#aroace holmes

[neverquiteeden]

may I offer you a meme in these trying times

[the-guilty-monographer]

Although some of the discrepancies between Watson’s descriptions of Holmes as an emotionless logician and a man of deep feelings can certainly be chalked up to Watson being an unreliable narrator/ACD being inconsistent with characterization, I can’t help but feel some of Holmes’ seemingly paradoxical nature actually stems from the way Holmes presents himself.

He prides himself on his rational nature, and on his ability to remain unaffected and impartial as he examines the facts of a case. There are times when he even seems to be suppressing emotions in order to produce this desired effect, and yet there are also times in which he genuinely does not seem to be affected by things in the same way another person—like Watson—would. Watson often interprets this as strange and mechanical, because he defines “human” feelings through the lens of his own experiences.

This is compounded by the fact that Holmes does not experience romantic attraction—something Watson views (as do many others) as critical to the human experience, and he is baffled in the face of its absence. He interprets this disinterest as a sort of coldness, and it is in relation to this particular subject that he most frequently refers to Holmes as a machine. (Doyle expressed the same faulty correlation when he stated in a letter that “Holmes is as inhuman as a Babbage's Calculating Machine and just about as likely to fall in love.”).

But we see evidence of Holmes’ deeply emotional side almost as often as we see its existence apparently denied. 

He softens around people in need, and those who cannot help themselves. He talks cheerfully to dogs and babies. He grows very distressed when he believes Watson to be in danger, and is willing to viciously defend him should the need arise. Holmes very clearly has, as Watson himself puts it, “a great heart as well as a great brain”, but it is not always visible on the surface.

Further complicating the situation is the fact that Holmes frequently does not express his emotions when he does not feel the need to, and to someone unfamiliar with his ways, the inner workings of his mind are exceedingly difficult to guess. Holmes is certainly well up on the finer points of human communication, and can make himself abundantly clear when he so desires, but it appears that his natural state is a somewhat expressionless one (save in circumstances in which he is greatly excited, or feeling exceptionally strongly about something). Watson gives us a glimpse of this in A Scandal in Bohemia, when he remarks, “His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I think, to see me.” Watson does not always understand the cause of Holmes’ apparent lack of expression, but as he comes to know Holmes better, he grows comfortable with it. He understands that behind that mask, there frequently lie feelings of happiness, affection, and much more.

Thus, while Holmes’ emotional side is very real, and intensely powerful, it is often disguised by his mechanical side, which is itself an appearance that has come into existence through a combination of Holmes' unique way of experiencing the world, his desire to be perceived as having ascended beyond the irrational influences of emotions when he is working, and his natural tendency not to express himself (at least, not in the manner that most people would expect). 

Watson, in turn, alternates in his stories between describing the mask and the man behind it, depending on which he is more aware of in the moment.

Under closer examination, the apparent contradictions of Holmes personality are not contradictions at all: He is a precise thinker. He is a loyal friend. He sneers at strong emotions as grit in the finely tuned instruments of his mind. He would have, without a second thought, killed the man that murdered his closest friend. He is harsh. He is gentle. He is cold and unfeeling. He is warm and soft and kind. He is all of these things, and he always has been.

Watson does not always understand this, or how so many different aspects can possibly fit together into one person, but he does not need to, in order to love all of them; in order to love Sherlock Holmes for exactly the man that he is.

[sherlockholmesart]

The game is afoot!

[fictionfromthevoid]

Stop trying to find me a wife! -

Aroace! ACD Sherlock Holmes oneshot

Summary: Holmes angrily makes it clear to Watson that he is Aroace and that Watson should stop trying to find a partner for him. (The word aroace isn't used since it didn't exist back then)

Based on the Prompt:

"So you're just going to trample over their feelings like this?" Doctor Watson snapped at his friend Sherlock Holmes.

"Their feelings? Why is it always other people's feelings? What about my feelings instead?" the detective answered, visibly exasperated.

This took the doctor aback. He wasn't used to such emotional outbursts from his friend. Did Sherlock Holmes of all people just talk about his feelings? He stayed silent since he suspected his friend of having more to say. He was right.

"I am sick and tired of people pushing romance onto me when I have voiced countless times that I have no interest in such matters" Holmes ranted. "Especially you should know by now. Still, you keep nagging me every chance you get. I've tolerated your countless matchmaking attempts. I've told you over and over, very politely if I may point out, to refrain from any further attempts to find a romantic partner for me but you never listened."

Watson felt ashamed and guilty at the words of his best friend. It was true that he had fun teasing the detective about the women swooning over him and that he has gone out of his way once or twice to arrange a date for his friend. He was looking for a wife, so to him, it was the most natural thing that Holmes should also marry one day. Watson had assumed that Holmes had just been too consumed by his work to waste a thought about romance and that the detective just didn't know what was good for him so the doctor had taken matters into his own hands.

Just now, they had come back from a dinner the doctor had arranged with a very nice lady. After seeing through the plan Holmes had turned the woman down, rather rudely for the doctor's taste, and promptly left the restaurant. The Woman was rather hurt and so now back at Baker Street Watson thought it to be his duty to scold his friend for his unacceptable behaviour.

"Yes, I was rude to Miss Bell. Yes, I may have hurt her feelings but she will get over it." Holmes interrupted the thoughts of his best friend. "But I am done with being polite. I am done with being polite to women who will practically throw themselves onto me, not even caring when I tell them I am not interested."

It was true that his fame, earned through Dr Watson's stories, had brought the detective quite a large number of admirers of any gender who sometimes were ... very persistent with their affection.

"And you Watson, instead of having my back, you encourage them. You tell them I just need to be convinced to go out with them. You tell them to keep trying and not lose hope. And when I adopt a harsher tone to turn down the people you gave false hope, or that you even brought to me in the first place, you get mad at me for hurting their feelings." Holmes was getting more and more frustrated

"What about my feelings? Don't you realise that you hurt MY feelings when you ignore my wishes in such a severe manner? I have trusted you when I told you that I have no interest in romance or the intercourse that often comes with it whatsoever. Information that is quite personal and rather frowned upon in our society. And you disregarded this completely and keep trying to push these things onto me nonetheless"

He let himself fall into his armchair defeated. His head in his hands, so that his face was covered, waiting for an answer from the doctor. Although he didn't expect his friend to understand this time.

Dr Watson was still processing what he had just heard. In retrospect, he had been a bad friend in this matter. He now realised that. To him, it was unimaginable that someone could not be interested in romance. But Sherlock Holmes wasn't, he understood that now.

He went over to his friend and put a comforting hand on Holmes's shoulder.

"I am truly sorry, my dear friend, for I have been a very bad friend to you. I should have listened to you. I should have believed you when you told me how you felt about these things. But it was just something so obscure and unimaginable to me that I couldn't accept it to be true. I now feel ashamed of my behaviour. I apologize and I hope you can forgive me. I promise to never try to find you a wife again."

The detective looked up at him with tired eyes

"I also promise to take it seriously in the future when you communicate your feelings on any matter to me. I sometimes forget that you have such things as feelings since you are usually rather private with these." The lips of Holmes curled into a barely visible smile. Still, his eyes looked as tired and defeated as before.

"I am very grateful that you now told me with such severity how you felt about this, although I should have picked up on this before. My dear Holmes, I am very sorry and I hope you can forgive me."

Dr Watson ended his apology speech. Holmes stood up from his armchair and embraced his best friend in a hearty hug.

Since then the life of Mister Sherlock Holmes was free of any kind of unwanted romantic attention. His best friend fiercely shielded him from annoying admirers and kept true to his promise to never nag him about romance again.

[thefisherqueen]

“Then I shall run over to Camberwell and call upon Mrs. Cecil Forrester. She asked me to, yesterday.” “On Mrs. Cecil Forrester?” asked Holmes, with the twinkle of a smile in his eyes. “Well, of course Miss Morstan too. They were anxious to hear what happened.” “I would not tell them too much,” said Holmes. “Women are never to be entirely trusted,—not the best of them.” I did not pause to argue over this atrocious sentiment. 

A Lot is going on here. A few observations: 1) Holmes does not seem heartbroken by Watson's crush on miss Morstan - he acts kind of amused and resigned by it? It gives me major aroace vibes, like my own reactions to seeing yet another friend consumed by a new love, "ah there goes my allo friend again, he just can't help himself" 2) Kind of hard to say what Holmes exactly tried to do with making that statement. Is it mere misogyny, or a kind of jealous 'talk to me instead' sentiment, or maybe also a kind of misplaced rejection of romance? I know from my own experience, after all, that if all your other-gender interactions are interpreted as inherently romantic it's kind of easy to try to avoid and belittle those interactions alltogether because everything just gets uncomfortable like that. I've had my own 'all boys are stupid' phase. Which is Not Good for all kinds of reasons, obviously In any case, Watson does not agree, which is rather awesome of him

[sherlockholmesart]

[sherlockholmesart]

The Final Problem

[fruitviking]

Presenting... The Non-Verbal Sherlock Holmes series!

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Featuring non-verbal/semi-verbal and aroace Holmes, and QPP Holmes and Watson!

I hope you enjoy them ❤️