Thank you so much for the ask! As expected, rambling about one of my fave ships proved just as much of a delight as I’d hoped. Rambling is the right word, though, so I hope at least some of this makes any sense…
002 | sendme a ship and I will tell you
When or if I started shipping it.
I’m not entirely sure, but fairly recently. I believe I saw one or two posts about it, started pondering the dynamics and then – as I’m wont to do when pondering – wrote one or two tiny ficlets to play around with the ship. It got me hooked.
This is the dark and unholy triad of fun and games. Jim, Irene and Sherlock have soooo much in common, but are still different enough to work together. Rather than shying away from their own darkness reflected in the others, there’s deep respect and admiration. (I mean, I think that in canon, Sherlock DOES try to shy away from it, at least initially, but for this to work he’d need to embrace it, so.) Also, this is without a doubt the sexiest Sherlock pairing, and the best dressed too.
What makes me happy about them:
Snark! Games! Sexy times and DEAR LORD JUST SO MUCH FLIRTING. Also, they just look so stupidly good together, I just can’t.
What makes me sad about them:
Well, Jim being dead (OR IS HE?) makes me sad about all of the pairings he’s involved in. Also, I think that they are very likely to hurt each other very badly. They’re all so invested in the various masks they wear, and eventually that’d cause some nasty problems. But hey, maybe they’ll work it out. (LIKE I’M DYING TO WRITE AN ANGST WITH A HAPPY ENDING THING NOW, CHRONICLING THEIR EPIC, TWISTED AND DARK AS FUCK PATH TO HAPPINESS! Betrayal! Misunderstandings! Jim’s ‘job’ getting in the way of just about everything, and everyone is an idiot. John is Shocked. (He really isn’t, he just disapproves.) DEAR LORD JUST SO MUCH FLIRTING.)
Things done in fanfic that annoys me:
Sadly, there’s no enough fic for me to have picked up on any particular and annoying trend. Though that lack of fic in and of itself annoys me…
Things I look for in fanfic:
I look for fic, period. Beggars can’t be choosers. But I suppose I prefer it to be… a little bit dark, because really, but waaaay playful too. This is a fun ship for me, not a tragic or angsty one (although a tiny bit of angst never hurt nobody). All three of them treating it as a game – Irene and Jim more as a matter of seduction and manipulation, Sherlock as a cerebral exercise. Lots of banter, lots of pretending to pretend to care – but deep down they are genuinely and absolutely fond of each other, and they can’t quite hide that. I also like the fic to be sexy in style, rather than substance, if that makes any sense? To me, Sherlock is just never as excited about sex as he is puzzles and games, and while Irene, and to a lesser extent Jim, do enjoy the grinding of bodies, they are happpy enough to play other games with their favourite sleuth. Also, Jim and Irene ganging up on Sherlock in the best ways possible.
For this pairing in particular? Um. Power play ALL THE TIME because they’re each convinced they’re the top dog. I mean, I enjoy BDSM but I just don’t see how it’d work with the three of them, because while I think Sherlock and Jim might well play at submissiveness in other settings, they will not here. Neither of them is willing to submit to either of the other two, and as for Irene… how about no, puppy? And since I’m not into actual non-con (as opposed to pretend non-con, where everyone involved knows that the reluctance is feigned for the sake of the scene) that makes most of my usual kinks not work for this pairing. I think my main Moriadlock kink is the cerebral banter, them playing up the UST for all its worth, and did I mention DEAR LORD SO MUCH FLIRTING? Casual-but-not-actual-casual touching is of course a go.
Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each others:
Oh, I ship Jim with just about everyone, and if he can’t be with Sherlock (or Sherlock and others, in any of the several Sheriarty+ configurations I enjoy) I’d be equally happy to see him ride off into the sunset (or the atomic blast – it really seems more likely… ) with Sebastian. But really, Jim having ANYONE is a major turn-on for me, so yeah.
As for Sherlock, I only actively ship him with Jim (and their potential thirds) but I’m quite happy for him to end up with only Irene – though maybe that doesn’t count – or John and Mary in another happy threesome. Or Janine! I do adore Janine, although they made one hell of an uncomfortable couple – but that’s because Sherlock was faking it. Let him be real, and there’ll be fireworks, I tell you! I love Molly, so I’d love to say I’d be happy for the two of them to end up together, but I don’t actually think Sherlock will be able to offer Molly what she wants in the long run. She can do better, really. (You can date me, Molly. Really. We’d be great!)
My happily ever after for them:
They live, for a long time and always their own lives. They fall out, apart, or just don’t see each other for months, maybe years – theirs is the sort of fire that burns too hot to be endured for long. But then they’ll look up and catch sight of the others across the street or bar or crime scene, and it will never not delight them, never fail to kindle the fire anew.
