John and Sherlock lock lips for the first time and suddenly none of John’s previous relationships matter. This is it. The light switch flips to the gay position and becomes firmly stuck there. Those women didn’t really mean anything. Cue the music swelling in the background. Also erections.
Hold up there, fic writer. Let’s back off the background swelling erections for a second and talk about what’s going on here. I get what you are attempting to say. You want to show that Sherlock and John are meant to be. I am all about Sherlock Holmes and John Watson being happy forever and retiring to Sussex to raise a thousand bees. But you can still write your swelling romantic erec— I mean, epic without falling prey to the light switch trope. Take a time out on the whole ignoring/undermining every relationship John had previous to recognizing the glory that is Sherlock Holmes’ fabulous booty and consider who John has been with previously. Those relationships do matter and John being interested in women is an important part of who he is. And it certainly doesn’t “ruin” things if John has expressed interest in men other than Sherlock. BBC’s Sherlock has given us a mother lode of interesting past relationships to mine when it comes to John Watson. There is nothing wrong with John having relationships with other people before Sherlock and we shouldn’t be so quick to brush them under the rug as some sort of attempt at painting the most romantic romance to ever romance.
Being bi doesn’t have an expiration date on it. You don’t marry someone or chose to spend the rest of your life with them and flip a switch where the two choices are gay or straight. It doesn’t work like that. Settling down for a life of domestic fluff and crime solving doesn’t magically erase all of his past relationships nor does it change who he still finds attractive (‘cause let’s face it, John ‘He’s Always Walked Like That’ Watson flirts with everyone). Settling down just means that he has chosen to spend his life with Sherlock. All those relationships along the way impacted him in some fashion— good or bad.
So can we get a little less suddenly gay John and a little more always been bi John? Excellent! Now back to your musical penises.
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