Sherlock slept like a starfish, his arms and legs reaching for all four corners of the large double bed. Head lolled back on the pillow, he slept with his mouth wide as though he was catching flies. Snores, loud and distinct, leaked from his throat and echoed throughout the flat; being the cause of lack of sleep amongst a few other residents of Baker Street.
He would twitch and spasm as his muscles jerked and refused to remain motionless, putting any bed-mates at risk of a black eye or being thrown overboard onto the solid floor. The blanket would often be kicked off in these spasming moments or he'd wake with the duvet covering his head and not legs from movement.
The genius, so accustomed to speaking non-stop during the day, would speak clear and concise during the later hours. On rarer occasion, he'd cry out an imagined deduction, waking John in the process. His words made complete sense as he spoke them but the sentences would flick through topics.
His black curls seemed to defy gravity as they bent into weird angles and reached out like Medusa's. It also branched down over a fraction of his face. His features were slack and relaxed, leaving him looking like he was unconscious from alcohol.
John, in the small featus position he chose to sleep in, was curled in the gaps left by Sherlock. The small ball would toss and turn throughout the night as his mind struggled to turn off.
Nightmares plagued him as flashbacks appeared almost nightly making the doctor jerk and cry out in his sleep. He'd often find himself screaming, waking up himself, Sherlock, Mrs Hudson as well as anyone within a close range. The sound would rip him from the dreams and Sherlock would wipe away his tears whilst holding him close to comfort him.
He didn't sleep constantly anyway. Every few hours, John would wake up due to nothing but his own brain and the world outside 221B would be silent and dark. He'd sigh and curl back up ready to face the challenge of falling unconscious again.
The two men slept independently of each other as they didn't need to be reassured of their closeness. They both had their problems in the nighttime but they knew the other was there, always.
