#john's sexuality

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hello! I just reread the brilliant Radioactive Trees in the Red Forest.... And it made me want more! Do you know any fics that really get into John's sexuality, internalised homophobia etc

Hi Nonny!

First the fic suggestion:

Radioactive Trees In A Red Forest by Maribor_Petrichor (E, 280,251 w., 73 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Post-S4, Suicidal Ideations, Alcohol / Rx Drug Abuse, Coming Out / Bisexual John, Seizures, Past/Referenced/Implied Child Abuse, Hallucinations, Rehab, Celibacy, Sobriety / Relapse, Slow Burn, Friends to Lovers, Grief/Mourning, Psychological Trauma, Nice /Not Anti-Mary, John’s POV, Parentlock, First Time, Angst, Switchlock, Angst with Happy Ending) – John Watson is what happens when a man can no longer see a reason to go on. John Watson is what happens when a man starts to let go. "It is what it is." John Watson is what happens when what "it is" becomes too much to bear. This is a story of the life, death, and resurrection of John Hamish Watson.

====

Secondly, I unfortunately haven't read this fic yet, so I can't give you EXACTLY fics like it, but you asked for John's sexuality fics, so you might enjoy other fics on these lists here:

John’s Internalized Homophobia

Internalized Homophobia Pt 2

Homophobia / Sexuality / Pride 

If anyone has any other fics they'd love to suggest, please do!!!

[strwbryfeels]

[laswells-ashtray]

Ghost doesn't mind attention. He's used to eyes on him. He wears a mask and has a reputation for being a proficiently merciless man. The sound of his footsteps paired with a man of his stature tends to incite fear in people, his own or those he's yet to plant in the ground.

Simon is also used to the attention. He knows he's attractive, and he's dealt with his fair share of people flirting with him. He has big shoulders, the type of nose that's just on the right side of crooked so that people fawn over it and thighs like tree trunks. It attracts interest.

Simon likes the attention, he likes being flirted with and he enjoys the varying compliments he receives from different kinds of people. The older men who call him a pretty boy despite him towering over them, and the women tell him they'd like to climb him like a tree and find out exactly how good his wood is. His favourite is the bartenders who slip him a free drink alongside their number.

He likes the attention, appreciates being showered with lustful gazes after years worth of getting the shit beaten out of him and collecting scars like they're vintage stamps.

He doesn't like the action. Sickened by the feeling of men grabbing his jaw and yanking him into sloppy kisses as their scruff grazes his cheek. The sticky feeling of lip gloss and the taste of vodka from some blonde who'd parked herself in his lap and tried to stick her tongue in his mouth almost triggers his gag reflex.

He likes feeling wanted, he doesn't like being pushed.

So, when he ends up entangled with Nikolai and John, he's hesitant to tell the two other men.

John is tactile, he enjoys his little Price pats. He likes standing close enough that he can feel the warmth from someone else's shoulder. And he likes sitting with his legs spread out far enough that his knees knock into the knee of the person beside him.

Nikolai is openly affectionate. He's quick to draw someone in for a hug, encompassing them with his arms and trapping them with his smile. He likes to stand with an arm around someone's waist, finger hooking in their belt loop. He brushes his thumb across any available skin, tracing scars and stretchmarks like they're a divine beauty he's been blessed to touch.

But the two men don't seem to mind.

If they sit on the couch together, Nikolai will end up with John half sitting on his lap within twenty minutes of whatever movie they're watching together as he trails his thumb over one of the more prominent scars on John's forearm. John will slump against him and grumble whenever Nikolai moves.

Sometimes Simon will sit with his leg up on the couch, toes digging into John's thigh without hearing a complaint from his captain. Sometimes he won't.

Sex is a lot more talkative than he's used to. They both ask him if he's okay, and they check in while in the middle of things just to make sure that everyone is comfortable. If Simon seems unsure then they stop and work out a better arrangement between the three of them, taking into consideration everyone's wants and needs.

Some nights he's three fingers deep in John's arse and tormenting his prostate with a sniper's accuracy rate as the other man sucks Nik off and tries not to cum while doing so.

Other nights he's sat in Nikolai's lap as the Russian gropes at his tits while John presses his nose into the wiry blonde curls at the base of his cock and swallows around him just to hear the wanton moan that escapes Simon's mouth and surely earns them a noise complaint.

They never complain about his avoidance when it comes to kissing, it's never a point of contention or friction. Sometimes John nuzzles his face into Simon's shoulder sleepily after they make him cum three times and he'll run a hand through John's hair. Sometimes Nikolai will lean over him to get something from the fridge whilst Simon is grabbing himself a drink, he'll let their hands touch and smile at Nikolai's pleased huff.

He'll watch the two of them kiss throughout the day. Nikolai pressing a kiss on John's cheek whenever he walks by him. John kissing Nikolai's knuckles when the pilot accidentally hits a cabinet and splits his knuckle.

He knows when he's comfortable enough with the both of them and he contemplates saving it for a nice, romantic moment. He doesn't because if there's anything he likes to do it's tease the two men.

So, he waits until they're having sex. Until John tries desperately to arch up, Nikolai pinning the captain's hips in his lap and keeping him firmly planted on his cock as John cums in Simon's mouth.

Then he pulls off of the other man's spent cock, crawls his way onto the bed and pulls John up into a kiss.

John is so caught off guard by the sudden action that it takes him a second to realise that Simon is using the kiss to feed his own cum into his mouth. When he does realise, he's grabbing at his lieutenant's shoulders and moaning into his mouth.

Only when John swallows does he pull back and lean over him to kiss Nikolai, with John's spend on his lips. The Russian nips at his bottom lip before licking it clean.

He considers it worth the wait.

[chickadeethoughts]

reread this post and maybe this is an unpopular mclennon opinion? but i think they both didn't actually understand each other as well as they thought they did. i think both of them believed the other could read their mind and then filtered their subsequent actions as a conscious slight. like. john should know that paul is someone who keeps his feelings very closely guarded, who will always choose to keep the peace and to put on a good face when he's upset. but throughout the breakup, when paul seemingly stays as productive as ever, staying distantly polite to yoko while urging john to keep writing, keep beatling, everything's fine, time to put on a show, john takes it that paul doesn't care one way or another about their partnership dissolving, he's a perfectly capable one-man band hit machine anyway. this is seemingly confirmed by paul announcing the breakup to "sell a record," effectively ending all hope of quietly reconciling and supporting john's theory that paul was done with the beatles (john) anyway and had been on his way out once he learned he could write a #1 song without anyone's (john's) help. all he cares about is hits and money and his new perfect family and farm.

meanwhile. paul should know that john wasn't handling the pressures of the beatles well. he should know that he needed more support. but paul seems to be someone who gets stuck in his ways of thinking about people (see also: george), and doesn't seem to have ever shaken the image of john as the older, cooler teddy boy on the bus who he'd do anything to impress. he thinks the world of john and spends the 60s thinking they're in a friendly competition, not realizing john has started falling into the paranoia that he's losing. you can see it in get back. paul is waiting for john to write his next great song, to set a new bar for paul to push himself to reach. paul got john by impressing him with his music and when he's losing john he doubles down on it because he thinks that's the only valuable thing he has to offer. he might have offered the support john needed instead if he knew what that was, but he didn't. but mid-60s john, who still thinks paul understands him, thinks paul knows he needs him but chooses to spend his time flitting around swinging london instead, which deeply hurts him. john clings to yoko because she's a breath of fresh air from the constant race he's been running for a decade. a creative partner he doesn't have to chase down. someone who needs him as much as he needs her. a woman he can marry, can have a real commitment to. he can be everything to the person who is everything to him. but paul sees this as john finally outgrowing him and finding someone better.

paul also should know that john often speaks first and decides whether he believes what he said later. but it seems he only ever takes john at his word. when john leaves the beatles that's it, no negotiation, because if paul has lost john to someone more interesting, more artistic, then that's that. when john starts to talk publicly about paul's muzak and granny shit that must be true too, it's why john left after all. and granted john just wont stop shit talking him and it's not like he just fell on a keyboard and how do you sleep came out. but this is how you get a paul who starts to see himself as a villain and questions whether john did love him. he doesn't think too many people was that nasty compared to what john was saying about him in interviews because he doesn't realize that one of john's biggest fears is that he's incapable of being a great songwriter without paul. so to john, the lucky break line is paul admitting he agrees with that assessment and twisting the knife. but paul wouldn't see it that way because he's only ever had john on a pedestal.

so by the 70s, on their worst days, john thinks paul is cold marble statue who knows he's better than him and delights in it and paul thinks john is entirely out of love or use for him, if he ever had it in the first place. and of course, they could never talk about any of this openly because neither of them were willing to face the pain of confirming that their love really was one-sided.

[ghouljams]

ghost lets that f word rip out of his mouth any moment he can tbh

ghost is genuinely the worst offender on base with it too, soap and gaz kept a running total of how many times a day he said it once and could not share the results with price because they were afraid he'd ship it over to one of the conduct offices.

he's quick with it and it hits so naturally at this point that it doesn't even register on soap/gaz's radar anymore.

and the worst part- the worst part is that he is so clearly down with the gays. genuinely blows gaz's mind. this man is so far from being pc and yet here he is talking about some transfem he took home the other night and how "suckin' a bird off doesn't make me queer." or the time soap watched ghost grope some guy at the pub and when he asked ghost about it was hit with, "ass is ass." like what are you doing ghost? what is happening here?

soap asks if he's bi and ghost gives him the most confused look and a "the fuck ya just call me?" before going back to watching footie (and immediately calling the ref a f-).

[megatronusprimedecal]

"Oh, Father."

Deluge || Episode Twenty-Three || Season Four

[canonplag]

yapping a lot on main rn but i take writing john very seriously. i think he's a lot more mild mannered than he's depicted in most works and this ties specifically into how oversexualized he is. which is another can of worms. he's just a guy. you can't mess that up. he's a bit of a bitch but he's just some guy. he likes to relax, read the newspaper, lounge on the couch watching tv, laugh with his friends. it's those little moments that are so important in hellblazer when he's not losing his mind from all the traumatic things that happen to him. to strip his normalcy of him is leaning into the facade he creates for himself.

[oliversgarden]

“Hope everyone’s having a good prideeeee monthhh, shout out to The Gayyyysss”

Details and context under the cut (:

Basically just Sherlock and Co go to a pride parade. But like it's totally for a case and John totttallyyyy isn't acting like a tourist collecting everything he finds and it's definitely very serious.

[sponsoredbyshanestireshop]

Some notes on how I think we should be drawing john

[lemonwrap]

Do you guys think Soap is the kind of guy that genuinely thinks that wearing socks and not kissing or talking about it afterwards cancels out the gay sex he’s having with Ghost

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Heyyy!!

How are you doing?

I just came across one of your posts from last year talking about John's sexuality and saw that you also think he had a thing for Lestrade - AND THANK GOD I'M NOT ALONE IN THIS - could you elaborate a little more about these two? I'd love to read your views on them.

Thanks in advance💚💚

(referencing this post)

Hey Lovely!

Oh gosh it's been so long since I've thought about this that I genuinely don't remember my initial readings when I made that statement, but I do feel that it holds some truth to it. I'll try my best to organize my thoughts. It's been a long time since I've rewatched all the series so I'm just working on my memory here, so my apologies for any inaccuracies and inconsistencies I may make.

Okay, so my read on John is that I think at the beginning of the series he IS aware that he is bisexual, but because of his past he has quite a bit of internalized homophobia with his own attraction to men. It's something he struggles with, especially since he seems to form stronger romantic bonds with men than women. But because of his internalized homophobia, John "chooses" to "front-face" with a hetero relationship, no matter how miserable or disinterested he clearly is in in them.

But, John's also very lonely when we first meet him, and John clearly has A Type™, and that type leans more towards his attraction to men: authority figures or posh and pretty. Basically, men he can look-at-but-not-touch (Sholto, Lestrade, Sherlock), because he can then claim plausible deniability and, in a way, in confirms his internalized biases about himself.

So, in ASiP, I felt that John was flirting a lot with Lestrade when they first met. Just sort of putting out feelers. I think it's safe to say that John... was probably pretty "open to anything" during his service, and in turn I think he learned how to get a read on men he was interested in without actually outing himself directly. And then as the series progresses, we see John seeming to have a friendly relationship with Lestrade, the kind that makes Sherlock a bit jeally (see THoB, holy shit the vitriol he spouted when John called him by his first name, I'm sorry but that was PURE jealousy).

Lestrade then continues to try to keep in touch with John during MHR / the Hiatus... I think it's safe to infer that Lestrade cares a lot for John and feels that it's his duty to make sure he's alright. And then throughout S3 and S4, especially TSo3, they're clearly friends, and I personally believe that by this point, Lestrade knows that John's bisexual and had romantic feelings for Sherlock, but knows it's not his place to force them together. I think TSo3 is a "JUST DONE" Lestrade because – remember – he helped Sherlock write his vows and what we see on screen is WHAT LESTRADE TOLD SHERLOCK TO SAY. So like... I'm sorry but that feels like he's tired of them dancing around each other, and here dumbfuck idiots, I'm going to make sure Sherlock makes it clear to John that the feeling is mutual LOL.

So yeah, I think the best man speech was Lestrade's way of being fed up with their mooning over each other, LOL.

And S4, honestly, I don't remember enough to even put too much thought into it. S4, who he? LOL.

I'm sure I'll have additional thoughts after I've queued and posted this, so I'll add them if I do. I'd love to know your thoughts too, though! Please share! It's nice knowing I wasn't alone in this belief LOL.

[imheretoreadafic]

Wally realizes one day that EVERY time two of his friends start dating (or hooking up), he ends up in the middle of all of their fights like a child of divorce. He decides the best course of action for fixing this is to his friends hitched with outside people. His friends are very confused.

--

Outside a gay bar:

Wally: "And she's super strong, too! Like, she could bench THREE of you, i bet!"

Some sweet milf lesbian who assumed he was drunk and decided to keep him safe: "That's nice, sweetie."

Wally: "There she is! Diana!"

Diana, confused because Wally told her that he wanted to meet her at a really impressive gym for a training session:

--

Clark gets a phone call one day from a guy saying that Wally gave him his phone number.

Clark, incredibly confused: "I'm sorry, but I'm engaged?"

Lois: *too amused by her fiancé's red face to be upset*

(Wally straight up forgot)

--

Bruce, AS BATMAN, watches a man approach him with flowers, stares at him for a moment and then turns around and leaves while he's mid sentence.

(He also scolds Wally so hard that he doesn't attempt it again. He is the only one able to intimidate him enough to knock it off)

--

J'onn: "Please stop telling random civilian women I have a tentacle."

Wally:"....Do you want me to tell civilian men, too?"

J'onn:

--

John: "Why on god's green earth did you tell my neighbor I wanted to cook them dinner?!"

Wally: "You don't have to actually cook if that's the problem."

John: "WHY WOULD THAT BE THE PROBLEM WITH THIS SITUATION?!"

[muzaktomyears]

John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs, Ian Leslie (2025)

[ghouljams]

What does price think of 4 and gaz together?

he hates it. annoyance simmers every time gaz gets a message from you, every time his screen lights up and price is forced to see your damn face. it's an unpleasant surprise every time you scurry past his office to bring gaz a forgotten lunch or to surprise him with some other stupid bullshit.

it's pathetic, sniffing around another man's leftovers when he could have his pick of the litter. price would've thought he trained gaz better than that, but maybe that's part of the problem. too much idolization has messed with the boy's head.

worse still is when you bring your children along. they linger by his office, still remembering who their real father is, and price has to play along with the charade. play the part of doting father, custody cruelly ripped from him, it's exhausting. good fun to fuck with your head though. he knows when he sends those little brats back your way they'll sniffle and cry and ask why you took them away from their daddy. then he can see the hatred on garrick's face clearly.

good. respect should come at the price of fear, anything else is a weakness that price can't afford to keep on the battlefield.

[angelicabr]

The Beatles in India, July 1966.

[sunnibits]

some people really need to learn how to knock