#kitty winter

Oh so many probably. Even the angsty ones.

A big one is Moriarty being asexual (aroace specifically) and really not that into sex in general meanwhile Moran is a promiscuous bisexual and they seem like they shouldn't be compatible but they really are, they fit together really well.

Also obviously that they're both extremely kinky.

And another big one is they do genuinely love each other, even if it's not truly equal between them, even if Moriarty is incapable of experiencing romantic attraction or romantic love, even if loving someone unsettles both of them for various reasons. They still love each other and there's a lot of respect and affection going both ways between them.

Both of them being introverts, contrary to what many people expect Moran to be but I think when he's being quite extrovert and really sociable and charming it's usually largely an act. That and him being able to switch very quickly between languages, accents, even mannerisms. I think he's really really good at blending in and making himself invisible almost and a lot of that is his ability to change his mannerisms or the way he talks often. And him being multilingual, knowing so many languages and being good at picking up new ones quite rapidly.

Also both of them being autistic. Never diagnosed even in the modern day but this kind of contributing I think to both of them having this almost dual personality, the mathematics teacher and the criminal genius, the 'honourable soldier' and the criminal right hand. It kind of feels like a form of masking almost, this appearing ""normal"" and even pretty boring really while having this whole other life as master criminals.

Moriarty genuinely liking art and music, even if he views things in quite a mathematical way still sometimes. His whole life is not just 'sterile' mathematics or crime, he appreciates beauty, art for art's sake (and I still love the idea of him being a big fan of Irene Adler).

Moran being able to play certain instruments well

Moran loving animals. Even canonically I don't think he hunts animals because he hates them, I think he feels this almost spiritual connection to the tigers or whatever species he's hunting, it's not 'let's exterminate this species for fun'. Modern Moran though, I just don't think he'd still be hunting animals really, I don't think he'd be a tiger poacher now or something. And I also think he gets on really well with horses and dogs.

Both of them being english by birth but not really feeling english ever, not just because I don't think they fit in anyway and they are outcasts and also neither of them is any kind of 'patriot' either but also because of their parentage/ancestry.

Moriarty just mostly being the way he is anyway, that's just him, while Moran has been shaped a lot more by past trauma (and I think there is a lot to unpack there for him, even more so in my modern universe in fact). And both of them being mistrustful, both of them being touch averse (for different reasons), but they trust each other, they like physical contact with each other.

Moran being close to Kitty Winter. Apparently this is one of the oldest ideas I had for him and it's still going strong, even if for the canon maybe you have to fudge the dates of the stories a bit in order for them to interact but I love the idea that they've had a sexual relationship and she's still his best friend. Also more recently Moran and Parker becoming friends is a big favourite of mine too (Parker is also close to Moriarty in my modern universe too).

Also I still love the idea of Moran having history with Watson.

And both of them I think... respecting consent, respecting boundaries? Weird thing to say about murderers I suppose but I think they are complicated and they still have limits, they still have some kind of morals or standards. Even Moriarty - he'd kill someone but he wouldn't insult them or humiliate them or sexually assault them/allow them to be sexually assaulted for example

And this one is from AGoS but it's such a great idea for Moriarty overall, him really liking pigeons - smart but misunderstood animals that frequently get dismissed as just 'vermin'. I think he genuinely would get attached to pigeons.

Also redheaded Moriarty of course

so I have seen every episode like ... A LOT of times. but still, Ophelia Lovibond's performance as Kitty Winter at the end of S3Ep11 is still so ...

oh my FUCKING fuck.

her journey from surprise to alarm to hope and fear to DISGUST and shame and RAGE and PAIN is just ... it's magnificent. it happens in such a short (believable) time, it's so so so good.

Ah, Kitty my darling girl who has never done anything wrong ever. I love her

Gruner is definitely so repulsive. I think it's maybe a tie between him and Milverton for who's the most repellent canonical villain (both excellent villains but so repulsive and chilling as people). There's definitely way, way more to the Gruner and Kitty thing than just 'he seduced her and then cast her aside' as some people have suggested. He had to have harmed her first and I am glad several adaptations have taken that stance because Kitty's not just being pettily vindictive there, there's got to be a really good reason why she's so hellbent on destroying him and why Holmes dislikes him so much and especially considering the 'extenuating circumstances' that were revealed at her trial for the acid throwing.

He is a multiple murderer but I do think Gruner is probably also the closest thing in the canon to a serial killer. Actually I do think Gruner is also genuinely how pop culture thinks Moriarty is, when Moriarty is really nothing like him. The scale of Moriarty's crimes might be bigger but he's not a monster whereas Gruner kind of is. (I'm still completely convinced Moriarty would hate him.)

Contents/warnings: implied past injury and possible abuse

Masks

He stands there before the largest display cabinet, this handsome man in his perfectly tailored dark suit, with his silk cravat and his even silkier voice and his neat and perfectly waxed moustache. He smiles and gives his little speech with a humorous anecdote here and there, and he hands out his praise and compliments to others in all the right places. Several women cast him admiring glances while people of both sexes laugh at his jokes and express admiration for his knowledge. Of course he would be a special guest at the opening of a new ceramics exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum, this good-looking aristocrat with his expertise in Chinese pottery in particular.

Why the young woman with the red hair and wearing the blue silk and velvet dress is in attendance is not so obvious. Though her companion – a tall and well-dressed man perhaps still with something of a military bearing – appears to be admiring the different displays, she does not look at the exquisite eggshell-thin cups or saucers, she seems not to care at all how gorgeously painted the vases are, or about the craftsmanship involved in making the delicate clay baskets, almost as fragile-looking as lace, or an array of beautiful but also somewhat unsettling ceramic masks. Her attention is fixed on that particular Chinese pottery expert, and for a moment the look in her eyes burns hotter than the kilns in which his beloved pieces are fired.

Another man steps forward to give a small talk about another portion of the exhibit, his voice carrying across the gathered crowd. “These are based on the creations of the old mascherari, the mask-makers, from Venice,” he is saying, gesturing at the display of white porcelain faces, with their empty eye sockets and carefully painted patterns.

“That's him then,” says the young woman's companion without looking at her, his expression giving nothing away, not even when the woman's fingers dig almost painfully into his arm as the expert in Chinese ceramics favours another pretty young woman with a smile. To anyone else he would appear interested only in what is being said about Venetian carnival masks.

“That's him all right,” she says, her voice low. She is standing still and a tad stiffly, holding her other arm very slightly awkwardly, her face revealing nothing however of the physical discomfort she is in at present.

Baron Adelbert Gruner, from Austria originally, lately of Kingston upon Thames, takes so many people in, charming them with his intelligence and culture and wit and wrapping them around his little finger like a man reeling in an endless succession of pretty little fish.

But Miss Kitty Winter, most recently of Westminster but before that from London's poorest parts, wearing her fancy new dress and trying to ignore the pain and the itching of her scars beneath the fabric, looks through his mask. She takes in the cold dead look in his beautiful dark eyes, notices the spectres which cling to him, and she sees the blood on his hands.

“I could do it,” her companion says, also in a low voice. “Easy as breathing.” He would and all, Kitty's certain. Seb Moran, formerly of the Indian Army, now still living with his paramour in Mayfair (despite the best efforts of a certain consulting detective). Once suspected and then acquitted of a man's murder, but she knows for sure he's still a killer, and she knows that he sees through Gruner's mask too; that he also sees that second or two when Gruner, while talking to a lady, happens to glance over and meets Kitty's gaze and falters mid-word.

“No.” She turns to look at Moran. “Not yet.” She smiles at him now, that blazing fury tempered when her eyes meet his, smiling at him only with warmth. “You leave this one to me.”