Note: just two tiny pieces I came up with whilekilling (much, much, much too much) time on Tumblr. 221 words about Need and Love.
Need
"I need you." whispers Sherlock.
The weight of the words is apparent only to the truly inaugurated, the person in the know. Only to someone who knows the man behind the said. Only to John. He hears not just the naked sound of the words uttered and the terms used. He does not mistake the statement for a confession of love. This is not what it means, not all it means. No, John understands the planet-heavy meaning behind the audible. It is the addict speaking - With him the need is a physical necessity. It means: you are something I can't exist without. I need you – like oxygen, like water, like the blood in my veins. In order to make myself work I need you. It is the pragmatist talking –the need is a specific requirement. For using John. I need you – in order to achieve a certain goal, to fulfill a specific purpose: Living.
With Sherlock these words are literal. They are to be defined in the most basic way. They do not refer to the desirable but to the essential. I need you. Need.
The statement does not express a sentiment, but a fact. You do not have to love in order to need. With Sherlock "I love you" is just a part of this need. Just the beginning.
Love
"That was amazing. You're amazing. I love you!"
The words escape John's mouth in the excitement over a brilliant deduction before he can stop to think about the depths of their meaning, before he can realise what they are. A confession. The confession.
It has been lurking on the tip of his tongue like a jack in the box for far too long.
The force of its extent reaches into the core of John being moments later in the taut bow string of a silence that follows. Grey green eyes stare unblinking, searching, deducing into his own. A pouty mouth opens as if to speak, a pink tongue hesitates behind slightly parted lips. John's heart lies on this tongue now, ready to be destroyed in so many possible ways. Chewed up, swallowed whole, spit out.
Loving this man is shedding your armor and handing him a spear. It is bathing in gasoline and giving him a box of matches. Yes, love is inflammable: a chemical defect. But loving this man also gives existence a meaning. Because what other meaning for existing could there be if not to love? To love: because and despite and although.
"I know."
The smile says more than any verbal reply could ever have. I love you too. It doesn't need to be uttered to be true.