Fic Rec: These Things Were Promises

[swissmarg]

Title: These Things Were Promises
Author: paperclipbitch
Pairing: John/Sherlock
Length: 53,244 words
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: None
Verse: RDJ films
Author's summary: Watson has had to take a brutal course in being honest with himself so nothing Holmes says will ever be a surprise.

Reccer's comments: I don't come across many Ritchieverse fics, much less ones that stand out above the slough of BBC fics, but this is a real gem.

The story is set pre-Reichenbach, or in other words pre-Game of Shadows. There are cases, but they are relegated to the role of backdrops for the turmoil tearing through the fabric of Holmes and Watson's friendship, or better, disturbingly co-dependent relationship. They are both struggling with their own demons, while negotiating emotions that neither of them are equipped to handle. Holmes is destructive, manic, and brilliant, while Watson is desperately unhappy, helpless in the face of his addiction to gambling, and possessed of an inexhaustible capacity for forgiveness. I wasn't sure whether to root for them to make it together or clean up their lives on their own, but either way, I got a full serving of thrills and emotional involvement.

Excerpt:

“I need to borrow one of your shirts,” Holmes announces.

Watson has never got anything that he lent Holmes back, but he does not begrudge the loss of his belongings, though he suspects he should. He does not ask why Holmes needs his clothing; he is sure the answer will become evident in time.

“Go ahead,” he says, and listens to Holmes cross the hall to his bedroom before something occurs to him and he calls: “Not the blue one!” after him.

Early evening, when his hand is cramped from writing and his fingers are sufficiently ink-stained, Watson opens his wardrobe to discover all his shirts still hanging there intact except for, as he suspected, the blue one.
It is a problem, of course, that Watson cannot even bring himself to be angry about this.

The dialogue is spot-on, as are the staging and mannerisms. I could picture Downey and Law in every word and look. At the same time, the story lives beyond the movies, with a depth of character development that isn't possible amidst the special effects and explosions. It has humour, heartache, love, angst galore, and yummy, yummy smut. Even if you haven't seen the movies, this is a great fic to spend an afternoon with.