Small African Drum

AN: Trust my friend Carys to come up with the most annoyingly awkward prompt object-y thing ever… *sigh … But here we go.

Around 221B Baker Street there are a collection of strange things, a microscope on the kitchen table, a human head in the fridge and a skull on the mantelpiece.

There are some things that make the place homely like the two chairs that sit facing each other, the well paced upon rug and the bullet holes in the wall.

There are some things that are undoubtedly Sherlock's, the skull for one but also the stacks of brown folders that are solved or unsolved cases.

Other things in that flat are John's for example, his laptop that Sherlock isn't allowed on, under any circumstances, along with other things from his old life. His cane that he now never needs and his pistol that lives in his underwear drawer.

There are objects from their travels. Postcards from far distant places litter the kitchen side, some may be from John, others from Sherlock but the recipient of the cards must have felt so lonely they didn't throw them in the bin, instead left them on the side where they would be constantly reminded of their lover.

A strange throw is draped over the blanket, a present from Molly and Lestrade when they went gallivanting off around Asia, it doesn't really fit with the rest of the flats décor but John felt it fit to place the throw neatly over the back of the sofa.

In the far corner of the living room, on top of the television there sits some little statues, birds and farm animals that were brought back for them by Mrs Hudson when she went to visit her friend who lived out in the countryside.

Next to the sofa there sits a strange instrument. It is decorated up its sides and looks more expensive than it actually was. It is John and Sherlock's favourite thing in the flat because it reminds them both of when they went travelling. They went around Africa, going on a safari and talking to hundreds of different people about their lives. They had picked the instrument up at a little street market and they had chosen it together. The small instrument was so unobvious that it fits perfectly by the sofa, meaning that only Sherlock and John ever notice it. The small thing that symbolises so much, is a small African drum.