#this man absolutely 1000% has the soul of a soldier #there could have been any number of ways he could have reacted here #he could have lashed out at mike for phrasing it like that #he could have gotten upset #he could have lost himself in memories of what it felt like to bleed out onto sand #but no #he slices it right to the core of what it was and what happened #he got shot #end of story #he doesn’t try to deny it or dance around it or make it into a big poor pitiful me moment #because john watson is strong #stronger than even he thinks he can be #he can — and will — overcome anything #he survived being shot and with that he survived losing being able to do the only two things he thought he could #be a soldier and be a surgeon #and even if his world is dulled and faded he’ll survive losing sherlock holmes #even if he misses him every fucking day #and nothing is the same #he won’t let sherlock’s ghost drag him down or push him into a life half-lived #he’ll go back to work he’ll date and he’ll live #because even if it hurts to draw air into his lungs john watson will breathe