at the moment," John says with an annoyed tone of voice that Sherlock had never heard from him before. "Could you come back when you aren't high off your bloody rocker."

Sherlock scowls because he quite likes the way the drugs make him feel and leaves John to whatever fruitless work he's doing. From that point on, the only things that happened when Sherlock visited John was either him getting shooed away because he was high and John was busy or they would fight about the drugs that Sherlock was taking.

If Sherlock hadn't been high all the time maybe he would have noticed everything that John was going through. He would realize that the reason that John was shooing him off when he was high was because John was too busy trying to keep the rooms in the palace from collapsing as Sherlock attempted to destroy his brain. He would realize that the reason John fought with him on all these things was because he was trying to save what he considered to be their home. And he would most certainly notice that the more and more time that passed, the more and more tired John seemed to be getting.

But he didn't notice and neither of them stopped until, finally, John got so exhausted that he collapsed in one of Sherlock's many rooms and Sherlock overdosed. Luckily, he was found soon after he overdosed and Mycroft took him to be cleansed of the drugs.

"John?" Sherlock called out when he found himself in his palace while the drugs were forcibly removed from his body. There was no answer. There was only silence and that made Sherlock frown. John hadn't been answering him whenever he was high because he had been busy, but some sort of sound in his palace had always greeted Sherlock. The silence was just really discomforting.

It took him almost half an hour to find John collapsed in a hallway facing towards an open door that looked somewhat rundown, but Sherlock didn't want to bother with that at the moment because John was completely unconscious and Sherlock knew that had to be a bad thing because he had never seen that before in his life.

"John?" he called out cautiously. "John? Are you okay?"

John's eyes slowly fluttered open. He hadn't even realized that they were closed at first. The only thing that he remembered was that he was trying to keep one of the many rooms in Sherlock's mind palace together when his body finally gave up and he couldn't do anything anymore. He felt so dizzy and it was only the fact that he was already on the ground that was stopping him from ending up there.

"Are you okay?" Sherlock asked again as he crouched down in front of John in order to examine him. This was also the first time that Sherlock had ever seen John shirtless and he was going to take full advantage of it to make sure that John was okay. Much to Sherlock's delight, John was completely unharmed, but that allowed him to focus on other things. Such as the nasty looking scar that had made its home on John's left shoulder. Sherlock sucked in a breath when he noticed it because that was the exact place that his father had gotten shot when he died in Afghanistan.

"I'm fine," John waved him off as he looked around for his discarded shirt. He hadn't actually meant to take it off, but his jumper kept getting caught on things and hampering his movements so he had to take it off quickly and couldn't worry about the fact that he had accidently also grabbed his shirt. He had been doing such a good job about keeping this scar from Sherlock too. "I'm fine," he said again in order to get Sherlock's attention off his chest. "Help me find my bloody shirt."

"What happened John?" Sherlock asked and he's not sure if he's talking about the room that he just now noticed had completely collapsed or the scar that he could now see marred both John's and his back.

"I'm sorry Sherlock," John sighed. "I tried to keep all the rooms, but the drug was just too much for me to handle and I've apparently lost one of them."

Sherlock just shook his head. Whatever was in that room couldn't have been important if it had collapsed so easily? And, even if it had been considered important to him before, it couldn't have been more important than his king. Nothing in the world could be more important than his king. Especially the drugs that he had though were improving his brain functioning, but were instead destroying his mind palace and hurting his king.

"I'm going to stop taking the drugs John," he promised. He wouldn't do anything to intentionally put his king in danger and now that he knew that that was exactly what the drugs were doing, he wouldn't ever take them again. "Mycroft is making sure that I go through the whole rehabilitation thing and I promise that I will never take the drugs again."

John looked over at Sherlock, forgoing looking for his shirt, and gave a grateful smile. That was all he wanted, for Sherlock to be safe and healthy, and he was glad that Sherlock would finally listen to him on the subject of the drugs. "Thank you," he sighed.

"Here," Sherlock held out a shirt and jumper and John took them immediately so that he could put them on.

"Thank you," John said again, and Sherlock was just happy that he could make John happy.

Soon after Sherlock was clean off the drugs, Mycroft introduced him to detective inspector Lestrade. The detective seemed really cautious about Sherlock at first, but then Sherlock solved his latest investigation on the information that he got from watching the news alone. At first, he had been disbelieving, but Sherlock got everything right so he decided to give the man another chance. And then another and another until he found himself relying on Sherlock more than he strictly should.

His subordinates were not happy about this. Even though they solved the crimes a lot faster with Sherlock on their side, his subordinates seemed to completely despise Sherlock it was almost like they were vying for him to actually become one of the criminals that they were trying so hard to catch. That was one thing that Lestrade severely hoped never happened because he knew that they would never catch him if he ever did decide to go down that path.

John was not happy with Lestrade's subordinates at all. He really wanted to just punch all of them until they wouldn't say anything bad about Sherlock ever again. They might not be able to notice it, but John could tell that everything that they said actually really got to Sherlock just like all the other bullies that he had to deal with as a child. Even if he hadn't been the king of Sherlock's mind palace, he would have known exactly how he felt because Sherlock kept coming to him every time he just couldn't handle it anymore and John would have to comfort him through the pain. If he was a real person, he promised himself, he would show all those idiots a thing or two. He would protect Sherlock.

And then one day John opened his eyes and found himself sitting on a park bench. He didn't remember this place being in Sherlock's mind palace. Maybe it was a new edition to the backyard, but there was no words or any information anywhere around him so he had no clue what was going on. That is until he looked around and saw other people walking around.

"Hey," a man came over to him and sat next to him on the bench. For a moment John wanted to leave and try to find Sherlock, but something made him want to stay. Something about this man. Oh yea, John remembered, this man was a coworker with Sherlock who sometimes came and visited him in St. Bart's. He would know where to find Sherlock. "I haven't seen you around here."

For a moment John considered asking to be taken to Sherlock straight out, but that might be kind of weird or suspicious so he decided to try another route. "I just got back," he replied with a friendly, but somewhat cautious smile.

"Couldn't stay away from London could you?" Mike laughed.

"Not really," John replied.

"What made you come back then?" Mike asked.

"I got shot," was John's answer. Might as well get that out of the way before the man tried to pry to far into his nonexistent history.

"Oh!" Mike said sheepishly. "I'm sorry I didn't know."

"It's fine," John replied quickly. He didn't want to make the man feel bad; he just wanted him to stop asking about his past.

"So how long have you been back?" Mike asked as a way of changing the subject.

"Not long," John replied. He couldn't exactly tell the truth and say that he had only been there for a minute before Mike found him, but he could at least say that much and allow him to come to his own conclusions.

"And your having a hard time making rent on an army pension," Mike smiled.

"Yea," John nodded.

"Why don't you get a flat-share or something?" Mike asked.

"Who'd want me for a flat mate?" John asked in reply.

"You're the second person to say that to me," Mike grinned. John knew that. It was why he chose those words specifically.

"Who was the first?" he asked even though he was well aware of the answer.

John had to think fast as Mike lead him into the room that he knew Sherlock was in. He had to make some sort of a puzzle for Sherlock if he was going to gain his attention in the first place. It didn't take long, though, to think of just the thing.

"A bit different from my day," John said as he walked into the lab. It really wasn't since he had only been there when Sherlock had, but he knew that technology would have changed since he would have been learning how to be the doctor that he had become in Sherlock's head.

It worked. He got Sherlock's attention rather easily and then the moment Sherlock looked up, he was hooked. Why wouldn't he be? John looked exactly the same as he did in Sherlock's head and that was more than enough to make Sherlock want to room with him. John was grateful for that. He didn't know what he would do if Sherlock decided that he wasn't good enough and cast him aside. It wasn't like he had anywhere else to go.

Then Sherlock took it a step further and invited him to go along with him to a crime scene and John was more than happy to oblige. He might have agreed a little too fast, but Sherlock just chalked it up to his desire for danger and was none the wiser. If only he knew that his love of danger actually stemmed from Sherlock's love of danger himself.

The crime scene wasn't as interesting up close as they were in Sherlock's mind. When they were catalogued in Sherlock's mind, John could see all the deductions himself, but now he could only watch as Sherlock went through all the motions and came to all the conclusions without telling anyone else. It was weird being on this side of Sherlock's brain and John wanted nothing more than to close his eyes and see exactly what Sherlock was thinking, but he didn't know what that would lead to and it might be dangerous in front of Lestrade if he were to all of a sudden disappear.

Then Sherlock spouted off all his deductions and he was kind of glad that he made himself wait because it was exciting to see Sherlock like this in the real world. It wasn't the first time Sherlock had been like this in the safety of his own mind, but John knew that he was a lot more cautious in the real world and he was happy to be witness to a moment of Sherlock showing off his deductive skills. So much so that he accidently let an astonished word slip that made Sherlock look at him with surprised, but happy eyes. And that's when John realized that Sherlock had really been showing off for him and he couldn't have been happier.

Until Sherlock left him and Sally told him that he wasn't Sherlock's friend. Of course he was Sherlock's friend, he had been for a long time, Sherlock just didn't know it yet. He considered telling her off in that moment, but he decided that it might be kind of weird for him to be so protective so soon. No, he would just have to wait for the opportune moment.

Unfortunately, that moment never actually came. After he shot the cabby with a gun that he had kept in the back of his trousers even while he was inside Sherlock's mind palace and was surprised to find still there in the real world, Sherlock almost never left his side. He seemed to be almost amazed that John was in the real world. John wouldn't deny that he was just as amazed, but that didn't mean that he took every chance that he got to enjoy it with Sherlock by his side.

He did run into a few snags, though. Such as Mycroft finding out that he didn't exist and trying to tell Sherlock to kick him out, but thank God Sherlock chose to ignore Mycroft because he never once listened to him when he tried to deny John's existence. Then there was also the fact that John couldn't actually get a job since he didn't have a last name and he wasn't getting an army pension either since he never really served in the war that he had told Sherlock he had survived. Luckily, he just made it look like he was running low on money and just borrowed some from Sherlock on a regular basis. That man never paid attention to his bank account anyway and it had always been John that told him that he needed to check it again.

Other than that, though, John lived a normal life with Sherlock. It was amazing and he was so glad that Sherlock made him real so that he could live it with him. He was also glad that he wasn't permanently out of Sherlock's mind palace. Every time Sherlock wanted to go to his mind palace, John would zone out with him and meet him in there. He didn't really have a choice in this matter, but he didn't mind. Except when it made it easy for Moriarty to kidnap him. Then he got a little annoyed, but not enough to with that it didn't ever happen. If anything, he would give up living in the real world to stay in Sherlock's mind palace then give up living in Sherlock's mind palace to exist in the real world.

So when that moment came, the moment that Sherlock decided that he had to save the lives of his friends by jumping off the roof of St. Bart's and the biker that Sherlock hired to hit John came riding towards him, John decided that he would rather spend the last moments of his life in Sherlock's mind palace and the biker fell from the shock of a man disappearing right before his eyes.

"John!" Sherlock called out in his mind palace once he had gotten all the things settled and he was ready to go on his mission to destroy all of Moriarty's web so that they would never be able to hurt Sherlock's loved ones ever again.

"Yes?" John asked from his seat in the throne. He wasn't really expecting to be there for long when he saw Sherlock jump, but when he entered the mind palace he realized that this had all been part of a plan that Sherlock had concocted in order to save them.

Sherlock immediately walked up to John and then curled himself up in the man's lap. He hadn't done this in a while, but it was still as comforting to him as it was when he was a child and John didn't make any sign of being uncomfortable. Instead, John reached up and pulled Sherlock's head to his chest so that his warmth would soothe the other man as he stroked his curly hair. "I saved them," Sherlock mumbled into John's chest. "Now I just have to finish off Moriarty's web and then they'll be totally safe."

"I know," John agreed, "and you'll do amazing."

"Will you help me?" Sherlock asked as he looked up at John with the same look he had given him when he asked if John would protect him from now on.

"I will help you from in here," John pointed to Sherlock's head. "After all, I can't let our palace be destroyed."

"Thank you John," Sherlock sighed as he rested his head once more on John's chest.

"Just rest for now," John replied. "We'll get to work tomorrow."

"Okay," Sherlock mumbled sleepily. He didn't even know it was possible for him to get sleepy in his mind palace, but that didn't stop him from falling asleep right then and there. He felt safe and warm all through out the night and John made sure to keep it that way for every night that Sherlock spent hunting down the enemy. That and helping him search in his mind palace for clues to their next target was the only thing he could do, but he made sure to do it well until every single one of Moriarty's web had fallen.

Sherlock wasted no time in returning to London when the last of Moriarty's men were taken down. He went straight to 221B Baker St. with an apology ready and waiting for John on his tongue, but before he could even step into the building a sleek black car pulled up behind him.

"Mycroft," Sherlock hissed when that very person stepped out of the car. This was an unnecessary delay and he would much rather be going inside to find his blogger.

"I must ask that you come with me dear brother," Mycroft said in his fake friendly tone.

"No thank you," Sherlock replied with his own fake smile. "I have much better things to do with my time than spend any of it with you."

"This pertains to John," Mycroft said seriously and that made Sherlock freeze in his spot.

"What about him?" Sherlock asked.

"Please sit," Mycroft said as he motioned to the car. Sherlock scowled, but he did as he was told. Hopefully, this wouldn't take long and he could return home, but Mycroft had other plans. He took Sherlock all the way to his mansion before he even spoke another word to his brother about John even though Sherlock tried every tactic to make him do so. Including asking about his diet. "I have something to show you dear brother," Mycroft said once the two of them were sitting comfortably in his home office.

"Hurry up then," Sherlock scowled. "I want to get back to John soon."

"That's just it," Mycroft replied. "John has disappeared."

"What do you mean he disappeared?" Sherlock asked suspiciously. "Where did he go?"

"He didn't go anywhere," Mycroft responded as he opened the file that he wanted Sherlock to look at. He turned the computer to Sherlock so that he could see that it was a CCTV video of John when Sherlock was jumping. "He just disappeared," Mycroft said as he pressed play on the video.

Sherlock watched with wide eyes as his blogger did indeed disappear from the screen. "Someone must have hacked into the CCTV cameras," Sherlock said in an attempt to explain this. It was the only thing that he could think of that made any sense.

"There were witnesses," Mycroft shook his head. "John just disappeared."

"But how is that possible?" Sherlock asked.

"I did tell you that he didn't exist before you met him," Mycroft pointed out. "I just wasn't aware that it was to this degree."

But Sherlock wasn't listening anymore. He was too shocked to be bothered with whatever Mycroft had to say. Instead he slipped into a panicked state of hyperventilating.

"Put your head between your knees Sherlock," John said as he pushed Sherlock's head where it needed to go.

"John," Sherlock gasped out as he reached for his king's hand. He must have slipped into his mind palace without even noticing. John took the hand willingly before facing Mycroft.

"Did you have to show him that like that?" John scowled at Mycroft. "Couldn't you have at least explained it to him a little better."

Mycroft, however, couldn't speak a word. He had barely been able to believe that John had disappeared even though there were several eyewitnesses because it was easy to bribe people into telling lies, but he saw John materialize right in front of him. "What are you?" he asked, but John didn't answer.

"Come on Sherlock," John said soothingly as he rubbed his unoccupied hand in circles on Sherlock's back. "You've got to calm down."

"John?" Sherlock looked up with his eyes big and childish and Mycroft's eyes widened as he saw a look on his brother's face that he hadn't seen since he was very young. "What's going on John?"

"It's alright," John replied as he pulled Sherlock into a hug. "I'm here now."

"Where did you go?" Sherlock asked.

"I never left," John said. "I was always right here," he pointed to Sherlock's head. "After all, I couldn't let our palace be destroyed."

"My king!" Sherlock gasped and Mycroft's surprised gasp followed immediately after.

"That's right," John replied easily.

"But how?" Sherlock asked.

"You wished that I was real," John replied. "It took a while for your mind to be strong enough, but in the end you made me real."

"But what about your nightmares and your abilities as an army doctor?"

"I told you that you only gave me certain information," John explained. "When your dad died in the army you didn't want to deal with all the nightmares of the war that you had seen on the TV, but you also didn't want to forget them because that would mean also forgetting your dad. Then your mom got deathly ill and you wished that I would be a doctor to save her. You even did all the research so that I was able to become one."

"I made you into that?" Sherlock asked. "I made you have all those nightmares."

"Yes," John nodded, "and I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Then you won't leave me?" Sherlock asked with his innocent eyes staring up at John in a way that begged him to stay.

"I'll always be here when you need me," John agreed.

By this point, Mycroft had barely gotten over his shock. Really, the only thing that was keeping him from fainting was his pride and the knowledge that Sherlock would never let him live it down. That is, if Sherlock even noticed, which he highly doubted he would since he was too enthralled by the king of his mind palace. He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again when he realized that he was too shocked to really say anything. Besides, he didn't think that Sherlock or John would look too kindly on him interrupting there moment. Instead, he reached for his phone and texted the ever faithful Anthea. He had some records that he needed to falsify for one John Watson ASAP.

I hope you guys enjoyed this very long oneshot. Please read and review.