"William Sherlock Scott Holmes."
The silence in the lab was broken, the comfortable working space disrupted, Molly was pulled only slightly from her work. "Hmmm, what's that?"
"My name, my full name." Sherlock hadn't yet looked up from his microscope, simply stating each of his words.
"Oh, okay then?"
"I've told John, he laughed."
Molly has to stifle her own giggle, this whole situation was a little strange. "Sherlock, why are you telling me this?"
"I was thinking. You're the one person that I never want to lie to… Again, ever. Not once in the rest of my life, and it only seemed appropriate to lead with a name. Hello, Molly Anne Hooper, my name's William Sherlock Scott Holmes, nice to meet you."
The smile that graced Molly's lips was sweet, as if some part of her already knew this, the trust. And of course he knew her full name. "Oh… Pleasure's all mine I'm sure."
"I went by William 'til the age of 8, loved the name in fact, Mummy and Father would call me Will. And I even managed to persuade them to call me," Sherlock cleared his throat and lowered his voice slightly. "Bootstrap Bill. Then I stopped, requested I be named Sherlock at all times, because Mycroft no longer went by Myc, he was too grown up. And I was quite too young to understand I needn't follow suit. I began to hide behind it at school, all the normal boys had normal names, and William was a normal name. Sherlock was not. And I was assuredly and repeatedly reminded I was not normal."
Molly rose, making her way over to Sherlock's side, still by his microscope but now looking straight at Molly. She could see it, again, as always, the sadness that clouded his vision and dulled the crystalline blue of his eyes.
"S'okay, y'know," she spoke as she placed her delicate hand on his shoulder, giving it a slight squeeze Molly was fully prepared for the gesture to go unnoticed or to even be shrugged off, she wasn't expecting his own hand to join hers. "There's no need to hide behind anything, especially with me."
"I know. That's why I told you. Thank you, Molls." She hadn't heard that name since her childhood, since her father's last days on earth, it brought a pleasant ache to her heart. He always knew.
"My pleasure, Will."
Thank you if you read and reblogged and liked this on Tumblr, I'm making the transfer over here because you're all brilliant.