Between straight men, Susi. The word "bromance" is to tell the world: "There is nothing wrong with these guys, they are not gay, you may calm down even if they hold hands."
Also, the message of bromance is: "These men are not just best friends as women are (how boring!), they are special."
In the bromance POV, straight men are superior. A homophobic and misogynist concept.

John would probably use that term along with his "I'm not gay" statements.

Ouch, now I've made myself sad.

Disclaimer:  I haven't seen all of the BBC series or read all the ACD stories yet.  I haven't read all of this thread yet.  And I haven't made my mind up yet. 

I think John has some specific functions beyond being a love/friend interest for Sherlock.   Sherlock is such a unique, strange character that I think it is helpful to have John as a more human character.  It's almost as if John interprets Sherlock for us.  We experience John's shock, amazement, disappointment, etc.  The stories seem to work well with Sherlock having somebody to explain things to. He tells John instead of telling us (the audience/readers). 

There are moments when it's the other way around (for instance, when Sherlock realises that John has shot the taxi driver, in ASiP).  But usually, John is an open book, and Sherlock is often a closed one. 

Whether they are actually in a romantic, sexual relationship ... I think not.  All the jokes about them being a couple, I think really are jokes.  They wouldn't be funny if they were a couple.  I don't think John's irritation shows repressed homosexuality - it's natural to be irritated if people continually mistake you for something you're not (for instance, if people kept assuming you were a different nationality).  I don't think he's homophobic.   And I think he's portrayed as straight in the TV series (the books are possibly more ambiguous?  He does seem to fall for Mary, but there's rather a sweet, chaste feel about it).  If he was bi, then again, the jokes ("confirmed bachelor", etc.) wouldn't be so far off the mark, so wouldn't be so funny. 

Sherlock seems to be shown as asexual by choice and behaviour, rather than by orientation.   So there's room for him to be gay (although his feelings for Irene suggest that he's straight).  

In the TV series, a major hurdle for me is that Sherlock is shown as so devastatingly attractive, whereas John is just a goodlooking guy.    (2226 pages in the Benedict Cumberbatch picture thread on this forum, 104 pages in the Martin Freeman picture thread.  It seems to be the same all over the interweb ).  I know John has qualities that Sherlock loves, but I don't really buy them as a couple with such a disparity in attractiveness.   

Anyway, I do really like to see a romantic friendship.  If we're all seeing what we want to see, then that's what I want to see and what I'm seeing. 

Exactly. And of course they are not a romantic sexual relationship yet. Which does not mean that there is no room for development. 

Well, today I read an interesting thing: Someone was complaining about people demanding that in a same-sex relationship everything has to be made clear from the beginning. That there is no room for obstacles, pining, misunderstandings, complications, all those tropes we know from straight romances. Quite a good point, I think. This is what most straight romances are made of, some comic, some dramatic or even tragic. So why not one between two men?

It is a love story. You said so yourself. And of course you may exchange the word "romance" for "love story" in my post. 

Liberty,
I really like how open minded you are. About your post, I have felt that way too- before I watched S3. That really changed the way I felt about Johnlock being intended or not. I am SO interested in hearing what you'll say about it once you have watched it too.

Please hurry.

For some reason, all of sudden I can't wait for S4 to be aired.

As would mine.
If they were shown in a relationship, I would accept them as a couple.
But they clearly aren't

Schmiezi wrote:

Liberty,
I really like how open minded you are. About your post, I have felt that way too- before I watched S3. That really changed the way I felt about Johnlock being intended or not. I am SO interested in hearing what you'll say about it once you have watched it too.

Please hurry.

I almost succumbed tonight, but no ... .  I am prepared to have my thoughts in disarray when I finally watch it, and I'm sure I'll be posting here about it! 

I do think they have a special relationship.  But ... in the books, obviously they couldn't be written as lovers in that time and place.   That means that they might have been lovers ... but it couldn't be shown. 

On TV, in this time and place, of course they could be shown as lovers, so it feels to me as if a decision has been made to not show them that way ... initially at least (not counting series 3, obviously!).