This is how I show my love.

kibblebeast: Oh hai I love you and literally cry with happiness over your tags and graphics, dsjk. Here's the problem: I have a fellow sheriarty friend with an unfortunate johnlock obsessed acquaintance who continually rips apart the notion of there being any connection between Jim/Sherlock. If I ever meet them I have sworn to destroy them but anyway: they've put forward that because of that brief fear gas moment in Hounds, Sherlock must be terrified of Jim. Please eloquently defend the most perfect OTP ;C

i’ve actually been wanting to discuss this for a while, because i noticed a lot of “OH SOB, POOR SHERLOCK, JIM IS HIS WORST NIGHTMARE, MORIARTY IS THE DEVIL, LITTLE INNOCENT SHERLOCK IS SO TERRIFIED OF HIM” shit after ‘hounds.’ unsurprisingly, i disagree.  

i am going to admit that i haven’t given ‘hounds’ a thorough rewatch since it first aired. but, if i’m remembering correctly, the drug didn’t ‘show’ you what you feared, it ‘show’ed you what you expected to see. (sherlock intentionally describes physical characteristics of the hound to john in order to influence his perception of it.) it was the mix of stimulus + expectation that created the fear/panic. when sherlock sees the man behind the murder unmasked before him, well, of course his mind would jump to moriarty. moriarty has been behind literally every other crime we’ve seen him solve throughout the series. 

i don’t doubt that sherlock fears him a little. but i definitely did not take his seeing moriarty in ‘hounds’ as an indication that moriarty is what he fears most. he’s not his worst nightmare and he’s not ‘the devil.’ moriarty is the shadow across sherlock’s life whose emergence is always anticipated by sherlock. if anything i take moriarty’s drug-induced appearance as more of a marker of sherlock’s awareness of his constant presence in absence. he expects to see him at every turn and he’s always there (even here, when he’s not!) 

i wish i could have provided more eloquence but it’s been a long day. also, as i said, i don’t remember every line of ‘hounds’ so if there is something uttered to suggest that the drug functions by tapping into your darkest fears rather than by tapping into what you’re expected to see, someone please let me know and i’ll admit defeat here. 

Don’t think for one second that I am one of them. 

I see. You’re not ordinary, no.

I’m sick, you’re tired, let’s dance. Cold as numbers, but let’s dance.