Work Text:
“It's in the photograph
It's in the photograph
It's in the photograph of love”
Weezer - "Photograph"
“Victor, this is ridiculous!”. Molly laughed in his best friend’s face.
“Why? I’m only telling you the truth. Sherlock Homes-”
“Likes me. Sherlock Holmes, your ex boyfriend, the man everybody in the campus lust for, fancies me, mousy Molly Hooper. Victor, please, don’t be silly…”, she scoffed at him, leaving the sofa where they were sitting together. She couldn’t go very far, because her dorm room was very tiny, so she plopped on her bed, hiding her head under the pillow. After a few seconds, she felt his mattress dip, and Victor’s hand on her back.
“First of all, he’s not my ex boyfriend. We had a one-night stand, one year ago, and nothing else. Second, and most important, let me show you something.”
He waited for a while, still caressing her back, until she finally turned. “Ok, Victor, but it better not be your penis… Again. One time is more than enough.”
“Oh, Molly, you naughty girl... “, he chuckled, while taking out of his leather jacket’s pocket a picture.
She remembered that picture. It had been taken at Meena’s party, two weeks before. They were all a bit tipsy, and Victor had convinced her to take a picture, even though she had protested that she was not photogenic. They were smiling, and Victor was hugging her tightly. They looked very happy, and Molly was relieved to see that she looked quite good in the photo, for once… But still, she didn’t understand why Victor was showing it to her.
“Look at the background, please? Do you recognise anyone?”
She squinted, observing the other people in the picture. “Well, there are John and Mary, as always making out… Oh, and then Sherlock, just behind us. He looks quite...” Handsome? Sexy? Sinfully attractive? Her mind supplied, and she tried to ignore it. She took another look, and then she saw it. Molly wasn’t sure if her eyes were playing tricks on her, but he was staring at Victor and her like he was trying to burn a hole in their napes.
“Angry? Livid? Potentially murderous?”, Victor supplied, and she nodded. “Well, Molls, I think the right choice of words here would be “jealous”. He looks like he’s ready to pounce on me to tear apart the arm I have around your shoulder.”
Molly couldn’t help but sneer at his statement. “Victor, you’re delusional. Probably he’s thinking what a fool he had been to let you slip out of his bed, one year ago.”
Victor looked at her fondly, before hugging her. “Oh, Molls, you’re so sweet… And a perfect idiot, too. I bet he forgot about me the moment I left his bed, intoxicated as he was, and to be honest, I haven’t been pining for him during these months.” He paused, and from the look in his eyes, Molly could see that he wasn’t fibbing. “But let me finish my story, Molls. Do you want to know what happened to this photograph, one week ago? It disappeared from the book where I was keeping it, then it reappeared magically just yesterday. And guess what did John Watson find under his flatmate’s pillow, just yesterday?”.
He didn’t continue, choosing instead to show her the same photo; only this time it was torn in two halves, and the part with Victor was missing. “And before you say anything, John found the other part in the trash, so once again, no, he’s not after me. It’s you he wants, Molly.”
“No, no, no… I don’t understand why you’re joking with me, but I don’t want to listen to you babbling about Sherlock Holmes having a crush on me anymore! It’s stupid, and cruel, and I didn’t expect you, my best friend, having fun of me like that!”, Molly argued, distancing herself from Victor until she reached her door. “What are you going to make up next? That Sherlock Holmes is behind this door, waiting to proclaim his love for me?”
The knock on the door took both Molly and Victor by surprise. She opened the door hastily, annoyed at having her rant interrupted, and Sherlock Holmes appeared on her threshold.
“I think it might be a bit too early for a love confession, but what about dinner, tomorrow evening?”