Thoughts about Love

[impulsereader]

So September reached new levels of potential slashiness, as pointed out by azriona in her lovely comment, and I was aware of this when I was writing it. I left all the potential in there. I didn't censor it even though I have no intention of following through.

My own personal view of J&S’s relationship is that they do love one another. I just don’t need them to have sex as a result. My post-Reichenbach John had a panic attack because Sherlock popped onto a roof without giving him any warning. Clearly this man cares about his friend and partner to the point of loving him. So I’m writing a love story minus the sex. They are brothers. They have chosen one another. Society doesn’t really have a category for this outside marriage – hence all the slash fic. As I believe I recall pargoletta pointing out in her review of Belgravia, they are in a relationship and the closest equivalent is probably Anne Shirley's concept of 'bosom friends' or 'kindred spirits'.

So here’s the thing: I believe John as a character when he says he’s not gay. I think he can be in love with Sherlock (and the adrenaline rush which comes with life at Sherlock's side) without wanting to shag him. I guess (though I haven’t really thought of it as such until recently) I subscribe to the view of Sherlock being asexual because I don’t really see him needing or even wanting to shag anyone. Though if he did want to I think he would want to shag John or Greg (or possibly Molly post-Fall) rather than Irene because, gender preference aside, I think he’d want to shag someone he trusted [unless it was for a case ;-)] because if Sherlock is having sex he’s having it because he wants an emotional connection. Sex simply isn’t necessary. It is, unbelievably, even less necessary than food. So he ignores it unless it’s relevant in the moment. If he wants to have an orgasm he’s perfectly capable of taking care of that himself. Leading from that, Sherlock doesn’t have to give John an orgasm in order to show him how he feels. If Sherlock were to clean out the fridge, for example, (snerk – yeah, right) that would speak volumes because John knows Sherlock. In this scenario Sherlock would basically be giving John an emotional orgasm. (I can’t quite believe I just typed that.)

What I think it boils down to is that I don’t see the characters on screen eventually having sex. So while I’ll happily read the stellar stories which include this, I consider that I’m writing canonically without adding in the sex. What I really enjoy doing, though, is playing with the perception of them the way the show does in passing. Because, yeah, if John and Sherlock were real people living the way these two do on the show we would all assume they were having sex as well. And after a while John, being a pragmatist, no longer wastes his time correcting people. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks about them because they aren’t the sort of people who give a toss what other people think.

If Random Dude (or Chick, I suppose) came at John and wanted to harass him verbally and/or physically because he perceived him to be gay, would John punch him in the nose on principle? Maybe. It probably depends what mood he’s in and what sort of time he has available. But John’s sense of self doesn’t demand he punch Random Dude in the nose because it matters not a jot if Random Dude thinks John is sleeping with Sherlock. He may find it satisfying to punch Random Dude though, because Random Dude is a serious jackass. Someone assuming they’ll want one room rather than two causes not a ripple of concern, though in my ‘verse it would require a correction (unless there weren’t any other rooms available, in which case the lads would share with a minimum of eye-rolling).

So, ultimately, in response to azriona's wondering if they'll talk about 'The Impending Kiss' which will be required for Shakespearean purposes I said: ...yeah, there is going to be that moment when the director says, 'And now you kiss.' and their eyes will meet and they'll probably break the first rule and giggle a lot. And then they'll kiss. But Sherlock came back from the dead. So a couple of kisses really aren't going to change anything.

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[litlover12.livejournal.com]

C. S. Lewis was prophetic on this subject in "The Four Loves."