What do my fellow rainbows in the mist think about Hazlik?

[The Dark]

And on a slightly different topic, speaking of queer rep in Ravenloft:

Was Alathur (Alanik Ray and Arthur Sedgwick) a common ship before 5e canonized it, or were Mr. Dungeons and Mr. Dragons just like 'oh, we need more diversity! How about - " -pointing at two very confused detectives- " - You!"
Cause I know 5e made some wild changes that were obviously for the sake of diversity (And I don't think it's bad. It often gave place for more creative storytelling. And it's a TTRPG - if you prefer the older versions you can still use them at your table.), but I also know how fans' brain works.

As far as I can recall, they were just Holmes and Watson expies. Ray is mentioned in Van Richten's Guide to Ghosts and gets a couple paragraphs and a stat block in Bleak House, but his only full write-up is in Champions of the Mists. That last write-up states he befriended Sedgwick in Mordentshire, Sedgwick's medical skills have occasionally been helpful in Ray's investigations, and Sedgwick writes up Ray's cases as popular books. There's not even mention of them sharing an apartment like the characters they're based on.

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

And on a slightly different topic, speaking of queer rep in Ravenloft:

Was Alathur (Alanik Ray and Arthur Sedgwick) a common ship before 5e canonized it, or were Mr. Dungeons and Mr. Dragons just like 'oh, we need more diversity! How about - " -pointing at two very confused detectives- " - You!"
Cause I know 5e made some wild changes that were obviously for the sake of diversity (And I don't think it's bad. It often gave place for more creative storytelling. And it's a TTRPG - if you prefer the older versions you can still use them at your table.), but I also know how fans' brain works.

As far as I can recall, they were just Holmes and Watson expies. Ray is mentioned in Van Richten's Guide to Ghosts and gets a couple paragraphs and a stat block in Bleak House, but his only full write-up is in Champions of the Mists. That last write-up states he befriended Sedgwick in Mordentshire, Sedgwick's medical skills have occasionally been helpful in Ray's investigations, and Sedgwick writes up Ray's cases as popular books. There's not even mention of them sharing an apartment like the characters they're based on.

I didn't think otherwise.
I was talking homebrow. I've read the OG Holmes stories, and they aren't even gay coded IMHO (Sherlock is very ace and Watson is very straight), but nevertheless, major parts of the fandom 'ship' them (as in, headcanoning them as a couple) and there's plenty of fanfiction featuring them as such.
In TTRPG, practically every DM is a bit of a fanfiction writer: Each of us can roleplay the same NPC in wildely different ways. So I'm asking: Was this common in tables? Was there fanfiction?