Yes this is super super short but there's a reason I promise. It's because I needed a lead up for the next chapter. No worries!
Reasons
5. Something has changed within Sherlock and he can's quite pinpoint it. Perhaps it's because of the way John has been tending to him since he left the hospital. Perhaps it's because of the nurse telling him that his boyfriend had fought with her in the middle of the night to come see him and she had finally let him in when she realized how desperately he needed it. Perhaps it's because when he begins to fall asleep he can feel John take his hand and check his pulse as if constantly needing to reassure himself that Sherlock was there and had not in fact, died after being struck by the car.
But something has changed.
There is a new softness in the way he watches John, an almost tenderness in his view and the detective can't make any sense of it. He can see John worrying incessantly about him. It would be suffocating if the taller man didn't know he was bringing it on himself. The more he noticed about John, new things like the smell of his cologne complimenting the scent of his shampoo or how cold his hands tended to be, the more he withdrew from the other man. It had been a little over a week since his release and he had started sleeping on the couch because he couldn't deal with this new influx of nearly human emotions.
Sherlock was spending a lot more time in his mind palace, trying to deduce what was going on within him. To give words to an impossible situation. And he found that he kept coming back to one particular question.
Is this love?
_End
So warning, next chapter is the last one. It's finally come to an end. For now..
StarOfTheSeaaa - Thank you so so so so much! I'm trying so hard to stay in character with them and you saying that made me feel a lot better about it cuz I was really worrying.
viridianaln9 - Thank you!
xx-butterflyofthenight-xx - I appreciate the praise! That's the way I imagine Sherlock thinks of John most of the time, like a steady pulse.