Do you have other thoughts about pre-canon Moran/Watson? Your fics about them captivate me truly because I thought I was the sole shipper of them still breathing for like 2 months & I'm generally curious about if you have any further analysis or just ideas
That pairing has seized hold of my mind definitely, I love the idea of them as mirror characters and understanding each other because of their similar histories and them going from friends and lovers to enemies but where there's still something between them even then, even when they're on opposite sides. They still care about each other (and it is interesting and very suggestive, how Moran never seems to target Watson when targeting Watson seems like such an obvious way to either lure Holmes back to London or just get revenge on Holmes. It seems plausible to me that Moran doesn't target Watson because they were close once).
I do love the thought that they met in the army and though a lot of my ideas are more for my modern universe where things are a bit different to the canon, it is a definite possibility that they did meet in Afghanistan canonically. I see them as being the kind of characters who come into conflict with each other but also like and (maybe grudgingly at first) respect each other. I do think Moran has a lot of contempt towards doctors in general and army surgeons in particular but then Watson isn't really like the others. He's younger (though I like the idea of him being older than Moran) and a bit more idealistic maybe, not so egotistical, but he totally puts Moran in his place and orders him to sit still and behave when he's trying to treat him and Moran is being antagonistic (Moran of course thinks this is hot and actually ends up obeying him, and Watson does gain his respect for this because he is tough and firm but he's not cruel with it and he genuinely does really care about people).
And I think they do come to love each other, in their own way, even though Moran would never openly admit to it because he doesn't do that and Watson won't admit to it because he thinks Moran sees whatever is between them as nothing serious and he suspects telling him he loves him would scare Moran off or else Moran would just laugh at him, plus anyway it's not meant to be anything serious cos they could both just get killed tomorrow. And Moran does infuriate Watson I'm sure because he is so reckless, so seemingly lacking in any sense of self-preservation. He seems to be determined to put himself in way more danger than anyone else and he just keeps on scraping through somehow each time, more or less physically unharmed always, but Watson is convinced whatever luck Moran has is not going to last. Moran worries him, more than most people do I'm sure. He wants to save Moran but Moran does not make that easy. Meanwhile Watson is pretty oblivious to the fact that Moran actually does truly care about him and what's between them is not just sex.
(I probably have many more ideas but I'm exhausted right now so maybe I'll think of more about them another time)
(Thank you!)
