These Days

Honestly, Children Are Demons

Sherlock POV. Once John had left, Sherlock fell asleep on the couch, snuggled up in a blanket with a warm feeling in his heart. The fire was long dead when he finally woke up, and he realized that he still had a life to get back to. He checked his watch, six forty already! Sherlock had to be out of the house by seven, or he'd be late! Sherlock rolled off the couch in an instant, throwing his blanket onto the floor and scrambling to his bedroom to change. It took nearly five minutes to look decent, trying to wash the sleep out of his eyes. He looked tired, even he could tell that, but his hair looked decent and his clothes were washed. Nevertheless, it wasn't like anyone would be judging him, second graders wouldn't ask questions. But, dang, Molly will. Of course she's start pestering him, and, even worse, she was aware that he was having some relationship troubles lately. Sherlock just groaned, there was nothing he could do now, he had to get to the school. As Sherlock ran down the stairs he heard Mrs. Hudson's door open, which, of course, meant even more pestering before he got to the school.
"What are you still doing here?" she asked.
"That's exactly what I'm trying to fix." Sherlock insisted, pulling his coat on with a little dance as he tried to reach his bag at the same time.
"I assume the man at the door was John?" Mrs. Hudson guessed.
"Oh, not now." Sherlock growled.
"I see that you're in a hurry, but I won't forget too easily." Mrs. Hudson pointed out.
"I'm sure you won't, but I trust you enough not to go spreading my personal life all over the town gossip magazines." Sherlock pointed out.
"Of course not Sherlock, I can tell when things need to stay private." Mrs. Hudson insisted.
"Good, I'll see you later." Sherlock decide, tying his scarf and dashing out the front door, nearly stepping on some lady's small dog. He ignored her death threats and plunged into his car, hitting the gas and speeding into the school just as he saw the first yellow bus rounding the corner. Sherlock didn't want a big entrance, he was sure the staff wouldn't notice him missing, well, all except one.
"Where have you been?" Molly demanded, cornering him as he tried to walk down to his classroom.
"At my house." Sherlock insisted, walking a pace faster to try to shake her off.
"What were you doing there?" Molly asked.
"Oversleeping, do I need a better excuse?" Sherlock hissed.
"Yes." Molly demanded.
"Well you're not getting one." Sherlock decided, trying to slam the door in her face, but Molly was too quick; she slammed her foot in the door before it could go anywhere.
"Sherlock I only want you to keep this job, I'm sure you need it, and threatening the children and showing up late really isn't what I call responsible." Molly insisted.
"Well good thing you're not the one doing the firing." Sherlock decided.
"Is this about that relationship problem you mentioned?" Molly asked.
"I knew you were going to ask that." Sherlock sighed.
"That's a yes if I've ever heard one." Molly decided.
"Then you haven't heard one, because this was purely an idiot's mistake." Sherlock insisted, trying to jam the door shut, but Molly was incredibly stubborn.
"I'm here to help." Molly assured.
"I don't need another whining woman crying over my personal life, thank you." Sherlock insisted. Molly opened her mouth to say something, looking somewhat hurt, when the arrival of the little children cut her off.
"Hi Mr. Holmes!" one squeaked, waiting for the two of them to get out of the way. Molly stepped aside, letting the kid pass.
"Don't think I'm only a whining woman, I know more than I doubt you'll ever know about relationships." Molly insisted. "I can help."
"I'm sure you do know more, considering I've never actually dated anyone before." Sherlock pointed out. Whatever Molly was expecting, it wasn't that.
"So this is your first relationship ever?" she asked with amazement. Sherlock didn't say anything, but apparently his silence said a million words. "Well god, you do need help."
"I wouldn't bother Mrs. Hooper, Mr. Holmes loves a man." Another little child came up, not Archie or Hamish or another gossip spreader, but obviously someone who has been listening to what they had to say. Sherlock gaped at the boy, Ben, one of the nicer kids, but Molly didn't seem nearly as surprised as she should've been.
"Get inside Ben." Sherlock snapped, nearly pushing him into the classroom by his navy blue backpack.
"You're..." Molly started.
"He doesn't know what he's saying, he's being stupid..." Sherlock insisted.
"No, it's fine, honestly I just didn't know." Molly muttered, smiling as some of her children passed though the hall.
"There's nothing to know, good day Molly." Sherlock decided, taking advantage of her slight set back and slamming the door in her face. Sherlock stood in the classroom, peering out the window until he was sure Molly was gone before opening it up to the other students. He sat at his desk, tapping a pen against the wood and glaring at Ben, hoping the kid would get the message to shut his mouth.
"Good morning Mr. Holmes!" Hamish called as he waddled inside, Archie close at his heels.
"Good morning." Sherlock muttered, more of a growl then a polite gesture. Once all the kids were in the classroom, Sherlock shut the door and went to the desk. He really wanted to make it very clear that they should keep their snotty little noses out of his personal life, but he couldn't think of a good way to do that without looking guilty. So they went over the alphabet, and they did easy math problems, and they counted, and they drew pictures, and nothing of his personal life was mentioned when the lunch bell rang. Thankfully that meant no children, but even worse that meant that Molly could come and interrogate him more, which Sherlock was definitely not in the mood for. He had known this was coming, but he certainly wasn't anticipating a stupid child to come and reveal the big secret. Now there were two people who knew, other than John of course. Mrs. Hudson he was sure he could trust, but he didn't know Molly well enough to tell what her views would be. When the last child was herded out Sherlock locked the door, thankful that Mrs. Hudson had been kind enough to pack him a sandwich for lunch. Sherlock sat at his desk for about five minutes before there was a knock on the door, and he could only guess who it was. Sherlock sighed when he saw Molly through the glass, holding up a pink and black polka dotted lunch box to say that they would be eating together, whether he liked it or not.
"Go away." Sherlock growled, but never the less he set his sandwich down and went to the door. He didn't open it though.
"Can we talk?" Molly asked through the glass.
"No." Sherlock decided.
"It doesn't have to be about, you know, you, it can just be about normal things." Molly insisted.
"Why do you want to talk to me?" Sherlock asked.
"You might be lonely." Molly shrugged.
"Maybe I like it that way." Sherlock insisted.
"No one likes to be lonely." Molly pointed out.
"I do." Sherlock defended.
"Well, you're not most people are you?" Molly asked. Sherlock unlocked the door but didn't take the liberty of opening it, he just walked back to his desk and hoped she hadn't heard the click. Unfortunately though, he heard the knob turn and Molly come in, sitting on one of the desks and unpacking her lunch. She had some sort of green wrap thing, overflowing with all sorts of veggies and gross looking meat, maybe it was tofu.
"Health crazed are we?" Sherlock muttered.
"I actually like spinach wraps." Molly debated, taking a bite but not taking her suspicious eyes off of Sherlock.
"That's abnormal." Sherlock decided. Molly didn't say anything; maybe she was trying to tell Sherlock he was abnormal as well. She wasn't wrong. Sherlock simply poked at his sandwich, the arrival of Molly had certainly dulled his appetite.
"I'm guessing you didn't make that yourself?" Molly asked, looking at his sandwich.
"Are you suggesting that I'm unable to cook for myself?" Sherlock asked.
"No, just guessing that you aren't one to take the time." Molly guessed.
"I'm offended." Sherlock decided, leaning back in his chair and abandoning his lunch all together.
"So you did make it?" Molly asked.
"No." Sherlock shrugged, tapping his fingers against the plastic arm rests and wishing he were anywhere but in this room. Molly had surely been sitting in her classroom, trying to make sense of everything she had been told, of course she's believe that stupid kid, she seemed to think that people were unable to lie. Sherlock hated the tension, he knew that she wanted to ask him directly, he knew that Molly hated not being sure about things, but he also really didn't want to talk about it. His personal life was just that, personal, and just about the only person he trusted it with was Mrs. Hudson, and he had consulted her on his own accord.
"So, have any plans for this evening?" Molly asked.
"No." Sherlock said simply. She nodded, but didn't pursue the topic.
"Did you have plans last night?" she added. Sherlock just glared at her in a way he thought must be threatening, but Molly barely flinched.
"No." he answered again. It was true, of course. They weren't plans, John sort of just showed up, not that he was complaining though.
"So you just happened to have slept in then, just because?" Molly asked. Sherlock sighed, looking down at the floor and wondering whether just to take the hit. It would be a lot less painful then this silence. Of course he couldn't tell her it was John, that would be suicide of course, but he knew she was just dying inside to know the truth.
"Oh god Molly, just ask if you want to ask." Sherlock growled.
"I don't want to ask anything." Molly insisted.
"I can tell a lie when I see one, just, if you want to know the answer I'll tell you, but if not please stop hinting at it, you're being incredibly obvious and incredibly annoying." Sherlock decided. Molly was a deep shade of scarlet, but she looked semi relived, as if happy she didn't have to keep hinting.
"Was that kid at the door right?" she asked. Sherlock took a deep breath, but he knew that his reaction was enough to answer.
"Yes." He muttered nevertheless, looking at the ground in shame and glowing, if possible, even redder than his interrogator.
"That's fine, Sherlock that's totally fine honestly I don't care, I'm just happy you told me." Molly assured.
"I'm not looking for your approval Molly." Sherlock scowled.
"I know, I just, I'm happy we can be honest with each other." Molly decided.
"Why, do you fancy me?" Sherlock asked with a joking smile.
"Most certainly not." Molly insisted.
"Good, because now we know that there would be many flaws in that relationship." Sherlock agreed. Molly nodded but was a bit shy about it, maybe Sherlock had struck a nerve after all.
"Well I must be going." She decided, stuffing the remainder of her lunch into her bag.
"Molly, don't go spreading this about, you're one of the only three that know." Sherlock insisted.
"The other two being...?" Molly asked.
"My landlady and, well, I'm sure the other is quite obvious to you." Sherlock decided.
"Your...oh, yes that makes sense. Have a nice afternoon Mr. Holmes; I suppose I'll see you when the busses come." Molly decided.
"I most certainly hope not." Sherlock decided with a small smile. Molly nodded, probably thinking he was joking, and left the room, toting her stupid polka dot lunch box in her wake.