There's something comforting about having an OTP.
I freely admit that I have many favorite pairings. Many are slash because I read a lot of Victorian literature where rounded female characters are scarce. For some reason I also like pairing best friends together and they usually happen to be male BFFs. I do ship a lot of canon, though, when I think about it.
Some of my favorites are House and Wilson (House), McKay and Sheppard (Stargate Atlantis), Jack and Ianto (Torchwood, and they're canonical), Daine and Numair (Tamora Pierce), Alanna and George (Tamora Pierce), Sam and Sybil (Discworld), Moist and Adora (Discworld), Carrot and Angua (Discworld), Clark and Lex (Smallville, I know, I know -wince-), Tim and Kon (DC comics, I've never been able to stand Wonder Girl, though I loved Steph), and Jeeves and Wooster.
But my first real ship, my first OTP, and the one which remains most constant, is Holmes and Watson.
It's in a bit of a weird way, though. I love the Canon. I love it to
bits. Holmes and Watson define BFF.
But I see the good slash fanfiction as an extension of the Canon. There's subtext galore, if you know how to look. Hell, I have a link to an entire series of essays on the subject. But I've shipped Holmes and Watson since before I knew what shipping
was. I've thought they were married in all but name since I first read the books when I was, like, eight.
I have no enmity towards Watson's wives. At all. My personal theory is that Watson married twice-first Mary, who died while Holmes was on Hiatus, and then a second time to a woman who died very soon after they married. She's the one who called him "James". It doesn't matter to me, though. Because when I read the Canon, what I see is a man head over heels for his best friend. Nothing can stand between them; he'll drop anything for Holmes, anytime, anywhere, and, just as importantly, Holmes will do the same for him if Watson needs it.
Watson is my favorite. I refuse to read pastiches in which Watson is bashed. I won't watch movies where Watson is portrayed as a bumbling fool. I
won't. Because while Holmes is very cool, the one I'd want to be friends with and hang out with is Watson. Holmes can come too, but only if Watson is there to keep him in line.
But, back to what I originally said, there is something comforting about having an OTP. (Particularly one where the Canon is no longer being added to, I have to say. -coughcoughTORCHWOODcough-) Because, as far as I'm concerned, Holmes and Watson are unshakable. They're constant.
Okay, it goes a bit beyond being just an OTP. Holmes and Watson have lasted. For over a century.
I guess Vincent Starr said it best in his sonnet about the pair of them. The last two lines are:
"Here, though the world explode, these two survive
And it is always eighteen ninety five."
In the world I find myself living in now, it's nice to have something like this to hold on to.
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