221b_recs | Fic Rec: Two Days

Title: Two Days
Author:

tweedisgood
Pairing: Holmes/Watson
Length: 6,500 words
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Victorian homophobia
Verse: ACD books
Author's summary: Sherlock Holmes is arrested before he gets the chance to commit that particular crime. He has thought about it, though.
Excerpt:

The telegram arrived, shortly before lunch amid hailstones in a thunderous July, at the hand of a pert lad with a lush crop of freckles and hair the colour of new carrots. It bore only the message: “Two days”. My enemy evidently wished to wear down his quarry before closing in to break its back with a final bite. As if I was not exhausted enough, running every dead-end alley in Whitehall, this time without Mycroft’s breadcrumbs to guide me through that labyrinth – for I refused to let him anywhere near this. I could smell the rotting corpse of honesty and good faith in the foul exchange of air between every underling and agent, and still found no evidence that would stand.

Two more days, then, in which to redouble my efforts, to make further contacts, to reassure Mrs. Hudson how really quite all right I was, how she might with good conscience go to visit her sick niece in Southend. To try to recall what I had planned (barely a week ago - that same night the first letter came) to do about the sensation of John Watson’s hand on my left knee under the dinner table, as we stammered over words which both of our fathers would have struck from our lips: his with an anguished glance, mine with a riding crop.

Watson did not attempt to press his suit in the days following, though a distinctly discernible air of hesitant yearning made a fair job of doing it for him. Perhaps he believed I’d had second thoughts. ‘Second thoughts’? My dear fellow, I hadn’t even formed a first thought that was rational.

Reccer's comments:
I'm going to go out on a limb and say something blasphemous here: I think tweedisgood actually writes Holmes' voice better than the great Arthur Conan Doyle himself. The horror! All joking aside, this story is truly one of the best canonverse slash stories ever written. The writing is unbelievable, as I'm sure you can tell from the excerpt: stunning descriptions, beautifully constructed sentences (yes, grammar can be beautiful!), and just the perfect level of period language to evoke the tone of the era. One of my favorite aspects of "Two Days" is its treatment of Victorian attitudes towards homosexuality. The homophobia is realistic, painful and hideously unfair, but not heavy-handed, a problem for a lot of otherwise excellent stories. In a particularly stunning twist, Holmes is exquisitely aware of the biases of his time--and even though he doesn't seem to care too much about his reputation in the eyes of the masses, he worries about what Watson will think. It's interesting to read what is essentially a casefic in reverse: Holmes is stuck in jail, with no idea what's going on, while Watson is running about trying desperately to free his friend. The result is an introspective story, where much of the action takes place on an internal level, and all of Holmes' insecurities and negative thoughts come to the fore.

There are no heros in this story, which I think is appropriate; merely two men, both confused, both in love, both constrained by social expectations and their own hesitancy. But what makes it so captivating to read is watching these two very human, very flawed men try to be heroes for each other. In the end, it is not their heroism that conquers the enemy and brings them together though--it is their imperfections that make them perfect for each other.