wytchblood submitted to prettyarbitrary:
Non-sexual, platonic, romantic, life-partner relationship. This I can speak to. At least a bit, considering I’m in one. Doesn’t mean that I’ve put a lot of deep thought into it, but I can at least confirm that they do indeed exist.
Romance without sex is still affection. It’s love and caring without the mess. I know it’s hard to conceptualize. It’s hard for me sometimes. We care deeply for each other, we are committed to sharing a life and taking care of each other. We are a family. We just don’t have any desire to get sexy with each other. We are physically affectionate, we sometimes share a bed, but there is no sexual attraction.
In my case, this doesn’t mean that either of us is Asexual. I identify as pansexual and he’s straight. When we decided to get married, one of the questions I asked was “do you expect me to stop seeing other men?” Even for me, that was one of the stranger conversations I’ve ever had! I have committed to emotional fidelity, but not sexual.
So, I do see the possibility of a platonic life partnership for Sherlock and John. I think that their relationship is romantic at heart. These are two people who feel a great deal of affection for each other. Romance isn’t just hearts and flowers, it’s affection and caring. The man and I define it as more than friends and less than lovers, I think that that description could easily fit our boys also.
Feel free to publish, delete, mock, praise…
Thank you so much! By these lights, it does seem pretty impossible not to argue romantic attachment between them.
And for my own reference, I deeply appreciate you sharing your experience on this! I hope that with a better understanding, we can do better by people, both fictional and real.