I don't even know what this is. It was a drabble with an actual purpose...and then it was just me trying to come up with a decent analogy for John and Sherlock's relationship...and then it was this. As ever I do not own Sherlock and I make no profit from writing about it.
Over the time that they have known each other, John and Sherlock's relationship has been described by many labels. Some are applied by the two men themselves – flatmates, colleagues, friends, even occasionally partners, although that is too often misconstrued.
Many are given to them by others – partners, once more, in an entirely different sense – lovers, boyfriends, even spouses or other halves. The latter, John supposes, is probably the most accurate in a way; just not the way that other people think.
John has tried many times to categorise whatever it is between them. It is not romantic; he has lost count of how many times he has corrected people on that front and rarely even bothers anymore because what is the point? If he could say with certainty that they were "just" friends – although there is nothing "just" about it – it would be different. But they are not even that.
John loves Sherlock. Sometimes he dares to think that maybe Sherlock loves him, too. Usually he doesn't consider it because the answer frankly terrifies him no matter what it is, and anyway ultimately it does not matter because his own feelings would not change. Certainly they need each other, whether they like it or not.
He knows that it is not romantic or sexual for either of them. But it is not like typical friendship either, really. It is something else entirely. They are not like brothers, though John knows that is the next comparison generally made in this sort of situation.
Except that is the problem. There are no other situations like this, not that John has ever witnessed or been a part of. Saying that his relationship with Sherlock is brotherly is like saying a puddle is an ocean because it is made of water. Or…no. That doesn't work, because John isn't saying it is more than brotherly – just different. So completely and utterly different. Saying it is brotherly is like…saying the sky is an ocean because it is blue.
That is the problem, John thinks. He cannot describe his relationship with Sherlock because it requires some sort of reference, and he knows of none. It is unique. They are unique.
They are not like lovers or brothers or even friends. They just are. They are John and Sherlock. They are beyond definition, or outside it, or they are a category unto themselves.
And they always will be.