Sherlock Holmes (novel)/Ho Yay

"Holmes: "There are the wheels, Watson. Quick, man, if you love me!""
 * Sherlock Holmes and his biographer/only friend/soul mate Watson. It's blatant enough even without the exceptionally slashy Granada TV series starring Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke. "My very intimate relationship" indeed.
 * This troper's friend wrote a 10,000 word dissertation on the homoerotic subtext and possible gay codings in the Sherlock Holmes canon. The Sign of Four alone, which has Holmes wishing Watson would acknowledge his skills as a housekeeper, Holmes feeding Watson oysters, Holmes going on a cocaine binge immediately after Watson announces his engagement...
 * In that vein, Decoding the Subtext, a book-length analysis of Holmes and Watson's relationship throughout the entire canon.
 * The Dying Detective

"Watson getting shot was Holmes' Berserk Button. Watson: It was worth a wound — it was worth many wounds — to know the depth of loyalty and love which lay behind that cold mask. The clear, hard eyes were dimmed for a moment, and the firm lips were shaking. For the one and only time I caught a glimpse of a great heart as well as of a great brain. All my years of humble but single-minded service culminated in that moment of revelation."
 * The Adventure of the Three Garridebs

"Watson: "Certainly a gray mist swirled before my eyes, and when it cleared I found my collar ends undone and a tingling aftertaste of brandy upon my lips. Holmes was bending over my chair, his flask in hand.""
 * The Return of Sherlock Holmes

"Watson: Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like a vice upon my wrist in his agitation."
 * The Adventure of the Speckled Band

"Watson: My companion flushed up with pleasure at my words, and the earnest way in which I uttered them. I had already observed that he was as sensitive to flattery on the score of his art as any girl could be of her beauty."
 * When Holmes gets scared he holds Watson's hand. If that isn't Ho Yay I don't know what is.
 * Spoofed here. Holmes gets quite excited when he solves a case.
 * Perhaps picking up on some UST, one old Epileptic Tree was that Watson was a woman.
 * Another theory is that it's Holmes who was the woman... and if Watson didn't notice that he's not much good as either a detective or a doctor, frankly...
 * Either that or one was covering up the gender of the other in order to prevent shocking Victorian society to complete apoplexy. The thought of a woman involving herself in murders, blackmail scandals and crimes? The scandal!
 * Coupled with, if we still accept the UST, the thought of an unmarried man and woman living together in sin.
 * And don't forget that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wanted to finish his writing career right after publishing A Study in Scarlet. It was a chance meeting with one Oscar Wilde that inspired him to continue the whole Holmes business. Take that as you will.
 * In "The Adventure of the Norwood Builder", Watson reveals that he moved back in with Holmes because Holmes asked him to. However, Holmes used his own money and got a distant relative to secretly buy Watson's medical practice, something Watson didn't know about until years later. Holmes really, really wanted his Boswell back...
 * "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton". All of it. From Holding Hands to a willingness to share a prison cell together, the entire case is full of Ho Yay moments.
 * From A Study In Scarlet, Sherlock likes it when Watson thinks he’s clever.


 * This troper would like to point out that Holmes and Watson use the word "intimate" to describe their relationship no fewer than three times between "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" and "The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes." (Once when Watson describes his time with Sherlock as "the years of our intimacy", once when Sherlock calls Watson his "intimate friend"-to a client!-and another time by Watson, though I can't remember the exact wording.)